UKH

Amongst post-walk pub chat at the weekend arose the topic of 'people behaving strangely' on the hills.
My own experience was late afternoon on Dartmoor a few winters ago. My wife and I were heading back to Two Bridges after a circular trip to Fur Tor. We were heading down the West Dart river just north of Wistmans Wood in the fading light when we saw a figure about 400m ahead coming towards us, but on the opposite bank. This character then clearly became aware of our presence and ran uphill to hide behind a wall running perpendicular to the river. I was pretty certain the figure was male and that he was carrying a daypack sized rucksack. We'd lost sight of him now, but carried on our route. By the time we were 'in line' with the wall, we could see that this chap had moved much further uphill. To do so, given the height of the wall he would have had to have crawled about 100-150m. Anyway, he then stood up in clear view, and although the light was fading it was clear that he was looking directly at us (we were about 300m apart). I raised a hand in acknowledgement that I'd seen him, but he did not respond. We carried on. He then began to walk around, not in any particular direction and began talking loudly - not shouting, and I don't think he was using a mobile. He then started to stare at us again and began walking in our direction (we had kept walking throughout all this, and by now we were heading away from him). He then suddenly turned around and headed back uphill, walking and occasionally running. He disappeared from view.
It was fair to say that we were more than a little spooked by this strange behaviour late on a Sunday in winter. We didn't exactly feel threatened, but this person's behaviour and mannerisms were definitely the most unusual that I've experienced in nearly 40 years hillwalking.
We carried on, glancing back occasionally to see if we could spot him, but the light was too low to see much by now.
By the time we were back in the van, we discussed all that we'd experienced and began to feel pangs of guilt in that maybe the guy was suffering from some kind of mental illness and needed help. On balance we decided not to contact police/MRT since he seemed to be physically fit and well equipped, and by now we were not sure exactly where he might be. I'm still not sure whether we did the right thing or not.

Anyone else experienced strange goings on in the hills?

N

In reply to cousin nick:
That does sound rather strange.

There was a thread I started a few years ago where some people contributed some strange bothy experiences:
http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=314311&v

I'm sure people have plenty more odd stories since then though.

In reply to cousin nick:

Doctors are apt to recommend/promote walking to people with derepression and various other mental health issues.

That might be one possible answer

Quite a few times I've seen odd-looking people dressed in skin-tight clothes with pieces of metal attached to their waists doing what looks like yoga while clinging to steep bits of rock. Sometimes they drop abruptly and swear before repeating the exercise. Most strange.

In reply to cousin nick:

I was walking around the flanks of Dodd fell in the mid-80's off any path. I crossed a ridge and in the middle distance was a guy playing a bass saxophone on his lonesome - quite a haunting tune. He spotted me and ran at startling speed across the bay & over the next ridge.

When I got to where he had gone out of sight, a few minutes later he had disappeared - I could only think he was hiding.

Spooky

In reply to cousin nick:

escapee from the prison?!

In reply to cousin nick: we were coming down wet side edge off great carrs around November just gone. It was getting dark and a guy was hiding behind a wall down the slope a little as we moved he crawled along army style trying to keep out of our sight but to no success as we could see him all the time. Was quite a surreal experience after all the strange light phenomenon we had going on a few hours earlier, along with a fox figure of eighting us for safety while fifty hounds dogs were coming at it from all sides. Was quite a strange day on the great carrs buttress all in all and I did have some nasty words to say to the fox hunters so could of been one of them hiding.

In reply to cousin nick:

Many years ago, a friend and I visited Langdale. We spent the evening in the ODG and became aware of a lone man who seemed to have eyes everywhere, just staring at everyone. We were sat quite close and tried to make talk on the way back and forth from the bar, but he wasn't saying much. He didn't look like a walker of climber, just gave me an uneasy feeling. Anyway, he left the pub about 20 mins before we did, so we didn't give it much thought when we left to walk back to the campsite. 100 yds up the road, I heard footsteps behind, and this man was following us. There was nobody else about. We started to walk faster, so did he, and by the time we reached the small humpback bridge, he was about 10yds behind us. We were just about to start running on the bridge when he completely disappeared, where to I will never know. We did run back to the tent, and spent a few hours lying awake wondering if he was about to come through the door!

