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CG; Where was this "Encounter" ??? Might I ask???

Forests of Clatsop County over a couple decades ago. In hindsight, it isn't all that surprising because New Age and nature-based religions were all the rage back in that time and place. And I'm not knocking anyone's religious beliefs; it was just not something I was expecting to run into.
 
Easily the most bizarre-o encounter in the woods:
You most likely stumbled upon a Witches' Sabbath - or something worse.....

Many years ago a friend of mine had a yearly 'mens only' weekend camp out on the desert East of Bend. Ya know, shooting, varmint hunting, drinking BSing etc. And after one one of the weekends he had a strange story to tell about it. They were sitting around the fire one night and thought they heard voices off in the distance. They decided to 'cammo up' (my friend was in the ORNG with me at the time) and they hiked off into the darkness toward the sounds.
Well as they got closer he reported hearing 'chanting' and seeing the glow of a fire.
They were keeping concealed and he said they finally saw them kind of down a shallow ravine and described similar to what you did.

Witchcraft, devil worship etc. has had a definite presence in Oregon for a long time.
 
Easily the most bizarre-o encounter in the woods:

A much younger CG, chasing after grouse, with his SxS shotgun broken open over the right arm, running, giggling, and otherwise enjoying life in pursuit of the wily Phasianidæ. I burst into a clearing and see, how do I describe this, a small gathering of adults, in robes, with an ersatz altar with a cup and a long blade, people with arms stretched to the sky saying something in a language I did not comprehend. The sudden intrusion causes them to pause, shocked, and then stare at me. I said something like "Ay, pardon ... pardon me please, I am just hunting. I will go now". Then bowed slightly and bounded off again through the thicket. I have no idea what that was, but I assume some kind of pagan ritual. I was struck by the fact the women were all stunningly beautiful, but the few men were, frankly, not so well composed (think Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons). I felt guilty accidentally interrupting their, I don't know what is the word, but think the equivalent in their religion of a Catholic mass or a Protestant service. As weirded out I was, I have to imagine a silly young man, with a shotgun, bouncing in probably had the same effect to them. (A week later, give or take, I came through the same place; no people, no altar, but found a couple dozen small stones painted, and with runes on them. Hey, your guess is as good as mine. No judgement from this guy; just curious. :D)

That was you!? Sheesh. Ya we finished up and took our hot conscripts out to Sizzler.
 
that is interesting. So I am not the only one to run into such an occurrence. Makes you wonder what goes on outdoors at times.

In hindsight, it isn't all that surprising because New Age and nature-based religions were all the rage back in that time and place.

Yea it seems like around the mid 90's there was a lot of this, more so than now.

Another interesting story - the wife of our part time Company CO of the National Guard unit I was in had formerly been a High Priestess or what ever they are called of a Satan worship group somewhere around the Portland area and had later 'defected' from them.

She later was a guest on the TV talk show 'Town Hall' I think it was called to discuss it with the host & answer questions.
 
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Forests of Clatsop County over a couple decades ago. In hindsight, it isn't all that surprising because New Age and nature-based religions were all the rage back in that time and place. And I'm not knocking anyone's religious beliefs; it was just not something I was expecting to run into.
Your story reminds me of a guy who lived around the Bremerton area of Kitsap County in the 1980's.
He was known to be a little strange, and some of his "hobbies" were going out in the woods with some of his buddies and perform, what we called "Devil worshiping".
Cloaks, altars, animal sacrifices, the whole shebang.
It all kinda hit a head when word got out that he had befriended a nice, if not bit naïve, teenaged girl that we all knew. He invited her out to a "sacrifice" with his buddies out in the woods.
Someone finally got it through her skull that the guy didn't seem to playing with a full deck and that she was most likely the intended sacrifice (he had mentioned to others that he'd always wanted to do a human sacrifice).
She ended up not going though with it.
I think someone let him know that was not a cool thing to do, too, because I don't recall hearing too much more about "devil worship" or "human sacrifices" after that.
...odd people out there.

