December 27, 2024 • 17 mins
Today we explore just a SMALL sample of the various cryptids and oddities that are said to inhabit our nations most pristine landscapes.
These aren't your average cryptids folks ...
As always, we'll answer listener questions at the end, which include:
What advice would you give to someone thinking about solo travel?
What if anything surprised you about the Ave Maria Grotto?
Did you do anything else in Scranton while there?
Who produces your show? Do you edit it?
Does your van ever get stuck?
Noah and Noodles here!
We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to every listener of Backroad Odyssey.
Your support fuels our passion and inspires us to keep sharing stories and discover overlooked locations.
Follow each adventure visually at:
https://www.instagram.com/backroadsodyssey/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cruising down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead so many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh, noodle Dolls, what do yousee?
Back Road Odyssey.
(00:22):
Van Life Diaries the four mostobscure National Park cryptids.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries thefour most obscure National Park
cryptids.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries.
I'm your host, noah, along withmy dog, noodles the Woodle,
sitting behind me in our van insouthern Florida today We've
been to our fair share ofnational parks around the nation
, hiked their trails, stopped toappreciate their beauty, but we
(00:45):
aren't going to be talkingabout any of that today, not
even close, actually.
Today we'll explore just a smallsample of the various cryptids
and oddities that are said toinhabit our nation's most
pristine landscapes.
As always, van Life Diaries areunscripted and impromptu.
(01:05):
Although I may or may not havecomposed a ditty or two for some
of our cryptids today, the onlyway to find out is to go
forward.
As always, we'll answerlistener questions at the end.
I'm drinking water today.
Need to stay sharp if weencounter any wild things on our
verbal cryptid safari.
(01:25):
With that said, let's get intoit.
Our first crone-esque cryptidroams the slopes and hazy woods
of Great Smoky MountainsNational Park.
Some say she is a witch, othersinsist she's an ancient spirit
(01:48):
as old as the mountainsthemselves.
Regardless, they call her bythe same name Spearfinger.
Although there are manydiscrepancies in accounts and
descriptions of Spearfinger, allfirmly emphasize her ill
intentions.
She is, in every separateretelling, evil.
(02:12):
She can shift bodily forms asshe pleases, her preference
being that of a weathered oldwoman.
The better to trick thoseunfortunate enough to cross her
path.
Because when spearfinger'sfavored elderly form lures in
her unsuspecting prey, thereason for her rather strange
(02:34):
name becomes apparent.
The sharpened tip of her rightindex finger jolts out to
harvest her victim's livers.
What's worse, her victims tendto be children who stray too far
from their parents.
Do not fear too much, though.
The Cherokee traditions on whichthe legend of Spearfinger are
(02:54):
based insist she was long agobrought to a swift and decisive
end.
The story goes aftergenerations of Cherokee warriors
were unable to kill her, arrowsand axes simply bounced off her
calloused skin.
Whispers of her one weaknessreach the tribe.
(03:14):
To kill Spearfinger, you haveto remove that which she was
named for Her sharpened rightindex finger.
After a hard and costly battle,spear finger is captured and
her right finger is eitherpunctured or completely cut off.
Tales vary, but regardless, herone weakness is exploited.
(03:37):
So, my friends, don't worry onyour next trip to the Smokies.
Right, I don't know.
Not.
Everybody is convinced.
Her body was never recovered,her demise never confirmed.
Some still insist that fleeingflocks of birds are said to
(03:59):
signal the nearby activity ofthe still very much alive
spearfinger.
Does she lurk still in themurky woods doing what
spearfinger does best Harvestinglivers?
Or was spearfinger simply aghost story told to Cherokee
children to prevent them fromwandering out into the woods
(04:22):
alone?
Who's to say?
The only advice I'll give isthis Maybe when you're hiking
the Smokies and Spearfingershows up suddenly, point your
bear spray not towards herwrinkled face and piercing eyes,
but directly towards hersharpened right finger.
(04:42):
Our second cryptid todayprefers more humid conditions.
The Lizard man of SouthCarolina's Cungary National Park
(05:03):
first appeared on June 29, 1988.
