Foxes are terrifying if you don't know what they are, and even if you do you can be caught off guard.
I grew up near fox cover, they'd come down from the wooded hills to scavenge/go after poultry.
We had a big dumb outside dog - one fox would go one end of the house making noise, which would send him barreling down to the fence barking like crazy. Then another fox would hop in and steal his food at the other end
Another time, much later & more experienced, I went camping with a friend who wasn't very outdoorsy.
The hike in had been more overgrown than we expected and a whole section of the path in was swampy, which it hadn't been on previous trips. We set up by a fork in two rivers, exact middle of a forest, and got a decent fire going and a decent camp established.
We spent the evening nature watching, eating good grub and drinking, him a little overdoing it on the drinking and passing out early enough.
About 3am he bolts up outta nowhere, looking around with a blank face and whisper shouting "they're out there!" and "they're coming for us!"
I told him to chill, there was nothing out there bigger than a fox or badger. But he just kept going, a long rant of something vague and increasingly doomy watching us all night.
I know its nonsense, but it starts getting to the stage where I'm getting uneasy, straining to identify every noise. Splash, that's an otter or river rat. Rustle, squirrel or owl. Distant call, likely a fox.
He's out of his tent, still wrapped in a sleeping bag, half babbling as he falls asleep against a tree near the fire. At points he's crying occasionally.
I start to worry maybe he's had a mental break more than just being hammered drunk. Its also about 3am and getting quite chilly. I decide we bail, there's a road about 30 minute walk (on a good day) we can make it to if I help him slowly, can call a friend to pick us up. I break down camp by myself, take down both our tents and let the fire go low. It's now about 4am. He's stopped cry babbling. Once we're ready I shake him awake, tell him we're bailing.
He wakes up, refuses and rolls over. I eventually wake him again. He has no idea what I'm talking about. Goes back to sleep.
Now I'm bloody freezing so I get the fire roaring and hunker down til sun rise about 3 hours later, very grumpy.
We still give him stick about it to this day, he just shrugs and chuckles 😅
Few spooky, not terrifying ,things have happened over the years.
In younger days, a large group of us went camping in a wooded area on the outskirts of rich people land.
Long story short as things fizzled out, 2 of us as we tended the fire, came to the realisation that there had been an extra person there the whole night, always standing just far enough away you couldn't see their face, at various edges of the clearing we were in where the vegetation got thick.
Next morning we started asking folk about it and everyone realised when they were talking that the person they thought was standing near them at a certain time had actually been elsewhere.
For a while afterwards we came up with all sorts of stupid teenager explanations of spooky origin but as we grew up we just kinda decided it was a local weirdo
Thanks for making this place. And sorry for the flak yer getting on Reddit, it sucks. I lurked there for a long time & just want ye to know I get the hard work that goes into the content & keeping it well run that makes lurking possible & enjoyable.
It's mad to me seeing the difference in support on old daystrom vs say what the mods of r/worldbuilding are experiencing (still a few loud voices but much more supportive overall).
I feel like I should check this out but also should not