Unexplained sounds or experiences

[Alan]

I heard what sounded like a woman screaming in the woods once. It freaked me out until I learned it was a fox. But in the moment that was terrifying. What sounds or experiences in the woods have you had that you couldn't explain right away?

 

[BKLooney]

When I was a kid back in the early '60's we lived in a remote holler in Grundy VA, it's where I was born & raised. About a mile and a half down the holler was my great Aunt's house, our families old home place built in the early 1800's. I used to go visit both of my Great Aunt's down at the old house once or twice a week just to have something to do, check on them, and just sit around and talk.

When nighttime hit up in there it was black, I mean pitch black, and a lot of the times I would walk back up the holler going home. I don't ever recall having a flashlight but you could make out the road good enough not to step over in the creek. Every single time I did this, and it was a lot, I could hear something just off that dirt road in the brush walking with me. I'd walk for a bit and just stop cold and listen, I could always hear something take an additional step or two and stop. That happened almost all of the way home...never knew what it was and being about 5 or 6 years old I didn't really want to know what it was.

Here's a neat old article that has a picture of my Great Granddad and Grandma and the old house.

 

[Alan]

When I was a kid back in the early '60's we lived in a remote holler in Grundy VA, it's where I was born & raised. About a mile and a half down the holler was my great Aunt's house, our families old home place built in the early 1800's. I used to go visit both of my Great Aunt's down at the old house once or twice a week just to have something to do, check on them, and just sit around and talk.

When nighttime hit up in there it was black, I mean pitch black, and a lot of the times I would walk back up the holler going home. I don't ever recall having a flashlight but you could make out the road good enough not to step over in the creek. Every single time I did this, and it was a lot, I could hear something just off that dirt road in the brush walking with me. I'd walk for a bit and just stop cold and listen, I could always hear something take an additional step or two and stop. That happened almost all of the way home...never knew what it was and being about 5 or 6 years old I didn't really want to know what it was.

Here's a neat old article that has a picture of my Great Granddad and Grandma and the old house.

View attachment 135

That’s spooky in the best way, being that young in pitch darkness would’ve rattled anyone. Woods have a way of feeling alive at night.

 

[Lt Choate]

When I was a kid back in the early '60's we lived in a remote holler in Grundy VA, it's where I was born & raised. About a mile and a half down the holler was my great Aunt's house, our families old home place built in the early 1800's. I used to go visit both of my Great Aunt's down at the old house once or twice a week just to have something to do, check on them, and just sit around and talk.

When nighttime hit up in there it was black, I mean pitch black, and a lot of the times I would walk back up the holler going home. I don't ever recall having a flashlight but you could make out the road good enough not to step over in the creek. Every single time I did this, and it was a lot, I could hear something just off that dirt road in the brush walking with me. I'd walk for a bit and just stop cold and listen, I could always hear something take an additional step or two and stop. That happened almost all of the way home...never knew what it was and being about 5 or 6 years old I didn't really want to know what it was.

Here's a neat old article that has a picture of my Great Granddad and Grandma and the old house.

View attachment 135

Great story and while my "hollers" were in middle Tennessee, you are exactly right about how dark it could get back then as there was very little external lighting in those days and the woods can create all kinds of sounds and feels. Especially for a kid.

Also, congratulations to you for having those old pictures of ancestors and homeplaces. I, too, have some of my folks and cherish them greatly. In fact, my avatar is my great grandfather in about 1862. He was a Confederate Cavalryman. We sometimes take such things for granted, but there are many people out there who barely know who their grandparents were, much less generations prior to them.