By Cheri Sicard
The internet has been ablaze over the topic of feral people in national parks. If you have ever searched for information about national parks on YouTube, your feed, like mine, has inevitably been filled with video after video about mysterious feral people living in our national parks.
Some of the descriptions of these wild and sometimes cannibalistic people come from park visitors sharing their alleged personal experiences. Others are conspiracy theorists trying to tie these tales to those of missing persons who disappeared in national parks through the years (and there are, in fact, many of these).
The team from Drivin’ and Vibin’ [127K subscribers, 18M views] wanted to know how all this started and if there was any truth to the claims. So they set out to investigate.
How did the feral people rumors start?
The stories started exploding in late January and early February of 2021, beginning with a viral TikTok video about an experience one woman and her family had while camping in Texas’ Big Bend National Park.
While sitting around the campfire one night, they say they heard multiple people screaming off in the distance. She then heard a woman’s voice scream, “We’re going to die.” More screaming followed until she was able to make out the words, “Just know that I love you.”
Creepy as the story is, they immediately called the police and a park ranger, who found nothing. Even stranger when she asked about it the next day, none of the employees or rangers claimed to know what she was talking about.
After posting the video about the experience on TikTok, other viewers began to share their own experiences.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park seems to have the most feral people sightings.
As so many people have gone missing through the years, conspiracy theorists have started linking the missing people stories to the feral people stories. However, it must be noted no actual evidence of feral people exists and the missing people more than likely can be attributed to under-prepared hikers who got lost, or who had an unfortunate encounter with wildlife.
So what do you think? Are cannibalistic feral people living in America’s national parks, or is this just one more ridiculous conspiracy theory?
##RVDT2212
Paddle faster…I hear banjos!
Not sure we have an issue with feral people in the National Parks, however I am absolutely sure we have an issue with feral people in many cities!
I agree with BISONWINGS, especially the part about adult beverage consumption.
The video mentions an incident in Big Bend but fails to mention the possibility of coming upon a drug cartel/human smuggling operation. They don’t like interruptions or witnesses. If you’re going to remote places, especially along the border, keep your head on a swivel.
I watched this video over on YouTube. At the end the guy says “comment below” – but the comments have been turned off. I wonder what those comments were like . . .
Ha! Go pitch a tent on the corner of 6th & San Pedro in LA, you’ll see plenty!
Bigfoot is going to have hurt feelings.
You now must go to Mt. Shasta stop get photos of the “tall people” who live inside the mountain. Perhaps the tend the faeries and sprites commonly seen flitting about over the rivers, and at the spring that starts the sacramento river. Spend at least two months checking for them. 😉
Sounds just like a good campfire ghost/scary story to me.
How many adult beverages were consumed during these incidents 😜.