Today's episode is a very creepy and highly disturbing camping story. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you come to the right place because that's all we do and we upload once a week. So if that's of interest to you, the next time the like button is asleep, go to their front yard and spell the words, I hate my neighbors in gasoline all across their front yard, and then light it on fire. Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story. On the afternoon of May sixth, 2008, a 54-year-old man called Ricky Williams stood on the riverbank casting out his line into the waters of Dismal Creek in Western Virginia. Ricky was hoping to get Ricky and catch some drought, but he'd been out here fishing for 30 minutes so far, and there were no bites. Normally, Ricky wouldn't care because he loved just fishing for hours and hours at a time. But today, he and his dog, who was right with him, were really hungry because they'd been out in these woods camping for several weeks now, and their food supply was finally dwindling down to the end.

If they didn't catch any fish today, they might not eat. Now, for context, where Ricky was fishing, Dismal Creek, despite its bleak name, it was actually a beautiful secluded spot on top of a mountain that was on the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail is a very famous 2,200-mile long trail that runs up and down the East Coast of the United States. Why that is relevant is because there's this special code for people that hike on the Appalachian Trail. The code, which all hikers know, is basically if you come across another hiker on the Appalachian Trail, it is your responsibility to help them if they need help. It is their responsibility to help you if you need help. It's this community of hikers that are always looking to help each other. Ricky was very aware of this code on the Appalachian Trail, and he was secretly hoping, as he cast his line over and over again and didn't get any bites, that a hiker or a group of hikers might come by this area, and maybe they would see him and come down and learn that he needed food, and they might just give him some of their food.

But another half hour passed and no hikers came by, and still Ricky could not catch any fish. But then suddenly, Ricky's dog, who was right next to him, began to whine and began shifting around like it was sensing a predator in the area or something. But as Ricky was trying to calm his dog down, he began to hear a voice in the woods right behind him. Somebody was moving towards him. When Ricky heard this voice, on the one hand, he was pretty excited because maybe this is a hiker who can give him some food. But on the other hand, Ricky couldn't help but feel really uneasy. Now, you need to understand that Ricky was an older guy. He was frail, and over the the past few weeks that he'd been camping with his dog, as his food supply had run down, he had become skinnier and skinnier and skinnier. And so he really did not pose any threat to anybody. He's like this weak, older man. Now, generally speaking, the Appalachian Trail was a very safe place. But over the last few decades, there had actually been several murders that took place on the Appalachian Trail.

And in fact, one of those killings took place less than two miles away from where Ricky was fishing with his dog. And In that double homicide, a very well-known killer named Randall Lee Smith had stabbed and shot to death two hikers. While Ricky was really looking for help from fellow hikers, at the same time, he couldn't help but feel somewhat apprehensive because, again, Ricky was this small, frail guy, and Ricky was well aware of these murders, and he was well aware of the fact that he was super close to one of the murder sites. Ricky was totally on edge as he's listening to this male voice get closer and closer, and then Finally, this man in his early 30s steps out from the tree line and he looks over and he sees Ricky. For a second, the two men just look at each other. But then this guy just grinned at Ricky and said, Hey, how are you doing? Immediately, Ricky felt relieved because he could tell just from looking at this guy that very likely he was not a threat. The man introduced himself as Scott Johnston, and he told Ricky he was actually camping in the area with a friend of his, and they were out here fishing, just like Ricky.

Ricky pretty much immediately said, Oh, great. Nice to meet you. Do you have any food for me? And Scott was like, Absolutely. And he dug into his bag that he had with him, and he pulled out a couple of energy bars and a bag of chips, and he threw them over to Ricky. And he also gave some fresh bait to Ricky so he, too, could cast out again. And for the next couple of hours, Scott and Ricky just stood on the riverbank and and fish together. And after a while, the drought did start biting and they did start catching fish. So the day turned into a great outing for Ricky. And it got even better because as soon as the men were done fishing, Scott asked Ricky if he wanted to join him and his friend back up at the campsite for dinner. Remember, Ricky had no food, so this was an amazing invitation. He said, Yes, of course. I'd love to join you. The two men packed up their stuff right as the sun was going down, and then they began walking back into the forest where Scott had emerged from. As they were walking, Scott's fishing pole got tangled on a low-hanging branch, and he was really struggling to get it out of the tree.

