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+--- Thread: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. (/thread-981.html)
[HAL 2016] David Paulides. - Sol - 10-12-2016
Oh I got one…
I remember that time, my sister and I were up the northern parts of New-Brunswick, a province here in Canada, and were trailing in a national park where they had those “Beware of Black Bears” signs every other foot or so.
As we were seeing these signs that looked like these:
![[Image: BearSign_L.jpg]](http://www.michaelkreynolds.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BearSign_L.jpg)
All I could think of were signs that said this:
![[Image: ffa7beed25693b06f58079f510e5bcce.jpg]](http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ff/a7/be/ffa7beed25693b06f58079f510e5bcce.jpg)
All day we ventured and always had those signs at the back of our minds. Actually, every now and then, I’d go “shhhh….I hear something…” just to see the look on my sister’s face…not nice I know but fun !! (For me it was, anyhow…)
We then decided to put our tent up in a camper’s area, that they had conveniently set up for visitors, but made sure that we were far enough from anyone else, so not to be bothered by their burps, farts and other nocturnal activities some couples do while camping…
A small group of people had started a small campfire, coincidentally reminding me think of this contest here, now that I think of it…but as I was saying, a small group of people had started a small campfire and we decided that we could join them for a little while. It seemed like they were having fun, from the sounds of their laughter and we brought a few beers over to join in.
The sun was setting and as it did, more folks joined in. We had brought a case of 12 and soon enough, those were history and so others would leave, get more beer for everyone, and get back.
No need to tell you that we were all pretty wasted in a pretty short amount of time. I blamed it on the walking along the supposed bear trails all day.
I have no idea what time it was when we decided to hit the sack. Must have been late and as we were slowly leaving the campfire behind, the darkness was becoming more and more intense in front of us.
My sister turned her flashlight on as we figured that one flashlight wasn’t cutting it. The pitch black area we were in was that intense. I started to get under her skin once again with…”you know that if we get lost here, we could start walking in circles for hours, right?”…type of thing. Oh…and “what did these signs say all day today?” with huge grins on my face…
My sister no longer thought I was funny. But we finally made it back to the tent, uninjured, dead tired but uneaten by black bears.
Once in the tent and as we were about to get to sleep, in those crappy sleeping bags that make you feel more like sardines than human beings, I decided I’d bring the scare level of my sis up a notch.
“Have you noticed that some people left the campfire site to get beer but never returned?”
“They were just getting freebies off the others, I guess…” was her reply.
“Maybe…but what if it was something else?”
“What else could it be?”
“Have you ever heard of the missing 411 files?” I then asked her.
“Nope.”
My sister knew that I was a member on abovetopsecret.com at the time and so I told her all about David Paulides having been asked as a guest on one of those AMAs they had every now and then.
So I started telling her about the people that go missing by the thousands every year in mysterious circumstances, and most of them in the deep of the woods.
I also told her that I had told Paulides that I liked hiking and trailing in the woods and he kind of freaked out at the idea that I would always do so unarmed. Well, he called me an idiot for doing that, actually.
So I began telling my sister stories of aliens presumably abducting people, Big Foot, finding remains of human mutilations…people being found miles and miles from where they originally disappeared, to be honest, Paulides had no clue as to what was happening in the woods and in National Parks but he knew something was out there, or some things…to be more precise. The numbers didn’t lie.
At that point, my sister was no longer sleepy, wonder why. But I was, and so I kinda left her there, high and dry, with thoughts of god knows what lurking in the woods….and now in her head.
I had been sleeping for god knows how long when she woke me up in a sweat.
“Listen…there’s something out there…” she murmured as low as she could but with the certainty that I’d understand it.
“For all we know, it could be bunnies doing what bunnies do…” I answered, not whispering, thinking it was a funny reply…
“Bunnies don’t growl…” she then murmured once more.
That got my attention. So we both sat up and remained extremely quiet.
We could distinctively hear something breaking branches in the woods behind the spot where our tent was. Bunnies don’t break branches.
A million and one things were now racing through my mind. Paulides and his calling me a fool for hiking woods unarmed, signs of the bears we had seen all day long…and the fact that it was so pitch black that we could hardly see our hands when holding them up in front of our faces were all sending me signals of danger nearby.
Then I heard the growl.
My blood freezing in my veins, my hair sticking up on my arms, the goosebumps, the faster breathing, my heartbeat skipping a beat or two, it all reminded me that fear was settling in, slowly but surely.
And then it growled once more, seemed closer this time.
Blind as a bat, well, by that time it was more like a scared shitless bat, I started touching stuff around me, on the ground beside my sleeping bag, in search of my backpack where I knew I had a knife. Hey, at least Paulides convinced me of having something. I’d carry a 12 gauge shotgun but those are pretty much illegal here in Canada.
My sister, most probably under a certain panic mode, lit up her flash light, that I instinctually slapped out of her hands, jumping on it in the tent to turn it off faster that it could ever be recorded in any Guinness Record book.
“Are you fucking crazy? NO LIGHTS.” I whispered, as low as I possibly could.
And then we heard it again. Not the growl, the presence. Right.Near.Our.Tent.
As if it was (it being god knows what – but I was assuming bear) on a scout mission, we could hear it breathe.
I am 100% sure that neither my sister nor I were. Breathing, that is.
More like frozen, petrified by the unknown that was now so close.
Then we heard a growl again but it seemed to be further away, no longer besides the tent…and we both started breathing again. Senses were gradually coming back into life.
