National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 7

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

Today’s stories include gut instincts, haunted happenings, park magic, more signs from the universe and respectful run ins with predators. Patreon bonus stories involve bears, dogs and staying safe in bear country. All tales shared with consent. We love our National Parks and we know you do too but when you're out there, remember to enjoy the view but watch your back. Please take a moment to rate and subscribe from wherever you’re listening to NPAD! Become part of our Outsider family on Patreon to gain access to ad-free episode, bonus content and more. Follow our socials Instagram, Facebook , and Twitter. To share a Trail Tale, suggest a story, access merch and browse our book recommendations - head over to our website.  Thank you so much to our partners, check them out!   AnaLuisa: Use our link to shop Ana Luisa's Buy One, Get One 40% OFF sale Uncommon Goods: Use our link to receive 15% off your next gift Skylight Frame: Get $10 off your purchase using code PARK Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Focus. Listen to work getting done with Monday.com. Relax. As AI does the manual work, while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform, so flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.

Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders.

That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope? It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to National Park After Dark Trail Edition. Yep, and you may be a little curious because we did hype up a People of the Parks episode to be released today, which we had full intention of doing, and it is coming. But we had our interview with Dr. Rolf Peterson, which we are so excited to share with everyone. But we realized during the actual interview that he was sharing some information that has some numbers and data that isn't released yet to the public and needs to stay that way,

a few more weeks. So we are going to release that next month. So today we get a trail tales episode. Yeah, which we love and are super stoked for anyway. And we got a ton of trail tales again from you guys. So as always, thank you so much. If you have your own trail tales, you can go onto our website, NPADPodcast.com. And you can fill out a submission story there and send them right into us. We also have links on our Instagram, National Park After Dark, where you can find that link as well. Do you want to go first? Yeah. Okay. I'll go first. So I chose this story because I feel like me and this person are kindred spirits. And it is because they wrote into us about an experience at a haunted hotel. And I really appreciated the way that they wrote it. And yeah, we'll just go into it. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I live in Denver and my mom recently came to visit from out of town. She planned a weekend in Estes Park. So of course, we had to visit the family hotel. Despite my hesitation, I'm a huge baby when it comes to ghost things. Same. She signed us up

for the nighttime. Come on. Ghost tour. Classic. Classic. This sounds like what Danielle does. Daniel's like, yeah, of course you did. That makes sense. And I'm like, why? Go during the day. Turn the lights on. The ghost tour had some really interesting history, which I, a nerd, enjoyed. It's the ghostly stuff that got me. I remember in your Rocky Mountain National Park episode, you talked about Paul, the security guard, who died at the Stanley, and continues to reside there. Although Paul sounds friendly for the most part, our tour guide told us that he does not like women named Mary. Thank God, my name is Elizabeth, or I would have left the tour then and there if I was a Mary. Same.

And he does not like when people are in the concert hall past 10 p.m. The one time our tour guide stayed in the concert hall past 10 p.m., he shared that several times they heard screams. And after ignoring these warnings, the entire concert hall was bathed in red light. Finally, someone grabbed him and Fernley said, get out, which he finally paid attention to. I feel like after you hear one ghostly scream, that should be warning enough. On the tour, we saw a paranormal mirror in the basement of the concert hall, which apparently has been studied by paranormal experts and has at least 14 different spirits residing in it. Do you know that I have a picture in that mirror with my mom?

Do you? Yeah, because I took that tour too And we stood in front It's like a full length mirror You would hate it You would absolutely hate it But well it's like that mirror We stood in front of in the morgue

In the Crescent Hotel I don't remember that What I took a picture Yeah Oh yeah yeah Yeah Yeah okay yeah I do remember that Our tour guide shared

That he does not look into the mirror anymore Because when he did He had a reoccurring nightmare surrounding the mirror Apparently people look into the mirror And see themselves with different physical features such as different faces, extra limbs, etc. At this point, I was very ready to leave the concert hall to say the least.

We were also taken into the old employee tunnels in the hotel, embedded in boulders slash rock that the hotel was built into. While the hotel was being built, a Frenchman named Pierre was crushed to death in the tunnels. He now haunts the tunnels and is a purvy ghost, arguably the worst kind of ghost, playing with people's hair and grabbing people's butts. Apparently, he prefers blondes. But lucky, I am a brunette or I would have walked off the tour ASAP. I'm blonde.

