Submitted by Lynthelia t3_123blc8 in nosleep

Back in my twenties I was what you might call an ‘adventure girl’. About ten years ago, give or take, something happened that changed that. I moved to the city, got a boring job and a boring apartment, and became decidedly averse to the outdoors. I haven’t really told anyone about it in all that time, save my now-wife, because, well… for one, they’d think I’m crazy, and for two, I don’t want to think about it. I’m finally putting it here, though, because you all deserve to hear it. After all, you probably saved my life.

At the time, I had just graduated college and moved from Texas to Alaska, out of a desire for - you guessed it - adventure. I had a job doing stuff I liked. It paid well and gave me enough vacation days to get out and do something really adventurous every once in a while. One thing I’d had on my bucket list since moving north was driving the Dalton Highway. For the unfamiliar, that’s a (generously) highway that goes from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. It’s a 500 mile, 11 hour drive in the Summer, but thanks to work realities I wasn’t able to get out there until early autumn.

By early autumn, the snow had started, but the plows were still able to keep the highway pretty clear, and I was driving a ‘95 Toyota Land Cruiser kitted out for expeditions (I fucking loved that thing). Besides that, I was an adventure girl. I was prepared. I had camping gear, emergency gear, a satellite phone, plenty of food and water, enough jerry cans for the trip there and back, and Sam Colt’s greatest invention in the center console - just in case. For the unfamiliar, that’s the 1911 (I fucking loved that gun).

I was planning to make the trip in two days, sleeping in the back of the Land Cruiser halfway. I had enough blankets to keep warm, and I had a nice comfy space back there that I could fit in. I’d have to drive slower because of the snow, I wanted to enjoy the scenery, and the sun was setting pretty early by that time of year.

I had a good start that day and the driving was fine. By the time shit went down it had been dark for about an hour and I was getting into the foothills of the Brooks Range. That’s good scenery and also terrain I didn’t want to be going through in the dark, so I was just about ready to pull over for the night when I saw caution flashers up ahead.

For the unfamiliar, a hard rule for any Alaskan is that you always, always pull over when you see someone in distress on the side of a remote road like that, especially after the snow starts. If they aren’t prepared for an emergency, there is a very good chance that you could save their life. So, that’s exactly what I did. I pulled over next to a Nissan SUV - not as nicely kitted out as mine, but not bad, either. I figured they were doing the same thing I was. Small world. By the jack under one axle and the wheel sitting next to the car, they’d blown a tire. What I didn’t see, though, were the people.

I got out of my Land Cruiser, crunching down into the snow and looked around. There aren’t a ton of trees that far north, but there are quite a few patches of evergreens that, while not quite forests, can be pretty dark and thick on a snowy night. “Hey!” I called, my voice going dead a few yards away as sound does in snowy woods. “Y’all need help?!”

No answer. Dead silence, save the faint clicking over the flasher from inside their Nissan. I shouted again. “Anybody there?! I’ve got tools!” No answer. Dead silence.

I considered myself a pretty brave bitch back then, but I’ll admit that I was creeped out at this point. This vehicle definitely hadn’t been here for all that long, but there was no one to be seen. Besides that, the dead quiet and the darkness of the night were unnerving. It wasn’t that weird for it to be silent on a snowy night like this, that far north, but still - creepy. Creepy enough that I hopped back in the car and grabbed my .45, storing it in one of the big pockets in the front of my jacket. Just in case. There were bears up there.

I approached the Nissan and saw footprints in the snow (okay, not a ghost car). One pair had been crouched down at the removed tire, and the other had been standing a couple feet away, by the rear of the SUV. The latter pair had then, at some point, headed off toward the treeline. It stopped a few yards down, paced around a bit, then continued into the woods. The pair near the tire had then - presumably later - gotten up and ran after the first. I was no tracker, but it’s not hard to tell when someone was running in snow.

Now I was really creeped out. I was tempted to hop back in the car and keep driving for a good long while, but - like I said - this could easily have been life or death up there. Besides, I had my .45. It could handle a grizzly. Probably. That was the worst I’d find up here. Probably. So, off I went, following those two sets of footprints into the woods.

It was fucking dark, but don’t worry y’all, I had a really nice flashlight. SureFire, baby. Adventure girl, remember? The dead quiet seemed to get even deader and quieter as soon as I passed the treeline - as sound does in snowy woods. Probably. The only thing comforting me that I hadn’t gone deaf was the sound of my breath and my boots crunching in the snow.

“Hey!” I called again, maybe twenty yards into the woods. “Is everyone okay?!”

This time, I got a response. It was a woman’s voice, and it sounded afraid. “Over here!” it called. “Help!”

