Friday, December 12, 2014

Smoky Mountains For Freaky Friday...!

I don't want to mislead anyone here. It isn't the Smoky Mountains that are freaky, but the increasing number of disappearances connected to the area that is.

The really freaky thing about all the disappearances is that they are ongoing. Still, no one has an answer as to why!

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Disappearances

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park borders Tennessee and North Carolina and is the most visited national park in the US. Therefore, it’s probably inevitable that the park has its fair share of unsolved disappearances.

On June 14, 1969, six-year-old Dennis Martin went on an outing to the park with his family. Dennis and three other boys split off in separate directions to play a prank, but Dennis did not return and a massive search of the area turned up nothing. A nearby witness recalled hearing a frightening scream sometime that afternoon before he saw a rough-looking man running through the woods.

Years later, a man found what appeared to be the skeletal remains of a child in the park but did not inform the authorities because he was hunting illegally at the time. When he finally reported it during the 1980s, the remains could no longer be found. No one knows if either of these events had any connection to Dennis Martin’s disappearance.

Another unsolved Smoky Mountains disappearance involved 16-year-old Trenny Gibson who vanished during a school trip to the park on October 18, 1976. While the students were hiking, Trenny somehow became separated from them and disappeared, never to be seen again. On September 25, 1981, 58-year-old Thelma Melton was hiking through the park on Deep Creek Trail with two friends when she got way ahead of them and disappeared after walking over a hill. No one could find her afterward.

More recently, 24-year-old Derek Joseph Leuking went missing on March 17, 2012. His vehicle was found in the Newfound Gap parking lot. All his gear had been left behind, but there was a note on the windshield which read: “Don’t try to follow me.” No trace of Leuking could be found anywhere in the park, adding his name to the list of people who have mysteriously disappeared into the Great Smoky Mountains.

I reckon that many places have their share of missing person stories, but so many close in the same area starts me to wondering, ya know?

Coffee in the kitchen again. It's trying to rain and turn colder.

7 comments:

Chickenmom said...

Could have been bears or cougars. Hubby and I have seen those big cats right here on our property and my oldest son had one walking down his road,but NJ Div of Wildlife says they are not here in Jersey. A student was recently killed by a bear near here. I feel sorry for the families that don't know what happened. I'll bring the Dunkin's.

JO said...

Good thing I'm to lazy to hike these days. Don't know who would allow there 6 yr old to be wandering in the woods alone even with friends. So many mystery's out there.

We will be getting some of that rain and cold here too. So kitchen it is.

linda m said...

Very creepy. Always makes me wonder what is really lurking out there in the woods. Supposed to get warmer here, sure hope so. Right now it's 25 and cloudy. Have a great weekend.

Sixbears said...

All the big parks have had similar strange disappearances, not just the Smokeys.

Pretty disturbing, isn't it?

HermitJim said...

Hey Phyllis...
Don't ya hate it when the PTB tells ya what you saw isn't what you really saw? I went through all that with them when a possum got in Mom's house. So far, no bears or big cats, though.

Thanks for stopping by this morning!



Hey Jo...
No doubt we should be a lot more careful. Too many unknowns out there in the world anymore.

Thanks, sweetie, for coming over today!



Hey Linda M...
Could be a really bad critter...or the worse possible kind of monster! The two legged kind, ya know?

Thanks for the visit this morning!



Hey Sixbears...
I figured they probably did, but it is something we try and not think about.

It is pretty disturbing, for sure!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

I still feel much safer in the deep woods than in a city. When I was a young kid, I spent most of my time in the woods. Loved it. One night some big bullies chased me and I ran off into the dark woods and they were afraid to chase me there.

Anonymous said...

Me and my dad like exploring off the trail. When a friend of our heard exploration about this he warned us about hermits because he has a friend who has seen one.
I'm sort-of a hermit because i have a hidden camp in the Smokies, but i would never kidnap people.
PS. I'm writing this at my parent's house, no electricity is available in the forest.