I'm not going. I wanted to share my experience with you guys because I knew you would be interested. I was terrified the entire tour. There was also an 8-year-old boy on the tour who was thoroughly enjoying himself. So take my fear with a grain of salt. But at the end, I was like, at least I can email Cassie and Danielle. Thanks for a great podcast, Elizabeth. I totally understand why you got that.

You did that one now because we literally just had that same experience. Exactly same experience. Yeah. And that ghost reminds me of Michael at the Crescent Hotel, the one I told you about on the show. Yeah. And she was so similar in my reaction where it's like, no, thank you. And at the Crescent Hotel, this like pervy ghost, a lot of people specifically stay in that room to experience him and like whatever he does. And I'm like the opposite.

I'm like, keep your hands to yourself, Michael. I'm not into it. a line. You can move something. Just don't touch me. Yeah, don't touch me. Or my butt. And if the ghost tour was like, he likes blondes and I am blonde, I would be like, okay, I'm out. Bye. I got to go. I'm dipping out early. Okay. So mine has nothing to do with the paranormal, but it is frightening in its own way. Oh, good. The title of this is The Reappearing Man at Carl's Bad Caverns. Okay. Hi, NPAD. I am in love with your podcast, and thank you for all the work you both do to bring me this joy. I found your show towards the end of a six-week solo cross-country road trip with most nights

spent sleeping in the back of my beloved SUV. Most friends and family back home in Florida didn't really understand my love of solo traveling and hiking unfamiliar places, and you gave me a great sense of community. Along my travels, with majority of my stops being national parks, I had several odd, questionable, and downright spine-chilling experiences, and this one definitely is high on that list. Here I am a 23-year-old solo female beginning my descent into the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. Bats are flying around and as I begin winding the path downward, irritating a nearby family at the amount of times I can't help but to stop and take pictures of the gaping entrance. Having a natural service industry walking pace and the path being just larger than your average sidewalk,

I would kindly attempt to pass larger groups every once in a while. That is like the way to put it, a service industry walking pace. I have that. Yeah, you do. I'm the opposite. I'm like a sloth. I know. Whenever we're walking anywhere, Cassie's like, why are you running? I'm like, it's a brisk walk. I am completely in awe at what simple water, rocks, wind, and time can create. Deeper into the trail of the caverns, lighting diminishes, and my natural female fear heightens.

I've always been one to trust my gut feelings, and I begin to have a feeling of being watched. Keep in mind that up until you get to the place called the big room, this is one single path, no side points to walk off to, just you, the guardrails, and whoever is in front of you and behind you. I reach a point where the wide open cavern narrows into a small tunnel, just large enough for my 5-7, 125-pound body to walk through. Off the right of the tunnel entrance is a park ranger chatting with an attendee. I smile and wave to the ranger to ensure someone working there notice me. Walking through the tunnel, I enjoy the blissfulness of having a moment of the trail to myself.

Up into this point, I could only walk in my own pace for a short time before coming up behind a group. dealing with their pace for a respectable amount of time before I would look for an appropriate opportunity to pass them. Just over halfway through the tunnel, I hear a man's voice from behind. Did you come in here to hide? The predator prey-like tone of the question sent a chill running through my entire body. I also found this to be a bit of a stupid question, as this one is just a single-file tunnel. Time seems to drag on as I start speedwalking, try not to slip on the wet ground. Looking back, I see no one behind me.

When I finally saw the light peering in from the other end, I practically began running to reach the point of being visible to other visitors. To my surprise, I could see no one in front of my path as I exited the tunnel. Shit, of course. The one time I actually want a family of kids around, there's literally no one. I could hear a group of people in the distance speaking Spanish and quickly walked to catch up to them. With the family still not in sight, I look back towards the exit of the tunnel to see a single, shadowy figure of a Caucasian man. in black shorts, a black baseball hat, and a black or gray shirt walking from the path. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is not how I'm going to go out. Not even lost in the woods. On a single file path surrounded by families where my screams could echo for miles, really?

