The Sheffey Hollow Hide-behind

Hunters along Sheffey Hollow Road and Midway Road in the Appalachian woods often find themselves unnerved, as though something is stalking them just out of sight.  The air is thick with an unsettling presence that follows their every step, but when they turn, there’s nothing there.  These eerie occurrences have led to an enduring local legend about a creature known as a “hide-behind,” a figure that has haunted forests across America for generations.

The experience is always the same.  A hunter will hear footsteps trailing closely behind them, only to spin around and find no one in sight.  The game of cat-and-mouse continues.  Footsteps grow nearer, but the follower remains invisible.  Soon enough, the unease becomes too much to bear, and the hunter, unable to escape the sense of being watched, retreats from the woods.

The hide-behind is no mere urban legend, but a creature deeply woven into the fabric of North American folklore.  Tales of this elusive stalker date back to the 1930s, when it was featured in Charles Edward Brown’s 1935 pamphlet Paul Bunyan Natural History.  Brown recounted how this spectral being would silently trail lumberjacks, lurking behind trees until it was ready to drag its victim deep into the wilderness, never to be seen again.

Henry Harrington Tryon’s Fearsome Critters, published in 1939, gave the hide-behind its most detailed form, describing it as a six-foot-tall creature, walking on two legs, with long black fur and claws that could easily shred bark from trees.  It was said to possess a peculiar ability to hide behind the thinnest of trees, its slender body allowing it to vanish from view with ease.  Despite its fearsome description, Tryon added a curious detail.  The creature was known to avoid drunken individuals, as it had an aversion to alcohol.

Over time, the myth grew richer.  In 1948, the Altoona Mirror described the hide-behind as a shy and elusive creature, preferring to remain hidden in the shadows, only revealing itself when its victim felt most vulnerable.  According to Robert R. Lyman Sr.'s Forbidden Land, published in 1971, indigenous people spoke of the hide-behind as a creature that would follow people through the forest, staying just out of sight.  The creature’s presence would stir an intense sense of panic in its victim, pushing them to flee in terror, though they never knew why.

Whether a figment of folklore or an unsettling reality, the hide-behind remains a symbol of nature's hidden dangers, a reminder that sometimes, in the deep, quiet woods, something may be watching and waiting.