I’m sure you have all heard of the Appalachian Rules:
If you see something, no you didn’t.
If you hear something, no you didn’t.
If something whistles at you, you don’t whistle back.
But what happens if you ignore the rules? What will happen if you whistle back or interact with the so-called “wildlife” in the Appalachian Mountains? This is the phenomenon of the Staircases in the Woods, located in the Appalachian Mountains.
As you know, the Appalachian Mountains are famous for both their unnerving legends and their beautiful hiking trails. The Appalachian trails have been set for centuries, carved by our ancestors as primary travel routes, and have now become scenic routes used for exploration, romance, and of course, paranormal investigation.
The mystery of the staircases in the woods is a legend that has been passed down from wildlife conservationist to park ranger to summer campers. There have been numerous sightings of a lone set of stairs found in the deepest part of the Appalachian forest. The stairs appear in the middle of fields, hiking routes, and even in the middle of the untouched forest. The stairs appear suddenly and then when you loop back to check, they’re gone. The stairs come in various shapes and sizes, from iron spiral cases where the rust has overtaken the railings, to freshly furnished ones where the carpet is still sticky and new.
Typically, when the stairs are found, netizens report a tense feeling in the air, like they’re not supposed to be seeing the stairs, like the stairs were placed there for the forest’s insidious use only. People report that when the stairs are seen, the forest goes completely silent. The moment you look up from your map, or your phone, or away from your lover’s gaze, the stairs are there, and the forest transforms into a much darker place.
One story of the haunting stairs comes from a search and rescue officer. He reports that he had known about the mystery of the stairs since his rookie days. He describes how his mentor had a hushed conversation about the stairs, about how they should never approach the stairs, never touch them, that they should just ignore them, pretend they are not there, and to not let the unnerving feeling of being watched get to them. The officer had put that memory into the back of his mind, a big mistake considering the evil turn his next rescue would take.
The officer and his partner were in search of a missing child that had slipped out of his mother’s view and could not be located afterward. The rescue had brought out their K-9 in hopes of catching the child’s scent. The K-9 was tracking a scent and guiding the men through the trail, bringing hope to a dire situation. Suddenly, the forest went quiet—no birds chirping, no leaves rustling—and there they were, the stairs.
The officer knew better than to approach, but something was urging him to just take a look. His partner protested as he began to walk towards the stairs, but the officer ignored his advice. As he approached the stairs, the officer reported that nothing was out of the ordinary. He did not hear voices. He was not abducted by aliens. He did not drop dead. As the man lifted his hand to touch the perfect carpet that coated the steps, he felt a shooting pain in his wrist—his arm had been completely sliced off. The man’s hand was gone, and it seemingly had fallen into thin air. They never recovered the hand, and they never recovered the missing child.
It is rumored that the staircases bring bad luck, and with this story, we can now understand that while the Appalachian region is beautiful, it also carries dark energy and is home to restless souls and entities that are out for revenge. So be warned, my dear readers: if you’re hiking through the Appalachian Trails and you see a set of stairs, do not approach them, do not touch them, and do not listen to the voices of the woods beckoning you to join them.
Edited and Reviewed by John Ratliff II