Another occasion was in the Chamonix Valley. We were walking along a path to the animal park above Les Houches where there is a deep gully. There are signs both sides of the gully telling you not to stop because of rockfall. We saw a guy in a red jacket stopped right in the bed of the gully and commented that it wasn't the best place. On rounding the bend to the gully, he had gone, not past us and not along the path infront of us, which we could see clearly for several hundred metres. There was nowhere else for him to go. When we arrived at the gully bed, there was a plaque on the rock in commemoration of someone who had been hit by rockfall. Now, I don't believe in ghosts, but that did spook me a little!

In reply to cousin nick:

I had a weird experience but not in the hills - at a conference dinner in a large hall in Cambridge (and no I had had no alcohol!) My doppelganger walked in, in clear view and about 20 feet away - he looked exactly like me to a T and very spookily was wearing apparently identical clothes to me. But almost the oddest thing was that he also saw me, looked utterly shocked/ surprised and legged it - he never came back to the room.

I am not joking. It was very spooky and I've never forgotten it.

In reply to liz j:

Ok, on the theme of eerie goings on. A few years back I did a full traverse of the Glyderau from Bethesda to Capel Curig, including out-and-backs to Elidir Fawr and Tryfan. It was September, but the sun was quite intense and I had no sun cream, so was feeling a bit tired and frazzled towards the end of the day. On the quiet section between Y Foel Goch and Gallt yr Ogof I spotted three men ahead, walking steadily in single file; the only people around. I gained ground on them, and eventually was quite close behind them. As I passed we exchanged a "hello" and I carried on. After another hundred meters I looked back and they were gone. No sight of them at all.

For those who don't know the area, there aren't really any established routes down to the valley from this point, and besides, why carry on when the ridge line is the most direct way to the village. I started thinking: they were wearing quite antiquated gear, and the three were completely quiet until I said hello, then they vanished. Had I just seen three ghosts wandering the end of the Glyderau? I don't even believe in ghosts, I'm rational. I got down to Capel and was thinking it all over with a pint. About twenty minutes later three men walked into the pub: "blimey, you were going fast on the ridge back there."

Clearly, for whatever reason, they had decided to free range over rough ground into the valley, and walked along the old track into Capel. A fine lesson in the effects of a bit of sun and a long, tiring day on the ability of the mind to play tricks.

In reply to cousin nick:

Camping at Styhead during a climbing trip as a youth. Just bedding down for the night having eaten and a couple of drinks, quiet still night. Only tent at the tarn. Suddenly heard someone run up to the tent, throw a stone at it which slithered down the tent wall. We INSTANTLY shot out of the tent to see who it was and grab the b__tards.

No one in sight nor sound.

In reply to abseil:

Flipping 'eck. Not surprised you were spooked!

In reply to Wesley Orvis:


Hunt saboteur/observer seems more likely.
jk

In reply to cousin nick:

Bit off track, but i remembered reading this a while ago and enjoying it.

http://willcopestakemedia.com/2012/11/28/ghost-story-painting-a-picture/

In reply to redsonja:


Right. And he even had the same hair colour and hairstyle as me. Even worse he had my normal facial expression (a kind of dimwitted weak smile, again, I'm not joking).

In reply to cousin nick:
I once saw a man's head, in a bog, on Kinder. He looked me straight in the eyes and said "Help!". Naturally, I did no such thing, and carried on walking. When I looked back over my shoulder, the head had vanished. I don't believe in ghosts, but maybe I'd seen one that day? Spooky stuff.

In reply to cousin nick:

We were walking in the Hornstrandir in Iceland, and took a wrong turn that resulted in us being in the valley next to the one we wanted. It was far from any prescribed route, but as we dropped out of the clag, in the distance, I could see two figures, looking like father and son, wearing what I could only describe as cloaks.

Was weird to see anyone there, as there is usually no one around that peninsula.

They stopped to look at us, so I waved back, but they just turned and carried on walking.

