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Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Cryptid Cocktail Party, a show where we have a few drinks, share a few laughs, take a dive into the unknown. I'm your host Dave and I'm joined once again by the beautiful bearded Jamie Hurley. How's it going buddy? Oh, you're too kind to me. I'm doing all right, brother. You know, you, you, you look just as good as the last time I saw you. So you know, I think I actually trimmed up my beard since the last time I saw her. Allie did it for me.
Like she had to groom a German shepherd or something like that. Because I basically look like a feral animal. She had to get all the loose hair out for your summer coats. That way you're not. Yeah, exactly. That's what I know. She really has to, because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with long hair. So just like, you know, I think it's learning mostly just don't wash it every day and then cut the dead ends off. I think that's really all it is. But your hair is also super curly.
So I don't know. Oh yeah. I get the, the sideburn curls from the, Oh, like, like a, like a, like a Hasidic Jews have in like, yeah, the Hasidic Jews have that they can't do that. It's like my whole head of hair, like 30 minutes after a shower. So it's like, I got time to try to make that appearance work for something. That's very, you have a very limited window to present yourself. Yeah. The humidity up here is just like, you know, walking, walking into a wet fart.
I'm like, why are, why are all these long haired people concerned about humidity? And then you figured it out now being one of them. Like, okay. Yep. I get it. Well, you can't have those, those flyaways, you know, you got to look on point. All the time. Yeah. I want to punch myself in the face every time I'm riding in a car with the windows down and I don't have like a hair tie. Like my hair's up in a hair clip.
You could, I, I use the clips like a sumo wrestler, you know, like it almost goes over the top. You always see like a top knot thing going on. It looks good. You wear it well. It's like, you know, who's the guy from street fighter fucking, uh, E Honda. Yeah, there you go. My favorite character to play. Is it? Yeah, that was, I made money off of E Honda. It's damn.
All right. So Jamie, I remember I texted you yesterday to record this episode and the last time you were on, I believe we talked about the hat man, which was kind of not really anything. I mean, it's something, but it's not like, it's not like a tangible cryptid or something like that. And I told you, and I told you that today we're going to be talking about good old warm blooded salt of the earth, American cryptids. I love it. I lied. You tricked me. You tricked me, huh?
Yeah. So this episode is about, uh, I don't even, I don't even know. I don't know. I don't know what this episode is about. I was going to do, right. So to be fair, I was going to do it on the Murphy's Murphy's burrow mud monster, which is also a, what some people call an abominable swamp slob. It's great. Great band name, by the way, abominable swamp slob. Yeah, it's phenomenal.
But I, but I was scrolling through Instagram and like four other cryptid podcasts are going to are doing the Murphy's burrow mud monster. So it's like, I'm not going to, I don't want to, I don't want to do that. So I'm going to, I shelved it. I could take a curve ball. Yeah. I, I shelved it and I was like, this is what we're going to do. And the good thing about it is that this takes place in a region that you are very, very, very familiar with. Oh, do you know what that region would be?
I'm guessing Exeter maybe. No, it takes place in the white mountains of New Hampshire. Oh, okay. I thought it was going to be, everyone knows about the Exeter like alien supposed abduction. No, no, no, this is not about that. This is not, this is not anything that I, again, I don't know what this episode is about, but at least it takes place in a place that both you and I are familiar with you living in New Hampshire currently and me being from New Hampshire previously, if that makes sense.
And yeah, and we've both lived here. I mean, other than for about six years, I've lived here for three decades. And besides me being in Philly for about six years, I also lived there for about three decades. Yeah. We're on the same page. We're basically New Hampshire experts. You ask us anything, we got it. We've explored the woods and the sketchy spots. We've had, yeah. All right. So you want to just, I don't know, you want to just dive right in again. I don't know.
You ever, you ever heard of an incident called the Mount Washington incident? I have not. Okay. I know a lot of bad shit happens up at Mount Washington, like bad shit happens in Philly. Yeah. I don't know if you want to call this an incident though. I don't know how to describe, I, titling this episode is going to be a nightmare for people to try and find it. Let's just put it that way.
