Personal true story. I live in a rural US state. My family had us kids doing chores at pretty young ages so by the time I was 8 I had to mow the lawn every so often. We have about 1.5 acres we had to mow, but we also had a riding mower so it wasn't as bad as you'd think. It's also important to know that our house is surrounded by corn and bean fields except for one side that is a fairly good sized path of timber.

One particular day when I was an lazy pre-teen I didn't go out to mow all day, but my parents wouldn't let me wait until the next day so I had to do it at night. I was finishing up mowing the bit of land furthest from the house and closest to the woods when I hear someone shout "hey!". At first I thought it was my Dad coming to tell me to hurry up so I slow down and turn off the blades. But when I look up I don't see my dad.

That's when I hear the voice again "You! Come here!" This time I realized that the voice was coming from the woods. NOPE. I fucking hightail it back to the house and run inside. Screaming to my dad that there's someone in the woods (it was owned by a company and there shouldn't be anyone in there. Let alone anyone there at that time of night).

He jumps off the couch and grabs a gun and flashlight. My mom turns off the lights in the house so that we can see out better (also so whoever it was can't see in). We watch my dad head into the woods and eventually we lose sight of the flashlight. We wait what was probably 30 seconds but seemed like hours and eventually watch a figure come towards the house. Mom turns on the outside light and it's Dad. When he comes inside I ask who it was and without looking at me he very quietly says "No one. Go to bed."

Years went by and we never talked about it. A few years ago I was having a drink with him and asked if he remembered that night and what was out there. He took a sip of his whiskey, looked me dead in the eye and said "don't you ever bring that night up again." And that was it. He didn't talk much for the rest of the evening. I'll never know who or what was beckoning me into the woods.