I just finished the video in Programs and Videos of interest called There's something in the woods. It prompted me to talk about my childhood neighborhood and the odd woods surrounding the still unchanged area. With the ever building and progression in our area, this place has remained very much the same. Sure houses have been updated, some not so much. My childhood home has undergone many changes from last i lived there, but that is to be expected after 30+ years. The surrounding woods...not even abit. No new homes have ever been built there. Perhaps some of it is part of the land protection laws that came into effect through the years. Either way, even driving through this place all these years later, it still fills me with thoughts of being watched. I remember walking around the neighborhood with a friend or groups of friends from the neighborhood. None of us really ever felt 'safe' there. Sure, the more people, the better it took away the ever present feeling, but made it more bearable. We would walk down the streets and you could always hear what sounded like something walking in tandem with you in the woods. You stop...it stopped. It was no echo. We were on blacktop...you could hear the leaves and branches crunching as it 'walked' in line with you. Atleast twice, the 'figure' i saw down at the river was seen. This thing was very fast. It was completely black with no features. I saw it in broad daylight, sun beating down on us. And yet, no identifying features...clothing, face, hair...just black. It had mass to it as i watched it pull branches out it's way as it came out of the woods. Sometime later, my cousin was freaked the hell out one night when he spotted something standing behind a tree. He was on his bicycle when he saw it and stopped. He waited there a second and next thing he knew it came out from behind the tree and began charging at him. He arrived at my friend's house SHORTLY after and told us what just happened. We ended up getting a few more people to join us and go looking for it. We never did find it, nor did i ever see it again...doesn't mean i never heard it again. We were bored one night during the winter and decided to enter the fenced in campground that inhabited the center of our neighborhood. As we got to the arcade building, we began walking around one corner when something jumped off the roof heavily and walked around the building towards us. That was all we needed to hear lol and we ran as fast as we could and back over the fence. We stopped close to my friend's house and stood there out of breath. Asking each other wth was that...within a minute, we heard the faint crunching of leaves. Whatever it was, it was following the fence line towards us. We finished the distance and ended up in my friend's house. Another night, i stayed at his house and of course we snuck out late at night to roam the neighborhood. We got back early and ended up sitting out front of his house talking. In the distance we heard something running really fast, coming from the far corner of the campground. Within seconds, it hit the fence and into the leaves and branches...then towards us. We ran inside the house, not caring if we woke his parents up as something was now banging on the front door. We woke them up and by the time we all went outside, there was nothing there. Another instance was at my friend's house, where he told me he would hear something up on his roof. It was no squirrel or anything small. If an adult got onto your roof and started running all around on it, that's what it sounded like. At first i didn't believe him until his family and i were all there and heard it. We quickly went outside...nothing. One night there was a meteor shower and my sister and i were at the end of our driveway watching it. It was quite dark on our road so it was great for stargazing. As we sat quietly we heard this ungodly scream come from the woods behind our house. I have never heard anything remotely close to it and never hope to hear it again. One day while we were walking WAY out in the woods, we came across an odor of candles burning. There were NO houses anywhere near us. I have no idea why we smelled that. Never did again. Another instance, we were down at the river and came across a locked van. It had some kind of dry cleaning name on it. The odd thing about it was there was a security guard shirt draped over the driver's seat. We circled the van, checking to see if any door was unlocked. As we circled it, we began hearing the sounds in the woods again. We called out to see if maybe the person was going to the bathroom or whatever, but nobody responded...only circled us in the woods. This was broad daylight as well. We did not see anyone in close vicinity of the treeline...only heard it. We left and came back shortly and the van was gone. Explainable, but very damn odd either way. Everyone that lived there always thought there something 'off' about our little neighborhood. I don't ever remember hearing of anyone venturing into those woods alone. Always had that feeling that if you did...you were never coming out...and whatever was out there, was patiently waiting for someone to try.