Finally, he just told Ricky to, Go on ahead. My campsite's right up there. It's a straight shot. Just go up the hill, and you'll see it. Ricky asked Scott if he was sure, and Scott said, No, it's totally fine. Go ahead. So Ricky said, Okay. And he walked the rest of the way up the hill. And then when he walked out of the tree line into the clearing where Scott's campsite was, immediately what Ricky noticed was this enormous man who was twice the size of Scott, and so four times the size of Ricky, hunched over the campfire. And this huge man, who presumably was Scott's friend, he heard Ricky walk into the circle. And remember, it's nighttime, and they're in the middle of nowhere. And This guy, he turns his head around and sees this strange man just standing there, and Scott's nowhere to be found. This guy, he grabs a club, a piece of wood, and he looks at Ricky menacingly like, What are you doing here? Ricky, who was so caught off guard by just how big this guy was. He put his hands up and he said, I'm so sorry. Scott sent me up here.

I don't know if this is the right site. I'm sorry. But just at that moment, Scott had finished untangling his fishing line, and he came out of the tree line, and he patted Ricky on the back, and he said, Oh, you've already met my friend Sean. As soon as he said that, Sean looked like he basically let his guard down. He put the wood down, and he stopped glaring directly at Ricky. But Ricky felt like Sean was not happy that Ricky was in his campsite, even though clearly, Scott is the reason that Ricky is in this campsite. Ricky just felt really uncomfortable. At the same time, Scott is ushering Ricky closer to the campfire to take a seat next to Sean. Sean's a great cook. He'll cook up this fish for us. It's going to be great. Take a seat. Ricky felt annoyed that Scott was really forcing him to stay. But Ricky didn't want to be rude and just appropriately leave. So he did take a seat next to Sean, who definitely was not excited to be sitting next to Ricky. Ricky just sat there waiting to see what would happen next. What happened next is Scott walked over to Sean and handed off all the fish that he and Ricky had caught so that Sean could begin to prepare them to cook them.

Then as Ricky is still just sitting there right next to Sean, Scott walked away from the campfire up to his truck, which was parked right next to Sean's Jeep, and Scott turned on radio and began blasting country music. When Ricky heard this music, he winced because to him, part of the reason the outdoors, the Appalachian Trail, being out in nature, part of the reason it was so wonderful was for the peace and quiet. So it felt like borderline disrespectful to be out in the middle of this beautiful place blaring country music. To Ricky, he just couldn't help but feel like there's something off about these two guys. They just seem really disrespectful and pushy and maybe aggressive. And so Ricky is just not happy. But again, Ricky didn't say anything and didn't attempt to leave because, again, he's really hungry and so is his dog, and he needs to eat that fish. A moment later, Scott walked back from the truck and took a seat next to Sean and then he, along with Sean, pulled out their knives and began deboning the fish. As they were doing this, Ricky, again, is just sitting there doing nothing.

He meagerly asked, Hey, can you give me a knife and I'll clean a fish? But Sean and Scott waved him off and said, Don't worry, we got this. Ricky just continued to sit there nervously as all he could watch was the flashing of the light bouncing off their blades. But eventually, Scott and Sean finished deboning all the fish, and they put their knives away. At that point, they began cooking the fish over the open flame. And suddenly for Ricky, it felt like the mood had shifted a little bit. At least now, the two men were not fiddling around with weapons. It felt safe again. Ricky began making some small talk in hopes that would settle his nerves. Ricky told the two men about how much he loved the Appalachian Trail and how he came out here all the time for weeks at a time with his dog. Ricky would tell the men that sometimes he felt more at home out in the wild than he did at home. It was almost like being out in nature was a religious experience for Ricky. He would even tell Sean and Scott that sometimes when he was out in nature, he would meditate and pray and even do some chanting, like part of a ritual.

I mean, he was really trying to be in tune with Mother Nature. But as Ricky continued to tell Sean and Scott about his personal life, he noticed the two men were definitely paying attention and nodding along at appropriate points in the story. But at the same time, Ricky felt like these two men were also looking at him like Ricky was weird, as if they were not prepared to come out and say it. But after hearing all these things about his life, it was like, What's going on with this guy? Ricky suddenly felt really embarrassed about being so open with these two guys who, once again, just seem like they don't quite like him or even really want him But luckily, right at that moment, the fish were done, and so the men just sat there in silence and wolfed down the food. By the time they finished, right about 08:00 PM, it was very dark outside, and Ricky at this point is just ready to go. He just felt so uneasy here. After putting down his plate and his silverware and saying thank you to Sean and Scott for their hospitality, he quickly got up and grabbed his dog, and he began walking into the woods towards his campsite.

