I suppose this may have as much to do with weather as geography but my vote goes to Knight Lake just north of Phoebe, both the lake and the lone campsite.

I don't have one, but my husband would say the campsite on Fishdance across from the pictos. He couldn't stay long when we stopped there for lunch do to all the spirits he felt.

straighthairedcurly: "I don't have one, but my husband would say the campsite on Fishdance across from the pictos. He couldn't stay long when we stopped there for lunch do to all the spirits he felt."

Same. We paddled into the area in awe and eager to see the sites. Paddled away a little faster kind of like leaving my dark basement when I was a kid...in either case I was never sure if I was the only one there. But with the Fishdance area I definitely have a sense of awe and respect for those who were there before.

Interesting to hear people’s experiences on fish dance lake.
I have never felt more at peace than paddling on that lake.

I don't know that I've ever been creeped out but, I really didn't like the 'feel' of the Lux Lake & camp.

I suspect many of these will be very subjective and circumstantial, but for me the only place that I've ever been to (in any wilderness setting really) that actually made me feel like something wasn't right was the campsite between long and stump lake on the east end off of Pine Lake / Arrowhead Trail. Kind of a neat campsite with some large flat-topped boulders looking out towards long lake, but for some reason it just felt wrong to me like there was a tension in the air around that site and it just felt dangerous (for lack of a better description).

The big hares lurking on the edge of our campsite on Gull Lake. Sitting there motionless with that one eyed sideways stare, watching, silent, planning a midnight attack complete with gnashing teeth and razor sharp claws tearing thru tent fabric and into unsuspecting tender human flesh. Those bunnies creeped me out. Might be a leftover affect from having watched too many bad horror flicks back in my feckless youth, ever see Night of the Lepus…

scat: "The big hares lurking on the edge of our campsite on Gull Lake. Sitting there motionless with that one eyed sideways stare, watching, silent, planning a midnight attack complete with gnashing teeth and razor sharp claws tearing thru tent fabric and into unsuspecting tender human flesh. Those bunnies creeped me out. Might be a leftover affect from having watched too many bad horror flicks back in my feckless youth, ever see Night of the Lepus…"

You mean like this...

Killer Rabbit.

TuscaroraBorealis: "
I don't know that I've ever been creeped out but, I really didn't like the 'feel' of the Lux Lake & camp. "

I get it. Something about was just "different." I agree, not creepy. It felt isolated though it really isn't.

Mike

Two campsites immediately come to mind:

1. The NW campsite on Vista. Secluded, rather inhospitable...it has a weird vibe to me. A campsite review (somewhere, can't remember) described it as a place where horror movies are born, or something to that effect.

2. The NW site on Omega. I've never stayed here, but have visited the site many times. Small, it would be tight for one tent. This campsite feels like an afterthought. The latrine trail goes back behind the camp up a hill. I just have this vision of a something evil emerging from the woods at the top of the hill behind camp. And I've never visited this campsite when it hasn't been rainy or dark skies. That doesn't help with the impression.

Lakes:

Agawato. Go there. You'll understand.

Mike

airmorse: "

scat: "The big hares lurking on the edge of our campsite on Gull Lake. Sitting there motionless with that one eyed sideways stare, watching, silent, planning a midnight attack complete with gnashing teeth and razor sharp claws tearing thru tent fabric and into unsuspecting tender human flesh. Those bunnies creeped me out. Might be a leftover affect from having watched too many bad horror flicks back in my feckless youth, ever see Night of the Lepus…"

You mean like this...


Killer Rabbit. "

Sometime in the two days from your post to when I clicked on the link just now, the video was removed from YouTube for TOS violation.

Just reserved the all time classic Night of the Lepus dvd from my local library network. Couldn’t believe they had it but I’m so excited to see it again and share it with my gf. It’s like a litmus test, if she can sit thru that and stay with me I know it’s true love. Hey, I endured 3 episodes of Friends before I bailed, tit for tat, just sayin...

Cheers scat

scat: "Hey, I endured 3 episodes of Friends"

fetch my revolver, or 30 sleeping pills

Kendis: "

airmorse: "

scat: "The big hares lurking on the edge of our campsite on Gull Lake. Sitting there motionless with that one eyed sideways stare, watching, silent, planning a midnight attack complete with gnashing teeth and razor sharp claws tearing thru tent fabric and into unsuspecting tender human flesh. Those bunnies creeped me out. Might be a leftover affect from having watched too many bad horror flicks back in my feckless youth, ever see Night of the Lepus…"

You mean like this...



Killer Rabbit. "

Sometime in the two days from your post to when I clicked on the link just now, the video was removed from YouTube for TOS violation."

It was the killer rabbit scene from "Monty Python Search for the Holy Grail". Oh well.

Still creepy from the past

creepy lives on

My daughter came home from Montana and started watching this. I could not make it through one episode. Most annoying show ever made.

Friends.

fascinating to read everyone's experiences! Can't say I have had any strange encounters like that in the BWCA.

I concur on Agawato.