Dean
 
Wasn't out in the woods but I saw an article in the local paper reporting a strange group of people wearing trench coats lighting fires through out a local park, playing loud music, and involving some children in a strange ceremony. Cops were called but no sign was found of anything like what the people reported.

Now I thought that strange because I was there in that park that evening and saw none of that.

I had brought a troop of scouts to do an OA arrow of light and a cross over for a local Webelos den. We didn't have any real regalia, but I wrapped them in wool blankets, turned a bucket into a drum and played some flute. As the sun set We brought some big candle blazes and set them along the trail, brought in the cubs and parents, had the boys do the ceremony, congratulated the Webelos and sent them back to the den. We cleaned up and left.

We had some local police in our district as parents and troop members. I contacted them about the police report and we all had a laugh. A week or so later they wrote an UPDATE on the strange ceremony in the paper, interviewed the cub master and all was right in the world. Mystery solved.
 
ATM machine, with the lock punched and the contents gone. In the desert near our home in N. Las Vegas. Called the police. They could not have cared less.

Another time I was out shooting and saw smoke over the hill. A short hike up to the berm revealed a car, Honda or Toyota as I recall. Recent model/year, dumped after thieves got what they needed from it, and torched it. Called cops on this too, and the same response.

Property crime in Vegas was that common.
 
Known some witches, pretty cool folks into the elements and nature worship. Devil worshippers are generally deranged people who gather easily influenced people to them. Like say,Charlie Manson. Those types don't play well with others.

On the other hand, wikkans blend in to mainstream society. Could be your tax guy, hairdresser, lawyer, or your aunt with all those cats. All deplore blood sacrifice of any kind. More into life and living.

Some are really good at woodcraft, they know what plants are dangerous, and what will keep you alive. They move through the forest leaving little trace, for them it's reverence.

It's just a different way of being religious.
 
All I remember is that when Ozzy was in full rat biting mode, devil worshipping was in FULL SWING.
I think Ozzy was inspired by Alice Cooper and the infamous Chicken incident.
Cooper had planned to let some kind of bird loose during one of his songs and watch it fly away.
It was supposed to be a beautiful thing.
For whatever reason, the "bird" ended up bein a chicken.
Cooper didn't think too much of it and threw it out at the predetermined time.
Apparently the crowd was really spun up at that point of the show and when the chicken landed in the audience, THEY TORE IT TO SHREDS and threw all the bloody pieces back onto the stage.
….and thus began Alice Cooper's infamous reputation for biting the heads off of chickens during his shows.

Apologies for the off-topic comment. Just wanted to add to Oregonhunter's post...back to the topic....

Dean
 
I think Ozzy was inspired by Alice Cooper and the infamous Chicken incident.
Cooper had planned to let some kind of bird loose during one of his songs and watch it fly away.
It was supposed to be a beautiful thing.
For whatever reason, the "bird" ended up bein a chicken.
Cooper didn't think too much of it and threw it out at the predetermined time.
Apparently the crowd was really spun up at that point of the show and when the chicken landed in the audience, THEY TORE IT TO SHREDS and threw all the bloody pieces back onto the stage.
….and thus began Alice Cooper's infamous reputation for biting the heads off of chickens during his shows.

Apologies for the off-topic comment. Just wanted to add to Oregonhunter's post...back to the topic....

Dean
Cool info!
The 70's and 80's has a lot of weird crap going on. At the same time? I miss those years. The late 70's were awesome
 
Went into a cave out in the Burns area near Malheur. The cave went back for a couple hundred yards and ended in a pool of water that went underground. Near the pool was a set of bleachers and an altar. We later found out that it was used for Masonic ceremonies.
 
Went into a cave out in the Burns area near Malheur. The cave went back for a couple hundred yards and ended in a pool of water that went underground. Near the pool was a set of bleachers and an altar. We later found out that it was used for Masonic ceremonies.
If you go to the back of Bear cave outside Bend, there's a tight crawlway you can take to a secret room. But the last time we went the water level was high and that crawlway was flooded.
 

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