In today’s entry of True Scary Stories, reader John R. tells us about something he encountered while on a hike.
What was it exactly?
Read on…
Photo credit: flickr/36028812@N07
True Scary Stories: It Came From the Fog
Updated 2/9/2020 – There are things that happen in everyday life that we are unable to explain.
Images, sounds and movements that frighten our psyche, and question if what witnessed is actually happened or just part of our wild imagination.
One of these events happened to me last month.
I live in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I like to take frequent hikes through the trails close by to my apartment.
I’ve always had this fascination with nature.
It’s always been a personal hobby of mine.
I love taking in landscapes of forests, absorbing the peaceful environment around me.
Usually I take walks with friends who share my passion, but often times I feel like they can slow me down.
A lot of my buddies aren’t in the best physical shape, so they can often complain and move kind of slowly.
On this particular day I got home from work around 5:00 and decided to take a hike by myself.
I set off on the trail a little later.
It was cool outside, so I decided to jog the hike which was about 4 miles in length.
I passed by a few other people on the trail, but not many.
There didn’t seem to be a lot of people hiking this day.
As I neared the end of the first pass it started to get a little darker out, and I stopped seeing anyone on the trail.
For some reason even though I didn’t see anybody, I got the eerie sense that I was being followed by something.
I started to quicken my pace.
Photo credit: flickr/backnext
After the halfway point dusk was upon me, and out of nowhere it started to get foggy out.
The air around me started to turn into a dark, gray haze.
At first it was just a thin layer, but as my hike continued it started to get so bad that I couldn’t see 6 feet in front of me.
My heart rate started jacking up with the feeling of something still following me through the fog.
I wanted to turn around to convince myself I was imagining things, but I was too afraid to stop.
Sick of feeling paranoid, I came to a sudden stop.
I turned around and there through the haze was a woman standing a few yards away from me.
I knew there was no one else on the trail as I didn’t pass anybody after the halfway point.
Panicking, I started running as fast as I could back to my car.
I looked back again and the woman was still the same distance away.
She just stood there, looking right through me.
I just kept running, hoping to get away from the mysterious figure.
My heart was pounding, sweat was dripping from my forehead as I breathed heavy.
I was about to have a panic attack until I noticed the fog was suddenly disappearing around me.
I looked back and the mysterious woman had vanished.
I kept running quickly to the end of the trail, finally reaching my car.
Ever since that day I have been too afraid to take hikes alone.
That was one month ago.
I’ve replayed the events in my head, trying to convince myself I’m not crazy.
I don’t know what the mysterious figure in the fog wanted, but I feel in my bones that I barely escaped with my life that day.
– John R.
What’s the scariest thing that’s happened to you while hiking?
Tell us in the comments below!