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Creature In The Woods

 

This happened to me and my friends in 1988, but we were actually just talking about it again the other day and I thought I would share it to see if anyone has a thought as to what it could have been.

To give some background this story involves myself, my boyfriend (Andy), his cousin (Mark) and his girlfriend (Tracy). It was a Saturday night and we were doing our usual weekend thing of riding quads up in the mountains behind Andy's house. His family owned several hundred acres so we were on his property and this is property that had been in his family for as far back as the early 1900's. The property had 4 houses on it and a huge garage. All of our parents were down at the main house just hanging out and playing cards. As I stated this was the norm for us on the weekends.

This particular weekend my quad was not running very well and since we didn't want to deal with it breaking down while we were up on the trails so I just rode with Andy. We had been riding for about an hour and decided to stop and take a break. We had a little place we had kind of set up off the trail with logs so that we could sit and hang out. That night was a full moon so we really had no need for any lights we could see pretty much everything. It was beautiful. So we were sitting there talking about stuff and laughing and joking when all of a sudden Tracy just got the most terrified look on her face. She was looking straight behind me and she began to shake and she had tears streaming down her face. I stood up and walked over to her and asked her what was wrong and she was literally frozen in fear. I turned and looked in the direction that she was looking and that was when I saw it. I stood straight up and kind of stood in front of Tracy. I grabbed Andy and told him to look at the top of the treeline and he grabbed Mark. I wanted to make sure that we all saw what Tracy was looking at. I am going to describe what we saw in the best way I can.

It had a big husky body like a bear, but it's head looked like something you would see on a caveman. It was on all fours and it's legs looked like horse legs. Nothing on this thing looked like it belonged on it. It was like it was morphed into all different kinds of things. It's eyes were blue, like what you would see on a flame. Needless to say we were scared. This thing was starting to growl at us and slowly stepped forward. We started backing up. I told Tracy not to run but to just start making her way back to her quad and put it in neutral and start backing it up. We got her going and she was making her way back down the trail to a spot where she could just coast down the trail when that thing lunged at us. We got on our quads and Andy grabbed his rifle that he keeps with him and fired a warning shot at it and to also get the attention of the adults down at the house. That was our way of letting them know that there was a problem since there were no cell phones.

So as we were making our way down the trail Andy was walking backwards and keeping an eye on this thing because it was still behing us kind of stalking us. You could see it because of its eyes. We were about half way down when his dad and uncles reached us and Tracy basically collapsed at their feet. They thought something was medically wrong and that was when Mark told them to look down the trail and look for the blue flaming eyes. His uncle spotted it and turned his spotlight on it and we were stunned to say the least. This thing had no hair and it looked as though it was inside out or something. It was the nastiest thing I have ever seen in my life. Now, not to upset anyone, but they did start shooting at it. They thought they had hit it, but we were not able to track any blood or tracks for that matter. We went back down to the house for the rest of the night and the next morning we all gathered and went back up looking for anything that would lead us to what this thing was or where it had come from. We could find no trace of anything and we never saw it again.

Tracy never went back out with us because she was completely terrified. I have always been fascinated with things that may be paranormal. The whole time I was looking at this thing that was what kept going through my mind. I truely believe it was some kind of demon, goblin whatever word you want to give it. So we continued to go out regularly and was just a little more mindful of our surroundings, but never saw it again.

Sorry if this was long, but I knew that details were going to be needed.

