Deep in the forests of America, something moves in the shadows. You won’t see it. No one ever does. But you’ll feel it—that creeping sensation that something is standing just out of sight, watching.
The Hidebehind is an old legend, passed down by lumberjacks and frontiersmen who spent long nights in the wilderness, surrounded by towering trees and the eerie quiet of the deep woods. Some called it a joke, a way to haze newcomers to logging camps. Others swore it was real—a creature so fast, so unnatural, that it could always slip behind the nearest tree before you could turn to look.
And if you ever do see it? You don’t live long enough to tell anyone.
What Is the Hidebehind?
Descriptions of the Hidebehind are rare, for obvious reasons—no one who has seen it has survived. Those who have felt its presence describe it as something tall, thin, and unnaturally fast, capable of pressing its body against trees in a way that makes it completely invisible. It doesn’t make a sound. It doesn’t leave tracks. It simply waits.
It preys on those who wander too far from the group, those foolish enough to enter the woods alone. A rustling in the underbrush, a sense of movement in your peripheral vision—that’s all the warning you’ll get. By the time you turn around, it’s already moved behind another tree, just out of sight.
According to old logging camp stories, the Hidebehind doesn’t just kill its victims—it drags them deep into the woods, where their bodies are never found.
Where Did the Legend Begin?
The first stories of the Hidebehind go back to the 1800s, when loggers and pioneers began pushing into the vast, unbroken forests of North America. These men worked in some of the most remote places imaginable, surrounded by miles of dense, untouched wilderness.
It’s no surprise that strange tales emerged—figures moving in the darkness, unseen forces causing men to disappear without a trace. Some believe the Hidebehind was invented as a story to explain real disappearances. People vanished in the woods all the time. Accidents happened. Wild animals attacked. But the Hidebehind gave those unexplained vanishings something more sinister.
Even today, people go missing in the woods at an alarming rate. Search-and-rescue teams sometimes find no tracks, no evidence of an animal attack, nothing at all—just a person gone without a trace.
How to Survive a Hidebehind Encounter
Lumberjacks had a strange theory about how to protect yourself from the Hidebehind. According to them, the creature has one weakness—alcohol. A man who had been drinking, even just a little, was said to be immune to its attacks.
Some took this as an excuse to stay drunk in camp—but others believed the logic behind it. Maybe it had something to do with reaction time—a slightly intoxicated person doesn’t whip their head around as fast, meaning the Hidebehind doesn’t have time to move. Or maybe it’s something deeper, something the creature fears.
No one knows for sure. But if you ever find yourself deep in the woods, far from civilization, and you start to feel that creeping sense that you’re not alone… you might want to take a drink.
Just in case.