By Eric Vega
Geocaching is a fun and unique hobby that’s equal parts urban exploring and treasure hunting, but sometimes people find more then they bargained for. You never know exactly what you’re going to find, which is part of the fun – but that can also lead to some pretty bizarre discoveries. The internet is filled with creepy geocaching stories, in which geocachers happened upon something they definitely didn’t expect or want.
The people of Reddit came together to talk about the creepiest things they’ve ever found while geogaching, and their shared stories might shock you. Some are so terrifying, they may even lead some hobbyists to leave geocaching behind for good.
They Nearly Stumbled Over Human Remains
From Redditor /u/Len316:
Nearly found – Myself and my young son were caching by a local canal side in an area with poor GPS. The area had a path running beside the canal but was quite over grown. The cache was meant to be small (these are usually small plastic cylinders about the size of your thumb), so we spent about an hour going inch by inch over an area about 25 feet in diameter. Nothing, so we left. The next day, I hear about the [slaying] of a young girl who’s body was found about five to 10 feet max from where we were searching. Going by the time [of the act] and when the body was found, it was definitely there when we were searching. So thankful for my son, the bad GPS didn’t send us in her direction – uncovering the corpse of a girl his age would no doubt have had a lifelong impact.
They Found Dozens Of Creepy Dolls
From Redditor /u/imthebestatspace:
I used to be really into geocaching and would try to grab at least a few in each city I would visit. One time I was in Savannah, GA, and saw that there were several near the Bonaventure Cemetery. It’s the oldest cemetery in one of the oldest cities in the US. It’s a place filled with monuments and statues of [deceased] children. Creepy enough on its own near sunset, but that wasn’t the creepy part.
The last geocache was just outside the cemetery near the water. We start heading towards it and through some very dense mangrove trees and brush. We are almost about to turn around and look for an easier way through when we come to a clearing and see a set of eyes looking back at us. And not just one set of wyes, but dozens of… beady eyes. On the trees encircling the cleaning are dozens of baby dolls and puppets. Some tied down, some crucified, some hanging by the neck or upside-down by their feet. In the center was the remains of a fire and chared bones.
I’m not one to believe in goasts or demons, but with the sun nearly completely down and knowing that the cemetery would close soon, we decided to get the hell out of there. One [person] I was with left a comment on the [website] about how creepy the geocache was and that we’d have to go back when we had a little more time and sunlight. The owener of the cache freaked out and said he didn’t do that. A few day later he went there and couldn’t find any evidence of what we saw.
They Found Possible Evidence Of A Stalker
From Redditor /u/Planetleaper:
…There’s a nice wooded path about a mile or so down from my college, and I wanted to check it out. I opened my closet to find my hiking boots when I seen that old box full of random junk I’ve collected geocaching years ago. I couldn’t believe I still had it let alone brought it with me to college. Probably something my parents packed up thinking it was something I needed. I can’t say they were wrong, I needed an escape, and geocaching seemed like the perfect distraction from real life for the evening.
I made my way to the entrance of the trail and opened up the geocaching app I redownloaded on the walk over. There wasn’t much of [anything] at all but one about .4 miles deep in the trail. Without much hesitation, I started waking towards it. About 150 meter from its general location, the compass was directing me off the trail and into the woods. It was getting dark at this point, but I didn’t walk all this way just to turn around because of the sun setting. I made my way through piles of leaves and tree branches to find what looked like an old hiking trail sign. Weather and neglect got the best of it, whatever writing was on it originally turned to teal flakes of paint around the edges. It was supported by two wooden posts that had holes chewed [through] it from what I can only assume was insects or wildlife. Around the back side more decay, the posts were separating from the sign. I glanced a little closer and saw a small zip lock bag shoved between the post and sign. It looked as if it had been put there just recently, so I figured I’d open it up… When I grabbed it and unzipped the bag, there was a single piece of torn paper folded over twice and [a] piece of ripped red fabric. I unfolded the paper and saw what looked like scribbles all over one side. The note read:
09/09 – stops into coFfee shop. green top. gets a table and stays for 47 minutes and 16 seconds. leaves and walks back to 2nd floor apartment.