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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, Curiosity13, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Skeptical4menu (7 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-03-07)
I know this is an old story but I have to comment. I agree with elnoraemily that it was a bear with mange. They look like they have caveman or even werewolf faces, blue-reflecting eyes (once blind) and their legs look extremely spindly, especially in comparison to the rest of their bodies. Google for pictures and you will see what I mean.
Seek (1 stories) (15 posts)
 
9 years ago (2014-11-25)
Scary story! Some great theory's too! But I'm sorry a bear cannot be skinned alive, even if you tranqed it the skinning process would most deffenitly kill it. My first thought was maybe it wasn't supposed to be here. Maybe from a different plane. Anyway great story.
LoganWV (2 posts)
 
9 years ago (2014-10-28)
Wow. Thanks for the quick response Curiosity. I kind of figured that, if this is a creature or being that has been around for a significant amount of time, it recognizes firearms and what they can do. The lack of a response makes it all the creepier to me as well.
Curiosity13 (2 stories) (7 posts)
 
9 years ago (2014-10-28)
LoganWV... It did not phase it at all. Which made it all that more paranormal in my mind or it just didn't care. I didn't flinch at the loud noise of the rifle at all.
LoganWV (2 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2014-10-25)
Wow, I created an account just to be able to comment on this amazing story!

I absolutely need to finish the mental movie that was playing while I was reading your story, and I have to ask a few more details from you to do that. Thank you for answering if you find the time.

First - After they started to shoot at the creature (which, by the way, did not upset me... It would have upset me far more if you HADN'T unloaded on the thing with whatever you had handy) what was its reaction? Did it show fear? Surprise? Did it immediately run at the loud sounds and pain, or did it try to stand it's ground? I know they are small details, but these are the important things to me when it comes to knowing all you can about these kinds of things.

I want to know how it reacted when it realized it was outnumbered and outgunned, basically if you can fill in the story from where they started shooting to when you came out the next day that would put my mind at ease.

Thank you for sharing this story, it definitely gave me the creeps, I live in mountainous West Virginia where it's said that every hollow (or holler as it's called around here, as in Sleepy Holler!) has something dark and nasty living in it.
BadJuuJuu (guest)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-05)
PoliexterLy (2 stories) (92 posts)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-05)
This is a very creepy story!

[at] Rich73 - That photo in that video is known as 'The Rake' it was a story on creepypasta.com
Rich73 (1 stories) (67 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-03)
Curiosity, is this basically what you saw?

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6na2r5DYmw

If so, this is called a Wendigo. They live in the forests of the north. Native American legend says that they came about as a result of cannibalism, but I don't know if I believe that. I think they are a little-known species, like the Sasquatch. There's another type like this that has darker skin with just a little hair on it. I'm very interested in these creatures, and I think you're very lucky to have seen one.
notjustme (19 stories) (852 posts)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-02)
Miracles - very cool to see you on abovetopsecrets! That is probably my husband's favouorite site. You might also like www.in5d.com.

...sorry for straying off topic
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-02)
Curiosity - for your sake, I'm glad as well. I can't imagine coming across one of them, let alone more than one.
Curiosity13 (2 stories) (7 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-02)
Ok Miracles51031 that was interesting. I am glad we didn't see more than one of those things. I can only imaging how they were feeling. Glad to experience the whole inside out body thing like we did. Still an interesting story. Well need to check that site out more.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-02)
Curiosity13 (2 stories) (7 posts)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-02)
Valkricry... We were definitely way closer than we should have been. Course we didn't know it was there until it walked up on us. I would say 20ft at most. I am pretty sure that we could have been farther away and still see the eyes. It was literally like blue flames in its eyes. I guess you could say glowing. I have always heard about people seeing things with red glowing eyes, but I don't recall reading anything about anyone seeing blue glowing eyes.
valkricry (49 stories) (3268 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Curiosity, not trying to cast doubts, but how close were you that you could see the color of its eyes? I doubt it was reflection (like the 'red' eyes glowing because of reflected light) because that would not show blue. I'm just trying to get a visual here, and it just seems to me, you'd have to be fairly close (in this case, I think too close for comfort) to see eye color.
I am totally stumped (and creeped out) by whatever it is you saw. Even if we accept shape-shifter/skinwalker, we are still left with the fact that no prints were found. And that is really creepy!
notjustme (19 stories) (852 posts)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
WOW! This is very scary and I do believe it. I am one of those "Just because you've never seen it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist". I'm so glad none of you were physically hurt. I can't imagine what the rest of the night was like for all of you. Thanks for sharing, and take care.
Curiosity13 (2 stories) (7 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Thanks for the feed back. The thought of the bear had crossed our minds except for the fact that there werer absolutely no tracks. We were hoping that if it was a scenario that someone had skinned it or it had mange that we were going to put it down, but we had no way to track it. That is what stood out the most. It had been raining so it was muddy that was the whole reason we were out there and we could find all of our tracks but none for this creature.