We carried on, all the while moving towards and up a ridge, and since there was no path, found ourselves clawing away at lumps of choss to get over the other side.

As we got to the other side, those same two people were just standing there, staring at us, about 500 metres away.
It was August, and it was light at midnight, and they were just standing there till 3 in the morn.

Woke up a few hours later, and they were gone. Icelandic trolls spring to mind. Freaked me a bit.

In reply to cousin nick:

Great stuff folks - keep it coming. I wasn't coming at this from the ghost/supernatural angle but rather from the strange behaviour side of things.
I'd never considered it before, but as hillgoers we can often find ourselves alone in sometimes remote places and potentially at (albeit very low) risk from other people who may have darker intentions. My wife and I certainly felt 'uncomfortable' that evening and did not want to approach the guy. We were glad when he turned and started to run away (even more glad when we were in the van - didn't even take my boots off - just got in and left!).
I'd always considered risk from terrain, remote location, weather etc., but I'd not thought about potential risks from other people.

N

In reply to cousin nick:

I can imagine the stories from these people's perspective:
I was minding my own business, crawling near a wall in the hills, reciting Welsh poetry loudly, and randomly running uphill as I like to do when some guy repeatedly stared and smiled at me and intermittently made a friendly waving gesture. He then proceeded to walk along the path like a bloody maniac. Very strange.

In reply to cousin nick:

Weirdest one I had was when I dropped off the Snowdon path to Pen y Pass in the clag, and needed to get to Llanberis quick.

I was going to hitch, and I seen these car lights coming towards me, so I stuck my thumb out.
The car barely made a noise, and pulled up alongside me, so I jumped in, turned to thank the driver.

No one was at the wheel!
I was going to jump out, but as it was going down the pass, is was going quite fast, so I couldn't. But the weird thing was, the car made no noise.

The car got faster, and as it got faster, looming out of the fog, there was a righthand turn, by the eggplant buttress/beginners mind (?).

I thought, its going to hit the wall, so I got ready to jump out. As the turn appeared, braced myself, but all of a sudden, out of nowhere, these two hands appeared, grabbed the wheel and turned the car away from the wall!

I thought, nuts to this, jumped out, at speed, and ran like a loon to the Vaynol, a good few miles down.

So I got into the pub, shaking and told everyone there. Freaked out.

Is was then these two lads came in and said 'There's that lad who was in the car we were pushing.'

In reply to cousin nick:

Not sure if it's the elephant in the room or not - but I think at least some of the strange behaviour stories are purely the result of bad decisions to take too much LSD/Psilocybin/mescaline at the wrong time and place. The paranoid behaviour about being seen, the inefficient and uncommitted attempts at hiding / running away, the lack of response - are all classic symptoms of being way too out of it for your own good. The fact they had sufficient outdoor equipment also suggests they could think clearly beforehand

In reply to cousin nick:

I don't understand why you thought that was abnormal behaviour? Didn't you realise that he was just an average member of UKC out for a walk?

In reply to abseil:



Sounds like you had an unexpected encounter - with a mirror!

In reply to cousin nick:

I once saw a disembodied hand sticking out of a bog on Bleaklow. It was waving at me in the mist. As I watched it sank into the ground, but not before I managed to remove a nice watch from the wrist. I can't explain it, but it may have been a trick of the light? The watch is real enough though. Weird!

In reply to Clauso: You basturd I want my watch back !! It took me days to get clean after you tripped me up

In reply to cousin nick:
Dartmoor, crawling around? Talking loudly apparently to no one?

What colour clothing? Was he wearing any odd headgear - sounds like a description of a radio operator on exercise?

perhaps embarrassed at being lost? or told to evade observation? kept out of sight till he's sussed you weren't a threat?

In reply to cousin nick:
I don't know what it is about Stob Corrie Nan Lochan, in the Glen Coe area, but it has always made me feel uneasy and I have experienced a female screaming from out of the mist which neither I nor my partner could explain - I had previously shared this experience on the Ben Nevis incident but anyways -

Talking with an old boy one day at the ski centre he recounted a spooky episode on the uptrack of SCNL.

