What They Saw in the Woods: Two Unexplained Appalachian Encounters
Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, there are places where the woods seem to hold on to the past. Old homeplaces disappear beneath weeds and briars, forgotten trails wind through the hills, and sometimes people encounter things that should no longer be there or perhaps were never supposed to be found at all.
In this episode of Roots & Shadows: The Real Appalachia Podcast, Kevin shares two unsettling stories sent in by listeners. Both happened in remote areas of Appalachia, miles apart and years apart, but the people involved were left with the same question:
What exactly did they see?
In the first story, six teenagers spend a sunny Sunday afternoon exploring a large field and pond surrounded by woods. As they make their way around the water, sunlight reflecting from an upstairs window draws their attention to an old, overgrown house. Before they can reach it, a gray-haired man emerges from the tree line carrying a gun across his shoulder.
Later that evening, one of the teenagers tells her father what happened. Instead of dismissing the encounter, he begins asking strangely specific questions about the house where it stood, what the roof looked like, and exactly what they could see through the trees.
The following Saturday, the teenagers return to the pond with her parents. What they find waiting across the water leaves them questioning everything they saw that afternoon.
The second story follows a young man we’re calling Keith, who travels deep into the mountains with his father and another local man searching for ginseng. While the older men continue on foot, Keith takes a four-wheeler and follows an old trail farther into the woods.
The trail becomes increasingly narrow and overgrown, appearing ready to disappear altogether. But instead of ending, it suddenly opens into a wide, heavily traveled path leading toward a large clearing hidden in the mountains.
What Keith discovers there sends him racing back down the trail.
When his father and the other man appear doubtful, Keith returns the following weekend with several friends. He expects the strange clearing to prove that everything he described was real. Instead, they discover that nearly every trace of what he witnessed has vanished.
But there is one final detail Keith keeps from his friends, something he does not reveal until years later.
These listener-submitted stories take us into the deep woods and isolated hollers of Appalachia, where abandoned places, mountain memories, and unexplained encounters become difficult to separate. Are these stories examples of mistaken identity, forgotten history, or imagination taking hold in unfamiliar surroundings?
Or did Brenda and Keith briefly step into places they were never meant to see?
Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the people who shared these experiences.
Join us for two eerie Appalachian stories about a mysterious house across the pond, an isolated mountain trail, and the unsettling possibility that some places can appear without warning—and disappear just as quickly.
Roots & Shadows: The Real Appalachia Podcast explores the true crime, forgotten history, folklore, legends, and unexplained stories found throughout the Appalachian Mountains.
Where every root tells a story, and every shadow hides one.