Shadowing Practice: 3 True Isolated Deep Forest Camping Horror Stories - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
260 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
I live on the western half of North Carolina, just outside of the Appalachian mountain range.
2
There's tons of forests with hiking and camping and pretty much any outdoor activity in this area,
3
so it's always been a big part of my life.
4
This trip wasn't supposed to be anything too special.
5
There was an old fire lookout along the Appalachians that I'd been to a couple of times before, because it was such a great view.
6
It seemed like pretty much no one really knew about this spot.
7
The trail was maybe 10 -ish miles, and even though I probably could sleep in the tower if I wanted to,
8
I always opted just to use my regular tent setup
9
and just sleep near the tree line right by the tower just because it was old and I didn't fully trust it.
10
After a long hike, when I got there,
11
I walked up the circular stairs all the way to the top and enjoyed the view for a while.
12
It was around 4 p .m., and I actually stayed inside the tower until sunset, which was around 7 or 8.
13
It was always a really stunning view, and the silence that covers the whole forest and mountain range after sunset was very calming as well.
14
After it got dark, I grabbed my stuff and headed down and back into the forest, then laid out my tent and everything.
15
I never really build campfires or anything when I do trips like this, always just skeptical about accidentally starting a forest fire.
16
But for light, I carried a really powerful LED lantern.
17
It was enough to light up most of the campsite, and it held a charge long enough to last multiple days of use.
18
After finishing getting my tent and gear organized,
19
I turned it off and got in the tent to spend the remainder of the night laying down on my phone.
20
Although, just a few minutes after getting inside, I heard a noise in the distance.
21
It was someone whistling, coming from the direction of the fire lookout tower.
22
It didn't really sound like they were whistling a tune, but more like the whistle you would do if you were signaling to someone else.
23
They made probably 10 loud whistles over the course of a minute, before they stopped.
24
I waited to see if I'd hear it again, but didn't hear anything else.
25
It kind of had me uneasy though, because nobody seemed to be out here, at least not during the day.
26
I should also mention this was in the fall of 2021.
27
So not only was this not a popular trail, but it was also during the pandemic when nobody was really outside at all.
28
It didn't make sense to me that someone would be showing up this late.
29
Like they almost surely had to have been in the area already.
30
But how did I not see them before?
31
To make myself feel better, I got up and grabbed my lantern,
32
but kept it off and walked up to the tree line to get a view of the tower.
33
I was just trying to look from a distance
34
and see who it was and what they were doing to make sure I was safe to stay here.
35
The tower looked empty, and I didn't see anyone outside of it either.
36
I stood in place for a few minutes before my eyes caught something.
37
Along the tree line on the other side of the tower, there was a figure.
38
He was about 60 yards away.
39
He was standing still, and I think facing me, maybe even looking right at me.
40
It freaked me out, and I quickly backed up to conceal myself more in the dark.
41
Then I heard that whistle again.
42
It was definitely from the figure I saw.
43
Was he trying to signal to me?
44
I thought that would have been impossible, but I knew that something really weird was going on.
45
I mean, if he was trying to signal to me, and had seen me, then wouldn't he have waved or something?
46
Not just stood there creepily and then whistled after I left.
47
I got back to my tent, but I left the flaps open so I could keep watch still.
48
I never checked the time to see how long I was waiting around for, but more than 15 minutes for sure.
49
I still had that feeling like I needed to stay awake, which, come to think of it,
50
probably should have been enough for me to realize that I needed to leave,
51
or at the very least move a little deeper into the forest away from the fire tower
52
and away from whoever that was standing out there.
53
But then I heard movement behind me.
54
I got out of the tent and turned on the lantern, holding it up to try and see in the dark.
55
It didn't reach as far as I hoped for.
56
Whatever I heard sounded just 30 to 40 feet away, like an animal or person passing through a bush.
57
I stood and waited, just staring in that general direction for a full minute
58
and just when I was about to turn it off and go back.
59
He whistled again, extremely loud, from the dark just behind the light,
60
and I was extremely disturbed and genuinely scared.
