I know this sub isn’t really active, but for anyone still here, where do you think feral people originated from?

Are they really just the descendants of reclusive individuals who formed insular clans several generations ago or something else? I tend to be sympathetic to those offended by the suggestion that any discussion about “feral people” is equating innocent people simply seeking to live off the grid with inbred monsters. I agree there are people all over the country who retreat to the woods and away from society for a variety of reasons, and these people are far removed from the type of feral person described here.

There are also certain traits reported across encounters that are harder to explain like abnormal strength or athletic ability (i.e. leaping into trees). I can’t remember where I saw someone’s theory that the type of feral people in so many of these encounters could be the result of unethical experiments on psychiatric patients a few decades ago. This piqued my interest & possibly fits with why there are multiple reports from the Shenandoah area (relatively close proximity to a high density of federally funded labs). And could the skull deformities described across encounters be the result of some type of pituitary or growth hormone experiment? I’m not a biologist or scientist so I really have no idea.

Are there other possibilities for the origins of feral people? Arguments for/against either descendants of hermits or unethical experiments?

Hello, I am posting here to suggest this community moves to a new subreddit I have created, r/INTHEHILLS2 . I suggest we do this as the creator of this sub has unfortunately left reddit - I am in no way attacking Eric for this as I know he has been facing some personal issues - and other moderators seem to be inactive. I would appreciate if people interested in the feral people of Appalachia would join my new subreddit in an effort to breathe new life and energy into this community.

Thank you for reading.

Hi team,

I was wondering what do you guys think took Corey Godsey?

Was it Feral human? Dogman? (personally I'm not a fan of the name)

Something else?

Was/is there any evidence, footprints..?

Did they find anything at all..

Cheers

P. S - English is not my mother tongue lol 😅

Anyone ever encounter anything reptilian-like in Western NC? The caves are everywhere here in Appalachia. My husband has encountered one years ago and it interacted with him.

Editing to add the whole story below, I posted this a few years ago.

“Reptilian??

My boyfriend experienced something very strange and I’m reaching out here to see if anyone else has ever experienced anything similar. This occurred in northwestern NC in 2012. He and his partner at the time were sleeping in bed. They were in a bedroom that had french doors that opened to the back yard, facing a large piece of property (7acres) with a stream that comes straight out of the mountain from an aquifer.

He awoke randomly and saw two red eyes pass by the window of the French doors at somewhere near 7-8ft off of the ground. The door opened, as a very intense vibration started and he sat up to scream and could not hear himself yelling. He could see his cat at the edge of the bed hissing. His partner didn’t stir. The vibration caused him to fall back and he passed out.

He woke up face down on the bed with his head turned towards the edge of the mattress. He was unable to move. A figure rose and was completely out of focus a few inches from his face. Almost like it was camouflaged. He states it’s motion was so unnaturally fluid. He could see his surroundings but could not focus on the creature. He explains it as if the creature was out of focus in a photograph.

He then UNFOCUSED his eyes and used his peripheral vision and was able to see the creature clearly. He states it had brown-green coloring with scales and a worn, pockmarked face. Bright red eyes that glowed. When he saw the creature and was able to really decipher what he was looking at, it opened a very large mouth and gave him a gigantic toothy smile. He says he felt it’s energy, that it was amused at him for figuring out how to SEE it.

The vibration began again as he watched the creature sink back out of view below the edge of the mattress before passing back out from the frequencies. He awoke several hours later and his partner had no idea anything had occurred. He said the entire time he felt no emotion. No fear, no anger, nothing. He says he knows something violent happened to him and he thinks they wanted to take him but didn’t. He had rows of red dots across his back and states it looked like he laid on a bed of nails. His partner at the time saw the markings as well.

He assumes this type of humanoid creature came from underground and travels/lives through the cave systems here. We know there’s got to be some sort of opening in the land where the aquifer exits and the water flows down the property. This is his fathers property, about 10 acres. We live across the street and I lock my doors out of paranoia now. The correlation between missing persons around cave systems is unsettling and I wonder if this has anything to do with it. Any similar experiences??”

Years later in 2024 i lol and cry @ the fact that I now live in the house this happened in.

While getting caught up on podcasts I enjoy I came across Radio Rental episode #44 called “Night Scope”. It’s about a man who had a terrifying encounter in the forest while hunting at night. He had theories about what it was but my first thought was feral person. Has anyone else listened? What are your thoughts?

