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National Park Mysteries & Disappearances: The Pacific Northwest
Some of the most visited national parks in the country have a dark side.
Aside from crowds of hikers, campers, and general tourists, there’s a dark side to many that can be found in the great states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. From strange disappearances, grisly murders and bone-chilling paranormal hauntings and ghost sightings; these pristine locales have a lot more to offer than just serene hiking trails or camping. In this third installment of National Park Mysteries & Disappearances, Steve Stockton, along with Bill Melder, presents the reader with a side to these locations you've never heard before.
So, put aside your nature guidebooks, forget about the pretty leaves, and the relaxing streams as well as the miniature golf, the funnel cakes and all the other “tourist traps” and prepare for a wild ride on the dark side of these major national parks.
Aside from crowds of hikers, campers, and general tourists, there’s a dark side to many that can be found in the great states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. From strange disappearances, grisly murders and bone-chilling paranormal hauntings and ghost sightings; these pristine locales have a lot more to offer than just serene hiking trails or camping. In this third installment of National Park Mysteries & Disappearances, Steve Stockton, along with Bill Melder, presents the reader with a side to these locations you've never heard before.
So, put aside your nature guidebooks, forget about the pretty leaves, and the relaxing streams as well as the miniature golf, the funnel cakes and all the other “tourist traps” and prepare for a wild ride on the dark side of these major national parks.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 7, 2021
200 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 10, 2022
A pretty good read
October 28, 2022
After putting in my earbuds and listening my way through the spooky and atmospheric mysteries associated with Great Smoky Mountains NP and then national parks in California, I was eager to press forward into volume three taking me to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho parks for more thrills and chills.
The book is set up featuring mysteries and disappearances first and then ghostly sightings organized by state so first we visited parks in Oregon, then Washington, and finally, Idaho.
Each story involves a short history of the park, the person/s involved, and then the facts related to the disappearance or death. Many of the stories are left with no conclusive answers even if the remains were found. Some were obvious cases of foul play, but others are simply a person getting inexplicably lost or finding themselves ill prepared when encountering an emergency situation like weather, injuries, or wild animals. Many of the victims were actually experienced people in the wilderness though, sadly, some are children. After several cases were presented, the local ghost stories were presented and this involved the history of the place and the people and a few indigenous peoples’ myths included for the locales. I was not surprised that Portland’s Shanghai tunnels were on that list for ghost stories. And, a couple times the story really hit home when it was a location I have visited and even the exact trail like in the Craters of the Moon park story.
The author doesn’t try to dress it up with drama because, in truth, the bare facts and speculations are plenty to get the listener intent on the story and feel the cold creep up and down the spine or sadness for the result. I didn’t find it dry and was intrigued so that a few stories had me going on line and searching for more details.
Chris Abernathy remains the narrator like with the first two books I like the way he presents the book. He keeps it low key and yet not pedantic. In the audio version, I did sometimes not realize the book had shifted to a new story at first when the story took place in the same park and setting and this would confuse me for a short period.
All in all, this presentation of real stories and ghostly settings in the national parks of the Pacific Northwest was entertaining, but also fascinating. I know I have a much healthier respect for the wild country now. I hope there are more stories from the series for other national parks and I can recommend these to those who enjoy true crime and mysteries, but want shorter stories and a quick listen.
I rec'd an audio copy via Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.
My full review will post at The Reading Frenzy Oct 19th.
The book is set up featuring mysteries and disappearances first and then ghostly sightings organized by state so first we visited parks in Oregon, then Washington, and finally, Idaho.
Each story involves a short history of the park, the person/s involved, and then the facts related to the disappearance or death. Many of the stories are left with no conclusive answers even if the remains were found. Some were obvious cases of foul play, but others are simply a person getting inexplicably lost or finding themselves ill prepared when encountering an emergency situation like weather, injuries, or wild animals. Many of the victims were actually experienced people in the wilderness though, sadly, some are children. After several cases were presented, the local ghost stories were presented and this involved the history of the place and the people and a few indigenous peoples’ myths included for the locales. I was not surprised that Portland’s Shanghai tunnels were on that list for ghost stories. And, a couple times the story really hit home when it was a location I have visited and even the exact trail like in the Craters of the Moon park story.
The author doesn’t try to dress it up with drama because, in truth, the bare facts and speculations are plenty to get the listener intent on the story and feel the cold creep up and down the spine or sadness for the result. I didn’t find it dry and was intrigued so that a few stories had me going on line and searching for more details.
Chris Abernathy remains the narrator like with the first two books I like the way he presents the book. He keeps it low key and yet not pedantic. In the audio version, I did sometimes not realize the book had shifted to a new story at first when the story took place in the same park and setting and this would confuse me for a short period.
