Original Nosleep | Collection #1 - Something is Stalking Tourists in the Snow-Capped Mountains of Canada. (Patreon)

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Hundreds of people disappear in the Canadian wilderness every year. Many are never seen or heard from again. Some are found in various stage

Hundreds of people disappear in the Canadian wilderness every year. Many are never seen or heard from again. Some are found in various stages of decay days, weeks, months or sometimes times even years after their disappearance. Few are found alive.. In the January of 1991 my friends and I became part of those statistics.

The trip we had planned was an outdoor hiking, camping wilderness adventure. We were all in our late teens to early 20’s and most of us having recently graduated high school were eager to take this once lifetime opportunity before college. January seemed like the ideal time for us as it allowed us to save up money after graduating and was just after the holiday season while not yet deep winter in Canada.

Admittedly none of us were very experienced in hiking or camping, but the older members of our party had been camping before so we relied heavily on them for guidance. We had also heard that Canadian people were very kind to tourists and expected to make friends out on the trail who could help us if anything bad happened. When we arrived we weren’t disappointed, everyone we met was helpful and nice, it was a bit colder than we had expected it to be, but it didn’t dampen the experience.

About a week into our trip we experienced our first trail closure. It was intended to be a three day trek, if not a four when considering a leisurely pace. However server weather was expected therefore the trail was tagged as off limits. To say we were disappointed was an understatement. We stood for a while at the trail head complaining amongst ourselves because as far as we could tell the weather was perfect, bright sunshine, no clouds in the sky, no wind. We came to think that the trail closed sign was for days passed and someone had just forgotten to take it down since the area was so remote. Which is why we made the decision to ignore the warning and venture out regardless. It’s very easy to disobey a warning you believe to be unnecessary and even more so when no one is around to see you disobeying the afore mentioned warning. I still think about that trail closed sign occasionally, I see it when I sleep and sometimes when I’m day dreaming. Passing it by is the moment I have cemented in my mind as the worst mistake I’ve event made and it haunts me repeatedly.

In my imagination we turn back with disappointment, in reality we walked on obliviously. We chatted light heartedly, my friend Tim who was a 6’2” solid brick made jokes endlessly and my girlfriend Katja held onto my arm as we walked across the crisp snow. She was covered head to toe in warm clothing, she had a bright pink beanie, a scarf, and a puffy parker that made her look a little bit like a waddling penguin. We didn’t see any wildlife at that time, but we did come across what we thought to be another groups trail.

We followed along their path because it was easier to walk where someone else had already trampled the snow and because we hoped to catch up with them. It reassured us to know that we weren’t the only ones out there who disobeyed the warning sign and somehow this justified our decision. Their trail lead upwards into the mountain at a steep rate and we noticed that it wasn’t following any trail markers. We had a brief conversation then about whether or not it was really a good idea to continue following them but the decision to stop or not was made for us as Sven, the eldest older group member who had been our scout ahead, announced that the trail ended just over the next rise.

I didn’t believe him at first and insisted on going to see myself. Truthfully I thought he has just lost the trail and I would somehow be the one to find it, however that wasn’t the case. Instead it was exactly as he had said, just over the next rise the trail stopped, it didn’t peter out naturally or change direction, it just stopped. As if the group before us had decided spontaneously to stop walking at that exact spot and had disappeared as well.

Sven and I exchanged nervous glances and it was then I realised that he had been hoping I would be able to find the trail, but looking around I could see that there was really no where else for them to have gone. We were fairly high up the mountain by now, the snow wasn’t terribly thick but low clouds had blocked out the sunlight giving the area a grey ambiance and limiting visibility to the immediate vicinity. There was a thin forest of tall dark trees to one side and the cliff face of the mountain to the other. It really was as if they had just vanished.

