Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1vcyh8x/my_girlfriend_and_i_were_trapped_in_a_wildfire/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/ClassifiedTopSecret on 2026-08-01 20:54:31+00:00.

My family owns a cabin on a large lake in Northern Ontario. My great grandfather built it sometime in the 1940s although you would never know it's that old with all the renovations that it's had over the years. Officially it belongs to my parents now but as they're getting older and don't get up there as much anymore it's primarily me and my girlfriend Sarah or my brother and his family that use it. The peace and quiet up there is so nice especially compared to back home in Barrie where it's nothing but traffic noise. There are other cabins on the lake so there is the occasional noise from some boat traffic or the rich folks at the end of the point coming in and out on their float plane but most of the time it's serene. On our most recent visit we had been up there for two weeks and my brother had left with his wife and kids a few days before Sarah and I planned to leave so we were looking forward to some time to ourselves. The forest however had other plans.

On the night my brother left I was awoken around 1am by a flickering light coming in the bedroom window. In my groggy state I didn't process it initially I just remember looking at the clock then back to the window and being confused as to why it was so bright outside. Suddenly I snapped wide awake when I realized the light coming through the window was bright orange and there was a distinct smell of smoke in the air. I rolled over and shook Sarah awake and the two of us began to get dressed. As a family we had always prepared for a wildfire and there had been small ones in the past but never close enough to actually see the flames. This time however when we left the bedroom and entered the kitchen you could see the entire other side of our little inlet was on fire through the large glass windows that looked out over the lake. There were trees collapsing into the flames everywhere and buildings that had been burned back to the studs but somehow still standing like flaming skeletons in the dark.

We grabbed whatever important things we could and threw them in a large dufflebag which then got hastily tossed in the back seat of my truck. As we sped down the long dirt road leading back to the highway it seemed like we were the stragglers. By the lack of cars at the other cabins it seemed like everyone else had gotten the hell out of dodge already. We were almost on the home stretch, climbing up the big hill before the valley with the highway on the other side. When we got to the top of the hill I heard Sarah scream, not out of fear but more out of frustration. I brought the truck to a stop and surveyed the scene ahead of us. I could see the lights of the highway on the other side of the valley and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles blocking the exit for the road we were currently on. In between us and them however was a raging inferno. The entire valley was on fire. "What do we do now?" Sarah said looking at me wide eyed. There was only one road in and out of that part of the lake so we were trapped. "We head back to the cabin," I said faking some confidence, "start the pumps and soak everything and try to wait it out, if shit really hits the fan then there's always the boat."

The smoke had gotten much thicker on the way back so we had to drive much more slowly down the narrow dirt road. We were about halfway back to the cabin when Sarah said "what's that?!" and pointed up the road ahead of us. I slowed the truck even more and through the smoke could just make out what she was talking about. Up ahead there was what looked like a deer, but much too large standing at about 7 or 8 feet high, just calmly walking up the road as if it wasn't the middle of the apocalypse. Its movements seemed almost robotic as it walked along with its head moving side to side as if it was looking for something. As we got closer I began to grow skeptical that this was a deer. It did walk on four legs but the front of its body looked almost human like with a torso raising its horned head far above where a normal deer's head would be and it appeared to have arms coming out of where the shoulders would be. The best way I can describe it is like a centaur but made out of a deer instead of a horse but still retaining the deer's head rather than a human one although instead of antlers it had what looked like goat horns. "I don't know, but I don't like it," I said to Sarah and brought the truck to complete stop. The creature seemed to hear the the crunch of gravel as the truck halted and turned to face us. Its head tilted like a confused puppy while its glowing white eyes stared at us. Sarah screamed again this time out of genuine fear and I slammed the truck into drive and sped past the creature as quickly as possible. We passed so closely to it I looked it dead in the eyes out the passenger side window as I swerved around it.

When we could no longer see the creature in the rear-view mirror Sarah spoke up again. "Was that thing holding..." but I cut her off. "A fucking chainsaw, you saw it too?" "So clearly I could see the Stihl emblem on it when we drove past, that's definitely a chainsaw" she said. "Since when do Wendigos carry around chainsaws?" I said almost laughing at the absurdity of what we had just seen. "I guess they need to cut firewood too I don't know, but we need to get back to the cabin" she said sounding shaken.

When we got back to the cabin we quickly got to work setting up the fire pumps. My dad had been a firefighter in a chemical plant down in Sarnia and he had the foresight to buy a couple of Honda gas powered pumps so we could use the water from the lake for firefighting in a situation just like this. The wind was picking up now and the smoke was getting so bad that we had to use wet rags as makeshift gas masks. Side note for all you Americans that were complaining a few weeks ago about the smoke from the Canadian wildfires blowing down there. Fuck you, you have no idea what it was like actually being in it. Anyways, we got the pumps going and soaked down the cabin and the surrounding trees in hopes of suppressing the fire if it came near. We also got the boat ready in case all else failed we could head across the lake into town or worst case scenario if the whole shore was on fire, drop anchor and take shelter in the little cuddy cabin up front until the fire burned out. Once we had finished outside we ran back to the cabin and began stuffing wet towels under the doors to try and keep any more smoke from coming in. For a while there we were so busy that we almost forgot about the weird chainsaw wielding creature on the road.

By this point the power had gone out so Sarah and I got out some battery powered lanterns, lighting candles felt slightly inappropriate in this situation, and curled up together on the couch. We held each other close as we watched the flames on the other side of the lake continue to destroy everything in their path. Most of the structures we had seen earlier had by this point collapsed and most of the smaller trees were gone completely. Thus far our side of the lake hadn't caught fire but we both knew with the wind direction it would eventually work its way around the end of the inlet and come for us. We just hoped that the authorities had gotten it under control by then. So far we hadn't seen or heard any planes or helicopters overhead but we figured they had to be coming.

We had almost fallen asleep in each others arms when we both jumped at a sound from outside. It was the side steps that led up to the deck creaking louder than they normally did as if an immense weight was pressing down on them. The sound came again, and again, something heavy was climbing those stairs and whatever it was would be in view of the large glass windows we were sitting across from as soon as it reached the top. We both got up and moved into the kitchen and ducked down behind the island. Suddenly the memory of that creature we encountered on the road came flooding back and looking at Sarah she was thinking the same thing. "It's probably just a bear trying to get away from the fire" I said not believing it for a second. I was immediately proven wrong as the black shape of that creature came in to view at the top of the steps. It moved slowly and methodically as its glowing white eyes scanned back and forth across the windows. It was still holding the chainsaw from earlier sideways across its lower abdomen and the end of the chainsaw bar occasionally tapped the glass as it walked along the deck. "Do you think it sees us?" Sarah whispered. I didn't answer I just made a shushing motion with my fingers as its head turned back towards us. It walked over to the sliding door and turned to face directly into the cabin. From that angle, with the fire raging across the lake in the background, that thing looked like the Devil himself with its long goat horns silhouetted against the orange night sky. It tried tapping on the door a few more times with the end of the chainsaw. It seemed to recognize what a door was but if that was the case why didn't it just put the chainsaw down and open the door with its hands?

Either way Sarah and I decided we needed to get out of there. The fire was now the least of our concerns. There was some otherworldly creature wandering around our cabin trying to get in and if it figured out how to use that saw I was sure it could be through the walls in no time. We snuck out of the kitchen and headed towar...

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1vcyh8x/my_girlfriend_and_i_were_trapped_in_a_wildfire/