61
But I took a few steps forward, holding the lantern up to try and find him.
62
I only needed to take five steps before his figure appeared in the light lights.
63
He was looking right at me, standing completely still, but something didn't look right about him.
64
Could've just been the shadows and the way the light was barely hitting him, but it sent chills through me.
65
He looked uncanny and off -putting, and I don't believe in any weird stuff or anything, so I don't mean this in a literal sense,
66
but something didn't feel human about him.
67
I took a few steps back, letting the blanket of darkness cover him again.
68
Then I just stood in the middle of my campsite.
69
I was scared to start packing and take my attention off of where he was,
70
so I ended up just standing there and waiting for a while.
71
I never heard the person move, and after several long minutes, I took a few steps forward again and held up the lantern,
72
and the man was gone.
73
I don't know why I thought that would have made me feel safer, but it actually made me way more scared.
74
I ran back to my tent and started frantically taking it down.
75
Not even 45 seconds in, a voice called out from right behind me,
76
on the opposite direction of the campsite of where I saw the man before.
77
He said, please help me.
78
His voice was dry and monotone, and it sounded like he was literally right behind me, just 10 feet away in the dark.
79
I stared at where I knew he had to be standing, but I didn't turn on the lantern,
80
honestly terrified of what I'd see if I did.
81
He spoke again.
82
Please help me.
83
I took a step back and slowly bent down and grabbed my bag.
84
The tent was still only halfway packed, but I didn't bother with it.
85
I began taking slow steps away, backing up toward the fire lookout tower where the trail was.
86
He asked for help again one more time before it went quiet.
87
I got another 20 steps back from the campsite.
88
Then he whistled again, so loud it felt like it echoed through the whole forest.
89
I turned and booked it, and didn't stop until I was well down the trail.
90
I got to my car an hour before sunrise.
91
No idea who that man was or why he was out there following me and whistling or pleading for help,
92
but I could tell in his voice that he was faking it.
93
I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I turned on the lantern and tried to help him.
94
This happened almost two decades ago.
95
My family was kind of unique in having a really big age gap between me and my older brother.
96
Jake was 14 years older than me, and at the time, I was either 11 or 12.
97
He'd already been living away from home for years, but he would visit pretty often, and I still considered us to be close.
98
One summer, when he came back for a week, he invited me to go camping with him, since I'd been asking to for years.
99
My parents finally agreed to let him take me this year, and so we found a spot we could all agree on and planned it out.
100
The drive out there took around an hour but we lived in the woods already, so this was still very remote feeling.
101
My parents dropped us off on a small gravel path and Jake and I walked down to the campsite.
102
No one else was there or around at all, and this wasn't one of those long hiking trails to get there.
103
During the day, between all the trees, you could still see the road in the distance.
104
It was one of those unused forest service roads that just had a bunch of other campsites and trails along it,
105
at least from what I remember.
106
Anyway, we had that whole day to set up our stuff
107
and just mess around and catch up on life over the last six or so months that he'd been away for.
108
Once it started getting later, we built a campfire, and while Jake was cooking dinner, I went for a short walk up and down the trail.
109
I didn't go very far, only gone for like 15 minutes.
110
And when I started walking back and could see the campfire through the trees,
111
I noticed Jake was standing up and gesturing with his hands as if he were talking to someone.
112
I then walked closer and could kind of see someone standing across from him.
113
The trees were blocking most of my view, but there was definitely someone there talking to my brother.
114
Being young and nervous and confused, I didn't want to walk up with some stranger there.
115
I stayed a little bit off the trail and waited for a few minutes.
116
When I saw the guy walk off, Jake stayed standing and watched him for a while, before sitting back down.
117
I then hurried up to the campsite.
118
Jake looked deep in thoughts, or maybe worried.
119
I asked him who that guy was, and why he came up to the camp.
120
He put on a short smile and said it was nothing, that the guy was just looking for directions.
121
And every time I tried to pry for more, he gave short answers, saying we were all good and that it really was nothing at all.
122
He was clearly trying to avoid talking about it.
