A man, camping with his girlfriend's parent in Cherokee National Forest, has a strange encounter and realization when he encounters an old woman sitting by a tree.
The following account was recently referred to me:
"I have been holding this story in for awhile and have tirelessly searched the internet to find another person who has experienced something similar, but to no avail. This story is entirely true, and although I loved the campground I stayed at and the beautiful nature that was all around, I'll have a tough time going back without finding out what the hell happened last time I went.
My girlfriend had invited me on a camping trip to Indian Boundary Campground with her and her family a few months back. This campground is in the Cherokee National Forest near a city called Tellico Plains, Tennessee.
The first few days of the trip went as expected; we hiked, made smores, and told scary stories. But little did I know that I would be in one soon.
About half-way through the trip we decided to visit the local fish hatchery. Unfortunately when we arrived the gates were closed and there were signs out saying that it was closed due to Covid-19. On the same bulletin board that these signs were on, there was an oddly out of place and very unsettling picture of a fish with its face cut straight open. Yes, the face was cut straight down the middle so all that could be seen was the skeleton of the fish. There was text on the picture that read "look", but it was in some strange font. Almost a creepypasta kind of font with characters like "ö". That itself wasn't all too weird. Just wrote it off as someone trying to play a prank and creep tourists out.
Once we realized the hatchery was closed we decided to change our plans for the day and head to a swimming hole that my girlfriend's Grandma used as a child. We arrived to a beautiful, clear creek with a rope swing tied to a tree on the bank. An old lady sat in front of the tree smoking a cigarette with a rock in her lap. As my girlfriend and I approached the creek we greeted the old woman who seemed quite friendly, and that is when I noticed that she was using another smaller rock to etch something on to the larger rock that was in her lap. She eventually left the creek side, retreating to her camper, which was about 50 feet from the other side of the creek, and joined her husband. They both then sat outside their camper in lawn chairs facing the creek, and it seemed as though they just watched us from a distance for a good while. I didn't think too much of it. Sure it was creepy, but they were just some harmless old people. Then I looked at the rock that the woman had been writing on. The word "look" was carved into it. I freaked out
Nothing else that was this strange happened throughout the rest of our trip, but this day still boggles my mind. I have no way of explaining these events, and still have not heard of anyone with similar experiences. But damn the woods are creepy, and that is the last place I wanted to be scared sh*tless!' SB
NOTE: The Cherokee National Forest is one of a few areas where a multitude of strange and unexplained occurrences take place. It's also know for sudden disappearances of hikers and campers. I have been there twice and, I have to admit, it has the same 'feel' that I experienced in the Freetown-Fall River State Forest in Massachusetts in the 1970s. There was a constant feeling of hate and foreboding. Is it supernatural / evil? Not sure what to make of it, but I have yet to determine the actual reason for my feelings. Lon
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