Late one day, as a teenagerdrives home along the edge of
Scape Ore Swamp in Bishopville,south Carolina, his front tire
blows out.
By this time it's dark andgetting darker.
The swamp is still the quiet,deafening.
(05:26):
It's dark and getting darker,the swamp is still the quiet,
deafening.
Maybe it was the repetitivesound of the changing tire that
draws the lizard man in.
Or maybe he orchestrated theruined tire in the first place.
Whatever the case, a suddenstir breaks the silence.
The teenager whips around tosee nothing, just still water,
(05:57):
peaceful trees.
Then bang.
He turns around once again andon his car stands a seven foot
tall creature.
Scales cover his body.
Sharp fangs protrude from hismouth.
His red eyes stare directly atthe petrified teenager.
What happens next is curious.
Rather than going directly forthe teenager, the lizard man
(06:18):
shatters the teenager's car'swindows, rips off its doors and
flips the now-battered car overand then, just as fast as it had
started, it ends.
Silence once again surroundsthe teenager.
Similar reports of a giantreptilian humanoid smashing
(06:42):
unsuspecting vehicles plaguedbishopville, south carolina,
throughout the summer of 88.
And then, just as the lizardman left the teenager, the
lizard man leaves bishopville.
Reports of damaged vehicles bygiant lizard stop abruptly.
Some say he went into hidingdeep in Kangari National Park,
(07:08):
biding his time waiting for thenext vulnerable automobile to
terrorize.
Did you know?
(07:30):
Bigfoot has a Midwestern cousin?
Ohio's very own Grassman is saidto wander the grassy knolls of
Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Unlike other cryptids on ourlist today, ohio's 7-foot-tall,
300-pound green humanoid isthought to survive on a diet
(07:52):
primarily of grass and wheat andwheat.
Although Grassman is said to bemore human-like than its more
famous northwestern counterpart,it is no less wild and perhaps
even a bit more mysterious.
Perhaps the most evident markerof Grassman's presence in any
(08:14):
given area is these long grasshuts it constructs in the
valleys and the forests of Ohio.
Believers in the Grassman usethese scattered, abandoned sites
as evidence of this Midwesternoddity and its nomadic
tendencies.
Just promise me, don't get tooclose.
(08:37):
When confronted, grassman issaid to let out an eerily human
roar, which begs the question isOhio's Grassman a bipedal,
furry, humanoid oddity like hiscousin out west, or, as many
have suggested, simply a guy ina ghillie suit walking around
(09:01):
the forests of Ohio?
That's not for me to say, butif you're hiking through
Cuyahoga Valley National Parkand see these little long grass
huts, maybe think about droppingoff some fresh wheat or grass
at the entrance for a snack.
Just as I said, don't stay toolong or get too close.
(09:38):
Finally, we have the smallest ofour curious collection of
National Park cryptids, theKentucky Goblins of Mammoth Cave
National Park.
Said to be a mischievous bunch,these green-skinned, bug-eyed
entities have believers split ontheir exact intent and origin.
(09:58):
Some believe the KentuckyGoblins are extraterrestrials
sent to hassle Kentucky farmersFor what I don't know.
Others believe they aresubterranean creatures that
evolved for millennia in thedark and the deep corners of the
massive Kentucky cave systems.
(10:20):
Reports of these Kentuckygoblins almost always happen at
night, usually near the variouscave openings in and around the
park.
They are many things, butperhaps most notable is their
deeply mischievous nature.
Most notable is their deeplymischievous nature.
(10:41):
They'll snatch food, playtricks, generally just set out
to commit often harmlesstrickery.
Kentucky Goblin sightings, morethan any other cryptid on this
list, make the most sense to me.
Of course, in the solid dark ofthe world's largest cave system
(11:02):
, any hiker's imagination willrun absolutely wild.
The slightest abnormality, thetiniest sound, anything will put
you on edge and make you moresusceptible to seeing things
that may or may not actually bethere, to seeing things that may
or may not actually be there.
