I'm a Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service, I have some stories to tell

I wasn't sure where else to post these stories, so I figured I'd share them here. I've been an SAR officer for a few years now, and along the way I've seen some things that I think you guys will be interested in. <br><br>OBS: The things I am about to tell you are real. The places are not going to be described in too much detail in order to keep their 'secrets'. <br><br>**Story 1: The Lion**<br>---------------<br><br>This happened during my first summer as an SAR officer. I was still green, and didn't know squat about the backcountry. I was teamed up with a veteran SAR tech, who's been doing this for over a decade. We were going out to look for a missing four year old little boy. <br><br>The kid had wandered off from his parents while they were camping in the middle of summer. His mom and dads warnings of a bear in the area hadn't registered with him, and he wandered off. He wandered for about a half mile, and disappeared into the woods. His parents, thinking that he'd probably wander back, waited a few hours before reporting him missing to our dispatch center. <br><br>We were deployed to search an area of dense forest. There were a few streams in the area, some ravines, and a few thick groves of pine and fir trees. We got lost almost immediately, but we didn't realize that until much later. At the time, we were busy looking for signs of the missing boy. <br><br>My partner, a veteran SAR tech, suggested that we follow the scent of the pine. He had been a scout as a kid, and he knew that in the wilderness, animals often use the scent of pine to camouflage their scat. We walked in silence for a few minutes while we waited for our eyes to adjust to the shade. When we finally saw something, we both stopped dead in our tracks. <br><br>About 20 feet in front of us was an eyesocket of a bear, staring straight into our faces. The bear seemed to be staring right through us, and my partner and I didn't move a single muscle. We stood there for what seemed like hours, frozen in our tracks, trying not to move or make a single sound. The bear slowly got to its feet, stood up on all fours, and started to back away from us. It didn't make a single sound. <br><br>My partner and I started to breathe again once the bear was out of sight. Neither of us said a word, we simply booked it out of there. We ran through the thick underbrush, slapping at our faces and necks to keep the branches away. We didn't realize our mistake until we stopped to catch our breath. When we looked at each other, we saw that we'd both gone bloody. <br><br>The thistles were toxic, and they were making our skin burn. We ripped off pieces of our shirt to wipe away the juice, but it kept coming back. We tried to wipe our faces with leaves, but the juice came right through the leaves and back onto our skin. We didn't know what to do, so we just kept going. Eventually we found the truck and got out of there. <br><br>We never found the missing boy either, but a few days later his family showed up at the dispatch center. They said that they'd been preparing to set up camp when they saw the little boy walking down the road, up towards their car. They rushed out of their vehicle, hugged the little boy, and scurried off to find a hospital. <br><br>**Story 2: The Girl in the Dress**<br>------------------------------<br><br>This happened in the winter. A woman had gone missing on the snowy trails. She was an experienced snowboarder, but she hadn't shown up to her girlfriend's birthday party the way she should have. Her car was in the parking lot, but there was no sign of her. <br><br>My partner and I were sent out to search for her, as well as two other teams. We got word that she had last been seen near an old bridge. We booked it to the bridge, and when we got there we found something that gave us both the creeps. On the frozen river, someone had scrawled "I love you" in letters a foot high. <br><br>We got to work searching the river, but there was no sign of her. We searched the woods on either side of the bridge, but still no sign of her. We were getting desperate, it was cold and dark, and we were running out of time. We decided to split up and search separate areas. I searched the woods on the north side of the bridge, while my partner searched the woods on the south. <br><br>After about ten minutes of searching, I heard my partner yell for me. I ran to where he was, and I saw something that still gives me nightmares to this day. My partner had come across a frozen sheet of ice, which hidden behind some thick trees we couldn't see. At the far end of the sheet of ice, we saw something white. We thought it was probably a snowboard or something, but when we got closer we saw that it was a little girl in a white dress. <br><br>We rushed over to her and started to cut through the frozen grass with our knives so we could get to her. When we finally got to her, we were relieved to find that she was still alive. She was shivering from the cold, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. We started to comfort her, and asked her what had happened. At first she didn't say anything, then she started to cry. <br><br>After she started crying, she finally told us what happened. She said that she was having a bit of a standoff with his dad, so she decided to go for a walk. While she was walking, the snow started falling. It started out small, but soon it was falling hard, and she couldn't see anything. She stumbled, fell, and hurt her ankle. When she tried to get up, she felt something pop. She knew she'd sprained her ankle. <br><br>Then she said something that gave me the chills. She said that as she sat there in the dark, she heard her mom's voice. It was whispering in her ear, calling to her, and telling her to get up and walk away. Then she said that as she stood up, she heard her mom's voice again, this time telling her to come back tomorrow and she'll take care of things. She started walking down the mountain, but the snow got worse. She couldn't see anything, and soon she found herself on the river. She saw the bridge, and decided to follow the river until she got home. <br><br>We helped her up, and we got her walking. When we got her back to her car, we made sure she got home safe. She told her parents what happened, and her mom was nowhere to be found. The cops tried to question her dad, but he didn't give them anything. <br><br>**Story 3: The Lady in White**<br>---------------------------<br><br>This happened a few years ago, before I became a SAR tech. My friend was missing, and no one knew where she had gone. I lived right next to her, and we were good friends. I went out to look for her, and I found her car in the parking lot. I searched her house, but there was no sign of her. I went out to the woods, and I found something that still creeps me out to this day. <br><br>I found her walking on the trail, wearing a white dress. It was evening, so the sun wasn't out, but there were street lamps along the path. They reflected off of her dress and made it look like she was glowing. She didn't seem to see me, she just kept walking. I ran up to her and said her name, but she didn't respond. <br><br>I pulled on her arm, and she jerked violently towards me. I asked her again where she had been, and she finally responded. She told me that she had gone on a walk, but she got lost. She said that as she was walking, she saw a lady in white standing next to the trail. She asked her for directions, and the lady told her to keep walking. Then she said that she started to feel really tired, and before she knew it she was unconscious. <br><br>I helped her up, and I got her back home. I helped her tell her parents what had happened. Her dad and mom didn't seem to give a shit, but her siblings were relieved. <br><br>**Story 4: James**<br>--------------<br><br>James was a tech that I worked with for a few years. He was a good guy, but one time he did something that still gets me mad. We got a report of a man who had been missing for three days. His car was in the parking lot, but there was no sign of him. James and I got sent out to look for him, as well as another tech. We searched for hours, but there was no sign of him. We got frustrated and decided to head back in. <br><br>Before we did, though, James insisted we search one more place. It was an old mine, halfway up the mountain. We joked that he was probably dead already, and was rotting in the mine. James insisted that we search anyway. We got to the mine, but we didn't want to go inside. The opening was narrow, and it smelled bad. It smelled dead. <br><br>James insisted that we go inside. We searched for about ten minutes, but we found something that creeped me out. There were pieces of human skeleton stuck in the walls and ceiling. We figured that the mine must have collapsed, and the man must have died in it. We took pictures, and prepared to head back. <br><br>Then we heard James cry out. We