Hey guys, it's Chris here and I wanted to take a moment and shout out our newest Patreon members. Huge thank you to Dara Rich and Paul Shannon Landry. Your support truly means a lot and actually helps push me to keep working 40 to 50 hours a week on this podcast. So yeah, it means a lot. All that to say, if you're a fan of the podcast, Patreon is not only a great place to support the show, but also gain access to all the episodes completely
ad free for just $1.00 a month. Check out our higher tiers for exclusive content made special for the Unnerved community. Try it out and you can cancel at any time. Visit patreon.com/unnerved Podcast or click the link in the show notes. Your support really goes a long way to keep this podcast going and I really appreciate it. Enjoy the episode. Sean said, what was that? And he said, I don't know, there's the trail, let's get out
of here. Suddenly it screams again right behind us. I'm going to die from HV Studio. This is unnerved. Welcome back to the Unnerved podcast. It's where normal people share their abnormal stories, and if you enjoy true stories of the strange and terrifying, then you're in the right place. I'm your host, Chris Fricke. When was the last time you went for a hike in the forest at night? Was it a camping trip, or maybe a midnight stroll to stargaze?
Or perhaps this type of activity has never appealed to you. After all, why would you wander into a forest at night without being able to fully see your surroundings? It's likely that nothing would happen. But what if someone or something was lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike? In today's story, Armani and Sean were on a recreational night hike when a terrifying cry suddenly erupted near them.
As the sound came closer and closer, it was clear they were not alone and the creature stalking them could attack at any moment. This is her story. My name is Harmony Lawrence and the story takes place in Olympia, WA at The Evergreen State College. Back when I first started college, our campus had about 1100 acres of forest that could be hiked around the campus. But because me and my friends frequently we're busy during the day with jobs and classes, we usually only got out to hike at
night. So that meant sometimes we were hiking at 10:00 PM. That kind of became normal for us. So night hikes were normal. So it wasn't unusual for us to get a large group of people together to go on one of these night hikes. And on this particular day, which was actually the day before Halloween, we were getting a group together.
And unfortunately, one by one, a bunch of people had to drop out because there are a bunch of tests taking place soon and people needed to study for tests and things like that. Eventually it was down to three of us. My friend Colin and then mutual acquaintance friend Sean and Colin eventually dropped out and said OK, I know you and Sean don't know each other very well, but you guys should still go hiking. You should still do it.
So we did. So when we go out on these hikes, there's a couple different kinds of trails we could take. There's the big wide main trails that go through the forest and then there's a couple of side trails that we've gotten familiar with because we've done a lot of those hikes. But often times those side trails are a little harder to follow at night because they're pretty narrow at sections. This is back in the day of foot bones. That's all anyone had.
We were probably a couple years out from smartphones and so we had our two little flip phones and common in college at the time to just use your flip phone as a quick flashlight from time to time by flipping it open. So we're kind of doing that to navigate through the woods and we're talking and walking and heading to this place called the Altar site. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was just this big log that had fallen down in the woods and kind of hollowed
out a little bit in the center. And college students would put their random art projects and memorabilia on it. So we called it the altar site. So we're heading to this altar site, but I start to notice that the trees and stumps surrounding us kind of look familiar. And probably about 40, 5 minutes into our walk I'm realizing that we are passing the same tree trunks again and again and we're lost. So this section of woods is surrounded by three roads and
water. Water on one side, 3 roads on the rest. So if you walk through the woods long enough you should be able to reach water or roads. So I wasn't too worried and I pretty much said, well, I think we're walking in circles so we might as well start walking in a straight line and we'll eventually get out of this place. So we start bushwhacking in a straight line. And this is the Pacific Northwest. So bushwhacking in the Pacific
Northwest is very bushwhacky. And there are salao plants that grow really tall and get really hardened by the wind storms we have. And there's big evergreens that we were kind of bonking into the branches of. And then there's marsh and rivers. And I'm pretty sure in the next 45 minutes we walked through about 3 marshes and two rivers on our way through the woods trying to find our way out. So we're sopping wet pretty much from our calves down and pretty blustered from going through all
these bushes. Suddenly we come out onto this really big, wide trail. I was super excited because I was like, OK, we're finally going to get out of the woods and by this point it's kind of edging closer to midnight and we start to follow this trail along and then it kind of meanders into this Meadow. It's kind of opening with grass in between the trees and we kind of lost sight of the trail at that point and it kind of seemed to become thin and kind of go through the center of the meadows.
