Scary Stories, Rituals, and Urban Legends

Strange Creatures

Hi, I am a 24-year-old female, and recently came back from a camping trip. During this trip, I came into contact with something I cannot explain.

During my camping trip, I visited a state campground, one with an area for mobile homes as well as for campers with tents. It was a very nice evening, and I decided to go on a hike on a nearby trail. When I embarked on this hike, I felt surprise, followed by malevolent excitement.

Now, full disclosure: I suffer from a mental condition and am currently on medication. I am prone to depression, mood swings, and hallucinations. So my first thoughts were "not again". I believed I was having a relapse. Back then I didn't realize that I hadn't forgotten to take my medication. Or that while relapsing I never before had been aware that I was.

Anyway, I walked along the path, not willing to hurry back to my tent and cancel the whole camping trip just yet. It was a beautiful morning, and the sunlight fell in single beams through the leaves and branches. The air was chilly and pure, and the birds were out singing.

I became aware of something following me besides the trail, in the underbrush, but thought I was seeing things. Until I saw something pale quickly cross the path. An elderly couple some meters from me seemed oblivious what had happened. At this point I knew that I needed help, no matter whether what I had seen was real or not, I was not in a state to be alone in the woods. I decided to tell them of my condition and to have them escort me back to the campground or call in my fiancé via phone (I foolishly left my own with him in the tent).

In talking to them I discovered something terrifying, namely that I couldn't. I don't mean that I was sour throated or confused, I opened my mouth and a stream of garbled sounds escaped it. The woman looked at me bewildered but friendly and said something to the effect of sorry dear, we don't understand you. I panicked and tried to speak, but again, garbled nonsense. They tried talking to me, increasingly concerned for my wellbeing. It was as if I was suffering a stroke. Through my fear, I felt elation and again, this malevolent excitement. I was terrified and weeping uncontrollably. They were meanwhile talking amongst themselves, him asking her whether they should take me to the nearby campground, at which point I interjected with a joyful ululation and ecstatic nodding. They took that as an affirmative, stretched out their hands, offering sanctuary and support. At this point, I thought that my nightmare was over. I extended my hand to grab theirs.

But then I felt a sharp sting of anger and jerked back my hand violently. I hadn't meant to do this. From one second to the next, with growing horror, I watched my body do something I didn't tell it to do. Then I took off running, along the path, deeper into the woods, despite not wanting to and ignoring their shouts resounding after me. During my run, I became acutely aware that somebody, or something, was holding pace with me, and over my fear I felt pure ecstasy, I heard snapping branches and what sounded, as odd as it might appear, like whale noises somebody had sped up without changing the pitch. Once, something tackled me from behind, sending me to the ground and sending my glasses flying, before disappearing again in the bushes. I steered off the path and ran into the underbrush, deeper into the woods. Back then I immediately thought about how I could have been so dumb, but today I know it likely wasn't my decision.

After a while, at the edge of a clearing, I, again without meaning to, veered sharply off my chosen path and ran right into a tree, falling stunned to the ground. Over my pain, I felt a sense of triumph. And looking up, across the clearing, I finally got a good look of my pursuers. There they stood, in plain view, not five meters from me on the crest of a hill.

There were two of them, one slightly bigger than the other, but both the size of preteens. They had gray skin with a metallic sheen to it, the smaller one with an ornate olive pattern of intersecting spirals on its front, including the lower portion of his mouth. Both had pot bellies and long, spindly limbs, including legs with additional, reversed knees. Notably, they totally lacked breasts and had clearly visible ribs. Their heads were round, with eyes on the sides so that they looked at me sideways, sometimes jerking their head from one side to the other to look at me from one eye or the other. At the side of their heads, as a continuation from their eye-sockets, there was an indentation running over where a human would have its ears and running further towards the back of their heads. In this indentation, there was a ridge of even oval bumps, which were expanding and contracting as if they were breathing. They had half-open mouths, so I could see that they had a small but quite pointy teeth.

The bigger one beckoned me, and with horror, a helpless witness to the actions of my own body, I raised myself, and despite wanting to run away, felt my body approaching them, one uncoordinated step at a time. The whole time I felt fear, but interjected by ecstasy and even hope; a feeling that everything was going to be alright. But it was overshadowed by malevolent cynicism and amusement. As if.

I wanted to cry out for help, but couldn't. I wanted to run away but felt myself staggering ever closer towards my tormentors. The only thing I could do was weep, which I did uncontrollably. They reacted with feelings of amusement and joy. And hunger. Through my tears, I saw the smaller one jumping up and down excitedly.

Then, from one second to the next, whatever compulsion had come over me was gone, and I fell to my knees. Over my own surprise, I felt surprise, shame and something else-Fear. But this time not my own.

I looked up to see the two creatures, now closer than 2 meters, transfixed on something behind me. Turning, I saw a monster approaching.

It was clearly connected to the two before me (perhaps another caste or another stage in their lifecycle, i.e. an adult), but there were some key differences. First off, it was big, well over 2 meters tall. Its coloration was lighter than the two first ones, almost white. It had a more angular face, with an almost flat structure between its canines, which, like its other teeth, were remarkably sharp. Also, while the first two were gaunt with spindly limbs, the newcomer was covered in thick, ropelike muscle. Perhaps most distinct was the placement of its eyes: While the first two had eyes on the side of their heads, the newcomer's eyes were forward facing, like those of a predator. It also had the same ornate patterns as the smallest one on his jaw. Overall, this one was way more physically imposing than the other two, it was quite clearly dangerous on a basic animalistic level. But it was also, in a way, less grotesque. It also wore clothes.

Yes indeed, the newcomer wore a black t-shirt that seemed strained over what I would describe as an eight pack (as I stated before they lack breasts), and khaki cargo pants that also seemed close to ripping, and only covered his legs to the second knee, leaving almost half a meter of his legs uncovered. He also had a backpack casually slung over one shoulder.

I don't know whether it was it's in a way more human appearance with its forward-facing eyes, it's clothes or a similar effect to the feelings I had felt before, but I know instinctually, despite the fact that it looked overall far more dangerous than the two, that I needn't fear this one.

He crossed the clearing with a few wide strides. How fast it was! It passed by me close enough for me to see that his body was covered in hexagonal scales, and shoot me a quick look before moving on to the two smaller ones.

As before, I felt guilt but also defiance. The larger of the two began talking in the same sped up whale song I had heard before but fell silent after a few moments. The feeling of guilt became stronger, and the feeling of defiance disappeared. The newcomer trust the backpack harshly into its hands, said something in whale song, and the two took off running.

After a while, it turned to me. I felt surprise, confusion and after a while compassion. Again I got the feeling that everything was going to be alright. Only this time there was not a hint of cynicism about it.

It picked up an edged rock, showed it to me, and, with two swift strokes, carved an x into a nearby tree. Then it took off in long strides, and I began hearing pairs of knocks rapidly distancing themselves from me. Moving to the X, I could clearly see the next tree it had thus marked, and moving to this one the next, and, following this path, I arrived back at the campground.

I made a beeline for my tent, passing by the point at which I first felt these feelings. There stood a mobile home, and in front of it, a Caucasian man wearing a black t-shirt and khaki cargo pants stood barefooted and discussed something in a language I didn't understand with a woman. When he saw me, He smiled and waved. When I was almost past the mobile home, I felt a sting of hatred. Turning to the windows in the camper, I saw a guilty looking boy and a bigger girl staring daggers at me.

XOXO Jade