re: Strangest thing you have ever seen outdoors?

Have had a couple of creepy things happen in the woods, but this one was up there in the creep factor.

My Dad and I are into metal detecting and have found a lot of cool stuff. Fortunately, our family owns a lot a land on/near the Savannah River - land which is rich in history from colonial-era houses to Civil War stuff.

One day a few years ago we were detecting on my Aunt's land - which has a big pine field (roughly a couple hundred acres or so) bordered on one side by creek and otherwise pretty much surrounded by big, old oak trees. Next to the creek and high up on the bank is an old grave that is barely readable, but the date (1824)is plain. Also, this is deep into my family's land and no one has permission to be there except us.

It was a fall day and in a very dry period. Even though it was a pine field, there were some small hardwoods mixed in. The ground was so dry that it was next to impossible to walk without making a sound. The pines were fairly tall and when a good breeze came through, it just added to creepiness factor.

I was in the middle of the field and Dad was over near where the gravesite was. I was not really paying attention to anything else than where my detector was going and where I was stepping, when the hair on back of my neck stood up - ever felt like someone was watching? Well, that is the feeling that I had. I looked up and saw what appeared to be someone in grey (I would go as far to say it looked like those old Civil War clothes) walking among the trees no more than 30 yards from me. The odd thing was, is that there was no sound whatsoever - not a crackle of dry leaves, nothing. I only got a fairly short glimpse of it - and it appeared to turn and look at me before disappearing into the trees. That really unnerved me and when I got back to where Dad was, he said he hadn't seen or heard anyone.

There was another occasion when we were detecting there that I had the same feeling but didn't see anyone.