Ok, So They Freaked ME Out, Too!!

beccachow · #1 05/02/10, 10:23 AM

So my stepdaughter was down visiting, and was hanging out with my neighbor who lives down the lane. They decided to have a sleepover at the neighbor's house, and out they went into the night. Next thing, about 30 seconds later, they come bursting back into my door, frantic because they heard a child being murdered. I immediately knew it was a fox, but there was no convincing them. Ha ha, silly girls, come on, I say, and I walked them over to the neighbor's house. See ya, they yell, and zip into the house...leaving me outside. Alone. A pretty good distance from home. And my imagination started playing tricks. What if it HAD been a woman screaming...it sounded like that...after all, there are thousands of miles of woods back here...and my house is a beacon of light for a lunatic/escaped convict....why didn't I bring a dog...how fast can I sprint back to the house and slam the door shut...why is my husnband working the night shift tonight...hope the lunatic doesn't Get Me...I could do some real damage with this pinecone I picked up for protection...LOLOL! You guys ever freak yourselves out with nature? The post about the heavy breathing in the woods got me remembering the night I had an Escaped Axe Wielding Lunatic running around in my woods!! It took me an hour to calm back down in my house, even though I am not anxious or afraid normally. I just freaked myself out so completely!

chewie · #2 05/02/10, 10:42 AM

nope, not usually. only time i was concerned was last winter, 5th night staying on our land in a camper in feb. in a blizzard. at 11 pm, i was was just drifting to sleep...

we have a BIG dog, who has been known to kill a cyote in his spare time with little effort--and something dragged him, (or he dragged it??) while one of them was absolutely screaming. this dog was GONE in 5 seconds, and not found til mid morning.

i went looking in the night, but then thought, hmm, whatever happened, maybe i dont' want part of it? but this wasn't like my mind drumming up fear, something happened that i couldnt' even see to make sense of it.

when i was very little, my folks started taking me riding--and sometimes it was at midnight! moonlight riding is so fun! i have slept horseback, hanging on to my dad's middle. i think this is why darkness doesn't bother me. i've spent enough time outside at night that the sounds are normal for me. but i can see how they may help someone get the willies!

Txsteader · #3 05/02/10, 10:45 AM

LOL, Becky. Imagination can be a son-of-a-gun if we let it get the best of us. And to answer your question.....yes, I've managed to freak my own self out about all sorts of creatures lurking in the dark. I absolutely refuse to go outside at night unless DH is aware, so he can hear me scream for help.

Windy in Kansas · #4 05/02/10, 11:26 AM

Pea fowl have that "HELP!" cry and more than a few policemen have responded near zoos.

ninny · #5 05/02/10, 11:33 AM

Someone would have been murdered if that stunt had been pulled on me.

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Minelson · #6 05/02/10, 11:46 AM

Oh yes...I can freak myself out. Sometimes I get that feeling...is something watching me? Then I hear every noise and I'm on high alert. This past winter I thought there were UFO's out in the corn field. I ended up in my truck in just my robe and wet head from just taking a shower...driving to go look. That was creepy. I'm not going to tell you what it was...very embarrassing.
The pine cone was a great weapon of choice Becca lol!!

SFM in KY · #7 05/02/10, 11:48 AM

I can remember doing that to myself when I was a kid ... always happened coming back from the outhouse for some reason. I'd start thinking I could hear "footsteps" or "breathing" and I would end up making myself walk and not turn around because I absolutely knew it was silly.

shiandpete.1 · #8 05/02/10, 12:09 PM

Yes I do it...I must admit I a a 32 year old woman who is afraid of the dark! Lol

mamita · #9 05/02/10, 01:40 PM

one time I made my hubby come with me in to the woods, because I insisted I heard a baby crying. at first he looked at me like I was crazy, cause this part of the woods is so dense. but then I said, 'just listen to some of the things you hear on the news. what if somebody just left a baby??' so off we went...and many scratches later...we did rescue a puppy that fell in to a yellow jacket nest. the funny part of this is it wasn't the puppy I heard. I have no idea what was making such a racket! it also sounded like human crying! lol another time it was the middle of the night..warm..window open. I swear I heard human footsteps..walking, walking walking..right past our window. I had myself so freaked out. probably deer. LOL!

dezingg · #10 05/02/10, 02:23 PM

I spend a fair amount of time outside at my remote location, sometimes at night. Many nights I just enjoy the peace and beauty that it offers. But sometimes my nerves get into the picture, and you can unsettle yourself in short order. It doesn't change what you're doing, you're still walking or working on something but you end up sweeping the area with a good flashlight more often to see if it reflects any eyes looking in your direction. And if you're really unsettled, you finish up as quickly as you can and head indoors.

Horse Fork Farm · #11 05/02/10, 05:02 PM

chewie----- you left us hanging------ was the dog ok????