What kind of dumbass creep picks this as his pickup spot? He isn't matching my speed, but he isn't walking at a leisurely pace either. I finally reached the family I heard before and breathe a sigh of relief. He won't do shit now. I'll be okay. I walk along behind them, trying to act normal and just enjoy the caverns a little bit more. Shortly after reaching them, I look behind me to see how far away he is from me, but I see no one, aside from a regular tourist. He's gone. I scan the limited numbers of groups and couples behind me to try and spot him in any attempt that he's making to blend in, but there's no one that matches the man that I saw. He straight up disappeared. Nothing adds up in my mind as to where he could have gone, as there really is nowhere to

hide on a sidewalk-sized path, at least in my brain there's not. I take this extremely weird occurrence as a chance to continue taking in my surroundings while still looking behind me every few minutes. After a while of sticking behind the family, I start to get antsy. I'm ready to move along this path a little faster. Look back, he's still not there. The group stops to take pictures, so I offer one of the whole family, something I do regularly while traveling alone, as I find it a good, kind way to make an impression on someone visiting in case something should happen to me and take this chance to pass in front of them. I just want to pause and say, isn't that like such a sad way of thinking? I mean, I do it too. But like, let's make an impression on someone. So if I go missing,

someone will remember me. Yeah. And be like, I saw her. She took pictures. Right. And earlier when she waved to the park ranger, like, hi, hello, I'm here. You know, it's, it's smart, but it's kind of like, It's just odd that we have to think that way now. Yeah. There's a gap until the next group of people, but I felt a little bit of comfort having them behind me. As the distance increases between the family and I, I turn around to survey my surroundings, and my heart practically beats out of my chest. He's there, walking towards me.

How? Where did he come from? There is one path. He seemed nowhere near me when I was with them, and now he's 25 yards away. Speedwalk. You'll be fine. You're like a week into this trip. this is not going to happen. Reaching the next group of people, I tried to hide how hard I'm breathing.

Act normal, you're good, you're safe, you're with other people. And not even a couple minutes of strolling behind this group, I turned to see where he's at. Nothing. What the fuck? Is this a cave spirit? Does he just know the caverns well? I'm sure if he stepped off the path, he wouldn't last much longer in the park, so where did he go now? I can't brush this off now. This is weird. Fast forward. He does this one more time. Passing the group of people, he reappears, and then reaching the next cluster, he vanishes. I have no words and I'm beyond creeped out. I reach the big room where the single lane path ends and you can choose to either continue exploring the caverns or veer off and head up towards the gift shop to exit. I'm surrounded by people and I don't see him anywhere. As badly as I want to continue to see the rest,

I exit to the gift shop, grab my one collectible item of an iron on patch, and practically jogged my car. I apologize for the length of this story and please feel free to replace any profanity with whatever is podcast appropriate. Well, I didn't. Sorry. He stole a bit of the caverns from me and for that reason I will definitely be back to see what I miss one day. Peace, love and happy trailing. So I chose that one because I feel like I have had moments like that and I do feel a similar way of like, even though nothing did end up happening, it left an impression of like I feel like, I feel like. Like my time was stolen and my experience was cut short.

And whether or not you share that with someone and they say, well, maybe you are overreacting or whatever, I don't see it that way. I see it as being precautious. And I don't know. I just felt like I sympathized with that story. Yeah. I don't see that as overreacting at all. Like at the end of the day, whatever decision she made, they came out alive and okay and unharmed. So I always think that following your gut and following your instinct is not.

never a bad choice. And if you feel that something is wrong, there probably is. And to ignore that and find out versus to listen to yourself and leave safely is always the better option. I agree. Yeah. So I hope you get back to the caverns one day. But I'm sure your trip was full of other cool experiences. And if you have any more stories that come up, share them. But hopefully they're not the same type of story. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Prong. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

Off campus, L. Every year after, The Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. My next trail tale says, Hi, Cassie and Danielle. My name is Andrea and I wanted to start off by saying I absolutely love the podcast. I stumbled upon it pretty recently and I've been listening to you guys every day at work since.

I binge the trail tale episodes and in doing so, I remembered a story that I have from my childhood. Although my story doesn't take place on the trail, it is the most memorable, somewhat terrifying wildlife experience I have had yet. However, it's definitely not stopped me from enjoying everything nature has to offer. The experience serves as a great reminder to me when us humans set foot into nature, we must respect the wildlife that resides there because it's their environment. They are the ones that are in control. I'm going to begin my story with a little bit of background information. My experience took place in the early 2000s.

