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Evil In The Woods

 

It's daylight outside so I can finally relate this next experience. Honestly, I don't like thinking about it because it gives me chills... Serious chills... Every time I think about it.

Joe (my ex-husband) and I had moved back to Salisbury, NC at that point and were visiting his family for Christmas that year. His family lived 4 hours away in the Eastern part of the state... A very rural area. The road they lived on, well... You can stand out in the field across the road from his parents house and as far as you could see, it was all family land. About 90% of everyone who lived on that road were family. The "homestead" was the home of his paternal great-grandparents and was located across the road from Joe's parents house and to the left a little bit. It sat back off the road a little ways. This house was 2 storied and was dilapidated pretty much... Even though there were still furnishings in there, nobody ever ventured inside unless it was on a dare.

The reason for this was because one of his family members... I can't remember if it was his great-grandfather or one of his great-uncles...but he shot himself in the head (suicide) on the second floor. Joe would tell me stories about weird things going on in that house and other family members would listen in and corroborate that they did happen... Things like a lantern or some other type of light shining from a window on the second floor when the home had been empty/abandoned for many years. Another incident that happened was that one of Joe's younger cousins decided to go into the house with 2 other cousins. They were looking for something of value that they could sell for a little bit of money. They got in through one of the windows, crawled inside and went snooping around. They were shining their flashlights around looking for something and speaking in low tones when they heard something loud and bumpy coming down the stairs. With hearts in their throats, they shined the lights on the stairs and saw that a sack of potatoes had been tossed down the stairs! The first odd thing is that why would a sack of potatoes be in a house that had been abandoned for YEARS...second, why on the 2nd floor... And third, how did it get tossed down the stairs? Needless to say, the boys abandoned their quest and hauled buggy and never went back.

The family cemetery was located back behind the homestead a ways and to the left... Coming from the road, you had to turn into a dirt driveway before you get to the homestead and drive wayyy back... It was best to take a 4 wheel drive so you wouldn't get stuck, as it was really bumpy and the road wasn't kind to cars. There were reports of strange lights in the family cemetery and in particular, one light that would race you to the cemetery!

When coming to this family road from town in the very small and rural town, you turned off from the main road in center of town. Once you took that left turn, you went down about 3 miles or so then you'd turn right onto the family road. Family lore told it that at certain times of late night, when you turned onto the family road there would be a white light there. It would race you down the road, keeping pace with you... No matter how fast or slow you went... It would keep pace with you and once you reached the family cemetery it would disappear. Nobody knew "who" it was supposed to be if it was a spirit... But the white light was an odd occurrence and odder still that it always disappeared into the family cemetery.

Now to the part that scared me so badly...

Directly across the road from Joe's parents house was a large and thick area of woods. The trees started at the edge of the road where the ditch was and went who knows how far deep... But they went way back. To the left and sitting back a ways from the road was the old homestead that everyone believed to be haunted. These woods were thick... In other words, there was no way a human being could walk in the woods unless there had been a path cut out. Not even a very thin person... They were that thick.

It was Christmas Eve and about 2am and Joe and I had just arrived at his parents house. We had a trunk load of stuff to empty... Gifts and suitcase/bags and of course our two dogs were with us. I hooked up the dogs (leashes) and took them to the front yard to potty. I took them close to the ditch next to the road so that there weren't piles of poop close to the porch for anyone to potentially step in. The weather was mild for this Christmas Eve so I let the dogs linger when they were done with their business. As I said, the weather was mild. It wasn't overly cold, no wind was blowing, no snow, no rain... It was really nice. Also note that since that is a very rural area, it was quite dark outside and the only light source was from the porch light and lights of the car.

So...I'm out front with the dogs and was just going over things in my mind when suddenly it got VERY cold. Also suddenly was a wind that came up and something odd happened in the trees. Straight across from us the tree tops started swinging and swaying. Have you ever seen a squirrel jump from tree to tree and watch as the tree top swings and sways from the jumping motion of the squirrel? Well, it was like that... As if something was jumping from treetop to treetop. However, there was not a slight movement in the trees, it was an extreme movement... As if someone or something heavy was jumping and swinging from tree to tree. It was very noisy (rustling sounds) and all of this happened all at once... The wind, the coldness, the movements and the rustling sounds. To say it was "odd" was an understatement.

