WHO WERE THOSE PEOPLE? did we encounter some occult members?

Originally posted by Aeons
You ran into a pagan circle. The dark stain was probably from dark candles. You probably wandered onto someone's private property, or a spot in a public space they'd found that no one used.

I think Aeons hit the nail on the head.

As a Solitary Witch who usually celebrates the Sabbat festivals with a couple of fellow 'solitaries' up on the wild North Yorkshire Moors (we have a specific sacred place that we go to) at daft'o'clock at night we have often wondered what people would think if they stumbled upon us

And whilst we are especially careful to clear up after ourselves there are the inevitable odd hints of our visit left behind ... not least the dark stains left by the candles we have burnt in our circle (even though we removes the wax residue there is a mark left behind by the oil in the candles).

So I think you may well have come across a Pagan Sacred Space ... and if some members of thet circle saw a bunch of kids mooching about they would justifiably be sensitive to the intrusion ... but that doesn't mean they were up to no good.

On the other hand they may have been Devil Worshippers with a sacrificial blood lust ... in which case you may have had a lucky escape

Either way I guess you'll never know ... but the moral of the story and the lesson to heed ... if you ever come across something similar and you suspect it may be a place of Occult practice (good or bad) ... it is best to walk in the opposite direction ... it's only good manners ... after all I doubt you would have been happy if they'd just started wandering around your camp uninvited

Woody

woody my friend it is an honor to have you comment on my post, as i said haha i have no clue what we came upon but we sure felt somethin but you know kids haha, we didnt know any better but i guarantee you haha as soon as we hit those trees we were haulin as$ haha. agian thanks for replyin

The OP said this happened 6 to 8 years ago, so it's entirely possible the row of benches from the Google Earth image, that UmbraSumus posted might be the spot the OP and his friends stumbled upon. A lot of development and changes could take place in 6 to 8 years, even in such a secluded place. That could be what the place looks like now. The OP said they went East, but he could be misremembering which direction they went. Interesting story though.

As I said i am going to contact my other friend who was with me and see if he remembers any difference in direction or anything like that and once i have a chance to talk to him I will post anything of significance that he recalls, thank you for alll of the posts

sorry ive takin so long to get back to you, havnt been able to catch the guy free latly he's got a busy life an so do i but i will keep my word and report on what he recalls thanks for the patience

Ok so now that the ATS photo adding system is back up.

the yellow lines are where I remember trees being.
we would have entered from the left side of the pic
the green star is where we were when we saw the van
the blue line is where the van pulled up and stopped we could see it because the trees were so tall.
the red line is the front of where the alter looking thing was.

hope this helps give a clearer picture of the scene sorry it took so long to post