“Creepiest backpacking story? Hearing a woman cry ‘help me!’ on a rural trail”

Hi everyone. I just had a relatively creepy backpacking experience this last weekend which got me curious about what other folks have encountered while backpacking.

Follow-up comment by u/hammsbeer4life:

I've already posted this one on a different sub a year or two ago. So I'll just copy/paste it

A half hour from my house in the state forest there are backpacking shelters you can rent. Its like a single group campsite with a crude cabin with no door, a fire ring, and a single pit toilet outhouse. They are in the middle of nowhere, several miles apart. Not like a campground at all. Very secluded. There are 5 sites on a 32 mile trail.

About 15-20 years ago my parent's friends were staying out there partying for a few days. We hiked out there for a day trip to visit.

I was a kid, maybe 12 or so. I was hiking the trails around the campsite with my dog. I heard a very distinct cry for help "HELP ME!" Loud. Plain as day.

It was a soft higher pitched voice, either a woman or an older child. I didn't hesitate, I started running towards the voice with my dog. (Bad idea, should have grabbed an adult) my dog was acting weird as we searched for a half hour and came up empty. Nothing. Nobody out there. She seemed reluctant to continue further and we turned around.

I told my parents and the other adults at the camp. They just kinda laughed it off. I was distraught the rest of the day.

Fast forward a couple decades later to last year. I'm solo backpacking, which I do alot. I decided to rent that very same spot for my self. It was my halfway destination and place to sleep on a 15 mile round trip. Things are going good. I made camp and fired up the single burner stove. It was dark, almost time for bed, enjoying my delicious ramen noodles.

This uneasy feeling abruptly came over me. A feeling ive never really had before and can't fully describe. My body tensed up, I got cold. My hair stood up on the back of my neck. Right then and there I suddenly needed to leave. Idk why, just had to. I did not have time to properly pack. I half ass started stuffing my gear back into my pack. Then my LED headlamp with relatively fresh (or so I thought) batteries died. Theres absolutely no moon. Its dark. Very dark.

I pulled a tiny 50 lumen streamlight style pen light from my pocket and finished packing. I had a large heavy duty contractor garbage bag that I always keep packed away to use for a makeshift rain poncho. I finished stuffing my tent and sleeping bag in the garbage bag.

I hustled out of the woods with my poorly organized pack on my back and my garbage bag of belongings over my shoulder. The strange thing about my story was it wasn't quiet in the woods when things got "weird." I could hear a pack of coyotes yipping and going nuts in the distance when I was hiking out. But nothing else really.

Here I am. A grown ass man, who considers him self a proficient outdoorsman. Sprinting out of the woods? For what? From what? The dark?

As a legal permit holder I always carry a sidearm when doing long solo trips in the woods or hunting. People say with a good holster you forget the thing is on you.... well I was definitely very aware of the sidearm on my way out. Haha

I made it to my car in serious record time. I loaded up and sped off. It took me a while to shake the feeling. On the way back I did get lost, but google maps helped me backtrack to the fork in the trail.

I completely 100% forgot about the voice calling for help incident at that very spot a decade or so earlier.

Then it hit me once I got home and unpacked in the middle of the night. I remembered that voice, looking for that person screaming for help. Me and my dog. I got knots in my stomach.

For reasons I cant explain.. it all kinda started to make sense to me. Like there was some sort of correlation.

I do not venture into that area anymore unless I'm with other people. Something strange is or was out there, or something really bad happened there in the past.

I know this story isnt that crazy, but most of the real ones aren't. I looked online into missing persons or whatever and didn't come up with anything significant. There have been a couple murders but those predated my experience by 10+ years and although were in the same state land, they were not what I'd consider near by.

Perhaps something was attempting to lure me somewhere as a kid. That same thing was enough to tip me off as an adult. Maybe I was just a dumb kid with an active imagination. Maybe as an adult the stress of life got to me as I was left to my thoughts in the wilderness and I had a panic attack.

Who knows really?

Katie’s comments:

• Location: likely Wisconsin