So we kind of followed that along and weren't really sure where to go and thought we saw the trail heading into the woods on the other side and we headed into the dark patch of woods on the other side to try and follow the trail in there. We were already discovering this. This isn't going anywhere and we're about to turn around when suddenly we heard we just kind of froze, Sean said. What was that? And then I said, I don't know, it kind of sounded like a pig
bird woman combined screaming. And it was so quiet and crisp out that night in October. It just sounded so loud through the woods. And then I said, let's go back into the Meadow where we can see things. We just kind of bumped our way back out of the woods into the middle of this Meadow and we're just kind of standing there, not really sure what to do at this point.
One of our phones is dead and the other one is low on battery and I could kind of hear underneath this big cedar tree kind of in front of us down the Meadow a little bit, a big cracking stud. And then I saw the branches kind of move on the tree. Didn't really know what to do with that data at the time. Suddenly it screams again and it just went on for up to 10 seconds. It felt like forever. I turned to this man that I hardly know and I hug him because I think at that point I
was like, I'm going to die. This is the last hug I'm going to get. Might as well make the most of it. And when I hugged him, I noticed behind us the trail kind of went around the bend and continued up through the trees, which is why we missed it when we walked straight into the Meadow. And I was like, there's the trail, let's get out of here. So we start walking back-to-back up this trail. Sean was walking forward, I was
walking backwards. And I had the only working phone at this point, and it was low on battery, So I was just opening my phone and closing it and kind of flashing it behind us to just kind of make like a spot of light every once in a while so that I didn't completely drain it all at once. And it's October, There's leaves on the ground. The leaves have all been trampled on this main trail
section pretty well. So when you're walking down the center of the trail, over all these leaves that have fallen on the ground, you don't hear any sound because they're all
flattened. But on the sides of the trail there are fresh, crisp, crunchy chunks of leaves that haven't been tread on. When I'm walking backwards up this trail, I am hearing this thing crunching into the leaves on one side of the trail, and then I'm hearing silence, and then I'm hearing crunching on the other side of the trail and it's kind of moving slowly back and forth between the sides of the trail and the leaves. I would say it was no more than
15 feet away. It was really dark in the woods. We're probably about halfway up this trail or even a little further, and suddenly hear it scream again and it was right behind us. Sean started running and I started running too. And I'm wearing a hat and it falls off my head. And I'm not joking. I went back for it. Stupidest thing I've probably ever done. Get my hat. And we just ran for 20 seconds straight.
Suddenly we came out of the trail into this really big Meadow that we are familiar with, and it's right next to the road. So we just ran all the way across that Meadow to the road and then started walking back to campus. I just remember we were just completely shook up at this point when we're walking. And I was like, I've never heard anything like this in my life. I don't know what this was. I spent a lot of time in the woods. This is a new one for me.
And while we're walking up, you can hear something scream, but it's way far away at this point. Further out in the woods, we just kept heading back to campus. And by this point, it's like, you know, Halloween day, we're like, OK, this is crazy. We'll talk about it in the morning. Let's just go to sleep in our respective rooms and we'll figure this out. That night I went back to my room and I have a roommate.
So I'm like quietly, you know, under a blanket, pulling out my computer and trying to, like with headphones, listen to different bird sounds on YouTube, trying to figure out what this thing was. The next day we all get together and we're talking about what happened and people just went nuts over it on campus. And we're like calling it the Banshee in the woods. Like somebody wanted to make a documentary out of it. We took people back through the woods to try and, like, retrace our steps.
And we think we did a pretty good job, at least to the point where we found the main trail, couldn't really figure it out past that point. And it just kind of settled into this thing where for a couple years we just told this story to people. We'd be like, yeah, it was here and we heard the sound and we kind of recreate the sound. And then finally, I was talking to a friend of mine who grew up in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula. He's like, Oh yeah, I've heard that sound before.
That's a cougar. Well, sure enough, I look up cougar sounds because I hadn't even really considered a cat by that point. I was still stuck on the idea It could have been a bird and it was definitely cougar sounds. After that, Sean and I did end up dating and getting married and now we have a kid. I could say that trauma bonded us for a long time after that incident.
