Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): none
Age: 18
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Colorado

Text: I am on a backpacking trip when one of our guides tells us a story of the past guide who quit a few years ago. The story goes that this guide Kate was very confident in her backpacking abilities so on her weekend off she decided to take a short solo backpacking trip. She leaves the next morning wanting to set up camp before dark. The trail she chooses is unfamiliar to her becuase she wanted to see a new place. She isn’t totally sure of her way but eventually finds a good flat place. Once she reaches her first camp she sets up her tent and goes to fill up on water near the river. When she is down near the river she has an odd sensation that someone is watching her. She looks around but no one is around. She didn’t see anyone else on her way up and there were no cars at the bottom either but she shakes the feeling. She decides to explore around her camp a little and see what the area is like. As she is kiking around she keeps hearing weird noises, rustling of leaves and twigs snaping behind her. She again get the feeling that someone is watching her and she heads back to camp a little shaken but still determained to stay the night. The sun sets and she goes to bed in her tent ready for some sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night she is woken up by a strange noise. She jolts awake and peaks out of the tent. At first she can not see anything, so she slowly gets up and out of the tent. Then a flashlight turns on. It is far in the distance but it’s pointed right at her. At this point she is a little nervous because she hadn’t seen anyone around during the day. Then two more flashlights appear, one on her right and another on her left, all equally spaced from the first. At the same moment all of them trun red and start moving towards her. She totally panicing at this point grabs half of her stuff leaving most of it behind and runs back to the trail. She keeps running until she has to stop and even then she keeps a quick pace down the rest of the mountain.

Context: Lots of modern ghost stories in Colorado center around the open spaces that are not very populated including deep in the mountains. Many of these stories are passed down amoung hikers and people that work in the moutain industries. Many of these stories are exaggerated or completely fake in order to provide a breif scare tothose new to the enviroment. Being out in the wilderness late at night with only fire as a light sorce is spooky already and a perfect atmostphere for aa good ghost story. The secluded and unknown nature of the protected parks and spaces in the mountains are ideal to create a spooky tale.

Your thoughts: I like these stories cause there is often a personal element about where you are or the people who have worked or been there before you. It is always a good scare when you hear these stories but most do not have any deeper meanings that some other ghost stories do. Colorado is a western state and therefore there is lots of Native American burial grounds and access to Native American culture that involves many, deeper in meaning ghost stories.