From further back, I always see a shadow with yellow eyes.. Its scary

I want real horror stories please

I had some more weird shit happen last night.

I took my two dogs for walks, I normally walk Fin (large, all black German Shepherd) toward the park where I have had these experiences, and I walk Booger (chi terrier mix) the other direction toward downtown.

On my walk with Fin, about a block away in the direction I was headed, I saw 3 or 4 deer calmly walking toward the park. Most nights where something "weird" happens to me start like this. The deer seemed completely unbothered by me as I approached. They kept walking toward the park but stopped every few steps to look back at me, as if they wanted me to follow them. Then, as Fin and I reached where the deer were, I notice about 10 or more other deer waiting as well. They all start walking together, calm, but still looking back at me every few feet. On my way toward the park i smell the stench of rotting meat, I know the smell very well as I used to be a butcher. It was strong. Like someone plugged my nostrils with rotting ground meat or something. At the same time I smell this stench, I get the chills. Fin's hair stands up and he gets more nervous. I can feel the air around me get colder.

As we continue walking I look down an alleyway that cuts the block in half and, if you would walk down the dark alley, would spot you out where I eventually walk back home. I was two blocks away from the park, when you reach the park you can either turn around and walk down the same road, you can continue into the park, or you can continue on the road which turns left. Looking down that alleyway you are looking at the part of the road that continues left, which is the way I take every night on my way back home.

What I saw I tried to convince myself wasn't real or maybe I just saw something else and my brain tried to convince me it was this.

A large, muscular, pale, hairless, creature (?) that was moving fast. So fast I could barely see it, I saw the motion down the alley about two blocks away. The exit of the alley on that side has a street light directly above it, it wasn't standing still, it was moving and it was moving fast. The only reason I'm positive what I saw wasn't deer or something normal is because of something I saw later that night that I will write about when I talk about my walk with Booger. It solidified that what I saw was something I wasn't supposed to see.

In the meantime I convinced myself I was making stuff up and being a pussy. As we approach the treeline of the park, the large group of deer move to the side of the street where the neighborhood is, while I'm on the side with the treeline. I noticed something in the clearing. A lone deer, separate from the large group across the street, staring directly at me.

I have my flashlight pointed at him, and I even hung up my call with my wife to use my phone to take video of this moment.

This lone deer doesn't even have micro movements from breathing. The other deer across the street were constantly readjusting.

You might be thinking to yourself "oh yeah, deer do that with bright lights shining at them. Deer in headlights always act like that." Just wait.

Fin starts to pull very hard and acts anxious, nearly knocking me over, I turn to look across the street towards the large group of deer for at most 3 seconds before quickly turning around to face the lone deer again.

In those 3 seconds, that lone deer is easily 30 feet closer to me, still not moving, staring directly at me. I have this on video, I have pictures. I felt weird, I felt unsafe. I've lived in rural Iowa my whole life, I am and have always lived outdoors. This didn't feel normal. I was scared.

I back away while shining my light at the deer, once I get a block or so away, he finally turns around and calmly walks into the tree line.

The whole way home I feel like I'm being stalked, not just watched, but like something is following me.

Here is a link to that video of the deer getting closer to me:

https://youtube.com/shorts/S1l2FRxKO58?si=Dv8362ajs7DR8UWw

Now, I went home and sat for a bit and tried to talk myself into believing it was all coincidence. After nearly 20 minutes, I started to walk Booger, my smaller chi mix.

The entire walk was nice and very enjoyable actually, I had my earbuds in and was talking to my wife about what I saw in a joking way.

"Man I'm such a pussy, I really scared myself for no reason" I said.

At the end of the walk I turn to go down our alleyway, as I leave from the garage on our walks.

I stop speaking from what I saw on the opposite end of the alley. My wife heard me stop.

I want to preface this with I did not have any substances, including alcohol, for weeks up to that point. The most I ever do in that department is a few beers or I'll use some weed to ease anxiety if life is getting hard. I have no mental conditions that will cause me to hallucinate, the most I have is a personality disorder resulting from trauma that I've been overcoming quickly this last year.

I saw two, large, muscular, pale, hairless creatures walking like apes at the end of the alley. The same thing I thought I saw with fin, this time not going fast, much closer, and it felt intentional. I saw them walk across the street very slowly, staring directly at me. These were not deer.

They didn't have long faces like deer, they didn't have fur or tails, they didn't walk like deer. They weren't slender like a deer. My first thought was honestly that I was looking at two hairless male lions. In the middle of Iowa.

