The Appalachian Mountains harbor countless ghost stories, from the phantom hiker of Grandfather Mountain to mysterious figures glimpsed along misty ridges. But few encounters are as chilling as the one that happened on a foggy May evening in 1972.
The Appalachian Trail was proposed in 1921 and constructed throughout the 1920s and the 1930s. In May 1972, a hiker walked alone, noticing a heavy fog had begun to surround him. He quickly looked up and saw a person walking with a heavy coat and a wide-brimmed hat. The man slowly staggered about, looking at the ground as if he were looking for something he had lost. The man started walking toward the hiker, still looking down, so the hiker moved to the side to avoid him.
When they were close to each other, the man suddenly looked at the hiker, who instantly grew afraid of the man’s cloudy, blue eyes, which stared straight through him. He was also shocked to realize that the man’s clothes all seemed to come from a different time period. The hiker tried to say hello, but the man did not respond. After the hiker walked a little distance, he turned back only to discover the man had completely disappeared.
Written By John G. Clark Jr.