When I was a little girl I went to stay at a huge church camp in the small mountains of Oklahoma. We went several years in a row and I was excited to get out of my tiny home town and away from my helicopter mother for a week. Even if it was all religious based I knew there would be plenty of fun outside of manditory time at the tabernacle to flirt with boys and hike. Stuff I rarely did back home.

I'd say I was a pretty enough girl to get attention here and there but I was and still am the black sheep wherever I go. I very rarely make friends and people have bullied and excluded me since my first days of kindergarten. Hell, I'm working in a 500 bed hospital now and the department break room still gets awkward when I walk in for lunch. I don't know if it's because I'm ugly, am scary somehow, or my personality is just that unappealing. It is what it is. But just very rarely some extrovert will "adopt" me for unknown reasons and try to be friends. At the time all of this happened, I was no different.

A girl maybe a year older than me that I didn't know had come to camp that year with her apparent best friend. We'll call her Abbi and her buddy Kim. Abbi randomly came up to me while I was alone one day and acted like I was normal in a non malicious way that appealed to me saying she wanted to hang out. Kim seemed sceptical but did whatever Abbi wanted to do. Note we were all about 12 so at an acceptable age to just walk up and declare friendships with strangers. Kim proceeded to make my life hell for the rest of the week while Abbi apologized and told me Kim thought I was a friend stealer, but did nothing to stop it. Maybe because Kim didn't phase me? Her mild insults were childs play in comparison to what I got at school.

Anyway, several of us were planning to go on a camping trip around the grounds with some of the older and younger kids. This wasn't really allowed. You were supposed to stay in a locked gender segregated cabin for the week but the adults didn't seem to mind a few older teenagers watching us nearby up the mountain. The landscape was essentially cliffs, waterfalls, and woods. It was beautiful really and this was just another chance for me to get close to a certain boy I had my eye on.

The teens lead about 15 of us 8 to 14 year olds up a moutain with our cheap kid tents and sleeping bags. Those teens were probably around 17 themselves and there was only 2 of them after the 3rd went back to the cabin for some reason and didn't come back. We carefully maneuverd the enviroment making sure not to signal our passing with flashlights to other cabins. It was a blast to me. I loved the fun little adrenalin rush and I knew I wouldn't be the one in trouble if we got caught, which we were sure to if Kim didn't stop whining about being scared...

The teens were having fun themselves and took us way further out then we usually went. I don't know how far exactly but I thought I may have heard the largest waterfall in the area in the distance. Which would mean we had gone a long way out of the camp limits. For sure, we were on top of a mountain were there were fewer trees and you could barely see any camp lights in the distance.

We sung songs around the camp fire and the teens told us no ghost stories, disappointing some of us. I checked the time on my track phone (a plastic brick with buttons for you young people). It was past midnight and everyone was taking turns going into the trees to pee before bed. Some kids were already asleep. I had been essentially cock blocked by Abbi all night because she was so excited to be out there and wanted to talk. I was tired anyway and went to pee when it was my turn with her and Kim. We went into the trees talking about not accidentally stepping on someone elses pee-puddle. We found a spot and split up to find some trees to pee behind out of each others views. I walked a few trees further out, paranoid Kim would come bother me. I could still see some of the campfire light through the trees though. I turned off my light once squatted because, again, paranoia, then turned it back on when standing and my bellbottom pants well above my hips.

That's when I froze. I was buckling my pants and slightly bent foward with the light wedged in my armpit. From my upper peripheral I thought I saw a paw at the edge of the light. I rose up and saw a large unmoving dog looking into my eyes. It looked like a yellow lab but the face was off. It had wide white eyes with black iris and it's lower jaw was either slightly slack or the skin around the bottom jaw was droopy like a bears. I lost full control of my body and ran on autopilot back the way I came without running or looking back. For whatever reason I didn't scream the entire run so I assume that's why the teen I immediately ran up to and told about the dog didn't care. She assured me the dog was probably a stray looking for food or love and told me to go to bed. I was terrified still but knew she was probably right and stood by the fire to calm down.

Abbi and Kim came out of the woods saying they couldn't find me. I didn't know what to say, but not that I was scared away by a stray dog and have Kim on me about it. Still, the dogs face and random appearance freaked me out. How long was it there? There were no houses around us that I could see. Was it standing there the whole time and I just didn't hear or see it? My pants drag the ground and make noise so it was possible.

The 3 of us and another girl piled up in our borrowed green tent. We were laying down and I was exhausted so I was sure I'd fall asleep soon. We had to hike all the way back to camp, throw our stuff down and sneak into the tabernacle in the morning by like 8 or something. Maybe 20 minutes pass and I am struck awake by screaming. I sat up and heard heavy foot steps running that way. Kim looked at me silently concerned but I said nothing too her. We heard a squeal and talking obviously from the teens watching us. It has to be about 3am at this point btw.

After like 2 minutes I laid back down thinking it was two girls spooked by a snake or something. I completely forgot about the dog. Go figure, as soon as I am back down one girl is crying hysterically by the campfire. She calms down and they're talking quietly to themselves for about 10 minutes before starting to wake all of us up. They wanted us to pack up and leave but didn't explain why. I was exhausted and grouchy like the other kids. One started crying and threw a hissy fit while they hushed him. Eventually we all got up and were headed back down the mountain through the trees. The trip back seemed shorter but wasn't like the trip up. No one was smiling, there was no fun, and there was a sense of anxiety. Thankfully I think most were too tired to care.

One of the teens were in front leading and the other was in the back following while we walked almost in a line around narrow trails. The one in the back was crying so most of us in the back looked at her. She assured us she was fine and ushered us forward. We made it back and the teens banged on the doors to be let in. Few of us had track phones and mine had no signal even if I had thought to use it to call inside. We were let in and the teenagers teared up telling the man who let us in what happened while we all were to our bunk beds.

Days later Abbi, Kim, and two other girls were talking about what happened that night. The other girls apparently overheard one of the teens had seen a man, or teenage boy, she knew in the woods but he "looked dead but was standing up". A boy, Jake, came into our huddle and said seriously that it was a boy who went with us last year but wasn't at camp this year. This was spooky to me but we had to go to bible study soon so we dropped it.

The last thing that stuck with me years later was that I over heard someone say the boy had a slacked jaw and busted lower lip.

Spooky Stories!