Rebel Road
Exploring the road less traveled on faith, mystery and the supernatural.
Rebel Road
Hiking, Camping and Missing 411 | Summer Supernatural Safety Part 3
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We are not out of the woods yet! Join Mary and Haley as we continue our series on Missing 411 and summer safety. This week we discuss a few more 411 cases and of course have some more safety tips for you all!
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Welcome back, everyone. If you are new here, hey, how's it going? You have discovered the Rebel Road podcast and our summer episodes. These are mini versions of our full episodes, and we like to call them road snacks. And this is our final mini episode for supernatural, well, and just natural summer safety while hiking, and today we're gonna cover camping. So, Mary, do you camp? Like tents, sleep under the stars kind of camping.
SPEAKER_00I used to, young Mary used to. Old Mary says, thank you. And we did it as a family too. But do you camp, Haley?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think we touched on this in the last episode. It's enough for me, dog. I don't think, um, you know, Mary, I kinda think you kinda just sidestepped that question. That was too easy of an answer for you. But anyways, with our nation alone, that is the US, having 58 million square miles in our national park systems. There are thousands, like tens and tens of thousands of places to camp here in the US. And with that, camping usually comes hiking, which we've covered some crazy missy 411 cases. And if you missed those, go back to our last two episodes to listen to them. Some safety hiking tips and a few supernatural safety hiking tips. But if those didn't scare you away from the deep forest and the woods, and you are delusionally determined to camp, uh, we got you.
SPEAKER_00I'm not sure we mentioned this in our other episodes, but the Grand Canyon National Park, it actually has the highest number of missing people. And Yosemite, that has the highest number of missing unsolved cold cases with people. So just a little info for our listeners if you're trying to decide which parks to visit, maybe which ones to avoid.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we love state parks, and we're not saying don't visit them with all the stuff and the stories that we're sharing. We love the forests and the woods. We may be saying you don't really need to step into those, but remember if you are on a hiking trail or a game trail for humans, as Mary likes to call them, do not, once again, do not step off the path.
SPEAKER_00Please stay on that path. Keep your arms and hands inside the path at all times. And if you hear your name or someone crying, don't turn your head or listen or acknowledge because no you didn't. Just move a little faster and leave because something could be waiting for you.
SPEAKER_01The fog hung heavy between the ancient pines of the Blue Ridge, thick enough to swallow the beam of Caleb's flashlight. He knew he shouldn't have stayed out past sundown. In the Appalachian backcountry, the locals always said the woods changed after dark, but Caleb had dismissed it as a campfire superstition. Now the silence of the forest was absolute. No crickets, no owls, only the crunch of his own boots on the damp earth. Then the smell hit him. A sudden, suffocating stench of rotting meat and winter ice, completely out of place in the humid mountain summer. Caleb froze. From the ridge above him came a sound that made his blood run cold. It was a voice, thin and strained, echoing through the trees. Help me! It sounded exactly like his brother, who was hundreds of miles away in Atlanta. The voice was hollow, mechanically mimicking human pain, but entirely devoid of life.
SPEAKER_00Panic spiking, Caleb bolted towards the clearing where his tent was pitched. Behind him, the silence broke. Something massive was moving through the brush, but it wasn't running. It was moving with terrifying speed, snapping thick branches like twigs, yet its footsteps made no sound on the forest floor. He lunged into his nylon tent, zipping it shut with trembling hands. He killed his flashlight, praying the darkness would hide him. He sat in the center of the tent, clutching his hunting knife, his breath coming in ragged gas. The woods went dead quiet again. Minutes stretched into eternity. Caleb stared at the thin fabric of the tent wall. Slowly, the silhouette of something impossibly tall blocked out the faint moonlight. The entity stood over eight feet tall, its limbs grotesquely long and skeletal. Its skin was the color of ash, stretched tight over a rib cage that looked ready to burst. It had no antlers, no fur, just an emaciated, hollow-eyed face, its lips tattered and bloody, revealing a jagged row of needle sharp teeth. The air inside the tent instantly plunged to freezing. Caleb's breath plumbed into white vapor.
