Going Deep Into the Woods

== The following story you are about to read is the personal recollection of someone’s encounter while venturing somewhere they shouldn’t have. I have taken the liberty to post it somewhere more noticeable such as this wiki, and other notable sites to share this person’s experience. You will not find this anywhere or from anyone else. ==    

My name is Isaac. I’m 17 and I live with my girlfriend and her parents. Weird right? How many stories do you hear about guys at 17 living with their girlfriends and their parents. Call me lucky, but after my parents treated me like complete shit and neglected my needs, I ran away and went to live with her when I was 14. I’m damn lucky her parents were as understanding as they are, lucky they were damn good people. Plus I think I deserved this little amount of happiness I have. My girlfriend’s name is Olivia and that’s all I’ll mention of her. I live in small town rural America, pretty specific right. Heh heh, yea that’s for privacy sake.

   

So during my last week of summer break before my dreaded Junior year. I was on youtube watching everything from Game Theory, to ShoddyCast. With also a bunch of stuff in between. I didn’t have anything to do that night beings Olivia went with her mom to go get groceries, and her dad was working late. Around 6 pm, I grabbed my hitter I hid in Olivia’s room to do some smoking. No I’m not a drug fiend but I do enjoy the feeling that weed gives me, and no Olivia’s parents do not know I smoke. Then I had the bright idea of being courageous and looking up the scariest shit I could find on the internet.

   

I came across Slenderman, the Goatman, the Rake, and my favorite having to do with gaming; BEN. I thought of when I had played Majora’s Mask with my cousin, and all the time that statue scared the hell out of me. But to have it follow you all the time and screech like that. That shit would scar anyone who played it. There was also a story about three people who go searching for a supposable witch in the woods. During their time they encounter; Weird piles of stones during the day. Strange sounds as well as something messing with their tent at night. And these so called ‘voodoo ornaments’ hanging from trees. The conclusion of their story was horribly confusing and strange, but I’ll leave that for you to go see and experience. It was called ‘the blair witch project’ or something like that.

   

I was glad to find out it was all fake, but you know what’s not fake. Spirits, no really. I fully believe in the supernatural, I believe that entities of the afterlife can contact you. Whether they can harm you or not is a different story, and a heated debate I’ve had with people a number of times. So after watching something about some dude that got lost in the woods due to an unexplainable, thing. Maybe it was because I was high but I had thought, “Alright let's go check this out. I’m feeling pretty brave and want to see for myself if this is true or not.” I hadn’t anything planned for the rest of the night, and I get bored super easily. The video said that it prefers lurking in woodland areas, what a coincidence since I live just about nine to ten miles from a woodland sprawl.

   

I rounded up a flashlight and a knife, if I was gonna go out in the woods I had to have some means to protect myself. I’m maybe 6’1” but I’m nowhere near strong, I can however throw a mean right hook. So I left the house, got in my car and drove outside of town and into the country. I passed an old abandon farm to the local woodland area just down the road from the farm. People would come out here to go mushroom hunting or hunt animals during open season but not me. I was planning on being the brave, or naive and stupid guy with a thirst for the truth. Kind of like ghost hunting only for a malicious entity in the woods, by myself.

   

Getting to a little clearing in front of the woods. I got out of my car and into my trunk to grab some rope, I initially was going to use it for building a treehouse for my girlfriend’s nephew. Her oldest sister had a boy about 6 years old, and was a pretty adventurous little kid. It would of been a nice gesture but I never got the time to do it. With the rope tied around the nearest tree to my car which wasn’t really that close, I had started off into the woods at night. Now I can already hear everyone who reads or hears about my story. “YOU ARE A GODDAMN IDIOT!” Maybe you’re right, or maybe I was meant to go into the woods that night after all. Now these woods aren’t that deep, but they’re by no means consider a small forest-brush area.

   

Unfortunately someone has ‘reportedly died’ out here due to getting lost and running in circles because the dipshit had no navigational skill nor the means to find where he was. He also wasn’t smart enough to take a compass or a map. That was the common explanation some say for him disappearing. Others say though he was crazy or the reclusive type, and fled civilization to be alone out in the woods. But that was back in like the 90’s. Thankfully I have the conventional means to not be a complete ass and get lost in the woods. I turned on my flashlight and looked around for anything that would possibly spook me. Maybe deep down I was just looking for a cheap thrill.

