A hiking trip turned eerie for a couple who spotted something unsettling in one of their photos in West Virginia, US.
Duffy Springfield visited Panther State Forest with her boyfriend in March, a well-known Bigfoot hotspot.
The couple stopped to take various panoramic pictures of the surrounding scenery but noticed something didn't look right after reviewing their snaps.
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"I like to do film photography, and my boyfriend and I were making a scrapbook of all the developed photos I took," Springfield told Newsweek.
"I just kinda saw it—I'm not really sure how I even noticed it since it's such a small detail."
The Purdue student continued: "Behind the pillar should have been nothing, a drop off to the woods below. Are we bugging? That really looks like a hand."
The photo showed what appeared to be a human-like hand gripping a four-foot pillar in the lower right corner.
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What's even creepier is that the park rangers had informed the duo that they were the only visitors in the park due to it being the off-season.
"My boyfriend and I aren't really sure what to think," Springfield added.
The area's reputation for hosting cryptids like Bigfoot only made the couple even more excited.
Cryptids are basically mythical creatures - or at least creatures that are said to exist and have been spotted by people, like Bigfoot, yetis and the Loch Ness Monster. Some people claim to have seen sightings of them but all without solid proof.
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"We were pretty excited when we saw it because of all the cryptids said to lurk in the West Virginian mountains," Springfield explained.
"Even if it's not actually a hand, it's a fun story to have."
Springfield took to popular internet forum Reddit to share her experience. She also posted a different view of the structure which was captured by her boyfriend a few days before. Intriguingly, the hand-like figure was absent in this earlier snapshot. Spooky!
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Reddit users had plenty to say in response.
"Go back, it's the only way to be sure. It'd bother you for the rest of your life otherwise," the top user said.
One user jumped on the fear bandwagon, writing: "welp, I don't know what I expected when clicking on this thumbnail - but i am indeed oddly terrified."
Another user suggested: "could be fungus but yeah that really looks like a hand".
Someone else added: "Perhaps the first genuinely oddly terrifying thing I’ve seen on here".