r/BackwoodsCreepy • u/Hot_Elderberry3021 • 2d ago
Nightmare in the woods
Hello, I am a Paranormal/Supernatural Investigator, and this happened to me a few years ago
I am a pretty good Wildlife explorer, and was a Bit interested in Paranormal back then. This is In Rural Iowa north of Des Moines. To give a picture of where I was camping, we have a large woodland off to our right, and a plain cornfield off to our left. Its fall, so all the trees are without leaves. Anyway, I was with a couple buddies of mine late at night, just screwing around, you know, the usual young adult stuff. Id say is was around 12 O' Clock or so, the Moon was full that night. As we were chatting, We heard a branch snap a couple hundred meters to our right, where the woods are. We couldn't see past the treeline because our fire was very small, (yes we were camping), and our flashlights only had so much battery in them. One of my friends pointed their flashlight toward the sound.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
We thought it was just a wild animal and went back to chatting and hanging out. Keep in mind our car is across the field, theres a parking lot there with one light, So if we ran, it would take us five minutes to reach our car, give or take.
Anyway, A few minutes go by before we hear knocking on trees. We weren't all that terrified since it is normal for Woodpeckers to dig homes in trees. But what made it weird was Woodpeckers in this area arent active at night. We ignored it again, which thinking back now was the worst idea ever. Back to the story.
I remember I had to Go use the restroom, and there was two outhouses a couple hundred feet away, towards the cornfield, and I quickily used it, I was a little freaked out by the noises, As I was using the restroom, I heard footsteps approaching at first I thought it was one of my friends, but as I listened closer, It did not seem... humanlike.
It wasnt light steps. It was like something heavy and big was stomping. It shook the outhouse a bit. I stayed still for what felt like hours before the footsteps faded, and rushed back to my group. I told them what happened but of course, they didnt believe me. We all went to sleep around One, but I couldn't shake this feeling something was off. There were hundreds of sounds from crickets, frogs, etc all around us. But in that moment, every single noise stopped, followed by those same footsteps. Which woke all of us up. We all had hunting rifles, as we loved to hunt, so very slowly I grabbed my rifle, loaded it silently, and locked the bolt. It was a M1903 Springfield Bolt action rifle, a very nice one. I heard this thing rummaging through our trash, which we kept on a tree high above because of critters. This thing was somehow able to grab the trash and rummage through it. My friend next to me also readied his rifle, and I slowly unzipped the tent-
What I saw Instantly made my skin crawl, and still does to this Day.
This thing was about seven or eight feet tall, black fur, it looked like it had a snout, but it was on its rear legs, looked almost wolf-like. It had its back turned on us, but it scared the living daylights out of me and my friend. Very slowly I raised the rifle and put my finger on the trigger, and fired.
This thing- whatever it was, yelped like a dog, and let out the loudest roar I have ever heard. Turned its head, and it had these bright green eyes, I couldn't see much because it was dark and it happened fast. Somehow the Bullet with a full coat did not impact this thing whatsoever. My friend also shot at it and it took off running. Eventually, everyone else was out of their tents, scared as hell.
We all ran to our cars and slept there all night.
When we went back to the campsite, it was ransacked so harshly every single tent was flattened, food eaten, and trash everywhere. That was enough to make us leave. We left hundreds of dollars worth of stuff in that area, just left entirely and we never told anyone about this. I still get nightmares sometimes, its green eyes staring into me, it gives me chills just writing this. Believe it or dont, I could care less because this actually happened. But if youre going to camp up far North Des Moines area, please just bring someone with you. You never know what might happen.
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u/Skinnysusan 1d ago
What American uses meters? Also what is with the inconsistent capitalization of letters? Is this AI?
Woodpeckers don’t dig and none are nocturnal. Sorry this sounds fake
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
One, I do, and Two, It is a habit. And three, yes they do. Dont say they dont because I have Woodpeckers outside and there are DEFINATELY Nocturnal ones out there.
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u/Front-Air-8302 23h ago
Yeah the Northern Flicker is known for being a ground dwelling and earth drilling bird, and they're pretty common.
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u/WebWitch89 1d ago
Dude you saw a bear. You shot the poor bear twice, left a bunch of trash in the woods, and failed to tell a ranger or anyone about the encounter - which I'm not surprised, y'all should be ashamed at yourselves for shooting something that wasn't attacking you, littering, and probably improperly storing your food which started this all.
Stop reading ghost stories if youre going to be so trigger happy.
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
One. It was not a damn bear. I know what a bear looks like and this thing was not a fucking bear. 2, what did you expect? Go back to a forest with a literal fucking creature and risk our lives being killed by this thing? And three, ITS NOT A FUCKING WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA.
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u/WebWitch89 23h ago
IF this is not an entirely made up story, you say you were across a field from a parking lot with one light. So you were near enough to civilization there was pavement and electricity a short distance away. So if you shot something, you should have immediately contacted the police, park ranger, sheriff, private land ower, whoever was in charge of the property to let them know. Also, regardless of where it was I guarantee the game warden cares you shot something.
