September 12, 2024 • 21 mins
In November 1989, 22-year-old Eloise Lindsay embarked on a solo hiking trip through South Carolina's Table Rock State Park, creating a baffling mystery about the details around her disappearance.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Today's occurrence happened in South Carolina, and what I'm about to tell you is hard to believe.
It's been the subject of many discussions, theories, and debates over the years.
It all started with the mysterious disappearance of a 22-year-old backpacker
who decided to hike at Table Rock State Park, and everything seemed normal until
(00:22):
she had a reported encounter with two men.
Then, she just disappeared.
Exactly what happened to her is a mystery to many to this day,
and it's a case that has left many people baffled.
Because, by all appearances, it seems like the hiker was running from rescuers.
(00:42):
I'm Tatiana Bunch, and this is the story of Eloise Lindsay.
Eloise spent the summer of 1989 working at an art supply store in Atlanta and
living with her parents, Mel and Gail Lindsey.
She had just graduated from Agnes State College in May and was at crossroads with her career.
(01:03):
Eloise was torn between teaching, being a nanny in Switzerland,
joining the Peace Corps, or heading to graduate school.
So she decided to take a break and go hiking.
Eloise liked to hike and she was ready for a bigger challenge.
Eloise planned a solo trip along the foothill trails in South Carolina,
spanning 43 miles or 69 kilometers.
(01:26):
It went from Table Rock State Park to Whitewater Falls.
Now, she had hiked at Table Rock three times before, but she had never done such a long journey.
And most of what she had planned was not what she'd previously traveled.
Table Rock State Park was in
South Carolina, and where she was planning to end was in North Carolina.
(01:47):
Her parents were obviously concerned about her safety because she wanted to
go alone, so they asked her to take a friend for the trip.
They knew Eloise hiked to de-stress, and she did it often enough that her parents
felt she was an experienced backpacker.
So, with a friend and her parents' approval, on November 4th,
1989, one of Eloise's friends came to her house to pick her up for the hiking trip.
(02:12):
Eloise and her friend left her home on Atwood Road and her family expected her
to be back home on Saturday the 11th.
When Eloise made it to the trailhead, she signed her name and her friend's name
on the guestbook and started the journey.
At some point during the trip, Eloise heard two men behind her,
and it sounded like they were talking about her.
(02:35):
It freaked her out a little, so she listened a bit closer and sped up her pace
going up the hill she was on.
She thought they mentioned her quick pace moving up the hill,
and this scared her more, so she decided she would try and lose them.
And that would be the last time Eloise would be seen backpacking on the trail.
When Saturday the 11th came around, Eloise didn't return home.
(02:58):
When she didn't return home as planned, the notice that she was missing went
out and preparations were made for a search to start as soon as possible.
Around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, search crews started looking for Eloise on
the trail and they continued to look for her until sundown that evening.
They searched the trails and interviewed possible witnesses,
(03:19):
but everyone they interviewed said they hadn't seen her.
At the time, searchers were only able to give witnesses a vague verbal description
of Eloise by saying she was around 5'9 and 140 pounds.
When she started the hike, she was believed to be wearing a white sweater,
gray pants, and carrying a gray backpack.
(03:40):
The next day, the news picked up the story. And that's when her parents discovered
that Eloise hadn't told them the truth about her plans for the trip.
On Monday, the 13th, the Greenville newspaper reported that no one accompanied
Eloise on her hike, and she never planned to have anyone with her at all.
She couldn't convince anyone to actually go on the hike with her,
(04:03):
so she asked a friend to drop her off at Table Rock on the 4th,
and then come back to pick her up at Whitewater Falls at noon the following Saturday.
When she got to the trailhead, she signed the park guestbook.
In many state parks, there are visitor logs or registers near the trailheads,
campgrounds, or other popular spots.
(04:24):
They have you sign your name for a few reasons, like to track visitors.
It helps park officials understand how many people are visiting the park,
which areas are popular, and when they're most crowded.
It's also for preparedness in case of an emergency.
The log tells officials who all is in the park and where they might be.
And it's also just to keep records.
(04:46):
The logs create a historical record of visitors, the park's popularity,
and the people who have been there.
When Eloise signed her name to the guestbook, she also signed the fake name
of George Lindsay with hers.
She probably did it so no one that came after her would see that there was a
woman hiking alone up ahead on the trail.
