These Border Collies Replant a Burned Chilean Forest

Herding dogs are smart and high energy.

When we first met ours at a rescue shelter, she was so excited she raced around the yard in circles like a cartoon Tasmanian devil.

That combination of energy and intelligence makes Border Collies the perfect breed for a very special and unexpected environmental task.

Meet Das, Olivia, and Summer:

They live in Chile, where in 2017, fores fires decimated the landscape.

TreeHugger.com described the fires in El Maule in stark terms:

The worst wildfire season in Chileā€™s history ravaged more than 1.4 million acres early in 2017, destroying nearly 1,500 homes and killing at least 11 people. More than a dozen countries sent fire-fighting specialists to help battle the dozens of destructive blazes.

According to Green Matters, the damage was estimated at $333 million, but the loss of trees and their impact on the environment as a whole is likely immeasurable.

It will take decades to regrow the forest landā€“but first, new trees must be planted.

Enter sisters Francisca and Constanza Torres and their three Border Collies:

Together, they train the dogs to race across the forest floor wearing backpacks full of native seeds, which they purchase with their own money.

As the sheepdogs run, the seeds spill from holes in their special doggy bags, and spread out where they can begin to take root and regrow the once-lush environment.

It may seem like work to humans, but for the dogs, itā€™s just a raucous good time.

In an email exchange with Mother Nature Network, Francisca explained:

ā€œThey reeeeeally love [it]!! Itā€™s a country trip, where they can run as fast as they can and have a great time.ā€

And when their bags are empty, the dogs return to their owners for treats and cuddles, and a refill on the seeds.

Itā€™s quite the sight, to see the dogs bounding through the scrub.

And itā€™s a good thing they have so much energy. According to Green Matters:

This system is also more efficient than having people spread the seeds manually. These speedy canines can race through a forest and cover up to 18 miles a day. Humans, on the other hand, can only cover a few miles each day. These pups can scatter over 20 pounds of seeds, depending on the terrain.

Johnny Appleseed, watch out!

They may not be able to cover the entire forest, but the work these very good girls are doing is already paying off.

The BBC even did a story about them:

It seriously blows my mind to think that two women and their gorgeous pups are changing the world all by themselves and in such a big way.

This Earth Day it makes me wonder, what more could I be doing? What about you? Did your heart just grow three sizes like mine did? Let us know in the comments.

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Plant-Based ā€œStem Cellsā€ Could Possibly Drive an Environmental Revolution

For the last couple of years, my family has been making a conscious effort to buy less plastic.

Certainly we try to avoid single-use plastics, but even for things that weā€™ll use again and again we try to find more durable, organic or metal alternatives.

But of course, thereā€™s often an environmental cost to wooden items, too. It presents a conundrum.

Until now. Are you ready to have your mind blown? Lab. Grown. Furniture.

I warned you.

Image credit: Goashape via Unsplash

Wooden furniture is gorgeous, and plant fibers are supremely useful for other everyday items too, like clothing.

Thatā€™s why bamboo has become so popularā€“it grows quickly, with less environmental impact.

But now a PhD candidate at MIT, Ashley Beckwith, and her co-author, Luis Fernando VelĆ”squez-GarcĆ­a, have a brilliant plan to reduce waste and environmental impacts even further by growing wood in useful shapes (like 2 by 4ā€™s) right in a lab.

The MIT research team has been working with zinnia tissue, and they published their findings recently in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

As Fast Company reports, their goal is to:

ā€¦quickly produce in a lab what would take decades to grow in nature. From there, they could even coax wood tissue to grow into fully-formed shapesā€”like, say, a tableā€”in order to mitigate the environmental harm of the logging and construction industries.

Itā€™s not a completely new concept. VelĆ”squez-GarcĆ­a, a scientist in the universityā€™s Microsystems Technology Lab, explains it in pretty simple terms.

ā€œThe plant cells are similar to stem cells. They have the potential to be many things.ā€

And itā€™s not just human stem cells. Other scientists have had similar success with lab grown meat products.

So isolating the ability to reduce plants down to a version of a stem cell is just the first step.

Like the meat manufactures who want to grow only the most desirable parts of the animal, Beckwith and team have similar plans for their saplings.

ā€œTrees grow in tall cylindrical poles, and we rarely use tall cylindrical poles in industrial applications.

So you end up shaving off a bunch of material that you spent 20 years growing and that ends up being a waste product.ā€

Rather than stopping with just growing trees, the team could grow planks, or, rather like 3D printing, they could even guide the development of the plant fiber into the exact shape for its intended purpose.

Of course not every manufacturer has a noble drive to safe the planet.

Thatā€™s why this new process is so exciting. Itā€™s so easy, that when compared with the cost of logging, transportation, and everything that goes into cutting down trees to shape them into boards, lab grown trees could actually come out on top, at a lower cost!