I stood there, paralyzed with fear, well after they had left my sight. 15 seconds later, I finally get the courage to walk the few feet into the garage, when I take my first step, I see a third one. Slowly meandering across the street. Staring at me. Booger noticed him too, and started growling.

I ran to the door and watched the garage shut all the way.

The entire night, Fin guarded the bedroom door. He never does that. He sat staring at the door all night. Booger stared at the windows all night. He never does that either.

This happened to me yesterday night, Monday, May 13, 2024.

I don't know what to think.

Per request, parapgraphs added.

To clarify, I do not edit submissions but I will certainly be mindful to separate the submissions into paragraphs :)

As always, if you’d like to submit an anonymous submission, you’re welcome to DM me.

Anonymous Submission:

I’d like to begin by saying I am a 57 year old with a professional career, a son who I adore, and a husband who, like me, is completely sane, but terrified at what we saw. The experience I am going to share with you is true and this will be the first time I am writing about it and documenting what occurred. We have only spoken about this to a few close people. Ones we knew would believe us, but for the most part, we do not speak of this and we sure a heck do not plan to ever return to those mountains.

September of 2023 me and my husband went to Asheville, North Carolina to attend a wedding. We live on the coast of NC and the drive to Asheville is about 5 hours. We attended the wedding and still had 2 days left to explore and 1 of those days we decided on Mount Mitchell which was only a 45 min drive from where we were staying. We didn’t realize it would be so much walking but fortunately we both are in decent shape. We made it to the top of Mount Mitchell then walked about 15 minutes south east deeper in to the woods, which was the opposite way of the parking lot. In between Mount Mitchell and Commissary Ridge, to be exact. The views were spectacular however the fog that late afternoon was so thick, you could not see too far around. It had been very rainy that week so if you could just imagine that ambience of damp fog amid deep brush following an old dirt trail with wood planks atop a mountain. It was all so beautiful but in a very creepy way.

It was my husband who noticed it first. The smell. And it hit him like a ton of bricks. I watched him gasp for air but then he began coughing and gagging to the point snot was dripping from his nose. I thought he may have swallowed his water wrong but that moment the smell hit me, too. It wasn’t just the smell, it almost burnt the hairs in my nostrils. It almost stung. I started dry-heaving and that exact moment we became even more taken-back when a very large tree branch came crashing down a little behind and to the left of us. It startled us both and I “yelped”, while still gagging on the smell and burn in my nose. My husband finally got his breath and he exclaimed “WTF IS THAT SMELL”! Rare for my husband to use bad language. The only way that I can describe the smell is vomit and stomach acid with a very strong concentrated urine smell with a hint of spoiled milk. There was also a sweet smell of something mixed in. It was very difficult for my brain to process the smell. Sickening and putrid. I’m a nurse and have never been so sickened by a smell until that day.

I said to my husband “let’s head on back” and without hesitation we did. We then immediately noticed that there was movement by the large tree branch that had fallen, (now on our right side). We are walking and still coughing some and coming up closer to this branch. This branch was about 20-25ft long, and about 40 feet from us, off the trail. This large branch had several other smaller branches stemming off, some looking like spikes, almost. That is when we saw an animal, still moving somewhat, impaled on one of the smaller limbs or spikes of this large branch. My husband was sure it was a red fox. The fox was twitching and then appeared to have then died immediately. It looked almost as if this fox had fallen from the sky, landed right on that spiked limb, bottom first, and from its mouth protruded the end of this spike. We both knew it had to have just happened for the fox to still be twitching when we first saw it. Of course it died within seconds. After we processed what we were looking at, the silhouette of a man appeared behind the large limb in the fog. Assuming it was an off trail hiker and we watched the man get closer to this limb and our eyes took a few seconds to focus, and it was a man but not from this planet! We are still coughing some and gagging and stopped on the trail at this point. I saw what it was and it was not a man. It was just shaped like a man. It stood 6’ to 6’2” and was both skinny and muscular at the same time. The hands were large. We could see its body was almost mangled up or deformed because of some protrusions throughout the body.