TxMex · #12 05/02/10, 05:09 PM

Panthers sound just like a woman screaming. I'm terrified of the dark...figure that's why I married a man that isn't....lol. He can go check out all those weird noises in the night.

ronbre · #13 05/02/10, 06:06 PM

you know a peacock screams like a wild woman too..

sure throw that pinecone at it..scare the bejeebers out of it.

i shouldn't probably tell you about this but one day when i was walking..another time..i heard noises in the woods..like someone walking and thought i heard voices..didn't really faze me..even when i heard on the news that these two murderers might head for this area cause they had been from here and knew the territory.

well..in the middle of the night one night the cops called me on the phone and said..don't go outside..and asked if i knew how to reach the people that lived in the house behind us on the other side of our woods..i told them know but that so and so might..
they told me that they thought that those murderers were in that house and that we should remain inside with our lights off.

later they called us back..they had found those guys in that house..and said that they had hiked there through our woods..(after inteviewing them)..and that they were probably what i had heard that day..they had been there for a couple weeks..raiding the neighbors houses while they were gone stealing food..not ours but a trailer closer to where they were on a side road.

so..yeah..it can be scarey..

tab · #14 05/02/10, 08:04 PM

Oh yes,some years ago our dog got loose, rope and all. After dark, of course, and I thought I heard him off in the woods. I took off and I did hear him but the flashlight gave out. LSS, I found him but not before a deer scared the absolute bajeepers out of me. I did not know at that time the level of snorts and snarks they make.
There have been other times but I am so stubborn I will do my best to keep my head on because fear causes one to take action and unless controlled, one of the most common actions is to have your head retreat into a very dark place.

lmrose · #15 05/02/10, 08:24 PM

I always liked sleeping outdoors in my tent out back on the farm. Another time I stayed in a friend's remote cabin. In the night "something" brushed up against the outside wall and TERRIFIED me! I didn't sleep the rest of the night. Now we are plauged with coyotes I don't use the tent either. I have a fifty year old travel trailer I want moved out back on the farm. I figure that way I can be outdoors and safe from beast and people both! The foxes scream here and coyotes howl all night. It's eerie. Lately I haven't heard the foxes. I think the coyotes ate them!

secretcreek · #16 05/02/10, 08:50 PM

Foxes scream, mountain lions scream, even barred owls let out blood curdling screams, coyotes' howls are like shrieks, whitetail's sound like humans tromping thru the dry leaves, plus they snort and let out nasal-pneumatic VEERRRRRRrrrrrrrr's! Plus a very innocent but creep you out with a "someone's near!" is the habit of the rufus sided towhee who flips and digs, and kicks thru the leaf cover looking for bugs and such...it's quit loud for a songbird.

I've learned to enjoy the night sounds as I go down to check on my animals late at night sometimes. Nothing like holding a little, dimming flashlite in your teeth as you remove the lid on a metal trash can used for dog food only to come face to face with a opposum hissing at you ...EEk. Having a big black snake fall off of the inside of the outhouse wall onto your shoulder and arm is, um... memorable.

Once I was absolutely positive that there were people lighting our woods on fire- it was so bright. Really scared me, so I called to my husband. It was then he giggled and said: "That's the moon rising." What? He was right, it was just a night for a huge yellow moon shining thru the trees. Whew!

-scrt crk

chewie · #17 05/02/10, 09:01 PM

yup, dog was ok, found at a neighbors' a mile away--he did have some marks, scrapes and a limp for a bit. still have no idea what went on that night.

ronbre--now THAT is a scary thing. we had a couple felons on our door step one morning, but they were basicly harmless lowlifes who just didn't have, literally, the sense to come out of the rain. (got stuck/stranded at the river). but those 2 sounded fairly serious, as usual, its not the natural life that is scary, its the people who ruin it~!

AR Transplant · #18 05/02/10, 11:02 PM

a few years ago I realized that ds would not be home to feed the horses. I took off across the field pitch black with no flashlight got to the barn and realized that I had walked across three pastures ( neighbors barn not ours) and it didn't faze me one bit. Today things are very different, no way I would do that.

stickinthemud · #19 05/02/10, 11:44 PM

One night years ago a bunch of us young cousins were enjoying a sleepout under the stars on a night when the lightning bugs were especially large and bright and everywhere.
We were telling stories, then scary stories. I made up a tale about how the lightning bugs were tiny alien spaceships taking flash photographs. I don't know who moved first, but I was right along with everyone else heading for the house!

whiterock · #20 05/03/10, 11:57 AM

Way back in the early 70s, when I was in college, i went to see the legend of boggy creek. When i got back home to the trailer i was living in, situated in young growth pine trees with a heavy fog moving through, i allowed myself the privelidge of staring into the fog and letting myself get a mite nervous about what might be out there.

The next night i came home, and a friend and i went to see it. He was always the scary type anyway, and firmly believed bigfoot was on the creek behind his home. Had a 5' chainlink fence around the yard and the gate was chained and locked always. I pulled in to the gate, let him out, and before i could turn around the light was on in his bedroom.
Ed