At the same time that this happened, T-Bone had been sniffing the ground and was facing me which meant his back was to the road. When everything happened at once, T-Bone jumped and did a 180 and was staring at the woods. Prissy also looked up and both of them started growling... The low and menacing kind of growl. This is totally out of character for my dogs as T-Bone was extremely gentle and would not even hurt a bug, lol. Prissy was not as gentle as T-Bone however she knew family and was not threatened at all until the woods started rustling. As I took all of this in, a very short amount of time passed... As in, seconds. It all happened so suddenly and very quickly. As my dogs started to growl, a cold shiver danced its way up my spine and I became very afraid. Suddenly I just KNEW... Without a doubt... That whatever was happening in the woods directly across from us was just...bad...evil...and we needed to get the hell out of there!

I hauled buggy for the front door and halfway dragged my dogs inside because they were still trying to growl and bark at the woods and didn't want to leave... They wanted to confront it but no way in hell was I going to allow it! Joe was already inside and as soon as I got the dogs inside I slammed the front door and locked it. He and his family were in the kitchen/dining room and I was shaking so badly and trying not to cry... The dogs were still agitated and Joe started asking me what was wrong... As I was standing there trying to explain, we all heard a car pull up in the driveway. I went to the front door, opened it and looked outside and saw Joe's youngest brother (Billy) and his wife getting out of the car. I opened the door and yelled, "Billy! Y'all get in here FAST, there's something evil in the woods!" They came inside and I was telling them what happened... Billy was all into that because he is also into the paranormal but way more than I am, lol.

Everything was fine that night, the holiday passed without further events but... I made sure that I took the dogs out to a different area, at different times, didn't dally around or else I had Joe to take them out, lol. I don't know what happened but I do know that whatever was there was evil.

There was a lot of speculation about what it was or what it could have been. Several members in Joe's family had died with mystery, as there were a few suicides in his family. Also the fact that the woods were right next to the haunted family homestead and no doubt the woods also backed up to the haunted family cemetery. I had talked to Joe about contacting a reputable ghost-hunting team in Raleigh to come check things out and he said I should do it... They were actually very interested and wanted to come and investigate. However, after speaking to his parents about it they said we'd have to get permission from his dads cousin, who owned the homestead. She refused to give permission and we have no idea as to why... So that was that.

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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, hawkseye12002, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Cuddlebear (4 stories) (173 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2018-05-17)
I don't know where you were but it sounds a lot like most of the part of NC around us. I've seen winds kick up real sudden, especially from the east (the ocean or the sounds). Given this part of the world there could have been anyone of a number of critters in the wood that would have fetched up a dog: bear, coyote, wolf, bobcat, feral dog, alligator, large snapping turtle (most of the wood around us are really swamp...)
hawkseye12002 (3 stories) (36 posts)
 
8 years ago (2017-02-15)
Miracles...

Honestly, Bigfoot--or anything "beastly"--was not the impression I got from what happened. With the way that the wind kicked up, the sudden rustling of the trees, the coldness... It felt so evil. The impression I got was something spirit-like, since I could not see anything and it just *sounded* like something was jumping from tree to tree (plus, the trees swaying).

I actually had a nightmare once of a wraith-like figure that swerved through my parents' home. Nightmares are not something I have frequently, in fact... Rarely do I ever have one. The ones I have had were very frightening. I only remembered this I felt the need to write it down and recently came across the written paper. I think (without re-reading it) that I had turned it into a story for English Lit class...anyways...the same terror I felt from that nightmare was the same type of terror I felt that night when I was out with the dogs.

It's not a regular occurrence for me to be faced with an evil feeling in the woods or yard, lol... But all the same, I have a fear of something attaching itself to me and I'm unable to defend myself against it or getting rid of it. I'm just thankful nothing bad happened that night.

Thanks for reading and commenting.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (5000 posts) mod
 
8 years ago (2017-02-15)
Darn, not multi-tasking well today. Furbabies' not furbaby's. Ugh.
Miracles51031 (39 stories) (5000 posts) mod
 
8 years ago (2017-02-15)
I really am not being facetious when I say this, but I'm honestly surprised I am the first one to mention Bigfoot. That was the first, and only, thing that went through my mind.

There are way too many unexplained things that I don't doubt the existence of Bigfoot. However, I cannot say I fully believe that is what you experienced. It was just my thought 😊 It could explain the feelings you and your furbaby's experienced. Not sure about the cold, though 😕
hawkseye12002 (3 stories) (36 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2017-01-23)
Enlightened... I had never before given any thought to wooded areas being haunted, although I have read many accounts of people who have had that type of experience... And nothing paranormal was on my mind that night when I was walking the dogs. With it being so dark and still, I never once looked over there and thought, "Oh, I wonder if the woods are haunted?"...lol.