I had to have been around seven or eight years old in a coastal town on the Florida Panhandle. Even though I was young at the time, I had spent my entire life. up to that point living near the beach. My mom was, and is still very protective, and always made it a point to put safety first when going into the water. We spent a lot of time at the beach because we live a mere five-minute car ride from some of the best spots in town, and on this particular day, we chose a less crowded beach. After we arrived and set up our stuff, my mom took my sister and I into the water. My mom, though, protective, was not against having fun, so naturally she let us wander in the water to do as we please while keeping a close eye on us. As I was walking into the water,

which couldn't have been more than a few feet deep, because I had no trouble touching the bottom, I felt something rub against my thigh just above my knee, something rough and sandpaper-like. Now, constantly being in the water had rid seven-year-old me of the fear of the unknown. I'd been stung by jellyfish, stepped on crabs, walked into giant beds of kelp, had fish swim near me. The point is that things touch you in the water all the time. But whatever this thing was that had just touched my leg, it was nothing I had ever felt before. And it sent chills running down my spine. I looked down to see what it was. But the water was incredibly murky and you could only see a few inches below the surface. I yelled to my mom that I was getting out of the water and started running to shore

because something was telling me that I was absolutely needed to leave. As I was just stepping out of the water, the lifeguard on the tower, a few yards away, blew her whistle, signaling that everyone needed to return to shore. My mom and sister met up with me, and we headed over to the crowd that was forming on the edge of the water. Another lifeguard was walking out into the water towards a dead, bloodied fish. He had been sent out to retrieve it, as they didn't want the fish to attract any sharks towards the beach. And this wasn't just some little fish that you could see swimming near the shore. The lifeguard had to hold his arm above his head in order to get the entirety of the fish out of the water. It was longer than his entire torso. After picking the fish up,

the lifeguard was making his way back to the beach when all of the sudden a dorsal fin poked out of the water behind him, and we all watched as a large, dark-shaped circled the area that the man was in moments before. And to make things even better, we were watching the shark swim around in the water in front of us. Another one emerged 20 feet away, similar in size. We were told later that it was probably that they were tiger sharks, as tiger sharks were often spotted around the area. Although I never saw what touched my leg that day, I absolutely know it was one of those two sharks we saw swimming around the lifeguard. If you know anything about sharks, you know that their skin is said to feel exactly like sandpaper, and that is just what I felt on my leg. Although I tried to rationalize

it as being something else afterwards, I think I knew the moment it touched me that it had been a shark. I was just too focused on removing myself from the situation instead of sitting there and contemplating what I had felt. Even though shark attacks are so insanely rare, I can't help but look back on it and think if that shark had really wanted to, it could have easily dragged my body under the water and that would have been it. And I didn't even know it was there until it literally touched me. It makes me think of the stories about the big cats that sneak up on unsuspecting people who don't notice it until it's too late. It could have, but it didn't. And I guess I'm just glad to know I wasn't the food it was after.

I hope you guys enjoyed my story. If it somehow doesn't make it into the podcast episode, I just really want to make it clear that when we put ourselves into the environments of these animals, that we need to respect them. So many animals are given such bad reputations because of their interactions with humans. Knowing the risks of our actions and being prepared for encounters with wildlife are not only beneficial to us, but to them as well. Again, I love this podcast so so much.

Keep doing what you're doing, Andrea. Wow, I love the end of that. I mean, I don't like the story in general because it's scary, but I love the end of that. That sentiment is something that is so profound and true for any type of, whether you're in the ocean, in the forest, like whatever environment you're in. I just think that it's something everyone can carry with them. Yeah, and keep in mind, you are in other animals' territory. Also very brave to go into ocean water for me. I'm like, I have to be able to see my toes. Otherwise, I'm. Really? I didn't know that about you. Not all the time. I mean, I guess if you're in New Hampshire, then it doesn't really... The water's too cold, really, for sharks up here? Excuse me. Not if you're on the Cape. The Cape is full of them.

