View Full Version : Vandeventer shelter is haunted by Janice Balza I promise!
Gambit McCrae
11-12-2013, 00:19
This saturday myself, two friends and a no o stayed at vandeventer shelter. I did not know about the murder of Janice Balza until I got home and googled haunted AT shelters and this is one o the only shelters that came up. At 1:00 am exactly i woke up in my tent, apx 5-10 seconds later i hear a stomping noise like a trail runner comin down the trail, it stops right at my tent and i yell and "growl" at the sound, no response for a minute of so, and i hear 3 more stomps like running.
Next morning i tell my buddy who was tenting about my experience and he said, "same thing happened to me at 2:30.
Anyone else have Vandeventer stories? Lol
"April 1975—Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, was killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.
Tennesse authorities siad that Bigley surrendered to the Carter County sheriff and allegedly confessed that he killed Miss Balza with a hatchet as she sat near his campfire at a shelter (Vandeventer) on the Appalachian Trail."
The ghost dont really bother me but the fact is the shelter is super windy and 1 mile uphill from the water source just a bad idea to stay there.
Sugarfoot
11-12-2013, 08:18
I was last there in 2005. No ghost that night, only a cat who for the price of a little tuna, kept the mice at bay all night. If you get water on the way up, it's not a bad shelter. Great views at night from the rocks behind the shelter.
Stayed there this summer. No ghost. But I agree that the straight down .3 miles to the water source is no fun. Also had a bad morning there, woke up planning a 20+ mile day (big for me), but it was pouring down rain, so stayed in the bag a little longer (and made it a shorter day). Then right before I got out of my bag when I did wake up, a wasp stung me.
So no ghost, but between the water trail, rain, and wasp, still not a great memory.
Pedaling Fool
08-01-2014, 19:58
You might want to read this book by Katherine Ramsland http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Investigating-Other-Katherine-Ramsland/dp/0312261640
CrumbSnatcher
08-01-2014, 23:46
your better off loading up on water from the spring right on the trail, about 1.7 miles south of the shelter than going down the hill. but it does get windy at times
OHHH NOOO. I think you just gave the network producers another concept for a reality TV show - Haunted Outdoor Shelters - this episode haunted AT Shelters and privies.
I was last there in 2005. No ghost that night, only a cat who for the price of a little tuna, kept the mice at bay all night. If you get water on the way up, it's not a bad shelter. Great views at night from the rocks behind the shelter.
+1 the shape shifter cat was prolly the ghost seeking a little company anyhow.
'I ain't afraid ah no ghost'
your better off loading up on water from the spring right on the trail, about 1.7 miles south of the shelter than going down the hill. but it does get windy at times
I was just going to say the same thing. The spring on the trail 1.7 miles south is roughly the same elevation as the shelter, so not a lot of uphill.
rocketsocks
08-02-2014, 07:04
OHHH NOOO. I think you just gave the network producers another concept for a reality TV show - Haunted Outdoor Shelters - this episode haunted AT Shelters and privies.
+1 the shape shifter cat was prolly the ghost seeking a little company anyhow.
'I ain't afraid ah no ghost'
Ha ha...now that's funny...haunted privy's.
...I'm envisioning a fella outside a privy doin' a peepee dance on his tipee toes while holdin heself sayin'
'I ain't afraid ah no ghost' tryin to muster to where with all.
DrRichardCranium
08-03-2014, 20:41
I made a point of hiking up to Vandaventer shelter. rather than staying near Lake Watauga and that first shelter down there. Bears patrol that area looking for all the picnic scraps from the day tourists. I'd rather have the ghosts, please.
Ahh, ghosts aren't the issue. It's the Zombies.
rocketsocks
08-03-2014, 21:00
I made a point of hiking up to Vandaventer shelter. rather than staying near Lake Watauga and that first shelter down there. Bears patrol that area looking for all the picnic scraps from the day tourists. I'd rather have the ghosts, please.
Absolutely...at least with a ghost you get full transparency. :D
rocketsocks
08-03-2014, 21:01
Absolutely...at least with a ghost you get full transparency. :D
Bears lurk in the shadows.
Traveler
08-04-2014, 07:21
...I'm envisioning a fella outside a privy doin' a peepee dance on his tipee toes while holdin heself sayin'
'I ain't afraid ah no ghost' tryin to muster to where with all.
