Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Traveling America's backroads, history and road trip enthusiasts - Noah and Noodles - unearth fascinating locations overlooked while traveling.
Living out of a van, they research and visit each story location to share the (often shocking) secrets held within.
If you love travel, history and thoughtful storytelling - join us on the road!
Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Van Life Diaries - 4 Obscure National Park Cryptids
Today we explore just a SMALL sample of the various cryptids and oddities that are said to inhabit our nations most pristine landscapes.
These aren't your average cryptids folks ...
As always, we'll answer listener questions at the end, which include:
What advice would you give to someone thinking about solo travel?
What if anything surprised you about the Ave Maria Grotto?
Did you do anything else in Scranton while there?
Who produces your show? Do you edit it?
Does your van ever get stuck?
Noah and Noodles here!
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Cruising down the street. I wonder where this road would lead so many possibilities. Care to share what you think. Oh, noodle Dolls, what do you see? Back Road Odyssey.
Speaker 1:Van Life Diaries the four most obscure National Park cryptids. Welcome to Van Life Diaries the four most obscure National Park cryptids. Welcome to Van Life Diaries. I'm your host, noah, along with my dog, noodles the Woodle, sitting behind me in our van in southern Florida today We've been to our fair share of national parks around the nation, hiked their trails, stopped to appreciate their beauty, but we aren't going to be talking about any of that today, not even close, actually.
Speaker 1:Today we'll explore just a small sample of the various cryptids and oddities that are said to inhabit our nation's most pristine landscapes. As always, van Life Diaries are unscripted and impromptu. Although I may or may not have composed a ditty or two for some of our cryptids today, the only way to find out is to go forward. As always, we'll answer listener questions at the end. I'm drinking water today. Need to stay sharp if we encounter any wild things on our verbal cryptid safari. With that said, let's get into it.
Speaker 1:Our first crone-esque cryptid roams the slopes and hazy woods of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Some say she is a witch, others insist she's an ancient spirit as old as the mountains themselves. Regardless, they call her by the same name Spearfinger. Although there are many discrepancies in accounts and descriptions of Spearfinger, all firmly emphasize her ill intentions. She is, in every separate retelling, evil. She can shift bodily forms as she pleases, her preference being that of a weathered old woman. The better to trick those unfortunate enough to cross her path. Because when spearfinger's favored elderly form lures in her unsuspecting prey, the reason for her rather strange name becomes apparent. The sharpened tip of her right index finger jolts out to harvest her victim's livers. What's worse, her victims tend to be children who stray too far from their parents. Do not fear too much, though.
Speaker 1:The Cherokee traditions on which the legend of Spearfinger are based insist she was long ago brought to a swift and decisive end. The story goes after generations of Cherokee warriors were unable to kill her, arrows and axes simply bounced off her calloused skin. Whispers of her one weakness reach the tribe. To kill Spearfinger, you have to remove that which she was named for Her sharpened right index finger. After a hard and costly battle, spear finger is captured and her right finger is either punctured or completely cut off. Tales vary, but regardless, her one weakness is exploited. So, my friends, don't worry on your next trip to the Smokies. Right, I don't know. Not. Everybody is convinced. Her body was never recovered, her demise never confirmed. Some still insist that fleeing flocks of birds are said to signal the nearby activity of the still very much alive spearfinger. Does she lurk still in the murky woods doing what spearfinger does best Harvesting livers? Or was spearfinger simply a ghost story told to Cherokee children to prevent them from wandering out into the woods alone? Who's to say? The only advice I'll give is this Maybe when you're hiking the Smokies and Spearfinger shows up suddenly, point your bear spray not towards her wrinkled face and piercing eyes, but directly towards her sharpened right finger. Our second cryptid today prefers more humid conditions.
Speaker 1:The Lizard man of South Carolina's Cungary National Park first appeared on June 29, 1988. Late one day, as a teenager drives home along the edge of Scape Ore Swamp in Bishopville, south Carolina, his front tire blows out. By this time it's dark and getting darker. The swamp is still the quiet, deafening. It's dark and getting darker, the swamp is still the quiet, deafening. Maybe it was the repetitive sound of the changing tire that draws the lizard man in. Or maybe he orchestrated the ruined tire in the first place. Whatever the case, a sudden stir breaks the silence. The teenager whips around to see nothing, just still water, peaceful trees. Then bang. He turns around once again and on his car stands a seven foot tall creature. Scales cover his body. Sharp fangs protrude from his mouth. His red eyes stare directly at the petrified teenager. What happens next is curious. Rather than going directly for the teenager, the lizard man shatters the teenager's car's windows, rips off its doors and flips the now-battered car over and then, just as fast as it had started, it ends. Silence once again surrounds the teenager. Similar reports of a giant reptilian humanoid smashing unsuspecting vehicles plagued bishopville, south carolina, throughout the summer of 88. And then, just as the lizard man left the teenager, the lizard man leaves bishopville. Reports of damaged vehicles by giant lizard stop abruptly. Some say he went into hiding deep in Kangari National Park, biding his time waiting for the next vulnerable automobile to terrorize. Did you know? Bigfoot has a Midwestern cousin?
