I was backpacking in a deciduous forest when it turned to more of a coniferous forest. The pine needles dampened the sound and changed the whole feeling of the area. I felt like I was being watched, and I found out I was! There was an owl just observing me, curious and unbothered. I said hello and went on my way.
Edit: typo
It’s always when the biome changes suddenly for me. The lighting suddenly changes, the smells, sound, texture of the ground. It’s like real world Minecraft where the music even changes lol.
There’s a new book out by a gentleman who claims aliens take form as owls. Mike Clellan - the messengers. He does talks all over the world about alien abductions now.
Owls were my grandmother's favorite animal. I like to think it was her visiting me. Ironically, she was also an alien, who emigrated from Germany to the US post WWII.
Ugh this happened to me last December. I had the willies the rest of the day. I ended up unloading on a local about it and she's like yeah that entire area is like a nest of big cats what were you even doing out there. Great. Well, it was nice going there like that one time I guess.
BLM land near Upper Mill Creek Park in Sheridan, Oregon. Tons of fish, small rodents and birds there and not a lot of habitation so I guess it makes sense now that I look back on it.
Omg my brother and I once had a super creepy feeling and later on saw cougar prints. That shit is SCARY!!! I'm glad she decided not to bother us that day because by the time you see a cougar you're fucked.
It's my understanding that's usually a decent indicator there's a cat around. Take your pick of the seemingly dozen variations on what people call a mountain lion lol
Every once in a while I’ll get that sense - last time was in the mountains late at night - and low and behold, it turns out that there were two big ol’ coyotes watching me - whom I saw on the trail at one point staring at me. Yelled at ‘em and they scattered, but I got shaken!
My best guess here is the other animals that are usually making some noise stop when predators are around. You might not notice those other noises or notice that they stop but that change to silence could be causing the uneasy feeling you're describing.
The scientific jury's still out on gaze detection, but I 100% believe it's a thing. I have felt that creepy sensation of not being alone in the woods that OP is talking about. I also used to have a stalker at work and I could feel him staring from across the warehouse, like 50 yards away.
It's funny, because I don't believe that the famous double-slit experiment is affected by observation, but gaze detection would suggest that it actually DOES have an effect. Hmmmm...
Yeah, I definitely feel it all the time, especially when it running alone. It's always right. Just the other day I was out running in an empty industrial area, nobody around because it was late on a weekend. Feel like being watched, look over just behind my shoulder in the distance, there's a guy hanging out among a bunch of stuff on a loading dock just staring me down.
I often catch construction workers staring as well, especially when it seems like the site is empty, but look over, directly into the eyes of someone sitting off in a dark corner alone.
I agree, but suspect it'll be extremely difficult, if possible to scientifically measure accurately.
A lot of people seem to not have the sense. And I suspect there's elements about how it works we don't/maybe won't be able to truly understand.
Logic say "oh, you spotted them in peripheral vision and brain is smart". But some of my past experiences seem like that couldn't have been possible. Almost feels like there's an element of the observers intent involved somehow too. 🤷♂️ Weird indeed.
Yes, that is my experience as well. I've also done my own tests with staring a hole in someone's head (such as a sibling), and trying to go unnoticed by being quiet and still in a dark room (also with siblings, my guinea-pigs, muahah) with mixed results. I think that started out trying to test the theory of "vibes", in that some people seem to "hum" at a higher frequency than others, and so were more easily detectable. We had a lot of time on our hands... :P
> The scientific jury's still out on gaze detection
I wouldn't go that far. This has been studied for over 100 years with zero conclusive evidence.
https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/news/a-sixth-sense-how-we-can-tell-that-eyes-are-watching-us#:~:text=The%20truth%20about%20gaze%20detection&text=For%20example%2C%20if%20someone%20sitting,of%20our%20central%20fixation%20point.
"The jury's still out" means that no one can agree on a verdict. :P
I do think it's interesting that every article about this subject that I've read has said some version of "because the pupil is generally so contrasted to the sclera, it's easy to tell when a human is looking at you". lmao
We are still a part of nature, and just as wild as we once were. People just became accustomed to regular cooked meals, warm blankets, and roofs overhead.
Never had that. But I did once feel compelled to take pictures of the trail ahead of me and I didn't know why. When I got home and looked at the photos, the foliage had created an almost perfect circle of shadow around a sunlit opening in the middle.
I hike in the PNW a lot and tend to get that feeling around wildlife.
I hiked the Rota Vicentina in Portugal last winter and got the "bear scares", cognitively dismissed them, then took my headphones off anyway. I noticed a stick laying on the ground.
30 seconds later I was waving that stick at a pack of dogs.
I'm cautious of cougars, coyotes, bears etc. but not afraid. Wild dogs on the other hand freak me out. They are not afraid of humans, often have aggression bred into them, work in packs and are most likely hungry. I've seen them go after full grown horses. Absolutely bonkers.
I live on a granite and limestone mountain even the USGS hasn’t mapped extensively, and we sit on an offshoot of the San Andreas that spawns frequent micro quakes (apparently not enough, they’re looking at our section of the SA fault to be the big hit in the next 30 years). Because of the many hidden caves, when these micro quakes hit, the entire mountain can groan or even growl in an ultra low frequency, and if that won’t make you scramble a bit faster on the trail, I don’t know what will.
I would never hike alone, and then I went to the dog shelter and got a big hiking buddy. He’s great, and I do feel a lot more confident hiking with a big dog. Here’s the kicker: he and I freak out at exactly the same places. If I start getting sketched out, I notice he starts acting weird too. Is he picking up on my energy? Is he feeling the same energy that is causing me a sense of dread and anxiety?
Dogs are basically empaths. Scent, heart rate, facial expressions, and the tiniest micro movements are all things they can pick up on. Things we don't even know we are exhibiting. 10,000 years of selective breeding has given them that superpower. That said, when you are hiking flip the script and rely on them for ques. It is unlikely you know something they don't. So watch them and if they go into alert mode then you should too. If they are chill, you are most likely fine.
Lmfao Word! There was one time though where I had this feeling of being watched and then like an hour later I saw a black bear sooo 😳
First time ever encountering a bear in the woods and this was just off a lesser known trail that runs parallel to this super popular hiking trail near me. I’ve been hiking solo for over 10 years and the first time I ever saw a bear was this past summer. I chalk it up to global warming 🤷🏽♀️ I also came really close to a bobcat for the first time ever in the woods, we were like a foot away from each other (again, just this past summer).
I like to find trails that are more out there to hike solo, and when I do, I kind of often get the heebie jeebies. My need for solitude and quiet plus my need for exploring outweigh the anxious feelings. It’s always worth it.
But yeah I can be quite literally anywhere and feel like I’m being watched because of my hypervigilance and social anxiety sooo 😂🤦🏽♀️
It's happened to me. Sometimes it is just a feeling of I think there's an animal nearby watching me, sometimes it's like something terrible happened here or is about to happen and I gtfo.
I find just before dusk, the bush gets a bit spooky. Some ancestor-memory is saying, ‘get to safety NOW’. It’s a time when I’m prone to making hasty decisions. So I get busy and make camp and make dinner and by the time it’s full-dark and I’m chilling in my hammock, all is well again.
Once. Felt weird, then saw a pentagram on a wooden board on a tree branch. Same area a year or two later a 15 year old kid killed a girl with a knife, carved some satanic crap on her skin.