123
It was pretty strange, but I trusted him, and assumed he knew I'd be worried about it
124
and didn't want me to be uneasy the whole time we were out there camping.
125
We hung around the campfire for the rest of the evening.
126
Jake was definitely acting different though, constantly looking around, and even though we were talking the whole time, he seemed distant.
127
a couple hours after sunset i was really tired
128
and went into my tent to sleep jake said
129
that he wasn't too tired yet and was going to stay up for a little while longer by the campfire
130
it took me a long time to settle in but i think i fell asleep sometime around nine
131
I woke up very groggily several hours later, say 1 or 2am,
132
and right away I noticed the orange glowing light outside of my tent from the campfire that was still burning.
133
I thought it was crazy that
134
Jake was still out there and hadn't put it out and gone to bed yet.
135
I sat up and unzipped the tent, saying Jake's name as I looked out.
136
But Jake wasn't there.
137
I stuck my head out and looked around.
138
He wasn't anywhere around the campfire.
139
I crawled out and quickly looked into his tent, and then tried looking around at the dark.
140
I was too scared to say his name or call out for him anymore though, now feeling like I was alone in the forest,
141
in the middle of the night, and being just 11 or 12, this was absolutely terrifying to me.
142
It didn't help either that it was dead quiet, just the crackling fire.
143
I had a really unsettling feeling,
144
a creepy feeling that something was happening in the darkness around the campsite that I wasn't able to see.
145
And after a minute, I got back in my tent, zipped it up, and just stayed in there waiting and listening for Jake to get back.
146
I didn't know where he was, and I didn't know what else to do, but standing out there in the dark was too scary for me.
147
About ten minutes later, I started hearing something in the distance.
148
It was footsteps rushing toward the campsite and running right up to the outside of my tent.
149
I froze, completely terrified, and staring at the zipper.
150
Then I heard
151
Jake whisper my name.
152
His voice was harsh and rushed.
153
I unzipped the tent and couldn't even ask him anything before he told me we needed to pack and leave right away.
154
He had this horrified look over his face.
155
I didn't question him.
156
I started packing.
157
Jake took his stuff down and then helped me with mine.
158
And the entire time, he was glancing around at the dark, almost like he was expecting something to be out there.
159
We rushed down the trail back to the road
160
and walked along it for about a mile until he was able to get a cell signal to call our parents.
161
During the hour we waited to get picked up, Jake wouldn't say anything about what was going on.
162
To be honest, I don't think at the time I even wanted to know.
163
I could just tell from his demeanor that it was something seriously bad.
164
I also think he was texting our parents while we were waiting on the side of the road, because when they picked us up,
165
they didn't ask what was going on, as if it wasn't strange that we needed to get picked up in the middle of the night.
166
I think the three of them were purposefully trying to not talk about whatever happened while I was around,
167
probably to protect me and not scare me, but it kind of did the opposite it.
168
A few days after, I caught
169
Jake and my dad talking about it late in the night downstairs, when I had gotten up to get some water,
170
but they stopped as soon as they saw I was awake.
171
Even now, so long after it all happened, my parents say it's up to my brother if he wants to tell me,
172
but Jake immediately goes cold every time I bring it up, so I just stopped asking.
173
I don't know what happened out there in the woods,
174
or why he was gone in the middle of the night just to run back and have us pack and leave,
175
but I trust that he made the right decision to keep us both safe,
176
and has his reasons for not telling me what really happened that night.
177
This was 2015.
178
I had just turned 30
179
and went out to a very remote area of Washington State to camp at for a couple of days.
180
The campsite I was at was a free public spot down a kind of untamed two -mile trail.
181
Lots of overgrown bushes and trees.
182
But this was Washington, so it's just a given for most non -state park campground trails.
183
It was also late autumn, which is off -season for hiking and camping in this area.
184
Almost nobody was out there, even on the roads getting to where the trailhead was was.
185
The campsite only had two spots, and both were empty and didn't look to have been actively used at all in weeks,
186
or maybe even months.
