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Mysteries of Our National Parks

From disappearances to the mysteries of our National Parks.

By ShelbyPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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There are over 84 million acres of woods, mountains, deserts, and preserved wilderness in the United State's National Park System, which makes it one of the prime places of disappearances and mysterious happenings to occur. So many of these mysteries remain unsolved. Hikers that just vanish into thin air, strange creatures that are spotted in the trees, even entire groups of people disappearing without any trace or explanation.

The Smoky Mountain Mysteries

The Smoky Mountains span from Tennessee to North Carolina, the national park covers 187,000 acres of land. The park is known for many disappearances of the years, one of the strangest disappearances being the case of Dennis Martin.

In June of 1969, 6-year old Dennis Martin was playing with his brother and two other boys in Spence Field while on a family trip. They boys were planning to sneak up on their family to startle them as a prank. But, when they executed this plan, Dennis was nowhere to be found, he seemingly disappeared into thin air with no trace. The family called search and rescue team to assist them in their search. He wasn't found that night and the search continued for weeks and he was never found. Some people reported seeing a small boy walking through the woods, while others reported finding small items of clothing. Some speculators say that he was kidnapped or maybe dragged off by a wild animal, but, there is zero evidence to support these speculations. He is presumed dead by authorities, however.

The next occurrence was on October 8th, 1976, 16-year old Trenny Lynn Gibson was on a horticulture field with 40 of her classmates. Trenny was hiking along Andrews Bald when she disappeared, nobody recalled seeing her after 3 PM. Just like Dennis there was no trace of her ever found after attempts to locate her.

The third most notable disappearance was Thelma Pauline Melton who was hiking near Deep Creek Campground on September 25th, 1981. This was a trail she had hiked many times before. While with her friends she ended up walking ahead of them, vanishing over a hill. Her friends assumed that she headed back to the campground or that they would catch up with her on the hike. But, she wasn't there, another person, gone without a trace.

All three of these cases had massive search efforts, Dennis's costed 65,000 dollars alone. But, not a single trace or evidence of the three of them ever turned up.

Katherine Van Alst, Devil's Den

In 1946, 8-year old Katherine Van Alst was with her family at Devil's Den State Park. This is where she disappeared from their camp and got lost in the park. Six days after her initial disappearance, Katherine was luckily found, she was found sitting in a cave that was 30 miles away and 600 feet higher than the spot from which she had disappeared.

Katherine was remarkably calm when she was found, perplexing the search party. She walked out of the cave and simply announced, "Here I am," when they discovered her. How did an 8-year old girl wearing nothing more than a bathing suit manage to travel 30 miles with no sign of harm? Many people assumed that something chased her away from the camp causing her to stray so far. But, there is no denying that something sinister could be lurking at Devil's Den park.

Cowden Family Massacre, Siskiyou Mountains

The Cowden family went camping in Applegate, Oregon in the Siskiyou Mountains in 1974 over Labor Day weekend. But, the family failed to show up to Richard Cowden's mother's home on September 1st.

Media from this time described that their campsite was left undisturbed, as if the family had left it abruptly. Investigators later assumed that the family was abducted.

In April of 1975, their bodies were found, only 100 feet from the campsite. Richard's body was tired to a tree, while his wife and two small children were found in a cave with rocks sealing the entrance.

Dwain Lee Little, serving two life sentences for rape and murder, confessed to a fellow inmate that he was the murderer of the Cowden family, that he committed the murder while on parole. But, there was no conviction, so the case remains open to this day.

Hopi Keeper of Death

The Grand Canyon is perhaps one of the most famous parks in the world. Spanning 1,930 square miles, the canyon is riddled with mysteries.

One tribe that once inhabited the canyon was the Hopi, it was comprised of elders, workers, and hunters. They thrived there, there are even some that speculated that the tribe built an underground citadel within the Grand Canyon. The Hopi tribe believed in the god Maasaw, who was the supposed keeper of death. Maasaw is said to reside in a specific region of the canyon. If you spot strange lights coming toward you from within the canyon at night, or you overhear a faint tapping of rocks, Maasaw is after you.

Many will say this just sounds like superstitious nonsense, but, many others have experienced nausea and anxiety in the region shortly after hearing rocks clanging. Although the area is level and labeled as no dangerous, a large number of accidents have occurred.

The Missing Germans, Death Valley

Death Valley National Park, a vast eerie stretch of barren land that sprawls over three million acres from Californa to Nevada, it is also considered one of the hottest locations in North America. Park Rangers are constantly reminding visitors to not underestimate the Mojave Sun.