May 2012 - Stayed here two nights. Definition of Solitude. Dead of the night first evening - the loudest splash we've ever heard awakened us from our slumber. Sounded as if a large boulder fell/rolled or perhaps was thrown off the steep hill/cliff directly north of the campsite. We were startled to say the least. Took about half an hour for our heart rates to return back to normal as we tried to get back to sleep. Couldn't have been asleep very long again before we were jolted from our sleep by EXTREMELY loud , THUNDEROUS crashing through the woods just to our North East, and heading South right past our camp, probably closer than the latrine was to camp.

My girls thought campsite 971 on Brule (northern side more towards the east) was weird. Could’ve been the dreary weather that day, but both girls didn’t even want to stop there for lunch. Felt like we just needed to leave right away. Nothing specific but just creeper vibes coming from the brush. Even though it has average 4 stars on the reviews, lol! I’m weird about campsites. If something doesn’t feel right, I prefer to move on!

Creepiest place I’ve ever been canoeing though was a portage on bloodvein river in Manitoba. Just a strange one, I portaged the canoe and felt as though I could see others portaging nearby. Not on the exact trail but within eyesight. No one from my group on that trip was near me on the trail, but others were definitely felt to be present if that makes sense. I was alone but not alone. Some sort of spirits or presence was there. Others in my group felt the same but no one really talked about it until after we had loaded up and left that portage. One of the strangest experiences in my life!

Mocha: "Interesting to hear people’s experiences on fish dance lake.
I have never felt more at peace than paddling on that lake."

Same here... it was in the running for favorite lake. And that campsite was a favorite across from the pictographs. Weathered a nasty storm there.

After reading through some of the stories about Fishdance, I'm curious to go there. I was telling my oldest daughter about it, and she said she'd want to go. Considering doing a trip with just the two of us to check out the pictographs at least! I don't know about camping there though, guess I'd have to see how I feel once we get there. I've felt more protective types of spirits in some places and times in my life, and felt more unease at others, so I'm curious how I'd feel there!

A few years ago in early September a buddy and I put in on the Hunting Shack River and paddled down to Astrid Lake. It was a beautiful setting with 2 nice campsites and we didn't see a soul for 4 days. Nice network of hiking trails in the area touching 4 other lakes with campsites too. Near the west end of the Echo Trail and not far from Lake Jeanette campground.

Anyways with some curiosity about Bigfoot in the last couple years I have read some "verified" reports of Bigfoot experiences in northern MN. As I was reading I stumbled across a few from the Astrid Lake area. With mostly skepticism but a small amount of curiosity and concern I filed these stories away in my mind.

We had a great trip and it was a really neat experience. I had not mentioned ANYTHING about the Bigfoot reports to my friend, no need to cause any concern and not knowing how he would react. Not that I was worried anyways.

Third night we were standing around the campsite relaxing and enjoying the fire and the splendor around us. Now I am getting up there and sadly inherited the trait of hearing loss from my father so I miss a lot. All of a sudden my friend exclaims rather loudly, "What was That? I asked him about it and he said that he heard something pretty loud and not too far away. He was mildly freaked out and I asked him to describe what he had heard. He said it was something like a growl and a howl and jabbering and then said - it didn't sound like a human or an animal!!

I just got a chill as I typed this and I admit to a few when he made that statement.
We listened some more but heard nothing else so we went about tidying up camp in case we had a visitor.

Nothing else the rest of the night and I still to this day have not mentioned the Bigfoot experiences in that area to him. Who knows but it was definitely creepy, even if I didn't hear it.

I would go back, really a nice area and I am not convinced or overly concerned about it. But if it happened again...

MikeinMpls: "Two campsites immediately come to mind:


1. The NW campsite on Vista. Secluded, rather inhospitable...it has a weird vibe to me. A campsite review (somewhere, can't remember) described it as a place where horror movies are born, or something to that effect.


I camped at this Vista site on a solo and was creeped out. Besides being a very poor, very vertical, very rocky site, it sits by itself next to a fen-like reedy end of the lake. It is the worst campsite I have ever stayed at, and I couldn't wait to exit the next day.

Dave



Mike"

Oh Shoot! I've caused italics, and I don't know how to fix it. Sorry folks!

Fixed itself!

canoemama3: "My girls thought campsite 971 on Brule (northern side more towards the east) was weird. Could’ve been the dreary weather that day, but both girls didn’t even want to stop there for lunch. Felt like we just needed to leave right away. Nothing specific but just creeper vibes coming from the brush. Even though it has average 4 stars on the reviews, lol! I’m weird about campsites. If something doesn’t feel right, I prefer to move on!


Creepiest place I’ve ever been canoeing though was a portage on bloodvein river in Manitoba. Just a strange one, I portaged the canoe and felt as though I could see others portaging nearby. Not on the exact trail but within eyesight. No one from my group on that trip was near me on the trail, but others were definitely felt to be present if that makes sense. I was alone but not alone. Some sort of spirits or presence was there. Others in my group felt the same but no one really talked about it until after we had loaded up and left that portage. One of the strangest experiences in my life!"

I love your Manitoba story.

Also love the Bigfoot story!