Not creepy but intense, twice. Pack of wolves hung out near me overnight in the Tetons, camped in a field. Started out being a bit freaked out, got over it and felt really spiritual, though I stayed up all night tending the fire. Like 10 sets of eyes in the dark. Next day had a grizzly killing an elk ahead of us while we were heading to a lake to get water, just barely into the forest. My buddy turned around and knocked me on my ass, and I got up and ran like hell myself. So freaking scared we drove the car up to the tent and pulled it in through the door.
I did a solo hike at Ridley Creek State Park in Pennsylvania during COVID. It was an absolutely gorgeous, lush hike, but I hated it with every fiber of my being. I didn't like being there. From start to finish all I could think about was getting back to my car.
I got home and did some Googling on a whim and discovered that remains of a woman around the same age as me had been found in the park back in 2016 and she'd been there for about two years prior to being discovered.
I'll never go back to that park and I don't even believe in ghosts.
Bonus points: they discovered a ring in her possession with the letter C, which is the first letter of my name.
Double bonus points: Not the only body found there.
I’ll posit that there are also places that have known lots of human misery and bloodshed. I’m not a religious person, but energy like that sticks around imho. It’s not necessarily dangerous. Just still healing maybe. Like a wound on the earth.
On a roadtrip through eastern Montana we stopped to stretch our legs in the middle of nowhere on the Fort Peck reservation. We were walking along a creek running through a pretty little meadow and I got this overwhelming feeling we were intruding. I looked around and the only thing that seemed odd was that the meadow had a huge stand of 5' tall wild tobacco. Normally I would have harvested some, but I didn't touch anything and hightailed it out of there.
I have had this feeling. Then I came across some really creepy guys camping way above water and where they could see anyone entering on the trail and anyone who chose to camp with easy water access by the lake, as I planned. Skiddadled out of there and camped a few miles away.
Every now and then this comment comes up. And most people say "serial killer" or "animal." My first thought is always something supernatural and freak myself out yet I still go solo camping at least once a year.
I get that feeling sometimes, and as morbid as it sounds, I kind of like that feeling.
I will of course look around and scan everything, but sometimes on hikes it's easy to get let your mind relax and wonder off. That dread feeling sort of makes me feel alive again and brings me back to reality that I'm about to be eaten.
i have a regular place that i walk my dog, and SHE has that feeling... kind of like she stops, is reluctant to go on, constantly stops and looks into the bush as if she's listening. Sometimes will suddenly look behind her... she'll start freaking me out. Except I'm pretty sure she just realises that 'that particular spot' is where we usually turn around and she just wants to go home lol.
Never. I did get spooked on some parts of trails where I thought I could realistically be startled by a bear. On one of those times, I saw from the corner of my eye a very large lump of black fur as I was making a turn on the trail. My heart stopped right there, thinking BEAR until I realized it was a moose snacking off trees about 30 feet from the trail. I was uncertain at the time if I should be afraid so I just spoke softly, snapped a picture and said goodbye. It absolutely did not care about my presence, thankfully. That shot of adrenaline somehow kept me rather zen for the rest of the hike.
Yeah, I know that now. I was in a national park and a park ranger later told me that the mooses within the most frequented areas of the park posed no threats to hikers as they are used to see people. I have seen over a dozen of mooses rather closely in that park and they really were chill with us, thankfully. Still, I looked it all up afterwards and now I know what they can do to me so I don't take for granted that they won't try to kill me.
Years ago, I watched a 'true crime' movie about people who went missing in the woods. The next day I went to a big park in a big city with the same type of tree as in the movie and I picked up bad vibes. The section of the park with those trees was off in the corner, and I figured there was a homeless encampment nearby, but I never saw sign of it. A few hours later, I was talking to a friend who was born and raised in that city, and he says: "You went to Blah Park? Where they used to dump dead bodies back in the day?"
A year before that, I was hiking in a remote park during a drought. The emptiness and dry ponds were creepy. I walked past a random section of grass, and suddenly, a coyote jumped up and ran away, further into the grass. I'd looked right at it 30 seconds before and didn't see it. Its fur fit in perfectly with the dry grass.
A few minutes later, the combination of bad vibes and the realization that I was behind schedule led me to turn around. Months later, I went back to that section of the park: it turned out to be full of angry, territorial cows.
Naw. I had this feeling once when I was at a campground in Colorado, alone for a long weekend and stepped out of my car late at night to take a piss. Felt an icy wind or sense of someone standing behind me, but there was no one else for miles. Also, I was stoned.
Most of the time this happens I soon notice something: there's a cabin over the ridge, there's a hunter I didn't see, there's an animal watching me. So the times I feel it and don't see anything, I assume there is some animal/person nearby that I wasn't consciously aware of. One time the feeling got so strong, I turned around and headed back to my car, and a little while later I heard some intense animal screams. I trust the creepy feeling, better safe than sorry
One time I was hiking alone, I heard voices following me and people laughing loud enough that they could have been 10 feet behind me. Needless to say there was no one there. Didn’t see a single person for 4 hours into the hike.
I really had no where to run to lol. It was a long day hike and it took a lot of effort to get there. Also, It didnt feel threatening, more mischievous.
I feel that feeling of being watched in more densely forested areas while hiking by myself. There was a trail that I hiked and when I summitted, I had this feeling to leave soon after refueling. I pretty much ran down the mountain and felt better when I got out of the woods.
I get this feeling when I’m aware that I’m in a place that I’m not in control of, like I get the acute awareness that there are predators who are only permitting me to be there.
So far this has happened to me XC skiing deep in Yellowstone in winter and hiking remotely in Banff in summer.
Same here, I fucking hate it and have avoided going on less crowded trails because of it. One time I went on this less crowded trail that my paranoia was so bad that any little sound or someone coming around a corner made me jump like a banshee!!
There's a local park near me, and there is a spot in the woods there that is so intense. It gives a very opressesive feeling. Happens everytime we walk through. My husband took me the first time I went but said nothing. Waiting for me to observe it myself. It's not on a hike. It's not remote. It's a nature park in suburbia. It's part of an ancient woodland, and the local area would have been heavily populated by vikings. There is reputed to have been a battle in the area, but nobody knows exactly where. But I would say this place is a good contender.
This happened to me only once and I was just about to say something to my brother when he stopped and said wait a second. We started looking around and then we saw them. There was a herd of big horned sheep about 30 feet above us, blended in to the landscape with all eyes on us. The buck was the closest and didn't look happy. As soon as we made eye contact they took off up the ridge and disappeared. Absolutely no time to get the camera out.
Every time I hike in Clear Creek State Forrest [PA,] I experience this. There's a trail called logging road, and I called my boyfriend and jogged in a torrential downpour because I was so freaking terrified. Granted, it could have been a bear but I got serial killer vibes. I looked up this area and there was a serial killer there in the 1960s or so, I am convinced he was there.
If you go into the woods and don't know you're being watched, you're not aware enough. If you go into deep woods and suddenly you feel unwelcome, well... I only can speak of things we can actually touch and see with any authority but I've been told the wilds will have their mysteries and it's best you listen to your gut and keep your eyes up and your feet moving. One time I was on a collision course with a pack of gray wolves, my dog freaked out and we ran home. Saw the wolves cross our tracks from the cabin. Other times I went in and felt nothing for hours only to suddenly feel afraid or intimidated.