Thank goodness your brother and nephew got out of there unharmed! Thank you for sharing that experience, and I appreciate you reading and commenting.

Tweed...when the trees first started rustling, my first thought was "Oh crap, BEAR!". When my ex-husb and I had just started dating, I went down there to visit him at home... And he took me on a ride in the woods on his 4 wheeler. If you are driving down that road, you'd pass the family cemetery on the left, then the homestead (left side), the "haunted" patch of woods (his parents' house directly across on right side of road), then past that a little ways down from there was a field then a patch of woods where a dirt road was paved through the woods (all on left side of road).

The dirt road had a "gate" of sorts... A locked metal arm that prevented unauthorized vehicles from driving up in there. I remember this because he took me up this road on the 4 wheeler but the "gate" was locked, so... He went around it on the left side but it had rained and there was a big mud puddle there... I remember him telling me to hold on because he was going through the mud puddle. As he went to the left of the "gate", the mud puddle was not a puddle at all but a HOLE! I felt myself falling backwards and not wanting to pull him off as well, I let go of him and was dumped... Into that hole, lol. I stood up and was standing in that thing with muddy water up to my knees... It was cold so we went back to his house to change clothes.

Anyways...back to the story, lol... It was during THAT outing that he told me bears roamed that area and we had to be careful. So, when I was wet, muddy and cold and then he tells me about bears... I just said, okay...let's go back to the house...I'm done for the day, lol. So when all of this rustling occurred, my first thought was BEARS... But as soon as I thought it, I realized the tops of the trees were rustling and moving about in such a way that a bear couldn't have been doing it. Can a bear climb trees? Sure... But can a bear jump treetop to treetop in succession according to how the trees were moving? NO... I realized that right away and that's when the shiver went up my spine and I hauled buggy. Also, if a bear was doing the jumping I would've heard tree limbs cracking/breaking and that wasn't happening.

I read the accounts at the two links you provided... Both are very interesting. I wish I *had* at least seen something so I could say it was similar to this or that... But I saw nothing.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Babygoatpuller...Dark and peaceful--yes! That's how it was feeling that night until "it" happened. I was so comfortable out there that I let my mind wander while the dogs did their thing. I didn't hear any wings flapping, lol... No animal noises except for my dogs growling. Just the wind came up, the trees swaying back and forth and the rustling of the trees.

Thank goodness you hightailed it out of there and no harm was done!

Thanks for reading and commenting.
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-23)
Good read Hawkeye. I'm with Tweed on this one and think it was most likely paranormal.

I know that sudden feeling of something not good coming your way. I went out to check on my goats in the barn one night and was heading out to the second pasture after making sure they were all accounted for and settled in. I like going out there and looking at the stars because it's just so dark and peaceful and it's almost like you can see every star in the universe. Just as I opened the gate and stepped into the pasture, a cold chill went through me and I could hear twigs snapping and leaves rustling in the woods lining our back property along the ravine. I looked over to the woods and a feeling of fear hit me right in the gut. My first thought was mountain lion and I hightailed it out of there. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I didn't feel like it was evil but I sure felt like it was watching me.

With your feeling of evil and dread, like I said, I'm going with paranormal on this one. The only bird I can think of that would hop tree to tree like that would be a green back night heron. But you can hear their wings flapping as they go from tree to tree. They scare the crap out of me every time I step out my front door at night. 😆
Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-23)
Hi Hawkeye,

Your experience with your dogs reminded me of two experiences on here, which I think you may relate to.
Http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=21208
And
Http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=22417

Personally I think any spirit haunting those woods, giving off evil vibes, sounds like a protective 'land spirit', like a genius locki, or genus loci/loki, something like that! Or maybe even a troll. The guy in the fist link identified what he saw as a 'troll' from some illustrations. These entities can be quite tall. If this was the doing of some land/nature spirit I wouldn't take it personally. It's not really evil, it just feels threatened. I guess their 'evil vibes' work wonders for keeping us at bay.
It's possible it was an animal, but I'm struggling to think of one. A great horned owl perhaps, but they're not about to make a big commotion in the tree tops, they're all about stealth, any owl seems unlikely.
Bobcats, hmm aren't they among the hardest animals to film? That would narrow the odds. Or maybe it's lynxes I'm thinking of. Anyway, cats in general be another stealthy predator, can't imagine any cat bouncing from tree to tree in a showy display like that. An opossum perhaps? Now there's an animal I don't know too much about! 😆 But from how you describe what happened I'd lean more to the paranormal possibility.