A bit off topic perhaps, but wanted to report back that I had the pleasure of watching the all time classic movie Night of the Lepus tonite. Long overdo and certainly worthy of enjoying with a bowl of popcorn and lemonade. Might explain my fear of those creepy hares lurking around the outskirts of camp. It’s like a clown with that ever present smile on its face, seemingly benign but you know evil lurks just below the surface. I highly recommend the flick, the ending might have been a stretch, but it’s all part of the genre of fun/bad and a much better watch than our other choice, Food of the Gods, attack of the giant rats, wasps & chickens, that was just bad…

Cheers, scat

After a friend made us unwittingly portage a pound of gummy bears (just the regular, "unenhanced" kind) across the Lujenida-Zenith portage, we pledged to eat them all before having to take that portage back out at the end of our trip. We stayed at the Zenith campsite on our way out, and I dropped a single white gummy bear into the fire accidentally. It has become a running joke that I cursed that site to be haunted by angry spirits with my carelessness now.

Seriously, though, that Zenith Lake site is among my favorites and is one of so many sites that is done terrible injustice by the 5-star rating system that is so popular and which favors overused, compacted state-park picnic area sites over wilder, more interesting sites.

Not sure what it was but in 2007 or 2008 I had the strangest experience of my life on Davis Lake. I’d been out fishing all morning by myself. Rest of my group went out fishing at around 1pm I stayed at the camp, closest to the portage. For about two hours I had the most intense feeling of being watched. There was no sound, absolute silence for two hours. I moved my camp chair to the edge of the lake facing back to the woods. Sat there for 2 hours with my filet knife in one hand and my buck knife in the other. At one point I put my life jacket on incase I had to swim for it. I don’t scare easy, was a football player. I was scared out of my mind for the entire time. The next morning one of my group shared that when he got out of his tent to pee at 3am he heard 3 loud wood knocks immediately when he stepped out. He did his business and wasn’t worried, only asked that next morning if we all heard it. He couldn’t figure out what it could’ve been. I had been to Davis many times before that and had nothing unusual happen. I’ve seen bears and moose and never felt that way. Yes I was totally sober.

Whoa, Pdub! That is creepy cubed.

Pdub: "The next morning one of my group shared that when he got out of his tent to pee at 3am he heard 3 loud wood knocks immediately when he stepped out. "

Could this be the clacking sound that bears make when feeling threatened? A bear staring at you for two hours feels like an explanation for the total silence earlier that day.

FishingDad: "I concur on Agawato.


May 2012 - Stayed here two nights. Definition of Solitude. Dead of the night first evening - the loudest splash we've ever heard awakened us from our slumber. Sounded as if a large boulder fell/rolled or perhaps was thrown off the steep hill/cliff directly north of the campsite. We were startled to say the least. Took about half an hour for our heart rates to return back to normal as we tried to get back to sleep. Couldn't have been asleep very long again before we were jolted from our sleep by EXTREMELY loud , THUNDEROUS crashing through the woods just to our North East, and heading South right past our camp, probably closer than the latrine was to camp.



"

probably a beaver and moose .

shock: "

FishingDad: "I concur on Agawato.



May 2012 - Stayed here two nights. Definition of Solitude. Dead of the night first evening - the loudest splash we've ever heard awakened us from our slumber. Sounded as if a large boulder fell/rolled or perhaps was thrown off the steep hill/cliff directly north of the campsite. We were startled to say the least. Took about half an hour for our heart rates to return back to normal as we tried to get back to sleep. Couldn't have been asleep very long again before we were jolted from our sleep by EXTREMELY loud , THUNDEROUS crashing through the woods just to our North East, and heading South right past our camp, probably closer than the latrine was to camp.




"

probably a beaver and moose ."

There's obviously plenty of beaver activity in that area, but we didn't see any evidence of beaver up on top of the hillside where the noise came from. Certainly could have been a moose, but wound a giant pile of scat near camp that looked more like bear scat than "pellet" shaped moose scat.

Porcupine.

Mocha, my daughter and I stayed at the site across from the pictos for 2 nights last June. We had the same experience as you. Definitely a "vibe" about that area, but for us it was a very positive one!
After the trip, she did a video with phone video footage with music she composed as the soundtrack. All the footage except the burn area was Fishdance. I think she captured the vibe pretty well.

Fishdance Video

Mocha: "Interesting to hear people’s experiences on fish dance lake.
I have never felt more at peace than paddling on that lake."

I'm always a little creeped out when I'm up there alone, regardless of campsite location, but mostly at night. Maybe it's that innate fight or flight response built into us. I bring a large dog with me though which adds a lot of security. Mostly, I just know that on the routes I usually take, I'm never really alone and a few screams for help and flashing of a headlamp in an emergency and I would have at least a couple canoes ashore in no time. Whether they are they to help me or shut me up, who knows... but they would be there!

BWCA is as safe as it gets for wilderness camping. Probably safer than camping near cities honestly.

A couple years ago I went to the pictos on Rocky Lake and the moment I looked at them I felt a strange and unexplainable feeling. I went back two years ago at felt the same feeling. I’ve seen other pictos and
never had that feeling.