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While guiding a group of young Boy Scouts on a training backpack trip into Hackberry Canyon in the Superstitions we camped under the metal covering of the corral because it was threatening rain. In full darkness three men dressed in full American Indian outfits came over the old road from the west beating drums and chanting. They came down the road past us and the old windmill and continued on downstream to the junction of the two washes. There they lit a campfire and continued their drum beating, chanting and some type of initiation ceremony for one of their party. They ignored our calls for them to join us at the campfire as they passed our campsite but we followed them silently and hopefully unobserved downstream and watched their activities from a distance. Wierd, wierd, wierd.
The boys did not sleep well that night.

I was car camping at Chevelon Lake by myself in the late 1980's. While sleeping outside on my blue cot, in my blue sleeping bag, next to my black car, I awakened at 2:00 am to some invisible force putting pressure on my upper body not letting me sit up. When I finally broke free after seemed like several minutes, but may have been 30 seconds or so, I was a little freaked out. When I looked around, I saw nothing and it was completely quiet and still with not a breath of a breeze blowing. Now it's possible that I could have been dreaming that I was at Chevelon Lake sleeping in my blue sleeping bag on my blue cot, next to my black car. However, it has been my experience that in most dreams, you tend to be doing something else than what you are presently doing, and you are typically in a different place. Needless to say, It was very strange.

Once I was trying to find my way back into the West Clear Creek wilderness on a overcast and drizzly afternoon. I stepped out of my vehicle to look around and immediately stopped in my tracks when I heard a loud piercing scream that sounded like a cross between how a velociraptor might sound and someone grinding metal in a machine shop. I stood there for a few seconds and then heard it again. Knowing that I was in the wilderness, miles from any industrial facilities, I had no idea what could be making those godawful sounds. I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I remember looking back at my vehicle so that I could measure how fast I could get back to it if i needed to make a run for it. I just stood there, frozen for another 5 minutes or so, and just listened. Finally, I heard the screams again, but this time, they were preceded by a barely audible yip or bark. At that point, I was able to relax knowing that the screams I was hearing were most likely being made by coyotes, which have been known to make all sorts of unusual sounds. I have been in very remote areas before and heard what sounded like young girls giggling, but figured it was just coyotes.

Slider wrote:some invisible force putting pressure on my upper body

a succubus!

sounds like your second encounter may have been an elk bugling. they sound sorta like rusty gates being opened.

I've heard others tell of their experiences hearing children laughing at night... and it turning out to be right where a deep canyon lies. Stories of disembodied children's laughter give me the creeps.

Heading up north of the Bay Area this weekend. Hoping for some HiCaWeen-worthy pictures. Perhaps I'll see a UFO or three. I might see a ghoul or ghost. Hopefully I'll see a sasquatch. Witches are probable, and I hope they're friendly. Hopefully the wine I "taste" will lead me to see fall under their spells. Purely for investigative purposes, of course. I don't want anything untoward.

juliachaos wrote:a succubus!

sounds like your second encounter may have been an elk bugling. they sound sorta like rusty gates being opened.

Succubus. That's a good one that I had not previously thought of. I joke with my kids that It was probably an alien abduction, and they respond by saying that would explain everthing about me. It's possible that it could have been an elk, but the time of year (July) was off and it is my experience that elk bugling tends to have a musical quality, whereas this was a raspy, shrieking sound.

Did the succubus strum a guitar and sing "There's got to be a morning after ..." ;)

I have a friend who visits me pretty regularly - he was the chief of the Aravaipa Apaches when his family died in the Camp Grant Massacre, Chief Eskiminzin. I didn't believe in 'spirits' until I read a historical novel about the massacre. Then he showed up, and he's been a pretty frequent visitor ever since.

Now I have to confess - I had to look up the word 'succubus'. Never know what you will learn on this site!!

One time I was hiking behind Jim Lyding at Knoll Lake... he had just eaten a big bag of jerky that had gone bad

Ok, not a scary story, although that depends on your point of view, it may be waaaayyyy scary.....

How many of you use the word "pumpkin" when you text or email your friends??? I'm not talking about PM's on HAZ here either....I cannot count the number of texts or emails I have gotten from HAZ Members where they have used "pumpkin" instead of what they really mean... Joe, you are literally changing the way the Hiking Society talks in real life...How scary is that? I think it is an absolute riot and I laugh every time I get a text or an email with "pumpkin" in it....

Now if that's not a true HAZOWEEN story, then I don't know what is.....

I saw a photo of some skinny guy on the homepage who's face was all round and bloated and it looked like he might explode!

Then I realized it doesn't load on mobile so I'm saved from that horror again! ;)

I miss some of the traditional HAZoween homepage spooky features this year. But I've got my costume!