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Comment by swayvil | Hacker News Reader

Strange stuff happens in the wilderness. Strange beasts sighted. People disappear.

Some say that it's because what we call "reality" is, to a significant degree, conjured into being by our collective attention. So the edge of the collective (civilization or whatever) is the edge of reality.

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As an American, I am realizing more and more that the world doesn't (and never has historically) had the "Disneyland" mindset I seem to have grown up with living in the wealthiest parts of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Forget the big things like War, Hunger, and Torture - even just the personal independence (from family / society) or freedom (ability to do what you want, when you want) aspects of our nation are a strange notion to history.

Are you a Daemon Operative?

what does that mean?

Nice try!

I think vastness has a lot more to do with people not being found than anything strange.

Agreed. The sad but likely explanation for most of these disappearances is that they simply became lost and succumbed to elements within a few days, or injured themselves and became immobilized. When there's no one for miles and miles in any direction, you're very much on your own.

Once you get off a trail, it's very easy to get disoriented and lost, especially if you can't see major landmarks to orient yourself by.

Quite a few years ago, before smartphones and handheld GPSs, I went to take a walk from where I was staying to a relatively nearby lighthouse on the coast. I didn't take a compass with me and, as soon as I walked into some woods, I very quickly realized that I had gotten disoriented and wasn't sure which direction I had come from.

I did find my way out really quickly but it was really a "well, that was dumb" moment and a realization that if you step off a trail into the woods you could end up getting very lost very easily.

There was a nature preserve at the end of my block growing up. Maybe 2x2 miles of light woods with a creek and some minor trails. I explored it regularly and often had to find my way home by walking in a straight line to the edge of the woods (where there would be recognizable streets in the town).

When I'm backcountry I always have a GPS and good maps. You can lose a trail walking 100 yards off it to check something out.

>often had to find my way home by walking in a straight line

Which often isn't straightforward, especially in uneven terrain. "Walking in circles" may be a cliche but it definitely happen when you don't have a distant point to lock onto.

There's a story by Borges based on this premise. Fortunately the world doesn't work like that, because it paints a somewhat disturbing picture.

http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/0066/borges.pdf

These kinds of accounts remind me of one of the top series on the nosleep subreddit about search and rescue[0]. There are definitely paranormal embellishments to the tales, but a lot of it just plays on the possible but strange things that happen in the wilderness. It's generally well written and worth a read if you like being creeped out a bit.

[0]https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/3iex1h/im_a_search...

Sounds like a Twilight Zone opening monologue.

I love your last stanza. I keep re-reading it.

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