Wish-Not... Sorry to creep you out and I hope you have a good time in the woods.

I will need to do more research on the skinwalkers and shapeshifters. I have read that a lot on this site but have never really looked into it.
MandyyNicole (7 stories) (183 posts)
+2
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
I'm sorry you saw such a horrific thing! Gross. Some have said bear etc. But I can't imagine someone skinning a bear alive and not taking the meat... Did it have a snout?
I'm sorry but this sounds nothing like a bear to me. Caveman face? No thank you! The only thing said to have resembled a bear was the body, and bears have pretty beefy legs, sooo... Horse legs on a bear body is not normal at all, regardless of mange or being skinned alive. I don't think it was some poor, unfortunate animal. But that's just my opinion.
I don't know what you saw, but there are many accounts of people coming upon strange, unnatural things in the rural wilderness (jersey devil, big foot, sprites etc.), so you are not alone. Whatever it was, i'm glad it was only a one time deal! I hope no one ever comes across such an abomination again!
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
elnora - I know what a skinwalker is (at least I think I do LOL), just don't know how much of a difference there is between the two. Many people refer to skinwalkers as shapeshifters, but I have always thought skinwalkers were Native American whereas shapeshifters could be something entirely different.

Guess I'll check out yee naaldlooshii and see what I can find out.
elnoraemily (guest)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
I could have been helpful and actually explained what a skinwalker is 😜 but that is pretty long. I would look up yee naaldlooshii though, if interested:P
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Curiosity - as I was reading your experience, I couldn't help but sit here with my mouth open in...I'm not sure what my reaction was other than holy crap!

After reading the comments about it possibly being a bear, my advice would be to talk to a forest ranger or at least check whatever sources are available to see if there have been any reports of animals being skinned and left alive.

Regardless of what you and your friends saw, this would make me very hesitant to ever go back 😢
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (4999 posts) mod
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
elnora - one of my first thoughts was shapeshifter. I'm not sure I believe they are bound to certain territories, though. I don't know if there is a difference in shapeshifter and skinwalker other than being Native. Anyway, just throwing in my opinion 😊
elnoraemily (guest)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
I am wondering if you saw a bear with mange. In advanced stages of mange, it seems to fit the description of what you saw, especially if blindness had then set it (it changes eye colors to a glassy blue, especially when hit by light). It also causes open sores that bleed.

I also have to wonder in Spockie has a good thought there with a bear that has been skinned and released, similar to how rhinos are being tranquilized so their horns can be chainsawed off (unpleasant, I know, sorry).

I think there are several, though unpleasant, explanations for the poor creature you came across.

It also reminds me a bit of some Skinwalker tales, but you are not in the right part of the country for that. They are bound to Native Reservations.
BadJuuJuu (guest)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Well, this may be one of the more disturbing things I've ever read on here. I believe that you saw exactly what you describe, and I wish you hadn't. Stuff like that has a way of haunting one's memory, even if it was a one time sighting.
Wish-Not (16 stories) (534 posts)
 
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Curiosity13- HOLY S#**! That's crazy! I'm at a lost for words...That's just plan CREEPY!

I spend a lot of time in the woods here in Arkansas. I have heard stories from time to time. I've experienced things, odd things but never to this degree. I do know that there is not always an answer for everything.

Thanks for creeping me out! I'm suppose to be headed to the cabin this weekend. Guess I'll be ever watchful.
Spockie (8 stories) (203 posts)
+1
10 years ago (2014-10-01)
Gosh, only one thing bothers me. What if this were a bear or some other animal that had been skinned alive by some cruel person? Probably not, but who knows?

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