Image credit: Lukasz Szmigiel via Unsplash

If the idea of lab-grown veggies freaks you out though, donā€™t worry. The folks in charge donā€™t see this being a process that is used to grow food. More like the kinds of plants used to make clothes and industrial materials. There are so many things that could be made from biodegradable plant fibers! Deforestation could become a thing of the past! At least due to human consumption.

Howā€™s that for exciting? Did it blow your mind?

Tell us what you think in the comments!

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Canadians Crowdfunded $3 Million to Save Pristine Land from Development

Hey, people in the U.S.: take the time to read this article and maybe we can follow the lead of our neighbors to the north on this, okay?

Itā€™s always incredibly depressing to see untouched, pristine wilderness get purchased and developed by huge, wealthy corporations. Which is why people in Canada decided to take a stand to save 2,000 acres of beautiful coastline in British Columbia.

A crowdfunding effort raised $3 million to purchase the area of coastal wilderness in the Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia. The land is virtually untouched and citizens knew they only had one shot to make this work.

The crowdfunding was organized by the B.C. Parks Foundation, a group that works to protect natural landscapes. Logging companies and developers expressed interest in buying the gorgeous land after it was put up for sale by a private owner.

This crowdfunding effort wasnā€™t just a couple of wealthy people chipping in, either. Average Canadians paid $10 or $15 here and there to contribute to saving the 2,000 acres ā€“ and clearly it worked!

The B.C. Parks Foundation will make the land a protected park for all to enjoy.

Dear Park Supporters, You did it! Your love for British Columbia and beautiful places like Princess Louisa Inlet has…

Posted by BC Parks Foundation on Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The organization wrote a letter expressing its gratitude to all the people who donated money.

ā€œDear Park Supporters,

You did it! Your love for British Columbia and beautiful places like Princess Louisa Inlet has done something miraculous. In just a few short months, you have raised $3 million to protect a jewel in B.Cā€™.s coast.

We still have to finalize the sale with the vendor (now September 3rd), and there are more steps to come, but in donating the funds you have scaled a substantial peak on this amazing expedition.

We know people want to keep B.C. beautiful, and we know our parks are the core of our identity. They are our cathedrals, our towers, our pyramids; the wonders of our world. But we couldnā€™t have predicted such a fabulous outpouring in such a short time from so many different people and places. We are in a state of awe and gratitude.

We will keep you posted when the deal is finalized. Any funds that continue to come in will be put in our Parks Bank to protect more areas in Princess Louisa and British Columbia.

With our deepest appreciation and admiration,

Ross Beaty, Board Chair
Andy Day, CEOā€

Well done! More of this throughout the entire world, please!

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15 of the Weirdest Things People Found in the Woods

We’ve been conditioned to be afraid of the woodsā€“or, more accurately, afraid of whatā€™s waiting for us inside the woods. This fear is the basis of many fairy tales and fables, from Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel and Gretel. Itā€™s a legitimate fear, because when you go into the woods, you never know what you might find.

But not everything you find in the woods is scary! Lots of people have ventured into the forest and discovered something that was just plain weird. Sometimes they found personal items that were mysteriously abandoned. Other times they found weird and wonderful oddities made by nature itself. Some people even found that appeared to be left behind deliberately, for wanderers to stumble on. Whatever the case may be, one thing is clear: the woods is just as interesting as it is scary.Ā (via Bored Panda)

 

 

1. ā€œThis tree I found while hiking looks like a monster watching over you.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

2. ā€œFound this abandoned house in the woods in Russia.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

3. ā€œFound this sword in Epping, England.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

This is probably a decorative sword belonging to the fraternal order of the Knights of the Sherwood Forest, which started in the US in 1879 and existed until the 1920s.

4. ā€œI was driving through the backwoods of Pennsylvania when I found a mountain of ceramic dishes and tea cups.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

5. Are we in the Hundred Acre Wood?

Photo Credit: Reddit

6. ā€œMoved to Wisconsin. Found this in the woods.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

This is part of a Stevens Point art installation called ā€œOut of the Woods: A Grand Entrance.ā€

7. ā€œMy girlfriend and I were walking in the woods when we found a rainbow swamp.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

Read more about rainbow swamps here.

8. ā€œFound a purple mushroom in Pennsylvania!ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

Probably aĀ Cortinarius violaceus, aka a violet webcap or a violet cort. Itā€™s edible but tastes bitter and is primarily favored for its beauty.

9. ā€œTook this while standing in a huge pond that sinks every dry season.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

10. ā€œFound a dead robot in the woods.ā€

Photo Credit: Imgur

11. ā€œFound these stairs to nowhere in the New Hampshire woods.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

These stairs are part of Madame Sherriā€™s Castle Ruins.

