Have you ever been camping and been woken up at 2am to someone creeping around your tent and trying to get inside? That’s everyone’s worst camping nightmare, right? Well, it’s definitely mine, and it happened to me at a campsite in the Peak District a few weeks ago.

#TentGate: What Happened

I booked a small campsite, which was a field on a farm, for a weekend away in the Peak District. I was camping on my own – I’ve solo camped as a woman many, many times before, including just the weekend before on a solo wild camping trip in the Lake District. I’ve camped with others and on my own, at campsites and wild camping. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. (I started calling it #TentGate on Instagram stories, and the name stuck haha).

At 2am I woke up to someone touching the top of my tent, lightly. It was almost in the motion of when you shake someone awake. I thought it was just the wind (or maybe some leaves that had fallen on my tent), but when it happened again I was instantly on alert.

Then came the lights – one main light that seemed to be from a normal flashlight, being shined on my tent. Then the other one which was like a green laser pointer, moving across my tent. And then I saw the shadow/outline of a person next to my tent. They walked around my tent, between my tent and my car, touched my tent again, shone their lights again.

After a few minutes, I felt/heard the zipper on my tent door twitch. I said, loudly and in a very annoyed tone of voice, “is there someone there?!?” The lights disappeared and I saw the shadow move away. I put my headlamp on briefly to signal that I was awake and alert. But I knew they’d be back.

And sure enough, 5-10 minutes later, the lights were back. The person was again walking around right outside my tent. My heart was beating out of its chest and absolutely pounding at this stage, I thought for sure they could hear it from inside the tent. After a few more minutes of this, I felt them at the door of my tent. I can’t explain it, but I just knew that they were about to go for the zipper again. So I shouted, as loud as I possibly could, “WHAT THE FUCK, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY TENT!” The lights went off and the shadow moved, and after I yelled I immediately put my headlamp on, grabbed my shoes and my keys, and unzipped my tent doors and got out.

I got out of the tent and couldn’t see anyone. In those ~20-30 seconds since I shouted, they’d run off. I did a brief scan of the campsite, looking for anyone or anything that was moving, but couldn’t see anything. They clearly realized they were about to get their ass handed to them (haha), and had run away.

Without stating the obvious, this was a person who chose to harass and scare me, on purpose. And out of every tent on the site, they chose my tent – the only solo female camper. This is threatening, intimidating, and dangerous behavior. I am grateful to be unharmed and safe.

#TentGate: What Happened Next?

After waiting to see if anything moved, I decided to go to the bathroom since I was clearly already up. As I walked to the toilet block I was on the lookout for anything strange or any movements or noises, but didn’t see or hear anything. When I got back to my tent, I again did a scan of the campsite, but saw nothing. I got in my tent for about 5 seconds, before I confirmed that I absolutely would not be sleeping in there tonight. I grabbed my sleeping bag and got into my car, locked the doors, and curled up on the backseat.

After a sleepless few hours in my car, I decided 7:30am was a reasonable time to get up. It had already been light for a few hours. I called the site owner, who I’m not sure entirely believed me to be honest. He was in complete disbelief, and said he’d never had anything like that happen before. He apologized and said it absolutely wasn’t appropriate or acceptable camping behavior, but there wasn’t much he could do. I had two nights booked, and was not going to stay another night. When he said he could come to the site and speak to me about it around 4pm, I told him I was leaving right away. I absolutely did not feel safe on that site. And I thought the best course of action was to head home early and sleep in my own bed (in my own house, with doors that have locks). I’m still waiting on a refund from my booking.

I spoke to a woman that morning, and asked if she had been awake around 2am last night. She said she had been awake from around 11pm-2am, and then she said, with a knowing look, “I heard you shout.” She had gone to the door of her tent when she heard me, but was too scared to go outside her tent. It was just her and her kids (a 20-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter, both of whom were asleep) – her partner was arriving that night, “thank God,” she said.

Why This Was Creepy, and Wasn’t Just My Imagination, a Coincidence or an Accident

In the light of day, I went over it in my mind: could I have imagined the whole thing? Could it have been a dream? I can categorically say that there is no way in hell I could have imagined this. Maybe I could have imagined them touching my tent – that could have been the wind, or leaves/branches landing on my tent and falling down? The lights could have been someone walking to or from the toilets maybe? (Although why they’d walk between my tent and car, on the opposite side of the field from the toilets, I don’t know.) The shadow/outline of the person walking around my tent, again maybe they were headed to the toilets? (But again, I don’t know why they’d walk around my tent.)

