Kentucky's Red River Gorge is a well-known natural area for hiking and camping. But it also has a history of strange & unexplained activity. Here are a few of the accounts I've received over the years.
"In the Summer of 2012, three friends and I traveled to Red River Gorge in Kentucky for a two-day hike. We were excited about the adventure and looked forward to the rejuvenating weekend.
The first day was a joy. The sights and sounds of the woods were captivating and pulled me into a state of calmness and admiration for the wildlife around me. At the halfway point of the trek, we decided to make camp at the bottom of a steep hill near a creek bed. The evening came and after sharing our observations of the day with one another we headed off to our tents.
I lay there alone in my one-man tent. I had the tiniest bit of fear creep up on me, that gnaw on my brain, but I eventually fell asleep. I don't really recall having any dreams but I did have an experience I can't quite rationalize. I felt I was being abruptly pulled out of my tent by what seemed to be a man. It terrified me but I wasn't able to fight. I was so scared I couldn't do anything. I thought I was dead at that point. The next thing I remember is waking up screaming. I was still in my tent and it didn't appear that anyone had been anywhere near me. It was early morning at this time and I was wide awake, so I went out of my tent to make a fire.
I felt this presence the entire morning, that pestered me and gave me anxiety. I didn't want to be there anymore. I felt like someone was staring aggressively at me. My friends woke up shortly after and I shared with them what I just experienced. There was support and understanding but I was on edge the rest of the morning. It wasn't until we neared the end of our hike that day that I began feeling a sense of relief.
I went back to Red River Gorge since then. I still enjoy hikes but I won't be sleeping alone in the woods anymore. That's what I got. It doesn't bother me so much anymore. I write it off as just a bad dream, but it was just such a bizarre experience. I thought I'd share it."
Transcribed Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjBDEUyBjXw
NOTE: I thought that I would share that experience because I have received several bizarre reports from Kentucky's Red River Gorge in the past. Here are a few:
'Glimmer Man' Chases Deer in Kentucky
"My wife and I were taking a small vacation trip last October to the Red River Gorge area in Kentucky. After a full day of hiking and grabbing some dinner we returned to our room to get some sleep. At about 3 in the morning, my wife woke me up saying she was having severe stomach pain. I, being the dutiful husband I am, got dressed and hopped in the car to run down the road to pick up some stuff to settle her stomach, only to discover that things shut down for the night around there. After consulting Google I found a 24-hour gas station about 30 minutes away and began my drive.
After locating the exit I began to slow down, I was somewhat paranoid of hitting a deer or something, especially since I was in unfamiliar territory. As I made my exit low and behold a deer ran out in front of me. As I watched it cross the road I noticed something behind it. It was the outline of a man, but there was nothing solid to him, I could see right through him, yet still clearly see his form. Now I was wide awake, with the deer having startled me, but I had no explanation about what I saw. It crossed the road and continued on after the deer.
For the rest of the trip, I kept feeling like I was being watched and continued to have uneasy feelings for several days after. Anyways that's a brief rundown of my first run-in with the glimmer man." JW
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Unknown Humanoid in Red River Gorge, Kentucky
"I have no idea what we saw exactly that night. I have searched everywhere for sightings or even myths around the area where we saw it and have found nothing. My husband and I think it could be a Wendigo? But I don’t know. I haven’t heard anyone else say they’ve seen anything like it in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. I guess I want help figuring out what we saw and what to do. After the night I’m about to describe but I think we’ve had some close encounters with it since.
My friends and I go camping a lot. And my favorite place is in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. We go there often, and I’ve been ever since I was an infant. I’m 28 now married with a kid and still go. It is the closest place to where I live where you can see the Milky Way pretty much every night. It’s perfect for stargazing and I’ve seen a shooting star every clear night I’ve been there. When we go without our kid we will night hike to a good lookout point and stargaze for hours.