We returned to the main party quite spooked with a slight quickness to our step but no one else seemed to notice. In the time we had been gone, the group had set up camp, three brightly coloured tents were set up facing a small fire, Tim and his girlfriend, Nina, were rolling a second log into place for seating and Katja was preparing a stew. This was immensely comforting, there’s something about having others around and a fire burning that makes you feel safe. When asked about the trail ending Sven and I both agreed to tell the others that snow had just obscured the trail. Not that it had just vanished.

As the night went on we ate and drank, it snowed lightly and eventually we couldn’t see anything past the light of our fire. We were taking turns telling each other spooky stories so when Nina suddenly put a finger to her lips in a ‘shhhh’ motion we all quietened down with joyful anticipation. We waited for her to begin some tale of horror, she was the naturally quiet one of us, so we expected her to have the best story, but instead she murmured a quiet, “Hörtst du das?” (Which is German for, “Do you hear that?”.)

Tim and the others laughed at her saying she was going to have to do better than that, but I felt a chill run down my spine. She didn’t seem to be trying to scare us, “Quiet and listen.” I told them and the group settled into an intrepid silence. For a long moment we listened to the faint sounds of snow fall and a slight breeze blowing through the branches of he nearby forest. Then we heard it. Light footfall on snow.

“Who is out there?” Tim demanded standing up, he was easily the biggest of us, and I think he felt bad for making fun of Nina initially. His voice was deep and I’ve been told before that angry German accent speaking English is quite intimidating. He received no reply, but we did hear something run back into the woods. We waited a few more minutes in silence before any of us were brave enough to speak again. We didn’t hear anything else so assumed now that maybe it was a small bear or something and that Tim’s sudden outburst had scared it away. This realisation killed the mood, but was at least comforting enough to allow us all to retire to the tents to sleep.

When I woke in the morning it was very bright outside and that in turn made the interior of Katja’s and my tent unbearably blue. I got up while shielding my eyes with my arm and stumbled out the tent. I could hear others were awake already and speaking in hushed tones though they became quiet as I approached. The tension in the air was palpable, looking around I noticed some of our supplies were strewn about and the fire pit was covered in dirt and snow. This snapped me out of my groggy state, “What happened?” I asked dumbfounded “We were hoping you knew.” Tim grumbled. “Some one tried to come into my tent last night, I scared them off by throwing my backpack at them. Now this mess this morning.” Sven added. He was the only one of us with his own tent as Tim and Nina were together and Katja and I were together also.

It was clear now that we weren’t alone on this mountain and whoever was with us wasn’t friendly. This made the decision to end the trip early an easy one. We decided to turn back and stay at a hostel for a few days instead. We packed up quickly and marched back down the mountain in silence, we walked for a few hours before realising we were lost. Remembering the day before we had followed the trail of what we had assumed to be fellow hikers rather than the trail markers we cursed our own stupidity. The endless white expanse ahead looked the same forward and back. Our only guiding landmarks were the forest and the mountain itself.

At midday we stopped for lunch, eating then was significantly less satisfying for the mood overall was dampened. While we ate I stared into the forest absentmindedly, Katja stayed close to me but she kept her attention focused on the ground. The others I’m assuming did the same. It was then that I noticed movement between the trees, something, multiple somethings, were darting quick between the tree trunks. It was hard to make out exactly what they looked like, fairly small I would say, almost ape-like at least in the way they moved. Wordlessly I pointed them out to the others and we all unanimously agreed to move on.

From then onward, we were never truely alone. Whenever we stopped for a break these things came in closer, when we moved they seemed to keep more distance. Either way they were terrifying, we agreed that we shouldn’t run, in case that triggered some chase instinct or something, but that alone was very difficult. Every time I happened to see one skitter across the snow behind us I wanted to run and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

The second night closed in on us way too fast. We weren’t prepared at all, we rushed to set up all three tents though all of us slept in the middle one together. We lit two fires and wedged ourselves into a small overhang to try and create a sense of safety. With all five of us in the one tent it was quite cramped, but it did feel safer. I slept for a short time but woke up to the sound of light scraping against the fabric of the tent. I wasn’t the only one awake, I think we all were, but in the darkness I couldn’t see anything. “Get dressed.“ I heard Sven whisper and we all started putting on our hiking clothes as quietly as we could mange.

