Scared to death in the middle of the night

**Tpatter** · 02-15-2021, 15:33

I thought my heart was going to explode one moonlight night.

I had hung my pack on a tree next to me and put a bag over it since I thought it might rain. Chest height or so, close to the hammock.

Sometime during the night I woke from a dead sleep to a horrendous terrifying snarl/growl/scream. It sound like it was right in my ear! At the same time, something slapped off the side of my hammock several times. My adrenaline went through the roof. It then got quiet and I thought, what the hell do I do now. I decided to turn on my light and have a look.

Nothing. I tried to go back to sleep, but that was done. So I got up and then noticed that the bag was ripped at the top.

Nearest I can tell a raccoon was coming down the tree backwards, hit my pack, lost its balance and careened into the side of my hammock! Thank God it didn't land directly in with me - for sure I would have had a heart attack with a lapful of raccoon.

I figure that's what we get for being guests in their homes. How inconsiderate of me to hang pack on his doorstep!

**LowTech** · 02-15-2021, 16:02

Originally Posted by ChefLamont

I was about to say.....what's wrong with rednecks!?!!?

Where I grew up a lot, unless you looked / acted like them, . . . and I didn't.

**Rhody Seth** · 02-15-2021, 17:51

This past Saturday I was sleeping in the woods and as I was drifting off I could sense a giant beast nearby. Coyote? Whatever it was I could here it breathing. I sat up quick and gave a shout!

There was nothing there of course. Just the imaginings of a creeped out guy sleeping in a hammock.

**Big E** · 02-15-2021, 21:09

I once had a deer stick its nose and stamp under my tarp - scared the bejeezus out of me...

**robfishman** · 02-15-2021, 21:57

Last summer my wife and kids and I went camping in a crowded state park. We have a small tent so ol’ Dad here decided he was bringing his hammock set up and sleeping comfy. Well, in the middle of the night a rowdy pack of raccoons started hissing and fighting over a cooler in the site next to ours and woke us all up. Once we figured out what was happening and I was able to convince my wife it wasn’t a bear we went back to sleep. I had just drifted into that weird half-asleep state right before you get to real sleep and I felt two little paws swat my a** and I hollered and jumped and would have fallen out of my rig if not for the bug net! I don’t know if it was my mind playing a trick on me or a curious raccoon but it definitely wasn’t the comfy cozy night I was hoping for.

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**jledbetter2** · 02-15-2021, 22:50

Not while camping, but was hiking Bells Canyon in Utah, where I passed close by a bush, which apparently scared a grouse. It barreled out of the bush making a ton of noise and warbling. Well that also scared me just a little... About pooped myself.

**Darbe** · 02-16-2021, 07:48

Wasn't hanging at the time but ground dwelling on a trip up in Quetico. Just as my buddy and I were dozing off a cat(Bobcat/Lynx don't know) let off at the head end of the tent with one of those yowls that cats make that'll make your hair stand up. That kept us up for a bit longer.

**TDGuentner** · 02-16-2021, 15:51

These are all great stories! I've had the sleep paralysis experience where you try to scream but can only get out a Sylvester Stallone style moan. I was awakened by a purring noise above me just before dawn. I tried to ignore it but it kept getting louder and was followed by high pitch screams. I wanted to yell to scare whatever it was but then heard the branches above me moving so violently that I thought that a branch was about to crush me. I bailed out of the hammock only to see a raccoon chasing some squirrels between the two trees that my hammock was hanging from! I had a good laugh but wasn't able to go back to sleep. Adrenaline is a camper's worst enemy, I guess.