At first, it was reported in the same newspaper that it was possible Eloise
(05:10):
underestimated how long the trail took. and that's why she was late making it to Whitewater Falls.
But Dawn Everett, the county emergency preparedness agency director,
said seven days should be plenty of time for someone to hike 43 miles on the trail.
The Monday search didn't gather any more information, even with them bringing
(05:31):
in a helicopter and two planes to scan the area.
Eloise's parents even brought in her pillowcase for search dogs to use to find
her, and even that didn't help.
A couple who was later shown a photo of Eloise was able to identify her and
said they saw her on the 5th around 2.30 p.m. at Sassafras Mountain.
(05:51):
Eloise told them where she was from and where she was headed to,
including the fact that she had never actually hiked that part of the trail before.
That sighting showed that she stayed on the trail for at least a whole day after
she was dropped off on the 4th, and that she was moving about 10 miles a day
since it took her 24 hours from the start of her trip to make it there.
(06:14):
After that meeting, according to her trail, she would have continued into the
lower valley, which was still kind of rugged, and then turned north to continue into North Carolina.
The Scent Dogs picked up her scent twice in wet areas around there,
but they lost it in the drier areas.
The first hit was in Laurel Valley above Laurel Falls in South Carolina.
(06:36):
The second was at Cobb Creek, just over the border of North Carolina.
The dogs went off the trail at the Cobb Creek location, but Don Everett said
it was possible that the scent could have been several days old and only shows
that she passed through the area.
It didn't necessarily show that she was still there.
But it did tell them that Eloise traveled at least 30 miles before she left
(07:01):
the trail, if she left the trail.
Now, this was on Tuesday, and the search was focused on an area where the Toxaway
River flows into Lake Jocassee.
Now, the helicopters weren't as much help as they had hoped because the forest
in this area is so dense that they could really only search on the trail and in the clearings.
(07:21):
And then on Wednesday, there was fog, so the helicopters were even less helpful.
But down on the trail on Wednesday, the dogs picked up Eloise's scent again.
It went downhill towards the Toxaway River.
They lost the scent again, so they requested more help.
The North Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association brought in a dog that had
(07:42):
been specially trained to track scents in the air instead of on the ground.
The specially trained dog did find Eloise's scent in the same area,
but it lost it just as fast because of the rain and fog in the area.
Scent dogs that search on the ground are trained to follow a specific scent
trail, usually from human skin cells or other particles left behind,
(08:03):
they're great at tracking a person across various terrains days after the trail was laid.
Which is why they're used in missing persons cases when you want to follow a person's path.
Scent dogs that search in the area are trained to detect a person's scent carried by air currents.
So they can cover large areas quickly and they're really great for when a person
(08:25):
is lost or hurt in a large area, like out in the wilderness,
in an avalanche, or in another type of disaster.
While the ground search dogs are able to pick up scents after it's rained,
and depending on the circumstances.
It's sometimes better near water sources.
Air search dogs have a harder time. Fog helps the scent for air search dogs.
(08:46):
It helps to carry it, but heavy rain washes it away.
By the 16th, Eloise's parents made a statement to the press saying they felt
like the search and rescue teams were doing a great job.
They said it because a lot of questions were starting to pop up about what could
have happened to Eloise but then Eloise's father did say that he was a bit bothered
(09:07):
by the fact that so many people were out there searching for Eloise and hadn't
found any evidence that she had actually been through that area that they can rely on.
Besides that couple talking to her on the trail they hadn't been able to find
any more proof that she had gone west and Don Levitt felt the same because he
said that they had never gone that long without finding at least a a food wrapper,
(09:31):
or something of the missing persons being left behind.
Then, on Friday, searchers found a footprint that looked like it belonged to
a female by the Horse Pasture River.
The footprint was west of Cobb
Creek, and it looked like it had been left after the rain on Wednesday.
It wasn't the first print they found, but it was promising.
So, they requested a scent dog, and a German shepherd from Georgia was sent to check it out.
(09:55):
The dog lost the scent pretty quickly after picking it up, but that footprint
was the first one that any of the dogs were interested in.
If it was Eloise, that means that she was no longer on the trail by the 16th
and had been in the wilderness for over a week.
So the search for Eloise was suspended on November 18th, two weeks after she first started her hike.