All in all, this presentation of real stories and ghostly settings in the national parks of the Pacific Northwest was entertaining, but also fascinating. I know I have a much healthier respect for the wild country now. I hope there are more stories from the series for other national parks and I can recommend these to those who enjoy true crime and mysteries, but want shorter stories and a quick listen.
I rec'd an audio copy via Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.
My full review will post at The Reading Frenzy Oct 19th.
April 26, 2023
Terrible. Don't bother. Also might be plagiarized.
I made it to 28% before I had to put this book down. The number one reason for my disgust was the poor writing. There are whole paragraphs that made no sense. And then there's this little beauty of a quote:
“The blue-ribbon right there is where two of the items were found. And the blue and orange ribbon is where the other items were found,” Parrish Bryson stated.
That might not seem bad, but consider this: there is no picture included for the viewer to see a blue ribbon or any other color ribbon. What kind of amateurish author would include a quote with such useless information?
Another reason for putting down the book was my discovery of what I suspect is plagiarism. Since the book only offers fairly short blurbs about each missing victim, I decided to Google the names of those people whose stories most piqued my interest. The first website that pops up for many of the names I googled was www.strangeoutdoors.com.
After the first name I googled, Sammy Boehike, I noticed that the article on the website was almost exactly, word for word, the same as the entry in the book. I googled 2 or 3 more that took me to the same website & discovered that ALL of the articles I read share large chunks of the EXACT SAME text as that found in this book.
Unless one of the authors runs the website, this is clearly plagiarism. I don't know for sure if the book copied the website or vice versa, but it was the final straw for me. If I want to read amateurishly written internet articles, I will do so. I expect a book to be better researched, better written, & overall more informative than what I can find online.
My recommendation is that you don't bother to waste your time with this book. I read the previous 2 books in the series & while the writing was underwhelming & I found them somewhat light on details, they were at least entertaining. I would give this plagiarized trash zero stars if that was an option!
I made it to 28% before I had to put this book down. The number one reason for my disgust was the poor writing. There are whole paragraphs that made no sense. And then there's this little beauty of a quote:
“The blue-ribbon right there is where two of the items were found. And the blue and orange ribbon is where the other items were found,” Parrish Bryson stated.
That might not seem bad, but consider this: there is no picture included for the viewer to see a blue ribbon or any other color ribbon. What kind of amateurish author would include a quote with such useless information?
Another reason for putting down the book was my discovery of what I suspect is plagiarism. Since the book only offers fairly short blurbs about each missing victim, I decided to Google the names of those people whose stories most piqued my interest. The first website that pops up for many of the names I googled was www.strangeoutdoors.com.
After the first name I googled, Sammy Boehike, I noticed that the article on the website was almost exactly, word for word, the same as the entry in the book. I googled 2 or 3 more that took me to the same website & discovered that ALL of the articles I read share large chunks of the EXACT SAME text as that found in this book.
Unless one of the authors runs the website, this is clearly plagiarism. I don't know for sure if the book copied the website or vice versa, but it was the final straw for me. If I want to read amateurishly written internet articles, I will do so. I expect a book to be better researched, better written, & overall more informative than what I can find online.
My recommendation is that you don't bother to waste your time with this book. I read the previous 2 books in the series & while the writing was underwhelming & I found them somewhat light on details, they were at least entertaining. I would give this plagiarized trash zero stars if that was an option!
March 28, 2023
I really enjoyed most of the book. There were, again, some stories that were familiar to me from other such collections. However, there were always added details that made it worth my while to hear them.
It was divided into three sections - one for each state. Then, each of those sections was divided into mysteries, disappearances and hauntings. The hauntings sections were... a bit tedious as an audiobook, because the narrator had to read off such things as addresses, phone numbers or websites. However, that's simply a limitation of the media. Each haunted place also included some stories about the haunting itself.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as much as I had the first in the series. I have to go back and read the second (somehow, I managed to skip it).
It was divided into three sections - one for each state. Then, each of those sections was divided into mysteries, disappearances and hauntings. The hauntings sections were... a bit tedious as an audiobook, because the narrator had to read off such things as addresses, phone numbers or websites. However, that's simply a limitation of the media. Each haunted place also included some stories about the haunting itself.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as much as I had the first in the series. I have to go back and read the second (somehow, I managed to skip it).
April 17, 2024
Full disclosure - I listened to the audio book version of this. This is my favorite topic to read / listen to so I may be bias but I loved this book and even ordered a physical copy.
I did notice some repetitive information sprinkled without (explaining what certain parks are / when they were established etc.) so I think that could be improved upon. Also, the missing person case info could be organized a wee bit better, but it was still easy to understand.
All things confirmed it’s a fun, easy listen / read and I will be on the lookout for more Steve Stockton books :)
I did notice some repetitive information sprinkled without (explaining what certain parks are / when they were established etc.) so I think that could be improved upon. Also, the missing person case info could be organized a wee bit better, but it was still easy to understand.
