That Would Be Rad

S5 E23: Terrifying Paranormal Encounters of The Appalachian Trail


Listen Later

The Appalachian Trail is more than just a path through the mountains... it’s a living, breathing museum of history, folklore, and mystery. Beneath its sweeping vistas and quiet ridgelines, countless hikers have stumbled into something far stranger than blisters and black bears: ghostly figures, phantom lights, and encounters that leave them questioning what’s real and what belongs to another world.

From Civil War battlefields still echoing with unseen soldiers, to spectral figures wandering foggy ridges, the Appalachian Mountains are a corridor for the strange and the terrifying.

This week, we focus on the paranormal side of the Appalachian Trail. You’ll hear about:

  • The fire-scorched figure that stalked a camper in Virginia, tied to a tragic house fire.

  • The mysterious Brown Man, a hulking presence that seemed to control dogs with nothing but its stare.

  • The hazy man by the birch tree witnessed by both a young girl and her mother in Pennsylvania.

  • The unsettling phantom children, whose laughter haunted hikers for miles.

  • The wide-brimmed stranger in period clothes, with piercing blue eyes, who vanished into thin air.

  • The ghostly woodsman of Pierce Pond in Maine, returning night after night by the campfire glow.

  • The restless child spirit of Ottie Cline Powell at Punchbowl Shelter.

  • Dark Hollow Road’s cemetery, where love, betrayal, and tragedy left spirits that still linger.

  • The phantom hound and little girl said to haunt Big Ridge State Park in Tennessee.

  • And the blood-soaked hills of Spook Hill and Fox’s Gap, where Civil War dead still push cars uphill with ghostly hands.

We’ll explore:

  • Why hikers so often encounter apparitions in the Appalachian wilderness.

  • How history, tragedy, and folklore fuel the trail’s haunted reputation.

  • What these stories reveal about the human connection to place — and to the unknown.

Join us as we step into the shadows of the Appalachian Trail - a place where the natural world and the supernatural blur together, and where the past is never truly gone.

Stay strange. Be Rad.
Got a ghost story? We’d love to hear it — send us your experience (anonymous is fine).


CONNECT WITH US:

📲 Instagram: @thatwouldberad — Tag us, DM us, or share your strange stories.

🎙 Share a story / send a voice message: ⁠⁠⁠thatwouldberadpodcast.com⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✉️ Email: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠


SHOW INFO:

Hosts & Producers: Woody Brown & Tyler Bence

Recorded At: Midnight Radio Studios

Sound Wizardry: Woody Brown (Sound Design, Editing, & Music) & Tyler Bence (Mixing, Mastering, & Art Design)

Outro Jam: “Ghost Story” by The Modern Society


RAD WAYS TO SUPPORT OUR SHOW:

🎧 JOIN OUR PATREON: Unlock exclusive content and help us keep the weirdness coming at ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/thatwouldberad⁠⁠⁠

☕️ BUY US A COFFEE: Fuel our late-night research at ⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com/thatwouldberad⁠⁠⁠

🛍 CHECK OUT OUR MERCH: Snag official RAD gear at ⁠⁠⁠thatwouldberad.myspreadshop.com

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

That Would Be RadBy Woody Brown and Tyler Bence

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

50 ratings


More shows like That Would Be Rad

View all
Mysterious Universe by 8th Kind

Mysterious Universe

5,606 Listeners

Where Did the Road Go? by Seriah Azkath

Where Did the Road Go?

548 Listeners

Expanded Perspectives by Expanded Perspectives

Expanded Perspectives

2,977 Listeners

Astonishing Legends by Astonishing Legends Productions

Astonishing Legends

9,466 Listeners

Monsters Among Us by Derek Hayes | Audioboom Studios

Monsters Among Us

7,671 Listeners

Strange Familiars by SpectreVision Radio

Strange Familiars

1,349 Listeners

Belief Hole | Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks by Belief Hole | Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks

Belief Hole | Paranormal, Mysteries and Other Tasty Thought Snacks

954 Listeners

Crackpot by Crackpot: A Conspiracy Podcast

Crackpot

991 Listeners

Morbid by Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart

Morbid

98,839 Listeners

UFO WARNING by UFO WARNING

UFO WARNING

397 Listeners

HOLOSKY PODCAST by Holosky Podcast

HOLOSKY PODCAST

1,124 Listeners

Theories of the Third Kind by Theories of the Third Kind

Theories of the Third Kind

6,318 Listeners

Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries by Heart Starts Pounding

Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings and Mysteries

4,254 Listeners

The Why Files: Operation Podcast by The Why Files: Operation Podcast

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

7,493 Listeners

Metaphysical by Metaphysical with Rob Counts and John Vivanco

Metaphysical

228 Listeners