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Camp Fire

 

I have been a girl scout since I was in the 1st grade. A few months ago, I was up at Tomahawk Ranch in Colorado. My troop was the troop that organized the whole thing. The camp lasted 3 days and two nights. About 60 younger girls attended, all ranging in the ages of 6-11.

On the first night, a girl in my troop, her mom, and I went out to start a fire for the girls. The activity center (where all the rest were singing songs to pass the time) was about 10 minutes (walking) away from where we were going to set up the fire. All three of us clung to each other, trying to preserve heat. The further we made into the forest, the more nervous we got. We continued to feel as if there was something following us. We kept taking turns shining our flashlights behind us and around us. We got a little lost but when we finally made it to the fire pit, we forgot about our fears and started building up a pile of wood to burn.

When we had finished, we started back, and continued with our soft screams and looking around. As we rounded the corner to the activity center, my friend and I heard something crunching in the shadows of the trees. We assumed it was a deer or a coyote dashing after food. As we continued, we heard a voice that I will never forget. A deep, raspy, masculine voice came from just beyond where our flashlights could reach. The "man" unmistakably said, "girls", as if trying to call us to it. We did what any teenage girl would do and ran as fast as our numb legs could carry us, screaming all the way until we made it back into the light of the activity center.

After telling the rest of the girls in our troop and being laughed at, I almost felt like they were right. I was cold and scared and I had imagined the whole thing. After about 10 minutes of singing camp songs, our leaders came in and told us that she needed three girls from our troop to go and light the fire. My two friends, Mickey and Twix (these are there camp names) said they would go. After a few more minutes of them making fun of me, I decided to suck it up and go.

We grabbed the matches and went in the direction that I came from before. I tried to act like what had happened before was completely off my mind, but I was constantly swinging my light all around me. When Mickey saw what I was doing, started giggling at me. I stopped to object, but as I turned to them, I saw something in the woods. I just stopped everything I was doing (including breathing) and pointed. Both of them suddenly stopped and turned deathly pale. They turned and saw the figure of the man just as it faded back into the shadows. We all stopped talking (after about 3 and a half minutes of continuous screaming) and walked along the trail without making a noise. We never once took our lights off the forest.

We made it to the pit and took turns shining the lights around, while one person lit the fire. As it turns out, I was the only one that actually knew how to use matches. I crouched and struck the match. It lit the wood and I started putting pine needles under the main flame. The fire was... Well... Having serious issues, so I lit another match. I placed it on the opposite side and put more needles under the flame. Suddenly, Twix helped and dropped her light. I felt a sudden chill and the fire blew dimmed to a low glow on one of the lumps of charcoal left by one of the previous users. After another little while of screaming and running around like lunatics, I finally sat down and lit the fire, just as the girls came down.

Later that night, when my troop was back at our cabin, we sat in our pjs on some of the extra mattresses. The cabin that we had was not used often, and it was a little old and creepy. At about 1:30, we heard a knock at the door. Expecting it to be the nice lady that owned the camp, we sent another girl to go get it. She opened the door and came back, sprinting. We asked her who it was and she said she didn't know. We asked her what she meant and she said there was a man. But the man looked like he had been old, sick, and not really there. After, once again, freaking out for a while, we decided to go to bed, after, of coarse, putting the beds as close together as possible to reduce the likelihood of more freakiness.

The next night, when we stayed at a new cabin, nothing happened. And I hope if we ever go up there again, it still won't happen.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, maneteemoo, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