Were he and his climbing partner had been completing the narrow steep accent to the climbers col at the head of the valley walk in. The only party on the track that day they had a clear view of the track ahead and behind them.

The old boy is slightly in front of his partner and when he gets to the large climbers col boulder which is around 7m in height, he observes a man standing atop the boulder with a female slightly behind, both looking down on the old boy.

Thinking this was odd as no one would climb the precarious boulder the old boy looks up and says 'hello' - to no reply. He puts his head down and drops his bag to take shelter bellow the boulder.

His climbing partner then catches up and says who were you talking to?

The old boy then says 'the ignorant couple on top of the boulder' - his partner then says I haven't seen anyone else all morning.

Thinking he is losing it the old boy gets up and does a tour behind the boulder and no one is to be found. In fact the boulder isn't climbable nor big enough for two people to stand on top.

This rocked the old boy and the more he said he though about it the couple were dressed in very old tatted gear with blank expressions on their faces.

Speaking with the old boy that day I found out that he had previously been in my line of work, the emergency services, highlighting that we are both used to seeing strange things and normally producing a reasonable explanation/ remaining calm/ not jumping to conclusions, but this old boy couldn't produce an explanation and it has remained with him unexplained, since the day it happened!

To be fair I've heard numerous strange stories from that region of the highlands.

Very spooky!

In reply to cousin nick:

Used to do a lot of running in the moors above Stalybridge and I was out on a lovely summer's day doing a familiar loop above Swineshaw reservoirs. There is a section where the track dips just beside an old quarry and despite sweating profusely I became instantly cold. Not cold in the 'temperature inversion' or 'stepped into the Ice Factor' but genuinely winter-cold, hairs standing on end scary cold. I upped the pace immediately and within 100 meters was back to normal running hot. Now I know the 'cold-sweats' from exertion and this was absolutely not it. Nor was I in shadow and it would be odd for a spectacular local temperature inversion to appear mid afternoon in summer in a shallow, open-sided dip.

I left the area shortly after (unrelated; new job) and only remembered this when I watched a documentary on the Moors Murderers. Obviously no connection but I had completely forgotten about it until I saw the location of exploratory digs was not a huge distance from where I was. I don't do ghosts, gods or anything that goes bump in the night. Yet this has been the only odd experience in my life I have yet to find an explanation for.

In reply to cousin nick:

I was once staying in Meanach bothy. My mate and I had been kept awake all night by strange rustling noises. In the morning my mate cooked our porridge. I commented that it was a nice change to have some raisins in the porridge. He said he hadn't packed any raisins. We were both well spooked out - until we found the dead mouse in the porridge bag and realised they weren't raisins after all. Then we were just a bit ill. Oh happy days.

On a more serious note I once saw a UFO on Mont Blanc. No idea at all what it was. Spooked my climbing partner out completely. Just confused me. Small green light moving above ground level over a very heavily crevassed slope in a roughly straight line. Faster than walking pace but slower than an aircraft. Not making any noise. NB 20 years ago before advent of drones and little helicopter things. Any thoughts?

In reply to Toccata:

Many years ago, my mum and dad were walking near Normandy near Guildford one evening. As they walked along a tree-lined path in the twilight, my mum was suddenly overcome be a sudden, inexplicable feeling of dread. Now, although she's had a few unusual experiences*, she's not superstitious, and couldn't figure out what the resaon for this dread was.

Until sometime later, she realised that the wooded path reminded her of the enchanted forest in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. So, a childhood image had stuck, and subconsciously come to the fore to warn her of danger, in this case, incorrectly. I suspect many unexplained feelings of dread are similar, and use evolutionary mental mechanisms to warn us of potential dangers that our conscious minds might not have noticed.

* one in her youth, after her grandfather passed away; he was blind, and she'd helped to look after him (the manner of his death also preyed on her mind, and still does to this day). They'd also had a dog, and that had died. One night, she heard, clear as day, her grandad's voice from upstairs call the dog by name, followed by the sound of the dog running up the stairs.

