This is why I don’t like to wander in the woods alone. I might just run into the person who did this.
Maybe a Halloween prank, but for whom? Who carries a faceless handmade doll into the woods and strings it up by its neck along a sugar-sand trail in the Pine Barrens?
Why?
I don’t think I’ll be wandering down that particular trail again anytime soon.
Anyone in the mood to share ghost stories around the campfire? What creepy things have you found in the woods?
And in case you’re wondering; I was not alone and we got in the car and got the heck out of Dodge, thank you.
If I could scream on a comment, I would be, right now.
EEEKKKKK!
How does that music go, do do do do, do do do do. I guess you have to hear it.
CREEEPEEE!!!
I would have wasted no time in getting outa there!
Yes, very creepy. I don’t even like looking at the pics.
Ever come across a place that just feels weird for no reason? With a bad vibe to it?
Very “Blair Witch Project.” Your leading picture really conveys the creepiness of the scene. Good Halloween-ish post, even though it made for a not-so-fun walk in the woods.
As Pam said, “Blair Witch” was the first thing that came to mind. Then, I thought about dope growers. No matter what it’s about, it’s too bad your walk was ruined. I know it’s not fair, but guys don’t have to worry so much about this stuff.
Oh my – you don’t expect to run into something like *that* in the woods!! I’d have to say you have the creepiest story – I’ll have to think but I don’t remember seeing anything creepy while wandering through the woods.
My daughter, now 10, does stuff like that. She’s just “decorating”, and the neck is the natural place to tie the string, right? It creeps me out to, I always tell her they have to come down.
Yep, I’ll sign in on Pam’s comment – the first thing I thought of and a stark photo too.
I think the good news is that it wasn’t a previously living animal, and that it’s probably a barely postpube kid who is coming into the age of needing a desperate lesson in consequences before it’s too late. But you never know.
Nonetheless it would creep me out. And no, I haven’t had the opportunity to encounter something like that.
That is creepy! I just came in from walking in the woods alone, but thank goodness, I have never run in to anything like that.
What is even creepier-was someone watching to see if you were scared?
Pam: I haven’t seen *Blair Witch* so the reference is lost on me. I took lots of pics yesterday; doesn’t it figure the best would also be the creepiest!
Mojoman: Oh this didn’t ruin my walk, just made us hurry on to the next place! Of course my friend and I had to trade creepy stories then. This place didn’t have that creepy vibe to it, but I really wondered what would make a person do this in the middle of nowhere. Some places that I visit looking for birds make me think “this seems like a good place to dump a body” and I’m very watchful then.
Naturewoman: If you look at the pic you can sort of see that the doll is holding its hands over its featureless face – the doll is creepy all by itself!
Madcap: You’re right, little ones are innocent and don’t realize how adults see things differently!
Wayne: Good point! We might’ve found something much more sinister.
Hmmm.. let’s see. Creepy things in the woods. Well, I found a crushed dead frog on the driver’s side windshield of my van when I returned from canoeing in a river just outside of a town. Fortunately, I pretty much knew who put it there — some boys about 10 years old that I could hear shouting and laughing near my truck as I came up the river towards the put-in. If I hadn’t seen and heard them, I would have been creeped out wondering who would have done such a thing.
However, I guess the creepiest thing I’ve found was a huge pile of needles, syringes and injection bottles with their labels scraped off, dumped along a fairly secluded cart track that runs through a county forest near a city. Those kinds of things probably creep me out more than things that look witchy and macabre. Btw, the above forest now has gates at the trailheads which has cut down considerably on weird stuff. Seems that most weirdos don’t like to have to walk too far from their cars — fortunately for us long distance hikers.
Another btw, some people who are into geocaching sometimes make strange looking things as “markers” to be used as waypoints. There could have been a special Hallowe’en geocache set up in that forest and that doll could have been one of the waypoint markers.
Did all of these commments make you more spooky? I wouldn’t walk alone anymore, either, especially at night. I’m sure it was a Halloween folly, conjured up by a few pre-teens having fun. I don’t appreciate that type of humor, though.
I would have reported it to the local law enforcement. If they laugh, tell them, it could be a child next. Also, write to your newspaper. There are those who are seriously sick.
Am I over reacting? not at all.
my sixth sense says it is not funny.
Oh, this is creepy. I came across a fake human torso once in a park near me. Turns out there were pit bull owners training their dogs to attack it.
Wow, I study criminalistics, and the first thing that came into my mind was “eeww–looks like future serial killer material to me.” Creepy! But like silverlight, I’m definitely feeling a call to the cops might not be a bad idea; if they laugh, so what?
Maybe you should start a meme of creepy things people find on walks in the woods. I’ve found everything from condoms strategically placed on broken branches to a very dead fox propped and posed like an expectant puppy to an art exhibit of all natural items found in the woods.
The more remote I go, the odder the findings.
Laura,
You should read Weird NJ Magazine. There’s lots of crazy Pine Barrens stuff in there.
Bev: I hadn’t thought of a geocache – think they’d do something so creepy?
Mary: Ha! Yea- this isn’t helping me feel any better.
Silverlight: No, not funny. But I wouldn’t even have been able to tell the cops where we were – in the middle of nowhere! This was on one of hundreds of sand roads that run through the pine barrens – every one looks the same.
Rhea: Not helping! That is creepy. What were those people thinking?
Delia: Yep – but the pines are known for this sort of weirdness.
Oh Birdchick, that is too much – a dead fox? Kathy told me about something she found nearby once – different-colored cloth bags arranged in a perfect circle in a clearing in the woods – she thought it might have been a Wiccan thing.
Patrick: Maybe I’ll look when the sun is shining. Too dark now!
Seriously, I have that book, but it’s mostly north jersey creepiness – thanks for the link.
Yep, a lot is in north Jersey or extreme south Jersey. There’s a whole issue of the magazine dedicated to the “haunted” Clinton Road in Totowa. It’s prime birding country up there. It goes right through the Pequannock Watershed and has breeding Golden-winged Warblers.
I’ve never been to Clinton Road, Patrick – is it spooky?
😉
I hadn’t thought of a geocache – think they’d do something so creepy?
Actually, on second thought, it would be unlikely for a couple of reasons. First, the object would be too easy to remove, so it wouldn’t make a good “landmark”, although I’ve seen some fairly impermanent things used as landmarks. However, the greater reason for not being placed there by a geocacher would be that there’s a lot of emphasis on “cache in, trash out” these days — to leave the cache site cleaner than when you got there — so hanging up a doll would go against that.
Btw, regarding other things seen in the woods — I’ve come across odd looking wreaths, etc.. hanging up in trees in pretty remote places. I guess they are used for some kind of ceremonies. I don’t tend to worry about most things that I find other than the kinds of things I mentioned above – dumped piles of tires, waste oil, syringes, etc… That’s the stuff that *really* creeps me out. (-:
Thanks, Bev. I don’t know much at all about geocaching.
The *stuff* you talk about finding is creepy, but in a different sense, I guess.
I’m always surprised to find beer bottles and garbage and wonder why folks can’t do that at home.
Some of you would be fun around a campfire with a glass of wine- I can imagine some very lofty ghosty tales.
I haven’t been to Georgia for a bit- I’m going over to see Wayne. 🙂