I really enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing. 😊
Enlightened1959 (8 stories) (118 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-23)
Hawkseye,

Your story immediately reminded me of my brother who lives up in western New York and the woods up there are very dense. Anyway he and his son go deer hunting every year. A couple years ago they thought they would try a new area that they hadn't hunted in before. He said they both split up as usual. He said he got so far back in the woods and suddenly a very depressing and eerie feeling came over him. He said it was like every negative feeling a person could experience, he began to feel. The atmosphere seemed to shift and he suddenly felt very threatened. A few minutes later his son started yelling for him and once he found his dad, he said he wanted to leave, that it was creeping him out and also felt negative and threatening feelings. They both felt the same threatening feeling. My brother did some investigating and found that others had had the same experience in those woods. He also found out that a man had murdered a woman and that's where he hid her body which he finally confessed to and took the police to her body. I do very much believe that woods/forest can be haunted or have something evil living in them.
hawkseye12002 (3 stories) (36 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
lady-glow...

I don't know about the birds. I guess anything is possible.

Lol [at] supernatural potatoes. When I heard that story, I was questioning the young (17ish at the time) cousin... I was like, are you sure that's what you saw? Could it have been this... Or that... Or...? He was adamant about what they saw... And when they saw the sack of potatoes on the floor they all took a quick exit back out of the window.

Regarding a squatter... I think the chances of that would be slim but not impossible. No one (to my knowledge) ever goes to that house unless there is a dire need. Everyone in the family knows and understands it's haunted and not to be trifled with... The road it sits on is a "family" road... Most of the inhabitants on that road are family members. The few that live around there that are not family pretty much keep to themselves. If someone was squatting there, it'd be a VERY long walk to the nearest grocery store... They would literally have to be living off the land. I really don't believe there is a squatter there, but... Not impossible.

Thanks for reading and commenting.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3197 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
I have no idea about the birds native to North Carolina, but your description of the movement of the tree tops makes me think about a non long-distance flying bird roosting on a tree and getting spooked by your presence (grouse, pheasant, etc?).
...or, perhaps spooked by the very same thing that gave you that eerie feeling? 😨

It's a shame that your ex's young cousins didn't pick some of those potatoes, if not to sell them at least to see if they were regular potatoes or if there's anything supernatural about them.
Is there a chance for a squatter using the abandoned house as his/her residence?

Thanks for sharing.
hawkseye12002 (3 stories) (36 posts)
 
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
Spockie...of course it *could* have been a bobcat...I'm not an expert on wildlife in that area, but the only animals I had ever heard the family mentioning being active in that area were bears and of course, deer... Lots and lots of deer.

If it were indeed a bobcat, would that kind of animal jump from treetop to treetop continuously... Or would they jump to one treetop, pause and observe, then jump again? The rustling in the trees was non-stop, which is why I compared it to squirrels jumping from tree to tree. I live next to a small patch of woods (about 20 feet outside of my front door) and it's full of squirrels, birds, rabbits and an occasional fox. I watch squirrels play and jump from tree to tree all the time... Which is what gave me the comparison. I watch the trees swinging as they run and jump.

Argette, you are correct in that regardless of what created the swinging of the treetops, the "feel" of what was happening was very eerie. I am not afraid of the dark, so having the dogs out there in the dark was no big deal. It was quite peaceful and I have never been afraid there. However... There was something happening that night that I could not explain... And no matter the origin of it I just *knew* it was very, very bad.

Some things you just know... And I have never heard that the veil was lifted around Christmas, as well.
Argette (guest)
 
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
Spockie, good thinking! Even with natural occurrences like that, the vibe could still be eerie. Nature can spook us sometimes.
Spockie (8 stories) (203 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
Don't you think the tree top jumper could have been a bobcat or, most likely, a raccoon? The dogs would definitely have been agitated by the activity. Of course, that does not explain the cold wind, but being December that could have been natural as well.
Argette (guest)
 
8 years ago (2017-01-21)
Interesting account. Some places just give off a bad vibe, it seems. I've heard the veil is lifted around the Christmas holidays, too.

Thank you for sharing, Hawkseye.

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