09/10 – stays indoors. white t shirt.
09/11 – walks to grocery store. black sweater. walks out after 12 mInutes and 53 seconds. 3 bags in hand. back to apartmeNt.
09/12 – stays inDoors except to receive a package. black shirt. the way she smiled at the delivery man..
09/13 – puts makeup on for 7 Minuets and 13 seconds. red dress. leaves apartment at 9pm. i will have her all to mysElf at last.
I put everything back into the ziplock bag and put it back where I found it. I just ran back to my dorm and started typing this out. What I want to know from you, Reddit, is what should I do? Can anyone make sense of this because it’s starting to freak me out. I’ve thought about trying to find more caches by their username, or maybe I should contact the police.
They Were Approached By A Creepy Bike Rider
From Redditor /u/lyndihrdmn:
My husband, my eight-year-old son, and I had done a huge Geocaching run through the four surrounding counties, and we were going to grab just one more, then call it a night. We followed our GPS out to a gravel road in the middle of nowhere when it started pinging and pointing off the side of the road.
Since we hadn’t [seen] another person for miles, I decided to just pull the car over to the side of the road, and we would all get out and look for the cache together.
My husband takes the lead with the GPS and is quickly off the road and heading up the side of a hill. At this time I notice that the sun is actively setting and we are quickly running out of light and of course no one thought to bring flashlights because we weren’t planning on doing any night time caches. My son barrels off after him and I decided to follow.
I get about a quarter way up the hill, and I yell for everyone to stop. Something felt off, and I was afraid either my son or myself would get hurt in the dark. I yell to my husband that my son and I are going back to the car to wait for him. He yells back that he was within 200 feet of the Geocache, and that he would bring it to the car when he found it so we could sign the log and pick an exchange item.
My son and I reached the car right as the last rays of light faded from the sky.
My son and I sat in the car with it running, head lights on and windows cracked, listening for my husband’s approaching steps…
We couldn’t hear or see anything for almost five minutes before my husband came down the road with the ammo can in his hand. When he reached the driver side door, I saw something come charging down the road. I start screaming for him to get over because I couldn’t tell what it was.
When all of a sudden, a 20-something boy/man on a bicycle skids to a stop right in front of my husband. Only two inches apart and just stares at him. My husband is not afraid to get violent should the situation merit it, but he kept his calm and just stared at the guy.
After 30 of the longest seconds ever, the guy had either gotten a good enough look, or he decided we weren’t who he thought we were, and he hopped back on his bike and took off pedaling in the direction he came.
We said f*ck putting the cache back that night! (I know I know rules and sh*t) But my husband got in the passenger side and we GTFO of there!
We did bring the cache back the next day and replaced it in the daylight. Thankfully, no creepy bike rider showed up that time!
They Found An Explosive Device
From Redditor /u/haikyyyyyyyylllle:
Haven’t geocached in years, but I was really into it about 10 years ago, and I came upon what had appeared to be a [homemade explosive]. I contacted authorities and it turned out I was right. The police told me to make sure to be extremely cautious, as this was apparently becoming a common thing. Glad I always look before I grab, or I might not be here today.
They Found Human Ashes
From Redditor /u/cybug33:
Found a bison tube inside a cache that was glued shut, so we couldn’t open it, and [it] was tagged as a trackable. Picked it up to move it along. When we got home and read its description, it claimed to have the ashes of a [deceased] relative enclosed.
They Found A Deceased Man In A Car
From Redditor /u/puntini:
In my town, there a giant area full of maybe eight or nine baseball fields. Some are for small children and others are regulation. So this place is obviously on a huge plot of land, [and] there are maybe 10 geocaches there. I swung by there one time after work and found maybe four, and I came back next weekend to find the rest. I remember seeing this lime green car parked in this one parking space far away from everything when I was there last week, but that day, it was still there. I know it hadn’t moved since there was a fast food cup still on the ground behind the back tire. I went up to the car and saw a man slumped over in the driver’s seat. I tried knocking on the window and ended up hitting it hard to see if the man could be woken up. I called the police and apparently the man had [passed] from [an] overdose and had been missing for three weeks.