   

For an hour or two, I wandered the woods going in and around soooo many trees. I found raccoons, opossums, a snake, and the occasional deer, but nothing of a supernatural being. The scariest thing I came across in that time was what I assumed was a dead coyote. It seemed dead until I walk past it only to have it scamper away while facing my back and make me jump a little. I began walking back when I saw a pair of eyes that were too high to be an average animal. I thought with the flashlight on it would have scared off most of the deer nearby, so I crept closer to the two bright beads reflecting off my flashlight.

   

As I made my way closer, I started to make out a silhouette of something human like. I began to shake uncontrollably, my blood started to run cold and I felt more fear in that moment than in my entire life prior. I stopped as soon as I noticed the figure, as still and unwavering as a statue. I turned off my light hoping I could just slip away unnoticed. Bad move, in an instant I could feel something right in front of me. My heart skipped and I shut my eyes as tight as I could make them. “Holy shit” I thought to myself “What the fuck have I done?”  I turned on the flashlight and flipped backwards when I saw what was in front of me.

   

It was a man; Tall, and rabid looking with long shaggy hair and a beard. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips were dark and chapped. He smelled and looked like he had been in the woods for a long time and had lost his sense of humanity. I sat on the ground where I had fell, frozen and unable to make a sound but my heavy breathing. He stared at me like I was something he had never seen before. Then he spoke.

   

“You lost boy?”, he had a raspy tone to his voice like he had been screaming for hours.

   

“I am now.” I said as calmly as I could possibly muster without screaming at him.

   

“What are you doing out here in these woods?”

   

“I’m was looking for something.”

   

“What might that be?”

   

“My dog.”

   

I said dog because I didn’t want him thinking I was as crazy as he looked for seeking out  a ‘creature in the woods’, even though I had found one. This tall, ravenous looking man was my goal but I hadn’t found him. Instead, he found me.

   

“Well you best be heading on out of here, if your dog had come by I’d of seen it.” growled the man.

   

“Who are you?” I asked now gaining back my sense of reality and curiosity.

   

“What’s it to you?” the man snapped at me.

   

“I was just wondering you look like you’ve been out here for a long time.”

   

“It’s none of your business. Now are you going to leave or are you going to have to get lost in this here forest.”

   

He had a menacing tone when he said ‘get lost in this here forest.’ Like he was going to be responsible for me getting lost in these woods, and nobody would find me ever again. I never heard anyone mention a thing about a guy living in these woods. If nobody has seen this guy before then who knows what he is capable of when it comes to hiding in the woods. I started to get up slowly and carefully so as to not alarm the man with any sudden move. Didn’t want him to think I was going to pull something.

   

“Ok, I’ll go. Sorry to have troubled you. I just need to follow my rope out of here.”

   

He had started to laugh through his nose just as I had finished talking and walked past him. I ignored it and kept walking, only a true idiot would stop and ask ‘What’s so funny?’. I had put one foot in front of the other faster and faster as I made tracks away from him. I was probably 10 feet from him when I heard him laughing out loud. At this point I pulled my knife out and started walking even faster following my rope I had wrapped around my waist. “Thank greatness for this rope” I thought, walking further and further away from the man.

   

For ten minutes I followed my rope hoping I was getting closer to my car and farther from this mad man. But as I kept walking briskly I could STILL hear the man. It’s as if he had gotten louder and louder the more I increased the distance between us, either that or he was following me. At this point I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t have a phone. (Yes as stupid as this sounds I didn’t have a phone. I never had mommy or daddy buy me one.) Finally the rope had begun pulling up as I approached the tree it was tied to. ‘What the fuck?’ I thought “Why is it tied here?’. The rope didn’t lead me to the tree near my car outside the woods, it just lead me to a tree someWHERE in the woods. I checked the rope around the tree to find it had been cut, the end tied to me was wrapped around this tree. As for the end tied near my car? Who the hell knows what happened to that.

   

“What the fuck man!?” I shouted out. “Why’d you cut my fucking rope!?”

   

With the man laughing what seemed like even louder and echoing, I was furious. At this point my unhindering fear began to give way to unbridled rage. I kept my knife at the ready and my flashlight up just in case. Semi-prepared for this guy to come out from a tree and jump me, I looked down at the rope. He could have cut it at any point during the time I spent walking deep into these woods. The rope is pretty damn long, made more for climbing mountains instead of building treehouses. It wouldn’t of really tugged much if he had cut it and tied to a different tree while I was sightseeing. “Shit, my car could be anywhere at this point. What the fuck am I gonna do?”

