The Mysterious Disappearance of Eloise Lindsay

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Today's occurrence happened in South Carolina, and what I'm about to tell you is hard to believe.

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It's been the subject of many discussions, theories, and debates over the years.

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It all started with the mysterious disappearance of a 22-year-old backpacker

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who decided to hike at Table Rock State Park, and everything seemed normal until

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she had a reported encounter with two men.

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Then, she just disappeared.

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Exactly what happened to her is a mystery to many to this day,

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and it's a case that has left many people baffled.

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Because, by all appearances, it seems like the hiker was running from rescuers.

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I'm Tatiana Bunch, and this is the story of Eloise Lindsay.

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Eloise spent the summer of 1989 working at an art supply store in Atlanta and

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living with her parents, Mel and Gail Lindsey.

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She had just graduated from Agnes State College in May and was at crossroads with her career.

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Eloise was torn between teaching, being a nanny in Switzerland,

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joining the Peace Corps, or heading to graduate school.

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So she decided to take a break and go hiking.

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Eloise liked to hike and she was ready for a bigger challenge.

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Eloise planned a solo trip along the foothill trails in South Carolina,

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spanning 43 miles or 69 kilometers.

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It went from Table Rock State Park to Whitewater Falls.

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Now, she had hiked at Table Rock three times before, but she had never done such a long journey.

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And most of what she had planned was not what she'd previously traveled.

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Table Rock State Park was in

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South Carolina, and where she was planning to end was in North Carolina.

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Her parents were obviously concerned about her safety because she wanted to

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go alone, so they asked her to take a friend for the trip.

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They knew Eloise hiked to de-stress, and she did it often enough that her parents

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felt she was an experienced backpacker.

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So, with a friend and her parents' approval, on November 4th,

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1989, one of Eloise's friends came to her house to pick her up for the hiking trip.

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Eloise and her friend left her home on Atwood Road and her family expected her

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to be back home on Saturday the 11th.

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When Eloise made it to the trailhead, she signed her name and her friend's name

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on the guestbook and started the journey.

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At some point during the trip, Eloise heard two men behind her,

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and it sounded like they were talking about her.

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It freaked her out a little, so she listened a bit closer and sped up her pace

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going up the hill she was on.

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She thought they mentioned her quick pace moving up the hill,

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and this scared her more, so she decided she would try and lose them.

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And that would be the last time Eloise would be seen backpacking on the trail.

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When Saturday the 11th came around, Eloise didn't return home.

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When she didn't return home as planned, the notice that she was missing went

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out and preparations were made for a search to start as soon as possible.

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Around 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, search crews started looking for Eloise on

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the trail and they continued to look for her until sundown that evening.

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They searched the trails and interviewed possible witnesses,

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but everyone they interviewed said they hadn't seen her.

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At the time, searchers were only able to give witnesses a vague verbal description

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of Eloise by saying she was around 5'9 and 140 pounds.

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When she started the hike, she was believed to be wearing a white sweater,

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gray pants, and carrying a gray backpack.

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The next day, the news picked up the story. And that's when her parents discovered

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that Eloise hadn't told them the truth about her plans for the trip.

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On Monday, the 13th, the Greenville newspaper reported that no one accompanied

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Eloise on her hike, and she never planned to have anyone with her at all.

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She couldn't convince anyone to actually go on the hike with her,

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so she asked a friend to drop her off at Table Rock on the 4th,

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and then come back to pick her up at Whitewater Falls at noon the following Saturday.

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When she got to the trailhead, she signed the park guestbook.

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In many state parks, there are visitor logs or registers near the trailheads,

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campgrounds, or other popular spots.

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They have you sign your name for a few reasons, like to track visitors.

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It helps park officials understand how many people are visiting the park,

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which areas are popular, and when they're most crowded.

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It's also for preparedness in case of an emergency.

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The log tells officials who all is in the park and where they might be.

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And it's also just to keep records.

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The logs create a historical record of visitors, the park's popularity,

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and the people who have been there.

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When Eloise signed her name to the guestbook, she also signed the fake name

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of George Lindsay with hers.

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She probably did it so no one that came after her would see that there was a

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woman hiking alone up ahead on the trail.

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At first, it was reported in the same newspaper that it was possible Eloise

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underestimated how long the trail took. and that's why she was late making it to Whitewater Falls.

