Some people may not find this as scary as I do, but when you take the setting and time into account, it really is pretty frightening.
I want to say this was back in like 2008 or 09. I had recently started dating this girl Maddy. A couple of my friends from Stockton (CA) we're getting together with some other friends in a country bumfuck town nearby. I don't remember which town, maybe Copperopolis or Angels Camp. We were driving from Pleasanton where we lived in Maddy's apartment at the time to meet them. It was going to be a long drive and we would finish it in the dark most likely.
Anyways we were traveling on Route 4 (California 4) through Stockton and we ended up on some long stretch of road through what was practically a desert in an area called Farmington. Literally just hills of dead yellow grass for as far as the eye could see with the occasional random abandoned structure which was there for God knows why. We hadn't seen another car on this highway for about a half hour, mind you. In fact I wouldn't even call it a highway. Just a two-lane lonely stretch of road.
Being an American I obviously do a lot of things while I drive, so I was finishing up my Big Mac and Sprite I had gotten earlier from a ghetto McDonald's in Stockton. The road we were travelling on had large hills that made the road more like a roller coaster, and that along with the fact I was going a tad bit over the speed limit, helped contribute to the weak plastic lid on my Sprite popping off and half of the drink pouring on my pants.
I was already stressed because of how late it was so I was pissed. Maddy advised me to pull over by these two telephone poles right next to each other (see Google Map link). I remember there was some long metal object with a gravel path leading to it placed a bit beyond the two poles. I'm guessing it was some satellite tower or telecommunications tower, I got no clue.
So I got out of the car and began to attempt at cleaning myself up while Maddy called our buddies to explain why we were late. So I'm just scanning the area because honestly this place looked kind of mesmerizing at night. So spacious. About 200 feet behind the curved path that is to the left of the odd tower, I see what appears to be a post in the ground. Don't think twice about it. Like I said there were a lot of random structures out here.
But as I examine it more closely, its moving. It has gotten closer. No doubt about it. I wasn't chalking this up to my eyes playing tricks on me, because honestly I was in a pissed mood, so I knew my eyes weren't playing tricks on me because I have good goddamn eyesight. I tapped on Maddy's window and told her about it. She squinted and agreed. It was closer now. It was getting wider and taller.
We both chatted about it, guessing what it could be. Maybe a cow, but it was too oblong to be a cow. It gets about 100 feet from the path, and I think I can make out what appears to be a head. It gets about fifty feet from the path, and there's no doubt about it. There is some large man, in the middle of absolute nowhere at night, full on fucking sprinting towards us.
I wasn't sticking around to see what this guy's deal was. I quickly got back in the car and started driving away, eyeing the man in my mirror. He arrives at the path where we were, slows down, and just stares after our car as we drive away. Keep in mind he just appeared to be silhouette, so I'm not sure, but I could faintly make out some thin object jutting out to the side of his shadowy body. Not an arm. I swear to God this dude is holding a hatchet or something, but maybe I was just paranoid.
That's the end pretty much. We put it behind ourselves and met up with our friends. Sometimes I still think about what that guy was doing there. Maybe a landowner.
Here is the exact location of where we pulled over, facing the direction the man came from. You can see the gravel path with the gate that leads to the weird tower and the two telephone poles I mentioned.
[https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9462333,-120.8438113,3a,75y,65.57h,89.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sf81WtnkysjdWvx-QIcg8cw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9462333,-120.8438113,3a,75y,65.57h,89.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sf81WtnkysjdWvx-QIcg8cw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)