The strange disappearance and death of Geoff Hague in the Great Smoky Mountains
Geoff Hague, disappeared February 9, 1970, Junction of the Appalachian Trail with the Boulevard Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina. Body Found February 18,1970.
Revised December 2023
On Saturday, February 7, 1970, Eugene Smith led troop 95 from Morristown in Tennessee with three teenage Boy Scouts called Lee Smith, Steve Wolfe, and Geoff Hague out for a wilderness hike. Before returning home, they planned to spend a night in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. There were also two other adults, assistant Troop Leader Marvin Horner and Reverend Pitser Lyons.
On the return hike, 16-year-old Geoff stopped for a rest at a junction of two trails and wanted to wait for fellow scout Lee Smith, who was following behind. Since it was only a few minutes before Lee was expected to arrive, the Scout Leader Eugene allowed Geoff to stay behind. So the rest of the group left him and returned to the parking lot, thinking they would meet again in less than 30 minutes.
But Geoff was never seen alive again. His frozen body was discovered ten days later with one boot missing, pants pulled down, and socks removed. His pack was 1000 feet away, on a rocky outcrop in the middle of a river, with its contents scattered around the vicinity.
Was this just a case of misadventure in the snowy conditions caused by hypothermia and paradoxical undressing or something much more mysterious? The Smokies have seen many strange deaths and disappearances over the years.
The story has similarities to another Boy Scout disappearance: The puzzling disappearance of Jared Negrete from Mount San Gorgonio. 12-year-old Jared Michael Negrete (born September 11, 1978) was a Boy Scout on his first overnight backpacking trip. He was last seen on Friday, July 19, 1991, at about 6 pm, when he fell behind his fellow Scouts on a hike to the summit of 11,500-foot Mt. San Gorgonio in San Bernardino National Forest, Southern California. An extensive search revealed only some candy wrappers and a camera with a haunting image of Jared. Thirty years later, despite the extensive search and follow-up hikes into the area by amateur investigators, no remains have been found.
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