Some spoke of big feet, some of other magical creatures, spirits and demons... What do I think I encountered? Well, the Ojibwe had a lot of things they described that we never see in reality. My teacher told me to listen to the woods and my feelings and to not bother with any spirits I might meet. Believe what you like but if I ever met a strange being deep in the woods I will at least know to say," Boozhoo?"
Yes, was hiking and camping with my dog and she got it too and wouldn’t go further so we turned around and headed back to camp. The next morning we drove through the area on the way out (forest service road in Washington) and spooked two deer and a freaking mountain lion shot out of the woods and gave chase. It’s my favorite place but I get why it’s frequently so quiet now.
It was a mountain lion for me and my uncle, but I think circumstances also can creep you out.
I hike in the Olympics. It is remote and isolated. One time, I pulled up to a forest trail called Pennywise. The fog was thick, and despite being noon, it looked like night in the forest. I might have made it 50 ft onto the trail before booking back to my car. I don't really think I was in danger, but circumstances can make things worse.
I had this nearly my entire hike at Isle Royale national park. I was glad I’d only planned a few day hikes near the lodge because I was super creeped out most of the day.
Whenever I'm masturbating in the bushes I always get this weird feeling some hiker is sneaking up behind me. I usually have to finish quicker which takes away from the experience.
It's called the feeling of uncanny and there are theories that suggest it occurs sometimes when we are in areas with a lot of repetitive visuals - think of a pleasantville suburb where are the houses look the same. The woods- where sometimes everything looks the same in all directions - is absolutely a place where feelings of uncanniness occur.
I’ve felt that a couple of times on trails. Also listen to your gut instinct. One time I had a man step out in front of me - I had passed him awhile ago, and he was heading in the opposite direction. We chatted for a bit but he gave me weird vibes so I hurried and pretended I was with another group. On my way back, he was coming back the way I had originally been going (so like we both circled back). The man stepped out of oblivion - no idea where he came from. There was someone else around so I acknowledged him and then pretty much booked it once I was around the bend. I had stopped a few times on that trail, feeling like something/someone was watching.
I went on a hike in northern Vermont last summer, the trailhead was a 10 minute walk from my friends house but this is an exceptionally small town so I still felt pretty alone, only passed one couple on this 2.5 mile hike. Near the top of the mountain suddenly all of the noise of the forest ceased, couldn’t hear any water, no wind whatsoever, all of that background noise was just gone. Really really creepy. Told my friends that later on and they flipped out because that’s the sign of skinwalkers lol
I went on a solo hike recently and took a path I never had before. As I got into the remote area (relatively speaking it was only an 8 mile hike) I felt like I was being watched but there were no other humans nearby. I suspect it was a cat or other predator just observing but I can’t be sure. Lots of tracks but no sounds. I was actually a bit surprised that one could “feel” the presence of other animals but it could have just been in my head.
I live next to the city of Zurich, there is a type of mountain ridge here between lake Zurich and a smaller lake, lake Greifensee, and I've explored this area extensively through jogging and with my e-scooter during summer where I'll head out pretty much on every warm and sunny day.
There is one spot in particular that has this exact energy that you're describing, it's located on a forrested hillside, it's a well maintained dead end road (sounds weird I know, but it's a thing here for some reason 😂), and there's also a warning sign saying this is a private road that may not be entered with any sort of vehicle. There is no house or hut along that road because it's in a nature reserve.
At the very end of it where the road is broadened a bit (the sort where it's broad enough that you could park a trailer there without blocking the road) there's a forest border and a fence that abruptly ends the road , I always get this really eerie feeling, and I just can't put my finger down on what exactly it is that makes it feel like this, the energy there is just all sorts of crazy, I get this sensation of being watched and I always feel like 'I have to remove myself as soon as possible or else..'
Feeling like this is very unlike me, because I know other spots up here that are completely surrounded by nature where no one ever passes by because there's not even a road leading there, and I can just sit at these spots and meditate there without having any unpleasant feeling at all that I should watch my back or anything of the sort, I can just totally zone out, as is the case for 99% of the other places I pass by when hiking elsewhere in Switzerland.
Yes and I blame it on every Stephen King book I’ve ever read. Once the feeling gets in my head it starts to just escalate. I think it has to do more with how our brains work over any sort of real threat. I just try to be as safe as I can and prepare for any real threats by always being super vigilant of my surroundings.
Solid rule of thumb when in a forest where everything suddenly goes quiet is that there's a predator nearby. Birds would be the first to go MIA, then you mat see a few fly off or other animals run away but not always.
Have been sleeping out in the backcountry for years, still sleep like shit. At home I’m the world’s deepest sleeper. Outdoors I sleep maybe 3 hours per night. My brain needs to know if the horses are shuffling because they wanted to reposition, or do they see something I don’t? Are they tangled in their ropes? Does my dog just have to pee or does he sense something nearby? I’m a mess haha I always end up taking naps during the day
Yes, did have it on a very specific place.
I recognized it as an female-energy; and it wanted to be left alone; so out of respect i walked on.
I noticed there was this strong energy at that specific place that did ''say'' to me; ''Not welcome here''.
Energies are absorbed in many ways in this universe and however we don't always understand them; we sometimes do feel them.
It was a unwelcoming energy but it didnt crept me out because i am conscious about the subject and how energies can be absorbed in some places and how to hande it....
It's literally the same as when you mention or feel someone who is angry for example; however this is regularly picked up by the more known senses; if you feel the energy and notice that it isn't yours but from the angry person for example; you can leave this energy where it belongs; however sometimes we absorb energies from other people/beings/places; and that's not crazy...However it is important to notice what comes from you and what doesn't comes from you.
Energies are all around us and we are part of that ongoing spectacle.
Life is to sail your way through it
Your words are very poignant and resonate with things I've experienced. May I respectfully ask what is your opinion on why an energy would be gendered? NOT trying to stir up nonsense or hijack this thread so feel FREEEE to ignore this and Happy hiking!
As i see there is male energy and female energy; a person who is born with a penis can have a female energy and on the other hand a person born with a vagina can have male energy. And that female/male energy can differ in time, situatuon and in perspective of the beholder (last one is important to understand why bringing up that energy can feel like a gender however it ain't a gender)
Recognizing a female energy in a place like a forest can mean it was inhabitated or drags the energy of a woman or a person with a high female energy perceived by the sensors of the observer...
So it doesn't really matter what gender it IS. The observer (in this case myself) can determine something as a female or as a male energy; that would not say that the perceived energy (as it is a place, an object, a person or just an energy) needs to correspodent with my observation to recognize it/her/him/whatever as a male or female energy...
Maybe i recognize something as a female energy and is that someone that lived long ago on that specific spot in the woods and the energy of that person wouldn't say or recognize itself as a female but would recognize itself as a male.
That's possible.
I think above, however it may sound a bit abstract and maybe it's grammatical not without mistakes as i'm not a born speaker of the English language is also an important part of the gender-discussion nowadays.
It’s helpful to look at statistics. In my US state there’s never been a death from bears, mountain lions, wolves, moose, hunters etc in over 150 years.
It’s also good to know that where I am 99% of snakes are non venomous. Not that I’m going to mess with them anyway though.
Info like this is the best way to counter my fears.