In reply to cousin nick:

Three of us had arrived at arrived at Staoineag bothy late on a Dec afternoon. After gathering wood for the fire and as the light faded we were sorting our gear out inside the bothy. For some reason I looked out of the window and up at the steep hillside to the south of the bothy. I noticed a figure crossing the hillside about a quarter of a mile away. He was gradually losing height as he traversed the hillside. I looked closer. It was a man wearing a tweed outfit. At the time I thought little about it other than I expected this person to call in at the bothy. But no one appeared. I went outside but I couldn't catch sight of the figure.

Could have been an estate worker but where would they be going at that time?

In reply to cousin nick:


Yes, very good analysis, except that I was sitting down at a large table - my doppelganger walked into the room, saw me and walked out again, all without me moving from my chair or standing up!

In reply to cousin nick:

I am really enjoying this thread- thanks for starting it. All the stories are creepy but abseils doppleganger is the creepiest! I cant imagine coming face to face with myself!!

In reply to abseil:

What did you do??

In reply to redsonja:


I just sat there and did nothing, partly because I was surrounded by/ involved in conversation with the others around the table - it was a conference dinner, and rushing off would've looked odd. But I was really amazed and in shock. Now I wish I'd run after him....

This story is exactly true and I've been careful not to exaggerate.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Long ago, in a town far away (Sheff) a handful of students did just this, and went on a long walk up into the snowy moors via endcliffe park.. Returning through the park in the dark, there's a section where the tarmacked path has a high wall on one side, rushing stream on the other. But in front of them where the path should have been was a deep, dark bottomless pool, of water with only a narrow strip of tarmac between it and the wall,. Retreat was not an option, so with backs flat against the wall they edged very gingerly along to bypass this section...

This was in the days when Sheffield Council still employed park keepers, and the students now see one such striding towards them. Uniform paranoia kicks in as in "shit we're out of it, in a picarious place, and here comes a potentially shouty official from planet straight", they might've thought.

Anyway, not to string it out. Parkie comes striding straight up and straight past their frozen faces, the 2mm of water on the path not being enough to make a splash...

That the sort of thing?

In reply to abseil:



I had the same thing. Turned out to be Vin Diesel.

In reply to johnjohn:

That sounds just like it as well.

In reply to Chris Harris:

Wow - do you get chased for autographs?

In reply to redsonja:


It's not that surprising really is it to occasionally meet someone who looks very similar to oneself or even looks like someone close to you, that would be sufficiently weird seeming to be memorable. With 7Bn others out there, there will be plenty that look a lot like me. I think I've met my doppelganger twice now in different countries years apart, one time he was even dressed the same, they're just people who look like my image of myself.

jk

In reply to abseil:

Back in the early 70's, when I was courting Mrs C, we were out at a dinner, ( early on , so sober, in the days when I still took the odd pint) she got up from the table and went to the toilet, a couple of minutes later she returned via the same door wearing an unusual fur stole thingy, and she approached the table where I was sitting , I shifted to let her sit down, and caught her eye as she looked straight at me, and then she walked past me and out a door at the far end of the hall.
In the same moment I turned back to see her now sitting beside me having returned whilst I was distacted.
( and wondering what I was jabbering on about her having just passed me)

I had looked straight at her face, and was convinced that it WAS her in that moment.
(and that was back in the day when I paid attention to what she looked like )

I never saw that girl, again, and I still, 30 odd years later, remember that night and that girl as if it was yesterday. I'm convinced my wife still has a double out there somewhere.
She thinks I'm a nutter every time I bring it up.

A secret adopted twin crossed my mind.

In reply to jkarran:

Perhaps we can invoke Littlewood's Law? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlewood%27s_law

Like you say, with so many people on the planet, the odds are pretty good that a few of them look remarkably alike. Sooner or later, with so many people, it is perfectly conceivable that two of them will eventually come face to face. For every instance that such a meeting happens, it is conceivable that the two people will be dressed similarly.

In reply to Mike Peacock:

A few years ago I was climbing in the Dolomites and taking two students on Little Micholuzzi (SP) on Sas Pordoi.

I was doing the start where you come in from the left.

its easy but a bit loose. I was pottering along and then a huge hand hold I was using pulled out.

