The Hidebehind

Imagine a creature stalking you in the woods, giving you the feeling that something is lurking behind you, only to constantly evade your eyes by quickly hiding behind a nearby tree.

That, in essence, is the Hidebehind. Since the 19th century, the Hidebehind has terrorized Native Americans, loggers, and now hikers in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

But, how believable is the Hidebehind cryptid? Listen now.

What if you were walking in the woods and heard a twig snap behind you?

What if you turned to see just a sliver of someone or something duck behind the nearest tree?

What would you do if you heard a familiar voice call out your name while you were alone in the woods?

What is up, Bizarros?! This week, we look behind us as we try to see the Hidebehind.

What is the Hidebehind?

The Hidebehind is a nocturnal humanoid-ish creature, typically found in the Pacific Northwest United States, that is known to prey on humans who find themselves lost and stumbling around the woods in the nighttime hours.

Weird noises, distant footsteps, and strange figures are often attributed to the Hide-Behind.

Its lore goes back to early Native American sightings, and it is also blamed for the disappearances of folks in early logging communities in the 19th century when they failed to return to camp.

Loggers would travel, meet up, and swap stories. Some of those creepier stories involved the hidebehind.

As its name implies, it is able to quickly evade human vision and scurry behind objects to conceal itself, more often than not, trees.

Some people have claimed to see it just ever so slightly peeking around a tree at them.

But, due to this nature, it makes the actual physical description of the hide-behind a little difficult to report on.

Loggers working the area would describe them as ferocious, humanoid animals with black shaggy fur and incredibly sharp claws that stood over six feet tall but were so slender they could slip behind tree trunks as small as ten inches in diameter.

Others said their bodies were covered with thick black pelts of long hair, and they had a long curved tail.

Some people have claimed that it is simply a gangly black shadow; others say it can take on the form of a person – occasionally described as a skeletal old woman.

Potentially a shape shifter due to so many different reports?

Regardless, the creature is able to manipulate its body to perfectly hide behind even skinny trees.

Here is an excerpt from “Forbidden Land” by Robert R. Lyman:

“The native Americans told about the hide-behind, the most dreaded of strange, forest animals. No one ever saw one of the creatures because they always hid behind a tree. But everyone knew that they often follow travelers through the woods.

If a person was afraid of them and kept looking back, the hide-behind would torment them into a panic. Old woodsmen said the only way to overcome the fear of the hide-behind was to ignore them.”

Here Are Some Theories On What Happens If A Hidebehind Catches You

Some believe the hidebehind actually laughed as they disemboweled their prey with long claws that were said to do the job with a single swipe. Urban legends say the hidebehind’s favorite snack is human intestines, and they prefer their victims alive while devouring them.

Other theories are they would gash you just enough to immobilize you and then take you back to their dwelling to devour you

Finally, some believe that it is a master manipulator, constantly driving up your fear and anxiety so that when you finally turn around and see it you actually have a heart attack or die of fright.

What Are The Hidebehinds Weakness?

Hidebehinds have an aversion to alcohol. For some reason, it hates the smell or taste of alcohol, or he has decided to live a sober life and wants nothing to do with the stuff.

Hidebehind Encounters

I’m an Animal Control Expert Who Specializes in Cryptids. One Cryptid is Entering Human Homes More Often Than Usual. This is a PSA.

For years, I was the guy to call if you had a squirrel in your attic.

I mean, to a lot of people, I’m still that guy, but over the last 20 years, I’ve branched out to other less common infestations.

Now I’m the guy you call if there is a haunted doll rummaging through your attic or a sasquatch trampling your flowerbeds.

I love my job. The specializations I’ve acquired have allowed me to travel across the country, meet incredible people, and experience cryptids like few have ever done before.

It doesn’t hurt that the pay is great, but the stories are even better.

I have one short story for you now; it’s more of a public service announcement than anything else, really.

I’ve dealt with every sort of infestation from Sasquatches (spray Human urine around the area of sighting, and it will avoid the area), and Demonic Presences (Usually need to bring a priest in.

Sometimes can be tricked into inhabiting a lesser creature, like a frog), but recently, there has been one cryptid that has been growing more and more invasive into human settlements – The Hidebehind.