But fair enough for all of you listening who don't know New Hampshire, the white mountains or Mount Washington in general, I did basically most of this episode is going to be information about Mount Washington and then we'll get into a story. So Jamie, you've already heard this before, but for the listeners, why don't we just dive right in with this.
Mount Washington is located in Coos County, New Hampshire is the highest peak in the Northeast United States sitting high at 6,288 feet and is known for its wildly erratic weather. It once held the world record for highest winds recorded at 231 miles per hour from the years 1934 until 1996, but still holds the world record for the highest winds not associated with a tornado or a cyclone. So there's that. We still got one. We still got one record, baby.
That just happened last year, I think, right? This past winter, the highest winds not associated with a tornado or a cyclone. Yeah. Didn't that just happen last winter? I don't know when it happened. I could have been, it was a, it, weather's been strange, but there was, I saw a lot of a, that has been strange. That's true.
I saw a lot of stuff coming out of Mount Washington with like roads collapsing and the high, the crazy high winds where it almost ripped off their like observatory or whatever you call it. Jesus Christ. Really? Yeah. I think it, with the wind chill, it was hitting like minus, I don't know, a hundred plus easily. Yeah. So, so basically just right where you want to be. Yeah. Don't, don't go climb there.
If you've never like hiked up a hill before, please don't come to New Hampshire if you're not familiar with hiking up any mountains. Cause the rescues that have been happening lately are constant. Well, it's funny you should say that because Mount Washington is visited yearly by many hikers because it is also, it is also technically part of the Appalachian trail.
But if you're not the outdoorsy type, you can drive up the summit and get yourself one of those cool, this car climbed Mount Washington stickers. I can't stand those. I can't stand it. It's like, oh, good for you. It's like, I'll get a bumper sticker that says I sat in Boston traffic for two hours today. Not going to lie. I would buy that fucking sticker. That's good. Now, Jamie, now we are, we are saying that you should, if you're inexperienced, don't just go. Don't, don't.
But you can definitely drive up, but there is also, that's on the East side, but on the West side of the mountain, there is a train that also brings you up to the top. I don't know. I don't know if you can get a sticker that says this train climb Mount Washington, cause that would be insane. Maybe if you get a train. I mean, if you just buy a train, there's some rich mookers out there. Might have a train. The train is also controlled by a Logitech controller. Definitely.
So the mountain does have breathtaking views, beautiful trails, and sits mostly in the White Mountain National Forest, which if you haven't been to, I do highly suggest going to the White Mountain Forest. It's very pretty. It's got a lot of good lakes, trails, hiking, things like that. You can go camping there. But what if I told you, Jamie, that Mount Washington may be home to something a little more sinister? I hope it is, and I hope it scares the shit out of the tourists.
Well, Coos County is home to the Woods Devil, but that's not what we're going to be talking about today. The Woods Devil is just a skinny bigfoot, if you're wondering what else. That's all it is. So yeah, whatever scares off the tourists, you know, from coming up from everywhere, because I mean, not trying to sound like that guy.
So along the trails through the White Mountains and leading to the summit of Mount Washington, the Appalachian Mountain Club, which is the oldest outdoor group in the United States, being formed in 1876 to help explore and preserve the White Mountains, but it eventually expanded across the Northeast from Maine to D.C. and now sports over 275,000 members. They've set up what are now known as high huts with a total of eight of these huts across the White Mountains.
These huts offer shelter and bedding for overnight hikers, warm cooked meals made by the AMC members, as well as offering information on trails, trail safety, local wildlife and fauna. You could also purchase some like some supplies through them also.
With these services, they're only being offered during the on season from June to September, with the hut being boarded up and locked during the fall through spring months, with only the hut cellar being left open during the winter in case of emergencies, which makes sense if you're trying to hike. Oh, for sure. If you're trying to hike in the White Mountains during the winter, first of all, you're an idiot.