I felt myself falling backwards (it would have been a nasty but probably not fatal fall) and then it felt like a hand in the middle of my back shoving me back onto the rock. I grabbed hold.

I looked round, obviously no one there. Pulled myself together and climed to the belay.

I do not belive in god and have no possible explanation. Still feel a bit tingly when i think about it now!!

Please note there is a better direct start to this route!!!

Gary.

My first wild camp was up Helvellyn next to Red Tarn.

Just as we were nodding off we heard distant jangling and over a seemingly quite long period of half-wakedness, the jangling was getting gradually closer.

We called out to our physics teacher who had dragged us up there and he told us to pipe down and stop being daft.

Eventually, freaked out a little I popped my head out and the jangling was clearly coming from the same direction as this faint glow which was moving around just above the ground down the valley.

Me and Daz had no clue what this was and being fans of X files concluded that some weird alien thing was hovering, taking samples or whatever aliens do.

As it grew closer, we ducked back in, working out what we should do if the ufo hovered right over our tent.

Next thing we knew, the jangly noise was right at the the tent door and the glow apparent through the fly sheet.

As we readied ourselves for imminent abduction, a rescue dog's wet nose entered our tent and greeted us, followed a good few minutes later by the MRT team that had been called out (presumably to investigate the UFOs around that night).

In reply to cousin nick:

Great thread!

In reply to cousin nick:

Not ghosts or anything but something that scared the hell out of me at the time.

October several years ago I camped beside the summit trig on Craiglee in the Galloway hills. That day it had been given dark sky park status and it was the clearest of nights. There was so little wind I was able to have a lit candle on the trig that I could photograph.
I sat out until about mid night watching the sky full of stars. the odd shooting star, satiites passing over and long haul flights coming from the south before altering course over the border to set out towards Greenland.
I had watched this for some time when I noticed a satilite crossing from the SE towards me. I then realised that it was three satilites forming a small equal sided triangle. This was odd but as it got closer I began to freak and put the lights out. I was even daft enough to hide in my tent while watching. The triangle made a long radius turn and headed off in a East direction.

This was higher than the planes but being so if it was one object would make it massive. There was no noise and I cant remember if you could see through the centre. I like to think it was three formation very high jet fighters with only their engines giving off light.

In reply to fmck:

Weather balloons!

(is the stock government agency response I believe)

In reply to fmck:

probably not what you saw but there were 2 satellites flying "in formation" as it were a few years back, working on some kind of survey mission.

In reply to Mike Peacock:
For every instance that such a meeting happens, it is conceivable that the two people will be dressed similarly.

Most women follow fashions and what celebrities wear , so that would seem reasonable that at eany time of the year they could end up similarly dressed (or at least what a man would percieve as 'similar' if not 'identical')

In reply to wercat:

This/these thing(s) changed direction initially coming from the south east before making a long turn to the east. Three lights in formation if they were two or three even connected it would be huge at the height it was at.

In reply to cousin nick:

It could of been mad Frankie Frazier maybe the Krays didn't murder him and just tried to take him back to Dartmoor and hes been wandering about the moors ever since to be spotted only by Sunday walkers

In reply to cousin nick:

About a decade ago now I suppose, I spent the night at Wharnscale Head bothy with my pal Jim. Upon arriving we met a bloke who said he'd been there for a week or so. He said he was leaving there and then and despite him seeming a bit agitated, we said cheerio and thought nothing more of it.
We lounged around the bothy for half an hour or so, then sat outside for another hour or so, drinking and eating and looking out towards Buttermere until it started to get dark. After a while Jim turned to walk back into the bothy and as he did, let out a whimper. The same bloke who we'd seen walk off with the stated intention of returning to Keswick, was standing not 20 yards away, his eyes burning into us with a look not unlike that of Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. https://jonathanjanz.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/sutherland.jpg
Rather than say anything, we ran like hell for cover into the bothy and just giggled and hid and tried not to shit ourselves until, luckily for us, a bunch of local lads turned up to protect us Southern city dwelling types from our demonic friend. God knows what he was up to the freak.

In reply to Tom Last:

That sounds like Dai, was he Welsh by any chance?