(10:16):
Between the rain and cool weather, everyone was led to believe that she was
no longer alive, considering all of the trails and creeks around that she hadn't been spotted at yet.
And then when you throw in the cost of searches, especially over such a large
amount of land, they figured if she was going to be found, it would be on accident
(10:36):
by future hunters or hikers, and they would be finding remains.
So imagine everyone's surprise when Eloise Lindsay was admitted to Oconee Memorial
Hospital in Seneca, South Carolina.
On the afternoon of November 20th, 1989, just south of Whitewater Falls,
a hunter named Wayne Hooper stopped in at the Bad Creek security station on
(11:00):
South Carolina State Route 130.
Employees of the Duke Power Bad Creek Project called an ambulance after seeing
a woman in a ragged state in Wayne's passenger seat.
Eloise was rushed to the infirmary within 40 minutes of being picked up.
She had lost 10 pounds, had blistered and infected feet with scratches on her hands and face and.
(11:23):
She was otherwise uninjured, which was surprising because while she was lost,
there was light snow and temperatures that were in the 20s, which is like negative three degrees Celsius.
So her not even having a hint of frostbite kind of threw everyone for a loop.
Her mental state was questionable, but by Monday, she was talking to reporters
(11:44):
and telling them everything that happened to her.
Eloise told them how she spent several days going up and down ridges.
She had to ration supplies and sleep wherever she could, which ended up being
in an abandoned jeep, in caves, and on the forest floor where she used leaves for blankets.
She didn't eat the seven-day supplies of food in her backpack.
(12:06):
Instead, she ate what she could find. In this case, a pound cake and stale donuts
she found inside of a tree, which officials later said they believed was placed there to lure a bear.
And she also ate a packet of dried apples.
When asked why she didn't eat what she packed, Eloise told them she ditched
her backpack because she thought she was being followed and needed to be able to move quicker.
(12:29):
She felt she had to give up what she had to survive and be able to run faster and farther.
The only thing she took from her backpack was the packet of dry apples.
Eloise said on Tuesday, November 7th, just a few days into the hike,
she was being chased through the woods by a group of men and felt like she was
still being chased until she was found that morning.
(12:50):
She never saw their faces, so she didn't know who was chasing her,
just that they were talking about her and followed her trail the whole time.
She told the news that the men had monitors for tracking down living animals.
Whistles, dogs, tractors, cars, mopeds, boats, and guns.
Eloise said she could just tell there was no good intent involved.
(13:13):
To officials, this sounded like she thought the search and rescue people were
stalkers and following her.
To the doctor that examined Eloise at the hospital, it sounded like a believable story.
He felt she could have survived off of mostly water since that's all you need to get by for a while.
The snacks she took from her bag and the pastries she found along the way were
(13:35):
enough to sustain a rugged, strong girl.
Her body fat and liver her glycogen took care of the rest because her body would
have been able to sustain itself for a little bit on that.
But the part that left everyone puzzled was why Eloise thought she was being
followed the entire two weeks when no one started looking for her until November
(13:55):
12th, the second week she was out there.
Eloise said she left the trail on the 7th because she heard the men behind her talking about her.
She heard them make vague statements over walkie-talkies about a woman walking
quickly ahead of them going up the hill.
Eloise claimed to use her deer-like instincts to sense she was being followed
by what could have been construction workers in the area.
(14:18):
A lot of speculation started spreading about Eloise being paranoid or making
up stories, but her friends came forward and said that that wasn't like Eloise.
They said she was known to be
strong-willed and it wasn't like her to be delusional or make up stories.
One friend went as far as to say Eloise was the type of person to try anything,
(14:39):
but she definitely wasn't the type of person to be scared of people and run away. way.
Though that friend also wondered if Eloise had started thinking a little bit too much.
A chairwoman for the art department at the college Eloise went to and was a
TA for said it was very unlikely that Eloise would lie about something like
that even with Eloise being more on the reckless side.
(15:03):
She said that many 18 to 21 year olds make poor choices and while Eloise had
a stubborn streak, she wasn't a masochist.
She said Eloise is grounded in reality.
The police felt differently. They believed she was paranoid and had no interest
in investigating any other possibility.
At most, they believed she may have run into some of the 2,000 workers from
(15:27):
the Duke Power Project stationed around Lake Jocassee.
Another official supported that theory saying they also heard workers using
walkie-talkies that were amplified by the speakers or by their trucks.
A county emergency preparedness official said Eloise was paranoid before the
search even started and then turned more frightened or paranoid thinking that someone was after her.
(15:51):
If she wanted to be rescued, the opportunity was probably there several times.
The police planned to speak to workers to see if they saw anything,
but didn't actually think there was anything criminal to be investigated.
The theory was that once Eloise left the trail, she could have also heard hunters
or loggers in the wilderness and thought they were the same people she heard from the trail.
(16:13):
But Eloise was someone known to go running at night by herself,
herself even though people told her not to for obvious reasons.
So it didn't seem like she was someone who got scared easily,
although running in a residential area at night and being alone in the forest
are two different things, in my opinion.
The evidence showed that she left the trail west of Cobb Creek and then went
(16:37):
south towards the Toxaway River and Lake Jicassee.
The scent trail went in that same direction and Eloise said at one point she
ran down a hill and into a lake to escape, which tracks with the dogs alerting
at the creek and losing the scent at the lake.
Knowing she was moving about 10 miles a day and reached that spot on the 7th
and it's 30 miles in on the trail, it tracks.
(17:01):
If she heard power workers, hunters, or even other hikers in the area and ran
downhill, it places her at the river and lake.
As for her backpack, pack, that was never found.
Considering there was food placed as lures for bears and her bag had food,
it's possible a bear took it or even another person who came across it and took
(17:23):
it but didn't want to come forward because that's not a good look.
As for why Eloise stayed off the trail and avoided rescuers,
well she said when she realized a search was happening, she tried to get into
an open area where a helicopter could find her.
The helicopters came close several times, but they never spotted her.
And Eloise would say that it was also never at the right time.
(17:46):
I'm not sure what she meant by it, never being the right time,
but she also said she never built a fire to signal the helicopter because she
didn't want to alert the men after her.
And when Wayne Hooper found her, he had a hard time getting her to let him help
because she was so delirious.
So her mental state could play a part in why she said that.
(18:07):
As for how she managed to keep from getting frostbite or freezing with cold
temperatures at night, rain, snow, fog, no legitimate shelter,
and no fire, I want to call it luck, but what if Eloise did make it up?
When she was found, she was wearing a flannel shirt.
I don't think it was ever said where it came from.
(18:29):
It could have belonged to her rescuer, or she could have found it while she was lost.
But what if it was hers from her backpack? pack.
So what if she thought she was being followed and went off trail and got lost?
Then she ditched the backpack because it was too heavy or after she had already eaten everything in it.
She didn't really need to carry it around anymore since she ate all the food
(18:50):
and it was weighing her down.
She could have ditched it. She could have grabbed the flannel first,
expecting to need it in the future, or she could have changed over the several days.
But then maybe she ended up so far off trail that the search party on the ground couldn't find her.
And that's why when she went to a clearing for the helicopter to see her, she wasn't spotted.
Now it's possible she truly thought she was being followed.
(19:13):
In today's world, I'd say it's possible she was really followed,
at least for a little bit.
I don't know about 1989, but crime isn't new, so it's possible.
And maybe she eventually realized that she wasn't being followed anymore.
Or never was at all, and came up with this story to keep from getting in trouble. Thank you.
But then there's also the panic in the woods phenomenon, which is a sudden,
(19:37):
overwhelming feeling of fear or anxiety that hits someone when they're alone
in nature, like in the forest or woodlands.
It can be triggered by many things, like isolation because being alone in an
unfamiliar environment can make people feel vulnerable.
It can also be caused by unfamiliar sounds, smells, or things they see in the
(19:58):
forest, or feeling loss of control because that can be disorienting.
Then there are psychological factors like personal experiences or anxiety disorders
that can make people panic in the woods.
It's also possible a mental health issue appeared, but considering it seemed
to normalize the Monday after she was found, who knows?
(20:19):
Now, the search had over 1,000 people looking for her and cost approximately $17,400 at the time.
And that's equivalent to $45,100 today.
So I'm not saying she made it up. Eloise is the only person who knows what happened
and she hasn't spoken on it again since.
(20:39):
All I'm saying is, if she did make it up, I maybe kind of understand,
you know, with a bill like that.
But stay safe and see you next week. Thank you for watching.
Music.