They Found Unearthed Bones From A Graveyard
From Redditor /u/kpo987:
When my brother was about 11, my family was really into geocaching, so for his birthday, my parents figured a bunch of boys his age should be outside and doing something active, so they went geocaching. The geocach they went to was next to an old graveyard. It was a pretty popular one, and my family had found it before. My dad went out with like seven 11-year-olds. They were searching around when someone (I forget who) found some bones. My dad realized they were human and they got the hell out of there and they called non emerg police. It was as my parents suspected – bones from the old graveyard had shifted over time and had just happened to have emerged from the ground at that spot. But the authorities had to make sure because they were human bones and there might be a possibility of something bad. So for a couple days, there was a whole roped-off dig area with a small team of scientists at this very public spot next to the graveyard and a church.
That geocach is gone now. I don’t know if it was because of this but it was shortly after this happened.
Their Geocache GPS Pointed Directly At A Couple Hooking Up
From Redditor /u/Saphaia:
A couple making out.
The cache was placed in the middle of a field, just a few bushes and trees around, tall grass everywhere. So after 10 minutes of walking up the hill, I started looking for the cache. Suddenly, I saw clothes scattered around and something that looked like a body. I was absolutly terrified for a few seconds, thought I found a… body or something. Slowly walked up a few steps… well okay, two people kissing. They must’ve been really into it, because I was searching a few minutes already, not particularly quiet.
Went back a few metres again and looked at my GPS. It pointed exactly at them. Decided to stop looking for the cache and went back to my car. Still not sure if I want to try a second time – if [I do], it will be during a cold, snowy winter.
They Found A Bees’ Nest
From Redditor /u/WastefulNick:
Some *sshole had put a bees’ nest in the cache. I opened it up to hundreds of angry bees storming me. I’m just trying to imagine a first-time cacher or someone who’s allergic finding that. Took me 30 minutes to remove the nest safely from the cache, and I got stung multiple times. Well done to whoever did that. I have no clue how someone managed to get the nest in there, but a big f*ck you to you.
They Found An Urban Warzone
From Redditor /u/anthropology_nerd:
Geocaching hike deep in the New Mexico wilderness. Entered a clearing and saw a series of half-built/crumbling concrete structures. Rebar poking out of the concrete, and a dirt road approaching from the opposite direction of my hike in. Footprints and some recent trash indicated people were still using the site. The whole thing seemed somehow post-apocalyptic and eerie. I was hiking alone, and for some reason, the whole situation was freaking me out a bit. I decided to abort the hike and back out the way I hiked in.
Found out later the site was used as a paintball tournament ground and designed on an urban warfare theme. There was absolutely no evidence of spent balls or paint on the concrete walls, which explains my confusion and the eeriness of finding new, but half-destroyed buildings in the middle of nowhere.
They Discovered A Grave
From Redditor /u/Ornjsicle:
Was searching in a park like a block from my house with my nieces. We walked through some trees and happened upon what looked very much like a grave, with a cross headstone, wilted flowers, etc. It definitely looked like a grave rather than a memorial. Either way, it’s a city park, so what the heck?
They Found Loot Left By A Deceased Man
From Redditor /u/bally199:
There used to be a YouTuber called geocachespoilers. That channel was a spin-off from his main channel, svengalie. Long story short, a nasty divorce ended [with] him taking his own life after setting his house on fire. I followed him fairly closely, and the day I stumbled across one of his geocaches was the same day I found out he’d passed…
They Found A Fox Skull
From Redditor /u/Superpcboy:
We went geocaching, and one of the geocaches was hidden in the woods. When we were looking, we found a [fox’s] skull. It was very creepy.
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