I just was doing a little research on Trail Journals trying to get the phone# for the "new" hostel near Devil's Fork Gap. Laurel Trading Post is about 2 miles down the NC side here. I' m looking to find a place to park and hike the Rocky Fork area which is also a "Bear Reserve" and should be free of hunters and their sometimes lost and bothersome dogs. Although the Trading Post is about 5 miles from the gated entrance to Rock Fork, it looks like the best and nearest (safe) place to park. What I found while reading an entry on Trail Journals was really interesting. A hiker had passed the Shelton Grave site and where he got his info on the graves was very disturbing. He claimed that this area was the site of the Shelton Massacre. Yep a real horror story right here between Hot Springs and Erwin. His version told of a Colonel from the Confederate army killing 13 people of Shelton descent for helping Union soldiers. What a total load of BS. The earliest ATC guidebook I have is from 1980 and tells the true story of what happened on Coldspring Mtn. Two (2) Union soldiers and 1 young man were surprised by Confederate soldiers, killed and all buried in one grave. In 1915 a grave marker was hauled by oxcart up the mountain and put there and later the markers that are there now were brought up . The AT in this area is in the process of being relocated away from the road. One reason for this is that the gate to this road is open, near the Horsecreek jeep road, the last Sunday in July for Decoration day. Locals from the Greene Co. TN area travel up to the graves and have a short service and bring fresh decorations for the 3 buried there. How a hiker came up with 10 more bodies and a horror story is interesting to say the least. I'm assuming that very few thru hikers actually carry the official ATC guidebook. There are many other "unofficial" guides hikers use. I could see that getting details for all of the historical sites along the entire 2100+ miles could be a very hard task. Well my point is that if one needs more detailed info about the AT and some history too, the ATC guidebooks,while expensive and heavy,are the only "official" account of the AT and some other guidebooks/data books may contain some misleading information about historical sites along the trail. These other sources of info are mostly very accurate as to mileage and other trail info. I guess that some stories around the campfires of thru hikers and others may change what one has read earlier from who knows what and where. IMO some thrus are totally focused on making miles and not learning about history and geology while hiking on the Grandaddy of long distance trails. HYOH but listeners beware....