Second of all, it is good to have some place where you can kind of dive into to like not die from the 273 mile per hour winds. Oh, for real. It's like I know way too many people that I'm sure you've heard of like the 4000 footer club in New Hampshire. Yeah. Yeah. Where you hike all the 4000 foot plus mountains and it's a couple dozen. I can't remember the exact number, but I know way too many people that have done that. And I'm like, awesome. But why? Well, you know, you know, Luke, right?
Luke. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So Luke hikes the Appalachian Trail. He's done it a few times. Yeah. And the story we're actually talking about, he's very familiar with it and he has stayed in the place where what we're going to talk about has happened. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. I trust what Luke has to say. That's a weird story, but we'll get we'll get into it. Now I know this sounds like a like a pretty nice day. It's got all these amenities and all, you know, warm cook meals, all this stuff.
But it's not quite that great. It's definitely not like a like a Michelin star four star rest like hotel. You know what I mean? You're you're I'm assuming you're in a shack and just getting like a it's not that bad. It's a hot plate. It sleeps 90 people, I think with. Oh, I thought it was like literally just a couple. No, it's it's pretty big. It I think it sleeps on 90. Then there's different rooms that have different occupancy. Like gotcha allowances. I don't know.
But anyway, but but there's there's running water, but it's freezing cold. There's no heat, no electricity, no Wi-Fi. Again, I don't know what the bathroom situation is like. So I don't know if it's like you're just shitting in a hole or if it's a like flushing flushable situation. But anyways, so basically, if you're listening to this and you're thinking about going up there and you're looking for like a glamping trip to the White Mountains, don't don't do it. Yeah, it's not going to be that.
Don't do it. It's like you're just going to end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources to save your ass. Like people hike up Mount Major and need to get rescued. That's wild. It's so crazy. I mean, if you just hands down the easiest or Blue Job, if it is ever get rescued off Blue Job, I would fight them. I almost got lost on Blue Job. Oh, my God, dude. It's literally a hill. There's nothing there. No, they started doing logging years ago.
And I went up there with Ali because they're cutting it out, doing whatever to it. And I we thought we were on the regular trail, but everything was washed out or flooded. So we ended up going up the logging trail and I had Alfie with me. And when we came back down, we literally were just cut off by so much flooding and other stuff. And the funny thing was that Alfie was trying to guide us in the right direction the whole time. Yeah. And I was just like, no, why are you pulling that way?
Like let's go like, see, this is why you're going over here. Trust animal instincts. They know what they're fucking talking about. They know what's up. Yeah. So this was kind of a lot of information and a lot of backstory, but it's kind of for it's kind of necessary. Maybe not. I don't know. No, I think it is people that have never experienced, you know, the White Mountains and stuff. And if you've lived in major cities your whole life, you've never experienced woods like this before.
And also, at least this way, you can you can say you actually learned something from this podcast. And like you you gained knowledge that's not just about fucking like a cryptid. Like you gained useful knowledge, not weird shit. Not a moth that has like six legs and four heads that ate a guy once. It's like, yeah, it's not. It could be just as dangerous if you decide to go up Mount Washington, don't know what you're doing.
Yeah. And if you get stuck, even if a road goes out, they're not going to get there that quick to know it's going to be a nightmare. But but I told you all this because our stories today takes place in one of those Appalachian Mountain Club huts known as Lake of the Clouds. Now when the open season is about to begin, a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club is tasked with taking a solo hike up to the hut with nothing more than just the hiking gear and a two way radio.
His job is to assess any winter damage and then radio back for any supplies, tools, whatever he needs to make the necessary repairs and open the hut to the public. Now, one year this job was tasked to an experienced mountaineer known only as George. Oh yeah, we're getting into the story now. This is the story. I'm like a lot of those people only have one name. Yeah. Well, I think this is like a to protect his identity type deal. I really don't know.
But but George packed his gear and left the rest of the crew at the Pinkham Notch base as he headed up the then still snow covered trails up the mountain. Around midday, the men at the base camp radioed to George, checking in to see if he made it there in one piece, but got no response.
This didn't really worry the men as George was well experienced and they figured that he probably was just taking a rest or out checking on some other stuff near the cabin, making sure that, you know, he was doing a full investigation of what needed to be done before they could open it. It wasn't around. It wasn't until around eight p.m. that night when they tried radioing to him again and getting no response that they started to get a little worried.
And then they started drawing plans for them to head out and check on him the following morning. Early the next morning, some of the men gathered their gear and supplies and started off on their journey while others stayed behind in case of an emergency. They started up the snowy trail to the hut when they arrived. It had seemed at least from their initial observations that George had made made it there safely.
His gear and supplies were set on the dining room floor and his radio was still fully powered sitting on the table. But there was no sign of George. So they're a little they're a little they're a little kind of sauce about it. Is there more to it or no, that's the story. We're done. That's it. So of course, there's more to it. No. Oh, God. So here's what I think happened to George. Here's you're already going into you're already going into theories. I'm already going into it. Let's hear him.
George was down with, you know, the psychedelic crowd at the time, ate a bunch of mushrooms, wandered off into the woods, forgot all his stuff. But that's all I can. So you're saying that a an experienced mountaineer decided to take a bunch of shrooms and then walk up the snow covered mountain. I mean, I've done it on like a hill. Same thing. That's a good equivalent. You can definitely. Yeah, no, that tracks.
I mean, this it's what's about to happen does sound like it could have been a bad trip. So so I might be close. So like I said, they went to the cabin. They found his stuff. Everything seemed to be in order, but there was no sign of the man. So the men decided to split up with half of them checking outside for footprints or signs of maybe like an animal attack.
Well, the other half searched the cabin's interior, checking in the bunk rooms and under the bunks with the use of their headlamps and flashlights as the windows were still boarded, leaving the hut hauntingly dark. Both groups called out to George all the while only to get no response. Then as one of the members was nearing the kitchen, they heard what sounded to them like a faint whimper. Unsure where was coming from.
At first, he just listened and moved closer, realizing that the whimpering sound was coming from below the kitchen sink. The crew member cautiously opened the cabinet door and there was George shaking violently, pale as a sheet and his fists white knuckled gripped around an axe and only able to mutter the words, quote, Just please get me the hell out of here. Just get me out of here. End quote. Wow. Yeah, dude. Imagine see. Imagine seeing a grown mountaineer burly ass fuck man.
Terrified like that. I'd be terrified to see him that terrified because I'd be like, what the fuck is out here? Yeah, that's not that's not what I was expecting. Now shocked to see one of their own in such a state, the men quickly got George out from under the sink all the while begging him to tell them what had happened. But George, trembling and covered in sweat, could only repeat, Just get me the hell out of here, please.
As the so the crew not wanting to make an already visibly upset man more so they quietly gathered around him and walked him outside and started heading down the trail to Pinkham Notch, where an ambulance would be waiting as one of the members had already radioed ahead to let them know of the situation. Now George was in the hospital for some time, didn't say a word about what he had experienced.
Some of the crew think that maybe he had an encounter with a bear or a wolf and that's what shook him up so much or maybe even an encounter with a hiker that was violent and was like he had basically saying he had like a near death experience and was hiding. Yeah, of course. But according to them, he was also one of the bravest and unlike flappable men they've ever met. And for him, them to see him like this was very unnerving.
But after some time in the hospital, he decided to finally open up about what had happened. So this is his story. So what what do you got? What's he doing now? No, I don't know. I'm just waiting to see what happens because I feel like you've painted a good picture and I'm just no, I'm just going to let you go. All right. So I'm not going to say anything.
His story goes that after his hike up the trail to the lakes of the clouds hot, he was suddenly and extremely overcome with exhaustion and hunger. He unlocked the padlock door that led straight into the dining room and quickly sat down on one of the benches to rest a bit and take an assessment of his food supply before radio before he decided before he was going to radio back to the base.
