Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “Not sure if this is something you’d be interested in.

I spend a lot of time in Bryson City, NC. It’s on the southern side of the Smokey Mountain National Park. At the time I had a very remote mountain cabin that was adjoined the park. It provided “private” access into the park and I spent a lot of time hiking(and bushwhacking) into this very remote area in the park.

Not far from my cabin is a public access point near Bryson City into the Park on the “Road to Nowhere”. The Road to Nowhere was started back in the early days of the National Park and was supposed to allow all of the relatives of families that were moved out of the area (to establish the park) to access their family homesteads and cemeteries. The government ran out of money, and the road was never completed. Local families are still very upset and angry that the government reneged on the agreement.

Almost at the end of the Road to Nowhere, you can park in a parking lot and access the Noland Creek Trail. The trail follows the Creek heads about 1.5 miles down to Fontana Lake. If you take the trail in the opposite direction (deeper into the park) it ends up at Clingmans’s Dome which is the highest point in the park. Although the Smokey Mountain National Park is very heavily visited, this southern part of the park, and especially on the Road to Nowhere gets few visitors, mostly locals.

I have spent a lot of time on this trail heading down to the Lake as I fly fish in Noland Creek. One day a couple years ago in November I was walking down the trail to the lake. It was a very clear day, moderate temps, and absolutely still. About half way to the lake the proverbial terrible smell occurs. It’s like a cross between a dead animal and a porta-potty. It was very strong. As I come around a little bend I see something very strange. Like I said, this was in a “holler” between two ridges and absolutely still. As I come around this bend I see what I can only describe is to imagine a person with a leaf blower walking one direction and the leaf blower being held directly behind him. This phenomenon moves very, very quickly up the ridge with the leaves being blown in the opposite direction. The weird thing is that as it moves up the ridge I can see small trees moving and a few breaking. It was almost like something invisible was heading up the steep ridge very quickly. I could easily watch this phenomenon moving up the huge ridge until it was out of site.

There was nothing there other than these leaves blowing. Imagine a cartoon that when the road runner takes off there is a cloud of leaves behind him. I’m sure you know what a whirly gig is ……small ground level “tornado”. This was not that. Something was propelling these leaves in a very distinct direction and very quickly. As soon as this occurred, the smell went away.

In and around that area I have since seen many small broken trees as well as a small teepee like shelter(see attached photo).

Every time I go in this area, I do get the same sense that many of your other encounters do that there is a general uneasiness and a feeling of not being alone.

Well that’s about it.”