I had just pulled on my second shoe when we heard what sounded like a thunder crack in the near distance, the creatures outside the tent scuttled away from out tent quickly and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. Outside sounded like a jet engine taking off only the sound seemed to be coming directly towards us. I heard Nina shouting for us all to run in German and I took a hold of Katja’s arm. We ran out into the night blindly, I think Sven was somewhere close to us, but I’m not sure which direction Tim and Nina went. We ran as hard and fast as we could, the shoe I hadn’t quite done up fell off but I didn’t slow down.

We didn’t know then that it was an avalanche, we had no idea what it was, the monstrous roaring all around could have been an angry dragon awakened from his slumber for all we knew. The combination of the deafening sound, darkness and bitter cold as we scrambled half dressed in all directions praying we were running the right way was completely disorientating. Something hard hit my legs and I felt myself get swept away, Katja’s hand slipped from mine and we tumbled helplessly in the tidal wave of snow. I vaguely remember hitting something solid, a tree I guess? And then nothing.

When I woke up it could have been minutes, hours or days later, I had no way of knowing. There was pain in one arm, but reaching up with the other I could feel open air, when I dared open my eyes it wasn’t dark anymore, though it was definably very early morning. In a panic I struggled to dig myself out, I shouted for the others and when I stopped to listen I heard Sven calling as well. The relief I felt was instant. I wasn’t alone.

I crawled across the snow to where I could hear Sven, he was only a few feet away and I realised that he was buried. Frantically I dug to free him, I have never been more grateful to see another human being in my life than I was in that moment. He was largely unharmed though bruised, and we concluded that my arm was most likely broken. As soon as we were able we searched for the others. Our calls rang out across the mountain top unanswered for hours. We found one backpack but failed to recover any of our other supplies. As we trampled over the snow we spotted a crouched over figure in the distance, Nina, we realised.

We called to her but she didn’t answer, when we reached her she was emotionless and didn’t acknowledge our arrival. The snow all around her was scuffed and bloodied. Beside her was a bloodied stick and in her lap she held what remained of Tim. He was without doubt deceased. Only his upper torso and left arm were interacted, the rest of him was stripped of flesh to the bone. It was a horrible sight. “Sie haben ihn gefressen..” She said softly, (this meant sometime close to, “They have eaten him”. )

None of us knew what to say.

Eventually we were able to convince Nina to leave his body, we marked it with two large branches tied a scarf to one of them. By this time I couldn’t feel my foot and we still hadn’t found Katja, to make matters worse the wind was picking up. We knew we needed to find shelter and fast. Given our options we decided that our best hope for shelter was among a rocky outcrop that we had passed not long before. It was as we made our way back toward it that I spotted what we had missed the first time, the tip of a pink beanie buried in the snow.

“Katja!” I called frantically as I rushed towards the spot of colour, no response. As I reached it I snatched it up from the snow and to my disappointment became aware that the beanie was on its own, Katja was not with it. I noticed then that the surrounding snow was scuffed and hope kindled in me that she had crawled away into the forest for shelter. I struggled to follow the trail only vaguely aware of Nina and Sven behind me. Katja’s path lead directly towards a large tree, from a distance I could see a small piece of fabric near the tree trunk and among the thick branches I convinced myself I could see a huddled figure. She never answered my calls for her and as I got closer my heart began to sink. I wasn’t looking at the base of a tree, I was looking at probably the mid section of a tree and there was no person huddled under it.

