3 Disturbing TRUE Horror Stories

Dark Files Midnight tales

Welcome to Dark Files Midnight Tales, where the shadows whisper and reality hides something far more terrifying than fiction. In this episode, we uncover 3 disturbing TRUE horror stories that will chill you to the bone.  From eerie encounters on lonely highways to real-life supernatural hauntings, these true American horror stories will leave you questioning what’s real — and what lurks in the dark.  🔥 Subscribe for more real horror stories, creepy mysteries, and midnight tales! 🕒 Watch till the end for the scariest story of all… if you dare.  #DarkFiles #HorrorStories #TrueHorror #AmericanHorrorStory2025 #CreepyTales #MidnightTales #ScaryStories #RealHorror #Paranormal #CreepyEncounters #HauntedPlaces #UrbanLegends #DisturbingStories #CreepyNarration #TrueEvents #Mystery #DarkStories #Horror2025

Transcript

00:00this experience happened to me in 2020 the world was shutting down because of covid and everyone

00:15was cooped up in their homes being an avid backpacker and camper i used covid as an excuse

00:21to travel the different national parks and camp out in different places one of those places was

00:26a creek in rocky mountain national park colorado without giving away my identity or revealing too

00:31much personal information let's just say something happened with my job back in 2019 that caused my

00:37reputation to kind of suffer a bit and a good number of people despised me i had to change

00:42apartments get a new phone number and eventually quit my job the mistake i made caused a good number

00:48of people to lose a lot of money so the storm was expected i just didn't know how far it would go

00:53i was literally getting harassed by different random numbers for a while some texts were even

00:59threatening i didn't know if they were from the same person or different people each time but i

01:05considered the possibility that it was one person texting me from a bunch of different numbers

01:10for a while it seemed to stop and i was grateful that people seemed to lose interest or just move

01:15on i wasn't working around this time i was taking time to myself hence another reason i was traveling

01:21around to different national parks i drove the three hours to rocky mountain national park parked

01:27my truck and started my hike up the trail to the creek there was nobody else there i'm sure that was

01:32because this was right when the lockdown started and people were taking it very seriously and not

01:37leaving their houses that and it was also still the winter time there was a thin sheet of snow on the

01:43ground hard enough that it made that loud crunching sound with every footstep after a little while

01:48i made it to the creek and it wasn't frozen it was still flowing it was incredibly peaceful and this

01:54was a detox i needed from the stresses of my life at the time i found a place a little ways off the

02:00path to set up camp after the tent was set up i chopped up some wood started a fire i cooked some

02:06sausages on the stove then i started reading my book by the fire after finishing a few chapters it was

02:12getting dark out thank god for headlamps i rolled a j and started smoking it after a few hits i felt

02:20my phone start going off honestly apart from my family i don't have a lot of people texting me so i

02:26pulled out my phone from my jacket pocket and saw a bunch of texts from an unknown number my heart

02:31skipped a beat when i realized it was happening again the texts were from a number with the 203 area code

02:37which i looked up to be connecticut whoever it was texted me saying how's your camping going buddy

02:43the second text said it's beautiful out here the third text said i see why you came up here

02:50my default reaction was to respond who is this if they simply left it at how's the camping going

02:56i would have assumed it was a family member but they were sending messages as if they were here with me

03:01the weed had already entered my system and i was definitely high

03:05this did not help my anxiety one bit i felt extremely paranoid and started looking around me

03:11standing up and doing a complete 360 looking in every direction out to the increasingly darkening woods

03:17i went to get my p365 handgun from my bag just to make me feel safer usually i'd put a fire out before

03:24calling it a night but as paranoid as i was feeling now the thought of being in total darkness freaked me

03:29out i went into the tent and crawled onto my sleeping bag i stared at my phone at the texts

03:36waiting for a response which didn't come minutes dragged on and i just wanted the weed to wear off

03:42honestly i still had my headlamp on so i tried to continue where i left off in my book but between

03:48being high and my mind being stuck on those texts i was kidding myself thinking i could read

03:53i decided to just watch youtube videos on my phone to pass the time i didn't feel comfortable going

03:59to sleep just yet i was watching some murder documentary on youtube i know a pretty interesting

04:05choice considering the setting and when i least expected it i got another text a response to my

04:11question before they responded doesn't matter anymore my heart started racing all over again

04:18i replied back how did you know i'm camping but once again no response after this the anxiety of

04:25this situation was weighing heavier and heavier on me was this a prank by a friend or family member

