00:00Back in 2017, I found myself reluctantly agreeing to join the Pioneer Trail hike,
00:07a multi-day trek through the dense Oregon forest. Despite the supposedly scenic route,
00:14a deep-seated unease gnawed at me, a feeling my gut seemed to understand better than I did.
00:21It wasn't nerves or anxiety, but a palpable sense that something was off.
00:26As we set off on our hike, the forest was eerily silent, as if it was holding its breath in anticipation of something sinister.
00:37The sun was hidden behind thick grey clouds, and the air was heavy with the scent of damp leaves and pine sap.
00:45The only sounds were our footsteps on the gravel and the occasional awkward joke from the older teens,
00:51adding to the growing sense of dread that hung in the air like a heavy fog.
00:58We hiked for hours, ten miles that felt like twenty.
01:02At our breakpoint, I sat on a mossy rock and opened a granola bar, but I couldn't eat.
01:09The persistent feeling of being watched, like a pair of unseen eyes boring into my back, wouldn't dissipate.
01:18It was as if the very air around me was alive with unseen malevolence,
01:23intensifying my unease and paranoia with each passing moment.
01:28That first night, we stayed in a ranger's cabin, wooden, old, creaky, and half-swallowed by the forest.
01:37It had no electricity, just battery lanterns and cold running water from a rust-stained sink.
01:45My bunk faced a window that looked out into the woods.
01:49I remember pulling the curtains shut and muttering,
01:51After dinner, we did the usual campfire songs and ghost stories.
01:58Ironically, that part I liked.
02:01But later, back in the cabin,
02:04my stomach turned sour from those spicy takis I'd stupidly inhaled.
02:09I grabbed my flashlight and snuck outside to use the latrine.
02:13That's when I heard it.
02:14The first crack.
02:16A single branch snapped deep in the woods.
02:19Then another.
02:20It's not random.
02:22Not like a squirrel or deer.
02:24It sounded deliberate.
02:26Heavy.
02:27Something big was walking out there.
02:29When I heard the first crack,
02:31my heart skipped a beat.
02:34It wasn't a random sound like a squirrel or a deer.
02:37It was deliberate and heavy.
02:39And it sounded like something big was walking out there.
02:43Then came more cracks.
02:45Closer now.
02:47One after another.
02:48Rhythmic and slow.
02:50Like footsteps.
02:52I pulled myself to the window and parted the curtain just a sliver.
02:58My breath caught in my throat.
03:01About thirty feet from the cabin,
03:03a figure materialized between the trees.
03:05It was tall, over six feet easily, and thin in a way that defied nature.
03:13Its limbs were too long, its posture too rigid, as if it was struggling to imitate something human.
03:20But the most terrifying part?
03:22It's eyes.
03:25Two searing red orbs burned from its gaunt face.
03:29They didn't glow like animal eyes reflecting light, as if they were alive, pulsating with a sinister energy.
03:36I instinctively ducked down, my whole body trembling with fear.
03:41My mind raced with the question, what the hell did I just see?
03:46What the hell did I just see?
03:48I shook my bunkmate awake, Jeremy.
04:22Clearly disoriented, mirroring my fear and uncertainty.
04:27The fear of the unknown was palpable in the air, thick and suffocating,
04:31as we both struggled to grasp what we had just witnessed.
04:36I need you to look.
04:38I saw something out there.
04:40He sighed but leaned toward the window.
04:44There's nothing.
04:46He froze.
04:47His voice stopped cold.
04:50We didn't say another word.
04:52We slid back under our sleeping bags,
04:54shut the blinds,
04:55and prayed it wouldn't come closer.
04:58But it did.
04:59The snapping branches returned,
05:03louder now.
05:04The floorboards creaked.
05:06Something was circling the cabin.
05:08We heard soft, scraping sounds,
05:11fingernails on wood.
05:13At one point,
05:14something brushed the outside wall behind my bunk,
05:17slow and deliberate.
05:19I held my breath so long I nearly passed out.
05:23There was a low, growling hum at one point.
05:27Jeremy clutched his flashlight
05:28but didn't turn it on.
05:31We both knew light might draw it closer.
05:34It stayed outside for what felt like hours.
05:37Then, silence.
05:40At dawn, it was gone.
05:43Outside, branches were broken everywhere.
05:46Deep, uneven footprints pressed into the muddy ground.
05:50Too long, too narrow,
05:51not like anything we'd ever seen.
05:54One counsellor said it might have been a sick elk.
05:58Another suggested a prank by local teens.
06:01But none of it made sense.
06:03And the prints?
06:04They just stopped mid-trail as it vanished.
06:07That night, no one slept well.
06:10Even the counsellors seemed tense.
06:14Around midnight,
06:15a girl from Cabin B screamed.
06:18Said she saw something watching her from the tree line.
06:21Something tall, pale and crawling.
06:23Jeremy and I never told anyone the whole truth.
06:28They wouldn't believe us.
06:30Hell,
06:31I wouldn't have believed it
06:32if I hadn't seen it myself.
06:35The last night before we left,
06:38I swear I heard breathing outside my window.
06:41Not wind.
06:42Not snoring.
06:44Breathing.
06:46Shallow.
06:46Hungry.
06:47I stayed perfectly still until sunrise.
06:52When I looked again,
06:54scratches had appeared on the windowsill.
06:56Deep.
06:57Fresh.
06:58Since that summer,
07:00I haven't hiked again.
07:02I won't go near the Pioneer Trail.
07:04Because whatever we saw,
07:06it wasn't an animal.
07:07It wasn't human.
07:09It was watching us.
07:10And it still is.
07:12Sometimes I feel it.
07:14Even now,
07:15years later.
07:16Like something followed me back.
07:19It waits.
07:20Just beyond the tree line.
07:22Just outside the window.
07:24Waiting for me to come back.
07:26But I never will.
07:28And it still is.
07:30Sometimes,
07:31I feel it.
07:33Even now,
07:34years later.
07:36Like something followed me back.
07:38It waits.
07:40Just beyond the tree line.
07:42Just outside the window.
07:44Waiting for me to come back.
07:46But I never will.
07:48I made that decision that night.
07:50And it's a promise I intend to keep.
07:52All right.
07:52I don't know.
07:53I just want to.
07:53I'm going to try it.
07:54I don't know.
07:54I don't know.
07:55I'm going to try it.
07:55I'm going to try it.
07:55I just want to.
07:56I'm going to try it.
07:57To be there.
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