This happened around 3 years ago and thinking about it still makes me feel uneasy. I live in a rural area surrounded by a nature conservation area. There are many nice paths and it’s a great peaceful and quiet place to go for walks, ride bikes,…. On this day I decided to take my dog for a walk there in the evening.

I didn’t wanna go that far. For some reason I decided to leave my phone at home (even though I usually take it with me, just in case). Everything was going well and, as usual, I barely met anyone. At some point I got to my favorite spot, a wooded area. There is a field behind it and I planned on walking all the way to the end. Then I wanted to turn around and take the same way home.

As I continued walking after i made it through the wooded area, my dog started acting strange. She kept looking back and didn’t want to go on. I thought she had spotted a deer or a rabbit and wasn’t concerned. I didn’t look around right away. But then she let out a little growl/bark. I had never heard her do that before. I turn around and sure enough…there is a man standing on the edge of the wooded area/field like maybe 10 meters next to the path. He was fully clothed and didn’t move. He was just staring at us.

My heart was pounding. No matter where I would go, I would still be in a secluded area for a while. I didn’t think and just started walking quickly towards the end of the field. My dog still wasn’t having it. When I turned around after getting a bit further away, he had also moved. Now he was standing on the field, still staring intensely. That’s when I really knew we had to get going. I didn’t look back until we got to the end of the field. Because of some trees, my view was obstructed. I couldn’t see him and my dog seemed a bit calmer. Obviously I didn’t want to stop for more than a few seconds though. From there on, I decided to take the the path that would take me to some part of my town the quickest. We literally ran and I was so relieved when we made it „back to civilization”. I have no idea what his intention was. I’m just proud of my dog for alerting me.