But after Ricky and his dog had walked maybe 10 or 15 feet away from this campsite, campsite. Two things happened in rapid succession. Number one, Ricky suddenly stopped and turned around and looked back at the campsite. Number two, right as he did this, there was this enormous bang sound, like a small explosion that echoed through the forest. Okay, so if you're not listening to our show called RunFool, then you are really missing out on a truly special and unique podcast. Now, it's technically a horror podcast, but honestly, it's so much more. Every episode is a fresh take on terrifying lore, like a modern ghost story wrapped up in a tightly-spun narrative. Also, remember, RunFool is a Ballin Studio's podcast, which means there's always going to be a big plot twist or reveal at the end. Rodney Barnes is the iconic host of RunFool, and every story he tells on there, it feels like this fully immersive horror movie. Also, the sound design on the show is like expert level. Barnes really knows what he's doing. Even if you never watch the show, you should tune in just for a second, at least once, just to hear Barnes' radio voice.

It is like the best, most soothing voice I think I've ever heard. So if Runful feels like a show you might like, go run and follow the show and start listening. Also, be sure you stick around till the end of today's video because we're going to play a clip from last week's episode of Runful. About 30 minutes later and about 4 miles away from where Ricky and Sean and Scott had been, there were these two women who were in their house eating dinner when they heard the sudden frantic knocking on their front door. Now, these women live in a very isolated part of the country, and so the women were very concerned. One of them rushed over to the phone just to be ready to call the police, while the other very carefully made their way towards the front of the house, and they peered out the window, but they couldn't see anything outside. It was too dark. They went to their door, which was still getting pounded on by whoever was out there. The woman, she unlocked the door and she opened it just a crack. What she saw nearly made her faint. There was a man standing on her porch who was absolutely covered in blood, as if he had been fully submerged in a tank of blood.

I mean, he is all red. The man had his hand over his neck. The woman who opened the door, she looked at him and she saw that there was this rhythmic pulsing of blood pumping out of his neck that was in time with his heart. This man is clearly bleeding to death. The woman, she screamed for the other woman to please call 911. We have someone who's dying here. She began calling 911. Then the man on the porch just said, Please help me. Then he said something about Dismal Creek, and then he collapsed. This was so shocking for the woman who had opened the door that she just stood there staring, having no idea what to do. But then she happened to look up and she noticed there was a Jeep that was idling out on the road in front of her house that she hadn't registered until now. So either this guy got dropped off or he drove that Jeep. But before she could even begin to understand what had just happened, an ambulance and a whole bunch of police cars came screaming up and parked in front of her house. Then the medics got out, they rushed up, and they grabbed the bleeding man, and they put him in the ambulance, and they rushed him off.

Meanwhile, not far from the house, police officers were speeding towards Dismal Creek because when the women called 911, they said this guy who's shown up on the porch bleeding said about Dismal Creek, but they had no idea what it was about. Instead of trying to wait to figure out what was even going on, police had basically said, Let's just go to Dismal Creek and look around and see if we can figure out why someone would leave that area and show up at this house covered in blood. But as the police were making their way up this winding mountain road, they saw a truck bombing down the road, coming straight at them. The truck, they initially hit their brakes and did attempt to get out of the way of the police cars. But after this truck had basically come to a stop, the driver of the truck just hit the gas all over again, and they veered wildly off the side of the road into an embankment, and they crashed and flipped several times, and then came to a stop. The police officers who had veered to the side of the road to avoid getting hit by this truck, they just watched this happen, and they couldn't understand why the driver had gunned it again after stopping and then seemingly intentionally drove off the road.

It almost seemed like the driver was trying to crash. The police, they got out of their car and they approached the wrecked truck with their guns drawn. But when they looked into the vehicle, they saw there was a single occupant, the driver, and he was still somehow alive. The police got him out of the vehicle, and they called an ambulance. But they actually sent an officer with the ambulance to escort them because the police were actually pretty suspicious of this truck driver. Because remember, they were going up that road to get to Dismal Creek to see what had happened there that would lead to another man showing up on somebody's doorstep in the middle of the night, covered in blood. And now they have this truck driver who looks like he's speeding away from Dismal Creek who crashes his truck. I mean, there was no clear connection between the truck crash and the bloody sky, but the police were suspicious that they had to be connected. So they sent the officer to the hospital as well. About 30 minutes after the truck crash, the police left the scene and continued the rest of the way up the road to Dismal Creek.

