THERE'S SUPPOSEDLY A VALLEY IN ALASKA

There's supposedly a valley in Alaska that some bush pilots absolutely refuse to fly over after sunset because they claim that something on the ground will start running underneath their airplane and according to this one pilot, the first time that you see it, it isn't chasing you. It's actually studying how fast that you can actually fly. Now, before we get into this, Alaska is probably one of those very few places in America where a story like this, A isn't really that surprising and B, it children people. There are enormous stretches of wilderness that where there's virtually nothing underneath you. There's no roads, no houses, no street lights, and sometimes not another person for dozens or even hundreds of miles. And bush pilots fly into places that most of us will never see. But according to a story that was sent to me, there is one particular valley that older pilots supposedly warn newcomers about. They don't tell them like, oh don't fly through it. They don't no, there's their warning is a little bit more specific And they just pretty much say don't be in that valley when the sun goes down and that's it. Because apparently there is something down there that knows when an airplane enters it. Now the pilot who told me this story, I'm going to call him Daniel for the sake of the story. And he said he's been flying all throughout Alaska for years and most of his work involved exactly what you expect from a bush pilot, transporting supplies, equipment, hunters, researchers and occasionally people living in communities that are so isolated that airplanes were basically their connection to the outside world. And Daniel wasn't particularly superstitious. I mean he didn't really believe in anything like supernatural or anything like that. But he said Bush pilots absolutely have their own superstitions and their own rules. And when you spend enough time flying over mountains, glaciers, forests and valleys where a mechanical failure can become a life or death situation very quickly. You learn to listen when experience tell you something. And there was this one warning that Daniel kept hearing. There was a narrow valley on one of his occasional roots that could stave considerable time off certain flights. And during daylight pilots used it regularly, but once evening approached, some of the older guys would actually alter their route to avoid it entirely. Daniel assumed it was because of visibility. You know, mountain flying after dark can obviously become incredibly dangerous and valleys can create unpredictable winds, but when Daniel finally asked an older pilot about it, the man supposedly looked at him very plainly and he just said it isn't the mountains and that's it. Daniel of course laughed thinking he was trying to scare him, but the other pilot didn't do anything. And then he told him something that Daniel initially thought was just an old Alaska story, you know, told to younger pilots and he said over the years several pilots had reported seeing something moving through the valley need their airplanes. Not a bear, not a mouse, not another person, something very tall, something that appear to be moving upright. And somehow it could keep pace with the aircraft. And Daniel immediately pointed out, you know, the obvious problem and he's like, you know, even a relatively slow bush plane is, you know, is moving far faster than any human could run through unseen in wilderness. And the pilot did agree and that's what made it more strange. And he you know, you wouldn't see the thing continuously. You'd catch it, you know, between opening and the trees, one moment you'd see a dark shape moving beneath you and then you'd lose it. several seconds later, it would reappear but much further ahead of of you. Like it was out pacing the planes. Almost as though it wasn't actually running through the forest, it was somehow like skipping portions of it. Daniel thought the whole thing was ridiculous, you know, like a prank that they play on new pilots until one evening when he himself was running a little late and he had dropped off supplies earlier that afternoon and weather delays had pushed his return flight dangerously close to sunset and he knew about the warning but you know avoiding the valley meant taking the longer route around the mountains and Daniel looked at the remaining daylight and he decided you know what I can make it. So for the first several minutes nothing happened. The valley was almost completely still mountains rose on either side of him and the last training sunlight was disappearing behind its peaks. And below him were miles of spruce trees broken occasionally by stretches of rock and you know, shallow river beds and and then Daniel noticed movement beneath him. And at first he thought maybe it was a moose and you know, something dark and you know, had crossed a clearing beneath his left wing. And he looked down, but whatever it was had already disappeared into the trees. Daniel kept flying and about 30 seconds later, he saw movement again. Except now, it was ahead of him. And that immediately caught his attention. So he leaned toward the window and he was watching the tree line and there was nothing again. And then another clearing appeared and Daniel saw it. And he described it as looking vagly human, um, you know, from the altitude, but but much too large. Like it it was it was definitely on two legs. It had very long muscular arms, that had a very dark body. And it was moving unbelievably fast, he said. But Daniel noticed something even stranger. It wasn't running away from the air plane. It was running in the same direction that he was flying. Daniel increased his speed and the figure disappeared beneath the trees. He tried convincing himself that he'd misjudged the size and the distance of it. Maybe it was an animal, maybe the fading light was creating some kind of like a shadow illusion. And then several seconds later, it reappeared again. you know, still underneath him, still moving in the same direction. And Daniel said that's when the warning suddenly stopped becoming funny. He pushed the aircraft harder and started really climbing. And as he climbed, the thing vanished. And for nearly, you know, probably two minutes, Daniel saw nothing. And he began wondering whether he'd scared himself, you know, over a bear or you know, moving in between the trees and until his headset cracked and it was just static. Nothing unusual and then another burst of it and Daniel adjusted the radio and beneath the static he heard something and it was three faint tapping sounds and Daniel froze because the sound wasn't coming through his headset. It was actually coming from somewhere behind him. So he turned around and there was nothing and then he heard the taps again and this time it was above him while he's in the air and something had struck the exterior of the aircraft and Daniel he doesn't remember much about the remaining flight through that valley because he was completely focused on getting out and he had tunnel vision and he was just trying to make it back. And as he crossed the final ridge, the valley disappeared behind him and everything stopped immediately. There was no more tapping, no movement and there was nothing. When Daniel eventually landed, he inspected the aircraft and he expected to find, you know, damage from some type of debris, whatever. But instead, near the rear section of the the uh uh oh my god. Fuselage. Um he saw three scratches and they were through these parallel marks. And the following morning Daniel found the older pilot who had warned him and he told him everything. He told him about the figure, the running, the tapping, the scratches and according to Daniel, the man didn't look surprised at all. Supposedly, pilots sometimes see it standing on the mountain side and Daniel said he He never flew through that valley after sunset ever again. And he wouldn't give me an exact location. He was very vague. He is still working there and obviously I have no way of confirming whether any of this actually happened. Uh maybe it's simply one of those legends that develops among people over time working in extremely isolated places. Um but maybe fading light, exhaustion, wild life and difficult terrain created stories that became more frightening every time that they are, you know, told and repeated, but I keep coming back to the one detail that if these pilots were actually afraid of the valley itself, why were they perfectly willing to fly through it during the day. Um, you know, and if you ever find yourself flying through the Alaskan wilderness at sunset and you notice something moving beneath the trees, maybe don't slow down to figure out what it is because according to Daniel, if you can see it running below you, it already knows that you're there. Let me know what you guys think in the comments.