187
I took the opportunity to set everything up and lay everything out, which I usually wouldn't do if I thought other people would be around,
188
just to be respectful of the space.
189
That first day, I had arrived at 2pm, and I knew it was supposed to be raining on and off all afternoon,
190
so I got a campfire going early and made sure to collect any dry sticks I could find.
191
Obviously, it being basically a wet rain forest, there wasn't a whole ton of wood I could use.
192
Knowing this, I did come prepared with a couple special long -burning fire logs.
193
They're about the size of a candle, but it's this hard pressed, durable treated wood that stays lit for hours.
194
It's not the most useful thing in the world because it's so small, but dragging out full bundles of firewood wasn't exactly an option.
195
These only weighed about a pound each.
196
By the time it got dark out, I'd run out of any usable wood and sticks, so I grabbed one of the special logs.
197
And out of nowhere, while I was on my knees trying to light it, I heard someone whisper.
198
Just a quick, soft whisper.
199
Lasted no more than half a second.
200
I jolted and nearly dropped my lighter, but quickly realized it was pitch black all around me and started hurrying to light the wood again.
201
I got it to catch 20 seconds later, but it was still just impossible to see anything around me.
202
Now, after a minute of sitting there, still shaken by it, I started to calm myself,
203
and realized that it had to be wind hitting a tree weird.
204
or just anything but someone whispering.
205
Because that didn't make any sense.
206
No one was out here.
207
And because I was so focused and busy trying to light the wood, and the sound was so quick and short,
208
I didn't really catch any distinct word or anything.
209
So I couldn't confirm it either way.
210
Couple minutes of thinking later, I had completely brushed it off.
211
I stayed outside for another hour and a half, then got in my tent and slept until morning.
212
When I woke up, it was still raining a bit, so I made coffee and breakfast inside my tent and didn't really go outside until noon.
213
As for the rest of that day, I didn't really do much at all.
214
Just hung around, relaxed, and enjoyed the calm sounds of the rain hitting the trees.
215
Same as last night though, once the sun was setting, I tried having a campfire with regular sticks, but it didn't work out,
216
and I resorted to using the special logs again just to keep a little bit of light around.
217
And eerily around the same time as last night, just after the sun went down and everything got really dark,
218
I heard a short, quick whisper from just outside of the campsite.
219
It happened as I was digging through my bag looking for something to eat.
220
So, again, I was kind of in the middle of something.
221
It startled me, though, physically dropping the bag and looking up at the forest.
222
I could see maybe five feet in front of me, before it was pitch darkness.
223
And just like last night, I couldn't tell what the whisper really was, like if it was a word or not,
224
which then made it easier for me to convince myself it had to be something else, just a strange sound between the wind and the rain.
225
Although, I'll admit, this time I stayed cautious much longer than just a couple of minutes.
226
I mean, probably an entire hour,
227
I was looking around at the dark and staying focused so I could hear it more clearly if it happened again.
228
But with nothing to look at, eventually I did get bored and stopped intensely listening.
229
I got up from my chair
230
and started moving stuff out of the tent to make space to roll out my sleeping bag,
231
just to prep it for whenever I decided to go to bed.
232
I swear to God, just a minute after I started to, I heard it again. That whisper.
233
It was like it would only happen while i was busy
234
and not paying attention this time i genuinely got pissed off thinking
235
that i was going crazy and was overly on edge just hearing nonsense that wasn't actually there
236
i still looked around for a minute but i knew i wasn't going to see anything
237
i frustratingly got the sleeping bag rolled out and had the tent ready then sat outside for another hour,
238
before I got in the tent and went to bed.
239
I got comfortable and fell asleep abnormally quickly.
240
I don't know exactly what time I woke up at.
241
Could have been an hour later or four hours later.
242
But it was still pitch black, because I couldn't see anything when I opened my eyes.
243
I had this really strange feeling though, almost like I was confused about something, but I didn't know what,
244
because obviously I was sleeping.
245
Then, just a moment after waking up, before I could even analyze this weird feeling I had, suddenly there was a sharp,
246
loud whisper from directly outside my tent, almost right in my ear, just on the other side of the fabric,
247
like someone was pressed against the tent.
