Stranger In The Campsite

In May of this year I lost my partner to a horrible accident while camping. His gun went off and accidentally shot him while we were sleeping. It was the worst day of my life. Friends have asked how I could stand to stay in the camper after what happened. My answer is that it was always meant as a place for rest and relaxation. I would be letting tragedy win if I did not keep it. While I am sad for the loss of such an incredible man, being in the place where he took his last breath brings me peace. I know he would still want me to take solace there.

As part of my healing, I decided to take the camper to a quiet area 90 minutes north of Phoenix. I found a beautiful quiet spot with gorgeous views of Sedona and Flagstaff. There are a lot of people who live the vagabond life there or are retirees. It is a very tempting full time lifestyle, to say the least.

I quickly met a woman about my age who lived in the campsite next to mine. She informed me that the two ladies who lived in the campsite behind me, would be back that Saturday evening from visiting relatives in California. Once evening came, I settled into my bed for the first time since my partner died. My bedroom is at the rear of the camper and has a good size window over the bed. My dog was asleep next to me. At some point in the evening I fell asleep and was awoken by the crunching of tires on gravel. The two ladies behind me who I hadn't met yet had arrived home. My dog sat up on the bed watching out the window.

I listened to them whispering to each other and bringing things back into their own camper. Finally their door shut and all was quiet. My dog curled back up to me and fell back to sleep. I drifted off and was awoken a little bit later by my dog sitting and staring out the window again. This time he was whining. I sat up to see what was going on outside and saw a man standing only feet away from my camper, just over the border of my campsite. He didn't seem to notice me and appeared to be staring off into the distance. He had curly blond hair and was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. I at least caught that of him as I ducked down quickly thinking he was going to spot me being nosy. It felt extremely awkward. I figured the girls may have had a visitor or family member staying with them that was out checking the night sky. There is a light ordinance in place so the stars are quite spectacular there.

A few minutes later I peeked out again to see the man still in the same spot. He hadn't moved and his eyes seem fixated (from what I could tell) on something well beyond the campground. My dog was also still watching him but wasn't whining or growling.

As time went on, I met the two ladies who lived behind me. I asked them if they had a visitor the night they arrived back from California. They told me no and looked extremely puzzled when I told them about the man I had seen. Unbeknown to me, they have the Ring app on their camper as it is their full time residence. Upon reviewing footage from the evening in question, the camera picked up motion and recorded for 15 minutes. You could clearly see the back of my camper in the footage but nothing else. There was nothing moving, no apparition or person to speak of.

I don't know what I saw. It was not my partner. It didn't scare me because I thought it was a real person. So strange. The woods directly behind the campsite have had some strange goings on, too. We've seen balls of light floating in the dark that come in and out, and the two ladies say they've heard crying sounds coming from the woods. Now there may be logical explanations for these but it can definitely get creepy where it is so dark.

After the man was seen behind my camper, one of the ladies let me know that she had done something and it wouldn't be back. I'm not sure what she did. She is from the Osage Nation so maybe a ritual of some sort? I didn't ask. This was back in September and so far I have had no sightings of the strange man again.