12. ā€œA buddy of mine found this ā€˜dinosaurā€™ the other day.ā€

Photo Credit: Imgur

13. When you find out the hard way that your car is not an off-road vehicle.

Photo Credit: Reddit

14. ā€œWhat my parents found on their hike.ā€

Photo Credit: Reddit

15. Not all toilets are domesticated. Some are wild.

Photo Credit: Reddit

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These People All Found Weird Stuff in the Woods and Just Had to Share It

Creeeeeeeeeepy.

The deep, dark woods. You never know what youā€™re gonna get out there in the forest, do you? Could be a strange animal, a masked madman (hopefully not), or just something unsettling that you canā€™t explain.

All of these folks encountered weird stuff out there, and they shared their photos with the world.

1. Thatā€™s kinda sweet

Found this in the woods while trail riding from pics

2. A portal?

Found this in the woods today from pics

3. Another dimension?

Me and my girlfriend were walking in the woods the other week and saw a rainbow pool for the first time from pics

4. Donā€™t go in there

Abandoned Russian house found in the woods from creepy

5. Trippy

Standing in a huge pond that sinks every dry season from mildlyinteresting

6. Demon tree

This tree I found hiking looks like a forest monster watching over you. from mildlyinteresting

7. That is crazy

I went for a walk in the forest and came upon this ponderosa pine tree that had been struck by lightning. I called the Forest Service and they eventually extinguished it, but not before I had time to get some photos. Near Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. [OC] [2834×2000] from EarthPorn

8. Hmmm

Found this sword in epping forest , England .anyone have any idea on what the history is ? from metaldetecting

9. Lead the way

This stick I found looks like a burning torch, flame included! from mildlyinteresting

10. Mossy boot

This moss covered boot found in the woods. from mildlyinteresting

11. Thatā€™s odd

*shhh* it’s a flock of wild toilets roosting from WTF

12. Thatā€™s a lot of dishware

I was driving through the back roads of Pennsylvania on the way to a camping spot and found a mountain of ceramic dishes and tea cups in the middle of the woods!?…. from WTF

13. Do not enter

Abandoned train tunnel we found in the woods from AbandonedPorn

14. WTF is it?

Moved to Wisconsin. Found this in the woods! from pics

15. Scary

What my parents found on their hike from pics

16. Ghost tree

So I was walking in a forrest near my city and found this

17. Explosive

My brother found this (missile?) in the woods in Tennessee from whatisthisthing

18. Who you gonna call?

Found this phone booth in the middle of the woods from mildlyinteresting

19. Holy sh*t

View post on imgur.com

20.

Friend found this while hiking the Connecticut wilderness from pics

Beware!

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A Huge Tick That Can Hunt Humans Through the Forest Is Expanding Its Territory. Run!

You know what? Ticks are absolutely terrifying. These little buggers end up embedded in your body without you knowing it, which is disgusting right off the bat. I remember picking them off of me (and my dog) after taking a stroll through the woods when I was a kid. Just a stroll! And not even through high grass or anything!

And if you donā€™t get them out of your body in time, you run the risk of Lyme disease, which can be an absolute nightmare.

Well, Iā€™m here to tell you it gets even worse. Your typical ticks recognizes you (and any animal) by the carbon dioxide you exhale, and they wait until you walk by their leaf or whatever before theyĀ  jump on for a ride.

Hyalomma ticks, however, can recognize an animal or a human from up to 30 FEET AWAY, and they will run along the ground to get to a potential host. They also track footstep vibrations and body heat to follow humans and animals.

It gets worse: Hyalomma ticks can and will follow you for 10 minutes or more and will walk up to 325 feet to hunt you down and jump onto your body.

Sounds like a horror movie, doesnā€™t it?

Oh, and one more thing: theyā€™re also TWICE AS LARGE as the ticks weā€™re used to seeing. Hyalomma ticks live mostly in the Mediterranean, but theyā€™ve now been confirmed in Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Russia because they can catch rides on migratory birds. That means THEYā€™RE SPREADING.

