I Should’ve Turned Back: My Encounter in Dutchman’s Hollow Still Haunts Me

Watch my full breakdown, including what I couldn’t write here, on YouTube:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVT-JD3WJY4

It’s been over 30 years, but I still think about that forest.
About the moment I saw it watching me.
About how close I came to being another name no one remembers.
This is the story of what happened to me in Dutchman’s Hollow — and why you should never leave the trail.

📅 June 16, 1990 – The First Time

I wasn’t looking for trouble. I was looking for answers.

I’d grown up hearing rumors about a place near Susquehannock State Forest. Locals never called it by name — just “the place you don’t hike,” or “where the map stops.”

But I found the name in a forum post:
Dutchman’s Hollow.

A few coordinates, a forest road number, and I was on my way with Tom — my oldest friend, my ride-or-die adventure buddy. We packed light: camera, snacks, compass, and that stupid confidence only twenty-somethings have.

We didn’t find much at first… until we did.

⛰️ The Stone Cairn

About three miles in, we found it:
A stack of stones, maybe 3 feet high, too perfect to be natural. Someone had built it. Recently.

Near the base was a rusted tobacco tin. Inside: a scrap of paper, yellowed and curled.

One word:
HESS

I didn’t know the name at the time. I wish I had.
Because that’s when the silence started.

No wind.
No birds.
No bugs.

And then, behind the tree line… something shifted.

It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t loud. But it was tall. Pale. Human… but not.

I froze. Tom whispered, “You saw that too, right?”
We walked fast. Then we ran.

And the forest?
It let us go.

📰 I Looked Up “Hess”

The library had one article from 1977.

Raymond Hess. Logger. Went missing. Found weeks later, barefoot, speaking nonsense. Disappeared again in 1980.

I found two more cases. Same area. Same result:
Vanished.

📅 July 7, 1990 – The Second Trip

Tom refused to go back. I understood. But I couldn’t let it go.
So I brought my cousin Sarah — fearless, skeptical, the perfect anchor to my obsession.

We packed smarter this time.
I had a real camera, flashlight, water, a knife.

And we found more than before:

The cairn had multiplied — three now, forming a triangle
A collapsed cabin foundation
A silver locket buried in the dirt
And the same figure, closer this time, clearer

Its eyes were empty. Its presence was wrong. It didn’t move. It didn’t need to.

We ran. Again.
But this time, I dropped the camera.

The locket? Sarah still has it. She refuses to wear it.

💭 What I Think Now

I don’t think we saw a ghost.
I think we saw a sentinel.
Something ancient. Maybe once human. Maybe never.

Some people say the Hollow is cursed.
I say it’s guarded.

And the people who go missing?
They didn’t get lost.
They were taken.

🧭 If You’re Thinking About Going

Please — don’t.

But if you do:

Never go alone
Don’t follow the cairns
Don’t answer if something calls your name
And the moment the woods go quiet,
Turn around. Immediately.

🎥 More photos, maps, and parts of the story I didn’t share here are in my video:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVT-JD3WJY4

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