I got a spring in my step at that, jogging toward the sound of the voice, shining my light through the trees to try and catch a glimpse.

“Over here!” it called again, much closer. “Help!”

Remember when I said y’all probably saved my life? This is when that happened. I stopped. The hair on the back of my neck had stood on end and a chill had run down my spine. Something was off about that voice. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was just slightly wrong. I pointed my light toward where I had heard it.

“Are you hurt?” I said - voice raised, but not quite shouting anymore.

“Help!” the voice called again - only it was even closer this time. I hadn’t heard the crunch of any footsteps. “Over here!”

My grip on my flashlight tightened and my heart started to hammer in my chest. This was not right. I’d read a lot of nosleep back then, and had watched and listened to my fair share of spooky stories. At the time, I didn't think any of this stuff was real, but what was happening to me felt way too familiar, and it was setting off alarm bells. Something about this exact situation was tugging at the back of my mind as something I should be terrified of.

I tried one more time. “What’s your name?” I asked cautiously.

“Help!” the voice called, and it couldn’t have been more than a few yards off.

That was enough for me to swap my light to my left hand and bring out the Colt with my right. I pointed both in the direction of that voice, and finally caught a glimpse of something besides trees. Off in the distance, barely visible, I could see a bundle of something laying in the snow. It was human-sized, and the snow all around it was stained dark. My head was in the middle of processing what it was seeing when I saw movement between me and the body. Oh shit, that was a body! I pointed my flashlight and gun at the source of the movement.

It was humanoid, with two arms and two legs, but it was all wrong. The limbs were too long and it was too tall. Its hair was thin and wiry, it had antlers - fucking antlers - and its face, which was also, I assure you, really fucking wrong, was stained dark with what I can only assume was blood. I fired two shots and hauled ass.

I don’t know if the bullets slowed it down. I don’t even know if I hit it. I ran faster than I’d ever run before, and by the cracking branches and crunching snow behind me, it was giving chase. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest and my lungs burned from sucking in the frosty air. Once or twice I saw death flash before me as I nearly lost my footing in the snow, but I managed to stay upright. As I ran, I heard more snapping, more crunching - not just behind me now, but all around. There were more.

I got really fucking lucky that night. I was lucky to have spotted the body, lucky to have run just fast enough and not fallen on my face, lucky none of the whatever-they-were (I have a guess, but I’d rather not hazard it) were just a bit closer or faster. I was lucky that I had dabbled in enough spooky stories that my alarm bells had gone off, and I was lucky that the poor couple (maybe) in that Nissan had gotten stranded there and suffered the grisly fate they suffered. After all, I was planning to stop just as I saw those caution flashers. I’d have been right there, in those same woods, asleep. I don’t want to think about what would have happened to me if that had been the case.

I made it to my car, which I was again lucky to have left running, thinking I wouldn’t go far. I leapt in, slammed and locked the door, and threw it in reverse as I saw dark, lanky shapes coming out of the trees. As I got moving, the headlights revealed what had been chasing me. I can’t say exactly how many it was - at least half a dozen. All of them were similarly stretched, pale to the point of being almost white, with various forms of antlers and primitive-looking clothing. I reversed down the road as fast as I dared (without risking going off and dooming myself to certain death) for a good half-mile before I finally got the nerve to turn around, then I flew down the highway all the way back to Fairbanks, only stopping once I found a nice, well-lit hotel in the middle of the city.

The next day, I was back in Anchorage. I thought about calling the State Troopers. Someone was going to find the Nissan, probably find the bodies. They’d find my casings, my tire tracks. I could end up a murder suspect. I decided against it, though. If I ratted myself out, I’d be a murder suspect anyway, and then they’d know it was me. Better to bet that no one could tie me to that scene, especially being as far from local as I was. Over the next week I packed my shit, bailed on my job and my lease, and moved back to Texas.

I never ended up with police banging on my door, so I guess I made the right choice. I still have nightmares about those wrong, elongated things chasing me. I probably have PTSD, but it’s not like I can talk to a therapist about it without ending up in a looney bin. I’m not an adventure girl anymore. I never go anywhere at night, and I stay in the city as much as possible. I didn’t get out of there unscathed, but I got out of there alive, which is better than can be said for the folks in the Nissan. I was lucky.

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Comments

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Rangermatthias t1_jdu6uve wrote

Sounds like Fleshgaits. You were indeed lucky, but you also kept a cool head and were about as prepared as a person can be.

