Real Encounters

*Click Click*

Okay, so I just found this subreddit today and thought this would be the perfect place to put something that's been happening the last two weeks. Quick note, I'm 18 and male and my dad is 55.

I have a pet lab/chow mix that's about three years old. He used to stay in the house, but got too big and my dad didn't want him inside anymore. I had to make a dog house for him in our backyard. Anyways, I live in a pretty rural area in the US and there's six houses and a lot of trees where I live. Our backyard is actually on the edge of a small forest.

About two weeks ago, when we decided to make a doghouse and all for my dog, I hated the idea of it. He's always been a good and loyal dog that I've absolutely loved, so I would always make sure to spend a good hour or so every night outside with him as he got used to sleeping outside. During the day he ran errands with me for the most part, so he was really only out back at night.

After the first two days of me being with him out there, I would hear a sound coming from the small forest. Every time I heard the sound, my dog would bark. I figured it was the sound of a cricket or some sort of other small animal that did it. It would happen at random intervals so I didn't suspect much. After about four days, I kept hearing the noises and my dog, Simon would sure enough bark in reply. I started getting agitated with him because I thought he'd wake and upset the neighbors, so I patted him to make him relax a bit. It wasn't until I patted him that I noticed just how shaken up he was and how his fur almost stood up. Since he's a black dog, you can't see him very well at night.

This continued on every night for the rest of the week and I got so tired of it, I asked a friend if he'd lend me his spotlight so I could pinpoint where the sound was coming from. So the following night, I was out with my dog on my back porch (I should mention my backyard is relatively large) and sure enough I heard the click click sound. I pulled out the spotlight and aimed it at the spot I heard it coming from, and i was shocked by what exactly I saw.

The spotlight shown on an elderly man probably in his 50's or 60's with a greasy looking grey beard and ripped pants, but no shirt. I was pretty surprised and I'm sure he was too. As I was about to say something, my voice got caught in my throat and the man almost tripped trying to run away. I was a little freaked out and I didn't know what to do, so I let my dog in for the night. I really didn't feel right about what I saw so I told my dad and we called the police. It was around 11 PM and when they showed up and I gave a description and they went off to take a look, but didn't find much considering how dark it was and they couldn't go very far in.

The next night was relatively silent, until I went to bed. At around midnight, I heard Simon barking again and went outside to investigate. I turned the spotlight on and I saw the same fucking man with what looked like a shard of glass or mirror in his hand right on the other side of our fence. I yelled at him and told him to get the fuck away from my house and I heard a hysterical laughter from him as he ran away. At that point I was really worried, considering we've only been living in the area about 4 months and lived in a relatively safe and populated place my whole life. We called the police again and again they searched with no results, but told me they'd investigate in the morning when it's brighter outside.

When they came and looked the next day, it turned out that there was a tent about half a mile into the small forest that they suspect the man I saw was probably living in. They found small bones all over the place and what looked like cat skulls and other small animal skulls. I never had a direct encounter with the man, but I'm honestly starting to believe the man's homeless and has been trying to get my dogs attention every night to kill and eat him or some other sick plan. I've been so stressed the last week worrying that something might happen to him. There wasn't much the police has been able to do since there doesn't seem to be any way of finding him.

It's been about a week since I've heard the sinister clicking, so I'm hoping he got the hint and packed up, but he just looked so mentally deranged. I'm almost sick to my stomach thinking of him doing anything to my dog or anyone else's animal.