On their own, I maybe could have imagined any of those three things. But all of them happening at once, at 2 o’clock in the morning, when I was at a campsite on my own? No fucking chance. Yes, it was real and yes, it happened.

Could it have been someone confused or drunk, who went to the wrong tent in the middle of the night? No. First of all, my tent was the only small two-person backpacker tent in a campsite of large domed family tents. There’s no way my tent could be confused with anyone else’s. Was it someone who’d had a few too many beers? Absolutely not. A drunk person would have been loud – they would have been breathing heavily or had heavy footfalls. They would have stumbled around or tripped on my guy lines. This person was extremely quiet – on purpose.

Also if someone was drunk or just mixed up tents, they would have just… opened the tent? They wouldn’t have skulked around outside, shining lights on it after I said something the first time.

Was it someone coming to steal something? I really don’t think so. I was one of the only campers that didn’t have anything outside their tent/van. Loads of people had stuff outside: cooking gear, camping chairs, lights, and one tent had a table with two bottles of booze. In the morning, I looked around and I don’t think anything had been taken, and the alcohol was still there. Surely if it was someone wanting to steal something, they’d have seen the bottle of rum and taken it?

After spending some time ruling out all these different scenarios, it’s obvious to say: yes, I was targeted as a lone female camper. And yes, this person intended to scare, and possibly harm/attack me.

This was easily one of the scariest moments of my life. Again, I’m very glad to be safe – but I’m very nervous about the idea of camping on my own, and pissed off about the whole thing.

Who Was It?

I have no idea. Logically it just seems absurd to think they picked my tent by chance – this person chose to do this to me because I was a woman on her own. The only people who knew I was alone were the other people at the campsite. This is what really creeps me out – someone at this site had possibly been watching me, and decided to take advantage of my fears when I was alone.

None of the other people on the site bothered me that evening. When this incident happened at 2am, I noticed a white van in the other field, just on the other side of the gate. It hadn’t been there when I got into my tent for bed at 9:30pm that night, and it was gone by the time I got up at 7:30am. There could be a million explanations for this. But my best friend said, “I would trust your gut in having noticed that van.”

There was no CCTV (the campsite is just a field on a farm) and so I have no way of figuring out who it was. Not much I can do now.

Campsites vs. Wild Camping – Which is Safer?

Unfortunately, it does seem that people are the problem in this scenario. I have camped alone at campsites and wild camping, without any issues, for 25+ nights this year alone. I am often told how “unsafe” and “dangerous” solo wild camping is for a woman. It’s interesting (but maybe not surprising) that a scary incident like this happened at a campsite, full of other people.

When I book a campsite, I pay for a place to pitch up where I know I won’t get moved on, and for toilets and showers. I also pay for “security,” in that there are other people around. Well, I’ve never had anything like this happen to me when wild camping – so I’d be inclined to say that if you’re an experienced wild camper, yes – wild camping can be safer.

With wild camping, unless someone has seen me pitch my tent, no one would know that I’m a woman alone in the tent. I could be a 6’5” large Army man with a scary dog for all that any creepers could tell from the outside of my tent. No one would ever know.

I also think the wild camping community is very supportive, and there are fewer creeps in that community than the general camping community. While sure there are creepers everywhere, I don’t believe the vast majority of other fellow wild campers would harass or scare me like this on purpose.

What You Should Do to Be Prepared in Case This Happens to You

There’s no way to prevent something like this happening. And no one should have to camp alone in fear. Every person, of any gender, should have the right to sleep alone and undisturbed in their tent at night. I absolutely do not want to suggest blaming the victim here (myself), or insinuate that the burden is on me (or you) to do something different.

That being said, I wanted to share some tips and things I learned with you so you can be prepared. I posted about #TentGate in a Facebook camping group I’m a part of, and got a lot of really helpful responses and suggestions. (Plus, a lot of kind and supportive messages about how shit this is!) Obviously, I hope this never happens to you – but if it does, here’s a few things to think about.

