I’m a skeptic of the supernatural, but I believe anything is possible. I won’t discount supernatural occurrences if I can’t find a logical explanation for them. I’ve experienced a few incidents I couldn’t explain, but I’m going to tell you about the 1 that freaked me out the most, though.
So here it goes! I live in the Twin Cities, in Minnesota, USA. A lot of people in the cities have cabins in either northern MN or rural Wisconsin. Our cabin was in rural Wisconsin, in a small town called “Danbury.” The cabin is on Long Lake, at the very end of Long Lake Rd. Along with the cabin came almost an acre of land, covered by thick forest. We carved a trail through the land for ATV’s and whatnot. So, the scene is set…
Now; about me. I’m an outdoor enthusiast and have been forever. I’m 6’4, fit, and have been a hunter since I was like 12. I know my environment, the wildlife, and the forest well, and am typically comfortable in the woods. I come from a military family and am trained in multiple forms of combat (armed and unarmed). I also have extensive firearms training and as a result, am fairly confident in my ability to defend myself. I’m not really scared of people. Big predators on the other hand, like bears, wolves, man-bear-pig, whatever; I’m not a big fan of. This brings me to the weirdness.
I’m 23 now, but at the time of the incident, I was 16. Even at 16, I was a decent hunter and had good common sense. Anyway; I was at the cabin with my cousin and grandparents. It was the middle of summer (I think July, with hot temps and whatnot). My cousin and I were shooting at each other with Airsoft guns. We had a full-on battle going on throughout the property, including the woods, which were my stalking grounds. I was wearing my BDU’s, with face cover and all, as well as head to toe camo. Our battle ended up about 100 yards northwest of the cabin, into the woods. We ended the war on the main trail and were standing and talking about the events that had transpired. I was still on guard because I always am. I suppose I could be considered to be a tad paranoid. Alright; so we were standing there talking when I noticed something move at our 12 o’clock, about 50 meters out. I got quiet and focused dead ahead, scanning. My cousin was still talking, so I whispered, “Shhhh.” So, he shut up. I figured the movement I had seen was just a bird or something. As a joke and to freak him out, I told him we were being watched. That’s when I noticed that the woods were dead-quiet. No birds were chirping. There was no sound. That’s when I started to think, this only happens when a big predator is around. So, I started looking even closer. That’s when I saw it. At my 12 o’clock, there was this large animal. It had reddish, brown fur and almost blended in perfectly until I focused on it. It had long front limbs (arm-like), with what appeared to be formidable claws and it was standing kind of slouched down, against a tree, like it was trying to be stealthy. Even though it was standing like that, it was nearly as tall as me. The only reason why I saw it was because of its teeth. I think it was panting because its whitish teeth were visible. Its snout appeared to be a tad elongated. I couldn’t get a better look, because my first thought was, “We have to go!” I even said it out loud. My cousin was already freaked. When I said those words, he bolted up the trail, towards the cabin. He nearly left me in the dust, because instead of running when he did, I waited a good 3 seconds (I was being protective of him); keeping my eye on it, until I saw it move (It was fast!). That’s when I ran like hell! I didn’t see which way it ran. All I know is that I heard it crashing through the woods. My cousin stopped at the shed, which was still 50 meters from the cabin, to wait for me. When I caught up, I yelled, “GO, GO, GO!” And we both bolted to the cabin. We got inside and shut the door. My grandma asked why we looked panicked and had slammed the door shut. I knew they wouldn’t believe me, so I said that we had seen a bear. My cousin nodded.
Later that night, after my grandparents went to sleep, we talked about it. I asked my cousin if he had seen it. He told me that he had paused for a second, to look back, after he ran, to see if I was running with him. He said that he had seen me still looking at it. He said that’s when he saw it move and I run. He said he had mostly just seen a flash of fur. He went on to say, he thought it wasn’t the right color to be a bear. I also agreed that it wasn’t the right color to be one and told him that we only had black bears in the area and that it wasn’t built like a bear either. I told him I never thought it was a bear. He asked me why I had lied about it to my grandparents. I told him they wouldn’t have believed us. We’ve kept it between the 2 of us, until now.
Still; the animal didn’t match any known regional animal profiles in the area. I’m at a loss for what it may have been. I do know it was stalking us though and that it was built like an athletic predator. Not like a bear. It wasn’t as heavyset as a bear would have been.
After the incident, neither of us would go into the woods on foot, alone, without a gun. We generally only went back in the woods on ATV’s from that point forward. I always loved that cabin, up until then. Fortunately, the cabin has been sold now.