A couple who went on a hike might not be so quick to return after they spotted a creepy detail in a photo they took...
Going hiking can be a great way to spend the weekend because it gets you out and about enjoying nature.
It's also pretty good for the body...
But if you were looking for something to put you off going for a hike, then look no further because I've got you covered.
Duffy Springfield, a Purdue University student, had gone hiking in Panther, West Virginia, with her boyfriend in March.
When she later developed the film, a peculiar image left the couple with chills.
"I like to do film photography, and my boyfriend and I were making a scrapbook of all the developed photos I took. I just kinda saw it—I’m not really sure how I even noticed it since it’s such a small detail," Springfield explained to Newsweek.
The unsettling find resembled a "hand" near a structure in the background, a detail that Springfield and her boyfriend immediately agreed looked odd.
“We both agreed it was weird and thought it even looked a little like a hand. Honestly, we were pretty excited when we saw it because of all the cryptids said to lurk in the West Virginian mountains. Even if it’s not actually a hand, it’s a fun story to have,” she said.
In local folklore, cryptids - legendary creatures reported by locals but lacking scientific evidence - are woven into West Virginia’s rich history.
The state’s best-known cryptid is the Mothman, a winged creature with glowing red eyes, first reported in Point Pleasant in 1966.
Other mysterious creatures include the Flatwoods Monster, sighted in 1952 and described as a humanoid figure with a red face and green body, and the Snarly Yow, a ghostly dog-like creature reportedly haunting the Blue Ridge Mountains since the 1700s.
The lesser-known but equally bizarre Ogua, a turtle-like creature, and the plant-like Vegetable Man, rumored to have thorny fingers, are part of the state’s strange legacy as well.
Curious about what she might have captured, Springfield posted the image on Reddit, hoping for answers.
“My boyfriend and I aren’t really sure what to think,” she wrote.
Springfield continued: “We went to a state park in West Virginia during off-season. According to the park ranger (and the conditions of the hiking trails), we were the only ones there for the week and had been the first there in a while.
"I took this pic at the top of the mountain. Behind the pillar should have been nothing, a drop-off to the woods below. Are we bugging? That really looks like a hand.”
The eerie post quickly drew attention, with one Reddit user asking how big the structure was that the hand appeared to be gripping.
Springfield replied that it was about four feet tall. The comment section buzzed with theories, with one user suggesting the “hand” might just be an unusual fungus, but others seemed unsettled.
“Could be fungus, but yeah that really looks like a hand,” one person commented. Another user urged: “Go back, it’s the only way to be sure. It’d bother you for the rest of your life otherwise.”
Personally, I would never go back.
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