I was going to say, the Great Whites are like pretty much fucking everywhere in New England, I feel like. Yeah, if I'm down on the Cape, I have to be able to see my toes. I won't even swim that far in the Cape because there's so many. I actually like to go down to the Cape and download the shark meter. and see how many sharks are literally offshore from where I'm setting up the beach. Yeah, and it's just so funny, like when you go down to the Cape and you're like, oh my God, look at all the seals. All I think about is, okay, look at all that prey, that there's just sharks waiting for their chance to pick some of those off. Like, that's all I can think about when I see the seals.

They say don't even go in the water if there's seals. And when you get to the Cape beaches, there's those giant signs with big pictures of like jaws on it. that's like sharks are in the water, stay out of the water if there's seals. Yeah. Well, going back to the story when they kind of signed off on knowing your surroundings and knowing that you're sharing the space. So just this weekend, actually, on one of the Washington outdoor groups that I'm part of on Facebook, there was a couple of posts about a group of particular trails in a particular area

outside of Seattle that had a few people run into Mountain Lions. And they were like just saying that they definitely seemed to be displaying different types of behavior. And just everyone started kind of like freaking out. And then one of the moderators stepped in and posted some really helpful information about, you know, you're likely seeing a mother and it's young, being protective, like based on what you're describing. And this is how to stay safe and hike appropriately and recreate appropriately and safely in mountain lion territory, especially during these times of years. So it's important to know not only the wildlife that you're going to be potentially encountering, but also what's going on, like, what time of year is it? What behaviors can you expect?

What to do in response? Like, it's just really important to have that information. Knowledge is such an important tool. Like, you can make so many better decisions if you just know what's going on. It's not even necessarily you need like these crazy survival skills or anything to be outside. But just to have the knowledge behind. it can literally save you in situations. Exactly.

And there was also some comments of like, you know, kind of like, bro, if that mountain line was hunting you, you wouldn't be here to type this. Like, you know, just type of thing like that. Yeah, like, you're good. Okay, like, I get that, but also not very helpful. So let's elaborate a little bit for this person. Okay. So a couple of episodes or trail tale episodes ago, I think you were the one to say, if anyone

has any magic stories like trail magic or uplifting and nice stories to please send those in as well. So we did get a few of them, but I picked this one because I do visualize magic out of this story. So I decided to share it today. The title is called Rocky Mountain Magic. And it says, Hello, Ladies, Your podcast has been one of the highlights of the last year. I listen while I am working out. As I was listening to your current episode of Trail Tales, I realize I have a trail magic story for you, so here it is. My husband and two kids and I had planned a rather epic trip out to the southwest, hitting the Utah parks, going down to the Grand Canyon, and then ending in Tucson for Suaro National Park, and staying with my brother and his family. Unfortunately, this was planned for

March 2020, and we all know what happened to all of our travel plans then. By the time October rolled around, we felt like we had a good enough understanding of how to keep ourselves safe and still travel. We lived in Indiana, making the drive to Utah a bit too much for us, so we changed plans, loaded the kids into the car, and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. Rocky Mountain National Park is close enough to Tucson that my brother, a pilot, could fly a private plane into an airport nearby and stay with us for part of our stay there. We were excited to see him and his family because at this point, it had been more than a year since I had seen them. Several times, it seemed like it still might not happen. The wildfires were an ongoing problem. There was a split,

tire on the airplane and a problem with the landing gear. There was a last-minute switch of an aircraft, but finally they arrived to our cabin. On the first day there, we drove up Trail Ridge Road days before it closed. It was pelting snow that was so fine and light. It was like little beads of styrofoam that break off the bigger pieces. We had a family snowball fight at the Alpine Visitor Center at almost 12,000 feet before descending down. Although it was snowing at the top, it was beautiful and sunny at the lower elevations, for the moment anyways. My brother and I spied an amazing looking trail, and on a complete whim, he and I bailed out of the car with cheery waves to our respective families who promised to return in a few hours to collect us. We set off on the trail with one hydration

