While I was a Park Ranger at Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama there was an area of the Park where many strange things occurred. The area encompassed the lower trail heads, a place where several trails came together, and also where two trails started and ended. In this area there is a large gravel parking lot and an information board with a map of the trails and a copy of the park rules. It is located at the back of the Park near the camp ground and the back entrance of the Park. It is a heavily used area during the day but unless you had a special permit for backpacking you had to leave this area after dark. On most occasions there would be one or two stragglers who would not have planed their hikes well and would come out after dark. So before we would take any actions to check on them, we would give them one or two hours to allow them to leave the area. The event in this story happened in the fall of the year and I was the Ranger assigned to close the park.

   During my after dark rounds I found three vehicles at the lower trail heads parking area, so I logged the tag numbers and descriptions of the vehicles. I continued my checks and closing of all the day use areas while working my way back to the front gate. When I arrived, I spoke to the ranger assigned to the gate post to see if any of the vehicles I logged left the park. I was told that two of them left and one remained. I then checked the campground office to see if any backpackers registered but could not find any permits for this day. I checked in at the front gate to see if the last car had left and it had not. I then went back to the lower trail head and the vehicle was still there so I took my flashlight and investigated the vehicle more thoroughly. I looked around the ground to see which way that the occupants may have traveled from the vehicle and then checked the inside to see if there were any clues indicating whether the car belonged to backpackers or to juveniles or possible a couple of love birds.   

    I determined that two people arrived in the vehicle and that the vehicle was driven to the location by a female. The hood was still warm and this led me to believe that it had just arrived there when I did my first check. From all the items I viewed in the car and from my calculated arrival time, I concluded I was dealing with lovebirds. I contacted the front gate by radio and said that I was going to look for the owner of the vehicle. I made sure that the front gate guard still had the vehicle description and tag number on the log. He advised me it was 8:30pm and told me that my hand held radio was not to clear so I advised him not to do any welfare checks unless the vehicle left and I had not called him. I checked the area at the trails to determine which trail the visitors took. It appeared that they took the blue trail which follows a small stream to an area that we called “lovers perch.” In the area there was a large rock that overlooked a small lake it was a favorite place for lovers.

   I started down the trail but did not need to use my flash light to see because it being a very clear night and even though there was no moon, the stars gave me enough light to navigate the trails. I had been down this trail many times at night and during the day so I was familiar with the lay of the land. I had not walked thirty yards from the trail head when I noticed that the night woods were unnaturally still and quiet so I took my time walking to minimize the noise I made. I had walked no more than three quarters of a mile  when saw what I believed to be a small campfire on the other side of the steam and half way up a small ridge. From what I could tell it was around a half of a mile away from my location so I started toward it. I reached the stream and crossed it trying to make as little noise as possible keeping the small campfire in my sight. I started up the ridge stopping often to listen for any sounds that would indicate people talking or moving around but all I heard was the unnatural silence that greeted me upon my entrance into the woods.

    I had gone around fifty yards when I lost sight of the campfire. I attributed this to a small knoll that was ahead and the angles but did find it odd. I picked a large tree that was near the place I sighted the campfire and used it as a marker to keep myself on track. I walked at least another fifty yards and stopped and listened. Once again I spotted the glow of the campfire. This took me by surprise because now it was on the other side of the stream deeper in the woods on another ridge line. I watched it to see if it was still moving but it was not. I also noted that the only sound that I was hearing was my own breathing for it was still unnaturally quiet. I figured that who ever was out there must have heard me and moved away. When I lost sight of the glow I now knew could not be a campfire but possible a Cyalume glow stick or a small camp light.

   I moved as quietly as possible in the direction of the glow but, upon reaching the stream I decided that the direct approach did not work. I worked my way up the stream using the streams noise to mask my own noise while working my way up ahead to circle back keeping sight of the glow. When the glow was just a little to the back of me, I started my circle using landmarks as points of references to know where I wanted to end up. I did lose sight of the glow within fifty yards of where I thought it would be again. I stopped and listened and looked around again and located the glow across the stream from where I was once again. This time it was at least three quarters of a mile away from me and this meant that who ever had this glow was moving faster than I was. I stayed where I was looking and listening in the area of the glow but it never changed. I did not hear any night noises at all. I became uneasy with the silence because there should have been some insect or night birds or something making some noise. I could not even hear the stream but I could still tell where it was.

