The Man In The Woods

I started working as a fire lookout. My job was to sit in a tower and watch over the dense forest that surrounded me to make sure there were no signs of a forest fire. I was a park ranger already so I had already had experience with the woods. So, One day after the original watchtower guard quit, I was offered the night shift to watch the woods. I remember the conversation he had with our boss. I had just come in, it was early in the morning and he was about to leave.

“No, I’m done. There is someone out there that is stalking me!” He yelled.

“Will you please just sit down and we can talk about this?” My boss said.

“No. Find someone else to it cause I quit.” He said.

He walked passed me, and said “I would leave while you still can kid.”

He was about 53 whereas I was 22. The boss then called me into his office at the end of the night and asked me If I would take over on the night shift. Of course, I loved nature and I always thought being up on a watchtower would be cool. So I accepted and then the next day, I came in and waited for nightfall. I knew everything was going to be fine. There were usually two rangers on the ground all day and even through the night, and one watchtower guard. But since I was not the watchtower guard, for now, there would only be one ranger on the ground. Once the sun fell, I got to my tower and got ready to spend the next 8 hours watching the woods I got to know so well.

Nothing was out of the ordinary for the first 4 hours. At around 2:15 AM I started hearing noises like someone was running down below. I assumed it was just a deer and kind of ignored it. I took my binoculars and surveyed the area. I continued to hear noises so I looked down and I saw a man down near the bottom of the tower. He looked like a regular man and I figured he was a lost camper. That happened a lot around here. So I went down to ask the man if he needed help. The man and I had a normal conversation, and he asked me if I could point him in the direction of the nearest campsite. I pointed him in the right direction and he walked away. I went back up on my tower, opened up the little refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water, and just sat down, enjoying the view and the serenity of the woods.

It was all calm and peaceful until about 20 minutes later, I again heard the sound of someone or something running around below me. I took my binoculars and looked around, and I saw the man again. I called down to him but he wouldn’t respond, he wasn’t even reacting to me. So I got up and went down the stairs. I called to him and as my foot left the final step, he turned and looked at me, but this time, that fucker had no face. It was just skin. He was facing me and let out the most horrifying muffled scream. I ran back up the stairs, jumping at least 5 stairs at a time. I got into the tower and attempted to block the big windows. I heard the man walking up the tower stairs, he was walking in this really exaggerated way. Purposely stomping his feet as hard as he could on each step, all while still letting out that muffled scream and all I had for protection was my hunting knife.

After a while, I heard the stomping stop. So he either quietly came up the rest of the way, or quietly went back down. Or he was just standing there at the top. I looked out the window and didn't see him on the balcony. I couldn't sit there in fear for the rest of the night, so I pulled my knife out of the sheathe, whipped the door open, and ran around the balcony and found nothing. I ran back into the tower and locked the door. As I was at my radio calling to the other park ranger who was already on the ground, I looked at the window and saw the faceless man at the window. I stood there, looking at him, while he stood still, facing me. I walked up to the window and yelled for him to go away. He stepped closer to the window, and then I realized.......it was the man's reflection.