All things confirmed it’s a fun, easy listen / read and I will be on the lookout for more Steve Stockton books :)
July 4, 2023
This is the third book in this series, and while it was pretty good, I honestly didn't like it as much as the first two. I feel like it read more like a listing of missing persons and didn't have as much of the mystery, spooky myths, legends, or hauntings the other books seemed to have. Seeing as Washington and Oregon always seem to be in the top ten states for UFO sightings, I was surprised there was none of that in this book.
March 9, 2022
Interesting and Informative
Being from this part if the country it was very interesting to read about the disappearance of the people and of course the haunted towns and villages. Well written and keeps your attention from first page to last period! Well done! Looking forward to any other book in progress!
Being from this part if the country it was very interesting to read about the disappearance of the people and of course the haunted towns and villages. Well written and keeps your attention from first page to last period! Well done! Looking forward to any other book in progress!
December 6, 2023
🎧. Eh. I must be spoiled by true crime podcasts that do a much better job describing cases, albeit with more time. In fact, this series was recommended by a couple of podcasts and I guess I expected more? The writing is repetitive and very poorly edited. I would be upset as a family member of one of these victims.
September 4, 2024
I am a true crime nerd and often listen to true crime podcasts as a way to wind down. I selected this book for a reading prompt and I was not disappointed. The narrator has the perfect voice for this type of book and I loved that I could see all the place the writer talked about since I grew up in the PNW.
October 22, 2024
This was an interesting book to listen too, especially because I live in Oregon! I was familiar with most of the Oregon stories, but still found them intriguing. The writing style felt off in places and didn’t close well at times. I’m looking forward to going back and listening to the other book in the series. If you enjoy true crime and national parks, then I think it’s worth a listen!
December 22, 2021
A few interesting stories but not as intriguing as it could’ve been. Author basically just states the facts with no additional thoughts or observations. And the ‘haunted’ places are treated as if people can be taken at their word. No rational explanations or alternative theories are offered.
December 29, 2021
I liked this and I will always buy any book this author brings out. There are a lot of interesting new cases in this book but the information written, is set out in a fairly jumbled way. Still, it's a good book and I enjoyed it.
December 4, 2022
DNF. The inconsistency in writing and presentation of the cases was distracting and drew away from the actual case material.
The addition of haunted places following missing persons cases felt contrived and unnecessary.
The addition of haunted places following missing persons cases felt contrived and unnecessary.
August 14, 2025
Interesting info, but a confusing read.
Seriously, doesn't anybody use an editor anymore?! I spent so much time trying to muddle through confusing sentences. And then there's some like "The foggy, densely forested lake is surrounded by densely forested mountains.."
Seriously, doesn't anybody use an editor anymore?! I spent so much time trying to muddle through confusing sentences. And then there's some like "The foggy, densely forested lake is surrounded by densely forested mountains.."
October 8, 2022
Pretty good. Listened to this on Audiobook. Trying to remember if I had heard of some of these disappearances as some were more recent.
October 14, 2022
Interesting collection of disappearances
The stories highlight the ease with which one can be lost, less
than three miles from where the car is parked
The stories highlight the ease with which one can be lost, less
than three miles from where the car is parked
October 17, 2022
Great collection of stories and legends from the Pacific Northwest.
December 8, 2022
pretty interesting!
December 8, 2022
A short intresting compilation of missing persons, mysterious deaths and ghost takes from the northwest portion of the United States. A short read that can be finished in an afternoon.
January 17, 2024
List and brief description of disappearances and some finds of the dead.
June 21, 2024
I’m getting way too into this stuff but I can’t seem to stop 😅.
August 17, 2025
Some of the stories were interesting. I think this book would have been better had it focused on a few of the disappearances rather than many, and I could have done without the ghost stories.
September 26, 2025
I like the supernatural entries in this series; this one focused on pure disappearances and I found it depressing.
May 7, 2024
3rd in Series
This is an interesting new series of books about National Park mysteries and disappearances. Many people go missing in the parks and this is an unofficial account of recently missing people in specific parks as well as some haunted locations in the areas. This book focuses on the Pacific Northwest parks of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The disappearances are baffling, though a few have been found. Each park has a brief bio and the accounts of the recently missing, followed by a section on haunted locations. It will make you think twice about going in the woods. The new audiobook version accompanies the ebook. The narrator keeps a great tone for the book.
This is an interesting new series of books about National Park mysteries and disappearances. Many people go missing in the parks and this is an unofficial account of recently missing people in specific parks as well as some haunted locations in the areas. This book focuses on the Pacific Northwest parks of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The disappearances are baffling, though a few have been found. Each park has a brief bio and the accounts of the recently missing, followed by a section on haunted locations. It will make you think twice about going in the woods. The new audiobook version accompanies the ebook. The narrator keeps a great tone for the book.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews