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  1. #121

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    All in all, there really isn't anything to worry about.

    Sorry,but you just named 11 people plus myself who would not necessarily agree.

  2. #122
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Can you imagine the outrage if the ATC suggested crossing the Kennebec on foot was nothing to worry about?

  3. #123
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    There have been 11 murders on the AT in it's history.

    The first was 1974 at low gap shelter in GA.
    In 1975, Janice Balza was murdered for her backpack
    In 1981, two hiker were killed, no details.
    In 1988, one woman was killed for having sex in a shelter with another woman, who survived.
    In 1990, a drifter killed 2 hikers at Cove Mountain in PA The male hiker was shot and killed, the woman raped and then killed.
    In 1996, two woman were killed in the SNP -still unsolved.
    In 2011, a hiker was found asphyxiated, not solved.
    In 2019, a hiker was killed by a deranged hiker with a machete.

    Interestingly, nearly half of the victims were woman. Only a couple of these murders were committed by other hikers.

    At most, only 2 people have been murdered in the same year and as a couple. We go years between murders.

    All in all, there really isn't anything to worry about.
    Meredith Emerson was murdered in 2008.

    There are many, many threads about Meredith Emerson, Gary Hilton (the freak who murdered her and many others), the group Right to Hike (founded in her memory), memorial services for her, patches to sew onto backpacks in her memory. I'm not search savvy enough to pull up the 'main' thread, but this one should give some indication of how her murder sent shock waves through WB and other hiking sites:
    https://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthr...redith+emerson
    Last edited by John B; 11-16-2019 at 15:03.

  4. #124

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    I am sorry but I get emotionally invested in threads like these because I had a high school classmate who was murdered on a well used bike trail here in Georgia.The only weapon she had was her teeth and she put them to good use before he killed her.The scumbag was caught after seeking medical attention,tried,and eventually put to death.That's why I get rankled when people minimize the issue.Violence and murder can happen anytime and anywhere,including your own home.

  5. #125

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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    All in all, there really isn't anything to worry about.

    Sorry,but you just named 11 people plus myself who would not necessarily agree.
    Certainly nothing to obsess about. It's tragic anyone has to die that way, but it's also very rare on the AT. It looks like if you avoid VA and PA, you reduce your risk to nearly zero.

    Now on the other hand, how many have had to defend themselves or otherwise felt threatened and fearful of bodily harm, but did not result in injury? You'd have to sift through the ATC's incident report files to figure that out. The only time I've had those fears were during dog encounters.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  6. #126
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    There have been 11 murders on the AT in it's history.

    The first was 1974 at low gap shelter in GA.
    In 1975, Janice Balza was murdered for her backpack
    In 1981, two hiker were killed, no details.
    In 1988, one woman was killed for having sex in a shelter with another woman, who survived.
    In 1990, a drifter killed 2 hikers at Cove Mountain in PA The male hiker was shot and killed, the woman raped and then killed.
    In 1996, two woman were killed in the SNP -still unsolved.
    In 2011, a hiker was found asphyxiated, not solved.
    In 2019, a hiker was killed by a deranged hiker with a machete.

    Interestingly, nearly half of the victims were woman. Only a couple of these murders were committed by other hikers.

    At most, only 2 people have been murdered in the same year and as a couple. We go years between murders.

    All in all, there really isn't anything to worry about.
    I wouldn't be paranoid worried. But saying there really isn't anything to worry about is a bit of a stretch IMO. The victims shouldn't be passed over as mere statistics. They were young people with their lives ahead of them, and were tragically cut down by deranged, evil, murderers. Most were in their 20's. And regarding the 1996 murders of Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans, while the case is officially unsolved, I'd bet law enforcement considers it solved even though they didn't get a conviction [details below].

    Just to expand and add the details for those interested:

    May 2019 - Thru-hiker Ronald Sanchez, 43, was stabbed to death by James Jordan on the AT in SW VA. Jordan also stabbed another hiker, Kirby Morrill. She survived her wounds. Jordan was found incompetent to stand trial by a judge at a hearing. He remains in custody undergoing mental treatment and evaluation.

    Aug 2011 – Section hiker Scott Lilly, 30, was strangled/asphyxiated to death while hiking from Maryland to Georgia. He was found off a blue blaze to Cow Camp Gap shelter just off the AT. The murder remains unsolved.

    Jan 2008 - Day hiker Meredith Emerson, 24, was kidnapped and murdered by Gary Hilton while she was dayhiking on Blood Mountain near, but not on the AT. Hilton remains incarcerated for her and other murders.