It’s a common phenomenon where powdery snow builds around the base of trees, if you don’t know what you’re looking for it’s easy to forget that snow can be meters deep and that the trees you’re looking at are in fact half way buried in snow. These conditions mean that around the tree trunk forms a deep well that can be quite difficult if not impossible to escape on your own. Many people die each year from falling into these things where no others are around to hear them calling for help, they are called tree wells and as I grew closer my eagerness was slowly being replaced with despair. The fabric I could see was the hem of her pants.. the huddled figure nothing more than tree branches and wishful thinking. My Katja was dead. Crumpled unnaturally face first into the tree well, it was painfully obvious that she had broken bones as several of her limbs were twisted at the most unnatural angles but it was impossible to say whether or not she had died on first impact or slowly suffocated all alone. It was all I could do to hope for the first scenario over the second.

When Sven and Nina caught up with me their expressions said it all. There was nothing more we could do. We marked her position in the same way we had Tim’s and made our way to the rocky area. Perhaps the only piece of good fortune we had was that we found a small cave to take shelter in. We lit a fire at the entrance to keep those things away and to melt snow with. We could never melt enough snow to quench our thirst, but it was a start. We stayed huddled in that cave together hungry and cold all night. I kept a firm grip on Katja’s beanie, somehow it brought me comfort and I was able to sleep.

When I awoke next it was dark, but the fire was still burning dimly so I can’t imagine I was asleep long. Beside me Nina and Sven were also asleep, Sven looked particularly cold. He was shivering even in his sleep, the backpack we recovered had no additional blankets or clothes, only cooking supplies and a flint which was lucky enough in itself. Stiffly I moved to put some more wood on the fire from the small supply we had gathered. However to my surprise I noticed someone sitting at the very front of the cave just past the fire. Their back was to me and I realised that they seemed to be eating something. It was obnoxiously loud, I don’t know how I didn’t notice it sooner. All the cracking and slurping, I couldn’t think what they had, I didn’t even know we had food..

Gradually it dawned on me that I actually didn’t even know who it even sitting there. Both Sven and Nina were still asleep behind me. The figure moved slightly, leaning back briefly towards the light of the fire as they tore a chunk off of whatever it was that they were eating. It was then that I was able to make out a flash of colour, they were wearing a bright pink beanie. Katja’s beanie.

I felt a wave of terror rush through my veins, I felt suddenly light headed. How did they get Katja’s beanie? Who or what was sitting beside our fire? No sooner had I thought that thought, than the thing turned to me. It’s eyes were white pinholes in its head reflecting back the orange of the fire coals, it’s mouth had no lips so I could clearly see it’s mangled teeth, bits of flesh hung limp trapped in the gnarl. Half dry bloody smears covered it’s mouth chin and hands. This was one of the things that had been following us, but it was bigger, much bigger than those that lurked at a distance. This one was the size of a human with disproportionate limbs.

With a new wave of nausea my eyes came to rest on what it had been eating. It was an arm, a human arm, half frozen half thawed by the fire and partially stripped of flesh to the bone in places. The arm didn’t bleed freely but it was oozing blood slowly as it defrosted, the familiar remains of a thick coat still hung in tattered pieces from it. I had no doubt that it was Katja’s arm. Slowly the creature moved, it stood into a hunched position and waved the arm at me as if it were waving in a greeting. A wide smile played on its face, how anything can smile without lips is beyond my description but somehow it did. Scared witless I fumbled backwards, tripping over Nina and Sven, waking Nina in the process while Sven remained undisturbed. By the time I could coherently tell Nina that there was something in the cave with us the thing had vanished. She believed me, but there was nothing either of us could do except stoke up the fire for comfort. I don’t remember falling asleep again that night, however when I awoke next it was dull daylight.

The weather had closed in while I slept and the blizzard made it impossible to see far past the cave entrance. Sven was in even worse shape by this time, he had stopped shivering and we were unable to wake him, his breathing was extremely slow. Seeing his large figure curled up as small as he could get was heartbreaking. Nina and I stayed close to him trying to keep him warm with our body heat but I think we both realised at that point that he wouldn’t make it. In the end we stayed all three of us huddled up together for an impossibly long time. I watched shadows of creatures moving back and fourth just outside of the cave. Occasionally a small one would stop and come closer, bobbing curiously at the every edge of the cave watching us before skittering off back into the white oblivion.