SPEAKER_01The creature didn't tear the tent open. It began to encircle it slowly, mocking him. From just inches outside the tent, the thing spoke again. This time it didn't use the brother's voice. It spoke in a chorus of a dozen overlapping, stolen voices, a guttural, clicking whisper that vibrated right through Caleb's skull. So hungry, so cold, let us in. A long, gray, clawed finger scraped down the side of the tent. Caleb squeezed his eyes shut, tears freezing on his cheeks. He remembered an old warning he'd read online. The Wendigo feeds on greed and fear. The more you panic, the more it savors the hunt.
SPEAKER_00Holding his breath, Caleb forced his mind to go blank. He gripped the knife, slowed his heart rate, and refused to make a sound. He became as still as the Appalachian stone beneath him. The scraping stopped. For an hour the freezing air lingered. The creature stood perfectly still outside, waiting for a whimper, a breath, a twitch. But Caleb held his ground in the dark. Finally, a hot, foul exhale hissed against the tent wall, followed by a wet, clicking sound of disappointment. The canopy above rustled violently as the creature launched itself into the upper branches, retreating into the high ridges of the mountains. Caleb didn't move until the morning sun finally burned through the fog. He ran to his vehicle, leaving his things behind and never returned to the deep woods.
SPEAKER_01Now, this story is just that story, but it captures real tales, and we've read from real campers who camp deep in the woods, especially in the Appalachia, where mysterious entities do seem to lure humans deeper into the woods. And we wouldn't be Rebel Road if we didn't talk about the supernatural elements of camping and the things that you could encounter.
SPEAKER_00All woods hold the unknown. So maybe our first safety tip for camping would be, and we've said this with our hiking, but know before you go, research that area, the animal life, the animal traits, the dangerous animals, the snakes, the bugs, the fauna, the foliage, you know, the plants. And then also after you've done all that, research the folklore in the region. What are the legends? What are the cryptids, the ghosts, the spirits, and prepare for any situation just in case? Great advice.
SPEAKER_01And sometimes the best laid plans they fall apart, you know, that's just life. And we mentioned this in the last episode, but it's worth saying again. Prayer, pray before you go, pray while you are there, protection. I mean, how many times have you heard a story about something horrible happening? And that person in that situation, they call out the name of Jesus and the danger flees, the threat retreats. You cannot discount that. We say that in a lot of our episodes, and this is no different. You cannot discount the power of prayer and calling out to the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, always be prayerful. And prayer is easy if you've never tried it. You just start by talking. There's no formal formality, no, you have to do the sign of the cross or any of that. Just be like, hey God, and just start going. But back to possible creatures you could encounter while camping. I mean, we have the obvious and the most famous, our guy, Mr. Bigfoot, and possibly in any heavily wooded and forested area, the goat man. You know, Haley loves the goat man. Muscular, keep going. And we have the Jersey Devil, we have the dog man, we have skinwalkers, we have windigos, and those are just to name a few. There are hundreds and thousands of cryptid out there. So do your research. Know before you go.
