I honestly can't believe I'd forgotten about this. This happened back in the fall of either 2002 or 2003 when I was around 12 or 13 years old near Clinton Lake in Kansas on a Boy Scout campout. I still go backpacking and camping a lot, but this was the last camping trip I remember attending before moving states.

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We arrived at our campsite on a Friday, and planned on staying through Saturday and leaving Sunday morning. I remember us having to set our tents up in the rain Friday evening, but Saturday was sunny and gorgeous. I don't remember every precise detail, but right before we went out to hike that morning, an old van (perhaps a late 70s model) pulled into a campsite within view of ours. These guys were Hippies with a capital H, and that was my first exposure to what weed smells like when some of us asked if a skunk was nearby. They were too far away for us to hear any specific conversations, but even the adult leaders found this to be a funny sight. One of the leaders I think went over there to ask that they stop using drugs in front of us or to move camp sites.

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When we got back from our day hike, those hippies were still at the same camp site and so baked, they couldn't play their instruments with any skill. Here's where it got weird. By the time the sun was setting, the group of stoners had completely ditched their hippie attire, and had dressed in total goth style. Some had makeup that made their faces unnaturally pale, others had black trench coats on, and they must have had a stereo, because all we could hear over there was grunge metal playing.

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That night after we cooked and ate dinner, all the scouts, including myself, headed out into an open area of the camp grounds to play Capture the Flag. We collectively established the boundaries, which were still pretty close to the group of now goths, but it gave us a different angle of view to their site. I doubt they had any idea we were there, since we played with no flashlights. By this point, the grunge metal had been replaced by this creepy, ominous opera music. I succumbed to curiosity, but I wasn't about to sneak into their camp site. I just crept a little closer to see what they were doing. They had made a large campfire, beyond legal limits, and I couldn't see any of the group. On a tree, I saw something that had me initially freaked out, but I figured they were still feeling the weed (and any other drugs they may have taken) for this to be real, and continued to play. I think we only played one game, then retired to our tents.

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At some point in the middle of the night, all of our adult leaders woke us up, and told us to quickly and quietly pack up our things, take down our tents, and get back to the bus. As we were packing everything up, we couldn't help but notice the bonfire was still going strong, but the music had stopped and we heard people talking. The tone didn't sound like casual conversation, either, but I couldn't hear specific words; I don't know how to describe it. Once everyone and everything was in the bus, the driver got us the hell out of there. The adults were abnormally quiet, and the scouts had congregated to the back of the bus. I don't remember if one of us told the adults about those guys, but we knew it had to have been regarding that strange group. A fellow scout from the other CTF team had also tried sneaking into their campsite, and saw the same thing I did. Ever since, I'm inclined to think what we saw was real, and a reason for us cutting the trip short. Hanging from the tree, he and I saw a decapitated dog and two severed human legs. I never learned anything more about that night.

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