04:31or was this one of those people harassing me again but if it was the latter how would they

04:35know i'm camping that's the really uncomfortable part i managed to kill an hour just watching videos

04:41on my phone and i noticed the glow from the fire outside was growing dimmer and dimmer as the fire

04:46died down to almost nothing in the winter time without the sound of bugs the woods are dead

04:52silent apart from wind on a windy night the second a video would stop playing the silence would become

04:58deafening usually i'd embrace the peace but my peace was completely disturbed because of these texts

05:05something then broke the silence the unmistakable sound of human footsteps in the snow

05:10they approached my tent until they were only maybe six feet from outside the tent then the footsteps

05:17stopped i had the gun tightly gripped in my hand ready to turn the safety off there was suddenly a

05:24flash from outside it looked like someone briefly shined a flashlight at the tent or they took a picture

05:30i had my answer soon enough i heard the person walk away now before their footsteps slowly faded out to

05:36the silence and as i expected to happen in the back of my mind my phone dinged and vibrated and that

05:42number sent me a photo the photo was of my tent following that was a text that said have a good

05:49night's sleep i can't explain it but suddenly it felt like i completely snapped out of the remainder of

05:55my height and a bout of adrenaline and confidence overwhelmed me i unzipped the tent and shot two rounds

06:01into the air and the sound of footsteps running away in the snow in the not so far distance told me that

06:07it worked and scared the person off but it also disturbed me even more that that would mean they

06:11were still hiding somewhere in the distance watching i screamed a threat into the air and climbed back

06:17inside my tent i believe it worked because there were no more texts and no more sounds of footsteps

06:23i was awake for hours after simply because the occurrence completely woke me up i felt like i drank

06:29three cups of coffee eventually i did fall asleep and waking up to morning sunlight was a huge relief

06:36whoever followed me there was not ready for me to pull a gun i definitely don't seem the type of

06:40person that would own a gun and i know that that was my first time shooting that gun since buying it

06:46and in fact my only time to this day whoever had been texting me harassing me and apparently stalking me

06:52apparently decided to back off when they found out i had a gun because almost five years later now

06:57and i haven't been bothered still it was a nightmarish night and i can't imagine how

07:02differently it might have turned out if i wasn't armed

07:16during my childhood every year my family would have a tradition where we'd all go up to northern

07:21michigan for a weekend in october our uncle jim used to own a four acre property up there the house

07:27on the property could fit a lot of people with five bedrooms and three bathrooms two bedrooms were set

07:33up for my cousins and my siblings so my brother and sister in one room and our four cousins in

07:38another room the other rooms were for all of our parents my uncle jim has always been a big hunter and

07:44fisherman he'd go on camping trips specifically for hunting all around the country my dad has gone camping

07:50with him a few times even though he's an animal lover and would never harm a fly part of the four

07:55acres that my uncle owned was a big chunk of forest he marked a line of trees with red paint to mark the

08:01property line beyond that was just forest owned by the county i don't know the nearest house in that

08:07direction was probably miles away me my brother adam and my cousins jake and joe all came up with an

08:13idea at lunch when our dads were talking about hunting we wanted to go camping in the woods that night

08:19our dads were on board with it they were definitely already kind of drunk so more likely to say yes

08:24to stuff our moms weren't as on board but they didn't directly say no so my dad and uncle jim took

08:31the four of us into the woods with a tent my girl cousins and sister were not involved in this it was

08:36just us boys they let us into the woods and when joey the youngest of us started complaining that it's

08:42too far they started laughing that's how our dads are when they're together especially when they drink

08:48they loved messing with us as kids speaking of ages i'm oldest at the time i was around 13

08:55adam and jake were around 10 and joe was around 9. we went beyond the property line as there was the

09:01small clearing in the woods with a bunch of soft green mossy looking stuff that my uncle referred

09:06to as deer beds i'm pretty sure he said it was perfect for a campsite and that he's used it before

09:12my dad and uncle jim kind of gave us a half drunk lesson on setting up a tent

09:17they made us help out so that it wasn't just them doing all the work

09:20it was a really big tent big enough for four people especially kids once it was set up we put

09:27our sleeping bags inside we did this during the day because obviously it was infinitely easier

09:32than doing it at night after all of that we went back to the house and played games outside until

09:37dinner time at dinner our moms again expressed that they weren't fans of this idea that we were too

09:43young to be out in the woods alone our dads insisted that we'd be fine and i remember

09:48my dad making a joke that we'd be close enough for them to hear our screams if something were to go