In July 1996, on a record streak of days of 120 degree weather, four German tourists went missing. The last known trace of these tourists was a guestbook signature that was in a box of a small ghost town, it read, "7-23-96. Conny Egbert Georg Max. We are going through the pass." Park Rangers assumed that this meant the Mengel Pass.

The family didn't get on their return flight on July 29th, and Interpol listed them missing on August 14th. Their rental van was discovered abandoned on October 23rd, it had three flat tires.

There were no tire tracks, their wallets, keys and passports were never found either. Theories begun to circulate about whether the group encountered the wrong people at the wrong time, perished while trying to find shade, or if they staged their own disappearance.

More recently in 2009, human bones were discovered in Death Valley. And According to the Associated Press, authorities were "fairly certain" these bones belonged to the tourists.

Douglas Legg, Adirondacks

8-year old Douglas Legg vanished from his family's summer home in the Adirondacks in July 1971.

Douglas went for a family hike when his uncle instructed him to go back to the house to put on pants to protect his legs from poison ivy. But, on his short walk back to the home, something happened and Douglas was never seen again.

Douglas was described as a "mini woodsman," and an avid hiker. Douglas was familiar with the area, which makes his case a rather unique one, since the majority of unexplained disappearances involved inexperienced hikers in unfamiliar territory.

Douglas's disappearance launched the Adirondack's largest manhunt ever. More than 600 rescuers were searching the dense woods, the US Air Force even used planes that had infrared equipment to try to detect body heat within the woods, a C131 aircraft also surveyed the area with "a thermo-scanner device used to penetrate the Vietnam foliage." The family even paid for the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Unit to fly in from Californa.

State Police senior investigator, Patrick Kelleher is still overseeing the investigation. But, no trace of Douglas was ever found. The search ended up being abandoned after 33 days. The family sold their property a few months after this.

Keith Reinhard, Arapahoe National Forest

A sports reporter for the Daily Herald in Chicago, Keith Reinhard, announced that he was taking a 90-day paid leave in 1988. He took off for Silver Plume, Colorado, a small mining town of 200 that sits inside of Arapahoe National Forest. He wrote to his friend, "I love these mountains and want to live in them before I die in them."

In addition to fulfilling his dream of living in the rocky Mountains, Keith wished to write a novel about Tom Young, a man who had vanished from the same town in the summer of 1987. When he arrived, he opened an antique store in Young's former bookstore.

One afternoon, Keith went to hike Pendleton Mountain while he was nursing a hangover, and he never returned from said hike. More than 100 people searched for him for over 10,000 hours, having not an idea what had happened to Keith.

Mount Shasta

This mountain is located in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Californa and it is a place that is shrouded by mystery. Tribes who have lived in the mountain once thought of it as the center of creation and all life, and New Age believers see it as the Earth's main point of spiritual energy.

A huge fire swept across the mountain in 1931, only being stopped by a strange fog that arose suddenly. Later on, it was realized that this fog stopped the fire directly in line with the Central Time Zone. To this day, this occurrence has never been able to be explained scientifically.

Others also believe that the mountain is an entry point to the fifth dimension and an energy supply base for extraterrestrial crafts. Local villages have reported large humanoid figures observing them from a distance. Others have also linked these sightings to a Karuk legend. The legend is about the "big people," a race of superhuman individuals who fled their destroyed city, Lemuria.

Strange Structures, Santa Fe National Forest

Santa Fe National Forest has become covered with unexplained wooden structures. These structures are made up of over 1,000 pieces of wood, some even reach 20 feet tall and are 12 feet in diameter.

Forest officials are speechless and have no explanation for the structures that are made up of fallen trees and tree limbs. They complain that the wood would end up causing a forest fire and even threatened that anyone who was caught making them would be fined $5,000 or spend six months behind bars.

Hawaiian Fireballs

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park sits on Hawaii Island, it is a place of wonder and beauty, but, also an area of superstition and mystery.

In March of 1998, there was an explosion of blue light that lit up the night sky, it was accompanied by a huge roaring sound. Hundreds of the area's locals called it in, as well as a pilot who was flying at the time. He claimed that the object was 2 miles away from his plane and increased temperatures dramatically, his claims was supported by others in the cabin.

Later, it was announced that the huge explosion was a meteor. But, some locals were not convinced by this, they claimed that it was an awakened Hawaiian god that was angry with what humanity was doing to the world.

This occurrence is only one of the many mysterious happenings on the island of Hawaii. Many visitors have taken rocks from the national park and then returned them in the mail after odd events begun to happen when they arrived home, leading them to believe that the rocks were cursed.

Others have reported that they encountered spirits while they walked around the island late at night, as well as seeing strange hazes off in the distance.

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About the Creator

Shelby

Just a girl who loves to write about paranormal and life stuff. Please enjoy

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