But before he could, he was suddenly overcome by this feeling that he wasn't alone inside the cabin and that who or whatever it was was standing right behind him, almost reaching out for him. George shot up from his chair, spun around, ready to face whoever was trespassing in the cabin and give him a piece of his mind. But there was no one there. He surveyed the hall, narrowing his eyes to adjust to the darkened hut in hopes of catching a glimpse of whoever may be in there with him.
But he was completely alone. But he still had that feeling that he just wasn't alone. And that's when he saw it. A face pressed against one of the dining hall's windows, its features distorted, grotesque and contorted. George gasped, stumbled back and then the real horror set in as he realized that what he was seeing should be impossible as the windows were still boarded up from the outside.
Backing away slowly, trying to regain some semblance of self-control, it's then he noticed that more and more faces started to appear in the window. And not just the one, but all of the windows, as if he's completely surrounded by an army of horrifying ghouls laying siege to the hut. Staring in horror, George watched as the faces seemed to melt through the glass and come into the room, glaring at him with faces of malice, contempt and hatred.
It was then that George either passed out or experienced something so horrible and horrifying that he's blacked it out completely. But after this, his next memory is that of being found by his comrades in the Appalachian Mountain Club, escorting him out from under the sink. God, one, wow, but 100% this dude smoked salvia. 100% like that's what I'm going with.
Well, at first, when I was reading the story, when I first started reading the story, I was like, when he's like, he turned around, I was like, oh, you just caught his own reflection. Like, oh yeah, yeah, dude, that's how I've I've never done salvia. I've known a lot of people who have and they've had terrible times. And that sounds exactly like what happens.
But I mean, like also, like, I don't know, like, imagine, like being in a cabin, you see a face, just a haunting, horrifying face, just staring at you through a window that is boarded up, by the way. And then and then those faces just appear in every window around you. And then they start melting through the glass. Like, was it Freddy Krueger, Nightmare on Elm Street, where like, you know, he's pushing through the wall? Yeah. Oh, I remember that's what this is. That's what he described.
Like it was they were melting through the glass and just like looking at him evil as fuck, dude, like it's completely terrifying. Yeah. He could have been he he was probably obviously dehydrated, you know, to like, I don't know if you were so dehydrated that you can start like to hallucinate. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever done that. We're to the point where I thought faces were coming through a fucking window at me. Yeah. I mean, you never know. You like.
But fuck, I would not go climb up a random mountain to a hut to just unlock it for some people to use at least at this point. That's his job. He was part of the Appalachian Mountain Patrol, whatever the fuck. So George, like I said, the last thing after the horrifying face incident, the last thing he remembers is being escorted out of the kitchen sink cabinet by his fellow Appalachian Mountain Club members.
Now George, after making a full recovery, he ended up resigning from his position in the AMC, swore never to return to the hut again. And from all the different sources I've read, not long after his experience, he lost all memory of this terrifying ordeal. I don't know if that's due to like a trauma response or what, but thank fucking Christ. Because I would not want to remember that either. That sounds like PTSD. Absolutely.
Yeah. I mean, I deal with it with other things and I have diagnosed like panic and generalized anxiety disorder and depression. So it's like, you know, sometimes shit hits you really hard. Yeah. I would not want to remember that at all. But it shook him so much. He was in the hospital for weeks and it shook him so much and it took him forever to even talk about what happened and then just forgot it. Like maybe he just had to get it out and then just like brain shut down.
Maybe it's like everyone is so different. It's like, Everyone deals with trauma in their own way. Yeah. Not to go back to our old stuff, but I told you about how I had that sleep paralysis where it messed with me so much I couldn't even like talk to people for a few hours. Yeah, it's fucked up. Like shit happens. But Jamie, I need to know, what do you think of the story? Do you think it's legit? Again, there's no year associated, no date associated with it.
We can kind of generalize the time of year it happened, but not what year. And also, like, what do you think? I mean, OK, so you and you and me are good old New Hampshire dudes. And we spent a lot of our youth growing up and wandering around out in the woods and just having fun. Yes. Before there were cell phones, before there was, God, smartphones and shit like that. Our internet came on a CD. Yeah. And then you had to share it with your family. Oh, yeah.