pack between us, a map, and ourselves. At first, I wish I had my camera, but the memory is so magical that I am glad all I had was my cell phone for some quick pictures. Otherwise, I would have been too busy taking photos instead of experiencing it. It turned out we had plopped ourselves on the trail that took us in a loop around more rain park. On a sunny day, it's a majestic setting. Open fields and cased by looming mountains, with a stream running through it. As soon as we set out, the snow that was at the higher elevations rolled down to us, and it was a combination of fog, snow, and spitting rain. Sounds awful, right? It was amazing. It was eerie and ethereal, like walking through the mists towards an enchanted place. Every few minutes the fog would clear and you'd get a

breathtaking view as we followed the trail in and out of the tree line. We were the only people on the trail and we could hear what was the stream. Oh no. We were the only people on the trail and all we could hear was the stream. We couldn't even hear our own footsteps because the trail was covered in soft pine needles. Well, that's all we could hear until the huge herd of elk in the center of Moraine Park started bugling. Just picture it. It's foggy, slightly snowy. You're hiking in and out of this tree line, and you hear water and elk calling to each other, clear as a bell. The mist parts, and it's all there.

Mountains and elk and water right in front of us, and then it vanishes again, with nothing but sound left behind. Those couple of hours are precious to me. To have those few magical hours alone with my brother in that setting, it was unforgettable. I can still call up the smell and taste of the air and hear the creptych. crystal clear elk bugles. It was gutting and heartbreaking only a few days later to watch as the fire ripped through that same area coming within a quarter of a mile of the cabin we stayed in. I have pictures for you. They are over on my blog and you can look at them or use them if you want and you're welcome to use this rather meandering story, Katie. And I'll post a couple of the pictures from her blog

from that day. I love that story. It kind of just embodies why we love the outdoors so much and how magical it is and just the experiences that you can unexpectedly find while you're out there. Yeah. Even if it's like not the quote unquote perfect conditions, it doesn't mean that the experience won't be memorable and perfect in its own way. So that's why I kind of, I loved it because there is beauty in all days of nature. And that one, I just love the picture of like the mist and things coming in and out of view and the word ethereal really does sum it up for me and I just loved that story. So thank you, Katie, for sharing. Awesome. I have another. This one is titled, not Itterail tale, but fringe slash adjacent. Discovered you Lovelies two weeks ago and have

been binging. I'll try to tell my story quickly, but it does require a little backstory. Bear with me, I promise a little oaky-spooky and a national monument tie in. 17 years ago, I met this really great guy who was in our local community college criminal justice program. I was an overnight cashier at a convenience store that our local boys in blue frequented during lulls and their shift. And as part of this program, he did job shadowing where he'd ride along with officers on duty. Pretty soon, he started coming in on his free nights to spend a couple hours bullshitting and scratching off lotto tickets. I eventually left that job for a better pay elsewhere, but a few months later, I ran into him in a grocery store. He asked,

for my number and I was understandably shocked when he called me that same evening. We drove around on backroads for hours and before dropping me off, he told me he was leaving the next week to start training as state trooper in BFE, Nebraska, some nine hours away. We kept in touch initially and he invited me to come visit a few times. He loved road trips and wanted to take me to Rushmore, Badlands, the Black Hills, and Chimney Rock. The last few years, our contact sort of trailed off, but I was unquestioned sure he'd be back in my life at some point, especially with my daughter graduating high school last spring. He didn't want kids and I already had one, so. Fast forward to August of last year, I was eating breakfast at my mom's house one morning. She was sitting at the table reading the paper

and asked me the name of that state trooper you used to run around with. She had just come across his obituary. For reasons still unknown, he decided to take his own life. This is the first time in my life, and 41 that I have ever literally grieved, and I never wish to again. As irrational as I know it is, I also have moments of guilt for not maintaining our friendship. I'm not a huge believer in paranormal. My take on things is usually, just because I don't know the logical explanation for something, doesn't mean there isn't one. But here's where the weird stuff begins.