And once they got up there, the police fanned out all across the area and just began looking for anything, just any clue that might explain what the heck happened here, if anything happened at Dismal Creek at all. And pretty quickly, the police actually did find something unique. In the middle of the Dismal Creek area, they found a campsite, but it was not the campsite where Sean and Scott were staying, where Ricky had gone and shared dinner with them. This was a different campsite. Not long after searching this other campsite, police concluded that whoever was staying here did not seem like they were mentally well. This seems like a mentally unstable and potentially dangerous person lives here. So the campsite was really simple. It was just a tent and a campfire. But when the police lifted up the flap and looked inside the tent, they found a collection of 30 knives, along with a police scanner, that basically picked up police radio chatter in the area, so you could listen to a scanner and basically know what the police were doing in your area. There were also all these weird piles of clothing, some Some were for kids, some were for adults, some were for men, some were for women.

There were piles of eyeglasses, and there were eight pairs of women's underwear. Then also there was a map of the Appalachian Trail inside of this tent, and all over this map, along the trail, were all these spots that were circled, but there was no information about what these circles meant. However, one of the places that was circled was Dismal Creek. Then next to the map was a radio, and inside the radio was a cassette. So the police just hit play, and immediately what they heard totally creeped them out because the tape sounded like some Satanic ritual. It was basically this one man's voice just howling and chanting over and over again. But by far, the most shocking thing that was found inside of that tent was a single piece of paper. And this piece of paper was a birth certificate, and the name on the birth certificate was a name that basically all police in this area knew. And in fact, anybody living in or around the Appalachian Trail definitely would know this name. The identity of this person, the name on the birth certificate, was the key to putting together all these seemingly disconnected events that had happened on this night, from the explosion when Ricky walked away from the fire to the bloody man at the house to the truck crash.

They were all connected through this single person. A few hours earlier, after Ricky had gotten up and walked away from Sean and Scott's campsite, and then after barely making it onto the trail, he turned around and there was that loud explosion. Well, at that point in the story, Ricky, who's now looking back at the campsite and looking at Sean and Scott, he can see that the two of them, they've heard the sound, too, and they were now staring at each other with looks of absolute shock and terror on their faces. But then Ricky watched as Sean reached up and touched his face, and he put his hand out in front of his face, and it was covered in red. The reason for that was because Sean had just been shot in the face because that loud explosion was the sound of Ricky shooting his gun at Sean. As Sean and Scott stood there staring at each other in absolute disbelief, Ricky, who's still in the tree line, ran towards the fire and just kept on shooting. Sean, at this point, as he sees Ricky coming into the campsite, he stands up and staggers back and falls on the ground.

But Scott, who's not hurt at this point, he just gets up and starts running away from the campsite, and Ricky turns his attention towards Scott, and he shoots at him, and he hits him straight in the neck and also in the back. But somehow, Scott just kept on running despite these horrible wounds. Ricky watched as Scott disappeared into the woods, and then Ricky turned back to Sean, who's laying on the ground and can't go anywhere. He's been shot in the face, and Ricky just casually raised his gun and shot Sean right in the chest. But amazingly, Sean, after getting shot the second time, it created what must have been the most extreme adrenaline rush ever because he jumped up to his feet and right in front of his attacker, he just turned and sprinted to his Jeep. He hopped inside, fired it up, and just sped away as fast as he could. When Sean flipped on his headlights and turned a corner after getting away from the campsite, he looked down the road and he actually saw his buddy, Scott, who had run away first, come tumbling out of the woods onto the road. Sean, who's gravely injured, drives over next to Scott, and he stops the Jeep long enough for Scott to climb inside, and they shut the door, and they speed their way towards the nearest help, which happened to be that house where those two women lived.

