This spring I took up trail running on a regular basis. The trails I run most often are on the grounds of a local public park. They are fairly rugged and very secluded in a heavily wooded back part of the park.

I like running there because they are secluded and quiet. All the old folks, dog walkers and Girl Scout troops stick to the paved trails near the parking lots. I run these trails 4 days a week and I might see one or two other runners a week and the occasional couple of horny teenagers traipsing out of the woods.

Tonight I encountered something a bit odd.

On the furtherest back part of the trail, on my third pass on a 1.3 mile loop, I met two guys walking along in street clothes. They were of different ethnic backgrounds and there appeared to be a 10-15 year difference in their ages. When we met, I started to speak like I normally do, but both made a point of keeping their heads down and not making eye contact.

A bit odd, especially considering this was my third lap but my first time meeting them. My initial thought was that maybe they were a couple undercover homos and they were embarrassed, especially considering the only time I see people on on these trails in street clothes are the aforementioned teenagers.

I ran on another 75 yards or so and when a smell literally stopped me in my tracks.

Decomp.

What the fuck, I'm thinking, did those two guys just dump a fucking body out here?!?!

The odor is very strong, like gag inducing strong, and unmistakable. Keep in mind, this is my fourth run on this trail in a week, and the third time I've passed this very spot tonight, yet I had not smelt it before.

I look around in the brush near the trails but see nothing. Nothing dead, no drag marks, no obvious signs of people having crashed through the surrounding brush.

Try as I might, I could not pinpoint the location of the source of the smell but I could only smell in that one spot.

I run more lap and never encounter the men again but sure enough, the smell was still there.

Although this was the most secluded part of the park it's also only a couple hundred yards through dense brush to a cemetery and a highway. It made me think of that funeral home in Georgia a few years ago that was dumping bodies in the woods instead of burying or cremating them.

Maybe they were dumping a dead dog or poached deer. Maybe it was just a coincidence and the smell had nothing to do with the guys. Whatever it was, it was enough to make me slow down and walk the final lap and keep my hand a bit closer to my pistol.

It was a hooker that had reached her "sell by" date.  They're useless after that.

.... hmmmm, odd

CSB in

Taggeroo...

Take a dog there it will find it

I know. Not really enough to call the rangers but I still can't stop thinking about it.

Prolly a coupla zombies partway through the process...  

Dibs on guns, ammo, and optics....


Just in case

Call it in



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Probably something died in the woods, unrelated to the activities of the two lover boys.

+1

Probably wouldn't hurt to call a ranger or someone with a dog.. I'm sure they could pinpoint the source of the smell fairly quickly.

Call it in man.  If I had a weird feeling like that it would keep eating at me.

ETA:  wonder how many missing persons were never found b/c people felt too silly to follow their gut?

And say what? I saw some guys walking on a walking trail and BTW, I think something is dead in the woods? It sounds kind of crazy but it as one of those things were you really had to be there.

What could hurt?  Trust your gut.  The story is hinky so at least do your part.

Meh call it in.

Or smell dead bodies on your runs for awhile.

Probably unrelated, but any time you smell decomp in a public place, it's a good idea to call the cops, just in case.

If it is bugging you that much, just call.

Preface it by saying "This is probably nothing, but it just struck me as weird, and I just wanted to tell someone about it."

The rest is up to them.

Tell them.  If they don't want to follow up on it, that's up to them.

I don't want my dog rolling on a dead hooker.

forward the link to this thread, too.

Yes.

You highlighted the pertinent facts in your op.



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OP, I agree.  Just say that they seemed suspicious and you smelled dead body.  I get where you're coming from, but piece of mind is worth it.

Call the popo  worst case they go out there and get some exercise best case you help solve a possible crime

I would not have made that last lap.

Maybe you were smelling "Santorum"?

How do you carry when you're running?

I would have made note of the time and location, possibly checked up on it tomorrow in the light.

Trust your gut.

Ok, I called but the ranger office closed when the park closed at 10:00 pm. I'll call again first thing in the morning and report the smell. If it turns out to be anything I'll give the details of the guys. I've pretty much got a photographic memory when it comes to faces and if needed I could give head to toe descriptions of their clothing.

Good job man

In a Galco belly band under over a dry fit compression shirt and under a loose fitting T shirt. Just a pistol, spare mag, CCDW card and Streamlight PT1L.

This.   Of course their first question will no doubt be "how do you know what a dead body smells like?"

If that was on your first lap then I would agree, but you said this is your third lap.  This indicates you passed that exact same spot twice and smelled nothing, right?

start writing everything down now

Hiding the last evidence of shawns fo, maybe?

You'd be amazed how many dead bodies are out there.



Years ago I ran a search, had about 3000 people over a couple of weeks doing semi-organized searches in urban/suburban areas. My groups found 6 bodies in that time. Homeless, crime victims, and a car crash victim that had been there for a while....



There's more stuff out there than you can believe.



I'd call it in.

Yes, exactly. That's the odd part.

This



Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

No shit. I'd have been calling in when I smelled funkiness my 4th time past that place, after the first 3 had no funky smell.

Then I would vacate the area to a well lit area and wait for cops to take my statement, if they cared enough to do so.

What would they have dumped that already smelled of decomp? They would have had to have drug a decomposing carcass through the woods to dump it where you smelled whatever..... all the while hoping no one noticed them.

Unless they dug up a hooker they had previously buried, then chances are there was just a shift in the wind causing you to smell some kind of dead animal.

Especially descriptions of the two inappropriately attired "nature lovers."

Is it too early for a "He who smelt it dealt it" joke?

First guy was early 30s and appeared to be black/Hispanic mix. 5-10" 160-170 lbs, short cropped fade, thin mustache and soul patch. Wearing red and white And1 brand basketball shorts and shirt and with and black Nikes and black socks.

Second guy was mid-late 40s and white. 6ft tall, 230-240 lbs with protruding pot belly. Thick wavy salt and pepper hair, thin framed glasses, clean shaven and cleft chin. Wearing pleated khakis, brown leather boat shoes and a white short sleeve golf shirt with a green crest logo.

Like I said, photographic memory.

Haha.

Photographic memory. I didn't so much notice at the time, but it's like I can freeze frame a picture in my memory and look at the details. I can do the same thing with cars, landscapes, paintings, etc.

another vote for call it in.

I hope you don't end up being the guy that keeps finding bodies...

Have you tried Craigslist - Missed Connections?

I'm guessing that the guys were just there for a quickie and that the smell was unrelated.