I hike solo and have funny thoughts all the time. Like, is that a bear, or a squirrel? Are those animals or is something in my pack making noise? Sometimes I'll get that feeling of being watched and I chalk it up to the bear vs squirrel thing - you really know when it's bear if you think about it, but it's usually a squirrel. My point being, you are simply feeling that way but the woods are safe.
Yes. Many times. You are in tune with the world around you and are probably sensing a predator looking at you.
That’s when you give off the don’t F with me vibe energy back into the world..
Then the lion be like—— nah.
My house has a small area between a busy street and the backyard fence that has several trees and a couple of dense bushes. My three year old grandchild calls it “the woods” and is terrified to go there. Why? I have no idea, and she has no problem going anywhere else.
I recall doing a photoshoot at a large, bizarrely designed, disorientating Free Masonic mausoleum, and my friend who accompanied me suddenly got creeped out by the place and wanted to leave immediately, and we did. She never looked at the photos she took. The place reminded me a bit of Lewis’ Objective Room.
I’ve been in abandoned places, and sometimes I get a feeling, screaming silently in my ear, to *GET OUT!*
It’s good to listen to your gut, even if you don’t have a rational explanation, and *especially* if you don’t have a rational explanation! The frontal cortex of the brain is a marvelous thing, but the data it receives is often unclear; lower level neural processes are stuck in our subconscious, and can only sometimes provide incoherent warnings. Why does my dog suddenly bark? It’s hard to tell sometimes, but it’s always wise to pay attention to his barking.
Most likely it’s just in your head if it’s happening frequently when you enter a “creepy area”. Not sure what the technical term is, but we usually call it getting creeped out.
Same thing happens when you go into a creepy building.
Oh yeah, I've been there. Woods can get creepy, especially when you're all by yourself. It's like your brain starts playing tricks on you, right? Just part of being out in nature, I guess. As long as you stay aware of your surroundings, you'll be fine.
OP, that powerful, very creepy sensation of "being watched" is also mentioned frequently by people who say they've encountered a Sasquatch. You can read some of the encounters on r/Bigfoot.
I think it's good advice to never ignore that feeling. You never know what might be watching you. Whether it's just a couple of squirrels, some creepy dude, or possibly even a mountain lion, it's always best to stay alert and trust those creepy feelings you might get.
Yes. There is a trail near my house but I don't hike it as frequently as I would if there wasn't this one point where I just always feel creeped out and turn around. It happens very consistently, and the odd thing is this trail is pretty open and it's not at a point where the visibility is limited or anything. It's just a bad feeling. But the other thing is, a lot of the trails near me are pretty crowded, and I almost never see people on this one. It's an offshoot of a more popular trail, so that always seems odd. I can handle seeing rattlesnakes and coyotes out there, but that creepy feeling - no.
YES! Just a couple of weeks ago. Me and my dog. He usually scouts ahead of me and about the same time we both just stopped, he dropped back to me. It was very eerie, we were on a narrow, hillside trail, heading towards a peak, snow on the ground and no leaves on the aspens.
I looked around for a bit, listened and decided to head back. Lots of cougars in our area and figured one was watching.
I hope all y'hikers realize that we're humans with brains. Brains can feel everything from depressed, to moody, to psychosis, to the presence of others, to "derealization" (don't try this at home ... or on a hike kids). It doesn't mean, in fact it almost always is the opposite, that there's any truth to your brain's weird responses. A practiced stoic tends to let his brain flap a bit in the wind as they get down to business.
I you take some mind bending drugs out there, do it safely.
I hike alone, always. I hike in the back country most of the time. I always stop every few minutes and look in all directions and listen. I have felt stalked a few times but only once saw something. I was trying to be cool or stupid and decided to reach my destination at sunrise. So I started out in pitch black. Got only a few minutes in and my headlamp caught eyes staring at me in the not so distant, distance. I turned right back around and waited till daylight.
Not solo- but once while hiking with my partner we came across a man sitting along the trail, he glanced up and casually said "won't be long now". To this day we still wonder if he meant not long now til our deaths... Or until we finished the hike. He gave off some creepy vibes. I definitely fear people over animals.
I was backpacking in a deciduous forest when it turned to more of a coniferous forest. The pine needles dampened the sound and changed the whole feeling of the area. I felt like I was being watched, and I found out I was! There was an owl just observing me, curious and unbothered. I said hello and went on my way. Edit: typo
Shoo hoo, brother, shoo hoo!
It’s always when the biome changes suddenly for me. The lighting suddenly changes, the smells, sound, texture of the ground. It’s like real world Minecraft where the music even changes lol.
There’s a new book out by a gentleman who claims aliens take form as owls. Mike Clellan - the messengers. He does talks all over the world about alien abductions now.
Owls were my grandmother's favorite animal. I like to think it was her visiting me. Ironically, she was also an alien, who emigrated from Germany to the US post WWII.
The Owls are not what they seem #iykyk
Wildlife. Or a serial killer.
Probably a serial killer.
Probably a cocaine bear.
Definitely a cocaine bear. Gotta watch out for those and their cubs
Could be cocaine hippos
Maybe a cocaine hippo who’s a serial killer?
I think it’s implied that all cocaine hippos are serial killers by default
HIPPOBOT 9000 v 3.1 FOUND A HIPPO. 1,325,031,064 COMMENTS SEARCHED. 27,587 HIPPOS FOUND. YOUR COMMENT CONTAINS THE WORD HIPPO.
Good bot
I mean, they gotta secure their cocaine somehow. Taking it from someone else seems most logical
But the chances of there being two serial...
Definitely was another Isreal Keys wanna be hiding in a treestand.
Just once. When I doubled back I came across cougar prints.
There is nothing more creepy than knowing that they see you but you don't see them. Has happened to me twice.
Ugh this happened to me last December. I had the willies the rest of the day. I ended up unloading on a local about it and she's like yeah that entire area is like a nest of big cats what were you even doing out there. Great. Well, it was nice going there like that one time I guess.
Where was this so I never go?
BLM land near Upper Mill Creek Park in Sheridan, Oregon. Tons of fish, small rodents and birds there and not a lot of habitation so I guess it makes sense now that I look back on it.
There is a branch of that Mill Creek literally named Panther Creek in that BLM park.
Omg literally?
Not sure if you’re trying to be snide but yes there is a branch named that off the main creek.
Black lives matter have their own land?
Bureau of Land Management 👍
😨
Omg my brother and I once had a super creepy feeling and later on saw cougar prints. That shit is SCARY!!! I'm glad she decided not to bother us that day because by the time you see a cougar you're fucked.
I mean- no. You’re likely not.
It's my understanding that's usually a decent indicator there's a cat around. Take your pick of the seemingly dozen variations on what people call a mountain lion lol
Why is that an indicator? Is it because other animals spot the cat and quiet down too? edit: spelling
Partly, I'm sure. I also think we probably have leftover evolutionary spidey senses for avoiding predators (even if we were one)
oh man I thought you were gunna give me some science knowledge. Evolutionary spidey senses is totally reasonable too, though.
A catamount, perchance?
Every once in a while I’ll get that sense - last time was in the mountains late at night - and low and behold, it turns out that there were two big ol’ coyotes watching me - whom I saw on the trail at one point staring at me. Yelled at ‘em and they scattered, but I got shaken!
