The woods and the water are beautiful and soothing, though they also have the capacity to be humbling and downright frightening at times. We asked our contributors for their scary campfire stories and here’s what they had to say.
Gord Ellis: Friends and I were going to a fly-in lake north of Lake Nipigon for a week. The outfitter told us before we went “you need to know there is a wendigo on the lake.” I knew a little about the lore of the wendigo and that it was a mythological, cannibalistic being that originated from the folklore of Algonquian-speaking tribes. Later that night, during a lull in the conversation, the quiet crackle of the fire was broken by a blood-curdling cry from across the lake. I’ve never heard a sound like it again.
Jeff Helsdon: Waterfowl hunters can be caught in scary weather, particularly when hunting over big water. On Lake Erie, in a 14-foot punt boat with a shallow draft, water was soon coming over the sides, despite our being in a protected bay. My hunting partner suggested walking the boat in, which soon had us safely on shore, albeit later than planned.
Jeff Gustafson: Several years ago I was waiting to pick friends up at night by boat. It was nearly dark and I was in a cedar swamp, which are creepy by nature anyway. A pack of wolves starting fully going off just over the hill from where I was. I hotfooted it, and was happy to be back in the boat!
Geoff Coleman: Fishing a run on Oshawa Creek just after sunrise, I saw a heavily armed and uniformed police officer holding up a photo. Three more officers and a German shepherd appeared from the near darkness, so I waded back wondering if I was breaking some obscure fish and game law. Instead, they asked if I had seen the guy in the photo. Oshawa had experienced its seventh murder of the year the night before, and the suspect was last seen in the vicinity of where I was fishing. I left, deciding if he was still around, he could have the spot.
Ken Doherty: My only true scare happened years ago in Northwestern Ontario while moose hunting. It was still dark when I finally reached my watch just below the brow of a rocky peak overlooking a new cut. I had just settled into my chair when a lone wolf let out a long loud eerie howl at the peak mere yards above and behind me, just to let me know I wasn’t alone.
Jason Bain: One night, I dreamed about a time my cousin and I came upon a pair of bear cubs in the woods after a day of fishing. Startled, they scrambled up a tree. As I ran, my tackle box burst open, scattering its contents across the forest floor. That’s when I woke. Standing outside my bedroom door was a dark shape that, for a split second, I was certain was an approaching bear. Later that morning, I learned that my grandfather had died sometime during the night. He was an at-times cantankerous hunter whose spirit animal — if there ever was such a thing — was almost certainly a bruin.
Sharon: I was hunting on the top of a big hill. Suddenly the branch over my head fell on me. Someone below was hunting groundhog and had shot at the branch. I hunkered down, and when I looked back, he was gone.
Glen: Jack and I were driving from Nakina back to Cambridge when a wolf came out on the highway and danced around on the road a little. Jack relayed that his deceased brother Ray’s totem animal was the wolf. We continued driving when out of nowhere the police rounded the corner in high-speed pursuit of someone. Had that wolf not slowed us down I am sure we would have been turning and been in a wreck.
Have you encountered anything weird in the outdoors? Send us your story: web@oodmag.com
Originally published in Ontario Out of Doors' Hunting Annual 2026-2027