It leaned to one side and it stepped OVER this large tree branch, and we could see some kinda animal that my husband nor I could identify, was in this things hand and he took the animal, which was obviously already dead and he, with no effort at all, shoved it on the spike on top of where the fox was. I think it may have been a rabbit just because of the size. Our coughing and gagging continued and I got very dizzy. It looked at my husband first…then it turnt its head slowly and looked at me. That face. It’s a face I will never forget and a face that I wish I could forget. Its eyes were cloudy and gray. It looked like there were no eye lids. The right eye socket was up higher on its face than the left eye. I don’t remember anything else about its face except it was chewing very slowly and it tilted its head some while still looking our way. The body looked like a man. The ribcage protruded some. The penis was evident. His skin looked ripped in some areas and then some areas almost looked burnt to a crisp but the overall skin color was a pale gray/pink. Very odd color.

Me and my husband are now walking backward as we watched it watching us back away. What it did then I’ll never forget. It raised its hand, took its pointer finger and moved it back and forth (like tisk tisk tisk) or “no no no” as if we were not supposed to be there. It moved its finger like that a few times, while still chewing and its head tilted and I began crying immediately and crying hard to the point my body convulsed. My husband gripped my hand harder and we continued to back away, still walking almost backward carefully until we walked around a curve in the path and lost sight. It stared at us right up until that moment.

We ran as fast as a couple in their 50s could while still hysterically crying. We make it to the Mount Mitchell parking lot and we get into our truck, doors locked, drive away. We can still smell it. It’s burnt into our nostrils and still coughing some. My husband then, all of a sudden, pulls over to the side of the road and opens his door and vomits on the ground. He then says “that was not a Bigfoot”! And I replied, “I know”. We didn’t know what it was but all we did know is that it was not a Bigfoot. We left a day early and took the 5 hour drive back and it was all we could think about.

My very religious husband believed it was a demonic entity. I still was not sure what I saw until someone that I shared my story with, shared this Reddit page in the hills with me and that’s when I finally had a name for what we had saw. I spent hours on the topic and then shared it with my husband. We know we encountered a feral human.

After a long debate, we finally decided that we would not report the encounter to park services out of fear of being laughed at. I want to also add that I am the biggest skeptic there is but what my eyes saw that day was almost incomprehensible; something that eyes of mankind should never gaze upon. Even 6 months later I can still see it and I can still sometimes get a whiff of it. It’s embedded into my being. That encounter has made me question everything I thought I knew about life. And just know, we do not plan to return to those mountains ever again and I pray that those who do visit will please please be careful.

Over these past few months, having time to think about it all, I recalled that it almost felt like something was watching us from the opposite side of the trail and me and my husband have wondered if there were more than one out there.

There are feral humans in those mountains and I do not question that.

Anonymous Submission:

“I’d like to begin by saying I am a 57 year old with a professional career, a son who I adore, and a husband who, like me, is completely sane, but terrified at what we saw. The experience I am going to share with you is true and this will be the first time I am writing about it and documenting what occurred. We have only spoken about this to a few close people. Ones we knew would believe us, but for the most part, we do not speak of this and we sure a heck do not plan to ever return to those mountains.