Our first experience night hiking we would go to trails we knew well and were used frequently during the day. Ones with log fences and gazebo resting places. The most used trial is a trail in Natural Bridge State Park that leads up to the ‘natural bridge’. This trail is around two miles uphill depending on your starting point. I’ve done this trail every summer of my life and could do it blindfolded. It has wooden steps, carved rock steps, log handrails, multiple sitting points under a roof, and trash cans, but after reaching the main trailhead it has no lights at all. It’s used often and while it is uphill the difficulty is low. As long as you have a good grip on your shoes and water you’ll be fine. My friends have done it with me multiple times and are confident in it as well. Hiking this trail at night is not allowed. But it’s the woods and I’ve never really been one to care about closing times for the literal outside.
When we used this main trail to hike to the top we would park in a lot designated for the pool and Hoedown Island. You walk across the road that leads to the pool and you at the first trail marker. You go up gravel for a while and pass the Natural Bridge State Park lodge. There’s a waterfall and some lights so it was best to go fast and watch out for rangers that would tell us to leave. Then you walk across another road and there’s a mini shelter to sit in or a small rock wall to rest your legs. Then it’s the beginning of the trail to the top.
The night was weird, to begin with. As soon as we started the hike the clouds took over and it appeared we’d be walking for nothing to even stargaze at. But we went anyway just in case it cleared out by the time we got up there. In the beginning, it was just normal paranoia that was keeping us stressed and quiet it seemed.
You know you’ve reached the bottom of the bridge when you see a giant wall of limestone. During this time there was a gazebo that set to the right of this wall and the trail continued and followed next to the wall. Where you come from is a fairly steep part of the trail and the gazebo is welcomed. My husband, my best friend at the time, and I all sit on the gazebo steps (the bench is under a roof and even darker than the rest of outside so we just stayed on the steps) facing where we are looking down the trail that follows the limestone wall. We each have a bright LED headlamp and a handheld flashlight. We don’t usually look at each other when we night hikes because the lights are so bright. We sit in a line like the Lord's Supper and walk in a line or staggered so we don’t blind ourselves.
It is after hours at this point. No ski lift rides had gone on for hours and the rangers had already done their sweep and left right before we got out of the car and headed up. We left no time between them making sure the trail and top were clear and starting our hike up. The ski lift takes you up the top but some workers stay and do counts and only leave after it’s clear. I guess I have to make these points because that’s what I was thinking when what seemed out of nowhere a girl with a headlamp began to walk down the trail we were looking out at. She is in a sundress and flip-flops. This hike is uphill and while it is a fairly easy hike it is not easy with no water or real shoes. She’d have to have hiked up and down to this point with no food or water. Her light was bright and when she reached where the trail turns from in front of the gazebo to down where we came from she stopped. She just stood there straight on like how a human is presented in an anatomical drawing. She was looking directly at us all sitting there and her light made me bring my hand up to shield my eyes. She didn’t turn away from our lights at all or even seem bothered she had 6 LED lights aimed directly at her face. I said, “Hello,” She said kind of with a pause between every word something like, hello how are you. I said something like good how are you and she took even longer pauses and said, “Oh... I’m fine.” She then just stood there still with her hands at her side and facing and staring at us. Her light made it impossible to really see her face and it was so bright I had my hand up the entire time until she just turned and walked slowly down the trail part we had just come up. She got to a part where the trail turned and we saw her light just stay in that one spot for a minute until she turned and the light faded out of sight.
We wait for a while before continuing up. I kept making comments about how weird that was and everyone else just made it out to be me always being afraid. But no one ever came after her. She had done this hike alone. At night? And somehow without being found by any ranger?