09:52wrong it wasn't until later on that our dads led us back into the woods to the tent we all had

09:59flashlights and extra blankets since it was cold at night i also brought a deck of uno cards for us to

10:04play when we all got situated in the tent my dad and uncle jim left back to the house we were suddenly

10:11alone in the woods honestly we weren't as close to the house as you think we were deep enough into

10:17the woods where you couldn't see any light from the house we started playing uno for a while i'd say

10:23half an hour at least playing uno is actually a really good time killer it passes the time really

10:29well the tent was lit up by our flashlights arranged in a circle all was fun and swell until we heard a

10:36scream in the distance it sounded like a girl's scream we all went silent and looked at one another

10:44with the same faces i then remembered that fox's screams sound like the scream of a woman so i told

10:50everyone that i saw how freaked out joe was especially but my statement calmed everyone down

10:57we continued to play uno i actually won like every single round at that point no one had mentioned

11:03the scream again it was most likely out of all of our minds but it happened again and much louder and

11:10closer this time this time it sounded a lot more human we all went silent again this time even i was

11:20freaked out joe looked like he was going to cry i told everyone to turn their flashlights off

11:27we crawled to our respective sleeping bags and sat in the darkness none of us had the courage to run

11:32out into the woods back to the house it's that fear of running and being chased and just catching the

11:37attention of whatever was out there with the sound of our footsteps somehow hiding inside of a cloth tent

11:43felt like the safer option so we waited and waited in silence we still whispered amongst each other

11:50wondering if it could still be a fox i was truthful and said i don't know hopefully i don't know who

11:57heard it first but we all sprung up and looked at one another again when we heard very fast footsteps

12:02crunching the leaves approaching the tent then they stopped and there was an ear-piercing gut-wrenching

12:08scream that sounded like a girl or woman scream it was right outside the tent and the tent started

12:15shaking violently all of us started screaming jake and jim were screaming in fear while my brother and

12:22i were screaming stuff like get out of the tent i unzipped the door to the tent and one by one we all

12:28ran into the woods with our flashlights on the only reason we could see anything that run back to the

12:32that run back to the house was the most on edge moment of my life like a life or death kind of

12:37feeling we made it to the property screaming the whole way and our entire family was already outside

12:43in response to it all four of us made it back safely we explained the screams and the tent shaking

12:49and they were all shocked and horrified based on their reactions then i noticed our cousins jamie

12:54and christina and my sister weren't outside i called out my dad and uncle accusing them of sending

13:00one of the girls to scare us but when he showed us that the girls were already in bed that's when it

13:05was clear someone we didn't know was out in the woods our dads went out to the woods with a couple

13:10of rifles and returned after a while having found nobody the next day we all helped in bringing the

13:16tent and other stuff back to the house obviously you can guess that that was a one and done thing

13:21we never camped out in those woods again hell we didn't even play outside after dark anymore

13:27what kid would after such an experience my guess is as good as anybody's as to who was outside of

13:32our tent and why they were doing what they did what i'm about to tell you still leaves me to question

13:47what is real and what's not this happened to my dad and i and even now two years later i get chills just

13:54thinking about it i know how it sounds if i were you i wouldn't believe it either but i swear to you

14:00every word is true two years ago my dad and i traveled to go camping at a spot out in the deep

14:06country we enjoyed doing this as it was often a very nice time to get away from real life

14:12this place in particular was a nice spot hiking trails zip lines a bit touristy but it has deep history

14:18native american lands you know first night there it was perfect families at other campsites campfires

14:26everywhere kids laughing the kind of peaceful night you go camping for we cooked hot dogs roasted

14:33marshmallows cracked open a few beers and made small talk with the people around us a typical peaceful

14:39first night but the second night is when things started to change the staff told us we were the only

14:45ones in the park nobody else booked a site at first we were psyched a whole campground to ourselves it

14:51sounded peaceful we spent the day hiking fishing taking it slow at one point we listened to a scary

14:59podcast while sitting by the river because you know why not lean into the spooky atmosphere we thought

15:05we were being funny by the time the sun started setting we were feeling good a little buzzed from the

15:10beers tired in that satisfying way after a long day outdoors we decided to head to the park's

15:16information center to charge our phones and grab some snacks before it got too dark the walk back to

15:22our campsite that's when the unease set in the woods felt different the air was heavier the sky had this

15:29weird tint like twilight didn't want to leave my dad turned to me and said doesn't this feel off like

15:36we're in some kind of dream and he was right it did the forest felt endless stretching out in every