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Parasiten: Die Hyalomma-Zecke ist heimisch geworden šŸ˜±ā € ā € Sie sind wesentlich grĆ¶ĆŸer als die hier bekannten Zecken, sie kƶnnen Menschen wittern und Dutzende Meter weit verfolgen. Nun haben Hyalomma-Zecken aus Afrika und SĆ¼deuropa das erste Mal nachweislich in Deutschland Ć¼berwintert.ā € Die Hyalomma-Zecke ist deutlich grĆ¶ĆŸer als die Zecken, die normalerweise in Deutschland heimisch sind. Sie ist gut an ihren gestreiften Beinen zu erkennen.ā € ā € > weiter lesen: https://buff.ly/2RMIoZ4?fbclid=IwAR1T3J7BslwNOud3GZv3515m6fNhOe_UsSF36m-bHALpOf2t0RCZcWHe2Q0ā € ā € Quelle: Pharmazeutische Zeitungā € .ā € ..ā € …ā € #zecke #riesenzecke #hyalomma #parasiten #infektion #infektionskrankheiten #krankheitsĆ¼bertrƤger #fsme #viren #lymeborreliose #bakterien #impfung #FSMEimpfung #apotheke #gesundheit #beratung #service #selb #neueapo #instapotheke

A post shared by Neue Apotheke (@instapotheke) on

I guess the only comfort you can take from this is that if you live in the United States, Hyalomma ticks are nothing to worry aboutā€¦yet.

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15 Creeped-Out People Share the Scariest Things Theyā€™ve Ever Seen in Their Lives

Okay, creeper time.

Have you ever been totally creeped out by something you saw out in the middle of nowhere? Might have been in the woods, in a rural area, in the mountains, etc.?

AskReddit users went on the record and shared their personal stories and they will give you the willies!

1. What do you expect in Transylvania?

ā€œWent on a mountain hike in Transylvania with a group of friends from school, and way up, after maybe 12-14 km of trekking, we saw a houseā€¦.was in the middle of nowhere. It had a barn, with a few animals, couple of cows, chicken, etc. As we get closer, we see a few people, a guy and 5-6 women. Not sure if there were more inside. The dude comes to greet us, barely speaking the language. We had a hard time understanding what heā€™s saying. They lived without electricity, gas, anything. This is in the early ā€™90s, so thereā€™s no internet, mobile phones to worry about. At least for most people.

Anyway, they all looked weird, kinda dumb expressions on their face, we can barely understand eachother. They asked us whoā€™s the president now, and if we want some milk. They look at our clothes and shoes weirdly, curiousā€¦like who knows when is the last time they had human contact. Or maybe there were more crazies around those partsā€¦dunno. Not sure to this day what was going on. Itā€™s not typical in the region, so we kinda freaked out, especially cause the dude looked a bit disturbed, and we were too young.

We were looking around to see if thereā€™s more of them, paranoia was getting to us, thinking there must be a village nearby. What was also weird is that all the women kept their distance, and never got close to us. Like he was guarding them, or checking us out, if itā€™s safe for them.

One of my friends kept saying we donā€™t want their milk, and we need to go, cause itā€™s getting dark. We walked calmly for a while, then when we thought weā€™re out of their sight, bolted like crazy out of there. Needless to say, we camped after a few hours, and we always had one person awake to keep watch.

We told people that were living in the villages near that area, about the ā€œmountain peopleā€, and they didnā€™t believe us. They said nobody lives there, up in the mountains.ā€

2. OH MY GOD

ā€œI was driving home after an extremely late night at work, I lived in the middle of nowhere, about a mile before I got there a woman covered in blood jumped out of the woods into the middle of the road screaming. I panicked and went around her then slammed on the breaks to help.

Her boyfriend had beaten her and was currently chasing after her in the woods. I got her in my car and called the police, they met us at the hospital because I told them there was no way I was waiting on the side of the road when he was coming.ā€

3. Get outta there!

ā€œI was driving through rural parts of Missouri with a buddy. We drove down a single lane road that had no exit. At the end of the road, there was a group of deer corpses laid in a perfect circle. Iā€™d say there was at least 10 deer.

We BTFO real quick.ā€

4. Terrifying

ā€œIā€™d been at football training with a few of my cousins when I was about 10 years old.

We decided to take a walk before our parents picked us up, so we went along the canal towpath. My cousin looked down in the canal and say a really nice jacket floating along and being a weird scavenger person decided to reach in to fish it out.

Well, the jacket turned over. And so did the man wearing it. He also had no face left.

Not gonna lie, that was rough.ā€

5. Yikes

ā€œMy boyfriend and I were walking through the woods on a nature trail when we came across a piece of alligator tail and foot that had been ripped off and the rest of the body was gone.

I freaked out ā€“ all I kept thinking was I have no idea whatā€™s big enough to kill and eat an entire alligator, but I donā€™t want to meet it.

We cautiously kept walking and a few hundred feet later saw a giant, probably 10 foot at least, alligator walking along the shoreline with a whole smaller, dead alligator in its mouth.

And that was the day I learned that alligators were cannibals.ā€

6. Thatā€™s weird

ā€œI was mountain biking in the woods and I came across an east Asian looking man in a perfectly fitted suit and a briefcase. Just casually walking through the woods.ā€

7. Creeper

ā€œWhen I was about 7 or 8, my parents sent me to a local summer camp that they would pick me up from in the afternoons. I never really liked it because the kids were mean, everything was either broken or not clean, and the counselors obviously didnā€™t care. I remember the girlā€™s changing room had a door that lead out to the woods but the doorknob was gone so it was unlocked all the time and you could see into it.

