Across the edge of the Slickrock Creek area of Graham County – and just in Tennessee – is an area known as “Jeffrey’s Hell.”
It has lived up to its foreboding name again and again. Numbers of unfortunate people have gotten lost in this vast maze of rhododendron, laurel and rock outcroppings, dating back to the 1800s.
Some were never seen again.
At least two different stories handed down from generation-to-generation say that the area is named for Jeffrey, who was a hunter. He had prize-hunting dogs and when one didn’t return from a hunt, he went into the area – now bearing his name – to look for it.
Here, the story differs a bit.
One version says he was never seen again, as was the case of many persons. The other version says that he finally came out of the woods after wandering around in circles for days. His clothing was torn to shreds and he could barely walk.
When asked where he had been, he replied, “To Hell and back.”
In 1893, a hunting party also became lost and spent days before finding their way out. They survived by eating chipmunks. After coming across a huge timber rattlesnake – which had swallowed a full-grown gray squirrel – they seemed to have enough energy to make their way out.
The mystery of what happened to many others who disappeared was solved when logging operations began in 1917. When large rocks were moved by dozers building logging roads, rattlesnakes and copperheads came out in all directions. Human skeletons were found in the vicinity of these snake dens, leading loggers to reach the conclusion that these people – while lost – stumbled onto the snakes and after being bitten numerous times wandered around until they died. Others also met a gruesome death, as skeletons were also found in steel bear traps, where they had lain until suffering through a prolonged death.
In more recent incidents, the Graham County Rescue Squad and U.S. Forest Service have been on search and rescue missions in Jeffrey’s Hell.
In 1994, 19-year-old Atlanta resident Edward Broome – who had been missing for five days – was found a ½-mile off the trail by Laney Cutshaw of the U.S. Forest Service and was lying on the ground. Dressed only in shorts, Broome had lost his hiking boots and backpack. He was covered in cuts, scratches and bruises. He was suffering from dehydration and exposure, and was so weak that he couldn’t walk.
In 2010, five more lost hikers were found after two days. One was injured and had to be transported by an all-terrain vehicle part of the way. The search crew encountered a large rattlesnake.
In early September of this year, another search was conducted for two men who spent three days lost in Jeffrey’s Hell, before coming out of the woods – appearing as if a wildcat had attacked them.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.