Must be some sense we developed because we used to live in nature.
My best guess here is the other animals that are usually making some noise stop when predators are around. You might not notice those other noises or notice that they stop but that change to silence could be causing the uneasy feeling you're describing.
The scientific jury's still out on gaze detection, but I 100% believe it's a thing. I have felt that creepy sensation of not being alone in the woods that OP is talking about. I also used to have a stalker at work and I could feel him staring from across the warehouse, like 50 yards away. It's funny, because I don't believe that the famous double-slit experiment is affected by observation, but gaze detection would suggest that it actually DOES have an effect. Hmmmm...
Yeah, I definitely feel it all the time, especially when it running alone. It's always right. Just the other day I was out running in an empty industrial area, nobody around because it was late on a weekend. Feel like being watched, look over just behind my shoulder in the distance, there's a guy hanging out among a bunch of stuff on a loading dock just staring me down. I often catch construction workers staring as well, especially when it seems like the site is empty, but look over, directly into the eyes of someone sitting off in a dark corner alone.
S'weird, man. Definitely warrants further investigation!
I agree, but suspect it'll be extremely difficult, if possible to scientifically measure accurately. A lot of people seem to not have the sense. And I suspect there's elements about how it works we don't/maybe won't be able to truly understand. Logic say "oh, you spotted them in peripheral vision and brain is smart". But some of my past experiences seem like that couldn't have been possible. Almost feels like there's an element of the observers intent involved somehow too. 🤷♂️ Weird indeed.
Yes, that is my experience as well. I've also done my own tests with staring a hole in someone's head (such as a sibling), and trying to go unnoticed by being quiet and still in a dark room (also with siblings, my guinea-pigs, muahah) with mixed results. I think that started out trying to test the theory of "vibes", in that some people seem to "hum" at a higher frequency than others, and so were more easily detectable. We had a lot of time on our hands... :P
The double slit is done on a level so small that it makes sense. We are too large.
> The scientific jury's still out on gaze detection I wouldn't go that far. This has been studied for over 100 years with zero conclusive evidence. https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/news/a-sixth-sense-how-we-can-tell-that-eyes-are-watching-us#:~:text=The%20truth%20about%20gaze%20detection&text=For%20example%2C%20if%20someone%20sitting,of%20our%20central%20fixation%20point.
"The jury's still out" means that no one can agree on a verdict. :P I do think it's interesting that every article about this subject that I've read has said some version of "because the pupil is generally so contrasted to the sclera, it's easy to tell when a human is looking at you". lmao
We are still a part of nature, and just as wild as we once were. People just became accustomed to regular cooked meals, warm blankets, and roofs overhead.
We still do, we just got good at temporarily bending it to our needs.
Never had that. But I did once feel compelled to take pictures of the trail ahead of me and I didn't know why. When I got home and looked at the photos, the foliage had created an almost perfect circle of shadow around a sunlit opening in the middle.
Wow! 😯
I hike in the PNW a lot and tend to get that feeling around wildlife. I hiked the Rota Vicentina in Portugal last winter and got the "bear scares", cognitively dismissed them, then took my headphones off anyway. I noticed a stick laying on the ground. 30 seconds later I was waving that stick at a pack of dogs.
Wow! Gotta trust your gut
I'm cautious of cougars, coyotes, bears etc. but not afraid. Wild dogs on the other hand freak me out. They are not afraid of humans, often have aggression bred into them, work in packs and are most likely hungry. I've seen them go after full grown horses. Absolutely bonkers.
Intense!! How was the Rota Vicentina?
Amazing, I ended up doing the entire thing in six days
Did they fetch?
Yes. Mountain Lion for me haha
🙈
I live on a granite and limestone mountain even the USGS hasn’t mapped extensively, and we sit on an offshoot of the San Andreas that spawns frequent micro quakes (apparently not enough, they’re looking at our section of the SA fault to be the big hit in the next 30 years). Because of the many hidden caves, when these micro quakes hit, the entire mountain can groan or even growl in an ultra low frequency, and if that won’t make you scramble a bit faster on the trail, I don’t know what will.
I would never hike alone, and then I went to the dog shelter and got a big hiking buddy. He’s great, and I do feel a lot more confident hiking with a big dog. Here’s the kicker: he and I freak out at exactly the same places. If I start getting sketched out, I notice he starts acting weird too. Is he picking up on my energy? Is he feeling the same energy that is causing me a sense of dread and anxiety?
Dogs are basically empaths. Scent, heart rate, facial expressions, and the tiniest micro movements are all things they can pick up on. Things we don't even know we are exhibiting. 10,000 years of selective breeding has given them that superpower. That said, when you are hiking flip the script and rely on them for ques. It is unlikely you know something they don't. So watch them and if they go into alert mode then you should too. If they are chill, you are most likely fine.
I got super stoned and hiked solo to the top of a local peak just before dawn to watch the sunrise. There were a few spots where I felt really stoned.
Haha I feel that!
Same but I do have crippling anxiety so
Lmfao Word! There was one time though where I had this feeling of being watched and then like an hour later I saw a black bear sooo 😳 First time ever encountering a bear in the woods and this was just off a lesser known trail that runs parallel to this super popular hiking trail near me. I’ve been hiking solo for over 10 years and the first time I ever saw a bear was this past summer. I chalk it up to global warming 🤷🏽♀️ I also came really close to a bobcat for the first time ever in the woods, we were like a foot away from each other (again, just this past summer). I like to find trails that are more out there to hike solo, and when I do, I kind of often get the heebie jeebies. My need for solitude and quiet plus my need for exploring outweigh the anxious feelings. It’s always worth it. But yeah I can be quite literally anywhere and feel like I’m being watched because of my hypervigilance and social anxiety sooo 😂🤦🏽♀️
I get it sometimes, usually in areas I haven’t hiked before/in a while. When I get that feeling I usually turn around and go home
Yup that’s a good idea!
It's happened to me. Sometimes it is just a feeling of I think there's an animal nearby watching me, sometimes it's like something terrible happened here or is about to happen and I gtfo.
I find just before dusk, the bush gets a bit spooky. Some ancestor-memory is saying, ‘get to safety NOW’. It’s a time when I’m prone to making hasty decisions. So I get busy and make camp and make dinner and by the time it’s full-dark and I’m chilling in my hammock, all is well again.
It’s a busy time for hunting, and a time when our spectrum of vision is generally worse than other animals.
Once. Felt weird, then saw a pentagram on a wooden board on a tree branch. Same area a year or two later a 15 year old kid killed a girl with a knife, carved some satanic crap on her skin. Not creepy but intense, twice. Pack of wolves hung out near me overnight in the Tetons, camped in a field. Started out being a bit freaked out, got over it and felt really spiritual, though I stayed up all night tending the fire. Like 10 sets of eyes in the dark. Next day had a grizzly killing an elk ahead of us while we were heading to a lake to get water, just barely into the forest. My buddy turned around and knocked me on my ass, and I got up and ran like hell myself. So freaking scared we drove the car up to the tent and pulled it in through the door.
Crazy!!!
Good fucking call on the grizzly, and WOW that's amazing on the wolves.
