The day I almost got murdered while hiking on the Natchez Trace

So, it’s a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short while including all the relevant information I still remember. I was 15 years old at the time.

I live in the south, in a city built along the Natchez Trace. For those who don’t know, the Natchez Trace is a very long road that crosses almost the entire country from north to south. It was used by tribes in the past to move quickly around the country, for trade, and during the Civil War, it was used by Union and Confederation soldiers to travel. It is now a land protected by the federal government, and we feel very isolated there. No one is allowed to build anything within a kilometre of the route, and there are no streetlights, just a two-lane road. There are funerary tombs, even unnamed Civil War tombs, and many secondary hiking trails. It is extremely illegal to dig anything, etc. In my city, it is not uncommon to go hiking because it is absolutely beautiful. But there were stories about being careful. I remember that in the 90s, a young woman was killed there while hiking, and there were all these croquemitaine stories about not being on the track after nightfall.

Hiking on the track was something my friends and I did a lot when we were young. We used to go off the track often, because you can find some really cool stuff there. One day, a friend and I were there travelling paths and looking at things like we always did. It was spring, not yet summer, but the days were starting to get longer. It wasn’t super late, but later than usual. Just the twilight. We were about an hour or two walk away, and we had left the trail as usual. We arrive at this clearing in the trees that opened on this large open field, and there is an old truck there. That alone was a huge alarm signal, because you can’t use off-road vehicles there, but there were two guys next to the truck with shovels and enough dirt next to them so we could tell they were digging a big enough hole for a while. The truck’s dumpster was open, but you couldn’t see inside where you were. They looked at us, and there was like a funny second where no one said anything, and I don’t remember who moved first, but I remember the guys jumping in the truck, started it and speeding towards us.

We ran through the trees in panic because we were sure they were going to crush us. I remember hearing the truck stop at the trees behind us while we were running, and hearing them come out screaming. We ran for what seemed like a few good minutes before jumping into a mess of broken trees and staying as quiet as possible. You could hear them in the distance, and you could also hear dogs barking, as if they had dogs with them. And I remember precisely hearing one of them shout at one point: « I can’t see you, but I can hear you, and my dogs will catch you! »

We remained silent and did not move, because we never heard them approaching close enough to think they were going to spot us. Finally, we heard the truck restart in the distance, and we stayed outside until we could no longer hear it, then we cautiously returned to the car without saying a word. I remember that during the whole way back, we were silent and every pair of headlights we saw almost gave me a heart attack because I thought they were looking for us.

I never knew what they were doing there, but it must have been something serious. When I was younger, my brain always went to the obvious cliché, like someone hiding a body. Mainly because it would be a good place to do it - no one is looking for stuff there. But as I got older, I started to think it was probably dirty money or drug caches.

The city is so small that I have always wondered if I had not crossed these people again in public without knowing it. Go shopping, or go shopping. How many times have I been a car or two behind them at a red light. To this day, it gives me goosebumps.

EDIT: Thank you for the karma and the discussion, everyone! This thread prompted me to learn about the historical route of the Natchez Trace in the years before and directly following the American Revolution. A helpful editor led me to [this link documenting his itinerary as it has changed over the course of history] (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Natchez_Trace), and it is a very good read if the subject interests you. The current Natchez Trace ends just outside Nashville, TN, however the extended routes of the past still exist under different names. Interesting stuff!