   

Luckily I remembered had a compass with me, again I would have to be a true blue idiot if I didn’t have it. I gave a sigh of relief and looked down at the compass. I knew that town was west of the forest, so as long as I continued west I would find a road or something to guide me home. When I came back to my senses I had noticed the man had stopped laughing. He is out here somewhere watching me, and I can’t see him. This was where I felt as if I was in mortal danger, that if he were to find me then nobody else would ever again. So I made my way west, every second, every step, every moment I was in these woods. I could feel a presence watching me, whether it was him or something else. I felt so uneasy and pissed that I could go mad myself.

   

It seemed like I had been walking in the same direction for about two hours since I encountered the crazy bastard. During that time I listen to what would be the pleasant sounds of the woods at night. Crickets chirping and owls hooting along with a light breeze through the forest. Now I was pissed off because I was still in these woods and I was listening to this, when I could had just stayed home and wait for Olivia. “If I ever go camping again it’ll be too soon”, I thought. I listened to the sound of coyotes howling in the distance it made me jump again. “Shit, that’s the last thing I need to worry about right now.” Then, I heard the man howling. It was as if he was all around me, still watching. I could distinctly pick out which howling belong to coyotes and which belong to him. His howling continued to get louder like he was getting closer to me, just like his goddamn laughing.

   

I didn’t hesitate before breaking into a mad dash with hopes of getting further away from him. As I was sprinting I swore that I briefly saw him standing next to a tree with a coyote by his feet, howling as I passed through the trees. I kept running, and prayed to anything that would answer for my legs could carry me to the edge of these woods. Then man had ceased his unnecessary noise once more. But I didn’t stop running, from either him or exhaustion I was going to die. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t the first option.

   

It had been too long since I had entered the woods, and still nothing around but the sound of the forest at night. If you could even call it a forest, it was more like an unending labyrinth with the sole purpose of driving me insane. I had collapse from running and laid on the ground trying to catch my breath. I stared up at the treetops and could see an opening through to the sky, and it was dazzled with stars. It reminded me of when Olivia and I had laid on her trampoline one night looking at all the stars. She ended up falling asleep in my arms while I was talking about the north star, but I didn’t mind it. I was just happy to have her with me. It wasn’t until I could envision her smile that I decided then, that I wasn’t going to stop until she was back in my arms.

   

All of the sudden I heard a scream, it snapped me back from my light dreaming of Olivia. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from but it reminded me of her. “It can’t be!” I thought. I got up and walked westward some more, figuring my mind or the man were playing tricks on me again. In the distance I could see a clearing. I shined my light around, and a reflection of dark blue car’s headlights shined back at me. With a smile slowly growing on my face, I began jogging toward the clearing. Thoughts of comfort, warmth, and the embrace of Olivia flood my mind. But as soon as those thoughts came, they left. At the edge of the woods I could faintly see that the man was standing in the clearing.

   

“Why are you following me!” I yelled hoping to get an answer.

   

I could see that the bearded man had something in his hand and a jug by his feet. I stepped closer and closer until I tripped, something had caught my leg. I look back at what tripped me, it was then I learned what had happen to the end of the rope that was tied near my car. Tied from the tree I had wrapped it too, it was tied to another tree. It connected a line low enough for me to miss it but high enough to take my legs out from underneath me. I look forward at the man.

   

“Is this your idea of a joke asshole?”

   

The man tilt his head then smiled, he looked at me then turn his attention to the car. I could see that the driver side window was busted out and that there was something wet running down the car door. I looked back at the man who was holding up a lit lighter in his hand. He looked back at me with a wide toothy smile, his eyes telling me ‘watch this’. With the flick of his wrist he tossed the lighter into my car. My 1996 Grand Am went up in flames, with it my hopes of being able to go home. He ran toward the front of my car and climbed on top still ablaze.

   

“You see!” the man’s voice now sounding like he had just clear his throat and had always sounded like Rob Zombie “Is this what you’ve come so far to find?”

   

“What the fuck are you doing you goddamn psychopath!?”

   

“You wanted to find something that went bump in the night? Something spooky and unnatural? Well this is it buddy, I’m your slenderman, your rake. Your. Worst. Nightmare.”

   

I stood there in shock at what this crazy vagabond looking bastard from the woods was saying. How in the hell did he know what my reasons were for coming out here? Still standing on my car he asked:

   

“Still interested? Do you want to see more?”

   

“Your nothing but a crazy motherfucker who lives in the woods!” I shouted at him

“Ah now that you see you can’t believe, is that it? Very well then.”