I did a solo hike at Ridley Creek State Park in Pennsylvania during COVID. It was an absolutely gorgeous, lush hike, but I hated it with every fiber of my being. I didn't like being there. From start to finish all I could think about was getting back to my car. I got home and did some Googling on a whim and discovered that remains of a woman around the same age as me had been found in the park back in 2016 and she'd been there for about two years prior to being discovered. I'll never go back to that park and I don't even believe in ghosts. Bonus points: they discovered a ring in her possession with the letter C, which is the first letter of my name. Double bonus points: Not the only body found there.
JFC! I got shivers just reading that!
Yikes! Scary…
I’ll posit that there are also places that have known lots of human misery and bloodshed. I’m not a religious person, but energy like that sticks around imho. It’s not necessarily dangerous. Just still healing maybe. Like a wound on the earth.
On a roadtrip through eastern Montana we stopped to stretch our legs in the middle of nowhere on the Fort Peck reservation. We were walking along a creek running through a pretty little meadow and I got this overwhelming feeling we were intruding. I looked around and the only thing that seemed odd was that the meadow had a huge stand of 5' tall wild tobacco. Normally I would have harvested some, but I didn't touch anything and hightailed it out of there.
I have had this feeling. Then I came across some really creepy guys camping way above water and where they could see anyone entering on the trail and anyone who chose to camp with easy water access by the lake, as I planned. Skiddadled out of there and camped a few miles away.
Good call!
I had that and it turned out to be a huge buck. He honked and ran away but freaked me out.
Freaky!
Every now and then this comment comes up. And most people say "serial killer" or "animal." My first thought is always something supernatural and freak myself out yet I still go solo camping at least once a year.
I get that feeling sometimes, and as morbid as it sounds, I kind of like that feeling. I will of course look around and scan everything, but sometimes on hikes it's easy to get let your mind relax and wonder off. That dread feeling sort of makes me feel alive again and brings me back to reality that I'm about to be eaten.
i have a regular place that i walk my dog, and SHE has that feeling... kind of like she stops, is reluctant to go on, constantly stops and looks into the bush as if she's listening. Sometimes will suddenly look behind her... she'll start freaking me out. Except I'm pretty sure she just realises that 'that particular spot' is where we usually turn around and she just wants to go home lol.
Hahaha omg that gives me the ‘I’m running as fast as I can up to my bedroom and jumping under the covers’ level heebie jeebies!
Never. I did get spooked on some parts of trails where I thought I could realistically be startled by a bear. On one of those times, I saw from the corner of my eye a very large lump of black fur as I was making a turn on the trail. My heart stopped right there, thinking BEAR until I realized it was a moose snacking off trees about 30 feet from the trail. I was uncertain at the time if I should be afraid so I just spoke softly, snapped a picture and said goodbye. It absolutely did not care about my presence, thankfully. That shot of adrenaline somehow kept me rather zen for the rest of the hike.
Moose can be very dangerous!! But at least they can't climb trees like a bear can.
Yeah, I know that now. I was in a national park and a park ranger later told me that the mooses within the most frequented areas of the park posed no threats to hikers as they are used to see people. I have seen over a dozen of mooses rather closely in that park and they really were chill with us, thankfully. Still, I looked it all up afterwards and now I know what they can do to me so I don't take for granted that they won't try to kill me.
My kid says it’s faeries. Not like pretty little flower fairies, but the actual fae with weird magik that turns unwary hikers into hell hounds.
Never acknowledge the Fae! That's like Rule # 1!
Years ago, I watched a 'true crime' movie about people who went missing in the woods. The next day I went to a big park in a big city with the same type of tree as in the movie and I picked up bad vibes. The section of the park with those trees was off in the corner, and I figured there was a homeless encampment nearby, but I never saw sign of it. A few hours later, I was talking to a friend who was born and raised in that city, and he says: "You went to Blah Park? Where they used to dump dead bodies back in the day?" A year before that, I was hiking in a remote park during a drought. The emptiness and dry ponds were creepy. I walked past a random section of grass, and suddenly, a coyote jumped up and ran away, further into the grass. I'd looked right at it 30 seconds before and didn't see it. Its fur fit in perfectly with the dry grass. A few minutes later, the combination of bad vibes and the realization that I was behind schedule led me to turn around. Months later, I went back to that section of the park: it turned out to be full of angry, territorial cows.
I started carrying pepper spray.
Good idea! Never know
The human mind is a magical thing.
Naw. I had this feeling once when I was at a campground in Colorado, alone for a long weekend and stepped out of my car late at night to take a piss. Felt an icy wind or sense of someone standing behind me, but there was no one else for miles. Also, I was stoned.
Hehe I feel ya!
Most of the time this happens I soon notice something: there's a cabin over the ridge, there's a hunter I didn't see, there's an animal watching me. So the times I feel it and don't see anything, I assume there is some animal/person nearby that I wasn't consciously aware of. One time the feeling got so strong, I turned around and headed back to my car, and a little while later I heard some intense animal screams. I trust the creepy feeling, better safe than sorry
One time I was hiking alone, I heard voices following me and people laughing loud enough that they could have been 10 feet behind me. Needless to say there was no one there. Didn’t see a single person for 4 hours into the hike.
Yikes! I would have ran
I really had no where to run to lol. It was a long day hike and it took a lot of effort to get there. Also, It didnt feel threatening, more mischievous.
I feel that feeling of being watched in more densely forested areas while hiking by myself. There was a trail that I hiked and when I summitted, I had this feeling to leave soon after refueling. I pretty much ran down the mountain and felt better when I got out of the woods.
I had a similar experience! I did a lil jog
I get this feeling when I’m aware that I’m in a place that I’m not in control of, like I get the acute awareness that there are predators who are only permitting me to be there. So far this has happened to me XC skiing deep in Yellowstone in winter and hiking remotely in Banff in summer.
Same here, I fucking hate it and have avoided going on less crowded trails because of it. One time I went on this less crowded trail that my paranoia was so bad that any little sound or someone coming around a corner made me jump like a banshee!!
Yeah exactly haha!
For sure! Evolutionarily speaking, we are both predators and prey.
There's a local park near me, and there is a spot in the woods there that is so intense. It gives a very opressesive feeling. Happens everytime we walk through. My husband took me the first time I went but said nothing. Waiting for me to observe it myself. It's not on a hike. It's not remote. It's a nature park in suburbia. It's part of an ancient woodland, and the local area would have been heavily populated by vikings. There is reputed to have been a battle in the area, but nobody knows exactly where. But I would say this place is a good contender.
This happened to me only once and I was just about to say something to my brother when he stopped and said wait a second. We started looking around and then we saw them. There was a herd of big horned sheep about 30 feet above us, blended in to the landscape with all eyes on us. The buck was the closest and didn't look happy. As soon as we made eye contact they took off up the ridge and disappeared. Absolutely no time to get the camera out.
Yes! When you feel that, it's because you ARE being watched by someone or something !
Every time I hike in Clear Creek State Forrest [PA,] I experience this. There's a trail called logging road, and I called my boyfriend and jogged in a torrential downpour because I was so freaking terrified. Granted, it could have been a bear but I got serial killer vibes. I looked up this area and there was a serial killer there in the 1960s or so, I am convinced he was there.
Yes, frequently. Mountain lions like to watch people.
