A listener writes “I’m 34 now, originally from Northeast Ohio, and over the years I’ve had two experiences that I still can’t fully explain.
Experience 1 — Age 16, near Canal Fulton (late summer)
I was camping in a semi-rural area, standing at the edge of a pond around midnight. The night was quiet until a blood-curdling scream erupted from the woods across the water—maybe a hundred yards away. It sounded like a woman being violently attacked, a full-throated, agonizing scream that lasted three or four seconds.
Everything went dead silent. Then a second call came. It began as another high-pitched scream but suddenly dropped into a deep, resonant roar that went on for six to eight seconds. The moment I heard that shift, I knew it wasn’t any human or animal I recognized. After those two calls, nothing else followed, no movement, no rustling, nothing.
Experience 2 — Salt Fork State Park (July 2025)
At the start of a trailhead, I noticed movement about seventy-five feet ahead. A completely black figure was moving away from me at an incredible speed, only one or two seconds of visibility before it vanished behind brush and a small ridge. Another second or two passed, and then it reappeared roughly 150 feet away, now moving upright and gliding left across my line of sight. I only caught another two seconds before it disappeared again.
The terrain it crossed was thick, tangled brush so dense I later had my cousin try walking through it to compare. What looked effortless for the figure was almost impossible for a person. Its movement was smooth, almost floating, with none of the up-and-down motion you see in a human gait. From where I stood, the ground dipped slightly downhill toward where it reappeared, yet the figure’s head was still at my eye level. I’d estimate it stood around seven feet tall.
It made no sound at all. The whole thing reminded me of a professional track athlete dressed entirely in black, cutting through terrain they had no business moving that fast through. The area was full of deer that morning, clustered in groups. After the initial sighting, there was no further activity.”