(21:02):
All sources can be found at occurrencepod.com, which is linked in the show notes,
along with any other relevant information.
Music.
Today's occurrence happened in South Carolina, and what I'm about to tell you is hard to believe.
It's been the subject of many discussions, theories, and debates over the years.
It all started with the mysterious disappearance of a 22-year-old backpacker
who decided to hike at Table Rock State Park, and everything seemed normal until
(00:22):
she had a reported encounter with two men.
Then, she just disappeared.
Exactly what happened to her is a mystery to many to this day,
and it's a case that has left many people baffled.
Because, by all appearances, it seems like the hiker was running from rescuers.
(00:42):
I'm Tatiana Bunch, and this is the story of Eloise Lindsay.
Eloise spent the summer of 1989 working at an art supply store in Atlanta and
living with her parents, Mel and Gail Lindsey.
She had just graduated from Agnes State College in May and was at crossroads with her career.
(01:03):
Eloise was torn between teaching, being a nanny in Switzerland,
joining the Peace Corps, or heading to graduate school.
So she decided to take a break and go hiking.
Eloise liked to hike and she was ready for a bigger challenge.
Eloise planned a solo trip along the foothill trails in South Carolina,
spanning 43 miles or 69 kilometers.
(01:26):
It went from Table Rock State Park to Whitewater Falls.
Now, she had hiked at Table Rock three times before, but she had never done such a long journey.
And most of what she had planned was not what she'd previously traveled.
Table Rock State Park was in
South Carolina, and where she was planning to end was in North Carolina.
(01:47):
Her parents were obviously concerned about her safety because she wanted to
go alone, so they asked her to take a friend for the trip.
They knew Eloise hiked to de-stress, and she did it often enough that her parents
felt she was an experienced backpacker.
So, with a friend and her parents' approval, on November 4th,
1989, one of Eloise's friends came to her house to pick her up for the hiking trip.
(02:12):
Eloise and her friend left her home on Atwood Road and her family expected her
to be back home on Saturday the 11th.
When Eloise made it to the trailhead, she signed her name and her friend's name
on the guestbook and started the journey.
At some point during the trip, Eloise heard two men behind her,
and it sounded like they were talking about her.
(02:35):
It freaked her out a little, so she listened a bit closer and sped up her pace
going up the hill she was on.
She thought they mentioned her quick pace moving up the hill,
and this scared her more, so she decided she would try and lose them.
And that would be the last time Eloise would be seen backpacking on the trail.
When Saturday the 11th came around, Eloise didn't return home.
(02:58):
When she didn't return home as planned, the notice that she was missing went
out and preparations were made for a search to start as soon as possible.
Around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, search crews started looking for Eloise on
the trail and they continued to look for her until sundown that evening.
They searched the trails and interviewed possible witnesses,
(03:19):
but everyone they interviewed said they hadn't seen her.
At the time, searchers were only able to give witnesses a vague verbal description
of Eloise by saying she was around 5'9 and 140 pounds.
When she started the hike, she was believed to be wearing a white sweater,
gray pants, and carrying a gray backpack.
(03:40):
The next day, the news picked up the story. And that's when her parents discovered
that Eloise hadn't told them the truth about her plans for the trip.
On Monday, the 13th, the Greenville newspaper reported that no one accompanied
Eloise on her hike, and she never planned to have anyone with her at all.
She couldn't convince anyone to actually go on the hike with her,
(04:03):
so she asked a friend to drop her off at Table Rock on the 4th,
and then come back to pick her up at Whitewater Falls at noon the following Saturday.
When she got to the trailhead, she signed the park guestbook.
In many state parks, there are visitor logs or registers near the trailheads,
campgrounds, or other popular spots.
(04:24):
They have you sign your name for a few reasons, like to track visitors.
It helps park officials understand how many people are visiting the park,
which areas are popular, and when they're most crowded.
It's also for preparedness in case of an emergency.
The log tells officials who all is in the park and where they might be.
And it's also just to keep records.
(04:46):
The logs create a historical record of visitors, the park's popularity,
and the people who have been there.
When Eloise signed her name to the guestbook, she also signed the fake name
of George Lindsay with hers.
She probably did it so no one that came after her would see that there was a
woman hiking alone up ahead on the trail.