It's also human nature, whenfaced with the unexplained, to
(11:24):
fill in the blanks.
We simultaneously have to know,and can never know, the full
truth of anything, and that iswhat makes cryptids, in
particular, such an enduringtopic of interest for me, for
you, hopefully, and for humanity.
For now, though, I'll say thisReal or not.
(11:48):
Spearfinger Grassman, theKentucky Goblins and, of course,
our automobile-hating lizardman all make our already
fascinating national parks justthat much more interesting.
With that said, let's get tolistener questions.
(12:09):
What, if anything, surprised youabout the Ave Maria Grotto?
This is referring to a recentepisode about an immigrant, a
Bavarian monk, who moved torural Alabama and when he was
denied the priesthood, which hevery much wanted because of his
hunchback, a giant bell fell onhim.
(12:30):
He was looking for a way topass the time, I think.
Pass the time, I think and hestarted to make these miniatures
, these replicas of churches, ofhistorical buildings, of
anything and everything.
So the Ave Maria Grotto is acollection of everything that he
made over 150 replicas.
(12:52):
So now that you're caught up,what surprised me about this
collection of buildings that hemade?
I'd say this I expected it tobe almost entirely a religiously
themed location, and althoughthere are a lot of churches,
there are a lot of religiouslocations.
I think underneath it all,there is a fascination with
(13:16):
history and the locations of theworld that drove his building.
It wasn't an entirely religiousexercise, in my view.
So I'd say that surprised me.
He made dragons, he madeancient temples, he made all
this different stuff that didn'tnecessarily align with a monk
(13:37):
right, and I think that showsthe deep humanity behind why he
did what he did.
For how long he did it for 70plus years.
So that surprised me most.
Did you do anything else inScranton, pennsylvania?
Well, there, yeah.
So there was a van life diarieswhere noodles and I talk about
(13:58):
three locations from the officethat you should go to while in
Scranton, pennsylvania, andsadly, we did just that.
We were going somewhere elseand we drove out of our way to
go to Scranton, but we onlycould go for a night, so we
squeezed all of these locationsin just a couple hours.
(14:18):
I'm sure it's much more thanjust the office.
Who produces your show?
Do you edit it?
Great question.
Thank you for your question.
It's just me.
It's just me.
I write, edit, produce, record.
I do everything that makes theshow happen.
It's a lot of work but it'svery rewarding.
(14:42):
I'm learning a lot and I hopethat you are too.
Does your van ever get stuck?
Yes, yes, indeed, it does Manytimes, luckily, I've been helped
every single time.
I do have AAA, but usually ifI'm not in a very, very remote
(15:02):
place, somebody will come alongand pull me out, which is
relatively easy place.
Somebody will come along andpull me out, which is relatively
easy, but I also have someequipment that helped me get
unstuck from precarious placesand situations, so I've been
lucky so far.
You just have to be smart aboutit.
But the answer is a definitiveyes.
We do get stuck.
(15:25):
What advice would you give tosomeone thinking about traveling
solo?
Right away, I'll say thisObviously you need to prep.
You need to know where you'regoing, what you're going to do
when you get there, be prepared,be safe.
But I'd say there is a pointwhere that becomes
counterproductive because itwill stop you from either
(15:46):
traveling or prolong the periodbefore you end up doing it.
So be safe, obviously, butdon't let the amount of
preparation that you do preventyou from actually going and
doing it, because, especiallywhen you're traveling solo,
things will go wrong.
You can't plan for everything.
(16:07):
You just got to be safe and,while you're out there, enjoy it
, because there's a reason thatyou chose to travel solo.
If you have any more specificquestions, reach out to me.
Backroads Odyssey is myInstagram.
Backroadodyssey at gmailcom.
Happy to start a dialogue andand, uh, help you on your
(16:30):
adventure.
Great question.
It's Noah here.
I hope you enjoyed our littleexploration of cryptids of the
American national parks.
There are genuinely so manymore cryptids and oddities,
especially in America's nationalparks, than I even dreamed
(16:50):
about Upon doing research forthis.
I was a little shocked.
