Throughout human history, forests have attracted and fascinated people. Even at the dawn of their existence, people began to inhabit forests with various spirits and deities.
Even if you just calmly walk through the forest, it is easy to understand why such places aroused an almost mystical feeling in people. And not just a feeling, over the centuries there have been many stories of encounters with the supernatural inhabitants of the forest.
Meet with them in our time.
Most often, people see the so-called tree spirits, which are probably some kind of demons. The paranormal site Your Ghost Stories featured the story of a woman who had a strange experience while hiking in the forested mountains in Italy.
It was the most common and very uncomplicated trip. The woman walked with her friend and at some point overtook him on the path. At the end of the trail, she stopped and waited for him. And then the following happened:
Obviously, this woman did not meet a normal animal, but something completely different. Or did she have a visual illusion?
An even more unusual story was told by a Reddit user who once went hiking in a forest near Houston, Texas. He found a beautiful quiet corner with a small stream and pitched his tent there. Then evening came.
How this meeting ended, the author, alas, did not write.
Another Reddit user experienced an unusual incident in the so-called White Mountains in New Hampshire, which is part of the northern Appalachians. It houses the Appalachian Mountain Club and the author worked there at the time.
He often stayed up late, when everyone was already leaving, and one day, late in the evening, he noticed something strange near the club:
This story is interesting in that it shows how a forest creature lured people to itself for an incomprehensible and possibly evil purpose.
Another story was told by a woman named Moira Doorley, who visited the small island of Arran off the coast of Scotland, which has long been called the refuge of fairies and forest spirits.
Megaliths on the Isle of Arran.
Moira was enjoying the beautiful views of the island when she suddenly saw a tall, slender, gray-haired man in brown-striped clothes walking among the thickets, and around this man little creatures, similar to the so-called imps or devils, were jumping and dancing.
The more Moira looked at the strange company, the more she fell into an unusual trance-like state and felt an irresistible urge to follow these creatures. She could not resist and went after them and what happened next seemed to have dropped from her memory.
Moira woke up in an unusual place and was still next to this gray-haired man and his features:
His voice was so harsh that Moira finally came out of her stupor. The man and the devils smiled at her and the whole atmosphere was “languid and fabulous,” but Moira found the strength to turn around and go the other way. After that, she suddenly found herself in an unfamiliar place next to a stream.
When Moira finally went out to her tour group and found her friend, he, to her amazement, told her exactly the same story. He, too, will meet the old man and the devil, and they also brought him to the table and also persuaded him to sit down and eat with them.
In the days that followed, Moira and her friend watched strange balls of light and frightening fogs in the forests, and they also heard disembodied singing, but they never met more of those creatures.
It is curious that in many old legends about fairies or "little people" it is said that you should never eat the food they serve to a person. Otherwise, you can be forever stuck in their world.
Another story was told by a Croatian who was walking his dog in the forest:
Considering the proximity of the cliff and the cliff, someone seemed to deliberately try to lure a man into the thicket so that he would die. Or was he just imagination?