248
I jumped up, scrambling around for my headlamp, but I genuinely couldn't see anything.
249
Took me way too long, and by the time I got out of the tent with the light, no one was there.
250
The headlamp was worse than the fire log too, not really lighting up the area at all.
251
In a panic, I started packing up, and my heart stayed racing for the entire time.
252
I never once stopped looking around or listening though.
253
Then I threw my bag on my shoulders
254
and ran down the trail back to my car
255
and ended up spending the night sleeping on the side of the road about 20 miles from where the trailhead was.
256
I still don't know what I was hearing that night.
257
But from everything that happened, I think it's nearly impossible that it was all just a coincidence.
258
Personally, I feel like something was telling me I shouldn't have been there,
259
and I'm 100 % certain that something was going to happen if I didn't leave.
260
Thank you.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B21
944 sentences
Top 5 Bingeable SCARY STORIES • FOREST HORROR Edition Vol. 2
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
189 sentences
Bushcraft Survival Camping & Hunting in Remote Wilderness
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
255 sentences
Why Do You Keep Waking Up at 3AM (The Strange Psychology Behind It)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
265 sentences
3 True Scary Snowstorm & Cabin Horror Stories Animated
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
352 sentences
Reading and the art of conversation
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
215 sentences
Hiking Alone in Kyrgyzstan
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
415 sentences
All Hallows' Eve in The Village (Encore) | Cozy Stories | Stories from the Village of Nothing Much
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2169 sentences
A Couple Chose the Perfect Honeymoon Destination Until the Island Came Alive at Night | Movie Recap
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
430 sentences
A Rural American Childhood
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
447 sentences
I read Stephen King for the first time... while home alone 😳
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
196 sentences
The Most Incredible Cave Rescues Ever
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “3 True Isolated Deep Forest Camping Horror Stories”. This video has 260 sentences and 3783 words to shadow. The speech runs for 25:28. The speaker talks at a steady 149 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tent noun | /tɛnt/ | A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, used for sheltering people from the weather. |
| jake noun | /dʒeɪk/ | A juvenile male turkey. |
| trail noun | /tɹeɪl/ | The track or indication marking the route followed by something that has passed, such as the footprints of animal on land or the contrail of an airplane in the… |
| whistle noun | /ˈwɪs(ə)l/ | A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound. |
| whisper verb | /ˈ(h)wɪspɚ/ | To speak softly or under one's breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration of the… |
| lantern noun | /ˈlæ̝ntɚn/ | A case of translucent or transparent material made to protect a flame, or light, used to illuminate its surroundings. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| hike noun | /haɪk/ | A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise. |
| rush verb | /ɹʌʃ/ | To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully. |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| log noun | /lɔɡ/ | The trunk of a dead tree, cleared of branches. |
| darkness noun | /ˈdɑɹk.nɪs/ | The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light. |
| genuinely adverb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/ | In a genuine manner; truthfully, truly. |
| sunset noun | /ˈsʌnˌsɛt/ | The moment each evening when the sun disappears below the western horizon. |
| stare verb | /stɛɚ/ | To look fixedly (at something). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| look around verb | To inspect a building or area. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| light up verb | To illuminate, to bring light to something, to brighten. | |
| stand out verb | To jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.). | |
| step forward verb | to take one or more steps forward, especially in response to a request for identification | |
| wake up verb | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | To stop sleeping; to awake. |
| back up verb | To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Was he trying to signal to me?
- It didn't reach as far as I hoped for.
- I didn't really catch any distinct word or anything.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was extremely disturbed · have been actively used · was pressed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | it's always been · have waved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | sunset, which was · autumn, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 68 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, wasn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rush /ɹʌʃ/, sharp /ʃɑɹp/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, shake /ˈʃeɪk/, brush /bɹʌʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, accidentally /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/, coincidence /kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns/, abnormally /æbˈnɔɹ.mə.li/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tent, jake, trail.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.