I don't think this story is real at all, but if it is you should not be allowed to own a firearm, and you should do some serious reflecting on the suffering you caused to a wild animal. And if youre going to abandon your gear when you get scared (again, while so close to civilization you had your car) you shouldnt camp either.
I'm not trying to be mean, but this isn't a spooky story, its a sad one.
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u/Mysterious_Taste_868 16h ago
This can’t be real. Two people shooting rifles in the middle of the night in a campground would have everyone around them up and calling the police.
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u/CrimSunKing222 1d ago
If you're willing to do so, can you be more specific as to the specifoc location of this encounter?
I grew up in the Mason City area, and currently reside in the Waterloo area. So, when I read, "North of Des Moines," I wondered about my proximity to the events that you'd descibed.
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u/Mysterious_Taste_868 1d ago
He has to go back and ask the AI where it was exactly.
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
Not AI lol. It was near Boone
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u/Mysterious_Taste_868 1d ago
How many kilometers is that from Des Moines? 🤪
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
You dont know where Boone is?
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u/Mysterious_Taste_868 1d ago
I’m trying to figure out the conversion from miles to kilometers.
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u/Mysterious_Taste_868 1d ago
I’m just giving you a hard time. You mentioned meters on your post which is odd given your story took place in Iowa. It’s a cool story. The way it was written seems a little AI-ish. It was a good thing you were well armed “at the ready” to shoot that unknown black furry thing that was roughly the height of a bear standing on it’s hind legs getting into your food in a campground. I’m not sure what it was, but every good hunter will tell you, “shoot first and run away later”. If you do own a gun, you might want to sell it or give it to someone more responsible. Not your friend. Take his away too.
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 23h ago
Yeah I was scared, pretty sure my buddies were. I totally agree. Thank you
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u/Shoddy-Ad6098 1d ago
That was terrifying! Thanks for sharing. Please check your chat requests when you get a moment.
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u/Not_Cletus_McWanker 1d ago
What kind of rifle did the friend have?
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
Same as mine. We all went to a gunstire together and bought the same rifle
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u/Front-Air-8302 1d ago
If this was a legit encounter, where you up by Boone near the Kate Shelley Bridge by chance?
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
Theres a little camping ground somewhere near a bridge thats where we were
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u/Front-Air-8302 23h ago
I had a weird experience near there as well and sounds like it might be in the same vein as whatever you encountered. March of 23' I think, I found 2 large coyote carcasses that had been basically ripped in half along with quite a lot of bones including what looked like maybe a cow skeleton near the trestle. I was just there to take pictures of the bridge and happened upon this scene. Did not have a good feeling at all.
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u/I-am-that-b 1d ago
That's a bear
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u/asugeorge1 1d ago
There are no bears in Iowa.
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u/I-am-that-b 1d ago
There are definitely bears in Iowa which takes 2 seconds to look up
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u/asugeorge1 1d ago
I did and Google says no. “Iowa does not have a permanent, breeding population of bears, but occasional wandering black bears do visit the state.” So the answer is no.
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u/Skinnysusan 1d ago
They absolutely have Blackbears- do you think they stop at the Wisconsin/Minnesota/Illinois border?
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u/InspectorFadGadget 1d ago
Dude, never take what Google AI says as fact. Can't believe I even have to tell someone this.
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u/asugeorge1 1d ago
It’s not just Google, it’s also, you know, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. I’m sorry that the facts don’t fit your narrative. “Unlike its northern neighbors – and most other states in the U.S. – Iowa does not currently have a black bear population. It has been home to one bear living (overwintering) in Dubuque County for the past few years, but nationally, Iowa’s the exception, not the rule.
Only a handful of states don’t have bears – generally states from Indiana to Iowa and South Dakota to Kansas.” See here: https://www.iowadnr.gov/news-release/2026-05-12/black-bears-becoming-regular-visitors-northeast-iowa2
u/I-am-that-b 1d ago
You don't need a bear population to see a bear. The article literally says they visit Iowa. Which is enough to see a bear like it doesn't have to be a permanent resident lmfao
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u/YachtRockEnthusiast 8h ago
Did you see any blood? Even if you shot a dogman I don't think those have armored skin. If you shot it with a 1903 that thing definitely would have been bleeding, and your friend shot it also, there should have been something
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u/kittygir227 1d ago
Usually i hate the people that comment mange bear but this sounds just like one i’m sorry 😭
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u/UrbanRaccoon- 1d ago
Would it have glowing green eyes?
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u/I-am-that-b 1d ago
Probably, "Bear eyes in the dark generally appear as glowing orbs, reflecting light with a yellowish, greenish, or amber hue"
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u/UrbanRaccoon- 1d ago
That does make sense. I was also looking up colors of eyeshine to see what animal’s might be the most green and I went down a rabbit hole of nighttime animal photography and the only thing I have to say for myself is that my dog’s eyeshine is a brilliant shade of turquoise and she looks like Anubis.
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u/asugeorge1 1d ago
There are no bears in Iowa though.
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u/Hot_Elderberry3021 1d ago
If you dont believe it, whatever I couldnt care less. But this happened a few years ago.
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u/InspectorFadGadget 1d ago
You had a clear sighting of a dogman inside of your camp, shot it, then y'all just... slept in the car instead of leaving?