SPEAKER_01Now, the windigo, this is a very terrifying entity, and they are not skinwalkers. We will get to those. The wendigo became associated with Appalachian folklore, but they originate from Northeast states and Canada with the indigenous tribes like the Ojibwe, Cree, and the Abenaki. Now, the Wendigo is a spirit of famine. I you know, the story behind the Wendigos is really quite interesting for me. It's a spirit of famine, insatiable greed, and cannibalism. Now, the legend served as a strong moral warning against putting individual selfishness above the community during harsh winters. Mainly, a windigo is made by cannibalism. It's based on traditional algonquin folklore, and it's when a person turns into a windigo by committing the ultimate taboo of consuming human flesh, and it's usually during a harsh winter to survive starvation, and it's often their loved ones or a family. Now, once human meat is consumed, the person is possessed by a corrupting spirit, and it really transforms them into a monster with an insatiable hunger, and that only grows larger and larger with every meal. And Mary, I think when you start talking about the cannibalism and how now once you've consumed this, that corrupting spirit, we've kind of covered on some of that in some of our so with so with this origin, I could see how a windigo could wind up in the Appalachian with really scattered families living deep in the mountains and in the winter with scarce resources.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can totally see how people would add the windigo to the folklore in the Appalachians. Absolutely. And they say that they kind of inbreed up there too, maybe the mountain people, so then you have that. But the windigo is gaunt, emaciated giant with ash-gray skin and tattered lips from feasting. Some describe it as an emaciated sasswash with mage. So envision a windigo as a deer-headed monster with antlers, and that is what they add on. They add those antlers on there in the Appalachian area. So um that's where this not deer thing comes into play, and a not deer is a real thing in the Appalachia. Not deer is when you see something natural like a deer, but then notice it kind of walks weird, it moves wrong, or there's just something off about it. Maybe it stares a little strangely, but that is a not deer, and it can be any animal or even a person, almost like a doll ginger. But this is a very dangerous entity. You don't acknowledge it, you don't stare at it, you just move on quickly. Remember, if you see something weird, no, you didn't. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01The Appalachian Mountains, if you are camping in those ranges and areas, they actually have a few unspoken rules. We covered the hiking rules last episode, but these are for campers. And like we said, know before you go. Remember, this is Appalachia unspoken rules. Number one, set up camp and have food secure and off the ground at least 15 feet by late afternoon, 5 p.m. at the latest. This seems to be just good sound practice, right? But it gets dark in the deep woods real fast. Number two, do not look out your windows. So if you get in your tent, or if you even if you're inside of a cabin and then you hear something, man, do not be peering out the window. What you need to be doing is praying, okay? Number three, you need to respect the silence. If the woods go silent, you stay silent. Like we said on the hiking tips, if the woods go silent, quickly, get back into your car, get back into your tent, get back inside quickly. Number four, you lock your doors and windows. So again, if you're in a cabin, super important to do this. Make sure the windows are closed. Number five, you must at all times keep a fire going. It's not for warmth, it's not for the vibe, it's not for cooking. It is to keep you safe, and you should not let that fire go out. Number six, your tent, make sure it's secure, make sure the zippers work, there's no holes, it has to be a sealed environment. And the last one, number seven, remember, if you hear something screaming in the woods, no you did not. And if something wakes you up, then you need to stay awake.
SPEAKER_00Pretty much if you see something or hear something, no, you didn't, don't acknowledge it because that gives it permission to engage. We aren't saying a not deer, a skinwalker type thing, windigo, bigfoot, or something is gonna get you. But we aren't saying that it won't either. Thousands of people go missing every summer while camping, and even more while just hiking. Are they all just unfortunate people who get lost? Do they slip? Do they stumble? Do they fall where nothing is found? I mean, are they getting carried away by a predator with no blood evidence, no clothing, no dogs can track them? I don't think so. So this does lead us to a paranormal or preternatural event happening more than the official stories from the police departments and the national parks will they claim to. We told the story of six-year-old Dennis in our first episode of this series, and his family was camping there at Smoky Mountains. But let's take another look at a missing 411 case. The afternoon of July 25th, 1981, was a clear, bright, and postcard perfect day at Yosemite National Park. At the Sunrise High Sierra camp, sitting at a breathless 9,400 feet above sea level, the remote alpine outpost felt completely removed from the rest of the world. For 14-year-old Stacy Areas, it was the middle of an exciting multi-day horsepack trip with her father and a small group of tourists. After arriving at the camp and unpacking, Stacy was restless. The high-altitude sun was still shining brightly, casting a golden glow over the rugged granite landscape. Grabbing her camera, she wanted to hike a short distance down the trail to photograph the scenic sunrise lakes below. She asked her father to join her, but he was tired from the long ride and opted to rest. Instead, an elderly 72-year-old man from their tour group volunteered to walk with her.
SPEAKER_01The pair walked together down the well-worn dirt path. A short distance from the cabins, the high elevation caught up with the older man. Feeling winded, he stopped and sat down on a boulder to rest. Stacy smiled, waved, and continued down the trail alone to get closer to the lake's edge. She was just a short distance ahead. In fact, from his vantage point on the rock, the elderly man could see her clearly. Up at the cabins, other members of the tour group were milling around outside, also casually watching the teenage girl walk down the path. Stacy was flanked by onlookers, completely visible and only moments away from safety. Stacy neared a small cluster of trees and a granite outcrop that jutted alongside the trail. She stepped behind the foliage, momentarily breaking line of sight with the elderly man resting on the boulder. He waited for her to emerge on the other side of the trees. One minute passed, then three, then five. The silence of the high Sierra was absolute. There was no sound of a struggle, no scream, no crunching of gravel, and no warning. The trail simply remained empty.