Most commonly found in the forests of the Northern United States and Canada, the Hidebehind is one cryptid that cannot easily be dealt with. In fact, I’m not sure it’s even possible for one of these to be bagged and tagged like we normally would with other cryptids.

To my knowledge, no Hidebehind has ever been killed, maimed, dazed, or even simply removed from a residence.

First documented by the Native Americans, then by Lumberjacks in the PNW of America, the hidebehind is one of the lesser known cryptids on the continent, but without a doubt, one of the most dangerous.

No one really knows what they look like. As the name suggests, as soon as they are seen, they quickly duck out of view to hide behind anything in the vicinity.

In the wild, this would be trees and rocks; in your home, this could be a corner, a kitchen cabinet, a television, or literally anything else, as they can manipulate their body to hide behind an object of any size.

In the few accounts of the sightings we have on record, they have been described as everything from a large bear/lion hybrid to a frail and elderly woman with long arms and rashes on her skin.

Because of this wide discrepancy in their descriptions, they are believed to be shapeshifters who can change their shape based on what they believe will best get their potential victim to come closer and investigate the sighting.

I don’t know why the Hidebehinds are moving into the suburbs. I’d guess the destruction of their natural habitat, but it is becoming a real problem. That’s why I am going to share this story with you now, so you know what to do if one shows up in your home.

I pulled up to Tim’s house around 12 p.m. on a Tuesday. He had called in to tell us there was a ‘demonic entity’ in his house, and we needed to remove it ASAP.

They always demand ASAP. People are so much more demanding than they were 20 years ago.

I took a quick look around the house, and it was pretty apparent there wasn’t any sort of demon in his residence.

Not only was there no reaction to the holy water I had brought with me, but Tim also didn’t have normal symptoms of a demonic haunting – bad dreams, sleep paralysis, or the witnessing of any telekinetic events.

After further questioning, he described what he had seen in more detail:

First, I was sitting right there on the couch watching television when I got the feeling I was being watched. I turned my attention to the screen door, and for just a second, I saw a bear looking in through the screen, but it wasn’t a bear, you see? A bear would just keep on staring at me or keep poking at the door, but this thing just ducked out of view as quickly as can be, like it was trying to sneak up on me, and I had caught it in the act. It bothered me something awful, but I just grabbed my gun, set it on my lap, and kept on watching the TV, and eventually, that feeling, like I was being watched, just kinda melted off.

It was all peaches and cream until she showed up a few days later.

The ‘She’ Tim was referring to was a new ‘human’ form that the hidebehind was taking.

I assume it was because of the lack of a reaction to the ‘bear’ form it had previously shown itself as.

Like I said earlier, the Hidebehind wants you to look for it, to come nearer; like the Angler Fish, it dangles something in front of you in an attempt to bring you closer. It’s a lazy hunter.

I was out in the garage in my workshop, and that feeling come over me again, that bein’ watched feeling. I turn around, and I’m looking out the garage door, and I don’t see nothing… but then out of nowhere, I see a lady’s head and shoulder pop out from the corner of the garage, and the second she sees me eyeing her she pops right back around the corner where she came from.

Well, this time, I went looking ‘round for her. I gave a wide berth around the corner cause I lived in New York City for a year in the ’70s, so I’ve seen crazy people, and she looked crazy, and I didn’t want her grabbing me. So, I slowly took a wide turn around that corner, and there wasn’t no one there. I walked all around the house and I didn’t see anyone. Not even footprints. Tell me that ain’t demonic.

It wasn’t demonic. It was a hidebehind, and I told the man as such. I told him living out here on the edge of town made him an easy target for it.

I told him that there really isn’t any way to get rid of them or scare them off.

I told him he could try to leave his house for a year at minimum and maybe, with luck, it would leave on its own, but the best bet would be for him to burn the place down and never come back.

He didn’t like that answer.

My family lived in this house for 3 generations. I ain’t leaving, and I sure as hell ain’t burning nothing down. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll keep my shotgun on me, and when I get that feeling again, I’ll shoot it. Works for bears, and that’s the meanest thing ‘round these parts. Don’t see why it wouldn’t work for this- what’d you call it?- hidebehind.