At first, it was reported in the same newspaper that it was possible Eloise
(05:10):
underestimated how long the trail took. and that's why she was late making it to Whitewater Falls.
But Dawn Everett, the county emergency preparedness agency director,
said seven days should be plenty of time for someone to hike 43 miles on the trail.
The Monday search didn't gather any more information, even with them bringing
(05:31):
in a helicopter and two planes to scan the area.
Eloise's parents even brought in her pillowcase for search dogs to use to find
her, and even that didn't help.
A couple who was later shown a photo of Eloise was able to identify her and
said they saw her on the 5th around 2.30 p.m. at Sassafras Mountain.
(05:51):
Eloise told them where she was from and where she was headed to,
including the fact that she had never actually hiked that part of the trail before.
That sighting showed that she stayed on the trail for at least a whole day after
she was dropped off on the 4th, and that she was moving about 10 miles a day
since it took her 24 hours from the start of her trip to make it there.
(06:14):
After that meeting, according to her trail, she would have continued into the
lower valley, which was still kind of rugged, and then turned north to continue into North Carolina.
The Scent Dogs picked up her scent twice in wet areas around there,
but they lost it in the drier areas.
The first hit was in Laurel Valley above Laurel Falls in South Carolina.
(06:36):
The second was at Cobb Creek, just over the border of North Carolina.
The dogs went off the trail at the Cobb Creek location, but Don Everett said
it was possible that the scent could have been several days old and only shows
that she passed through the area.
It didn't necessarily show that she was still there.
But it did tell them that Eloise traveled at least 30 miles before she left
(07:01):
the trail, if she left the trail.
Now, this was on Tuesday, and the search was focused on an area where the Toxaway
River flows into Lake Jocassee.
Now, the helicopters weren't as much help as they had hoped because the forest
in this area is so dense that they could really only search on the trail and in the clearings.
(07:21):
And then on Wednesday, there was fog, so the helicopters were even less helpful.
But down on the trail on Wednesday, the dogs picked up Eloise's scent again.
It went downhill towards the Toxaway River.
They lost the scent again, so they requested more help.
The North Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association brought in a dog that had
(07:42):
been specially trained to track scents in the air instead of on the ground.
The specially trained dog did find Eloise's scent in the same area,
but it lost it just as fast because of the rain and fog in the area.
Scent dogs that search on the ground are trained to follow a specific scent
trail, usually from human skin cells or other particles left behind,
(08:03):
they're great at tracking a person across various terrains days after the trail was laid.
Which is why they're used in missing persons cases when you want to follow a person's path.
Scent dogs that search in the area are trained to detect a person's scent carried by air currents.
So they can cover large areas quickly and they're really great for when a person
(08:25):
is lost or hurt in a large area, like out in the wilderness,
in an avalanche, or in another type of disaster.
While the ground search dogs are able to pick up scents after it's rained,
and depending on the circumstances.
It's sometimes better near water sources.
Air search dogs have a harder time. Fog helps the scent for air search dogs.
(08:46):
It helps to carry it, but heavy rain washes it away.
By the 16th, Eloise's parents made a statement to the press saying they felt
like the search and rescue teams were doing a great job.
They said it because a lot of questions were starting to pop up about what could
have happened to Eloise but then Eloise's father did say that he was a bit bothered
(09:07):
by the fact that so many people were out there searching for Eloise and hadn't
found any evidence that she had actually been through that area that they can rely on.
Besides that couple talking to her on the trail they hadn't been able to find
any more proof that she had gone west and Don Levitt felt the same because he
said that they had never gone that long without finding at least a a food wrapper,
(09:31):
or something of the missing persons being left behind.
Then, on Friday, searchers found a footprint that looked like it belonged to
a female by the Horse Pasture River.
The footprint was west of Cobb
Creek, and it looked like it had been left after the rain on Wednesday.
It wasn't the first print they found, but it was promising.
So, they requested a scent dog, and a German shepherd from Georgia was sent to check it out.
(09:55):
The dog lost the scent pretty quickly after picking it up, but that footprint
was the first one that any of the dogs were interested in.
If it was Eloise, that means that she was no longer on the trail by the 16th
and had been in the wilderness for over a week.
So the search for Eloise was suspended on November 18th, two weeks after she first started her hike.
(10:16):
Between the rain and cool weather, everyone was led to believe that she was
no longer alive, considering all of the trails and creeks around that she hadn't been spotted at yet.
