What’s camping without storytelling? Picture it: shadows are growing long, a chill is creeping into the air, and you’re all gathering close to the fire as darkness swallows up everything outside the small ring of flickering orange light. All is silent except for the crackling and popping of the flames dancing on wood, until someone jokingly asks, “… so anyone know any good scary stories?”
The group laughs and someone offers up that old hook-hand classic, in one of its many variations. It elicits groans and eyerolls from the group, but the next story is slightly better. And as the group takes turns, the tales get progressively creepier and more unsettling, until suddenly no one is laughing anymore and everyone is weirdly conscious of how quiet the surrounding nature has become. That feeling sets in… the feeling of being watched by something just beyond the firelight; the feeling of something creeping up behind you in the dark. Raucous conversation has now dimmed to cautious whispers as you all crowd in over the fire, desperate for warmth and light and that (false?) sense of security.
Photo by Simon Wijers on Unsplash
Yes, campfire ghost stories are one of the age-old traditions of being out in nature with friends. And make no mistake, this collection of stories is not for children. These are the campfire horror stories you pull out of your back pocket when you find yourself surrounded by doubters and skeptics, those people who insist that they don’t scare easily. These tales are the ones that leave even the bravest adults a little on edge, looking furtively over their shoulder when they think no one is watching. And when the time comes to douse the campfire and go to bed, even the skeptics will tuck themselves a little tighter into their sleeping bags and maybe, just maybe… leave a small lantern burning to stave off the darkness.
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite scary camping stories for adults. Some are rather long, so just click the titles to expand and read.
Scary Stories to Tell Around a Campfire
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I was working overtime on my computer one evening. My desk sat in front of a large picture window that looked out into our backyard. This particular evening, there was no moon and the yard was very dark. It was already several hours past quitting time and my eyes were starting to get tired from staring at my computer screen. I rubbed my eyes and glanced past my screen and out the window into the yard. My heart froze as I saw the figure of a man standing there, directly in front of me, not ten yards away. Panicked, I grabbed my phone and looked down to dial 911. It rang a few times while I waited, heart pounding, until finally someone answered.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“Yes, there’s a man-“ I began to answer but the words died in my throat as I looked up again. He was closer, much closer. Only feet away. I could see him more clearly now: empty, fixed eyes staring at me, a humorless smile twisting his lips.
I couldn’t help it. I screamed in shock, bursting to my feet as I prepared to run. But I froze just there, staring out the window in confusion as his image was replaced by my own. My own reflection.
It took only a moment for that confusion to be replaced by true terror as the realization set in: the man wasn’t outside.
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We bought this run-down house, my boyfriend and I. While he started working on converting the kitchen into the main bedroom, I insisted on removing the old wallpaper. The previous owner papered every wall and ceiling in the house! It’s a lot of work to remove, but it feels so good to get rid of it. The best feeling is getting a long peel, like when your skin peels after a bad sunburn. I turned it into a game, on the hunt to rip the longest piece possible.
I noticed there was a person’s name and date under a corner section of paper in every room. I couldn’t help but investigate and Googled those names. What I discovered left me speechless. The names all belonged to missing people, and the dates matched the day of their disappearance! We notified the police, who sent the crime scene team. I overheard one of them say, “Yeah, it’s human.” Wait, what’s human? “Ma’am, where is all the material you removed? This isn’t wallpaper.”
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A hiker decided to go on a hike by himself. Something he was not very used to. The whole day was normal. Trees and bushes engulfed his surroundings. He enjoyed being outdoors in the mountains. Nothing seemed strange to him, that was until he was making his way back to his car. He figured an eight hour hike was good enough. The sky was already getting dark and he needed to get back, fast. What was odd was how much he didn’t recognize the trail back. He began to panic.
Night had already taken over and all he had was a flashlight and no clue on how to get back. He knew it was already too late and too dangerous to keep going through the perilous forest. He began to worry that he would have no shelter for the night when almost luckily enough, he stumbled across a broken-down cabin. It was dark, and seemed like no one had visited it in years, but he knew it was the only place where he could rest until daylight, especially since his flashlight was running out of battery. He knocked on the door a few times but no one answered, so he let himself in where strangely enough, a perfect bed fitted for one person awaited him in the center. He knew that if the owner came back he could explain himself, he was sure that the owner wouldn’t mind, or was even probably dead. So he went ahead and got himself comfortable in bed. As he tried to sleep, he couldn’t ignore the collection of paintings around the room; portraits of strange looking people all peering at him, each wearing a smile that sent chills up his spine. Not too long after his exhaustion from the hike got the best of him and he was able to ignore the faces.
The next morning he got up early and was shocked to see that there were no paintings around the room, but windows…
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Last night I was rushed out of the house by a friend to catch the opening act at a local bar’s music night. A few drinks later, I realized I had lost my phone. I checked everywhere, even in the restrooms. Nothing. I ended up using my friend’s phone to call mine. The phone rang twice — someone picked up, giggled with a low and raspy voice, and hung up. I tried again, but nobody responded anymore. In the end, I gave up and headed home. I found my phone on the nightstand, right where I had left it.
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Personal account:
I lived in Waynesboro VA for about 5 years, less than 10mi to the BRP North Entrance, Skyline drive South entrance. I used to take bike rides along SD all the time, and always kept a year-long membership. Only in the day, though... Just to frame the story.