You can’t argue with anyone over the age of 65; people get set in their ways, and their beliefs calcify, so instead, I was honest with him. I told him two things:

The first thing I told him was that eventually, he’d get that feeling that he was being watched, and he’d get his gun, and he’d start looking around for the Hidebehind, only he wouldn’t find it.

That’s what happens in all these cases because, at that point, it found the best hiding spot it can possibly get, the only place you won’t be able to lay eyes on it, even if you tried – directly behind you. And at that point, it’s too late for you.

The second thing I told him was that I’d be back in two days, and more than likely, he’d be dead.

And then I left.

Two days later, I pulled my van up Tim’s driveway to find the screen door open and blowing in the wind.

I didn’t even need to cross the threshold of his house to find him. He was everywhere. On the floor, the ceiling, the walls. The smell was unbelievable.

I poured some gasoline on the front porch and lit it with a match. The house was an inferno within 30 seconds.

I got in my van and started to pull out of the driveway. I took one last look at the house and then beyond it out into the tree line where I saw, for just a split second, a young boy before he quickly pulled back and disappeared behind a thin little tree.

I was hundreds of miles away by lunchtime.

I say all of this to tell you, if you ever think you might have a Hidebehind in your house or even in the area, leave.

Burn the place down if you can so new people don’t move it. These things are like bears, if they know they can get food someplace, they are just going to keep coming back.

And if you get the feeling that you’re being watched and you can’t figure out why, call your loved ones because it’s standing directly behind you.

Hidebehind Encounter #2

I saw a skinny humanoid creature in the woods covered in long black hair before sunrise.

There was just enough light to see this thing run behind a tree at unfathomable swiftness.

I froze and waited for it to come out. It never moved, so I ran home.

This is my first time hearing of a hide-behind, but it fits almost too well. I also took photos on a couple of separate occasions of footprints that are not to any animal in NC.

Three deep dots of what I assume to be claws. At the time, I assumed they were bear prints, but after I realized how wrong I was. I saw the creature back in 2017.

Hidebehind Encounter #3

Whenever my brother and I came home late for dinner, our Dad would tell us about the hidebehinds.

These creatures, he would say, would follow hikers as they walked through the woods. At the crack of a branch, you’d turn around, but there’d be nothing there.

Then, out of the corner of your eye, you might see a dark shape sprint behind a tree. Soon, your paranoia escalates, and you’re running through the woods. But there is no escape, he’d say.

The hide-behind would follow you until your heart stopped from fright.

And I believed him, the child that I was. For a while, I’d never stay in the woods for too long or too late. And I was never late for dinner.

But, I soon grew out of such fantasies. There were other, real dangers of the woods to fear: getting lost or preyed upon by bears, for instance. The hide-behind seemed immature now.

Yet, every now and then, when I’d linger in the woods after twilight, a dark shape darting behind a tree would catch my eye. For an instant, my heart would skip a beat, but I dismissed them as deer or simply paranoia. I didn’t want to believe it.

I should’ve listened to my instincts.

There’s a reason people have an innate fear of the woods. There is a reason we feel like something is following us when we hike home after dark. Like my childhood nightmares come to life, I found myself lost in the woods one day as the sun went down.

I walked as fast as I could through the thick woods, trying to get my bearings. I ended up doubling back just to catch a glimpse of something behind a tree. Perhaps that was the right way, after all.

I turned around and continued. Faster and Faster. I looked back, and there it was again, but this time, it lingered in the open just for a second longer before disappearing behind the trees.

Now, I began running. My heart raced, the the thorns of the brush tore at my legs. I needed to go faster and faster, but my legs were on fire. They couldn’t take me any further.

I prayed for it to all be over.

I don’t know how I survived that night or what willpower kept me going. But somehow, I evaded that terrible creature until sunrise, when I got back to civilization.

It was a while before I went into the woods again. There’s a reason people fear the woods. These creatures, these incarnations of paranoia, have haunted humans for as long as we have walked in the woods.

My advice to anyone in the woods after dark: don’t look behind you.

Hidebehind Encounter #4

I’ve actually seen a hide-behind or a shadow being, as I call them (God’s honest truth). I live alone in different woodlands; basically, I live in a tent, and I have done it for a few years now!

I’ve had 3 paranormal encounters deep, deep in the woods. I camp in some woodlands that are miles from other humans; I’m always alone. I live alone. I don’t have access to psychedelics; caffeine is my only drug!

