1. “It wasn’t a deer or coyote but almost some sickly-looking hybrid.”

“I was driving to my university a few years ago. And it’s a hike from where I live, so to make my 8:30 class, I had to leave my house by 6 a.m. I was driving down this two-lane highway in pitch black, and something ran across the road right in front of my car. It barely missed me and moved at an iincredible speed. It was so fast I didn’t even see it cross in front of my headlights.

But I did catch its shadow as it made it to the opposite side of the road. I always wanted to think it was some sort of weird deer, but from what I saw, I could only describe it as being very similar to the werewolves from Harry Potter. It wasn’t a deer or coyote but almost some sickly-looking hybrid. I’m sure there’s some explanation, but I don’t tell people about it because I’m aware of how it sounds. Also, the whole thing made me rather uncomfortable.”

2. “They were on all fours and had heads reminiscent of dogs.”

“This happened early in the morning as I was walking to my bus stop. I was listening to music when I saw two pale grey humanoid streak across an empty field across the road. I was so caught off guard since I was listening to music and waiting for my friend. They were on all fours and had heads reminiscent of dogs. It really creeped me out since it was about 6:30 in the morning. I haven’t read or heard about things like this, but rural Pennsylvania is a hotspot for cryptids that run through the backwoods.”

3. “It was almost to the top of the hill when it got up on its hind legs and cleared some fallen branches (in a motion similar to you or I hopping a fence).”

“I live in one of Alabama’s metropolitan areas. Sure, we’re surrounded by rural country and forests but our actual city consists of a large, busy mid-to-downtown area and everywhere else is a very populated, commercialized expanse of suburb. Due to this, I never expected to see any creatures of the hunter-says-he-encountered-a-cryptid variety.

But one day, I was waiting in line at a drive thru window. Across the very, very highly trafficked road sat a large, unoccupied hill and just beyond that was a rather large church. I noticed what I thought was a black cat sauntering across that hill, but then I realized it was massive. I mean, at least the size of a panther if not larger, and it started moving FAST. It was almost to the top of the hill when it got up on its hind legs and cleared some fallen branches (in a motion similar to you or I hopping a fence).

It landed back on all fours and disappeared over the hill. I told myself it was nothing for a couple of years. But eventually, some friends who were visiting from out of town called me in a confused panic. They were riding bikes down the same highway in a less populated, more rural and wooded spot. Apparently, “Bagheera” (you know, from The Jungle Book) had run out in front of their bikes, didn’t even look at them, and in the next motion shifted to its hind legs and bounded back into the woods.”

4. “It was like the first wave of sticky air when you walk outside after being in air conditioning, but it absolutely wreaked of death.”

“A couple of years ago, my boyfriend’s friend decided to rent a cottage out in the boonies of Quebec, so we could all get together and celebrate her birthday, which had become sort of a tradition across the last few years. We all head out there and the cottage itself is kind of weird – it’s all natural clay and thatching, very old school and very isolated from the other four or so cottages on a very small lake with a loooong and kind of unfinished road to actually get to the property. It was nestled in a little inlet of the lake that was basically surrounded by a marshy boggy wetland on one side, a thick brush on the other, and the beach area with a fire pit and chairs were the only solid piece of land that stuck out into this kind of marsh area.

The location was odd because it obscured the view of the lake. It was hard to see or hear other people who might be enjoying the other cottages unless you actually went out into the water, which was so different from other cottages we had rented in the past, where you could basically hear a pin drop across the water and had next-door neighbors. So cut to later in the night, there’s about 10 of us, and we’re all celebrating and having a good time at a barbeque around the fire pit…

We’re talking and finishing eating, and I put our paper plates on the ground next to me for a quick second to explain something to him with my hands, and when I looked back to grab the plates and take them into the garbage, there was a grapefruit-sized ball of orange hair in the top plate. The hair was about four inches long, frizzy, and very fine, like Pomeranian hair, but a bright rusty orange color, and it didn’t break apart when we handled it – it was definitely hair. It was a split second that I was looking away from the plate, so there’s an extremely low chance something could have run past or blown onto the plate without my having seen it…

As the night continued, my boyfriend and I decided to step outside to get some crisp, woodsy night air, look at the stars, and have a nice little romantic moment away for a few minutes. As we opened the patio door to go out near the fire pit where we had been earlier that day, we were overwhelmed with this hot, humid wave of rotting animal stench. It was like the first wave of sticky air when you walk outside after being in air conditioning, but it absolutely wreaked of death. Especially odd considering it was so cold out by then that the entire group had been inside for hours. We got maybe two feet out the door and immediately got turned off by the smell and headed back inside, and AGAIN, don’t really think anything of it, talk about it in any detail other than some shared looks of being grossed out or tell any others…

Cut to the next day, we’re getting a drive home with the birthday girl, and we’re all dog-tired, so we stop for a coffee about halfway home. As we’re sitting outside having our lattes, she goes, “So something at the cottage was majorly off.” At that moment, all three of us started putting together all of these weird things that had been happening that everyone at the time seemed to just shrug off but were actually really strange and terrifying. One of the biggest reasons that my boyfriend said the guys all came in that night from the fire was because they heard this tapping and rustling in the wooded area by the fire pit. They felt this overwhelming feeling that they were being intensely watched by something or someone that spooked them so bad they all packed up and headed inside.

This was the same watched feeling I woke up to seconds before I heard him come into the cottage. I suggested it might be a sk*nw*lker as none of us felt off or in danger at all until the creepy watched feeling, and no one thought to piece any of the weird things that were happening together as being related or paranormal in any way until we were away from the property. It was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had, and I still can’t get over how creepy it was that we all just laughed everything off. We’ve never gone back to that cottage – and strangely, our friend who snored has never kept us up at any cottages since then either.”

Now it’s your turn! Have you had a strange encounter? Tell us in the comments below, or use this anonymous Google form!

Note: Submissions have been edited for clarity.