The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

National Park Mysteries & Disappearances, Book 1

By: Steve Stockton

Narrated by: Chris Abernathy

One of the most visited national parks in the country has a dark side.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the country, with 12.1 million recreational visits in 2020. Aside from crowds of hikers, campers, and general tourists, there's a dark side to the Smokies, the town of Gatlinburg and the surrounding foothills.

From strange disappearances, grisly murders and bone-chilling paranormal hauntings to ghost sightings, this pristine paradise has a lot more to offer than just serene hiking trails or camping.

So put aside your nature guidebooks, forget about the pretty leaves and the relaxing streams, as well as the miniature golf, the funnel cakes and all the other "tourist traps", and prepare for a wild ride on the dark side of the Great Smoky Mountains.

©2021 Steve Stockton (P)2022 Tantor

Mysteries in the Great Smoky Mountains

This was the first book in a new series about National Park mysteries and disappearances. This edition features the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and it is full of strange and unusual places and stories. Locations and handy tips are given as well as warnings, while beautiful, it can be a dangerous place. Very enjoyable and entertaining with lots of great local folklore. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. This book now has an audiobook version that is just as entertaining.

Content

Sounds like something put together by the visitor's bureau for Gatlinburg. Geared towards local haunted places to visit. Boring.

Good stories lose the ads

I couldn’t believe at the end of stories of interesting places that if they were associated w businesses he would give name, address & phone #. I didn’t want to pay to hear adds. Good stories tho

A quick, fun read, but wanted more...

I picked this up impulsively, without being familiar with the author or series. The cover caught my eye, so I listened to a few minutes of sample audio and wanted to hear more. As it turns out, that sentiment is my only real quibble with the book.

The author packs in quite a few interesting bits of local lore, ghost stories, strange deaths, and unexplained disappearances, but the format is more like a guide book with brief sections on each story or location. It does include visitor information such as addresses, phone numbers, websites, etc. so if you are intending to use this book to plan a trip, that could certainly be helpful.

Again, I purchased this book right after listening to the sample, and didn't look at any other details, so I started with basically no information about length/format/style, which is entirely my fault. I really would have enjoyed more in depth explorations of the stories, as the author's style is engaging and descriptive in a way that helps you imagine being in each scene. But, if my biggest gripe about a book is that I wanted more of it, I think that's a pretty good problem to have!

More Travel Guide than Mystery

Not a “mystery”, more like a travel/tourist attraction guide for the Smoky Mountains, complete with contact information for each business referenced. Cool and interesting, but not the non-fiction mystery it appeared to be marketed as.