If you've never seen Annihilation, it's outstanding and terrifying and on Amazon Prime. For those who have seen the movie, read this anecdote by field biologist Emily Taylor about a frightening experience she had in Arizona:
As a field biologist, some scary stuff has happened to me in the past. I radio-tracked rattlesnakes for years in Arizona. You encounter weird stuff at night in the desert. #scarystories
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
One day I kept smelling a strange scent all evening. It was musky, feral, and funky. I couldn't place it.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
The smell was really strong when I tracked a snake deep up into a rocky area that I had never gone to before. I rounded a bend and was struck in the face with the smell.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I had found a little den where a large mammal bedded down. The duff on the ground was all flattened, the smell was strong, and there were big prints in the dirt.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I scuttled away rapidly. Me, the fearless scientist studying big rattlesnakes, was completely freaked out from stumbling into a large creature's empty bedroom.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
Later that night, after dark, I was tracking some snakes down in the flats. The smell kept hitting my nostrils. I would sniff my field shirt, thinking "Am I just super stinky today?" Nope. I mean, I was stinky, but this smell was not coming from me. It was the smell from the den.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I kept looking around, but of course I didn't see anything. My strong flashlight lit up the area around me within a few meters, and everything outside that ring was black. I was alone.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
Done tracking snakes for the night, I returned to my truck around 2am. I got out my sleeping bag and plopped on the desert floor, as was my routine. I would wake at 6am and track the snakes again.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I remember staring at the stars, just starting to drift off. That's when I heard the sound. It was close. It was coming from a wash on the other side of a large crop of mesquite trees.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
To this day I cannot adequately describe the sound. It was unearthly. It was like a loud, piercing wail of anguish. A curdling, guttural, feral cry in the utter and complete darkness.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
The best parallel I can draw is almost as creepy as the sound itself: it was like a cross between an animal being tortured and a person being violated. I'm sorry. But that is exactly what it sounded like.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I shot up in my cocoon and immediately tumbled back over, face in the dirt. I scrambled out of my bag and stood there, unable to hear anything but my heart thumping in my chest.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
That's when I smelled it, again. Stronger even than when I had unwittingly found its den. The musky, predatory smell literally punched me in the face.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
I couldn't see past the mesquites. I didn't need to. I could hear and smell it. It was about 20 feet away.
— Emily Taylor (@snakeymama) October 31, 2019
Read what happened next in this thread.
Via Ed Yong.