His parents still live in the same town as me, so his funeral and burial were here. I did attend the visitation, then, after I left, my daughter and I had a little. some errands to run. I never knew there was a company in town called, and I'm going to change the names for the story because they asked for that, called Smith Enterprises, his last name, until a truck bearing their logo crossed in front of us at the intersection, not 30 minutes after I left the funeral home. My daughter and I exchanged glances. I arrived at work that night to start my shift as a caregiver in the assisted living community, and there on the reception's desk was a floral arrangement with a card from the family of John Smith. There have been multiple other incidences that those who

believe in this sort of thing insist are John talking to me. But here's my National Park connection. Shortly after he passed, I decided that I am now required to take a road trip and see these places that he wanted me to. But as weeks passed, I started to wonder if maybe it would be too upsetting to go without him. I was literally having this eternal debate at work one night, while taking care of some tasks outside, when something reflective on the sidewalk caught my eye. I bent down to see what it was, and did you know that Hardee's at one time had a series of kids' meals that focused on national parks? I know now, after finding a National Park Foundation card. So yes, there's a trip out there to the badlands and chimney rock in my near future. Who knows? Maybe after the trip I'll be emailing you again.

P.S. I actually started this email several days ago and had decided not to send it. Then, this afternoon, I was binging your podcast again when I heard the story of the woman whose trip to Maui was canceled due to the pandemic. So she went hiking on the day she would have flown out and found a random pin that said Maui, just off the trail she was hiking. So yeah, I took that as another sign from John. Love the podcast and I'm disappointed to be caught up because that means I'll have to start waiting a whole week in between episodes. Ben.

I love that. I'm such a big, like, I'll take it as a sign person. Because what's the harm? First of all, I'm in a position where I would like to believe that certain things I see are signs from a loved one who has passed away. And if it brings you comfort, then why not take that as a sign from your loved one and take it as a moment to reflect on them and your time spent with them and things about them? And who knows, I'm a person who personally, I don't really believe in coincidences either. So to suddenly notice this company that's been there your whole life and you suddenly notice it on the day of their passing, I feel like there's not coincidences. And I totally believe that you can see things and feel signs from people.

Yeah. Well, I hope you have an amazing trip. And whether it's happened yet or not, Earth, in the planning stages, it'll be a memorable one. So we wish you the best. Okay, so my last one. Actually, well, technically it's not my last one because we're going to be sharing an extra tale, right? For Patreon, peeps. Yeah. We're each going to read an extra story for Patreon.

So if you're a Patreon member, you'll get a couple little bonus episodes after this. Yep. This is my last one for everyone. Okay. So this one, we're visiting a park that you recently covered. Okay. It begins, hello. I just wanted to say how much I love your podcast and how.

how great it's been to have this dark point of view on all these national parks and recreation areas. You guys are truly the greatest. Thanks. We love being dark. Just kidding. And the writing and research you put into it is so well done. Thank you for the great podcast. I'm flattered. That being said, I wanted to share with you some of my own stories about Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Even abbreviated, it's a mouthful. I actually worked there just before the pandemic hit at the Environmental Education Center. your typical outdoor education facility. But what I really wanted to bring up to you is that I actually lived in Everett, the abandoned town. The Education Center educators were able to live in these old homes in that town,

and they actually weren't really abandoned at all. In fact, Everett isn't the actual hell town. That area is actually about five or so miles away, just above Boston Mills. The town of Everett indeed was bought out by the park back when they were buying up land and homes. Some of the properties are empty, but the park has been slowly renovating the homes and they are repurposing a lot of them. Cuyahoga headquarters used to be the home of what I was told was a demon man who tore down and dismantled a lot of the old buildings in Cleveland and surrounding areas.

Because of this, he had a very interesting home. He saved all of the best pieces of architecture and incorporated them into, oh, it's a demo man. Not a demon man. I'm like, wait, I'm putting this together in a way. Yeah, okay, the demo man, sorry. A demo man is very different than a demon. I'm like, how is he evil? This is cool.

Okay, the demo man, it's coming together. He saved all the best pieces of architecture and incorporated them into his house. It's very beautiful. And I guess it's also used as a wedding venue sometimes. Just search Cuyahoga Hines Hill Center. Okay, I'll Google that after. So the town of Everett is now just a few houses, about 12 and one church, which is still in operation as far as I know. I lived in the house right up against the railroad that you mentioned.

