16. A full-grown mountain lion about two feet away.
“I was climbing up in Canada with a friend. We left the climbing area we were at and were trekking back to the car. The dog was walking in between us on a leash, the dog kind of lurched into my buddy, causing him to stumble, I turned around and there’s a full grown mountain lion RIGHT there about 2 feet away, kicking distance, it just tried to nab the dog off the leash and had already sat back on it’s haunches and was hissing. I freeze, my buddy turns around, screams and starts running. I should note, his dog had been hit by a car some years before so it walked with a limp (probably why the cat went for the kill). I yell, loud, at my buddy to stop running or it will kill you, instantly my friends skids to a halt turns around throws up his hands and starts screaming and charging the now in pursuit cat, totally fucking insane, I still haven’t actually moved. The cat jumps 90 degrees into the woods. So we start walking back again talking fast about what just happened, my friend is walking fast, too fast. I tell him “Dude, you are almost running, stop doing that, if it’s still around we have to be calm and keep heads on a swivel” on that statement, I turn around. Mountain lion is RIGHT on my fucking heels again, even closer this time! I didn’t even have a moment to react my buddy already had rocks in hand and was winging them at the lion. One of the rocks lands and went bowling past the lion, the lion sees this and goes cat style…chasing after it and batting it down the trail like it’s a ball of yarn. The last mile or so back to camp was stressful to say the least, turning around every 5 feet to see if the lion was still following, never saw it again. There is more to the story but it’s a lot to type. Suffice to say, the cat eventually nabbed a dog off the leash on a near by trail system and Canadian Mounties showed up with bloodhounds hunted it down and killed it.”
17. The vanishing ocean.
“My husband and I went primitive camping in the 10,000 islands of the Florida Everglades. On the first day, we took our heavily laden kayaks from Chockoloskee to Pavilion Key.
We had the entire island to ourselves, and set up camp on the beach of the island. We were remote and could only barely see the adjacent islands. To the West was nothing but the wide open Gulf of Mexico.
The island is inhabited by a marauding band of raccoons, which will go to great lengths to get your food and water. We buried our food beneath the kayak and the raccoons still made a valiant effort to get to it. Although our cooler had no food, they did get into it and played with the ice and water.
After things settled down, we went to sleep to the sound of gently lapping waves on the beach (which was just a few feet from our tent. We were at the top of the tide line, which was evident from a recent storm; so not worried about getting wet. Around 2:00am, I awoke to an eerie silence. I went out and was regaled by the kind of night sky that takes your breath away. I shone my flashlight out to the water and realized that the reason for the silence was that there was no water! The beach, where we had fished a few hours before, now extended beyond the reach of my flashlight beam. I walked out a ways, and still couldn’t find the ocean.
I can’t describe the absolute feeling of remoteness and isolation that I experienced at that moment.
This was right after the Tsunamis and I have to admit that I was very freaked out. Trying to calm myself, I went back into the tent. I was fairly sure that it was just the tide, but I couldn’t quiet the tiny voice which kept telling me that a huge Tsunami was on the way and that this amazing beautiful experience would be my last.
The return of the lapping waves, on the incoming tide, made for one of the best sounds I’ve ever heard!”
18. I saw an alien. No joke.
“I wasn’t in the woods but what I saw came out of the woods behind my house. I saw an alien. No joke. To this day I still wonder if I was somehow tripping on something I ate on accident or something. I was about 10 years old and was playing in my room by myself. It was about 11pm. I had a sliding glass door in my room and the blinds were pulled back. Out of nowhere the automatic spotlight behind my house turned on. I looked to the sliding glass door and a figure started approaching the door. At first I thought it was my neighbor, who was older than me and about the same height, but as it got closer I realized it was something else. I remember it approaching the door slowly. It stopped at the sliding glass door for a few seconds and just started staring at me. It felt like an eternity passed by. Like, I remember specifically how long it felt when in reality it was probably only a few seconds. I remember it was dark black. It had a rounded head just like you see in the movies and was about 6 feet tall. Two arms two legs. Really skinny. The thing about it is that it was so close to me right on the other side of the glass that there is no way I could have mistaken it for a human. I know what I saw. After a few seconds of staring at me it just turned to the side and walked away. Long strides. It went out of my view and I immediately ran out of my room and screamed for my mom. She didn’t believe me. I had to sleep in my room that night knowing I had seen a legit alien a few feet away from me earlier. I’m 23 now and to this day I still get chills when I think about it. My eyes always start watering when I think about it. I know it wasn’t a dream. I know what I saw. No one believes me. The thing that creeps me out the most was its demeanor. I remember it coming slowly up to me and walking slowly away. That’s what scares me the most. Like there was no rush to it. It was just watching me. I believe in aliens but I don’t really believe in aliens visiting earth so it’s been hard to cope with. I think what I saw (if it really was and alien) is what some people call a “grey”. Fuck. I’m not sleeping tonight.”