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Dinoficial2 t1_jdu78mn wrote

This girl survived being chased by 6 fucking wendigos. She is fucking immortal

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Lynthelia OP t1_jdu9rm0 wrote

But a great one for Toyota! Haha. But nah, can't blame the car. If anything, it'd be the tires, and I didn't check the brand on those. Really though, think they just got unlucky. I hope it was quick, at least.

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VoltaicZephyr t1_jduba69 wrote

What an intense creepy adventure! Always trust your instincts in these types of situations. And for future reference, the only "45" that will stop a grizzly bear is a rifle that shoots 45-70 gov't rounds.

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Shadowwolfmoon13 t1_jducgng wrote

Maybe the flat was staged! The Wendigos could have put something down to catch the cars going thru, and get a "NORTHERN LIGHTS FEEDING"! Op lucked up. It could have been her if she was traveling earlier!

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Rangermatthias t1_jdvkv5x wrote

Unless you've experienced the paranormal, you can't really be prepared for it.

You ran across something waaay out of your normal world-set, but, through advanced preparation via having a gun (and actually using it properly) & a proper tricked-out truck, using quick thinking, cool-headedness, and proper physical conditioning, you were able to survive it.

That ain't Nuthin'! Be proud of yourself for what you survived.

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SparkleWigglebutt t1_jdvp17u wrote

I saw a girl talking about how some things are never spoken of, and then white settlers come here, commit genocide, then have the audacity to say things that shouldn't even be thought of out loud and then wonder why things are going to shit. I'm glad you're safe and we're not speaking of them. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was respect shown that came back as a blessing.

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Rangermatthias t1_jdvpke5 wrote

Funny, I actually wrote almost this exact thing on my post, but decided to erase it so as to not confuse OP. Obviously you don't care about her poor feelings! 😇

I've read about Fleshgaits working together, but I seem to only recall pairs...maybe OP ran across a mated pair teaching younglings?

Congrats OP, you messed up some monstrous family bonding time! 👹

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blackbutterfree t1_jdvprdu wrote

Definitely some Wendigos. Weird that they were wearing primitive looking clothing, though... I'm not Alaskan, Canadian or Inuit, and most of my Wendigo knowledge comes from Marvel Comics, but I've never heard of them being immortal, or long-lived. Which this group must've been if they were wearing primitive clothes.

Anyways, Adventure Girl you sounds like a bad bitch, and I hope you heal from your trauma someday and let her stretch her legs. I'd definitely be down to hop on a road trip with her.

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BattleButterfly t1_jdw6iz0 wrote

I love how y'all have wendigo facts. Whether they're real or not, the story has been told so many times, that there's all kinds of wendigos out there.

And you have some serious criteria to discredit only some of them.

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Soggy-Chemistry5312 t1_jdwfeod wrote

I think OP has a lot more to worry about than which type of creepy being she’s encountered… But either way, it could be helpful to understand what she may have encountered. I really just recently found out about what they are, so I don’t know much, just that one does have antlers, and the other one possibly doesn’t?

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Rangermatthias t1_jdwjow5 wrote

Wendigo are people who have become cannibalistic creatures - usually evil "medicine men" or "witches" of various North American Native Cultures, however some stories suggest eating human flesh in certain locations can curse someone into becoming one. Wendigo are often pictured with antlers and even desiccated elk/deer/moose heads or skulls

Fleshgait are shapeshifters (to varying degrees). As shapeshifters, Fleshgait can, in theory, take on the appearance of a wendigo, if they had any desire or reason to.

In their 'normal' forms, both tend to be tall, emaciated, and pale, with extremely long arms - often depicted as reaching past their knees. For that matter, the internet phenomenons SlenderMan and The Rake also have some physical similarities with Wendigos and Fleshgaits.

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FruitcakeAndCrumb t1_jdx51eg wrote

This made me feel sick reading. Glad you're alive and that I know if I'm ever in the company of a group of antlered humanoids to run like fuck, but still feel nauseous.

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Rangermatthias t1_jdxfqdx wrote

Uhm, well, that's a bit of a detailed story.

The short version; Skinwalkers are humans (generally Native Americans, where the tales originate) who can transform into animals, usually by wearing the preferred animals' pelt and/or magics/salves. They are closely connected to Werewolves. The Navajo in particular have strong beliefs and don't like anyone to use the actual name.

However, on various internet forums; Reddit, 4chan, creepypasta, etc. started passing along (and flat-out making up) stories, and the terminology got confused.

Wendigo, skinwalkers, and certain were-animals are all generally considered human...or perhaps, ex-humans.

Fleshgaits were never human.