And then when you throw in the cost of searches, especially over such a large
amount of land, they figured if she was going to be found, it would be on accident
(10:36):
by future hunters or hikers, and they would be finding remains.
So imagine everyone's surprise when Eloise Lindsay was admitted to Oconee Memorial
Hospital in Seneca, South Carolina.
On the afternoon of November 20th, 1989, just south of Whitewater Falls,
a hunter named Wayne Hooper stopped in at the Bad Creek security station on
(11:00):
South Carolina State Route 130.
Employees of the Duke Power Bad Creek Project called an ambulance after seeing
a woman in a ragged state in Wayne's passenger seat.
Eloise was rushed to the infirmary within 40 minutes of being picked up.
She had lost 10 pounds, had blistered and infected feet with scratches on her hands and face and.
(11:23):
She was otherwise uninjured, which was surprising because while she was lost,
there was light snow and temperatures that were in the 20s, which is like negative three degrees Celsius.
So her not even having a hint of frostbite kind of threw everyone for a loop.
Her mental state was questionable, but by Monday, she was talking to reporters
(11:44):
and telling them everything that happened to her.
Eloise told them how she spent several days going up and down ridges.
She had to ration supplies and sleep wherever she could, which ended up being
in an abandoned jeep, in caves, and on the forest floor where she used leaves for blankets.
She didn't eat the seven-day supplies of food in her backpack.
(12:06):
Instead, she ate what she could find. In this case, a pound cake and stale donuts
she found inside of a tree, which officials later said they believed was placed there to lure a bear.
And she also ate a packet of dried apples.
When asked why she didn't eat what she packed, Eloise told them she ditched
her backpack because she thought she was being followed and needed to be able to move quicker.
(12:29):
She felt she had to give up what she had to survive and be able to run faster and farther.
The only thing she took from her backpack was the packet of dry apples.
Eloise said on Tuesday, November 7th, just a few days into the hike,
she was being chased through the woods by a group of men and felt like she was
still being chased until she was found that morning.
(12:50):
She never saw their faces, so she didn't know who was chasing her,
just that they were talking about her and followed her trail the whole time.
She told the news that the men had monitors for tracking down living animals.
Whistles, dogs, tractors, cars, mopeds, boats, and guns.
Eloise said she could just tell there was no good intent involved.
(13:13):
To officials, this sounded like she thought the search and rescue people were
stalkers and following her.
To the doctor that examined Eloise at the hospital, it sounded like a believable story.
He felt she could have survived off of mostly water since that's all you need to get by for a while.
The snacks she took from her bag and the pastries she found along the way were
(13:35):
enough to sustain a rugged, strong girl.
Her body fat and liver her glycogen took care of the rest because her body would
have been able to sustain itself for a little bit on that.
But the part that left everyone puzzled was why Eloise thought she was being
followed the entire two weeks when no one started looking for her until November
(13:55):
12th, the second week she was out there.
Eloise said she left the trail on the 7th because she heard the men behind her talking about her.
She heard them make vague statements over walkie-talkies about a woman walking
quickly ahead of them going up the hill.
Eloise claimed to use her deer-like instincts to sense she was being followed
by what could have been construction workers in the area.
(14:18):
A lot of speculation started spreading about Eloise being paranoid or making
up stories, but her friends came forward and said that that wasn't like Eloise.
They said she was known to be
strong-willed and it wasn't like her to be delusional or make up stories.
One friend went as far as to say Eloise was the type of person to try anything,
(14:39):
but she definitely wasn't the type of person to be scared of people and run away. way.
Though that friend also wondered if Eloise had started thinking a little bit too much.
A chairwoman for the art department at the college Eloise went to and was a
TA for said it was very unlikely that Eloise would lie about something like
that even with Eloise being more on the reckless side.
(15:03):
She said that many 18 to 21 year olds make poor choices and while Eloise had
a stubborn streak, she wasn't a masochist.
She said Eloise is grounded in reality.
The police felt differently. They believed she was paranoid and had no interest
in investigating any other possibility.
At most, they believed she may have run into some of the 2,000 workers from
(15:27):
the Duke Power Project stationed around Lake Jocassee.
Another official supported that theory saying they also heard workers using
walkie-talkies that were amplified by the speakers or by their trucks.
