Stairs in the Woods: The real stories behind the Creepypasta

Strange stairs in the woods. Photo: Traveler Magazine

Many people visiting natural reserves around the world have reported experiencing paranormal phenomena connected with strange stairs that seem to lead to nowhere.

Stairs in the Woods: The NoSleep Story

A fictional story was posted on reddit by user searchandrescuewoods.

In their story searchandrescuewoods spoke of strange staircases appearing in the forest. They claim that their superiors in SAR tell them not to pay any attention to the stairs and to keep quiet about their existence.

You can read all seven parts of the story here.

Other people’s reports of strange happenings around stairs in the woods

Since the story appeared on reddit many other people came forward to tell their real life paranormal encounters with stairs in the woods.

One reddit user who worked as an infectious disease expert for the government was investigating animal mutilations around the same time as the Roswell UFO incident. They claimed that in the following 6 months several sets of stairs appeared during the night and were gone the following day leaving only scorch marks in the earth where they had been.

A man from the Philippines says he was fired from his job as a forester for being absent for several years. He claims that he climbed some stairs in the woods to escape an aggressive stray dog. To him only a few minutes had passed but his employer claimed he had been gone for five years.

In Sweden, two young men found a strange set of stairs in the woods and decided to climb it. One of the men felt an icy touch on his shoulder. He turned around thinking his fried must have wanted something only to see he was standing several feet away. Too far away to have touched him.

Another story speaks of a woman who climbed some stairs in the woods and suddenly fell dead. An autopsy found she had had a brain aneurysm.

Common Attributes of Stairs in the Woods

Many witnesses of stairs in the woods are startled by the fact that these stairs don’t seem to be abandoned. They are typically free of vegetation and seem well maintained.

They are sometimes described as being very old and made of stone but other times they appear to be quite modern and very out of place.

Further exploration of stairs in the woods

Possible Explanations

Paranormal

It seems from some stories that the staircases could be anything from some sort of extraterrestrial activity to a residual haunting to a portal to another dimension.

Mundane

Probably the most likely but least fun explanation is that the stairs are the remains of old abandoned buildings and people are simply misremembering their locations.

What do you think is happening with the stairs in the woods? Are the stories just made up or is there something more there. Let us know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article you may also be interested in missing time stories or time slip stories.