15:43direction my chest got tight i couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't alone we didn't say much

15:50after that just kept walking both of us glancing over our shoulders like we expected to see something

15:55lurking in the trees back at camp we stayed close to the fire we didn't really talk about the weird

16:01feeling we didn't need to it was like we both silently agreed to keep things normal pretending

16:07nothing was wrong we roasted marshmallows played music even smoked some weed to try and distract

16:13ourselves not the typical father-son moment you would expect but by the time the sun dipped below

16:19the trees we could no longer see what was in front of us except for the fire that's when the uneasy

16:25feeling had grown into something worse as we sat by the campfire roasted some s'mores i want to say

16:31at about nine o'clock we heard a noise it was a bang as if a tree fell it came out of nowhere loud and

16:40close it echoed through the woods from the direction of the river maybe a hundred yards away we grabbed

16:46our flashlights and pointed them toward the sound but there was nothing no movement no glowing eyes

16:52nothing bigfoot we joked nervous laughs slipping out but neither of us believed it a few minutes

17:00passed then it came again louder this time farther off but the same sound same weight we shined our

17:08lights again but the forest swallowed our flashlights allowing us to see only the trees surrounding our

17:13tent and then the third bang closer that's when the fear hit whatever it was it was moving toward us

17:21like it was circling the campsite then not even before we were able to collect our thoughts the

17:27fourth bang happens about 20 yards away maybe less that's when the real fear and adrenaline set in

17:35whatever high i had going from the weed was now long gone my dad turned to me with his eyes wide i saw

17:41the fear in his face we agreed to get in the tent we quickly scrambled and threw the last of the firewood

17:47onto the fire hoping the flames would scare off whatever was out there then we scrambled into the tent

17:53leaving everything else behind i ran inside of the tent and quickly dropped to the ground lying flat

17:58my dad moving a little slower following right behind me as he was about to get into the tent is

18:04when the loudest bang happened so close it felt like the ground shook my dad froze staring out into the dark

18:11i said his name grabbing his attention as he stared in shock then quickly jumping into the tent he muttered

18:19it's standing there what's standing there i asked i don't know he said his voice trembling it was like

18:27a wall of darkness he sat by the zipper as i buried myself under my sleeping bag trying to move as quietly as

18:34i could he sat there clutching the only weapon we had a small knife useless really but it was all we

18:41had then came this vibration noise that is still hard to explain to this day it started low like a

18:48hum but it wasn't just sound it filled the air it was a feeling inside of us making our chest tight

18:55i've never felt anything like it my dad whispered you hear that i couldn't answer i just nodded too scared

19:02to make a sound with the feeling as if we were being hunted this went on for about five minutes as

19:07we sat in silence and then this other sound it wasn't an animal and it wasn't human it was this

19:14guttural alien-like noise as i like to put it it honestly sounded like the demogorgon from stranger

19:20things nothing i have ever heard before we stayed frozen in that tent too scared to breathe too scared

19:27to move i had this small mesh window right by where i was laying but i refused to look

19:32outside of it with the fear of being seen just sitting there trying to control my breathing as

19:36my dad still sat there with the knife and that's when the weirdest thing happened in the middle of

19:42all the chaos we just blacked out neither of us remember trying to fall asleep my dad was still

19:49clutching the knife when we woke up lying in the middle of the tent i woke up on my back in a panic

19:54as if something was standing over me my first thought was to grab my phone to check the time

19:59but it was dead i asked my dad to check his dead too both had been fully charged the night before

20:06making sure we had them working in case of an emergency we stepped outside to pee as we stood

20:12five feet from the tent and peed back to back still scared out of our minds we saw that it was still

20:17pitch black outside the air was cold and still the food we'd left on the table completely untouched

20:24the fire we'd stoked before diving into the tent burned down to ash like it was never touched

20:29the whole place felt wrong like we shouldn't have been there we waited the night out in the

20:34tent without saying much to each other just trying to get some real sleep we packed up in silence not

20:40saying a word until we were in the car when we finally talked about it we realized we'd both felt

20:46the same thing that night watched and hunted like something was waiting for us to slip up we told my

20:52mom when we got back she thought we were crazy said maybe we got drugged or inhaled some weird gas but

20:59it wasn't that whatever happened that night it was real we both experienced the same thing to this day

21:06we don't know what it was we didn't see it not fully but my dad came closest whatever he saw it wasn't

21:14human and it wasn't natural we never heard any similar story like ours we haven't been back to

21:20that camping site since or even gone camping since i don't think we ever will

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