I actually had a bit of PTSD in the woods where anytime we go out at night and I'd hear any sound that I was unfamiliar with, I would just freak out and panic and they essentially get on my hands and knees and beg people to Get Me Out of the woods. And that's not a response that I had had before this point. I'd actually spent a lot of my childhood around the woods, even taking night walks and being
alone out there since then. It's been about a decade and 1/2 in 2006, actually, and it took me a really, really long time to get comfortable going out in the woods again, especially at night. And I actually had my first backpacking trip since that incident, like in the true Backcountry area last fall. And I did all right. In fact, it was kind of crazy that night.
There's everything. The entire woods was rising with sounds and big lumbering things, and we even had like some barred owls get in a fight right above our camp and screech at each other like monkeys. It was nuts. And I did all right. I had to get out of the tent twice that night, go to the bathroom. No freaking out. It was fine.
And this is going to sound crazy, but my husband and I did talk at one point about this and had discussed how there's just this, like, little tiny bit of fear in the back of our heads that that cat is still out there looking for us. It's just like, it's totally irrational, but like, having having that moment of extreme fear leaves this mark of there's like this little bit of doom out there.
There could be scarier ideas out there of something like Bigfoot or some unknown, but I think the known of being a cougar was pretty terrifying. Harmony and Sean were fortunate enough to escape the cougar that night, but only two hours away from their location. That wasn't the case for Carrie Burgear, just north of Fall City, WA.
Harry and her friends were attacked by a young male cougar on February 17th, 2024. Now at 11, new 911 calls have been released from a group of terrified mountain bikers who are attacked by a cougar Saturday just northeast of Fall City. The 60 year old who suffered injuries to her face, neck and Jaws, home from the hospital and recovering Comos Hannah Knowles joins us now. Hannah, you spoke with the two daughters. It's a miracle she's alive. It sure is.
I can't even imagine what she went through. Now. This is Carrie. I spoke with her daughters on the phone. Kendall and Alexa. They tell me their mother was riding with four other ladies when a 75 LB cougar tackled her off her bike and latched onto her lower jaw. In these 911 calls, you'll hear the heroic actions and quick thinking from her friends as they pry the wild animal from their friend's face. Nine. We get someone was attacked by a cougar.
Where's the cougar up? It's on top of her. They're killing it. New 911 calls from the King County Sheriff's Office take us back to the trail where a cougar attacked a bike rider near North Bend. They're. With the Stone, Who's killing it? The other people? Mikey Gates. You hear the 911 dispatcher try to calmly talk to the caller. Your phone keeps breaking up so I can't quite understand. I know I don't have any service.
I don't know where to go. Through the static chaos and fear, you hear the caller try to explain their location as the cougar remains on top of their friend. You're holding a cougar down. They're holding a cougar down. Another call just as frantic. After 15 minutes carries, daughter tell me the group of women are finally able to pull the animal from the teammates lower jaw with severe trauma to the face and permanent nerve damage.
The daughters say it will be a lifelong battle and a long road ahead to recovery, but for now, as their mom heals at home. Home, they're thankful she's alive. Chilling 911 calls there now. Cougar attacks on humans are extremely rare in Western Washington, but experts say that they do happen. If you come face to face with the animal, don't run. Face the cougar and talk firmly to it. Try to appear larger than the
wild animal. Do not take your eyes off the cougar or turn your back to it. The idea is to try and convince the animal that you are not prey but potential danger. Cougars, also known as mountain lions, will rarely attack humans. Over the past 100 years in North America, it's estimated that there have been over 126
attacks, 27 of which were fatal. As with many predators, a cougar may attack if it feels threatened or if it's protecting its Cubs. Sometimes, if desperate enough, it could even consider a human easy prey. Cougars are notorious for being master hunters and stalking their prey for miles without being seen until it's too late.
Whether they choose to attack is completely up to them, so if you're hiking during the day or night, be aware of your surroundings and just remember you may not be alone. Thanks again for listening to Unnerved. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your friends and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show grow and get noticed, so I really
appreciate that. And if you guys want to see photos related to each episode, including this one, check out our Instagram at Unnerved Podcast. And if you want to hear more stories and creative content from Harmony and Sean, check out their YouTube channel at Sage and Dandy. Their channel link will also be in the show notes. And for AD free episodes and bonus content, visit patreon.com/unnerved Podcast. Until next time, take care.