So we might revisit this acouple times, because there is
no shortage of national parkcryptids.
With that said, if you enjoythe research that we put into
each episode again, it's just me.
Noodles helps out a little bit,but primarily it's just me
producing, writing, editing theshow, taking the time to rate or
(17:14):
review wherever you'relistening now, really, really
helps.
So I appreciate that.
With that said, be good to eachother.
Where to next?
Cruising down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead so many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh, noodle Dolls, what do yousee?
Back Road Odyssey.
(00:22):
Van Life Diaries the four mostobscure National Park cryptids.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries thefour most obscure National Park
cryptids.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries.
I'm your host, noah, along withmy dog, noodles the Woodle,
sitting behind me in our van insouthern Florida today We've
been to our fair share ofnational parks around the nation
, hiked their trails, stopped toappreciate their beauty, but we
(00:45):
aren't going to be talkingabout any of that today, not
even close, actually.
Today we'll explore just a smallsample of the various cryptids
and oddities that are said toinhabit our nation's most
pristine landscapes.
As always, van Life Diaries areunscripted and impromptu.
(01:05):
Although I may or may not havecomposed a ditty or two for some
of our cryptids today, the onlyway to find out is to go
forward.
As always, we'll answerlistener questions at the end.
I'm drinking water today.
Need to stay sharp if weencounter any wild things on our
verbal cryptid safari.
(01:25):
With that said, let's get intoit.
Our first crone-esque cryptidroams the slopes and hazy woods
of Great Smoky MountainsNational Park.
Some say she is a witch, othersinsist she's an ancient spirit
(01:48):
as old as the mountainsthemselves.
Regardless, they call her bythe same name Spearfinger.
Although there are manydiscrepancies in accounts and
descriptions of Spearfinger, allfirmly emphasize her ill
intentions.
She is, in every separateretelling, evil.
(02:12):
She can shift bodily forms asshe pleases, her preference
being that of a weathered oldwoman.
The better to trick thoseunfortunate enough to cross her
path.
Because when spearfinger'sfavored elderly form lures in
her unsuspecting prey, thereason for her rather strange
(02:34):
name becomes apparent.
The sharpened tip of her rightindex finger jolts out to
harvest her victim's livers.
What's worse, her victims tendto be children who stray too far
from their parents.
Do not fear too much, though.
The Cherokee traditions on whichthe legend of Spearfinger are
(02:54):
based insist she was long agobrought to a swift and decisive
end.
The story goes aftergenerations of Cherokee warriors
were unable to kill her, arrowsand axes simply bounced off her
calloused skin.
Whispers of her one weaknessreach the tribe.
(03:14):
To kill Spearfinger, you haveto remove that which she was
named for Her sharpened rightindex finger.
After a hard and costly battle,spear finger is captured and
her right finger is eitherpunctured or completely cut off.
Tales vary, but regardless, herone weakness is exploited.
(03:37):
So, my friends, don't worry onyour next trip to the Smokies.
Right, I don't know.
Not.
Everybody is convinced.
Her body was never recovered,her demise never confirmed.
Some still insist that fleeingflocks of birds are said to
(03:59):
signal the nearby activity ofthe still very much alive
spearfinger.
Does she lurk still in themurky woods doing what
spearfinger does best Harvestinglivers?
Or was spearfinger simply aghost story told to Cherokee
children to prevent them fromwandering out into the woods
(04:22):
alone?
Who's to say?
The only advice I'll give isthis Maybe when you're hiking
the Smokies and Spearfingershows up suddenly, point your
bear spray not towards herwrinkled face and piercing eyes,
but directly towards hersharpened right finger.
(04:42):
Our second cryptid todayprefers more humid conditions.
The Lizard man of SouthCarolina's Cungary National Park
(05:03):
first appeared on June 29, 1988.
Late one day, as a teenagerdrives home along the edge of
Scape Ore Swamp in Bishopville,south Carolina, his front tire
blows out.
By this time it's dark andgetting darker.
The swamp is still the quiet,deafening.
(05:26):
It's dark and getting darker,the swamp is still the quiet,
deafening.
