The Spooky Legend of The Faceless Soldier in Northern Maine

During the holiday break, I found myself on TikTok which took me down a rabbit hole that I did not expect.

Between thirst traps, random dances, and a video of a sweet older lady putting on makeup was this TikTok about stairs found in the woods.

Spooky, right? Personally, I've never come across a random set of stairs in the woods, but then again, I'm not typically deep in the woods off of any trails.

Still curious, I went to the comments to see if there were any first-hand stories of these mysterious stairs. What I found were suggestions to visit Reddit's r/nosleep. For those who aren't familiar, r/nosleep is filled with scary stories presented and interacted with as they're real and believed.

This one in particular was filled with tales from a supposed Search and Rescue Officer for the US Forest Service. The stories are incredibly creative and wild. This is where the legend of the forest stairs lives. It's also where I found the story of the faceless man in northern Maine.

The tale came from a woman who grew up in your average northern Maine town. Sparsely populated, with thick forest in the backyard. she and her friend would walk only a mile or two into the woods at most to play and explore.

One day, a fire broke out a few miles out in the forest. Thankfully, the firefighters were able to keep it from spreading too far but some of the crew came back "not quite the same" almost as if "they'd been to war."

Being curious kids, she and her friend decided they wanted to hike out to where the fire was, even though it was further than their parents would allow them to go, which only made the hike that much more exciting.

Her friend found the skeleton of a deer along the way and wanted to bury it. She convinced her not to as it creeped her out noting the antlers looked strange. (Could this be the legendary Wendigo?)

Eventually, the pair reached their destination. The contrast between the lush forest against the burnt wasteland was stark. Suddenly, they heard shouting for help in the distance. They assumed it was a lost hiker which isn't completely unheard of in the area. They ran to help the man only to discover he was missing most of his face. His lips, nose, and forehead were gone. He wasn't dressed in hiking apparel either but a bloodied grey jacket and formal pants with buttons with red buttons. The man begged the girls for help looking for his "unit". He then ran off and the girls ran back home never to speak of him again.

(For the full tale click here.)

So, do you believe in the legend of the faceless man of northern Maine? Any other Maine scary stories you'd like to share? Maybe you've come across some of the mysterious stairs in the woods? Send us your stories and photos to our app!