This was primarily where the girls changed into their bathing suits and there was usually someone blocking the view while we changed so the boys couldnā€™t look in. Well, one day Iā€™m changing alone and someone wasnā€™t blocking the door. I look over and see an eye peeping in through the hole watching me change. I pull the rest of my clothes back on quickly and run out to tell my twin brother.

I tell my dad that I donā€™t want to go back to that camp anymore and he begrudgingly takes us out of the camp pretty soon after because he knew how much we hated it. Years later, the camp has been closed down for many many years and Iā€™m asking my dad about it. He gets really grim and tells me it shut down because a 13 year old boy had raped 7 year old girl in the woods right behind the girlā€™s bathroom a few weeks after I had told him about someone watching me change.ā€

8. Camping

ā€œCowlitz river. Washington State. Camping with my dad and sister me buddies, early ā€™90s. Something was throwing rocks and sticks into our camp. We shined a flashlight out and caught a reflection of eyes and a silouete. Very very tall. Kept throwing stuff in our camp randomly for about 15 minutes. We just stoked the fire really high. In the morning I woke up to heavy footsteps in our camp and something reeked. Woke up my dad. He shook the tent and yelled. Whatever it was ran off.ā€

9. Run!

ā€œMy girlfriend and I were hiking along some abandoned railroad tracks and we get to a small bridge going over a little creek. Iā€™m about to go explore under the bridge when she points something out. I look over and in the woods across from us I see a guy.

Iā€™m like whatever and keep headed down to the creek area and then the guy stands up and heā€™s naked. We immediately back track pretty quickly to get away from there and once were like 1 minute down the trail I look back and this naked dude is just standing in the middle of the trail watching us walk away.ā€

10. On the playground

ā€œWhile I was walking to High School I saw the body of a young girl that had hung herself from a swing set. Police were just putting the bag over the body when I was going by. The City ripped down the playground and built a new one shortly after.ā€

11. In the Australian bush

ā€œThis took place in the Australian bush around 10/11 at night.

I was 17, leading a staggered column of about 60 Cadets to our detachment campsite. Due to light discipline rules, only myself at the very front of the group and the other flight commander at the rear had torches on. This was so that any vehicles coming along the trail could see us and so that most of the cadets could maintain their night vision(we were camouflaged up and thus difficult to see at night).

As we walked along I periodically looked to my sides, and kept seeing what looked like dew drops on the ground. Almost like tiny blue gems glinting in my torch light either side of the road.I had to maintain my position in the formation, so I couldnā€™t get a good look at what they were.

However, after a while we stopped for a very brief break, and I took the opportunity to have a closer look. Walking over to the side of the trail I spotted a small cluster of the ā€œdiamondsā€ and focused my head torch on them. Rather than seeing diamonds or dew drops or anything remotely pleasant, I instead saw a group of about 5 large spiders just crouching in the leaf litter and staring at me.

They looked like huntsmans which are about the size of an adults hand. Sweeping my head around, I realised there were thousands of the things. All over the ground, some on the trunks of trees, and everywhere around me; glaring at the light affixed to my head.

I had a very brisk walk back to the formation and attempted to play it cool while screaming in my head. Being a massive Arachnophobe, I have no fucking clue how I managed to set up a tent and spend the next week in that cursed forest.ā€

12. Donā€™t go there at night

ā€œI was in a large wooded area near my BFā€™s home, with him, hanging out nearly at midnight. We had gone in pretty deep and it required a good amount of climbing. The closest path was maybe 5-7 min climbing down so it was highly unlikely someone could be at that spot, that time of the night, besides us.

As we were kissing and stuff he thought he saw a shadow move 20 ā€“ 25 feet to the left of us, climbing, but it stopped suddenly when my bf looked at it. He told me to be wary and that exact moment we saw a dark figure climbing a little up but diagonally, like he tried to go directly above where we were.

We didnā€™t move and watch him till he closed the horizontal gap and was directly above us maybe 15 feet of steep downhill thick forest. Then he began to come towards us.

Without skipping a bit my bf grabbed my hand and we almost ran downhill till the path. We made it in less that two minutes while still holding hands and listening to the man running behind us. We ran as fast as we could down the path and out of the forest where there was a cafe and some basketball and tennis courts next to the wooded hill, and of course, people.