SPEAKER_00Growing uneasy, the man stood up from his boulder and walked down to the tree line, calling Stacy's name. His voice echoed off the granite peaks, but there was no response. He walked a bit further, expecting to see her peering through her camera lens by the water. The lake shore was entirely deserted. Within 30 minutes, the entire camp was mobilized. And within hours, Yosemite Park Rangers were on the scene. What followed became one of the most exhaustive, frustrating search and rescue operations in the history of Yosemite National Park. Over the next week, the wilderness was flooded with over 100 professional searchers, elite mountain climbers, and bloodhounds. Divers plunged into the icy depths of the Sunrise Lakes.
SPEAKER_01Searchers combed every square foot of the immediate area, expecting to find a tripped teenager, a dropped camera, or a footprint in the dirt. Instead, they found almost nothing. The only physical piece of evidence ever recovered from the mountain was Stacy's camera lens cap. It was found lying on the forest floor just a short distance past the tree line where she had first broken line of sight. The camera itself, her clothes, and Stacy herself had vanished entirely. These missing 411 cases are really too much. Like we said in I think the first episode of this series, you can't really grasp the weirdness of these cases unless you go buy the books or go visit missing411.com and buy one. The books are cheaper on the official site than they are on Amazon. And start digging in. You will see the patterns. So Stacy, she's camping with a group of people, and again, in broad daylight, like most of these cases, steps behind some bushes and vanishes with absolutely no trace.
SPEAKER_00It's just sad. I mean, her dad was like, Oh no, go on ahead without me, honey. He watched another member go with her and he thought she was safe. And the elderly man that was with her, he thought she was safe. She was safe. And then he had to leave that mountain without his daughter and never got an answer as to what happened to her. They just found the lens cap from her camera. She was gone.
SPEAKER_01You know, Mary, people tragically disappear all over the US, but you are right. The missing 411 cases, they do have this strange, supernatural vibe to them. And Mr. Pilates, he will not say what he thinks is happening. He's just laying out the data and is saying that there's something to all of these and they are connected. Have you seen? And I've mentioned this in the uh the episodes of this series, the national parks and the cave systems are if the missing persons overlay map. Have you seen that, Mary?
SPEAKER_00I have, but go ahead and tell our listeners more.
SPEAKER_01We want to know more. Well, everyone, if you overlay the missing person 411 cases and the known cave system maps, the missing 411 clusters and cave systems, they match up in striking precision. I just find that so interesting. And I want to share that for our listeners. If you've it's very common in the conspiracy community about this, but if you've never heard of it, definitely go do your research. And the missing people, the cave systems, and the national parks are all heavily, heavily linked. So I don't know. And maybe we should add another rule, Mary. Before you go rule that we mentioned, maybe check to see if there are caves in the area that you want to camp in.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know my take on caves. That is a solid no thank you. And so many traditions they believe that caves and rock formations cause thin veils where entities and spirits can come and go. And if you think about it, in the Bible, when Moses went to talk to God, he went up on the mountains. People worship God up on the mountains. So that is giant rock clusters. So spirits can come and go, and just maybe humans can come and go. But let's look at one more missing camper case. But let's look at one more missing camper case. This is another 411 case, and I think it's a sober reminder that camping and hiking, they can be deadly.
SPEAKER_01The afternoon sun of June 9th, 2013 was brutal, baking the Red Canyon Rock of Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park in a dry 90-degree heat. For 51-year-old Mitchell Dale Stealing, it was just a quick pit stop during an exciting cross-country road trip with his wife and their camper. Around 4:30 p.m., Dale decided to stretch his legs. He left his wife at the camper and set off for what was supposed to be a breezy 30-minute walk. Dale's destination was the Spruce Tree House, a famous cliff dwelling located just a quarter mile down a paved, heavily trafficked path from the visitor center. Because the walk was so short, he took nothing with him. He had no backpack, no maps, no cell phone, and crucially not a single drop of water. As he walked down the path, he passed several other tourists. Witnesses later recalled chatting with him, but instead of turning back to the camper, Dale became intrigued by a sign for the Petroglyph Point Trail, a much more rugged 2.5 mile loop that branched off the pavement and descended into the steep canyon terrain. Dale asked the passing hiker for directions to the loop. The hiker pointed the way, watched Dale step onto the dirt trail, and went on their way. Dale stealing was never seen alive again.