And then if someone tried to pick up the phone to make a phone call, you'd get disconnected from the internet. Yeah. And then be like, what the hell, mom? I was just leveling up on that boss on Diablo. But no, I think when you grow up in weird, quiet areas, weird shit will happen to you. Yeah, that's the other thing I was thinking too is that like growing up in New Hampshire, I know a lot of outdoorsy people. We know a lot of men, quote unquote men in our area.
Yeah, they don't just say stuff to say stuff. You know what I mean? Like if something happened to them, you usually take them at their word because there's no other. They get shook them so much they have to talk about it. You have to kind of be like, yeah, I believe it kind of thing. You know what I mean? Like they're not trying to gossip. They're not trying to like make the make a story up to get followers or attention or something. Like this shit that happened to me was fucked up.
Yeah. And the thing is, in New Hampshire, like especially the small towns we're from, if someone says something like that to anyone, they're probably going to get ridiculed by the community. So the fact that they even said something at all, knowing full well that they're probably going to get flack for it, I kind of believe it more than if it's just some anybody else. You know what I mean? Oh, that's super true. It's like, yeah, it's like one one person says something.
Everyone who lives around you knows it. Yeah. It's like the telephone game, you know? So I mean, I'm kind of inclined to believe it. Again, the details are super shady behind the whole thing. Again, there's no year only to have a first name. I don't even know if that's the real first name. But at the same time, like I could see that I was reading something that said like 150 people have died on the trail leading up to either the cabin or right past it.
And all the spirits, I guess, kind of congregate around if you're a ghost person, I guess, if you're not just kind of fucking stupid. But they kind of all congregate around the counter. So maybe it was just them being like, fuck you. You're still alive. And they all the spirits just fucking came all at once kind of thing. I don't really know. But it could be something like that. Who knows? Who knows, man?
It could be your own psyche, you know, just acknowledging the fact that there's all these dead people there that are doing what you're doing and then you have to try to not internalize is the right word, but. Basically accept the fact that you're going to die to one day and you're doing something kind of risky. You know, you're doing something like this is your fate. Fuck you. Yeah, it's like, you know, it's like it's like, oh, God, maybe that was like their first panic attack ever, you know?
And it's like, I remember my first panic attack. I was like, I'm dying. Oh, yeah, I do. I thought I was having a heart attack. My fucking just seized up like, no, I'm good. Yeah, I'm dead. I'm trying to call all my family members not making any sense. Yeah. And then 15 minutes later, you're like, that was weird. It's like, God, probably should change up my lifestyle a little bit. And then you know what we did? Not that. No. I live the same exact way as I did before.
There's extremes with everything, you know, whether there's extremes with hiking, there's extremes with music, there's extremes with, you know, drugs or alcohol. Like, I feel like everyone is almost kind of feeding for something in some way. But what does that have to do with ghosts? Nothing, nothing. You're just giving us a life lesson. Some people are ghost fiends, you know, that's fair. They want to fiend for ghosts. They want to fiend for this unknown, you know, and experience it.
And it's fun, you know, it's like. As long as it ain't hurting me, buddy, do whatever the hell you want to do. How high are you right now? Very high. All right, Jamie. Well, that is the story of the Mount Washington incident. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but I want to believe it because it's fucking rad. I couldn't think of a word besides rad. So that's what I'm going to stick with. Rad is dope. It is come up to New Hampshire, but don't. Yeah. If you're cool, you can.
But just don't, you know, just remember most state parks are carry and carry out. So take your trash with you. That's really all. That's the one thing that I have a gripe with. Just carry and carry out. Don't be a dick. Little bit of respect. That's all it is. All right, man. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate you. I love you. I miss you. Love you, brother. Let's see. Make sure you follow us on Instagram at Crypti Cocktail. Follow me on Twitter at Crypti Cocktail.
Follow me on TikTok at Crypti Cocktail Party. If you want to donate to the show, help me buy beer in the future. There's a link in the episode description. But besides that, that's all I got to say. Bye, Jamie. Bye. See you later.