As we realised we came really close to be mugged or worse, we vowed never to go there at night again. šŸ™‚ ā€œ

13. Terrible

ā€œI found a womanā€™s body floating in a harbor in San Pedro, CA.ā€

14. Flipping out

ā€œIn Auburn, AL in 2008. It was halloween and we googled haunted houses. I cant remember what the website was like or if there even was one, but it was like 45 min away. I know that it wasnt like a big attraction and we figured it was on someones land and would be like a local deal. We drove out there at like 10pm. This was before iphones and GPS so we had mapquest directions.

We ended up going down a pretty country road for a while with no street lights, then turned down a legit dirt road that went through the woods. Pitch black. Went down it for like 10 minutes and finally saw an old house with a sign by the driveway that was handwritten and said ā€œHaunted Houseā€. No other cars or lights or people anywhere We pulled in the driveway and sat there for a second like ā€œalright this is fucked up, we should leaveā€.

All of the sudden an old pick up truck turned on about 15 ft in front of us facing us, lights shining right in our faces. It started driving towards us (down their own driveway).We backed out and peeled out. It followed us, like almost bumping our rear end. Right on our tail down this pitch black dirt road in the middle of the Alabama woods.

We were flipping our shit. It was texas chainsaw massacre/hills have eyes stuff. He stayed out our tail blinding us and almost bumping us all the way back home until we got off our exit and he finally let us go. No idea who was driving.

I always think what would have happened if we got out of the car when we were in that driveway.ā€

15. This one is crazy

ā€œMy boyfriend and I were backpacking through rural Tasmania a few years ago. While on a bus, we were discussing our plans for the ensuing two weeks. The girl in the seat in front turns around and offers us a place to stay in her town. We declined as we were headed elsewhere first, but she gave us her mobile number and said that she and her partner would love to have us.

A few days later we decide to take them up on their offer. We call her, and she says theyā€™re happy to host us. So far so good.

They meet us at the train station and immediately something feels off. Itā€™s really difficult to explain, but itā€™s that primal, ineffable feeling in your guts that tells you that something isnā€™t right. We ignored our guts and followed them.

They lead us straight out of town. We ask them where weā€™re going and they say that they live on the outskirts. This town is creepy as fuck. Itā€™s an old mining town that has been largely abandoned, and as we walk the 15-odd minutes to their home the houses get shittier, with boarded up windows, overgrown gardens and no people in sight.

Eventually we reach the house at the very end of the town. Itā€™s their house. We go in.

Set up in the middle of the living room is a single mattress with a sheet hanging around it. They show us around the house except for one door which stays closed. When I asked what was behind it they pretended not to hear. Our room has a made bed, chest of drawers and looks like a normal room. It seems weird that they sleep on mattresses in the living room when they have a ā€œguest roomā€.

We go back into the living room and look around. Knives. A lot of knives. My boyfriend asks if they go hunting? No. The partner hands one of the knives to my boyfriend and asks him to open it. Itā€™s a massive fucking bowie knife with what looks like blood staining around the edges of the blade. My boyfriend laughs awkwardly and sets it down.

They have a tattoo gun ā€“ ā€œto practiceā€. My boyfriend asks if they have any tattoos. No. Thereā€™s a small axe at the door. I ask if they collect wood. No.

Suddenly the guy says he wants to go to the shops. We agree quickly because weā€™re creeped out and want to get back into the town.

The four of us leave and they start walking in the opposite direction to the town. I say that the town is back the other way. The guy says this way would be more interesting because it goes up through the trees. He says that they have never been up the mountain before but he knows the area and it would take the same amount of time.

I tell my boyfriend that Iā€™m freaking out but he thinks itā€™s ok. We follow them into the trees. The path goes up the mountain. We are going in the total opposite direction of the town.

The girl turns around to her partner and whispers ā€“ ā€œso where was the place again?ā€

My boyfriend and I freeze. I say I want to take the road back to town and start walking.

When the four of us arrive in the one shop in town ā€“ no one recognises the couple. And this is a really small town. We make an excuse that we want to go look at sights and that weā€™ll catch up with them later, and instead book a hotel room and freak out.

I did some snooping on the area. Their house had an extra room (behind the mystery door) and a basement. The path that we were taking led straight out of town and up the mountain. There was no way it could loop back into town.

So yeah pretty sure we narrowly avoided being murdered. Or maybe they were just massive weirdos. Tbh the creepiest thing was the fact that there was no drug paraphernalia at all ā€“ the state of the house and the weird behaviour would have been understandable if they were intoxicated but that wasnā€™t the case.ā€

Pure nightmare fuel!

Have you had any experiences like this? Share in the comments!

The post 15 Creeped-Out People Share the Scariest Things They’ve Ever Seen in Their Lives appeared first on UberFacts.