Isn't that the connective concept behind all these shows designed to reach and fully entertain the lowest possible denominator of the viewing public?
"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public" HL Mencken
How many years need to pass before such light-hearted and ridiculous threads can be posted about people who have perished on the Trail more recently? This one thread is dumb and in bad taste. No one would consider posting this crap in association with those who have lost heir live on the trail more recently. Some of the posts should be removed.
My last post is not so much directed at the Original Post, but rather at som of the posts that followed.
I've seen the bird with the bright red/orange eyes land in front of the shelter, just before sunrise (possibly enhanced by my headlamp). I figured it was some kind of night hawk. The other noises are not that unusual and I pretty much ignored them. I hear strange noises all the time due to animals and tree branches rubbing together in the breeze. I sleep well at that shelter. Makes for a good story though. :)
Gambit McCrae
08-04-2014, 09:36
RickB Im not sure what disrecpectful things have been said can you please quote them?
Marmaduke
08-04-2014, 10:06
Adding this shelter to the list of places to check out :)
RickB Im not sure what disrecpectful things have been said can you please quote them?
My reply probably came across as over the top, and self-righteous. Not my intent.
Each of our frames of reference is different.
I just found the tone of some replies off putting. Not sure zombies and such have a place in any conversation that also references a murdered thru hiker.
To be direct, I did thought you post stepped a bit over the line when you added the "Lol" to your question:
"Anyone else have Vandeventer stories? Lol"
Just my take. In the end my opinion matters little and the most important thing is that we don't forget the thru hikers who have been victims to violent crime on the AT-- even if in this one case it's been almost 40 years.
Gambit McCrae
08-04-2014, 10:23
I can see how my lol could be seen as disrespectful. I believe it was mostly added as a hint to how freaked out I was by my experience, as well as that I in some ways was skeptical that anything had even happened to me, like others have said, it could have been a bear or deer running down the trail.
I believe that many people feel that a time frame in means of years has to pass is a length in which new people have come into a topic that they can not directly relate to the story at hand. For instance Many years from now, if Inchworm is not found (we all pray that she is found) there will probably be ghost stories of her up in Maine and how if "you listen just close enough you can hear her singing in the wind" (I think these things are dumb) Mollies ridge has a story like this, Vandeventer, several places along many trails do.
the only time I stayed their was on my 2006 thru, I tented behind the shelter their was about 6 of us there that night NO ghost but we did have an AWESOME " Blood Moon " i got some really great pics, now i just hike on to Iron Mountain just easier to get water, the only shelter i have any ghost stories about is at PunchBowl Shelter " Little Ottie Powel " ghost does haunt that shelter.
flemdawg1
08-04-2014, 10:28
[QUOTE=rickb;1898370]
"Anyone else have Vandeventer stories? Lol"
QUOTE]
No but the damn racoon at Iron Mt Shelter (next one NONBO) stole my pack. And took it 100 yds down the trail.
rocketsocks
08-04-2014, 10:42
How many years need to pass before such light-hearted and ridiculous threads can be posted about people who have perished on the Trail more recently? This one thread is dumb and in bad taste. No one would consider posting this crap in association with those who have lost heir live on the trail more recently. Some of the posts should be removed.
My last post is not so much directed at the Original Post, but rather at som of the posts that followed.
I wont attempt to say you are wrong or dismiss your feelings, clearly not enough time has past.
This article attempts to explain...Tragedy plus time equals comedy. Perhaps it's a coping mechanism to explain the things we cannot fully explain...Ghosts, so we laugh at them making them seem less scary, and then project that onto the tragedy that set the story in motion.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/25/comedy-plus/
Gambit McCrae
08-04-2014, 11:00
This article attempts to explain...Tragedy plus time equals comedy. Perhaps it's a coping mechanism to explain the things we cannot fully explain...Ghosts, so we laugh at them making them seem less scary, and then project that onto the tragedy that set the story in motion.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/25/comedy-plus/
Well put. What I ment to say just couldnt describe it so clearly
Captain Bluebird
08-09-2014, 08:34
Well said!
