HmongTales: Based on a true story from California.
Growing up, I heard scary stories within the Hmong culture of a little female spirit called “Poj Ntxoog.” People who claim to have seen or encountered Poj Ntxoog describe them as being short, human-like beings with long, black, fuzzy hair covering their faces, wearing black dresses. They are believed to have magic powers and could manipulate a person’s reality if they fell under their spell.
I was never a believer in these stories, having never encountered one before, but I found them to be intriguing. Although I don’t believe in them, I did think it was creepy how everyone who had seen them described them precisely the same.
A couple of years ago, I made a solo hunting trip into the mountains where I would eventually encounter Poj Ntxoog for the first time. I’ve made a plan to camp and stay for three days, and try my luck at tagging a deer. I’ve informed my dad of my plans, and he advised me not to do it since I would be alone.
I brushed off his warning, since I’ve done this multiple times before, and reassured him that I would be fine. I told him the spot where I planned to camp and informed him that I would be back in three days, sooner if I tagged a buck before then.
I left on Friday evening, after getting off work, and by the time I got to the campsite, it was almost sunset. I quickly set up my tent and gathered a couple of pieces of dry logs nearby to set up my campfire. After setting up, I grabbed my gun and made my way down a trail that I’ve hunted on multiple times before to get a quick hunt in before sunset.
As I slowly walked down the trail, I felt a sense of uneasiness, as if something or someone was watching me. Due to this feeling, I frightened myself and decided to head back to camp and rest for the day, as I was already pretty tired.
As night fell, I built a campfire and sat down to enjoy the warmth of the fire, preparing some food. As I was cooking my dinner, I suddenly noticed, out of the corner of my eye, something resembling a dark, shadowy human-like figure lurking next to some trees nearby. I froze in fear, my heart racing as I tried to figure out what it was. I grabbed my gun and prepared to shoot at whatever it was if it came closer to me.
As I sat there staring at it for several minutes, still trying to determine what it was, I noticed that it wasn’t moving at all. I decided to walk over to my tent to grab my flashlight so I could shine the light on it. After retrieving the flashlight, I returned to the spot where I had been sitting and pointed the light in the direction I had seen the figure.
I was engulfed by fear as I noticed that the figure was no longer there. I did my best to remain calm and rational, telling myself there must be a logical explanation for what was happening, but I knew deep down inside something wasn’t right. I quickly grabbed my gun and began shining the flashlight all around me in a panic.
As the beam of light illuminated the forest around me, the thought that there might be someone or something out here with me started to frighten me. After carefully scanning the forest around me and not spotting anything unusual, I was able to calm myself down a bit while still being on high alert.
About twenty minutes later, I began to feel relieved as I sat down by the fire and continued to try to calm myself down. I’ve been on dozens of solo camping trips, and this one topped the chart in terms of creepiness.
Finally, after what felt like hours, I was able to calm down and return my attention to my now cold dinner, which was sitting on the ground near the campfire where I had left it earlier. As I reheated my food and began eating it, I replayed the earlier event in my mind, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. I eventually concluded that it was nothing and that it was most likely my eyes playing tricks on me in the dark. But as the night wore on, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still not quite right, so I kept my gun nearby.
As I finished dinner and began getting ready for bed, I heard what sounded like a tree branch snap behind me. Startled by this sound, I quickly turned around and flashed my flashlight in the direction from which it came. To my horror, a shadowy figure stood in front of me —a little, dark, human-like creature matching the description of a Poj Ntxoog, was bouncing around in the forest. It jumped from one spot to the next, but as it became airborne, it would vanish, only to reappear when it landed on the ground.
Terrified by what I was seeing, my body became paralyzed as the overwhelming fear rushed through me. This time, without a doubt, I knew it wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me anymore. My mind was telling me I needed to run, but my body was disconnected from my thoughts. It wasn’t until I remembered I had my rifle strapped around my body that I was able to break free from the fear. I unstrapped my rifle from my body, pointed it at this creature, and fired a shot at it, only to see it vanish into thin air.
As the shot rang out and the Poj Ntxoog disappeared, I quickly grabbed my backpack from my tent and started heading towards where I had parked my truck. On the way to my car, just when I thought the horror was over, I began to hear the sound of what appeared to be either dirt or sand being thrown at me from all directions. This was when I realized that it wasn’t just one, but a group of them was surrounding me. It almost seemed like they were dancing and playing a game of tag, as they chased each other in big circles around me. I can hear them speaking in a tone that seems very simple, basic, weird, and unfamiliar to me. Imagine someone talking like this: “aaaa eeee uhhh aaaa.” The way they talk reminded me of a bunch of toddlers talking gibberish very, very fast, but their voices would shift constantly from low-pitched to high-pitched.
They continued to encircle me and throw dirt and sand at me until I reached the parking lot area where my truck was located. The moment I stepped onto the pavement of the parking lot, the Poj Ntxoog suddenly all vanished, as if they couldn’t enter it. I ran to my truck, threw everything I had on me onto the passenger side of the vehicle, and took off, never to return to this place, not even to retrieve my belongings I left behind.
Afterwards, despite my rational mind telling me that there must be a logical explanation for what I saw that night, I couldn’t convince myself that what I experienced wasn’t paranormal. All the stories I’ve heard about Poj Ntxoog from people were indeed true. Sadly, for me, though, it took going through this encounter to become a true believer.
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