   I was also determined to find this person who was playing around so I decided that I would move strait at the glow as fast as I could. So at almost a full run, I went straight at the glow crossing the stream and not losing sight of the glow until around twenty yards from where it was. I stopped and listened and looked around and to my dismay and disbelief the glow was across the stream almost twice the distance I just traveled! I continued back up to where I determined the glow was just a minute ago. I used my flashlight to look around the ground to see if there was any sign of someone being there and could find none. I decided to just sit down for a few minutes and watch the glow and listen for any thing. I sat there trying to figure out how whoever or whatever this was could stay so silent and move faster than me without leaving a trace. I could not come up with any way that it was possible for someone to elude me with out some noise or signs.

    I then thought about how far I had came down the trail but I did not think I was where I should have been. It occurred to me that the small lake was missing, I should have been near the lake but now I could not determine where it was. The stream was there but the lake was no where to be found. I moved toward the glow again but I stopped at the stream. I could still see the glow. I thought that I had been at this cat and mouse game for around forty five minutes and was very uneasy about the whole thing. I moved away from the stream but could not find the trail that ran beside it all the way to the lake. I thought to myself that this can not be right – the stream and trail run side by side for five miles or more and go well past the lake. I have been the woods all my life and I never had been lost before and this was unnerving.  I could still hear the stream so I headed back to it thinking that I could follow it back out. I walked the bank of the stream for about a quarter of a mile when I saw the glow across the stream from me again, this time I ignored it and continued on.

   I walked for maybe an hour and decided to see if I could find the trail again. I found the trail right where it was supposed to be. I turned and looked back into the woods and saw the glow again across the stream from me. I went ahead and just followed the trail out and within fifteen minutes I could see that I was nearing the trail heads. I stopped and looked around but did not see the glow but I did notice that I was hearing an owl hooting and some crickets chirping. It felt good to hear something besides my own breathing or my own footfalls again. In less that two minutes from when I started to hear the natural sounds of the night my handheld radio went off. I had it on the whole time and it was silent as the night was until now. It was the front gate checking in on me.  I told the gatekeeper that I was code four (ok) and advised him that I did not locate the people I was looking for.  He advised me that visitors came out of the woods about thirty minutes after I originally called prior to starting my search. He had been trying to get me on the radio ever since with no luck. 

   I advised him that I was ok and went back to my truck. The truck was covered with dew but I did not think too much about it. I went up to the front gate as I did every day before I went home. When I got there, the gatekeeper acted very strangely toward me asking me questions regarding where I had been and which trail I had taken. I advised him that I was where I told him I was and asked him why he was asking. He said that the couple I was looking for said that they were at the lovers perch and did not see me at all. I said, “Oh … well they must not have followed the trail.” I asked him if there was anything else that he needed to know before I went home. He asked if I was going to write something on the log to explain why I was out so long at the trail heads. I said no because I was only out for around two to two and half hours and that was not an unreasonable time to check out a area. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and asked me to tell him what time it was “right now.” I did not have a watch but based on the amount of time I THOUGHT I was in the woods, I said between eleven and twelve no latter. He asked me to look at his clock and tell him what time it was and I went in to the front gatehouse and looked at the clock and it was three thirty. I stood there for a minute and heard the radio verify the time as being three thirty also. So I did write on the log area check and signed it so he was covered but I knew there would be questions.

   When my trainer, Bobby the Ranger, checked the log and called me at home to see what had happened I told him that I would be in later and talk to him. When I was able to speak to Bobby one on one, I started out by asking him if any thing ever happened to him at the lower trail heads. He looked me straight in the eye dead serious and said “ I don’t believe in UFO’s , little green men, big foot or the loch ness monster but there is something about that area that just gives me the creeps.” So I started to tell him my story and he told me to stop … he did not want to here it!  The only thing he would say was that it was one of those things that happen. I wanted to find out more about what happened so I did some research and talked to a historian that had been researching our park. The historian told me that there had been a community across the main drive from where I was that night. He showed me an old map and he had a current map as reference regarding the location. I had him make me copies and asked him which library he used and went there to look into my “event” and into any history of events like mine. I found it strange that the community did not have a church; it had a store, blacksmith and meeting hall but no church. While looking at many books and articles I happened across a book on general folklore and found a reference to lost travelers and what this book called the Will o’ the Wisps. It said: “The Will o’ the Wisp is the most common name given to the mysterious lights that were said to lead travelers off the well-trodden paths into treacherous marshes. The tradition exists with slight variation throughout Britain, the lights often bearing a regional name.”  I found other stories about the Will o’ the Wisps and some explanations of the phenomenon that ranged from fireflies to foxfire but none fit what happened that night.