creepydog (3 stories) (71 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
It sounds as if there was something trying to scare the wits out of you.
I agree with Andrea. Maybe it did not want you to light the fire for fear you would wreck its house?
otteer (8 stories) (398 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
Too bad the story gets bogged down because of the obvious lack of adult response to a potentially deadly situation, an intruder in the camp. I'm glad no one was hurt and, hope you don't have to go back. I would not want to attend a camp that has night wanderers, live or dead! Thanks for sharing!
maneteemoo (1 stories) (2 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
Hi rookdygin,
I understand your question completely. The girl that saw the man said that he almost looked transparent, as if she could see through him. I ment to write that but I guess that my brain wrote faster than my fingers could move. Sorry about that! And I also wanted to answer badjuujuu's other question. The camp is only accessible through the main gate, and is fenced off all around, not only by fences, but deep lakes and think forest. The only way to get into the gate it by phoning into the main cabin through a voice box. I'm 99.9999% sure there was no extra person there because of issues they have had with the horses escaping and bears getting in. The security (although old fashioned) works very well. Thank you. Manteemoo
demonicsheikh (55 posts)
-2
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
Didnt you report the incident to your superviser or something like that.
Forest is full of paranormal activities because all the crimes like murder rape torture etc take place in the place which is quite and public free so yeah you were lucky.
But there are some insane people too in this world.
BadJuuJuu (guest)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
Thanks maneteemoo, it cleared up a couple of things but I still don't understand why nobody checked the area for someone that shouldn't have been there. It seems an unusual decision not to make sure the area was safe. There are a lot more living people in the world than ghosts, and not all living people are on the up and up. It's always best to rule out every possible normal cause for something before assuming a paranormal cause. Some people are pretty nasty, and mischief by the living happens, all too often. I feel that someone should have made certain there were no unauthorized people in the camp area.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-04)
I think the word 'campfire' needs to be stressed here.

But for the sake of conversation I'll ask this...

What happened to the 'old man' that knocked on your cabin door? All you relate in your experience is this...

"But the man looked like he had been old, sick, and not really there. After, once again, freaking out for a while, we decided to go to bed, after, of coarse, putting the beds as close together as possible to reduce the likelihood of more freakiness."

What happened to him... Did he fade away, suddenly disappear or vanish in a puff of smoke?

"...and not really there." Does this mean he was see through or that he had a dazed and confused expression on his face?

I hope you can answer my questions, until then I will place this in the 'Camp Fire Tales' category...

Respectfully,

Rook
maneteemoo (1 stories) (2 posts)
 
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
Hi badjuujuu,
I just wanted to let you know that the mother was somewhat close behind us (we were running super fast away so she got dropped behind a wee bit). We also did not leave the fire going. We went to go set up the wood, came back, got the matches, and then went back and started a fire. The adults were also fairly confident in our fire starting skills and they went To go get water to put the fire out with when we were done. Hope that cleared some things up.
BadJuuJuu (guest)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
I'm lost on a couple of details and hope you can clear things up. You say you, your friend, and her mother were going to start a fire. Ok, I'm with you so far. You get the wood gathered up, then you and your friend hear the sound. Where did her mother go? You and friend scream and run, and tell the other girls what happened. Where is the mother? She could have spoken on your behalf, and given credibility to your claims. I'm also wondering why none of the adults checked into your claims, especially after a man knocked on the cabin door. Anyway, just wanted to know where Mom was and why no one looked into the possibility of some guy harassing a bunch of kids.
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+2
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
maneteemoo,
I'm going to use Granny's post as a spring board for my own. I don't understand why one of the leaders was not accomanying you when you went to light the fire. Never leave a fire or any open flame unattended is basic scout and camping training. And the idea that they allowed 3 young people to go unescorted through the woods to light said fire is just begging for a law suit if something untoward had happened!
DelzLdy (2 stories) (50 posts)
+2
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
What makes you think this was something of the paranormal nature? My first thought from what I read, was it could have also been a real, live person. And what better place for a pedophile to hang out than a Girl Scout camp? 😐
zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
+2
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
maneteemoo: I agree with Andrea. I don't think it's very safe at any time to leave a fire burning in the woods unattended. In fact, I'm very surprised your Troop leaders allowed it. 😲
Andreaa11 (54 posts)
+1
11 years ago (2013-04-03)
Wow sounds as though something was really having a good time scaring the s*** out of you guys! In my opinion this was an elemental spirit. I almost feel as though he was a spirit of fire or air, but maybe even a protector of the woods itself. Elementals are reputed to get very nasty if they feel their space is being threatened, and maybe it felt the fire was dangerous to its territory (as it seemed it wanted that fire out). Also, it sounds as though the old man the girl saw may have been a prank. But if it wasn't, it could have been an actual spirit attached to the land or cabin, but I believe it was the elemental trying to scare you all enough to chase you out of the woods.

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