I have a theory - I've posted it in conversations here on Reddit before, so I'll try to be brief; As humanity evolved over the past roughly 1 million years, another animal evolved to become our primary predator. I'm not saying Intelligent Design had anything to do with it, but that's an easy way to process the information. In fact I don't think Fleshgaits are particularly Intelligent. Not Sapient anyway. Clever, but not Intelligent in the way humans are.

They evolved to be able to hunt, trick, and kill us. Keep our numbers low - because honestly, humans are terrible for the environment and nature in general. Think along the lines as Nature creating a means of culling humanity.

And they did such a great job that we, as a whole, are still unaware of their existence. Just glimpses of things in the wilderness. Basically, all we had for the vast majority of the past few thousands of years are scary stories told around campfires - werewolves, vampires, zombies - basically any story of humanoid creatures that kill humans may trace its history to this race of super-predators.

However, sometime in the past, oh, say 150-200 years ago - roughly starting somewhere between the Industrial Revolution and WWII, the human population exploded! It's estimated that the world population was under 1 billion in the year 1800. In the year 2000 it was 7 billion. In 2020 we hit 8 billion. We've doubled from 4 billion in 1975.

I believe this extreme population growth stymied Fleshgaits. They are no longer able to hide. And with the internet spreading their stories, people are armed with knowledge. Thus Fleshgaits are dying off. The ones still out there aren't as well trained/skilled in their ability to mimic. Especially shapehifting. Most stories talk about how someone hears a noise - a baby crying or a woman in distress, and it's pretty convincing. Like OP's post here. But when someone talks about seeing one, there's often something 'OFF' about it.

So, the good news is we seem to be winning. The bad news they're still out there, and they may be pretty pissed!

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keyless422 t1_jdy2jms wrote

Weird I drove a nissan pathfinder on that strip of highway several times in 2013 and I blew tires several times that year freaky

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OrganlcManIc t1_jdy8heh wrote

Reminds me of a certain night I had in the mountains to the south.. thankfully I saw little enough that I can blame it on bears..

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jodi5315 t1_jdyi2hh wrote

You being an adventurous, outdoorsy, prepared, woman got you out alive. Not luck. Don't turn your back on what saved your life just bc you had to tap into that knowledge. That'd be like a black belt quitting martial arts because he had to use his self defense skills against an assailant. Go back to the woods!

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SheWolf04 t1_jdz69iu wrote

I'm just going to say, I love the little parentheticals and asides in your account - very much brings one into the immediacy of it, makes it feel intimate (which could be a bad thing, considering your experience!). And I'm also very impressed with everyone on here who's being so respectful of Navajo beliefs and not saying a certain 2 words, you guys are champions.

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LeXRTG t1_jdz74w5 wrote

Carrying a 1911 45, I can tell right away you're my kind of person. We would be good friends. Glad you made it out of there alive. I wonder if the Nissan was just a setup, I guess not if you saw the body. Crazy how you were thinking about sleeping right there, I hope you would have locked the doors, lol

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castrum8 t1_jdzdti9 wrote

Glad I’m reading this on a trip to Alaska lol

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glyphdragonix t1_jdzssxk wrote

I almost misread the title as a Nisse, a semi- friendly house spirit. But what that was is MUCH worse.

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the_GreenMan13 t1_je0ogxo wrote

Nope, Antlers are a modern addition that has no backing in indigenous mythology. In mythology they are depicted as emaciated humans. There origins are literally tribes turning to cannibalism during long winters. Not pretending to be deers. There are deer people in native mythology but they aren't wendigo.

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ThrownawayCray t1_je22x0v wrote

If a .45 is the size round I think it is, you weren’t killing no bear with that

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matmusis t1_je3yy0n wrote

If I were to hear You say that 1911 was invented by Samuel Colt would haunt You too

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SparkleWigglebutt t1_je4v0a8 wrote

That's a great idea, but because I explained it poorly. They exist as beings of evil. Saying their name calls them to you, it doesn't weaken them. I guess an analogy would be if a lion or a shark were nearby and you cut yourself, made noise, shouted, or otherwise drew attention to yourself. The best way to survive a predator attack isn't pluck and moxie--it's to not be attacked.

Unless we can change the hearts of men to never fear, hate, or rage then some things will exist; love, kindness, and braveryis the way to stop such things, but not on an individual level. To use the predator analogy before, we would have to remove the ocean or the savannah. In the meantime, run and hide and try not to call attention to yourself.

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SecretSession7303 t1_je8wzlt wrote

Hmmm, well this has created my first bad thought of my trip to Alaska for the next few months. Ty very much for sharing time. I'm at a loss ATM. Need to research...

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onyourrite t1_jec86t5 wrote

Do you happen to frequent r/NissanDrivers? I think you’d enjoy it

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