Scary Stories From the Trail

In the summer of 2002 I had just moved to Salt Lake City. This was the summer when the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart was making national news (young girl from prominent family). Anyway, I was exploring the trails above the city (dry creek trail) when a guy is walking down the trail with a giant beard, wearing a monk-like burlap cassock, balancing a stick over his shoulder that carried a load of something from a tied sheet on the end, just like Huck Finn. Eyebrows raised in puzzlement, I pedalled on, and he smiled and gave me a very affirmative "hello."

Meanwhile, over the next year, there was no word on the Smart case and everyone feared the worst. The prime suspect they had in custody died mysteriously in jail, and the topic faded from awareness. However, the next Spring she was rescued miraculously. It turned out she was kidnapped by a psycho-cult polygamist couple, the man had a giant beard and wore a cassock. Once I saw the picture I recognized the guy from the trail immediately. It turned out, that after the couple kidnapped her, they took her up a side canyon of Dry Creek canyon to initially hide out. He must have encountered me when he was coming down for supplies or something...

The sad part was the weird bearded cult guy was a person of interest for the police, but because they were so focused on the wrong guy, the never bothered to release descriptions of the other possible suspects. If they had, I would have called the police right quick, cuz that guy was unmistakable, and the case would have been solved in two weeks, not almost a year!