Maybe it was the repetitivesound of the changing tire that
draws the lizard man in.
Or maybe he orchestrated theruined tire in the first place.
Whatever the case, a suddenstir breaks the silence.
The teenager whips around tosee nothing, just still water,
(05:57):
peaceful trees.
Then bang.
He turns around once again andon his car stands a seven foot
tall creature.
Scales cover his body.
Sharp fangs protrude from hismouth.
His red eyes stare directly atthe petrified teenager.
What happens next is curious.
Rather than going directly forthe teenager, the lizard man
(06:18):
shatters the teenager's car'swindows, rips off its doors and
flips the now-battered car overand then, just as fast as it had
started, it ends.
Silence once again surroundsthe teenager.
Similar reports of a giantreptilian humanoid smashing
(06:42):
unsuspecting vehicles plaguedbishopville, south carolina,
throughout the summer of 88.
And then, just as the lizardman left the teenager, the
lizard man leaves bishopville.
Reports of damaged vehicles bygiant lizard stop abruptly.
Some say he went into hidingdeep in Kangari National Park,
(07:08):
biding his time waiting for thenext vulnerable automobile to
terrorize.
Did you know?
(07:30):
Bigfoot has a Midwestern cousin?
Ohio's very own Grassman is saidto wander the grassy knolls of
Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Unlike other cryptids on ourlist today, ohio's 7-foot-tall,
300-pound green humanoid isthought to survive on a diet
(07:52):
primarily of grass and wheat andwheat.
Although Grassman is said to bemore human-like than its more
famous northwestern counterpart,it is no less wild and perhaps
even a bit more mysterious.
Perhaps the most evident markerof Grassman's presence in any
(08:14):
given area is these long grasshuts it constructs in the
valleys and the forests of Ohio.
Believers in the Grassman usethese scattered, abandoned sites
as evidence of this Midwesternoddity and its nomadic
tendencies.
Just promise me, don't get tooclose.
(08:37):
When confronted, grassman issaid to let out an eerily human
roar, which begs the question isOhio's Grassman a bipedal,
furry, humanoid oddity like hiscousin out west, or, as many
have suggested, simply a guy ina ghillie suit walking around
(09:01):
the forests of Ohio?
That's not for me to say, butif you're hiking through
Cuyahoga Valley National Parkand see these little long grass
huts, maybe think about droppingoff some fresh wheat or grass
at the entrance for a snack.
Just as I said, don't stay toolong or get too close.
(09:38):
Finally, we have the smallest ofour curious collection of
National Park cryptids, theKentucky Goblins of Mammoth Cave
National Park.
Said to be a mischievous bunch,these green-skinned, bug-eyed
entities have believers split ontheir exact intent and origin.
(09:58):
Some believe the KentuckyGoblins are extraterrestrials
sent to hassle Kentucky farmersFor what I don't know.
Others believe they aresubterranean creatures that
evolved for millennia in thedark and the deep corners of the
massive Kentucky cave systems.
(10:20):
Reports of these Kentuckygoblins almost always happen at
night, usually near the variouscave openings in and around the
park.
They are many things, butperhaps most notable is their
deeply mischievous nature.
Most notable is their deeplymischievous nature.
(10:41):
They'll snatch food, playtricks, generally just set out
to commit often harmlesstrickery.
Kentucky Goblin sightings, morethan any other cryptid on this
list, make the most sense to me.
Of course, in the solid dark ofthe world's largest cave system
(11:02):
, any hiker's imagination willrun absolutely wild.
The slightest abnormality, thetiniest sound, anything will put
you on edge and make you moresusceptible to seeing things
that may or may not actually bethere, to seeing things that may
or may not actually be there.
It's also human nature, whenfaced with the unexplained, to
(11:24):
fill in the blanks.
We simultaneously have to know,and can never know, the full
truth of anything, and that iswhat makes cryptids, in
particular, such an enduringtopic of interest for me, for
you, hopefully, and for humanity.
For now, though, I'll say thisReal or not.