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But Dawn Everett, the county emergency preparedness agency director,

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said seven days should be plenty of time for someone to hike 43 miles on the trail.

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The Monday search didn't gather any more information, even with them bringing

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in a helicopter and two planes to scan the area.

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Eloise's parents even brought in her pillowcase for search dogs to use to find

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her, and even that didn't help.

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A couple who was later shown a photo of Eloise was able to identify her and

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said they saw her on the 5th around 2.30 p.m. at Sassafras Mountain.

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Eloise told them where she was from and where she was headed to,

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including the fact that she had never actually hiked that part of the trail before.

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That sighting showed that she stayed on the trail for at least a whole day after

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she was dropped off on the 4th, and that she was moving about 10 miles a day

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since it took her 24 hours from the start of her trip to make it there.

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After that meeting, according to her trail, she would have continued into the

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lower valley, which was still kind of rugged, and then turned north to continue into North Carolina.

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The Scent Dogs picked up her scent twice in wet areas around there,

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but they lost it in the drier areas.

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The first hit was in Laurel Valley above Laurel Falls in South Carolina.

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The second was at Cobb Creek, just over the border of North Carolina.

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The dogs went off the trail at the Cobb Creek location, but Don Everett said

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it was possible that the scent could have been several days old and only shows

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that she passed through the area.

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It didn't necessarily show that she was still there.

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But it did tell them that Eloise traveled at least 30 miles before she left

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the trail, if she left the trail.

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Now, this was on Tuesday, and the search was focused on an area where the Toxaway

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River flows into Lake Jocassee.

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Now, the helicopters weren't as much help as they had hoped because the forest

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in this area is so dense that they could really only search on the trail and in the clearings.

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And then on Wednesday, there was fog, so the helicopters were even less helpful.

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But down on the trail on Wednesday, the dogs picked up Eloise's scent again.

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It went downhill towards the Toxaway River.

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They lost the scent again, so they requested more help.

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The North Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association brought in a dog that had

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been specially trained to track scents in the air instead of on the ground.

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The specially trained dog did find Eloise's scent in the same area,

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but it lost it just as fast because of the rain and fog in the area.

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Scent dogs that search on the ground are trained to follow a specific scent

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trail, usually from human skin cells or other particles left behind,

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they're great at tracking a person across various terrains days after the trail was laid.

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Which is why they're used in missing persons cases when you want to follow a person's path.

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Scent dogs that search in the area are trained to detect a person's scent carried by air currents.

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So they can cover large areas quickly and they're really great for when a person

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is lost or hurt in a large area, like out in the wilderness,

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in an avalanche, or in another type of disaster.

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While the ground search dogs are able to pick up scents after it's rained,

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and depending on the circumstances.

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It's sometimes better near water sources.

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Air search dogs have a harder time. Fog helps the scent for air search dogs.

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It helps to carry it, but heavy rain washes it away.

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By the 16th, Eloise's parents made a statement to the press saying they felt

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like the search and rescue teams were doing a great job.

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They said it because a lot of questions were starting to pop up about what could

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have happened to Eloise but then Eloise's father did say that he was a bit bothered

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by the fact that so many people were out there searching for Eloise and hadn't

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found any evidence that she had actually been through that area that they can rely on.

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Besides that couple talking to her on the trail they hadn't been able to find

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any more proof that she had gone west and Don Levitt felt the same because he

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said that they had never gone that long without finding at least a a food wrapper,

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or something of the missing persons being left behind.

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Then, on Friday, searchers found a footprint that looked like it belonged to

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a female by the Horse Pasture River.

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The footprint was west of Cobb

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Creek, and it looked like it had been left after the rain on Wednesday.

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It wasn't the first print they found, but it was promising.

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So, they requested a scent dog, and a German shepherd from Georgia was sent to check it out.

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The dog lost the scent pretty quickly after picking it up, but that footprint

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was the first one that any of the dogs were interested in.

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If it was Eloise, that means that she was no longer on the trail by the 16th

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and had been in the wilderness for over a week.

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So the search for Eloise was suspended on November 18th, two weeks after she first started her hike.

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Between the rain and cool weather, everyone was led to believe that she was

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no longer alive, considering all of the trails and creeks around that she hadn't been spotted at yet.