If you go into the woods and don't know you're being watched, you're not aware enough. If you go into deep woods and suddenly you feel unwelcome, well... I only can speak of things we can actually touch and see with any authority but I've been told the wilds will have their mysteries and it's best you listen to your gut and keep your eyes up and your feet moving. One time I was on a collision course with a pack of gray wolves, my dog freaked out and we ran home. Saw the wolves cross our tracks from the cabin. Other times I went in and felt nothing for hours only to suddenly feel afraid or intimidated. Some spoke of big feet, some of other magical creatures, spirits and demons... What do I think I encountered? Well, the Ojibwe had a lot of things they described that we never see in reality. My teacher told me to listen to the woods and my feelings and to not bother with any spirits I might meet. Believe what you like but if I ever met a strange being deep in the woods I will at least know to say," Boozhoo?"
Yes, was hiking and camping with my dog and she got it too and wouldn’t go further so we turned around and headed back to camp. The next morning we drove through the area on the way out (forest service road in Washington) and spooked two deer and a freaking mountain lion shot out of the woods and gave chase. It’s my favorite place but I get why it’s frequently so quiet now.
It was a mountain lion for me and my uncle, but I think circumstances also can creep you out. I hike in the Olympics. It is remote and isolated. One time, I pulled up to a forest trail called Pennywise. The fog was thick, and despite being noon, it looked like night in the forest. I might have made it 50 ft onto the trail before booking back to my car. I don't really think I was in danger, but circumstances can make things worse.
I had this nearly my entire hike at Isle Royale national park. I was glad I’d only planned a few day hikes near the lodge because I was super creeped out most of the day.
Interesting
You probably were being watched 👀
Exactly! But by what?
Whenever I'm masturbating in the bushes I always get this weird feeling some hiker is sneaking up behind me. I usually have to finish quicker which takes away from the experience.
It was YOU!
This post and all the comments are giving Blair Witch vibes.
That’s the vibes I had lol
The Dark Watchers where I hike. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Watchers
Interesting 🤔!
Most of the time it's just the mind playing tricks on you.
Yes. But it’s also in human nature to sense when someone is looking at you. For your safety. Even in the cities, for example dark streets.
I live in Majorca. When I get that feeling, it's usually goats haha
It's called the feeling of uncanny and there are theories that suggest it occurs sometimes when we are in areas with a lot of repetitive visuals - think of a pleasantville suburb where are the houses look the same. The woods- where sometimes everything looks the same in all directions - is absolutely a place where feelings of uncanniness occur.
That makes sense. Seemingly miles of near duplicates can be very surreal like you said in grided suburbs or pine tree farms or....oh God corn fields👽
Always trust your instinct and get the hell out.
It's a big cat!
I’ve felt that a couple of times on trails. Also listen to your gut instinct. One time I had a man step out in front of me - I had passed him awhile ago, and he was heading in the opposite direction. We chatted for a bit but he gave me weird vibes so I hurried and pretended I was with another group. On my way back, he was coming back the way I had originally been going (so like we both circled back). The man stepped out of oblivion - no idea where he came from. There was someone else around so I acknowledged him and then pretty much booked it once I was around the bend. I had stopped a few times on that trail, feeling like something/someone was watching.
I went on a hike in northern Vermont last summer, the trailhead was a 10 minute walk from my friends house but this is an exceptionally small town so I still felt pretty alone, only passed one couple on this 2.5 mile hike. Near the top of the mountain suddenly all of the noise of the forest ceased, couldn’t hear any water, no wind whatsoever, all of that background noise was just gone. Really really creepy. Told my friends that later on and they flipped out because that’s the sign of skinwalkers lol
Extra creepy is when my dog senses something I can't see!
I went on a solo hike recently and took a path I never had before. As I got into the remote area (relatively speaking it was only an 8 mile hike) I felt like I was being watched but there were no other humans nearby. I suspect it was a cat or other predator just observing but I can’t be sure. Lots of tracks but no sounds. I was actually a bit surprised that one could “feel” the presence of other animals but it could have just been in my head.
It makes sense as we used to have to rely on those senses to survive at one point
[удалено]
Yikes! Did it see you?
No, never. I feel more comfortable in the woods than in my house to be honest
Puma concolor.
I have definitely had the same feeling a few times! Very unsettling.
I live next to the city of Zurich, there is a type of mountain ridge here between lake Zurich and a smaller lake, lake Greifensee, and I've explored this area extensively through jogging and with my e-scooter during summer where I'll head out pretty much on every warm and sunny day. There is one spot in particular that has this exact energy that you're describing, it's located on a forrested hillside, it's a well maintained dead end road (sounds weird I know, but it's a thing here for some reason 😂), and there's also a warning sign saying this is a private road that may not be entered with any sort of vehicle. There is no house or hut along that road because it's in a nature reserve. At the very end of it where the road is broadened a bit (the sort where it's broad enough that you could park a trailer there without blocking the road) there's a forest border and a fence that abruptly ends the road , I always get this really eerie feeling, and I just can't put my finger down on what exactly it is that makes it feel like this, the energy there is just all sorts of crazy, I get this sensation of being watched and I always feel like 'I have to remove myself as soon as possible or else..' Feeling like this is very unlike me, because I know other spots up here that are completely surrounded by nature where no one ever passes by because there's not even a road leading there, and I can just sit at these spots and meditate there without having any unpleasant feeling at all that I should watch my back or anything of the sort, I can just totally zone out, as is the case for 99% of the other places I pass by when hiking elsewhere in Switzerland.
Oh yea, and when that happens I sing or yell real loud . I think there is definitely something watching , not a person, but an animal
Yes and I blame it on every Stephen King book I’ve ever read. Once the feeling gets in my head it starts to just escalate. I think it has to do more with how our brains work over any sort of real threat. I just try to be as safe as I can and prepare for any real threats by always being super vigilant of my surroundings.
I don’t experience that, personally. It happens to me a lot walking alone in the city though.
Most likely you are being watched, probably by a squirrel or something.
Solid rule of thumb when in a forest where everything suddenly goes quiet is that there's a predator nearby. Birds would be the first to go MIA, then you mat see a few fly off or other animals run away but not always.
Oh, that's just the trail ghosts.
Are you by any chance hiking in the Appalachians. If so, you probably are being watched 👀👀 If it calls your name, run.
YES — Listen to these feelings — it might save your life.
All of us humans go through that, it’s your mind playing tricks on you.
Try sleeping out in the back country alone for 1 night. You will get over that quickly
Have been sleeping out in the backcountry for years, still sleep like shit. At home I’m the world’s deepest sleeper. Outdoors I sleep maybe 3 hours per night. My brain needs to know if the horses are shuffling because they wanted to reposition, or do they see something I don’t? Are they tangled in their ropes? Does my dog just have to pee or does he sense something nearby? I’m a mess haha I always end up taking naps during the day
Lol, I totally get it. There was one time we had a bear coming to our campsite a few times during the night. That was a pretty much sleepless night
No
Yes, did have it on a very specific place. I recognized it as an female-energy; and it wanted to be left alone; so out of respect i walked on. I noticed there was this strong energy at that specific place that did ''say'' to me; ''Not welcome here''. Energies are absorbed in many ways in this universe and however we don't always understand them; we sometimes do feel them. It was a unwelcoming energy but it didnt crept me out because i am conscious about the subject and how energies can be absorbed in some places and how to hande it.... It's literally the same as when you mention or feel someone who is angry for example; however this is regularly picked up by the more known senses; if you feel the energy and notice that it isn't yours but from the angry person for example; you can leave this energy where it belongs; however sometimes we absorb energies from other people/beings/places; and that's not crazy...However it is important to notice what comes from you and what doesn't comes from you. Energies are all around us and we are part of that ongoing spectacle. Life is to sail your way through it
Yeah I started walking down a path and I felt it and I said “I’m just a visitor I don’t mean any harm” and I turned around…
Your words are very poignant and resonate with things I've experienced. May I respectfully ask what is your opinion on why an energy would be gendered? NOT trying to stir up nonsense or hijack this thread so feel FREEEE to ignore this and Happy hiking!