• Have a whistle that’s easily accessible. I have a whistle with me on every hike I go on! And in this case, it was in my first aid kit, on the back seat of my car. It was absolutely no use to me. I wish I had my whistle this close to hand – this is the whistle I have! But any noisemaker will make do: a personal alarm or an air horn were recommended, too.
• Keep your phone and a flashlight close to hand. My tent pitch was in a deadzone at the campsite, and I had no service in that particular spot – otherwise I would have called the site owner and woke him up at 2am to come help me, without getting out of my tent. Keep these things in a place that’s easy to access in your tent. Also, make sure your phone is charged. I use this Anker power bank when I’m camping.
• Pepper spray is illegal in the UK, so don’t use it. I was shocked to learn this – I used to carry pepper spray on my keyring for years and years. York is a really safe city, so after moving here I didn’t feel like I needed it. But it’s illegal, so don’t use it. If you feel you need to spray an attacker coming in your tent, bug spray or a spray deodorant would do the job at close range – make sure to cover your own eyes so it doesn’t backfire.
• Anything that can be used as a weapon against you should be kept inside your tent. Common things like your peg mallet or hiking poles shouldn’t be out in the open for anyone to pick up.
• Peg your tent zipper down. I never do this because I know I’ll need to get up to go to the bathroom at some point. But any person trying to get into your tent will be really confused if they can’t get the zipper up. Hopefully it’ll give you enough time to collect/ready yourself.

• Download an app such as Hollie Guard. I feel too depressed to personally download the app myself (what a sad world we live in where this is needed), but it’s a good idea. All you need to do is shake your phone and the app will immediately pinpoint your location, notify chosen contacts, start recording, and send that info to your chosen contacts.
• SHOUT AS LOUD AS YOU CAN, and aggressively/assertively. I have never been more scared in my life, but I shouted literally as loud as I possibly could, with the intention of waking up the entire campsite. The tone of voice I used was very aggressive – I made it clear I was pissed, and that they’d better fucking run. Even if you’re scared, shout like you’re not. It might be a good idea to practice shouting in that tone of voice.
• Get out of the vulnerable position in your tent. Lying down, behind thin fabric, is a very vulnerable position to be in. Get out of your tent. It is better to face whatever is out there on your own two feet, than to be trapped inside lying down. When I got out of my tent, I was ready for a motherfucking fight – the adrenaline was coursing through me. If this person wanted to attack me, they’d have to do it out in the open, in the middle of the entire campsite with me being as loud as possible. You have a better chance and more space to move if you are out of your tent and standing up.
• Call the site owner and the police. Having experienced a lot of very traumatic gaslighting in my day (*cough* marriage *cough*), I was very worried that no one would believe me, that they’d tell me I was just imagining things. Don’t let this stop you. I wish I had called the site owner at 2am and demanded he come to the site and check things out. When I did report this to the police a few days later, the woman I first spoke to told me (rather rudely) that I should have called immediately when this happened. They could have sent someone down to check the site out that night, she said. But regardless, I encourage you to report any creepy incidents to the police. They can log it as a suspicious incident, and if anything similar happens in the area – they have a record of your incident on file. You’re not wasting anyone’s time.

What to Do if You Hear/See Something Like This

Do something. Say something. One of the most disheartening parts of this entire incident for me was that none of the 16-20 other people camping on the site that night came out to check on me or said anything. I know some of them will have slept through it – others might have woken up to my shout, and when they heard nothing else assumed they’d imagined it. Others, like the woman I spoke to, might have been too scared. But of everyone camping at this site, no one did anything. And that is really sad.

I would have felt much more supported/safer if, after I’d shouted, someone had come out of their tent or van to see what was going on. Or even just called out, “are you alright?” or “is everything okay?” I would have felt especially supported if it had been a man who had said something.

If you witness intimidating, threatening, abusive, or creepy behavior at a campsite, I’d encourage you to say something to the person being harassed. And to the person doing this in the first place. Also, go to the site owner and make them aware. Please do not be a complicit bystander. We can all look out for each other and help keep each other safe.

I know I will go camping again. I love camping solo, and I refuse to let one bad incident (out of 70-100 nights of camping in the last few years) ruin this for me. The chances of something like this happening are one in a million. But on a Friday night at a campsite in the Peak District, I was that one. Again, I’m grateful that I’m safe and nothing worse happened. But this was a very scary incident, and one that I won’t forget for some time. I never want it to happen to you, but hopefully these suggestions can help you be more prepared in the future. Here’s to the next camp being better than this one!

Have you ever experienced any scary or creepy incidents when camping? What’s your worst camping nightmare?

You might also like my posts:

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