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And then when you throw in the cost of searches, especially over such a large

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amount of land, they figured if she was going to be found, it would be on accident

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by future hunters or hikers, and they would be finding remains.

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So imagine everyone's surprise when Eloise Lindsay was admitted to Oconee Memorial

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Hospital in Seneca, South Carolina.

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On the afternoon of November 20th, 1989, just south of Whitewater Falls,

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a hunter named Wayne Hooper stopped in at the Bad Creek security station on

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South Carolina State Route 130.

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Employees of the Duke Power Bad Creek Project called an ambulance after seeing

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a woman in a ragged state in Wayne's passenger seat.

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Eloise was rushed to the infirmary within 40 minutes of being picked up.

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She had lost 10 pounds, had blistered and infected feet with scratches on her hands and face and.

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She was otherwise uninjured, which was surprising because while she was lost,

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there was light snow and temperatures that were in the 20s, which is like negative three degrees Celsius.

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So her not even having a hint of frostbite kind of threw everyone for a loop.

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Her mental state was questionable, but by Monday, she was talking to reporters

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and telling them everything that happened to her.

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Eloise told them how she spent several days going up and down ridges.

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She had to ration supplies and sleep wherever she could, which ended up being

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in an abandoned jeep, in caves, and on the forest floor where she used leaves for blankets.

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She didn't eat the seven-day supplies of food in her backpack.

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Instead, she ate what she could find. In this case, a pound cake and stale donuts

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she found inside of a tree, which officials later said they believed was placed there to lure a bear.

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And she also ate a packet of dried apples.

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When asked why she didn't eat what she packed, Eloise told them she ditched

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her backpack because she thought she was being followed and needed to be able to move quicker.

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She felt she had to give up what she had to survive and be able to run faster and farther.

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The only thing she took from her backpack was the packet of dry apples.

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Eloise said on Tuesday, November 7th, just a few days into the hike,

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she was being chased through the woods by a group of men and felt like she was

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still being chased until she was found that morning.

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She never saw their faces, so she didn't know who was chasing her,

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just that they were talking about her and followed her trail the whole time.

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She told the news that the men had monitors for tracking down living animals.

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Whistles, dogs, tractors, cars, mopeds, boats, and guns.

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Eloise said she could just tell there was no good intent involved.

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To officials, this sounded like she thought the search and rescue people were

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stalkers and following her.

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To the doctor that examined Eloise at the hospital, it sounded like a believable story.

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He felt she could have survived off of mostly water since that's all you need to get by for a while.

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The snacks she took from her bag and the pastries she found along the way were

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enough to sustain a rugged, strong girl.

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Her body fat and liver her glycogen took care of the rest because her body would

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have been able to sustain itself for a little bit on that.

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But the part that left everyone puzzled was why Eloise thought she was being

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followed the entire two weeks when no one started looking for her until November

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12th, the second week she was out there.

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Eloise said she left the trail on the 7th because she heard the men behind her talking about her.

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She heard them make vague statements over walkie-talkies about a woman walking

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quickly ahead of them going up the hill.

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Eloise claimed to use her deer-like instincts to sense she was being followed

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by what could have been construction workers in the area.

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A lot of speculation started spreading about Eloise being paranoid or making

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up stories, but her friends came forward and said that that wasn't like Eloise.

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They said she was known to be

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strong-willed and it wasn't like her to be delusional or make up stories.

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One friend went as far as to say Eloise was the type of person to try anything,

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but she definitely wasn't the type of person to be scared of people and run away. way.

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Though that friend also wondered if Eloise had started thinking a little bit too much.

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A chairwoman for the art department at the college Eloise went to and was a

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TA for said it was very unlikely that Eloise would lie about something like

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that even with Eloise being more on the reckless side.

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She said that many 18 to 21 year olds make poor choices and while Eloise had

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a stubborn streak, she wasn't a masochist.

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She said Eloise is grounded in reality.

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The police felt differently. They believed she was paranoid and had no interest

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in investigating any other possibility.

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At most, they believed she may have run into some of the 2,000 workers from

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the Duke Power Project stationed around Lake Jocassee.

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Another official supported that theory saying they also heard workers using

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walkie-talkies that were amplified by the speakers or by their trucks.

