2 brothers encounter an unknown 'whistling' humanoid while camping along Jacks River in north Georgia. The entity circled the campsite and was eventually seen in a tree.
I following account was recently forwarded to me:
"Growing up in the mountains of North Georgia, camping and hiking were things me and my brother did so often it was second nature. So anytime Rob and I had a break from school we would head straight for the woods. We packed our gear, let our parents know where we were going and that was that, no questions asked.
We decided to camp about midways through Jacks River Trail in the Cohutta Wilderness and it’s a trail we knew fairly well as we had used to a few times before to practice long hikes. We arrived at the trail head around lunch time, parked the car, got our gear out, and headed into the woods. We passed a few hikers as moved along and asked them how the trail looked and the answer was always the same, “wet.”
Jacks River Trail probably crossed the river fifty times as it went along its seventeen mile plus journey and with the colder temperatures of late fall settling in it was harder for the trail to stay dry. We moved deeper into the trail and started to look for a place to make camp. This is where Rob and I made our first mistake. You see, Rob and I have this rule. We don’t camp near people if at all possible.
Call us paranoid but the last thing we want is for someone to drag us out of our tents and into the woods never to be seen again. So we always camped a pretty decent ways off of the trail and in the area that wasn’t popular with overnight camping.
Roughly two and half hours or so we found what we thought was the perfect place to set up for the two nights that we would be out. We came up to Horseshoe Bend and ventured about half a mile off the trail into a clearing and set up. We built a teepee fire lay for that night and pitched our tents on either side. After setting up and unloading we decided to walk back to the trail and go exploring around some of many swimming holes Jacks River had to offer.
This was during Thanksgiving break and I remember being surprised at how few people were on the trail. Maybe it was the weather or the fact that this was early in the week but there didn’t seem to be anyone hiking much less staying the night. Around five o'clock Rob and I headed back to camp to start our fire, make dinner, and settle in for the night. As soon as the sun began to set the cold rushed in. We added more wood to the fire, sat close and just enjoyed conversation.
Rob was two years behind me in school. I was a senior and he was a sophomore, but growing up we had always been close. We always hung out in the same groups, played the same sports, had the same hobbies, etc. Around 9 pm we were settled comfortably around the fire. I had just text our mom to let her know we were safe and getting ready for bed and I remember we were talking about dreading going to our grandparent's house for Thanksgiving and having the same awkward conversations we had each year with family we only saw on holidays when things started to get strange.
We were no stranger to sounds in the woods and these woods were full of animals, from deer to black bears and even the random wild boar. If you are in the woods enough you learn to distinguish certain sounds and what we were hearing I can only chalk up to as odd. What Ryan and I heard was what sounded like someone sneaking around slowly just out of eyesight. With an animal walking on four legs you hear a tighter group of steps but what we were hearing sound very distinct to what a human sounds like when walking slowly or trying to move without making much sound.
I remember we both pulled out our flashlights and shown it in the direction we felt the sounds were coming from but that is what was so weird. Whenever we would fix our lights on a spot we thought the sound were coming from the location of the sound would suddenly change.
It was as if there were multiple people walking around us. That’s when the whistling started. At first I thought it was the wind and I remember thinking maybe the wind is just throwing leaves around and what we are hearing is nothing but the wilderness around us. Rob looked at me and asked if I was hearing that. I didn’t answer and was trying to focus hard on each individual sound. Two consecutive notes with roughly a three to four second gap and then two more consecutive notes. Over and over again.
Rob kept asking if I heard that and I put my finger to my lips trying to keep him from talking. The fear I felt was incredible. My jaw was tight, my fist clenched, knowing I wasn’t ready for whatever was out there if it was anything at all. The whistling continued for what felt like forever but thinking it through was maybe five minutes when Ryan finally yelled out into the darkness. “HEY!” Quiet. The whistling stopped. The crunching of the woods stopped. Nothing. I was pissed. I looked at Rob with a “what the hell” look and he shrugged his shoulders. “I had to do something.” he said. I just shook my head.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes when the woods erupted with noise. Something or someone was running in a circle around our campsite. The whistling came back. Two consecutive notes with the same three to four second gap and then two more consecutive notes. How could someone whistle this loudly without cracking while also running? I was done. I stood up shining my flashlight in all directions trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was screwing with us. Nothing. It felt close enough to touch but we never saw a thing. That’s when the movement stopped but the whistling was still constant.
It was so loud. Inhumanly loud. I looked at Rob and told him to call the police. Now this is the part I will never forget. The part I never like to talk about. While Rob was on the phone with a dispatcher and telling them our location and what was going on I stepped around the fire towards my tent. Inside my bag I had a six inch fixed blade that I always carried and thought I would feel a bit more comfortable with it in my hand more than just my flashlight. As I went to unzip my tent, trying to keep my eyes toward the woods, I heard some movement directly in front of me.
I swept my light up in front of me and for maybe two seconds I saw it. Whatever this person or thing was, it was about five feet up in a tree. Everything about it was long. Its arms, legs, neck, fingers, everything. And it was fast. As soon as the light hit it launched backwards off of the tree. I heard it land but it either jumped an impossible distance or landed in a thicket because I heard it but never saw.
I don’t think I have ever yelled so loud. I ran back to where Rob was and sat down. He kept asking me what I saw but I couldn’t answer. I just kept thinking about what I saw. Maybe ten minutes later we saw a couple of flashlight beams coming through the woods and three guys came into view asking if everything was ok. I settled a bit and started asking them if they had seen or heard anything.
All they said was they heard a lot of movement and then heard my scream and that’s when they headed in our direction. I tried to explain what had happened without sounding crazy but it didn’t seem to work.One of the guys walked around a bit and came back and said he didn’t see anything. Rob told them that we called the police and roughly thirty minutes later a park ranger showed up.
Rob and I tried explaining everything to him but he just chalked it up to either a curious animal or some campers trying to mess with us. Either way Rob and I decided we weren’t staying the night. We packed our stuff up and walked out of the woods with the ranger. He took our statement and we got in our car and drove home.
Rob and I don’t talk about what happened that night but neither of us have been back to Jacks River Trail and will probably never go back." MA