Hunters Shared the Creepy Things That Made Them Never Want to Venture Back into the Woods

Are you prepared to be creeped out? If youā€™re the kind of person who frequents the woods ā€” whether itā€™s for hunting, hiking or bird watching ā€” these scary stories from AskReddit might make you think twice about back heading out into the wild frontier.

1. Drug runner?

ā€œMy father and I were following a trail for a while so we decided to take a break and catch our breaths, I sat on a log off the trail and my dad stood on the edge of the trail waiting for me to get up. I hear some movement and scan around and I see a man, dress casually, walking quickly down the trail with a Glock in his hand.

He is not really following the trail, he is just walking toward my dad with haste. Before he comes up to my dad, he asks if heā€™s seen anything(pretty normal). I keep an eye on him because I donā€™t believe he was there to hunt, I think he was there to make sure my dad hadnā€™t seen anything he wasnā€™t supposed to. He wasnā€™t dressed like a hunter, he didnā€™t walk like a hunter, and It was deer season and he decided he would take his Glock out to get a deerā€¦ I wasnā€™t buying, so I put a round in the chamber and watched them talk.

He seemed to be confident until my dad mentioned that he was here with me and gestured in my direction. I nodded and made a half-assed wave. And he seemed to lose interest in us and ended the conversation shortly after and turned around and walked back the way he came, just about as fast as he walked up to us. It worried us a bit but we continued on. We havenā€™t been back to that area in a while. My dad told me that there have been drug busts near that area in the past. This isnā€™t a supernatural tale, just an experience that made me not want to go back to that area.ā€

2. Creature in the night

ā€œA long time ago my grandparents bought a small cabin in the woods in Pennsylvania. My dad, uncle, and aunt are all small children. My father told me this story. Theyā€™re all sitting around outside with a small fire going when they hear branches breaking and footsteps coming from the darkness. They think itā€™s a black bear because itā€™s close but they canā€™t see it. Itā€™s seems to be going straight for my uncle, the littlest of the children.

He starts panicking while everyone tells him not to move. Now this big black beast is within arms reach of him and heā€™s shaking like a leaf with his eyes closed. All of a sudden it opens itā€™s jaws and starts licking his face.. turns out that the next property over is owned by a couple who raise Newfoundland dogs and one got out.ā€

2. Bones

ā€œI work in the woods for a living and Iā€™ve seen a fair amount of odd thingsā€¦ Carvings in trees, old beat up cars, random weird trash scattered through the woods, and a fair amount of animal carcasses. Iā€™ve had instances where Iā€™ve gotten spooked, stuff like jumping big critters is always quite jolting, but I can recall one rather butt puckering experience. I was working with a few other people at the time, spaced out of sight but not out of ear shot. I crossed over a little ridge atleast 2 miles from the closest road, in the middle of the woods, and I saw what looked like a full skeleton of a cow tied together with twigs and a little bit of twine.

Who ever made it had fashioned it to be sitting on a log. They left a very neat pile of bones in front of the thing, and nothing anywhere else. I saw it and about fainted. Definitely really fucking odd considering how far we were off the road, and how thick and steep it was. I ended up getting the folks I was with to come check it out, really just for shits and giggles. I took note of it and we moved on to the next plots.ā€

4. Snake pit

ā€œThere is a place in Kingston, Idaho or the otherside of Fernan Saddle- depending on which way you go to get there. I call it the snake pit, and no I donā€™t mean the restaurant. I still visit the area now once in a while and camp there. Anyways next to where I camp in the trees is a basin, and it has a bunch of old 1920s-1930ā€™s rotted cars in it, overgrown by bushes and trees but sunlight falls on the cars.

First time I camped out there I walked into those woods and the leaves all started to move. The snakes were running from me while they were sunbathing on the cars. Fuckin creeeeped me out. I donā€™t go in there for wood anymore and I donā€™t see the snakes leave that spot so I just let them be.ā€

5. Fire three shots

ā€œWhen I was a kid, a poacher must have thought I was a deer or something and shot a round at me. It impacted on a tree above my head. I immediately fired three shots as fast as I could, not at the shooter but in the air. In my hunting group, immediate three shots means ā€œHELPā€ basically.

My dad and our hunting club immediately came out to find out what the fuck happened by honking the horns of their trucks letting me know they were coming. I basically laid on the ground until I could tell they were near the dirt road. Told them what happened and guessed it was probably a road poacher trying to get a deer as it came from the same road. They didnā€™t see him. It was private property and we were always very aware of who was at what location and who was hunting where. Nobody was suppose to be in the part I was at.