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A county emergency preparedness official said Eloise was paranoid before the

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search even started and then turned more frightened or paranoid thinking that someone was after her.

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If she wanted to be rescued, the opportunity was probably there several times.

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The police planned to speak to workers to see if they saw anything,

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but didn't actually think there was anything criminal to be investigated.

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The theory was that once Eloise left the trail, she could have also heard hunters

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or loggers in the wilderness and thought they were the same people she heard from the trail.

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But Eloise was someone known to go running at night by herself,

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herself even though people told her not to for obvious reasons.

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So it didn't seem like she was someone who got scared easily,

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although running in a residential area at night and being alone in the forest

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are two different things, in my opinion.

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The evidence showed that she left the trail west of Cobb Creek and then went

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south towards the Toxaway River and Lake Jicassee.

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The scent trail went in that same direction and Eloise said at one point she

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ran down a hill and into a lake to escape, which tracks with the dogs alerting

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at the creek and losing the scent at the lake.

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Knowing she was moving about 10 miles a day and reached that spot on the 7th

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and it's 30 miles in on the trail, it tracks.

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If she heard power workers, hunters, or even other hikers in the area and ran

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downhill, it places her at the river and lake.

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As for her backpack, pack, that was never found.

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Considering there was food placed as lures for bears and her bag had food,

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it's possible a bear took it or even another person who came across it and took

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it but didn't want to come forward because that's not a good look.

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As for why Eloise stayed off the trail and avoided rescuers,

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well she said when she realized a search was happening, she tried to get into

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an open area where a helicopter could find her.

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The helicopters came close several times, but they never spotted her.

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And Eloise would say that it was also never at the right time.

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I'm not sure what she meant by it, never being the right time,

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but she also said she never built a fire to signal the helicopter because she

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didn't want to alert the men after her.

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And when Wayne Hooper found her, he had a hard time getting her to let him help

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because she was so delirious.

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So her mental state could play a part in why she said that.

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As for how she managed to keep from getting frostbite or freezing with cold

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temperatures at night, rain, snow, fog, no legitimate shelter,

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and no fire, I want to call it luck, but what if Eloise did make it up?

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When she was found, she was wearing a flannel shirt.

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I don't think it was ever said where it came from.

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It could have belonged to her rescuer, or she could have found it while she was lost.

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But what if it was hers from her backpack? pack.

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So what if she thought she was being followed and went off trail and got lost?

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Then she ditched the backpack because it was too heavy or after she had already eaten everything in it.

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She didn't really need to carry it around anymore since she ate all the food

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and it was weighing her down.

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She could have ditched it. She could have grabbed the flannel first,

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expecting to need it in the future, or she could have changed over the several days.

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But then maybe she ended up so far off trail that the search party on the ground couldn't find her.

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And that's why when she went to a clearing for the helicopter to see her, she wasn't spotted.

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Now it's possible she truly thought she was being followed.

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In today's world, I'd say it's possible she was really followed,

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at least for a little bit.

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I don't know about 1989, but crime isn't new, so it's possible.

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And maybe she eventually realized that she wasn't being followed anymore.

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Or never was at all, and came up with this story to keep from getting in trouble. Thank you.

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But then there's also the panic in the woods phenomenon, which is a sudden,

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overwhelming feeling of fear or anxiety that hits someone when they're alone

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in nature, like in the forest or woodlands.

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It can be triggered by many things, like isolation because being alone in an

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unfamiliar environment can make people feel vulnerable.

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It can also be caused by unfamiliar sounds, smells, or things they see in the

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forest, or feeling loss of control because that can be disorienting.

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Then there are psychological factors like personal experiences or anxiety disorders

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that can make people panic in the woods.

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It's also possible a mental health issue appeared, but considering it seemed

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to normalize the Monday after she was found, who knows?

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Now, the search had over 1,000 people looking for her and cost approximately $17,400 at the time.

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And that's equivalent to $45,100 today.

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So I'm not saying she made it up. Eloise is the only person who knows what happened

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and she hasn't spoken on it again since.

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All I'm saying is, if she did make it up, I maybe kind of understand,

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you know, with a bill like that.

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But stay safe and see you next week. Thank you for watching.

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Music.

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All sources can be found at occurrencepod.com, which is linked in the show notes,

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along with any other relevant information.

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Music.