This unexpected visitor showed up after the dining room was closed for the night. No one remembers checking this character into a cabin. On LeConte, the air is thin but thick with mystery as the winds howl and naked tree branches claw at the night sky.
I hope you all are enjoying a fine Sunday. In keeping with the season, we're going to host a ghost story swap Monday night on LeConte for our guests. We welcome all tales of haints, hobgoblins and woollyboogers. However, we will refuse entry to any wampas cats, as they're just too fearsome. David Crockett is the only mortal man who could even hope to fight a wampas cat to a draw (and he was smart enough not to tempt it). We're inviting all our guests who are interested to the dining hall Monday from 8-9 p.m. to swap tales. The price of admission is sharing a good ghost story, though we won't be too strict about that if you just want to listen. We'll try to light the kerosene lamps just right and have some coffee and hot chocolate available for you. If we're lucky we might get some howling winds and swirling clouds Monday night. I'm looking forward to hearing some good scary stories, so bring your best. The wealth of ghost stories springing from the Appalachian Mountains weaves a rich history. My favorite ghost story, and perhaps America's best, regards the strange events surrounding the Bell Witch of Adams, Tenn. I hope our guests will provide some good stories I haven't yet heard. If you're coming to see us and not interested in the story swap, the office will still be open for games and visiting. In other news, the crew enjoyed Lindi's birthday supper on Saturday. She's been talking about her white birthday cake for months, and Chrissy made it every bit as good as advertised. Aside from accumulating 0.44 inches of rain, the weather remains much the same as Saturday--chilly and socked in the clouds. Saturday's high reached 51 with a low of 42. I'm surprised about that it didn't get colder last night on LeConte based on reports from the valley. I expect the temperature to fall during the next couple of days. I heard something funny while I was working in the office Saturday afternoon. Interpretive ranger Mark Pitt was hosting his afternoon talk about bears, boars and bats (among other things). He had an interested group, including a second grader who wants to open up a veterinary shop to cater to injured park animals. Mark was talking about some animal species which used to live in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at some point in the past but not anymore. Further, these animals are not extinct and still exist somewhere--just not in the Smokies. Bison are good examples. Mark asked his listeners for examples of just such species. The second grader raised his hand confidently and exclaimed, "Bigfoot." Bigfoot stories will be welcome Monday night at the ghost story swap. If you're coming up to see us Monday pack for the weather and stow away some good tales. Happy trails. 
Oh, I wish I was coming up Monday night. That would be a night if we were there my 15 year old would probably go back to the cabin and stay there, or make a house out of a deck of cards in the office. He doesn't even watch scary movies. Just think of listening to those scary tales and then heading back down the mountain in the dark. Have fun, I will be thinking of you as I watch How I met your mother. My Monday night adventure. Whhooppee.
hannah
10/8/2012 04:31:05 am
Debi our summer place in the UP is not far from Newberry... the mailing address is Eckerman ... close to Strongs... on a small lake :) dirt roads and all !!! my brother's family and nieces live in Grand Rapids and he has a place on Higgins Lake ... my Michigan heritage goes back many generations to the pioneers who helped settle the southwestern area of MI ...as a child, my husband attended a summer camp , Lake Ann, near Trav. City... I've been to Strongs before and stayed in the Lamp Post Motel, complete with the tin can shower and about a inch of dust everywhere. A friend of ours had a cabin up there on those old back dirt road and at the time brought his pet goat who nibbled on my daughters fingers. She was 7 months, shes now 20. The cabin he had made the lodge cabins look like the Ritz. Fun place that was. Have some good friends in Fiber, the Chadwicks and the Myers. My parents live in Hudsonville, a subburb of Grand Rapids. And have alot of relatives in Muskegon. But my heart is in Ludington, Michigan. Just love it here, besides Leconte. A toss up sometimes whos first.
Kim
10/7/2012 10:03:16 am
I am a wimp when it comes to scary stories. Glad it's Monday and not Wed or Thurs when we are there. I too would be building cards in the office while my family enjoys the stories. The thought of scary stories then having to walk in the dark to the bathroom at night would freak me out. 10/7/2012 10:19:45 am
Sounds like fun. Monday night's guests are in for a darn good time.
doug
10/8/2012 01:45:00 am
I truly wish I could get up there for your ghost story swap. I could then tell about the "MANGAMOONGA" which is very rarely seen, a bit more often heard, and never photographed in the Great Smoky Mountains ! On more than one occasion I know I've heard the soul-piercing cry of this mystical beast which paralyzed me in my tracks sending bone-chilling shivers from my head to my toes ! Surely it might be related to Sasquatch or Bigfoot, I just don't know. No tangible evidence has ever been gathered to prove its existence but I suspect that it is a nocturnal alpha predator if its name is any indication. When I heard its awful howl late one night while out on the trail late it removed a good ten years off my life span ! I think, though, that your guests may be safe enough this week as I believe it isn't a full moon as far as I know ! G'day and be safe !
Mark
10/9/2012 03:12:09 am
Would love to hear all the ghost stories. I have always wanted to see a ghost, and never in my 52 years have been so lucky...except once, and it was in the Smokies. My son and I hiked the Jakes creek loop, which finishes at the old Elkmont settlement. Walking past the abandoned houses there is a bit creepy, and as the last few minutes of daylight faded away, we decided to look into the old club house (it is now remodeled). I walked in, aimed my camera at the fireplace, and took a picture. My son yelled, "what was that?" I had not seen anything, until I looked at the screen. A round, white mist, about four feet in diameter, was center in the screen. My son said it moved real fast from right to left, and the flash really made it visible. Comments are closed.
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