I’m not exactly sure when Sven passed, I do remember that I broke one of my toes off by mistake. Honestly I didn’t even feel it as it was by then so frost bitten. We remained in the cave for the entirety of that day, I was losing strength and I felt sure I was going to die as well. Nina went out to get more wood for the fire during a brief period in which the blizzard let up while I remained sullen in my place. My arm was completely useless, even the slightest movement sent waves of pain up to my shoulder, and I knew I couldn’t walk on my frosty foot. So when Nina returned, I told her quietly that she needed to go. I thought she would get further on her own and have the greatest chance of survival.

However she refused to leave. Instead she insisted that it was better if we stayed together and that I needed protection in case those things came into the cave again. I knew why her and Tim had always made a good couple, she was feisty, the savage smile she gave when she held up her tried and tested stick actually gave me hope that we would make it. I knew if anything came in she was going to beat the crap out of it. We huddled close for warmth and kept the fire burning. I faded in and out of consciousness several times. Nina brought me warm melted snow to drink and kept insisting that I stay awake even as it got dark outside. To be honest her persistence was annoying, however I believe without it I wouldn’t have lived.

Eventually the fire began to burn low. The wood Nina was able to get wasn’t going to last us the whole night and we both knew it. It seemed then that the creatures outside knew it too. Slowly the crept in closer as the fire grew lower. Several pairs of reflective eyes leered in at us. Nina waited like a cat ready to pounce with her stick in hand. Any time one tries to cross the threshold of the fire closer to us she swung at it mercilessly. The first couple times she actually connected. Sending the creatures all scurrying back like scared meerkats before they cautiously regained their composure to advance again.

Several hours passed this way, or at least I think it was hours, before we say the big one again. It lumbered into the cave without fear. Smiling and making a wet clicking sound from the base of its throat. Nina took a strip of torn fabric from Sven’s shirt and wrapped it around her stick, then pushed it into the fire. We both knew the fabric wouldn’t burn long without an accelerant, but it was better than nothing. She stood facing the thing with her flaming stick as warning while it hissed at her. I could see that Nina was trembling in fear but she stood over me protecting me non the less.

Seeing she had a weapon the thing seemed to regard her a moment, then it seemed to decide to ignore her as it moved towards the corner we placed Sven in. As it’s had grabbed his leg she swung at it. Her aim was good and she struck it square across the face. It howled in pain then lashed out viciously. This next part I’ll admit I don’t remember very well. It’s more like I remember portions. I can clearly remember Nina lining up a second hit as it lunched at her, chunks of hot coals spraying in all directions as the thing ran right over the fire. I couldn’t tell you if her second swing landed it’s mark or not, I closed my eyes.. But the screaming, wet crunches, tearing of flesh and the sound of Nina struggling for her life is forever burned into my memory.

I expected to die that night. However when the sun rose I was alone in the cave. Scene body was gone, Nina was no more than a bloody trail leading out the cave and the fire was faintly glowing embers. I faded in an out of consciousness for what could have been an eternity before I heard human voices. Canadian accents. Felt myself being lifted and carried.

When I regained consciousness I was in a hospital. My foot was amputated as well as almost all my fingers and definitely all of my toes. My arm was in a cast all the way up and I consider myself to be alive at all. I still have ongoing health concerns related to my experience, however that’s irrelevant now. Canadian authorities were able to find me as a local avalanche enthusiast had been flying a drone over and spotted something unusual in the snow. It seemed even in death Nina saved me. When she had gone out for wood she left a ‘X’ of sticks outside the cave with Sven’s jacket attached. This is what the drone saw flying over that eventually lead to a search team finding me. They were never able to recover my friends bodies and regarded my account of events as hallucinations brought on my dehydration and hypothermia.

I returned to Germany an empty broken person. Nowadays I barely leave my house.