    November 2001 —Section hiker, Louise Chaput, 52, a psychologist from Sherbrook, Quebec, was found stabbed to death about 200 yards from the Glen Boulder Trailhead at the foot of New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington. Chaput began a solo hike in the area on November 15, 2001, and when she failed to return, officials launched a 3-day manhunt. Searchers located her body about a mile south of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Pinkham Notch Lodge, where she’d scheduled a reservation but never showed up. Police continue to seek Chaput’s backpack, a dark blue internal frame containing a green down sleeping bag, and the keys to her Ford Focus station wagon.

    May 1996 — Section hikers Julianne Williams, 24, of St. Cloud, Minn., and Lollie Winans, 26, of Unity, Maine were found slain June 1st, just off the Appalachian Trail near Skyland Lodge in Shenandoah National Park. Their throats had been cut. They were camped about 1.5 miles from Skyland Lodge, in a spot about 25 yards off the trail near a brook. Darrell David Rice of Columbia, Md., was indicted for the murders 6 years later. During questioning, Rice told authorities the women “deserved to die because they were lesbian (expletives),” according to prosecution documents filed in court. Rice was convicted of a different crime, the attempted kidnapping of a woman in Shenandoah NP in 1997 (the year after the murders), for which he served 10 years. He was released in 2007. Rice was indicted for the murders in 2002, but never convicted. He remains free. The crime is officially listed as unsolved.

    September 1990 — Thru-hikers Molly LaRue, 25, from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and her boyfriend, Geoffrey Hood, 26, from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, were killed as they woke up at the Thelma Marks shelter just off the Trail south of Duncannon, Pa., by fugitive P. David Crews (now under death sentence in Pennsylvania). She was raped and stabbed to death; he was shot. Crews, carrying some of their gear, was arrested eight days later by National Park Service rangers on the A.T. bridge above the Potomac River from Maryland into West Virginia.

    May 1988 — Section hikers Rebecca Wight, of Blacksburg, Virginia, 29, was killed, and her partner, Claudia Brenner, 31, of Ithaca, New York, was shot 5 times. She survived to testify against her attacker. On May 13, 1988, Stephen Roy Carr, a so-called mountain man living in Michaux State Forest in south central Pennsylvania, shot two female section hikers. He stalked them as they moved their campsite to a spot off a side trail and shot at them with a rifle from the woods - because they were lesbians. Carr was arrested about 10 days after the crime and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

    May 1981 — Thru-hikers Susan Ramsey, 27, and Robert Mountford, 27, both from Ellsworth, Maine, were killed near a shelter in southwest Virginia, 20 miles from Pearisburg, during the night, by Randall Lee Smith, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was paroled by Virginia in September 1996. Mr. Mountford was shot at the shelter, and Ms. Ramsey was stabbed to death a short distance away. Although he had made an effort to hide the bodies, Smith was arrested and charged within a matter of weeks. Smith was freed in 1996 after serving 15 years, only to shoot two fishermen (who survived their wounds) in 2008. Smith died in jail from injuries received while trying to escape apprehension.

    April 1975 — Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.

    May 1974 — Thru-hiker Joel Polson ,26, of Hartsville, South Carolina, was killed at Low Gap shelter in Georgia by Michigan fugitive Ralph Fox, who also kidnapped Polson’s hiking companion, Margaret Harritt, 17, but did not harm her. Fox murdered Polson for his pack and gear. Fox was convicted later that year and released in 1991. Within a year of his release, Fox murdered Diane Good, 29, in Michigan. He died in prison in 2003. [NOTE: I listed this as an intended thru-hike even though the murder took place only 5 miles or so into the hike, on the first night on the trail, as they began their hike at Tesnatee Gap, not Springer. Their intent was to hike the AT to Maine.]
    Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 11-16-2019 at 17:53.

  7. #127
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slo-go'en View Post
    Certainly nothing to obsess about. It's tragic anyone has to die that way, but it's also very rare on the AT. It looks like if you avoid VA and PA, you reduce your risk to nearly zero.
    Now on the other hand, how many have had to defend themselves or otherwise felt threatened and fearful of bodily harm, but did not result in injury? You'd have to sift through the ATC's incident report files to figure that out. The only time I've had those fears were during dog encounters.
    Here's a link to Gary Hilton, dubbed "the National Forest Serial Killer."
    https://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/hil...ry-michael.htm

  8. #128
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 4eyedbuzzard View Post
    May 1974 — Thru-hiker Joel Polson ,26, of Hartsville, South Carolina, was killed at Low Gap shelter in Georgia by Michigan fugitive Ralph Fox, who also kidnapped Polson’s hiking companion, Margaret Harritt, 17, but did not harm her. Fox murdered Polson for his pack and gear. Fox [NOTE: I listed this as an intended thru-hike even though the murder took place only 5 miles or so into the hike, on the first night on the trail, as they began their hike at Tesnatee Gap, not Springer. Their intent was to hike the AT to Maine.]
    Good summary, but not sure about one small detail.

