Has any monastic here seen or heard a 
, weird/scary creature, or unexplained phenomena while living in the forest, desert, outback, etc.? Curious to know if any monastic has a scary 
story to tell seeing how Halloween is soon approachingā¦
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just spending time in the forest at night in itself is a scary story, every rustling leaf is a real or imagined predator coming for you. You understand what they mean by the hairs standing up on the back of your neck and the chills running down your spine, along with an overwhelming urge to run away towards society as soon as your two feet can bring you. then MN4- Fear and Dread, come to your mind, and you wonder just like the buddha, why does my mind always go directly to fear and dread (ie the worse possible outcome)
My favorite dhamma talk from Ajahn Chah also hits the experience right on the head - http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/In_Dead_Night_1.php
all that being said, Iāve had plenty of spooky experiences, but only one set of experiences can I not easily explain away, Itās happened to me a few times in my life, once with my wife when I was married years ago, and once two years ago while I was living alone on the ladies end of the monastery property during my seclusion. It is the experience of seeing moving shadows on the wall that donāt have an overly obvious source of origin, like moving trees etc.
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Thank you for sharing, Bhante! I always hear monastics talk about how peaceful it is to live in the woods away from civilization, but I suspect thereās a scarier side to it, especially at night when darkness comes.