SPEAKER_00By dinner time, Dale's wife grew deeply worried. He was directionally challenged, and the afternoon heat was turning punishing as the sun began to dip. She alerted Park Rangers, triggering an immediate and massive search operation. Because Mesa Verda is in an arid landscape with defined canyon walls, search and rescue teams expected a swift resolution. They flooded the 2.5 mile loop with specialized tracking canine units, dozens of ground searchers walking arm's length grid patterns, helicopters equipped with advanced Fleer thermal cameras. Then the anomalies began. The tracking dogs walked to the edge of the dirt trail and completely stopped. They couldn't pick up or follow Dale's scent into the canyon. Overhead, the thermal helicopters flew directly over the coordinates, but the screen showed absolutely no heat signatures. Despite being a grown man on a heavily monitored path, Dale had seemingly dissolved into the desert landscape. The search was eventually called off, leaving his family with an agonizing seven-year silence.
SPEAKER_01The desert held Dale's secret until September 2020. Acting on an anonymous tip, park rangers hiked far past the boundaries of the original search zone, deep into a remote, heavily wooded canyon. There, buried beneath the dense undergrowth, they discovered Dale's skeletal remains, his clothing, and his driver's license. He was found 4.2 miles away from the trail where he was last seen. So again, we have some red flags for safety here. He went off alone and he left without water. Listeners, even if you think you know where you are going, bring supplies while out in the wild. It's called the wild for a reason. And even if you think you are in the safety of a state park and people are around, no, they are not paying attention to you. Go with your people. Remember, don't let them out of your sight and always carry a bag of supplies. But Mary, how tragic is this story? You're with the love of your life. He leaves to do a quick hike alone. You expect him back, and he never comes. That is heartbreak. And then for seven years, you're just in limbo.
SPEAKER_00All these cases are really sad. And I don't want any of our listeners to become a 411 case. This is part of why we're doing these short episodes. But again, Hayley, let's look at these common things. The canines no scent. And the reasons this time was because it was too dry and there were too many people. Because this is a popular trail with people, but he vanished. They had no idea where he went. They had that one witness that said he went on that 2.5 mile loop. He changed his plans. He told his wife where he was going and he went somewhere else. Don't do that. And unlike some of the other cases we went over, they did find his body, but it was miles away again and was no apparent cause of death. His his clothing wasn't tattered, there were no puncture wounds. So it was like he just wandered off, laid down, and died. So the questions start how do they get there? How did he wander off that path? That area where they found him was off-limits to the public. And it was highly remote and hard to get to. He would have never gone there willingly. Never. He would have stayed on a path.
SPEAKER_01Every national park in the US has off-limits areas, some with heavily policed areas and gated trails. And that makes you think some of those areas they were made off limits after surveys and after missing persons.
SPEAKER_00We could spend a year on these cases and theories, Haley, just probably a few years on them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we really could, but we have just a few more weeks. And next month, July, we are moving off the hiking trails and into our lakes and bodies of water. So remember, friends, be smart, be safe, buy a personal locator beacon for everyone if you are hiking or camping. Carry a whistle.
SPEAKER_00And then don't change them. And never step off the trail. Always pack more than you think you'll need. Snacks. Have them. Bring them.
SPEAKER_01Never leave anyone alone. Don't go alone. If you hear something, no, you didn't. If you see something, no, you didn't. And in all things, pray. Keep it weird. And like we like to say, if it's too weird, pull it back to Jesus. We hope you guys have been enjoying these special summer episodes. And if you do, please share them with a friend. Maybe a friend who camps and hikes or loves those state parks. And we will chat with you all next week. Bye. Bye.
