Billy writes "I had an incident happen to me two years ago, in August 2022. This incident has affected my life in a serious way. I have stopped almost all of my outdoor activities, hunting, fishing, and hiking, which have been a big part of my life. Since the incident, I have been off and on in a state of depression, and I have gained about 35 pounds. I really need to talk to someone who has experience with these types of events and will take it seriously, and maybe help me move on from it.
In summary, the incident involved being stalked on a daylight hike in the Ozark Mountains by something I could not see initially, which caused the entire forest to go silent and the air to seem to stop moving. The woods became so silent that I could hear myself breathing. I was videoing myself during this time and commenting about the lack of noise and that I could occasionally hear something off to my right following me, always just beyond my sight in the woods, maybe 30 meters. The woods are very thick in this area. At one point, I was taking a break and getting a drink when, looking back up the trail I came from, I saw a large black object on the side of the trail. My first thought was that it was a black bear. As I watched this thing about 300–400 meters away, it did not move. I ruled out the bear because it did not move and would have to have been sitting like a dog if it were a bear.
I took out my iPhone 13 Pro and started to film. I zoomed into the thing, and it was black to a degree that could only be from something burnt. It had a sort of rectangle body, the head and neck was like a deer, with horns similar to those of a cow. The whole object was as black as anything I have ever seen, with no details. This sounds strange, but it is on film. I assumed it was a burned stump but wondered how I could walk past such a strange object and not notice it.
On my return trip, I walked past where the object was but found nothing that even remotely looked like the object I filmed. However, the area just behind where the object was had been smashed flat, as if something large had walked or sat there recently; I filmed this as well. Near the end of the hike, I noticed a pile of animal scats in the middle of the trail. This was deer scat, but it was large for deer. I bent over to film it. I intended to show this to my brother, who has hunted this area a lot. While doing this, I heard a very large twig snap directly in front of me. I jerked my head up, still filming, looking into the woods. The woods were thinner here than on the rest of the trail. The twig snap was from a large twig; in order to break something that size it would take something large as well. I could see nothing in the direction of the twig snap.
I felt a huge urge to run at this moment; it took everything I could muster to not to. I told myself it was daylight; I couldn't see anything, and if it were a mountain lion or something running, running could trigger an attack.
I walked to my truck and was very nervous that it would not start or something and I would be stuck out there. My truck never had any problems, so that wasn't a normal feeling. I drove away and stopped for a few minutes down the road to think about what happened. I was pretty shook up.
I stopped going into the woods after this incident. I would usually be fishing on a river near by, not near any roads and trails several times a week. Sometimes coming out after dark alone. I stopped scouting for turkey and deer seasons because I did this alone. I did not do any hunting the following year, even with others. About a year after the incident, I started to think about why I was so bothered by this incident.
1. Whatever was following me could have been a predator of some type, I suppose. However, bears are not that stealthy, I have seen a few of them in the wild. There are no mountain lions in the area. Whatever it was, it made the forest go absolutely silent. I stopped walking when I noticed this, it was so silent that I snapped my fingers a couple of times to make sure I had not lost my hearing. The air stopped moving, like I was in a vacuum. I don't know any animal that causes that.
2. The object I filmed. What was it, and why was it not there when I first walked by or on the return? I have zoomed and slowed the video I took of it, and it seems to have turned its head slightly at one point. I have not heard of anyone having an experience like that.
3. The twig snaps at the end of the hike. Why could I not see what caused it? Something large enough to break a large twig by stepping on it should have been easily visible, but I saw nothing.
I focused on the twig snap and my lack of seeing anything. I thought about how quiet it was previously following me along the trail, but it was so loud at that point. I realized it made a mistake at that point right then by stepping on the twig. Why would it do that right then? I then realized that at that moment I was bent over, head down. filming scat. I was completely vulnerable and unaware of my surroundings then. I concluded that whatever it was, it probably saw its opportunity and charged me. Like you see in videos from Africa when a gazelle bends down to drink the cheetah springs on them. This thought really bothered me.
What would have happened if the twig had not snapped? Would it have gotten to me? Why did it stop when I lifted my head up? I could not see anything, it could have continued for me. I was unarmed."
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