Speaker 1:Ohio's very own Grassman is said to wander the grassy knolls of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Unlike other cryptids on our list today, ohio's 7-foot-tall, 300-pound green humanoid is thought to survive on a diet primarily of grass and wheat and wheat. Although Grassman is said to be more human-like than its more famous northwestern counterpart, it is no less wild and perhaps even a bit more mysterious. Perhaps the most evident marker of Grassman's presence in any given area is these long grass huts it constructs in the valleys and the forests of Ohio. Believers in the Grassman use these scattered, abandoned sites as evidence of this Midwestern oddity and its nomadic tendencies. Just promise me, don't get too close. When confronted, grassman is said to let out an eerily human roar, which begs the question is Ohio's Grassman a bipedal, furry, humanoid oddity like his cousin out west, or, as many have suggested, simply a guy in a ghillie suit walking around the forests of Ohio? That's not for me to say, but if you're hiking through Cuyahoga Valley National Park and see these little long grass huts, maybe think about dropping off some fresh wheat or grass at the entrance for a snack. Just as I said, don't stay too long or get too close.
Speaker 1:Finally, we have the smallest of our curious collection of National Park cryptids, the Kentucky Goblins of Mammoth Cave National Park. Said to be a mischievous bunch, these green-skinned, bug-eyed entities have believers split on their exact intent and origin. Some believe the Kentucky Goblins are extraterrestrials sent to hassle Kentucky farmers For what I don't know. Others believe they are subterranean creatures that evolved for millennia in the dark and the deep corners of the massive Kentucky cave systems. Reports of these Kentucky goblins almost always happen at night, usually near the various cave openings in and around the park. They are many things, but perhaps most notable is their deeply mischievous nature. Most notable is their deeply mischievous nature. They'll snatch food, play tricks, generally just set out to commit often harmless trickery.
Speaker 1:Kentucky Goblin sightings, more than any other cryptid on this list, make the most sense to me. Of course, in the solid dark of the world's largest cave system, any hiker's imagination will run absolutely wild. The slightest abnormality, the tiniest sound, anything will put you on edge and make you more susceptible to seeing things that may or may not actually be there, to seeing things that may or may not actually be there. It's also human nature, when faced with the unexplained, to fill in the blanks. We simultaneously have to know, and can never know, the full truth of anything, and that is what makes cryptids, in particular, such an enduring topic of interest for me, for you, hopefully, and for humanity. For now, though, I'll say this Real or not. Spearfinger Grassman, the Kentucky Goblins and, of course, our automobile-hating lizard man all make our already fascinating national parks just that much more interesting. With that said, let's get to listener questions.
Speaker 1:What, if anything, surprised you about the Ave Maria Grotto? This is referring to a recent episode about an immigrant, a Bavarian monk, who moved to rural Alabama and when he was denied the priesthood, which he very much wanted because of his hunchback, a giant bell fell on him. He was looking for a way to pass the time, I think. Pass the time, I think and he started to make these miniatures, these replicas of churches, of historical buildings, of anything and everything. So the Ave Maria Grotto is a collection of everything that he made over 150 replicas.
Speaker 1:So now that you're caught up, what surprised me about this collection of buildings that he made? I'd say this I expected it to be almost entirely a religiously themed location, and although there are a lot of churches, there are a lot of religious locations. I think underneath it all, there is a fascination with history and the locations of the world that drove his building. It wasn't an entirely religious exercise, in my view. So I'd say that surprised me. He made dragons, he made ancient temples, he made all this different stuff that didn't necessarily align with a monk right, and I think that shows the deep humanity behind why he did what he did. For how long he did it for 70 plus years. So that surprised me most.
Speaker 1:Did you do anything else in Scranton, pennsylvania? Well, there, yeah. So there was a van life diaries where noodles and I talk about three locations from the office that you should go to while in Scranton, pennsylvania, and sadly, we did just that. We were going somewhere else and we drove out of our way to go to Scranton, but we only could go for a night, so we squeezed all of these locations in just a couple hours. I'm sure it's much more than just the office.
Speaker 1:Who produces your show? Do you edit it? Great question. Thank you for your question. It's just me. It's just me. I write, edit, produce, record. I do everything that makes the show happen. It's a lot of work but it's very rewarding. I'm learning a lot and I hope that you are too.
Speaker 1:Does your van ever get stuck? Yes, yes, indeed, it does Many times, luckily, I've been helped every single time. I do have AAA, but usually if I'm not in a very, very remote place, somebody will come along and pull me out, which is relatively easy place. Somebody will come along and pull me out, which is relatively easy, but I also have some equipment that helped me get unstuck from precarious places and situations, so I've been lucky so far. You just have to be smart about it. But the answer is a definitive yes. We do get stuck.
Speaker 1:What advice would you give to someone thinking about traveling solo? Right away, I'll say this Obviously you need to prep. You need to know where you're going, what you're going to do when you get there, be prepared, be safe. But I'd say there is a point where that becomes counterproductive because it will stop you from either traveling or prolong the period before you end up doing it. So be safe, obviously, but don't let the amount of preparation that you do prevent you from actually going and doing it, because, especially when you're traveling solo, things will go wrong. You can't plan for everything. You just got to be safe and, while you're out there, enjoy it, because there's a reason that you chose to travel solo. If you have any more specific questions, reach out to me. Backroads Odyssey is my Instagram. Backroadodyssey at gmailcom. Happy to start a dialogue and and, uh, help you on your adventure. Great question. It's Noah here.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed our little exploration of cryptids of the American national parks. There are genuinely so many more cryptids and oddities, especially in America's national parks, than I even dreamed about Upon doing research for this. I was a little shocked. So we might revisit this a couple times, because there is no shortage of national park cryptids. With that said, if you enjoy the research that we put into each episode again, it's just me. Noodles helps out a little bit, but primarily it's just me producing, writing, editing the show, taking the time to rate or review wherever you're listening now, really, really helps. So I appreciate that. With that said, be good to each other. Where to next?