(11:48):
Spearfinger Grassman, theKentucky Goblins and, of course,
our automobile-hating lizardman all make our already
fascinating national parks justthat much more interesting.
With that said, let's get tolistener questions.
(12:09):
What, if anything, surprised youabout the Ave Maria Grotto?
This is referring to a recentepisode about an immigrant, a
Bavarian monk, who moved torural Alabama and when he was
denied the priesthood, which hevery much wanted because of his
hunchback, a giant bell fell onhim.
(12:30):
He was looking for a way topass the time, I think.
Pass the time, I think and hestarted to make these miniatures
, these replicas of churches, ofhistorical buildings, of
anything and everything.
So the Ave Maria Grotto is acollection of everything that he
made over 150 replicas.
(12:52):
So now that you're caught up,what surprised me about this
collection of buildings that hemade?
I'd say this I expected it tobe almost entirely a religiously
themed location, and althoughthere are a lot of churches,
there are a lot of religiouslocations.
I think underneath it all,there is a fascination with
(13:16):
history and the locations of theworld that drove his building.
It wasn't an entirely religiousexercise, in my view.
So I'd say that surprised me.
He made dragons, he madeancient temples, he made all
this different stuff that didn'tnecessarily align with a monk
(13:37):
right, and I think that showsthe deep humanity behind why he
did what he did.
For how long he did it for 70plus years.
So that surprised me most.
Did you do anything else inScranton, pennsylvania?
Well, there, yeah.
So there was a van life diarieswhere noodles and I talk about
(13:58):
three locations from the officethat you should go to while in
Scranton, pennsylvania, andsadly, we did just that.
We were going somewhere elseand we drove out of our way to
go to Scranton, but we onlycould go for a night, so we
squeezed all of these locationsin just a couple hours.
(14:18):
I'm sure it's much more thanjust the office.
Who produces your show?
Do you edit it?
Great question.
Thank you for your question.
It's just me.
It's just me.
I write, edit, produce, record.
I do everything that makes theshow happen.
It's a lot of work but it'svery rewarding.
(14:42):
I'm learning a lot and I hopethat you are too.
Does your van ever get stuck?
Yes, yes, indeed, it does Manytimes, luckily, I've been helped
every single time.
I do have AAA, but usually ifI'm not in a very, very remote
(15:02):
place, somebody will come alongand pull me out, which is
relatively easy place.
Somebody will come along andpull me out, which is relatively
easy, but I also have someequipment that helped me get
unstuck from precarious placesand situations, so I've been
lucky so far.
You just have to be smart aboutit.
But the answer is a definitiveyes.
We do get stuck.
(15:25):
What advice would you give tosomeone thinking about traveling
solo?
Right away, I'll say thisObviously you need to prep.
You need to know where you'regoing, what you're going to do
when you get there, be prepared,be safe.
But I'd say there is a pointwhere that becomes
counterproductive because itwill stop you from either
(15:46):
traveling or prolong the periodbefore you end up doing it.
So be safe, obviously, butdon't let the amount of
preparation that you do preventyou from actually going and
doing it, because, especiallywhen you're traveling solo,
things will go wrong.
You can't plan for everything.
(16:07):
You just got to be safe and,while you're out there, enjoy it
, because there's a reason thatyou chose to travel solo.
If you have any more specificquestions, reach out to me.
Backroads Odyssey is myInstagram.
Backroadodyssey at gmailcom.
Happy to start a dialogue andand, uh, help you on your
(16:30):
adventure.
Great question.
It's Noah here.
I hope you enjoyed our littleexploration of cryptids of the
American national parks.
There are genuinely so manymore cryptids and oddities,
especially in America's nationalparks, than I even dreamed
(16:50):
about Upon doing research forthis.
I was a little shocked.
So we might revisit this acouple times, because there is
no shortage of national parkcryptids.
With that said, if you enjoythe research that we put into
each episode again, it's just me.
Noodles helps out a little bit,but primarily it's just me
producing, writing, editing theshow, taking the time to rate or
(17:14):
review wherever you'relistening now, really, really
helps.
So I appreciate that.
With that said, be good to eachother.
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