One thing you should never do is acknowledge them with speech!

It became a bit fascinating with me! It would move my stuff around and play with it when I was asleep!

I’ve since moved many miles from that particular forest!

If you shine a light on them, they just become a shadow. It’s like they are the darkness, but if you talk to them and stand your ground, they get impatient and will peep round the trees at you!

They have no face; they are just like an animated shadow.

If you chase them or move forward to the tree they are hiding behind. They move to another tree and are extremely fast. They don’t move like we do. They become or are the shadows.

I set up a trip light at the front of my tent 2 feet from the ground, with a motion sensor.

High enough that mice couldn’t set it off, and you had to be 2 to 3 feet away to break the beam on the sensor! So, no deer or owl in the distance could set it off!

I positioned it at the door of my tent all night. It tripped the light on, off, on, off! Every time I unzipped the tent, there was nothing there.

No mice, no foxes or Badgers, just nothing! I’d close the tent, and 10 seconds later, the light would be back on, off, on, off like it was walking round my tent!

Crazy! I’m a fearless person. I don’t really get frightened, and I think that’s why It was interested in me because I chased it and would talk to it! I had a feeling somehow that she was female.

I didn’t feel threatened. I don’t really have fear; I wanted to talk to it. It only creeped me out as I knew it was there. Everything in your body tells you it’s there! It starts with that feeling like you’re being watched!

Which I rarely ever get when I’m camping. But that was the first sign: something was lurking always at night! I had a 1000-lumen headtorch. That’s how I could see it peeping! Hold your torch still, and you will see it moving, not you!

I’ve only ever seen this hide-behind creature twice in the woods.

The other two encounters are for another time.

Hidebehind Encounter #5

Back when I was 14 years old, my friends and I had an end-of-summer bonfire.

It was just a way to sort of have a last hurrah before summer parties and late video game nights were over, and we were back to early school classes and homework.

Anyway, there were about seven of us, if I remember correctly, and we played some video games like HALO, but we also went outside and had a bonfire.

My parent’s house was next to a big stretch of woods that, honestly, I never explored too much in my childhood, but while making smores and talking about random stuff, we got the idea to play a form of hide and seek in the woods.

Two people hide, and the other 5 have to go search for them. If you find them, you scream I found the witch; then everyone has to dash back to the fire pit, which was the safe zone. If one of the two people hiding tagged you before you reached the fire pit, you had to hide and were “it.”

Anyway, we played for about 30 minutes, and it was a ton of fun. To be honest, I wasn’t scared and never felt anything creepy.

Until the last round.

I was looking for my friends hiding, and I split up from everyone else.

As I’m walking around my eyes have finally adjusted more so to the night in the woods by now, and the moonlight that was hidden behind the clouds came out.

I heard a strange clicking sound and started heading that way to investigate.

I’m looking straight ahead, and honestly, I’m shocked. Clear as day, I saw someone hiding behind a tree. Like, obviously.

In my mind, I waited a second, almost out of pity, to give whoever it was hiding a chance to readjust.

Looking back now, the shadow was way too tall and didn’t fit the build of any 13-year-old, at least none of my friends.

But, I started cheating a few steps back toward the fire pit and let out a bellowing “I FOUND THE WITCH!”

I looked back, expecting to see one of my friends chasing after me. I saw the shadow flinch, but it tucked itself further behind the tree.

As I got back to the fire pit, everyone was confused. They asked me how I could have seen them; they were hiding nowhere near where I came out from.

I thought they were just messing with me, but a couple of other friends confirmed their story as they witnessed them exiting the woods far from where I was at.

I was speechless.

I told them about what I saw, and it freaked a few of them out, so we only stayed outside a little longer and then eventually went back inside to sleep.

It wasn’t until years later that I read about the Hidebehind.

It immediately brought this memory back to me. Could that be what I saw? It’s hard to tell, but with any of this stuff, you never really know.

Is The Hidebehind Real?

What do you think, Bizarros?

Is the Hidebehind a mysterious creature that hunts its human prey in the woods of the Pacific Northwest?

Or are people catching glimpses of powerful animals as they run through the woods?

Let us know in the comments if you’d be brave enough to walk in the woods alone at dusk with the threat of a hidebehind slowly stalking you.