And so it was Scott, who looked like he was drenched in blood, who knocked on the women's door. Sean was down in the Jeep out on the road, but he was just too weak to get out and come up to the door as well. But when the ambulance and police arrived, they would find not only Scott up on the porch, but also Sean in the Jeep, and both men would be taken to the hospital via helicopter. Then as for the man who was driving the truck down the road away from Dismal Creek, who then crashed right in front of the police, well, the driver of that truck was Ricky Williams. However, that was not his real name. There was no Ricky Williams. That was the name he just used. His real name, which was on the birth certificate that police found in that other campsite inside of the tent, was Randall Lee Smith, the same infamous Randall Lee Smith who had murdered those two hikers not far from Dismal Creek. That double homicide had happened in 1981, and Randall was caught and convicted, but he was paroled 15 years later in 1996 for good behavior.

And for 10 years after that, Randall lived with his mother, and he wore this electronic bracelet, and he followed the rules. But by 2008, his electronic bracelet had came off. And even though Randall had attempted to continue living with his mother, it just wasn't tenable. He didn't have enough money. And so ultimately, he packed up his things, grabbed his dog, and moved out onto the Appalachian Trail. And on May sixth, 2008, when Sean and Scott arrived in Dismal Creek to go fishing, Randall was waiting. Nobody has any idea why Randall murdered those two hikers back in 1981 or why he targeted Sean and Scott in 2008. All we know is that Randall Lee Smith was very mentally unwell and very likely viewed the Appalachian Trail as like his sacred place. This is his home. This is the place he loves more than anything. Maybe he felt like Sean and Scott had somehow disrespected the Appalachian Trail, and that was enough to attack them. Now, we know Sean and Scott did not do anything intentionally disrespectful to Randall because, amazingly, Sean and Scott survived this attack. They would say that when they saw Randall, they just felt bad for him.

They thought he was like this alcoholic drifter who didn't have a home of his own, and so he was just living out in the woods on the Appalachian Trail. So they didn't judge him. Instead, they really did just want to give him some food and spend some time with him and make him feel human again. That was it. Because Randall appeared to be this small, older man, Sean and Scott, who were very big and imposing, they didn't feel threatened by this guy. As for that bizarre other campsite that police found up around Dismal Creek, the one that contained all those knives and the birth certificate, well, obviously, that was Randall's campsite. And that weird cassette tape that they listened to that sounded like a Satanic ritual, that was Randall going through his meditations and chants that he would do when he was out in the middle of nowhere. It was like his way of respecting Mother Nature the Appalachian Trail. And then all those items that were found inside of his tent, the different clothes and the eye glasses and the women's underwear. It's believed those could be Randall's other victims. However, when police pulled DNA samples from all of those items that were found inside of his tent, like the clothes and the underwear and the eye glasses, well, those DNA samples did not match any of the missing people or murder victims in the police's database, and so that wasn't useful.

Then also police went to all those places on that map that were circled. And with the exception of obviously Dismal Creek, they didn't find anything else at the other locations that suggested any violent event had happened there. So only Randall knows the truth, which means we will never know the truth, Because just four days after Randall was pulled out of that truck that he crashed, he died in police custody from a blood clot that formed as a result of the crash. And in those four days that Randall was in custody, he never gave up that there were any other victims. Today, Sean still has a bullet in his head and in his chest, and Scott still has big scarring on his neck and on his back. But both men have made a full recovery, relatively speaking, and they still go back to Dismal Creek all the time to go camping and fishing. As promised, here is a clip from last week's episode of our amazing podcast, Run Full, hosted by the incredible, iconic storyteller, Rodney Barnes. Enjoy.

The first guy that stood up was about 6 feet tall with thinning hair he wore swept back from his forehead. He was dressed elegantly in a sweater and buttoned down, unusual enough in a sea of fleece jackets, and his eyes were hollowed in his skull. You write a lot about monsters that the rest of us don't actually believe in, the guy said. Reptiles, werewolves, murder goats, whatever. A chuckle rolled through the theater. I'm wondering if you'd ever consider addressing the other monster, the real Kind, he went on. The monster that looks more like a man. I stared back unnerved. I'd met far more of the human type of monster than I ever had the type with fur, but that's not what was giving me pause. Instead, it was the certainty that this guy had a story to tell. I was right about that because his story, it would be one of the most frightening tales I'd ever heard.

That's going to do it. If you enjoyed today's story, be sure to check out our podcast called the Mr. Ballin' podcast, where we literally have hundreds of stories that sound an awful lot like this one, but many of them are only on the podcast. Again, it's called The Mr. Ballin' podcast, and you can listen to it on Amazon Music or wherever else you get your podcasts. Thank you so much. Until next time. See you. Wait, don't go anywhere. If you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious videos, click here.