Something is wrong with the animals in the national park (Part 1)

Hi everyone. I’m not actually active here, I usually just lurk. But I think I just need to write this down somewhere because it won’t let me rest.

I’ve been working as a national park ranger for 3 months now. Before that, I was a carpenter – so I spent my whole life working with wood, not animals. It feels good to see something different for a change instead of just my own tools and workbench. In these 3 months alone, I feel much more connected to nature. I love the quiet atmosphere – not the constant noise of a saw cutting through a board or the sound a file makes as it glides over wood. It’s just nice to be outside, to hear nature and to feel it, too. The wind blowing through your hair, the sounds of the animals, and the rustle of the wind through the leaves.

That’s why I’m not sure if I’m just imagining things. But lately, the animals here have been acting strange. It’s little things that I noticed first. Birds, deer, even small squirrels – they just stop and stare in one direction. Sometimes they stare at me, and it’s not that normal “Oh, there’s a human” stare. It feels different. It’s a feeling of unease, almost as if there’s more behind those eyes.

And just to be clear: No, I’m not paranoid. I just think you only start to perceive these subtle differences when you deal with it every single day. Yesterday, I saw two squirrels sitting on the ground staring at me – almost as if they felt pity, which, among other things, prompted me to write this down. It wasn’t just a guess like “Oh, they’re looking at me right now,” but rather a feeling telling me there’s more to it. Usually, I see squirrels almost every day here in the park, but this time they just stayed there – completely still, almost as if they were frozen.

Shortly after, I heard a rattling in the background and, of course, I had to get to the bottom of it. To my surprise, it was a stag with the most beautiful coat color I’ve ever seen. I crouched down in some bushes so as not to scare it off and to keep watching what it was doing. It was looking back and forth almost frantically, like someone going into the bushes to pee and checking first to see if anyone is around who might look. Luckily, he didn’t notice me, and strangely enough, I watched him repeatedly tap his antlers lightly against branches of different thicknesses on a tree. This happened in a rhythm, and because of the different branch thicknesses, you could even hear a kind of melody – call me crazy, but that’s not normal.

You thought that was creepy? Well, get this: I watched birds jump from branches, only to flutter back up to the next branch just before hitting the ground. Almost as if they wanted to swing from tree to tree. When I tried to get closer to observe, they just flew away quickly, as if they were fleeing from a punishment. However, I’ve come to terms with this phenomenon by now, as I’ve been seeing it more and more often. Of course, it’s still a bit creepy when you see it from a distance, especially because several birds do it at the same time, making it look like they’re plunging into a mass death.
But that’s just the beginning; I have much more to tell. But first, I wanted to ask if anyone else here has ever noticed this – the feeling that there could be more behind the gaze of animals.

I have to get ready for my night shift now and will get back to you if I observe anything new.