This might be too long for a reply and maybe not EXACTLY what you're referencing, but...

Went to the mountains of NC in September of this year. I go up there fairly often - a few times a year - so no reason for me to think this trip would've been any different. No matter our destination, I nearly always drive the Blueridge Parkway and stop at Black Balsam Knob to do a little hiking on the Art Loeb trail.

My boyfriend and I were together on this trip, and we both swore we saw something run across the trail ahead of us that looked like a tiny person. 1-2 ft tall. I kept trying to rationalize it, trying to figure out what animal it could be - too big for this, too small for this, maybe this. But I could've swore it was running on two legs... and it was wearing a hat.

Meanwhile my boyfriend plainly stated it looked like a tiny person - "Chipmunk gnome," in his words - and acted like it was a perfectly normal observation. As if he had seen the weirdness but didn't register that it was weird. We ultimately blew it off and drove to our destination. We were staying at a cabin near the Tail of the Dragon by Fontana Dam.

Our first night there... we go to sit on the porch for a while. The key I know was in my pocket was suddenly not. We're locked out of the cabin at almost 12am. Why is the door locked?! Barefoot, we walk down to the office to get a second key, about a quarter mile. Good thing they didn't ask for ID because we didn't have anything on us. On the way back up, it starts pouring rain

The key they gave us didn't work. It's a physical key, not like a digital key card. It wouldn't even slide into the lock. This is about the time I start getting the trickster/mischief/poltergeist vibe. For me this isn't like.. oh there's some weird spirit or whatever messing with me. This more like... you've caught the attention of something - entity, being, intelligence. Call it whatever you want, but there was a very pointed moment where I could feel this presence follow me as I marched down to get yet another key in the pouring rain by myself.

Won't lie, I was kinda pissed.

Second key magically works. I compared it side by side to the first key I was given - they looked identical but for whatever reason that first key would not even go into the lock.

That night we both had disturbing dreams. I'm not often bothered by bad dreams, but my BF wasn't doing so hot. He was convinced something dark was in the cabin we were staying at, and he doesn't really believe in that sort of stuff.

From my end... I am a lifelong experiencer and it started in childhood. I know the difference between "normal dreams", and interactions with entities. These dreams were very similar to that, but I didn't want to freak my BF out so I kept it to myself. I didn't tell him about the presence I felt while going to get the second room key either.

That morning I suggest we go out for a drive, fresh air, etc. We go up to the bottom of the dam. It's early - no one else is really up and about yet. I stop to get some photos at one spot. Get back in the car, drive down to another spot with a bridge. We walked over to the bridge to see the river. We got out of sight of the car, but I had the nagging impression I should keep an eye on it and I still felt like we were being watched. I blew it off.

When we get back to the car, I immediately smell ... How can I even describe this smell? At first it was like something dead and rotting, but at the same time it smelled like deer musk and feces... and I swear it had a sweet or spicy note. It's just something dead nearby. It was really bad. Didn't smell it at the first stop or when we got into the car that morning.

But when we got back to the cabin, I realized the smell was ON the driver's side of the car somewhere. It lasted all weekend. I rationalize things a lot, but by now I'm in full on 'weird mountain creatures are fucking with me' mode.

By the end of the second day my BF is in tears because the cabin feels so oppressive that he wants to leave and go home early, but he doesn't want to ruin the trip. I say "If you feel that bad and want to leave, then we're leaving." I'm feeling it too, but I'm far more obstinate when it comes to letting "negative entities" dictate my actions.

So now I'm projecting this "leave him the fuck alone, and get to the point you're trying to make" intention to whatever this is. My bf actually settles down and decides to finish out the stay. I'm fairly sure I had an abduction experience that night. I remember being able to look down on the whole Fontana Village during this experience, and had an interaction with something that didn't want me to see what it was.

Things seem to chill out after that. We stay two more nights, and on the way home we took the Blue Ridge Parkway again.

We stop at several overlooks to take photos and just see the views. After I get home I'm going through all of the pictures of the trip. There's a triangle shaped craft in three of them that we didn't see or hear at the time. These were taken on the last day of the trip, not all that far from where we thought we saw the little gnome thing running across the trail.

My boyfriend felt like something followed him home from the mountains for a few weeks. One night we both had the same sexual dream involving a female - we're both gay. For me this is the second time I've had such an interaction, but it was far more forceful than the first time. We both dreamed we were held down or subdued while things were done.