Sent from my Surface with Windows RT using Tapatalk
Aussiebiker
04-09-2017, 21:48
How many years need to pass before such light-hearted and ridiculous threads can be posted about people who have perished on the Trail more recently? This one thread is dumb and in bad taste. No one would consider posting this crap in association with those who have lost heir live on the trail more recently. Some of the posts should be removed.
I agree, Janice was family, and i need for her memory to be honored with respect. She was a huge role model with her activism, her love of nature and her independent spirit. She gave me my first bicycle and inspired me to be a long distance rider. I am not a young hiker/ biker, but it is my dream to hike to the shelter where she was brutly murdered, and place a marker there. I want her to know she is not forgotten.
Aussiebiker
04-09-2017, 22:13
Brutally, darn autocorrect!
rocketsocks
04-09-2017, 22:44
I agree, Janice was family, and i need for her memory to be honored with respect. She was a huge role model with her activism, her love of nature and her independent spirit. She gave me my first bicycle and inspired me to be a long distance rider. I am not a young hiker/ biker, but it is my dream to hike to the shelter where she was brutly murdered, and place a marker there. I want her to know she is not forgotten.Sorry for your loss, it's a terrible terrible thing. I personally feel a spirit does not nessasarily have to be a scary thing, but rather a calming peaceful experience, again sorry your family's loss, I truly can't imagine.
OkeefenokeeJoe
04-10-2017, 02:29
Just my take. In the end my opinion matters little and the most important thing is that we don't forget the thru hikers who have been victims to violent crime on the AT-- even if in this one case it's been almost 40 years.
I have the same emotional, handwringing reaction when anyone laughingly mentions the Lizzie Borden murders.
We should talk love, not axes.
OkeefenokeeJoe
MuddyWaters
04-10-2017, 08:15
I have the same emotional, handwringing reaction when anyone laughingly mentions the Lizzie Borden murders.
We should talk love, not axes.
OkeefenokeeJoe
Theres too many atrocities occurring all around us every day, to linger on any for long.
They are also too innumberable to even hear of all of them, much less remember them.
So we become...desensitized
Bubblehead
04-12-2017, 07:58
Yeah, the shelter is definitely in a poor location. On my NOBO last year, in May, it was cold, windy, and rained all night. Wind and rain blew straight in to the shelter. But I had heard about the bad water source before I got there, so I had cameled up before I got there, and got more from a creek the next morning a couple of miles north of there...
Being on the ridge, I'm sure it has a great view down into the valley, but didn't get a chance to see that view due to the stormy weather...
Whosthisbroad
09-22-2017, 12:32
I did a zero day at Vandeventer in 2012. I knew of the history; two nights and nothing spooky to speak of. Getting water sucked for sure, but otherwise I had a very pleasant stay. After I got situated and rested a bit, I meditated and tried to imagine her encounter, her last moments. It was a very emotional experience. We actually arrived early and waited for other hikers to catch up. We all packed in like sardines for the night and woke up at 3am and hiked the relatively flat-ish 33 miles into Gatlinburg. Arrived early enough to shower have a 3 hour dinner feast. When I asked, none of the other hikers reported experiencing anything.
The ghost must have carried you close to Gatlinburg overnight, Vandeventer is mile 436-ish.
Gambit McCrae
09-22-2017, 14:11
I did a zero day at Vandeventer in 2012. I knew of the history; two nights and nothing spooky to speak of. Getting water sucked for sure, but otherwise I had a very pleasant stay. After I got situated and rested a bit, I meditated and tried to imagine her encounter, her last moments. It was a very emotional experience. We actually arrived early and waited for other hikers to catch up. We all packed in like sardines for the night and woke up at 3am and hiked the relatively flat-ish 33 miles into Gatlinburg. Arrived early enough to shower have a 3 hour dinner feast. When I asked, none of the other hikers reported experiencing anything.
The distance on the Appalachian Trail between
Vandeventer Shelter, TN and
US441-Newfound Gap, TN
is 229.3 miles.
Whosthisbroad
09-24-2017, 18:26
Ha oh my... It would most certainly have to be a genie with a magic carpet to pull off that feat!
Naturally, I meant Damascus. I read your posts I even thought to myself, "Who said anything about Gatlinburg/Newfound Gap?" :eek:
Thats my cue to get back out there. Here is a photo from the night I mentioned. Not all of us from that night are in it. 40381