Scared the shit out of me. This was mid-90s. Reason why I donā€™t like hunting on public property is cause of that and I donā€™t know the people out there.ā€

6. Near-death experience

ā€œI was in the woods once in really dense fog and had an arrow fly past my face into a tree haha nothing like a near death experience to avoid the spot and idiot that shot at you.ā€

7. Caught on camera

ā€œWhen i went hunting with my dad one time we saw a homeless looking guy carrying what looked like a torn cloth and a screwdriver on one of the trail cams. this cam was pretty deep into the woods, and it was no one we knew so we were pretty creeped out to go back out there.ā€

8. Hell no

ā€œI was being watched on the woods, it was the strangest feeling. I got paranoid enough that I began walking all the way to where I knew a park warden was parked. After about 100 meters, I turn around to make sure I wasnā€™t being followed, and I see three bears smacking my stuff around. One bear was standing up in the middle of the access road staring right at me.ā€

9. Overly friendly dear

ā€œNot a hunter but I go backpacking and fishing quite a bit. I have an irrational fear of bears, and waking up to bear tracks around my camp was quite unsettling and I did not spend much more time in the area.

Iā€™ve also had a creepy encounter with an overly friendly deer. I was in a pretty isolated area so I thought it was odd to see a deer that was so calm around humans, this deer would not leave me alone it walked around my camp all day and came back at night to scare the shit out of me by laying down outside my tent.ā€

10. Missouri

ā€œCamping alone in the middle of Missouri the night before turkey hunting. The place I found was a fairly well used campsite but no one was there. About to go to sleep when I hear a truck come up. I find a reason to come out (use the restroom) so I can get a look and maybe even ask for some good places to spot turkey.

Itā€™s a dude and his girlfriend drinking beers and going for a ride. They are super nice but they mentioned after our chat and before leaving ā€œwatch yourself out here.. lots of meth heads and they wonā€™t stop for bird shot. Want a slug? I probably have a few in my tool kit.ā€ I did not sleep at all that night.ā€

11. Get out of there

ā€œI walked up on a meth lab while scouting for a hunting spot. I noped the hell out of there immediately. I had never encountered such a thing before, and in hindsight the smell should have been a dead giveaway. It wasnā€™t until I was standing there looking at what looked like a bunch of garbage under camo tarps and such that I realized what I was looking at.

Edit: I walked back to where I had cell service, called the sheriff and showed him on a map where it was. Bunch of them went in (found nobody), and made me wait with another officer for over an hour by the cruisers.ā€

12. A suitcase

ā€œMy family owns a couple hundred acres of forest in eastern NC. No one lives on the property anymore, and hasnā€™t for the last six or seven years.

We went down there to do some target shooting in October of 2017, and I decided to go walk through the outskirts of the woods to locate a good limb for our range marker. As Iā€™m walking, literally and proverbially kicking rocks I come across a fairly nice, but practically brand new looking suitcase, full of clothes and other personal effects. No ID, nothing with any sort of identifying markers on them. But seemed to be clothes for four people; two kids and two adults, one male and one female. Had some food, coloring books, etc. there was a makeshift lean-to about 100 yards farther into the woods.

Set up a trail camera and left it there for three weeks, never saw anyone.

For reference, this is 35 miles from any sizable town or city.ā€

13. SMACK

ā€œWent on a camping trip maybe 10 years ago and in the middle of the night we heard this incredibly loud ā€œSMACKā€ way out on the water. Water carries sound really well, so it woke us all right the fuck up. My first though was some drunk/deranged motherfucker with a gun was shooting out over the lake and the sound was a bullet skimming off the surface.

Turns out it was a beaver that smacked the shit out of the water before diving under. It happened again in the early morning and we laughed it off, but the notion of being out in the middle of nowhere with some homicidal prick taking potshots at you creeped me out pretty good.ā€

14. Learned your lesson

ā€œCopperheads.. Bow season in KY starts early enough that you can run into a ton of them. I learned my lesson years ago to wait until at least mid November before venturing out too deep.ā€

15. Donā€™t get off the boat

ā€œCouple of years ago I was in northern British Columbia on a fishing trip with my dad, uncle and cousins. The lake and river was a two hour drive from the nearest city. We were drifting down the river when I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got out of the boat.

As Iā€™m doing my business, I look over and see what seems to be the top of a building. I turned to the people in the boat and told them what I saw. Walked towards the building, and realized it wasnā€™t alone. Multiple homes, buildings in the middle of the forest. It was a very small and isolated Native American tribe, and we backed away. Not super creepy but didnā€™t want to cause any trouble. We continued on without any contact.ā€

The post Hunters Shared the Creepy Things That Made Them Never Want to Venture Back into the Woods appeared first on UberFacts.

Trees in forests have an undergroundā€¦

Trees in forests have an underground communication and interaction system driven by fungal networks. ā€œMother treesā€ pass on information for best growth patterns and can divert nutrients to trees in need, and they are more likely to pass them on to trees of their own species. 00