A county emergency preparedness official said Eloise was paranoid before the
search even started and then turned more frightened or paranoid thinking that someone was after her.
(15:51):
If she wanted to be rescued, the opportunity was probably there several times.
The police planned to speak to workers to see if they saw anything,
but didn't actually think there was anything criminal to be investigated.
The theory was that once Eloise left the trail, she could have also heard hunters
or loggers in the wilderness and thought they were the same people she heard from the trail.
(16:13):
But Eloise was someone known to go running at night by herself,
herself even though people told her not to for obvious reasons.
So it didn't seem like she was someone who got scared easily,
although running in a residential area at night and being alone in the forest
are two different things, in my opinion.
The evidence showed that she left the trail west of Cobb Creek and then went
(16:37):
south towards the Toxaway River and Lake Jicassee.
The scent trail went in that same direction and Eloise said at one point she
ran down a hill and into a lake to escape, which tracks with the dogs alerting
at the creek and losing the scent at the lake.
Knowing she was moving about 10 miles a day and reached that spot on the 7th
and it's 30 miles in on the trail, it tracks.
(17:01):
If she heard power workers, hunters, or even other hikers in the area and ran
downhill, it places her at the river and lake.
As for her backpack, pack, that was never found.
Considering there was food placed as lures for bears and her bag had food,
it's possible a bear took it or even another person who came across it and took
(17:23):
it but didn't want to come forward because that's not a good look.
As for why Eloise stayed off the trail and avoided rescuers,
well she said when she realized a search was happening, she tried to get into
an open area where a helicopter could find her.
The helicopters came close several times, but they never spotted her.
And Eloise would say that it was also never at the right time.
(17:46):
I'm not sure what she meant by it, never being the right time,
but she also said she never built a fire to signal the helicopter because she
didn't want to alert the men after her.
And when Wayne Hooper found her, he had a hard time getting her to let him help
because she was so delirious.
So her mental state could play a part in why she said that.
(18:07):
As for how she managed to keep from getting frostbite or freezing with cold
temperatures at night, rain, snow, fog, no legitimate shelter,
and no fire, I want to call it luck, but what if Eloise did make it up?
When she was found, she was wearing a flannel shirt.
I don't think it was ever said where it came from.
(18:29):
It could have belonged to her rescuer, or she could have found it while she was lost.
But what if it was hers from her backpack? pack.
So what if she thought she was being followed and went off trail and got lost?
Then she ditched the backpack because it was too heavy or after she had already eaten everything in it.
She didn't really need to carry it around anymore since she ate all the food
(18:50):
and it was weighing her down.
She could have ditched it. She could have grabbed the flannel first,
expecting to need it in the future, or she could have changed over the several days.
But then maybe she ended up so far off trail that the search party on the ground couldn't find her.
And that's why when she went to a clearing for the helicopter to see her, she wasn't spotted.
Now it's possible she truly thought she was being followed.
(19:13):
In today's world, I'd say it's possible she was really followed,
at least for a little bit.
I don't know about 1989, but crime isn't new, so it's possible.
And maybe she eventually realized that she wasn't being followed anymore.
Or never was at all, and came up with this story to keep from getting in trouble. Thank you.
But then there's also the panic in the woods phenomenon, which is a sudden,
(19:37):
overwhelming feeling of fear or anxiety that hits someone when they're alone
in nature, like in the forest or woodlands.
It can be triggered by many things, like isolation because being alone in an
unfamiliar environment can make people feel vulnerable.
It can also be caused by unfamiliar sounds, smells, or things they see in the
(19:58):
forest, or feeling loss of control because that can be disorienting.
Then there are psychological factors like personal experiences or anxiety disorders
that can make people panic in the woods.
It's also possible a mental health issue appeared, but considering it seemed
to normalize the Monday after she was found, who knows?
(20:19):
Now, the search had over 1,000 people looking for her and cost approximately $17,400 at the time.
And that's equivalent to $45,100 today.
So I'm not saying she made it up. Eloise is the only person who knows what happened
and she hasn't spoken on it again since.
(20:39):
All I'm saying is, if she did make it up, I maybe kind of understand,
you know, with a bill like that.
But stay safe and see you next week. Thank you for watching.
Music.
(21:02):
All sources can be found at occurrencepod.com, which is linked in the show notes,
along with any other relevant information.
Music.
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