Things that go Bump in the Night

Of course most things I write must be taken with a grain of salt, and I promise that I really am a normal functional adult, but then again that's what all delusional people say. Regardless, I love a good story and here is my attempt at one.

I decided on Labor day to take a hike into the mountains not far from my home. For some reason, I sometimes like to hike alone, which I understand is not always the best thing to do. but hey, it always presents a good opportunity for stories that, of course, no one can dispute.

I hit the trail head at 5:00 a.m. and donned a head lamp (in fact I donned two). It was pitch black. It would take me about 1 1/2 hours to get into some steep rugged area, which is how long I would be in total darkness. So, I figured everything would work out just great. One hour into the hike is where the strangeness began.

I was nearly 2 miles away from the nearest anything when I noticed a little fleck of light ahead of me several hundred yards. I only saw it for a brief time until it disappeared. The thought that occurred to me was that it was probably a reflector on a fence post or something like that. When I got within about 100 yards, the little light appeared again. This time I could see that the little light was clearly moving around.

My first thought was that there was someone up ahead of me, with a head lamp on, walking around a campsite. It seemed really strange, though, because I could clearly see that my light was projecting light out in front of me, but this other light was not. It could only be a really weak light that was not projecting any noticeable light out in front of it. That's when I made another huge realization. When I turned my light away, the other light disappeared. So clearly it was reflecting my light, but it was moving over a pretty good sized area. So out went the theory of a something reflective hanging in a tree.

It was very ethereal and did not seem to fit anything that would appear to be reasonable. The light moved with purpose, though. It would move up and then over, hold that position and then turn away. That's when I noticed that not only was I looking at one strange light but two: these were eyes. I stood there for 15 minutes watching this phenomena not clearly being able to determine what it was. If it was something living, it clearly was not moving away, though it would have known that I was watching it.

A couple of times, I thought that I could make out a silhouette of something with broad shoulders, though I couldn't be sure that my eyes weren't playing a trick on me. This thing was slightly off the trail into some trees, that if I passed by, I would come within about 40 yards of. I didn't want to pass by until I knew for sure I knew what it was. I didn't want to get above it on the trail, only to have it cut off my escape back down the mountain towards safety.

Then another thought occurred to me. Whatever it was knew I was there because my light was shining right towards it, but it was not going anywhere. So, maybe my light was the only thing keeping it from coming to have an encounter with me. As soon as it was light enough for my head lamp to not block me from direct view, whatever it was that was out there might just come down and visit me.

That's when I decided that my hike was over and I turned around and made the hour long walk back to the car, only with the occasional look over my shoulder for good measure.

Curiosity has me, though, so I'm heading back up this weekend to check things out.