This story came if from our Vermont Ghosts & Myths Facebook Group and is quite intriguing. The article below was written by Jamie Ide and submitted by his wife, Emily. Read on and enjoy. If you have had a similar encounter during a hike in this vicinity, please contact us and we will add your comments to this article.
A Ghostly Encounter on Mt. Mansfield
If the date were closer to Halloween, I wouldn't bother posting this because no one would believe the strange encounter I had yesterday.
I was hiking the Rock Garden Trail on Mt. Mansfield in the late afternoon when, after negotiating a tight passage, a sudden chill enveloped me. I reached down into my pack for a fleece and when I looked up I was startled to see a young man standing before me with a very concerned look on his face.
His clothes looked well-worn and somewhat old fashioned, but I didn't think much of it at the time. I was about to say hello when he blurted out “Have you seen my brother? We got separated.” I answered no and he replied “Well if you see someone on this trail, tell him I am looking for him” and was gone almost as suddenly as he appeared.
I didn't see anyone else on the trail and it was well past dark when I made my way through Nebraska Notch and back to the Stevensville Road trailhead. I stopped at the Underhill Country Store for a snack and asked the clerk if she knew of a lost hiker.
A Search for lost hikers on Mt Mansfield in 1965
Her eyes grew dark as she reached beneath the counter and withdrew a scrapbook which she opened before me. She flipped through a few pages and stopped on a small photo of two young men who appeared to be brothers. “One of these guys?” she asked. I can't swear to it, but the one on the left resembled the man I met so I nodded in agreement. Her finger slowly traced across the photo to a yellowed newspaper clipping that read “Search for Brothers Abandoned After Early Snowfall”. The clipping was dated Tuesday, October 5, 1965. I raised my eyes to hers and she said in a soft voice “we never found any trace of my brothers.”
Fifty years is a long time to be lost, long past the time that loved ones hold out any hope for your return. When I got home and looked at the photos from my hike, I found this one, which I don't recall taking. Perhaps fifty years is not long at all if you are well and truly lost.
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