    I think Joel Polson did in fact start his intended thru hike at Springer, but got off the Trail after a week. He then met up with his would be hiking partner where he left off at Tesnatee Gap to restart his hike to Maine. He then got killed and his hiking partner was kidnapped.

    At least that is how I understood things from a very good article in Outside Magazine, by the same author who did the piece on Geoffrey Hood and Molly LaRue.

  9. #129
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    Good summary, but not sure about one small detail.

    I think Joel Polson did in fact start his intended thru hike at Springer, but got off the Trail after a week. He then met up with his would be hiking partner where he left off at Tesnatee Gap to restart his hike to Maine. He then got killed and his hiking partner was kidnapped.

    At least that is how I understood things from a very good article in Outside Magazine, by the same author who did the piece on Geoffrey Hood and Molly LaRue.
    Thanks for the correction.

  10. #130

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    Just for the record,I am not obsessed but I am always prepared.It's a mindset.If you want to go with statistical probability,fine,it's a good indicator to know,but evil and tragedy can strike anyone anytime anywhere and sometimes it does.

  11. #131
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    No matter how safe the trail is, I'd feel more comfortable having a knife on me.

  12. #132
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Five Tango View Post
    Just for the record,I am not obsessed but I am always prepared.It's a mindset.If you want to go with statistical probability,fine,it's a good indicator to know,but evil and tragedy can strike anyone anytime anywhere and sometimes it does.
    My guess is that you and I would agree:

    * In absolute terms the probability of horrific crime on the AT is small
    * Bad things have happened and will happen again
    * People can reduce the chance of bad thing happening to them while still enjoying their hikes

    I think you would also agree that knowledge is power, and accepting inconvenient truths does not mean one has to walk in fear under normal circumstances.

  13. #133
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    That said, it does trouble me a bit that for everything posted on this topic, very little is ever discussed about the common circumstances surrounding each of these tragedies.

    And less still about the choices hikers made and the communal mind set to reluctantly share campsites with an unstable armed man, and even stay on the trail at all, in the days and weeks before James Jordan became the most recent killer. Probably much too early for that discussion I expect.


    I wonder if some of those decision were informed by the mantra from the ATC and others that the AT is safer than most any place else — or as Brian King would tell us — a 1 in 6 million chance.

  14. #134

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    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    My guess is that you and I would agree:

    * In absolute terms the probability of horrific crime on the AT is small
    * Bad things have happened and will happen again
    * People can reduce the chance of bad thing happening to them while still enjoying their hikes

    I think you would also agree that knowledge is power, and accepting inconvenient truths does not mean one has to walk in fear under normal circumstances.
    Absolutely agree and my "tent peg whittler" can serve as a dual use item if necessary and only weighs in at 4.5 oz.

  15. #135
    Registered User 4eyedbuzzard's Avatar
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    One of the saddest things to me is that many of these murderers had prior convictions for violent crime and/or had known mental health issues that indicated violent potential. Now, I don't like the idea of trampling on people's freedom and rights for no reason, but if you look at the prior criminal and mental health records of the murderers, there's just no way many of these guys should ever have been loose in society.
    Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 11-18-2019 at 07:13.

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    To all those that are opposed to carrying a weapon on the AT. I ask this question ....if you are put in harm’s way and I am near by would like me to help you or just walk away....Enjoy your hike!....

  17. #137

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bassius View Post
    To all those that are opposed to carrying a weapon on the AT. I ask this question ....if you are put in harm’s way and I am near by would like me to help you or just walk away....Enjoy your hike!....
    Again with the 'you're welcome' nonsense. How can people be more clear? Most of us DO NOT WANT you to carry weapons out in the woods to satisfy your irraitonal fantasy about rescuing us.

  18. #138

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    Don't worry,CalebJ,nobody is having hero fantasies when they pack something for self defense;it's all about self preservation.So why should you care if some of us carry one?

    I will agree that nobody is interested in seeing someone carrying a weapon,self included.Nobody has ever seen mine and I doubt they ever will.

  19. #139

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    Fascinating. You say 'nobody' despite me quoting someone that thinks precisely that.

  20. #140

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    You said you quoted Bassius as saying that but that is NOT what he said.How would you know if he was carrying a concealed weapon or not? All he did was ask if you would want help or not,rare though that case might be,it is not outside the realm of possibility.

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