Got to see the train and smash coins a lot that summer. Each house was named after the family who had owned it before it had become a park, and there were six in Everett that I know people used or lived in. I don't remember the names of any other houses, but mine was hardy. I loved it. It was a two-story century home with a simple farmhouse build style. It had all modern conveniences at the time I lived there, AC, internet, flushing toilets, and a wonderful porch.

spent most of my nights on that porch and even bought a couch for it. Porch couch. I'd seen shooting stars, coyotes, and drunk ramblers pass by that porch. I could honestly go on and on for way too long about how magical that porch was. There were three other people that lived in Hardy with me, and we would often host Game Night or Hardy parties where you party Hardy. I even met my now girlfriend and started our relationship there at Hardy on that porch couch. You don't. Most people who had lived in there before me had also said that Hardy was very haunted.

I don't subscribe to all the paranormal activity, but I do believe in reflective energy and getting what you give and also receiving what you expect. So if you think the place is haunted and spooky, well, then you're going to get that. That being said, I was able to see how beautiful this house was and how wonderful it was to be able to be living in such a historic building. So yes, I did hear some weird things, but no, I didn't see them as scary or malicious. home alone one morning before work, I heard my roommate downstairs working really hard on the dishes and dashing around the kitchen in a cooking chaos frenzy. When I finally made it downstairs to greet them, no one was home. Later that day, I asked them what they were doing in the kitchen that morning, and they had no idea what I was talking about, because they'd been to work early that day. Nothing

bad or scary, just weird. My girlfriend had stayed the night at one point and described to me nearly the exact same thing after I left, thinking I was downstairs having a conversation with somebody. And conversely, the people who lived downstairs had told me at one point or another that they could hear me or my upstairs roommates walking around doing chores, only to later find out that neither of us were home at the time. We all loved this house, and I still think it's one of the best places I've ever lived. At the end of our season, my roommates and I decided to host a Thanksgiving meal for the rest of our staff. I even had us pose on the porch and turtlenecks for our invitation. We called it a very hearty Thanksgiving, and it was a wonderful and quite bitter. sweet meal. I'll try to dig through and find the picture of our invitation and other pictures

I may have taken of Hardy. Yes, the park system had pretty much taken some of these properties from some people, which is awful. But just like the river, they are being revitalized and brought back to their former glory. I also believe that it was somewhat necessary for this to happen to have the mighty Cuyahoga start its healing process. I haven't watched that PBS special you had mentioned, but I will, and I don't think there could be a more apt title for the good of all, because it absolutely was. To turn a literal toxic waste dump into green prairies and dark marshes takes a lot of sacrifice and in my opinion it was worth it. To see the park and what it was compared to what it is now, I think most people would agree that it was a hard yet important decision to make. My time in

Cuyahoga was somewhat short, but I loved every moment of it and I will always hold this park close to my heart. Gosh, I had so many things to talk about and have about a thousand stories from the park, but I hope this wasn't too much rambling. Someday soon, I will get the courage again, and I'll try to send you a few more trail tales I've picked up on in my travels. But for now, I better stop before I compose a novel. Again, thank you both so much for what you do and who you are. You are both awesome, and my girlfriend and I love the podcast, Finney.

What a cool story. I love that. And I feel like, again, it's another story that's embodying why we love national parks and what's so special about them, especially because I think Kiahoga is one of those ones that is less known. Yeah. So it's cool to hear someone's real experience there and how much the place means to them. And they got to just like live there and experience the park in a completely different way. And obviously you work there in the educational center. And I just think to be able to live in one of those historic buildings, it's just like even if it was a short amount of time,

that's my dream. So you live to the dream. And I want to hear more stories about it. So if you have any, let me know. Yeah. And. And. I understand that you don't want to like subscribe to the haunted thing, but you heard some weird shit. And I know you can't explain it and you do admit that it's weird, but what's the explanation? You got haunted. You got haunted. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, we do have two more.

They are going to be specially uploaded to Patreon. So if you're interested in joining our Patreon, you can go to Patreon and find us National Park After Dark. we have links on our Instagram bio, straight to our Patreon as well. That's it for this episode, unless you want to join our Patreon or a part of it. But we'll see you on Monday, and in the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch our back. Bye, everyone. Bye.

Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale you'd like to share, send us an email at NPAD Stories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National. Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Become an outsider by joining our Patreon where you'll gain access to monthly bonus stories and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our partners, you're supporting our show. To access our special discount codes along with source information from today's episode,

check out the show notes. For information on the show, to shop our merch store, sign up for our newsletter and more, visit NPAD Podcast.com. And if you're enjoying the show, please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind.

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