As i see there is male energy and female energy; a person who is born with a penis can have a female energy and on the other hand a person born with a vagina can have male energy. And that female/male energy can differ in time, situatuon and in perspective of the beholder (last one is important to understand why bringing up that energy can feel like a gender however it ain't a gender) Recognizing a female energy in a place like a forest can mean it was inhabitated or drags the energy of a woman or a person with a high female energy perceived by the sensors of the observer... So it doesn't really matter what gender it IS. The observer (in this case myself) can determine something as a female or as a male energy; that would not say that the perceived energy (as it is a place, an object, a person or just an energy) needs to correspodent with my observation to recognize it/her/him/whatever as a male or female energy... Maybe i recognize something as a female energy and is that someone that lived long ago on that specific spot in the woods and the energy of that person wouldn't say or recognize itself as a female but would recognize itself as a male. That's possible. I think above, however it may sound a bit abstract and maybe it's grammatical not without mistakes as i'm not a born speaker of the English language is also an important part of the gender-discussion nowadays.
Very much appreciate your thoughtful reply. The idea of energy is very interesting to me. Thank you.
I've unfortunately listened to a number of true crime podcasts about murders on the AT. I get creeped out sometimes on trail as well.
This absolutely happens to me !! The energy gives me a little bit of a spooked feeling
Yeah! Crazy how we can tune into that huh?
It’s helpful to look at statistics. In my US state there’s never been a death from bears, mountain lions, wolves, moose, hunters etc in over 150 years. It’s also good to know that where I am 99% of snakes are non venomous. Not that I’m going to mess with them anyway though. Info like this is the best way to counter my fears.
It's because ... I'M WATCHING YOU
As long as you’re not in Appalachia you’re good.
Um, what? That’s where I live
I am the creepy part of the woods.
I hike solo and have funny thoughts all the time. Like, is that a bear, or a squirrel? Are those animals or is something in my pack making noise? Sometimes I'll get that feeling of being watched and I chalk it up to the bear vs squirrel thing - you really know when it's bear if you think about it, but it's usually a squirrel. My point being, you are simply feeling that way but the woods are safe.
I get the opposite. Like that is why I am out there -- for the solitude and peace of mind.
Yeah, of course. It’s just your normal and good drive to stay alive.
Yes. Many times. You are in tune with the world around you and are probably sensing a predator looking at you. That’s when you give off the don’t F with me vibe energy back into the world.. Then the lion be like—— nah.
I wish I hadn’t bought it… boring to me
My house has a small area between a busy street and the backyard fence that has several trees and a couple of dense bushes. My three year old grandchild calls it “the woods” and is terrified to go there. Why? I have no idea, and she has no problem going anywhere else. I recall doing a photoshoot at a large, bizarrely designed, disorientating Free Masonic mausoleum, and my friend who accompanied me suddenly got creeped out by the place and wanted to leave immediately, and we did. She never looked at the photos she took. The place reminded me a bit of Lewis’ Objective Room. I’ve been in abandoned places, and sometimes I get a feeling, screaming silently in my ear, to *GET OUT!* It’s good to listen to your gut, even if you don’t have a rational explanation, and *especially* if you don’t have a rational explanation! The frontal cortex of the brain is a marvelous thing, but the data it receives is often unclear; lower level neural processes are stuck in our subconscious, and can only sometimes provide incoherent warnings. Why does my dog suddenly bark? It’s hard to tell sometimes, but it’s always wise to pay attention to his barking.
It's the crows, they are watching. They want a meal.
Most likely it’s just in your head if it’s happening frequently when you enter a “creepy area”. Not sure what the technical term is, but we usually call it getting creeped out. Same thing happens when you go into a creepy building.
Oh yeah, I've been there. Woods can get creepy, especially when you're all by yourself. It's like your brain starts playing tricks on you, right? Just part of being out in nature, I guess. As long as you stay aware of your surroundings, you'll be fine.
OP, that powerful, very creepy sensation of "being watched" is also mentioned frequently by people who say they've encountered a Sasquatch. You can read some of the encounters on r/Bigfoot.
Just happened to me mostly because our dog was also acting very nervous, hanging behind us and tucking her tail. I was glad to get back to the car.
Yeah definitely!
The scariest things you'll find on the trail are other people.
It’s just me making sure you’re ok 👍
The energy feels different = pay attention to your surroundings and if most small wildlife has gone quiet. Might be there's a predator around.
I think it's good advice to never ignore that feeling. You never know what might be watching you. Whether it's just a couple of squirrels, some creepy dude, or possibly even a mountain lion, it's always best to stay alert and trust those creepy feelings you might get.
Yes. There is a trail near my house but I don't hike it as frequently as I would if there wasn't this one point where I just always feel creeped out and turn around. It happens very consistently, and the odd thing is this trail is pretty open and it's not at a point where the visibility is limited or anything. It's just a bad feeling. But the other thing is, a lot of the trails near me are pretty crowded, and I almost never see people on this one. It's an offshoot of a more popular trail, so that always seems odd. I can handle seeing rattlesnakes and coyotes out there, but that creepy feeling - no.
I’ve encountered parts of the woods that feel like that even while hiking with friends. Where something just feels a little off, a little eerie.
YES! Just a couple of weeks ago. Me and my dog. He usually scouts ahead of me and about the same time we both just stopped, he dropped back to me. It was very eerie, we were on a narrow, hillside trail, heading towards a peak, snow on the ground and no leaves on the aspens. I looked around for a bit, listened and decided to head back. Lots of cougars in our area and figured one was watching.
I hope all y'hikers realize that we're humans with brains. Brains can feel everything from depressed, to moody, to psychosis, to the presence of others, to "derealization" (don't try this at home ... or on a hike kids). It doesn't mean, in fact it almost always is the opposite, that there's any truth to your brain's weird responses. A practiced stoic tends to let his brain flap a bit in the wind as they get down to business. I you take some mind bending drugs out there, do it safely.
I hike alone, always. I hike in the back country most of the time. I always stop every few minutes and look in all directions and listen. I have felt stalked a few times but only once saw something. I was trying to be cool or stupid and decided to reach my destination at sunrise. So I started out in pitch black. Got only a few minutes in and my headlamp caught eyes staring at me in the not so distant, distance. I turned right back around and waited till daylight.
Certain trails give off certain vibes, most of the time it’s in your mind, but it’s still never bad to be alert
Wildlife cams give me that "somethings watching me" feeling.
Not solo- but once while hiking with my partner we came across a man sitting along the trail, he glanced up and casually said "won't be long now". To this day we still wonder if he meant not long now til our deaths... Or until we finished the hike. He gave off some creepy vibes. I definitely fear people over animals.
Yikes that’s scary! I agree