Hell, he even said he tried to look at who was holding him down and he said it started hitting him in the head to make him look away. He's skeptical enough to blow it off as just a really bad dream, and I'm strangely not as bothered by such things as I know I should be.

After that, things have been fairly quiet. Of course, now that I've talked about it, lets see what happens.

edit: Oh yeah. I forgot I have this bird hanging around outside my window now. I can't figure out what kind it is, but it will randomly make calls in the middle of the night. I assumed a mocking bird at first, but it makes the same exact call every time. Just did it right as I posted this.

It's my worst nightmare. Everyone needs a safe space to call home.

It is real. Unfortunately, many things I was exposed to in childhood and early adult years made me the source of hitchhiker effect for those I loved and cared for for a couple of decades or so. It took a lot of work to eliminate and stop the effect.

This can happen much more easily than most people believe or understand. It is a good idea to be aware of the people, objects, and areas in your environment. This goes for homes of close friends you visit often, activities of friends who visit you often, and places you travel and stay for vacations.

I can confirm it. I bought a very old house where elderly people lived before, one of whom was very ill. The house is in relatively poor condition, but it was all I could afford. It's not yet habitable, so I'm doing the repairs myself and spend a lot of time alone in the house.

From the very beginning, I felt a very oppressive atmosphere: dim light due to faulty wiring, gloomy wallpaper that had absorbed decades of bleak life. Toward evening, I started noticing some shadow appearing outside the window, or something slipping by from the side. But I chalked it all up to personal anxiety.The thing is, suddenly oppressive thoughts started popping into my head—thoughts I'd never had before in my life—and they wouldn't leave me even when I left the house.

On top of that, I began having dangerous encounters and conflict situations. For example, I'd never fall for a gypsy scam (they're so primitive), but here I was like under hypnosis. I got the feeling that It found me itself, because I'd never encountered anything like that in my city. Out of nowhere, I'd end up in conflicts, even though I'm a completely non-confrontational person who knows how to avoid them very well.

At one point, I realized it was exactly this. Although before that, I didn't believe in such things. I roughly knew how to do an energy cleansing, but fortunately, a friend recommended an acquaintance priest who performed a purification rite. From that moment, all of it stopped as if it had never happened.

Since then, I'm absolutely sure that it can sneak in, latch on, settle in—call it whatever you want.

I deal with this daily.

When you enlighten, they really crawl out of the woodwork. Shadow spirits cannot resist a powerful vessel. It's almost like a magnetic draw for them.

They cling to your light body like tar. With enough of them they can block out Source's transmission and influence you directly.

I pray constantly and ceremonially cleanse my home daily as standard practice for the last few years. I am a medium, I see the spirit world. It's been real busy out there and it's getting worse.

I feel like this year is like the scene in Ghostbusters when the Titanic shows up.

I have had encounters since childhood starting with shadow beings and cryptid creatures , both my parents were in the Air Force when they met and my mother was station where they were testing nuclear devices. She also had encounters with beings. My encounters became more intense later in life. It seems like a mix of NHI/UAPS and paranormal activity. In 2021 orbs, grays and more showed up and my wife started having encounters. It was intense until 2024 when it started to slow and now seem to come in waves.

I always do.

Idk what you'd call my experience but basically it went from some kind of contact to imparting to me later that I was no longer going to be contacted and that their time with me is over, it feels much like a failure and I feel like I've lost something special I'll never get back 

After a couple linked sightings, sensation of being observed, seeing future violent events in dreams (from a movie but applied to family), high paranoia, jump scares from phones going off, son saying people are smacking him from in his mind, other child bad dreams (rectified with tree of life dream catcher from a regular shop- placebo? Unsure). Myveffects overturned by breaking myself down to the core, understanding that I am good therefore worthy of being "here". Faced my fears by going to a ufo sighting to potentially face of black ops (recovery team) with a box cutter (yes I know its lame) but that trick worked, face it head on. Imagined a golden sphere, and breathing work ejecting bad energy and drawing in good energy (again, placebo effect unsure but calms and works). Oh and Bluetooth getting disconnected, and lightening closeby just after waking up (before light flash i'm sure). And green orb hovering while asleep, zoomed around corner when woke up. Probably wasnt "wanting" to be seen.

It's a very useful effect for studying these kinds of things. If you know how to leverage it properly you scarce ever need to do field work,

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