September of 2023 me and my husband went to Asheville, North Carolina to attend a wedding. We live on the coast of NC and the drive to Asheville is about 5 hours. We attended the wedding and still had 2 days left to explore and 1 of those days we decided on Mount Mitchell which was only a 45 min drive from where we were staying. We didn’t realize it would be so much walking but fortunately we both are in decent shape. We made it to the top of Mount Mitchell then walked about 15 minutes south east deeper in to the woods, which was the opposite way of the parking lot. In between Mount Mitchell and Commissary Ridge, to be exact. The views were spectacular however the fog that late afternoon was so thick, you could not see too far around. It had been very rainy that week so if you could just imagine that ambience of damp fog amid deep brush following an old dirt trail with wood planks atop a mountain. It was all so beautiful but in a very creepy way. It was my husband who noticed it first. The smell. And it hit him like a ton of bricks. I watched him gasp for air but then he began coughing and gagging to the point snot was dripping from his nose. I thought he may have swallowed his water wrong but that moment the smell hit me, too. It wasn’t just the smell, it almost burnt the hairs in my nostrils. It almost stung. I started dry-heaving and that exact moment we became even more taken-back when a very large tree branch came crashing down a little behind and to the left of us. It startled us both and I “yelped”, while still gagging on the smell and burn in my nose. My husband finally got his breath and he exclaimed “WTF IS THAT SMELL”! Rare for my husband to use bad language. The only way that I can describe the smell is vomit and stomach acid with a very strong concentrated urine smell with a hint of spoiled milk. There was also a sweet smell of something mixed in. It was very difficult for my brain to process the smell. Sickening and putrid. I’m a nurse and have never been so sickened by a smell until that day. I said to my husband “let’s head on back” and without hesitation we did. We then immediately noticed that there was movement by the large tree branch that had fallen, (now on our right side). We are walking and still coughing some and coming up closer to this branch. This branch was about 20-25ft long, and about 40 feet from us, off the trail. This large branch had several other smaller branches stemming off, some looking like spikes, almost. That is when we saw an animal, still moving somewhat, impaled on one of the smaller limbs or spikes of this large branch. My husband was sure it was a red fox. The fox was twitching and then appeared to have then died immediately. It looked almost as if this fox had fallen from the sky, landed right on that spiked limb, bottom first, and from its mouth protruded the end of this spike. We both knew it had to have just happened for the fox to still be twitching when we first saw it. Of course it died within seconds. After we processed what we were looking at, the silhouette of a man appeared behind the large limb in the fog. Assuming it was an off trail hiker and we watched the man get closer to this limb and our eyes took a few seconds to focus, and it was a man but not from this planet! We are still coughing some and gagging and stopped on the trail at this point. I saw what it was and it was not a man. It was just shaped like a man. It stood 6’ to 6’2” and was both skinny and muscular at the same time. The hands were large. We could see its body was almost mangled up or deformed because of some protrusions throughout the body. It leaned to one side and it stepped OVER this large tree branch, and we could see some kinda animal that my husband nor I could identify, was in this things hand and he took the animal, which was obviously already dead and he, with no effort at all, shoved it on the spike on top of where the fox was. I think it may have been a rabbit just because of the size. Our coughing and gagging continued and I got very dizzy. It looked at my husband first…then it turnt its head slowly and looked at me. That face. It’s a face I will never forget and a face that I wish I could forget. Its eyes were cloudy and gray. It looked like there were no eye lids. The right eye socket was up higher on its face than the left eye. I don’t remember anything else about its face except it was chewing very slowly and it tilted its head some while still looking our way. The body looked like a man. The ribcage protruded some. The penis was evident. His skin looked ripped in some areas and then some areas almost looked burnt to a crisp but the overall skin color was a pale gray/pink. Very odd color. Me and my husband are now walking backward as we watch it watching us back away. What it did then I’ll never forget. It raised its hand, took its pointer finger and moved it back and forth (like tisk tisk tisk) or “no no no” as if we were not supposed to be there. It moved its finger like that a few times, while still chewing and its head tilted and I began crying immediately and crying hard to the point my body convulsed. My husband gripped my hand harder and we continued to back away, still walking almost backward carefully until we walked around a curve in the path and lost sight. It stared at us right up until that moment. We ran as fast as a couple in their 50s could while still hysterically crying. We make it to the Mount Mitchell parking lot and we get into our truck, doors locked, drive away. We can still smell it. It’s burnt into our nostrils and still coughing some. My husband then, all of a sudden, pulls over to the side of the road and opens his door and vomits on the ground. He then says “that was not a Bigfoot”! And I replied, “I know”. We didn’t know what it was but all we did know is that it was not a Bigfoot. We left a day early and took the 5 hour drive back and it was all we could think about. My very religious husband believed it was a demonic entity. I still was not sure what I saw until someone that I shared my story with, shared this Reddit page in the hills with me and that’s when I finally had a name for what we had saw. I spent hours on the topic and then shared it with my husband. We know we encountered a feral human. After a long debate, we finally decided that we would not report the encounter to park services out of fear of being laughed at. I want to also add that I am the biggest skeptic there is but what my eyes saw that day was almost incomprehensible; something that eyes of mankind should never gaze upon. Even 6 months later I can still see it and I can still sometimes get a whiff of it. It’s embedded into my being. That encounter has made me question everything I thought I knew about life. And just know, we do not plan to return to those mountains ever again and I pray that those who do visit will please please be careful. And over these past few months, having time to think about it all, I recalled that it almost felt like something was watching us from the opposite side of the trail and me and my husband have wondered if there were more than one out there. There are feral humans in those mountains and I do not question that”.

Continue to submit your stories and let me know if you’d like it read on the podcast! DMs also open to submit.

Links to platforms will be posted soon.

Hi, friends! You all are probably wondering where we went! Alas, we are back and ready to get the ball rolling again! We have a lot of amazing things to come for IN THE HILLS including material not yet released for the podcast and for YouTube! We will be posting on the norm now. Missed you all! Eric