This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/maggie_wright on 2023-07-06 13:22:16+00:00.

A few years back, I was camping by a lake in the mountains with some friends We set up at a clearing in a dense forest. The day we got there, everything went as everything does on a camping trip, until about 11:30 p.m. Everyone else was already asleep. I was heading into the tent for the night, when I heard something running around the fireplace behind me. I turned around, but there was nothing there. I dismissed it as being some animal, and went into the tent. I slowly drifted off to sleep. That night, I dreamt the most terrifying dream I’ve had to this date.

In the dream, I could hear my friends screaming. A cryptid with a man’s body, and a deer’s head and hooves, approached me. He opened a door, which I stepped out of, placing my trust fully in the deer man, without any logical reason. As I stepped out, my foot searched for a platform, which, unfortunately, was not found. I splashed into the lake, hearing a door slam behind me. I tried to get out of the water, swimming hopelessly upward. Every time my arm reached toward the sky, I felt an arrow strike me in the chest.

I had just woken up in my tent, in a cold sweat. None of the people I had been camping with were in the tent. I assumed they had gone to the bathroom, and checked the time on my phone. It was 2:27 in the morning. Too early to be awake, I decided. As I attempted to reenter my previous sleep, I heard something that made my flesh crawl.

“Jaaaasssmmminnneee” a voice whispered, outside of the tent. The voice wasn’t one I recognized, but it somehow struck me with great terror. As I considered why the voice was so scary to me, a blue flash of light blazed by the entrance to the tent. As terrified as I was, something in my mind told me that it was safe to open the door. I slowly unzipped the tent, and with that motion, heard a clicking of hooves, heading towards the lake. I grabbed my nearly dead flashlight and slipped my phone into my pocket, running as fast as I could, barely knowing what I was doing, only quick glimpses of a blue light guiding me toward the lake.

At a certain point, my thoughts caught up with me. It may have been when I heard the scream, but something tells me it was when I saw a flash of a puddle of blood in the path ahead of me, briefly light enough to see, courtesy of the blue light. I slowed down, deciding to proceed with caution out of curiosity, wondering where the blood came from, and what the blue light could be. The path, narrow from overgrown bushes and trees, suddenly grew cold. I looked up a bit from the blood, horrified to see a cow skull with baby spiders crawling out of the eye sockets. It started to rain as I headed into the thicker part of the path. I didn’t want to turn back, terrified for the fate of my friends. I tapped on the flashlight, desperate to turn it on and get a glimpse of what could be ahead of me.

I continued on toward the lake, vigorously shaking the flashlight in an attempt to illuminate the path. As I pushed my way past an overgrown bush, I felt something that made me stop dead in my tracks. It was on the bush, but it certainly wasn’t leaves. I shook my flashlight one last time, and, to my surprise, it turned on. I slowly pointed it toward the bush. At the sight, I nearly dropped the flashlight. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was strips of what I presumed was human flesh, draped over the bush carefully. I recoiled, and took a few steps back. As I turned the flashlight upwards, I felt myself gag a bit. On the trees surrounding the path, there were more strips of fresh skin, dangling above my head, dripping rain, which I regretfully realized then, was blood. I sat in the path, with my arms hugging my knees.

I must’ve fallen asleep, seeing as I woke up, my clothes covered in congealed blood. It was still dark out. I checked my phone, taking note of a new crack on the screen. 9:27a.m., still dark. I shivered in fear, and shone my flashlight into the woods around me. The same gruesome scene, but not nearly as fresh. I slowly stood up, using my flashlight to determine the way down to the lake. If the threat was gone, I needed to wash my clothes, and if not, I assumed I wouldn’t fare well in a fight, especially considering seeing what it had done to my friends. As I approached the lake, I got the feeling of someone watching me. I shook it off, and slowly stepped into the lake. In the lake, I tried to scrub the blood off of me as hard as I could.

I called 911, and gave them the name of the campsite. They told me they’d send someone. I didn’t know that they’d believe me, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do. I noticed the sun slowly starting to rise. After swimming until I felt somewhat calm, I started to head back up the path, clothes still stained with blood. To my shock, the scene from the night before was gone. When the police came, I told them what I had seen. They clearly didn’t believe me. I was taken to the police station in a squad car, and was questioned for hours about the disappearance of my friends. I told them what I had seen. They tested the little remaining blood on my clothes, and determined that it came from a deer.

Even now, I won’t go into the woods. I’m scared that the man with the face of a deer, and an unforgiving bow and arrow will be waiting for me.