We got up after a bit and started back up to the top. It felt like it took much longer than it ever had in the past. But we made it to the top. There are stone steps named ‘fat man squeeze’ that get you to the top of the bridge and you can walk across it and whatever. Going up and being on the top we could hear twigs snapping, almost alternating from the left then the right. We lay down and try to stargaze but the clouds are even thicker now. It was miserably hot. We could hear voices at times and my husband kept checking for people we heard. He never saw anyone. We saw a light flash. Never saw anyone attached to it. And then we heard a bird call? But it wasn’t like a real bird noise at all. It sounded like a person making birdcalls. Like rhythmic and not really natural? I was convinced we weren’t alone and hadn’t been alone but also I am the most easily spooked. I asked to leave as soon as they were ready to and they were ready right then and there. And that scared me, that they were just as afraid as me at this point.
We began going down the way we came and it felt like it was taking so long. We were going steady and quick and it was downhill but we were not making any ground it seemed. It’s hard to explain but it was so weird that at one point I even said it out loud. I said, “This feels much longer.” And they agreed with me. I kept looking behind me with the flashlight. And my husband kept looking out to the sides and my friend kept hers mostly forward.
I kept feeling watched and couldn’t figure out what footsteps were ours or if they were all ours that I heard. I would turn in the direction of any noise but not see anything. When my husband was walking he kept saying he was catching eyes in his flashlight, usually, you can catch raccoon eyes spying on you or some animal like that. He was afraid maybe a bear or big dog or something. And he never got his lights on whatever eyes they were long enough to see an animal's size or shape.
Now we’re hiking down semi flatish area, compared to the downhill hike we’ve been doing at least. The log fence or handrail or whatever it’s called is on our right side. We are in a row walking within reaching distance of this barrier. And my husband just stops walking altogether and says, “What’s that,” but the question is more of like an alert and I move my hand lamp in that direction and don’t see anything at first. Then both of his lights catch a shape, and then my headlamp catches it and I move my hand lamp to the center and catch it while my friend simultaneously finds it in her lights as well. All six lights shine onto and kind of reflect off of a light grey creature. It is bent in a crouching position kneeling on its right leg and starts turning towards us. It starts to slowly stand and my mind is racing still. It looks human but it is too big. People mistake human shapes for what’s actually bears in the woods often but this is skinny. It is thin and big and almost white it’s so light grey and its skin resembles dolphin skin. There’s a shine to it and our lights get reflected a little when they’re on it. It gradually comes to a full standing position in front of us. Its head is long and its eyes are in a human position on the face in front and not on the side like animals but I could not see any other facial features. Just big almost empty holes or pits that were its eyes. It looked directly at us and our lights. The way it stood was intimidating, almost like when a snake raises up and flexes its neck all crazy to show prey that they’re stronger and smarter. It was like it was stepping up to a fight. From crouching then turning then standing front in front of us, the arms hung down low and the hands seemed long too. Its hands had to be by its knees? I’d guess it stood 9 feet or so and not that far in front of us. No hair at all and its head was large as well. I couldn’t process what I saw and was frozen.
Then I just feel my husband hitting me on the back and yelling, “Run! Run! Run!”
I start to understand we have to get away from this thing and it pivots and runs to the right. Going backward on the trail so it could get around the barrier and onto the trail behind us. We take off running the rest of the way down the trail. Knowing that this thing just took off much faster than us and after it had crossed from behind the barrier it would be gaining on us quick. We didn’t talk at all, because when we tried it felt almost like we would get caught. We keep running as we can but some areas are so steep. It never felt like we were out of sight of this creature. As we made it to the trail beginning with the gravel we could hear something to the side crashing down through the forest. We ran until we got to the car and then we drove as fast as we could as soon as we got to the main road the any cleared up, and the Stars were out.
When that thing looked at us I knew it was smarter and faster than us. I knew that if we hadn’t seen it it could have easily taken one of us and gotten away. I think the only reason it hesitated was because so many of us saw it at once and we stayed together.
When we made it back to where we were staying all of us took out our phones and wrote a note for what we saw happen. We hadn’t spoken about it until after we looked at each other’s phones and the stories were the same. Without a doubt, we had all seen something real." KK
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