I recently received the following account from a long-time reader, who states the incident occurred in 2005:
Let me start out by saying that, like most posts I've read on here, before this experience I was a firm non-believer. There exists a moment in this story that I actually thought, "Holy **** ghosts are REAL!". It was that vivid, that clear, and that undeniable.
This is private property (owned by my uncle, who would not take kindly to strangers on his land without his knowledge) so please don't try to go there.
I was 18 at this time, accompanied by 3 others who were the same age. We decided to go out and "rough" it for a night with a camping trip. The area we went to was accessible only by ATV, and it sat right on the bank of the creek visible on the map. This giant bend in the creek is referred to as King's Bend by the locals and is known for good fishing (in the day) and a place to avoid like the plague at night. Here's a little back story that I discovered after the event happened. There are 2 train tunnels that run under the hills in this area. They were built way back in the day by cheap labor, and the workers who died during this process were buried in shoddy, unmarked graves close to where we camped. There is also a large field to the west of the camp site, it has a house on it which I believe is used by WV State Troopers as a camp ground. The reason it's used by them is that it was possessed by the state after a shootout occurred there in which several members of a local group of bad men were killed by the police in a raid. Just up the creek a ways from our site, a large, old, dead tree hangs out over the water which a man had hung himself on many years earlier. ALSO, (I know, I wish I had known about all of these before we went camping) a woman and her child had drowned in a canoe accident, from what I learned directly in the creek in front of our camping site. So, with all of that out of the way, and remember that we had no clue of any of this as we went down that night, I begin my story.
My cousin, friends, and I gathered up our camping supplies, fishing poles, food, etc. and headed down while the sun was still up, although close to setting. In the last hour of day, we started our fire, set up our tent and started goofing off. Mind you there was no alcohol, drugs, or any other things that would have impaired our perceptions used. This was all witnessed, felt, or heard by everyone involved. It was not long after the sun set and total darkness was upon as that the first sign that something wasn't right began.
My cousin and I were sitting on the bank of the creek, roughly 30 ft. from our camping site. We had a spotlight, shining it down in the water spotting fish and trying to spear them. We weren't very successful, but that's not the important part. After about 3 minutes of doing this, we noticed that every time we would shut the light off, we would hear a WHOOSH-WHOOSH in the water. Very distinctly the sound of someone sloshing through water. When we turned the light back on, you could see waves/ripples in the water. Not slight ripples that could be called by a fish or something else,but very heavy, rough ripples that needed weight to cause. This alone was not enough to cause concern, but my cousin and I looked at each thinking, 'That's weird..." but we went on about our business.
Sitting back at the campsite, with the fire raging in front of us, we started shooting the breeze and enjoying the night. However, it wasn't long before once again, weird things started. We started hearing voices echoing off of the hillside. They were more like whispers, but they were loud, if that makes any sense. At first, this wouldn't be cause for alarm as people hunt for raccoon at all times of the night. However, the voices never got louder, never got softer. They stayed the same volume. They sounded like they were practically on top of us. They were so clear and loud that it sounded like someone was whispering directly into my ear, only everyone was hearing it that way. So it was like one voice was whispering into our collective ears. We looked around our immediate area, nothing. There were tall weeds/grass in the area around our campsite, and once or twice it sounded like someone ran through them. Solid thuds on the ground, grass thrashing and moving violently. The fear had begun to sink in. At first, the voice was very hushed, indistinct but clearly audible. After about 2-3 minutes, it started to become more apparent what we were hearing. It sounded sort of distant, but it was close. If this makes any sense. It was very surreal and it was obvious to me that it was not something that was normal. "What are they doing here?" 'They need to leave' "You shouldn't be here". If this sounds like something out of a horror novel, I am 1000% inclined to agree with you. At this point, sheer panic broke out. We decided at that moment to LEAVE. QUICKLY.
The ATV was parked just out of firelight, still visible but faintly. As I stood up, looked at my friends and told them that we needed to GO, I started to jog toward the ATV to get it started while my friends got what they absolutely couldn't leave behind that night. I was looking over my shoulder at first, and when I turned to look ahead at the ATV, I was literally frozen in place at what I saw. Leaning against the front of the ATV, under a tree, was the outline of a tall man in what looked like a hat. You could see no details, it was just blackness. You could see through it, as it was transparent, but what was beyond looked twisted and distorted, like looking through water or something. There were no red eyes, as I've read in other encounters of such things, but I'm sure there are variants of every type of supernatural thing. He had no feet, it just sort of ended at his ankles in wavy lines, almost like what heat waves look like above a fire. My heart sank into my stomach, an undeniable feeling of fear and revulsion took over. I could not move. I could not speak. Once it realized I had seen it, it sort of "straightened up", standing at least 7 feet off the ground. I am 6'6" and I felt short. I was rooted on the spot from the moment I laid eyes on it. This is the moment where I realized "Holy *** ghosts are real!!!!" My cousin came up just beside me at that time and saw it too. He was also just frozen on the spot. After about 10-15 seconds (I don't really know, it seemed like an eternity to me) it sort of like...zipped? back in the direction of the train tunnels. The best way I can describe it is if you remember the Flash, how he had sort of an outline of himself behind him as he moved really fast. Just like that. It just went, VERY quickly, back into the darkness and disappeared. We got on that ATV and hauled out of there with full fury, like the hounds of hell were on our tail, because for all we knew, they were.
We spent the night indoors, wide awake, scared to death while we tried to rationalize and make sense of what we had just experienced. It wasn't until afterwards that I learned about all the things I wrote about above, and heard from men who are hard men, guys who show no fear to any living thing that I wouldn't want to cross under any circumstance, that even they avoid that area at night. Nobody goes through that section after the sun goes down. We didn't know this, of course, or we would have heeded their advice.
If any of this sounds unbelievable, I don't blame you one bit. If someone told me this story, I would laugh at them, call them a story teller, etc. I am not one to tell stories myself, and I can tell you that what I have written did happen and it changed my life. It really led me to question life, death and what happens afterwards. Thank you for reading my experience, and I apologize for any mistakes or grammatical errors I may have made. LE
NOTE: LE added the following information:
An interesting addition to this story. My uncle who owns the land was out hunting with a dog at night. He was standing below a large rock face and the dog was up on top. It knocked a large rock loose that fell and struck my uncle in the neck. He was paralyzed on the right side of his body. Somehow he got his ATV turned around and drove himself out of the woods. After I told the story I just posted, he messaged my mother. My uncle is not one to joke around. He is a funny guy, but he does NOT lie. He abhors liars.
He told my mother that he has never told anyone this, but that the "man in the hat" that we saw down by the creek that night HELPED him get his ATV turned around and helped get him on it. That completely blew my mind, and I do not doubt that he was telling the truth.
Haunted West Virginia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Mountain State (Haunted Series)
The Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories (Big Book of Ghost Stories Series)
The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales
True West Virginia Ghost Stories
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