273: Murder on the Appalachian Trail.

National Park After Dark

Audioboom Studios

True Crime, Places & Travel, Wilderness, Society & Culture, Sports

4.8 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Margarett McFaddin Harritt and Joel Polson sparked an unlikely friendship that lead them to plan a thru hike on the AT in 1974. On just their second night they met a strange man at the Low Gap shelter, who unbeknownst to them, was a criminal on the run from police. Their encounter left one of them dead and the other in a fight for survival.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In the spring of 1974, the amount of AT through hikers had rapidly grown, but was still very
0:07.2	unpopular in comparison to today's numbers. The number of people inspired to make the track
0:12.4	had slowly been increasing since the trail was built and completed in 1937. In 1973,
0:19.2	93 people made the journey. The number of people who finished was much less.
0:23.6	At the time, what concerned people the most was the weather, the tough terrain, and injuries that could happen in the remote wilderness.
0:31.6	However, in 1974, a new fear swept over the through-hiking community.
0:36.6	A killer had entered the woods, and in the
0:39.1	first time in documented history, someone was murdered on the trail. Today, over 3,000 people
0:46.1	attempt to through hike the entire footpath each year, and around 3 million people each year pay
0:51.9	the trail a visit. Despite the rise in numbers, to date, there have
0:56.0	been only 10 murders along the AT, but that first killing in 1974 set an unsettling precedent
1:03.3	that still makes hikers wary of strangers to this day. Welcome to National Park After Dark. Hey everyone and welcome to the first official episode of 2025.
1:38.3	Yes, welcome.
1:39.3	Happy 2025.
1:41.3	We're here.
1:42.3	It's a new year, new year, new me, all that good stuff. Yeah. Et cetera, et cetera. Et cetera. It's another day. But it's also, I do like the beginning of the new year because I think it's fun to reflect on everything that happened in the past 365 days where you were, what you did, who you were with, any accomplishments,
2:02.0	any hard times that have passed. It feels like a fresh slate, but at the same time,
2:06.1	it's also like, it's just another day. Yeah. It's not, it's not that big a deal. If you're not
2:10.1	having like this epiphany of changed my life, it's not a big deal. It's yesterday was
2:14.5	2024. Today is 2025. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Time isn't real. It's fine. It's yesterday was 2024, today is 2025. It doesn't matter. Yeah.
2:18.3	Time isn't real.
2:19.1	It's fine.
	...

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