It took a while to fall back to sleep, as we were now convinced that whatever it had been, it went away.
The next morning, we went around the tent and we couldn’t find a trace of anything. No prints, and judging by the growl it did, this wasn’t a cute little bambi. I walked to the woods behind us and noticed that some branches were broken at five or six feet off the ground.
Whatever it was, we’ll never know but it had to be huge. We asked other campers that were out there, and no one heard a thing, just us.
So I blamed it on a vivid imagination from both my sister and I. My sister agreed that our imaginations, following the ‘stupid stories’ I had told her (her words, not mine) were probably into high gears. I smiled.
I never told my sister about the broken branches. To this very day, she doesn’t know.
The End.
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - 727Sky - 10-12-2016
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - DuckforcoveR - 10-16-2016
We need an emoji for people bumps! (Yes, a Balto reference...)
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - gordi - 10-16-2016
...and I just watched the Movie "Backcountry" last night!!
For those who haven't seen it - It's based on a true story about a young couple who get lost in the woods and stalked by a Bear.
It is........pretty nasty at some points and this story just brought it all back into startling clarity of focus.
Thanks Sol.
Large Scotch before bed tonight methinks!!
G
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - Sol - 10-16-2016
(10-16-2016, 08:21 PM)gordi Wrote: ...and I just watched the Movie "Backcountry" last night!!
For those who haven't seen it - It's based on a true story about a young couple who get lost in the woods and stalked by a Bear.
It is........pretty nasty at some points and this story just brought it all back into startling clarity of focus.
Thanks Sol.
Large Scotch before bed tonight methinks!!
G
I haven't seen 'Backcountry' but I've seen 'The Edge' with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. The bear in that movie is what nightmares are made of...
As for my story up there, it is based on a true story. My sister and I got scared in the middle of the night, exactly as it's told. Well, no, I didn't slap a flashlight out of her hand and asked her if she was f*****g crazy lol ...
But she did wake me up, in the middle of the night, hearing something out there. We heard branches break, we didn't hear a loud growl per se but we did hear low pitched growling sounds though, twice, the second one closer to us. We did hear whatever it was right outside our tent, we could hear it breathing, right next to us, at one point.
My sister was petrified. What I fabricated in that story up there is the campfire beer fest, that never happened, we were pretty much alone in that area. I did go and see in the morning to see if I could see broken branches and couldn't find anything significant. For all we know it could have been a small deer...
The black bear signs were true, we saw them all day while hiking. The stories I've told my sister (Paulides, ATS, alien abductions, etc) are all a fabrication.
Now I've just done what a politician will never, ever do. Tell what is true and what is not, from a story told.
*smiles...
Thanks for the kind responses : )
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - gordi - 10-16-2016
(10-16-2016, 09:12 PM)Sol Wrote: ...As for my story up there, it is based on a true story. My sister and I got scared in the middle of the night, exactly as it's told. Well, no, I didn't slap a flashlight out of her hand and asked her if she was f*****g crazy lol ...
But she did wake me up, in the middle of the night, hearing something out there. We heard branches break, we didn't hear a loud growl per se but we did hear low pitched growling sounds though, twice, the second one closer to us. We did hear whatever it was right outside our tent, we could hear it breathing, right next to us, at one point.
My sister was petrified....
OK, look - I had had a few beers and got the munchies.... my belly was GROWLING like crazy, so I went for a wee wander to see if you guys had left any food out... I may have fallen into a branch or two... I'm sorry ok!! it won't happen again....
![[Image: tongue.png]](http://rogue-nation3.com/images/icons/tongue.png){kind=icon}
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - Sol - 10-17-2016
(10-16-2016, 09:36 PM)gordi Wrote:(10-16-2016, 09:12 PM)Sol Wrote: ...As for my story up there, it is based on a true story. My sister and I got scared in the middle of the night, exactly as it's told. Well, no, I didn't slap a flashlight out of her hand and asked her if she was f*****g crazy lol ...
But she did wake me up, in the middle of the night, hearing something out there. We heard branches break, we didn't hear a loud growl per se but we did hear low pitched growling sounds though, twice, the second one closer to us. We did hear whatever it was right outside our tent, we could hear it breathing, right next to us, at one point.
My sister was petrified....
OK, look - I had had a few beers and got the munchies.... my belly was GROWLING like crazy, so I went for a wee wander to see if you guys had left any food out... I may have fallen into a branch or two... I'm sorry ok!! it won't happen again....
You are all excused my friend !!!
Was that your footprint I saw in one of the wood pies?
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - gordi - 10-17-2016
(10-17-2016, 03:42 AM)Sol Wrote: You are all excused my friend !!!
Was that your footprint I saw in one of the wood pies?
uhm... that may not have been my foot...
![[Image: 79e335add3a0742e067196c1228158bd.jpg]](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/79/e3/35/79e335add3a0742e067196c1228158bd.jpg)
RE: [HAL 2016] David Paulides. - Sol - 10-17-2016
(10-17-2016, 11:33 AM)gordi Wrote:(10-17-2016, 03:42 AM)Sol Wrote: You are all excused my friend !!!
Was that your footprint I saw in one of the wood pies?
uhm... that may not have been my foot...
Oh was that what it was ???
I thought it was one of those portable....oh boy...
I am sooooooo, so sorry !!!!!
![[Image: SM0DWdB.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/SM0DWdB.jpg)