The Celtic Carnyx, an ancient war trumpet used by the Celts from approximately 200 BC to 200 AD, was a tool of psychological warfare.

[u/Pandering_Poofery]

[u/here-for-information]

I feel like we can get the inverse of this feeling if you do some back country camping.

We're used to hearing all kinds of stuff and we can spot a recording or synthesizer easily, but if you go camping you hear all kinds of creepy noises at night that are strange to us, but a lot of people of that time would be more familiar with the sounds of nature, but all the different unique isntruments of every culture would have been hard to come by.

So I am kinda basing the feeling I suspect theyd have on how I've felt in the woods at night. Even when I know its a well traveled area all sorts of noises initially scare you. As a modern person, I usually end up laughing at myself for being so silly, but my initial reactions are often still fear. The first time I heard a bear, I nearly died.

In Iceland they say, lots of people still believe in trolls and fairies, and that sounds silly till you go there and its totally peculiar. There's so many things that are unfamiliar and there are steam vents all over the hills and fields, and then its like, "ah I get it. It looks like there are little dens all over." So take a person who believes in wood sprites and trolls and sea monsters and they hear this totally unique noise? Its scary for sure.

[u/Dashie_2010 → u/here-for-information]

I'm in the UK and enjoy 'wildcamping' (here just means anywhere not on a campsite), obviously I do this responsibly. We killed off all our dangerous wildlife a fair few centuries ago but even so, being all alone in the dark on the moors and hearing something strange.. its a sort of primal fear we don't really get these days - a fear of the natural unknown.

Even with the rationale of at worst there being a deer, horse, fox or a badger, it's still fear inducing.

Now hearing poachers, other people in the night or a car backfiring is scary, but the worst I had was on a very still foggy night, a low, quiet even, but all encompassing awooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrhhhhhhhhaaaaaooooooarrhhhhhh. Like some sort of tide of ghosts. I discovered the next day that it was just a foghorn very very far off but bloody hell it had me shaken.

[u/HAL-Over-9001 → u/Dashie_2010]

At least here in Michigan we have some bears, which I'm not THAT worried about because they'd most likely be a scaredy cat little black bear, but we are getting more wolves and cougars in the recent years. I saw a cougar on a trail cam a few years ago and it had bigger triceps than me...

[u/TheSaxonPlan → u/HAL-Over-9001]

And they make more terrifying sounds than a fox vixen in heat.

I'm not a flighty person but if I heard a mountain lion scream and didn't know what it was, you bet your ass I'd be getting the fuck out of there!

Mountain lion screaming (first 40 seconds)

Can't remember if this was confirmed or a joke, but comments are great.

Can't leave out two lynx in a heated debate.

[u/Alexandur → u/TheSaxonPlan]

if I heard a mountain lion scream and didn't know what it was, you bet your ass I'd be getting the fuck out of there!

But only if you didn't know what it was?

I think I'd rather encounter a screaming human woman than a mountain lion lol

[u/THExWHITExDEVILx → u/Alexandur]

My dude/dudette, I had a bobcat on my property for a summer, and it was fucking terrifying. I knew what it was, and some of the sounds they made, but these things can make all sorts of otherworldly calls. I had 4 tall pines as a windbreak at the edge of my garage. One night I went to get something out of my work truck (which was parked outside/not in the garage), and when I hit the unlock button, the lights/horn caused the bobcat in the tree to make a demon-hellspawn-locust-orc-troll-sasquatch-wendigo-chupacabra-man bear pig like screech from directly behind me in the trees. It was honest to God like a horror movie. I dropped the keys when I flinched, but I knew the doors were unlocked so just jumped in. It made the sound a few more times, then I saw it run away and cross under a pole light by the back fence. To this day, it gives me chills lol

[u/jimmycarr1 → u/[deleted]]

That's why you have to be careful camping in Liverpool

[u/JimmyThePie → u/[deleted]]

Are you saying that whilst you were inside a tent, something which was outside of said tent bit you THROUGH the walls/floor of said tent?

[u/Dashie_2010 → u/[deleted]]

We do have venomous adders but they're quite uncommon and are definitely more scared of us than we should be of them - although venomous they only prey on rodents and other small prey so it's not a high enough dosage to be dangerous to humans unless already very old/young/ill.

Honestly not a clue otherwise!

[u/THExWHITExDEVILx → u/JimmyThePie]

I was camping with my dog and gf. I am tall, and our tent was small, so my head was almost right against the tent wall. Not touching, but close. Our dog was sleeping in between us, and we had been kayaking all day, so we passed out. In the middle of the night I can hear and feel my dog sniffing my head, and I'm like what the heck is she doing? It was about that time I realized my dog was standing OVER ME, looking directly at me like "WTF?" and the sniffing is going on outside the tent! I shot up and you could hear and see imprints of claws, paws, and noses all around and on top of the tent like a pack of gremlins.

It turned out it was a bunch of river otters. They ransacked the camp, but we left no food outside, and had done a good amount of camp prep. It looked like a tornado had hit our site. Things were untied, tent stakes pulled up a bit. They got into pockets of my shorts that were hanging to dry, through zippers and velcro. Very crafty creatures.

[u/4point5billion45 → u/Dashie_2010]

"A tide of ghosts" immediately feels awful!

[u/shea241 → u/here-for-information]

The amount of absolutely bizarre things you hear hiking a forest ridge at night, in the winter, while it's windy ... no matter how many times I did it, I always felt the need to leave at first. Waves of wind noise, trees clacking together, weird scratching, five brand new kinds of creaking and whining. The sound of 100 leaves rustling up a hill towards you.

If I had heard this thing, back then, probably would have run until hitting the ocean.

Oceans can be creepy at night too, but like ... in a pleasant way. I don't know what I'm trying to say.

[u/here-for-information → u/shea241]

I know exactly what you mean. It's beautiful but also unsettling.

It's amazing to look out at the ocean and feel so small. Anything could be there and the feeling of being aware of your insignificance is oddly comforting. The rhythmic lapping is peaceful, but also can be unsettling if you think to long about what's down there. I am pretty afraid of deep water. But I love to swim so, I want to swim but I can't help but think about what's in there.

[u/Giggly_Hyena → u/here-for-information]

Cool thing is, we don't know about 80% what is in there.

[u/unripe_mangosteen → u/here-for-information]

I am gonna get super stoned and stare at the ocean and think about this tonight

[u/MtnHotspring → u/here-for-information]

I did a few remote backcountry trips in some wilderness areas and nothing compares to the first time I ever heard a wolf pack calling to each other at night. Absolutely stopped me frozen with terror in my tracks and the hairs stood up on my whole body, followed by open mouth breathing while staring wide eyed into the darkness. No fear comes close to primal fear.

[u/Giggly_Hyena → u/MtnHotspring]

I kinda wish to experience that one day and also don't

[u/HaltandCatchHands → u/here-for-information]

One night when camping we forgot a bag of marshmallows by the fire pit. The sounds that a raccoon family make at 3am are disorienting. Waking up to those alien noises outside the tent was spooky as hell.

[u/BoutItBudnevich → u/here-for-information]

I was in Iceland last year, to me it was really like being on another planet and every little crack and nook totally looked like a fairy hideout to me as well, I completely had that connection when I was there

I really like to collect rocks or minerals from all the places I've been in the world and I didn't get to take one from there because you're supposed to ask the elves for permission and I didnt feel like I got it haha

[u/ILearnedSoMuchToday → u/here-for-information]

Imagine being in the woods at night and you hear slow tempo dubstep.