Lessons for Walking in the Dark

ravenray

So as some of you know I am going to do the half marathon with Lunar.  My BF is also going to do it with us.  Last night we started training.  We were supposed to walk 3 miles; well we didn’t have a way to measure that.  So BF decided we needed to walk about 45 mins.  We start walking at 8:30 pm, down the local bike trail.  Well this bike trail has cliffs that loom above the trail, and lots of trees.  Needless to say it got dark very quickly. I was freaking out inside because I know there have been reports of mountain lions on this trail before.  Finally BF and I turn around after walking way farther then we needed too.  It was really dark at this point.  We are walking as quickly as possible; suddenly we hear noise in the leaves.  BF just about breaks my fingers (because we were holding hands) as he makes a fist. Luckily it was just a deer.  So now we are really spooked.  I also at one point think I see some sort of cat/lion’s eyes.  About two mins after that we almost trip over a skunk.   We both run for 500 yards to get us away from the skunk.  Then I tell BF that I thought I saw a cat.  He then starts talking really loudly, explaining to me that we shouldn’t have been quite anyways because we don’t want to be attacked for sneaking up on wild life.   Finally we make it back to the car.  Scariest night ever!  Moral of the story, don’t go for a walk at dusk or dark in the middle of the woods.  It is spooky. 

Tell me your spooky story!

lilphillips14

I don't have a spooky story, and I don't usually walk in the woods at night. As a 19 year old female, I have a hard time walking anywhere at night without a bit of "O.o is someone following me?!" factor. At school, when it's dark outside, I always have to look over my shoulder and stuff. I got especially freaked out when a story came out about a girl on my campus getting mugged at gunpoint at freaking 9 pm. 

I always get the shivers and walk as fast as freakin' possible. Woods, urban area, college campus...anywhere. Too many weird/crazy people out there dude.

swhite2012

This is kind of ironic timing for this post. In the past couple weeks there have been 6 sexual assaults on women walking alone at night/early morning in my city/near my campus, which is normally pretty safe. They have a pretty vague description of the suspect, but they say that it matches in most of the cases. It's been getting a lot of media attention. It's pretty crazy!

jaycee7389

That is really scary! And could've been bad.

The same thing happened to FI and I last summer. It wasn't dark out, but we went hiking in the mountains and came across what we were almost positive were mountain lion tracks and it freaked us out. Then we realized we had absolutely nothing to protect ourselves with and got really freaked out. We kept hearing noises and decided to get the fvck out. We probably would've been fine, but no thank you.

CCO2012

Yikes! I live in the city so my biggest fear when walking at night is bad guys!

alanna91

Well the plus side is that getting scared increases your heart rate, so it's almost like a little extra cardio ;-)

ravenray

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_lessons-walking-dark?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:47eb92be-0c73-4388-a830-913002935521Post:f2609f6a-2249-4f15-8cde-bbdde7cb2437">Re: Lessons for Walking in the Dark</a>:
[QUOTE]That is really scary! And could've been bad. The same thing happened to FI and I last summer. It wasn't dark out, but we went hiking in the mountains and came across what we were almost positive were mountain lion tracks and it freaked us out. Then we realized we had absolutely nothing to protect ourselves with and got really freaked out. We kept hearing noises and decided to get the fvck out. We probably would've been fine, but no thank you.
Posted by jaycee7389[/QUOTE]

<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:'Arial','sans-serif';color:#1f1f1f;font-size:8.5pt;">Scary!  We had nothing either.  We didn't even have a light and I had left my knife at home too.  :/  Man I don't think I have ever walked so fast!

To those who live in the city:
I feel your fear.  Whenever I am in the city at night I get super paranoid.</span></p>

Blue & White

I'm convinced college (and Criminal Minds marathons) have made me paranoid about walking alone in general (especially after dark).  I know you were with BF & that makes it a little "safer" I'd guess (harder to kidnap 2 people than one, probably).  But I'd be terrified!

Then again, at my college orientation, they told us to carry our keys in our fists at all times if we were female and walking alone (stereotype much?  probably) 

kaitlynmichelle

At the university I went to there were help stations all around the campus that you could call the campus police from if you needed to.  But everytime I walked home from work I had to go through a dark field that had a post at either end of it.  I was always super paranoid and stayed on my cell phone with BF while I walked through there.   Nothing ever happened, I'm just super paranoid as well.

bethsmiles

One night my best friend and I decided that we wanted to go for a walk around the river in the town I grew up in. We figured since it was a well-lit area and usually had plenty of people around it wouldn't be a big deal. About half way through our walk we noticed that this older guy was following us. We decided to stop at a near by playground and let him pass us because we both had a nervous feeling about him. After he passed us we waited about 15 or 20 minutes then continued on our walk. Then about 10 minutes later we noticed that he was following us AGAIN! We didn't notice passing him so we figured he had been behind one of the trees or bushes. Fortunately we were close to my car by that point so we booked it back to the car, jumped in and locked the doors then went back to my house. We decided nighttime walks around the river were NOT a good idea and that we would stick to walks during the day instead.

bethsmiles

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_lessons-walking-dark?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:47eb92be-0c73-4388-a830-913002935521Post:fe4d42ea-44fe-4306-a993-bbc634deda7e">Re: Lessons for Walking in the Dark</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm convinced college (and Criminal Minds marathons) have made me paranoid about walking alone in general (especially after dark).
Posted by Blue & White[/QUOTE]

Watching every episode of Law and Order: SVU and my love of crime dramas has definitely made me paranoid! I always double check that I've locked every door and window in my apartment whenever I'm in my apartment. Also, BF knows that even though he has a key to my apartment he can't just come in and sneak up behind me or I will freak the f*** out.

Once in my high school English class my teacher told me I was racist because when he asked me if I would cross the street if a large black man was approaching me on a deserted  street in Chicago at 2 am if I would cross over to the other side, I told him I would. My response was that if I'm out alone in Chicago at 2 am I don't care if it's a white midget approaching me I'm crossing the damn street! I hated that teacher.

marleylikeair

Raven, the title of this post makes me think of a novel title! In fact, knowing you're an English major and a bookworm, I actually thought this thread was going to be a book recommendation! So yeah, you should write a book and use this as the title.

Anyway, no more scary walks!! Carry a flashlight at least, you nutcase! 

I used to get pretty paranoid in some of the neighborhoods I've lived in. Oddly, I now live in one of the most "ghetto" areas of Duluth, but am never afraid. I think mostly because I live with BF, who is 6'2" and definitely not scrawny. And the neighbors all know who he is because he's owned the house for about 6 years. Also, "scary ghetto" in Duluth, MN, is just not that scary. Although we did have the cops use us as a "stakeout" point once for a couple days. They put a video surveillance unit in our dining room to watch a building across the way where there was a guy suspected of sexual assault. They hauled him out of there after a day or two.