   

In that moment he jumped off the car I wonder what the hell he could possibly be up to now. He quickly glanced at me and then proceeded to stick his head in the window of the car. Causing his beard and hair to catch on fire. The only thing in my mind at that moment was, “What. The. Fuck.” He pulled it out and started walking and screaming at me. He was beginning to send shivers down my spine, who in the hell was this guy? Satan?

   

“I know who you are Isaac! I know where you are from, and I know why you’ve come here!”

   

“You're fucking crazy man! You need help!”

   

“Then come Isaac, come help me!”

   

He crept closer and closer to me, my brain saying run! But I was petrified. Never in all my life had I seen, heard, or thought of something like this! He was but three feet from me. I could smell his hair and flesh burning, I could see his eyes glowing, and I could feel the heat emanating and surrounding his head. My eyes started to tear up as one thought kept repeating in my head: He’s going to kill me. I closed my eyes once more preparing for the worst.

   

My mind began bring up memories of Olivia, and all the the times I had spent with her came rushing back to me. All of the good moments we shared were to be nothing but what they are now, memories. As he drew near my mind twitched, I don’t know how to describe it exactly. But I could feel a sudden rush come over me. It was like primal instinct was taking over, like it was time to either fight or die. Within a split second I thrusted of my arm and stuck my fist toward his chest. When I removed my hand and stepped back, I hadn’t believed what I saw at first. The action showed that my instincts made me stab this tall inferno crazed mad man.

   

“You little ….” the man said.

   

“What the hell?!” I thought, “Did I just stab him?” I couldn’t believe I had made the notion to do so. “What was that?” The man had started spitting up blood and his voice returned to the raspy tone I first heard.

   

“You’re either braver or worse than I had thought, you decided to reject what you see. You decided to spit in the face of my fearful presence. Well done Isaac, you are what you always wanted to be: Courageous.”

   

I must have blacked out after listening to the man call me courageous, because I couldn’t remember a thing afterwards. Still can’t even to this day, just seeing my car on fire and falling into darkness. When I woke up, I was in the hospital with Olivia sitting next to me. She was hunched over with her hands on her head. When I had moved my hand she noticed, and looked up at me. I could tell she had been crying due to her makeup being all smeared, and she sniffed when her eyes met mine.

   

“You’re awake!” she said in excitement jumping from her chair and on me.

   

“What’s going on how’d I get here?” I had asked trying to calm her down.

   

“I was so worried about what happened to you. When they said they found you; you were just off the road in a clearing outside of the woods. A couple miles down from the old Robinson farm. I waited for you to come home Thursday night after mom and I got back. I noticed you weren’t in our room so I assumed you went to go hangout with Brock or Dylan, but you never left a note like you normally would. So I waited all day Friday for you to get back, but you never did. So I call sheriff Raleigh and told him you had gone missing. It wasn’t until Tuesday you were found, you’ve been here since.” Olivia had explained.

   

“What’s today?”

   

“Friday, school starts Tuesday. You think you’ll be okay in time to go?”

   

“Yea” I laugh slightly at her asking “I’ll be just fine as long as you’re by my side.”

   

“Ok casanova.” she said blushing and smiling at me. “But hey.”

   

“What?”

   

“What the hell were you doing? When they found you your car was burnt up, and there was blood on the ground next to you. The sheriff thought it was yours until they brought you here. Why were you out there? Whose blood was that, and why was your car on fire?”

   

She had the most concern look I’d ever seen on her face. I almost couldn’t believe everything I was just told. I myself started to question just what exactly happened. Did I seriously pass out for a week? Did I really see a man in the wood, and had he set his own head on fire? Or did I imagine the whole thing? I took one last look at her and said:

   

“I’m sorry babe, I can’t remember. The only thing I can recall was pulling off the road, walking into the woods to take a piss real quick. When I came back my car was on fire and I was knocked out. Couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the guy who did it.”

   

“Oh my God!” she gasped “You could have been killed!”

   

“Yea …. maybe.” I said as I began staring out my room window.

I decided to not tell her or anyone else at the time what really happened. I thought it would be best for everyone including myself if I didn’t say that there was a psychotic bastard who lived in the woods. Who chased me all through the night trying to give me a heart attack. Who ended up torching not only my car but his head as well. I don’t know if anyone would believe me or not, but oh well. It’ll have to be a burden I bear. It’s been about six months since that night and I still have nightmare about the man to this day. I can still see those glowing orange eyes in my sleep. I guess somethings are better left unspoken ….. until now. If you are reading this know that this maybe interpreted as a some creepy story you just came across on the internet, but I will always remember being a fool for going deep into the woods.

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