bits

I went for a trail run tonight at a local Civil War battlefield. The place was empty, it was getting dark, windy and cold; and I even had to clear some fallen branches to get down the gravel road to the parking lot. I must admit it was a tad creepy with just the deer and I running through the woods.

I think I need to start running in the morning.

2012-07-24

Me and the Goatman.

Have you read about the ‘Goatman’ yet?

A guy is out hiking, remote area, there are some wild goats nearby. He’s taking the scene in, watching the goats go about their business. But one looks odd. Lame maybe. It’s moving along with the other goats, but apart from the pack. He takes a closer look with his binoculars and realizes it’s no goat, but a man dressed as a goat.

He snaps some photos and then the goat man realizes he’s been spotted. He just kinda sits there and looks at the guy snapping his photos. The hiker get’s a little scared and takes off.

This really creeps me out.

Maybe because I spend a good chunk of my spare time trail running and hiking. The trails I frequent aren’t too remote, but there are times that I go for a trek and see no one else.

I must admit that nothing as creepy as this has happened to me (knocking on wood now).

I’ve had my fair share of normal woodland mishaps like being dive bombed by an owl, running over a snake with my bike as it tried to bite me, and falling seven feet down a river bank still holding a broken tree branch I was sure would support my weight.

I’ve ventured into the woods at night and the pre-dawn hours. I’ve ran through the woods in the dead of winter with ice crunching under my feet. All those times shared a very eerie silence.

I’ve been camping and heard raccoon scavening my site looking for food. The little buggers were so loud I was sure it was a person making his way towards my tent to do evil upon me until I peaked out to see the scavenger with a pack of hot dog buns in its hands.

I’ve gone gator hunting in Florida and was unnerved when the sun went down and I shined my flashlight along the river banks to see hundreds of glowing eyes looking back.

Even as a kid I spent most of my time running through the trees. Once I snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to play guns in the woods with a group of friends. We were having a great time playing at commando until one of our friends spotted a figure walking towards us through the moonlit field. We ran our asses off all the way home.

The next morning, in the light of day, we realized it was probably one of the hobos that took up residence at the nearby railroad tracks, coming to see what all the noise was about. Even that incident, amplified by childhood imagination, doesn’t seem as creepy as the goatman.

I suppose it just makes you realize that as dangerous as the outdoors can be, as unforgiving as Mother Nature is, there is at least some reason to it. The outdoors are filled with known dangers (owls swoop, snakes bite, and no, that tree limb won’t hold you) and you know that going in. But when you introduce that unknown element (the crazy guy in a goat suit) into an already potentially dangerous environment the balance shifts. Suddenly there is a real bogeyman in the woods and you don’t know what he means to do with you.

2012-06-23

The Vanishing

Billboards on 16 warning KILLER ON THE LOOSE! are constant reminders of the missing. The disappearances along the highway and two of its desolate tributaries, Highways 97 and 5, date back to 1969, when 26-year-old Gloria Moody was found murdered near Williams Lake. There have been clusters of disappearances each decade since, but it’s difficult to get a handle on the actual number of victims.

So very creepy.

2012-01-17

Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t

Loads of modern urban legends expounded upon. The Rake was very creepy. /via

2011-12-02

I didn’t realize this old covered foot bridge had a light in it. I saw it on the way home from work and decided to snap a pic or two. Looks a tad gloomy at night.

2011-04-22

Bainbridge Naval School

Excellent photos of an abandoned military school that was deactivated in 1976. This shot is especially creepy.

2011-03-10

Revellers wear masks during the traditional Buso Carnival in Mohacs, southern Hungary March 6, 2011. At the Buso Carnival, which lasts for six days, locals bury the winter and party before the start of lent. According to legend, the masks helped locals scare away the Turks in the 16th century. (REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo)

Creepy. Via In Focus.

Revellers wear masks during the traditional Buso Carnival in Mohacs, southern Hungary March 6, 2011. At the Buso Carnival, which lasts for six days, locals bury the winter and party before the start of lent. According to legend, the masks helped locals scare away the Turks in the 16th century. (REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo)

Creepy. Via In Focus.

2010-11-23

Stratigraphies of Infestation

‘You know, I heard there are three layers of sewer lines.’ He counted them off on his fingers. ‘There are the ones from the 1800s, the ones from the 1700s, and the ones they don’t have maps for anymore. Once in a while, they use that old line, when they’re doing construction or something, and you read in the papers that there are hundreds of rats coming up. Well, those rats that are in the third line, they haven’t even seen man before.’”