One night, I was having a particularly hard time settling in for bed, so I decided to start up the bike and ride up to the first overlook on Skyline- only about a mile inside the park. It was about 11pm when I got up there, and PITCH black. I killed the bike, and got immediately uncomfortable.
I'm not a guy that gets spooked in the dark. Truthfully, I prefer the dark in most situations: you can see people before they see you, you are practically -invisible- unless someone is looking for you, and I find the natural privacy comforting. Not up there, though. It was a thick, oppressive dark- worse than anything I experienced outside of a cave, and worse than any moonless night on the Appalachian Trail. I immediately got hinked out, big time.
"There's nothing up here besides wildlife." I reassured myself, internally. I had my .44mag revolver (from when I lived/hiked in the Pacific NW-> bear country and all that jazz) tucked into my CCW holster, so I knew I definitely outmatched anything that could be up there... Two legged snakes included. So I sat in the dark, leaning against the bike for a while and looking at the few lights I could see in the valley below.
I managed about 10 minutes before I physically felt the hair raise on the back of my neck. I only did 27 months in Iraq, but I remembered that precise feeling- someone was watching me. Something bad was coming. It was the same sensation I would get before IDF came in, or the shooting started somewhere nearby. I'm no psychic or whatever, but it's a common thing among vets with any time under their belt. Ask 'em about it. You can -feel- hateful eyes on you.
The overlook was a sheer drop (or nearly so) so I wasn't concerned about anything popping up in that direction, but the mountain side (and thick, untamed woods) were behind me. I started thinking about methed out dudes creeping the Appalachian Trail, Bears, and the like. The AT is no stranger to random violence. Still feeling creeped out, I took up a seat on the waist high stone wall that marked the overlook ledge, facing the woods.
Again, I can't emphasize how dark it was. 'But Gris,' you might say, 'Why not turn on the bike and use the lights? It'll at least help you see what's close.' True, but my bike is LOUD, and the last thing I wanted was attention. Plus, the light would just night-blind me to anything just out of view, and the noise would obscure any stealthy-sounding creeping going on. So, no thanks. I'll watch and listen for a bit.
I sat in the dark for another 10 minutes or so, anxiety getting worse and worse. I heard a few things, but nothing out of the ordinary for a night in the woods. I decided to head on home, since the feeling wasn't going away. Like I said, I had a big-bore on me, so anything playing games would be in for a powerful surprise if the games got stupid.
Hopping onto my Suzuki, I started it up and rode off towards the gate. Now, anyone who lives in the country and rides a bike knows that wildlife is crazy active on roads that aren't traveled often at night. Being night time (and technically closed- I had to ride around a gate to get in) there were no other vehicles on the road at all...I hadn't seen a single other person since leaving Waynesboro proper. The speed limit was 30mph, but I clipped along at a measly 15mph to keep an eye out for deer and wildlife. It wouldn't do me any good to fuck myself up in a wreck, only to lay there all night until someone happened across me in the morning.
Then I saw it.
The term of 'almost deer' is really fitting, not but quite accurate. It was like a deer that someone who had never seen a deer drew, but only after someone else described it to them. It stood on the left side of the road (mountainside), and I saw the eyes long before my headlight shown it fully. It was big- easily the biggest deer I've seen, and the lack of any horns that time in the year suggested that it was a doe. The head was almost bovine in shape, but fixed to a deer's frame. The legs seemed too long in proportion to the body (think maned wolf proportions), and the body was extremely barrel chested. I've always been creeped out by malformed wildlife, and this was no exception.
Unfortunately, I had to get it to move, or risk passing within a few feet of it. I was NOT traveling another 30+ miles up the road in the other direction to leave through another gate in the middle of the night, And I wasn't getting close to it... Dangers of it spooking and running into the side of my cruiser aside, I didn't want to get near it at all. Stopping and putting my feet down about 30' away from it, I tried to frighten it away.
I flashed my beams down to low and back to high. Nothing. I revved the engine. Nothing. I honked the (considerable) horn...nada. Resting the bike on the kickstand, I left it idling and hopped off. I yelled at the thing and it still didn't budge, so I started to the side of the road to grab something to toss near the deer-thing, hoping to spook it that way.
As soon as I crossed into the other lane, it rose up onto it's hind legs. I froze, putting my hand on my gun. I wasn't about to get charged by an angry, confused, malformed doe. It took two jerky, unnatural steps towards the center of the lane on 2 legs and froze again, staring directly at me. It suddenly shook it's head wildly like a dog with a toy, took another short step, then -HOPPED- on two legs several times until it disappeared into the darkness on the right side of the road.
I stepped back to the bike, mounted it, kicked up the kickstand, and turned the light towards the side of the road. On that side, there was a sheer drop off about 75-80° compared to the roadway, and the fucking thing's head was just peeking over the edge, still looking at me. The drop off was about 40-50', so there's no way it was standing at the base of the mountainside.
I cracked the throttle and beat the hell out of there, road-wildlife be damned.
I never went back up on Skyline Drive at night alone, after that. One time was enough.
There are things we don't grok out there. Or things that just visit for a while. Whatever it was, it wasn't from 'around these here parts,' in hilltalk. It can go back to wherever it came from, and stay there.
So what do you think? Did some of these send a shiver down your spine? Let me know in the comments and leave some of your own favorite spooky campfire stories for me to read on a dark night!
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