Disappearance of Dennis Martin

Dennis Martin, a six-year-old resident of Knoxville, was visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along with his father, grandfather and older brother on Father's Day weekend in 1969. The camping trip was a family tradition for the Martins.[1] The family hiked from Cades Cove to Russell Field and camped overnight. The next day, they hiked to Spence Field near the Appalachian Trail, where they planned to spend the night.

Martin disappeared on June 14 at 16:30 while planning on surprising the adults with his brother and other children from a separate family the Martin's were camping with; he was last seen by his father going behind a bush to hide, intending on surprising the adults with the other children. After not seeing him for about five minutes and when all of the other children had returned to the camp site, his father became concerned and began searching for him. His father ran down the trail for nearly two miles, until he was sure he could not have gotten any farther. After several hours, they sought help from National Park Service rangers.[2][3]

The area where Martin disappeared is marked by steep slopes and ravines. Wild animals such as copperhead snakes, bears, feral hogs, and bobcats inhabit the area. A downpour broke out shortly after Martin's disappearance, dropping 3 inches (7.6 cm) of rain in a matter of hours, which washed out trails and caused streams to flood. Temperatures on the night of June 14 dropped to nearly 50 °F (10 °C).[1]

Search efforts, including a separate search by the National Guard and Special Forces[4][5] found no trace. Heavy rains during the first day's search hampered efforts,[6] and heavy mist the next day.[7] Up to 1,400 people were involved in the search effort, potentially obscuring possible clues.[8] Footprints were found in the area, but dismissed as being Martin's and determined by park officials to have been left by a Boy Scout participating in the search.[1][9] The child-sized footprints led to a stream, where they disappeared. The tracks indicated that one foot was barefoot, while the other was in an Oxford (the type of shoe Martin was wearing) or a tennis shoe. Retired park ranger and author Dwight McCarter believes that the prints likely belonged to Martin, as the tracks were not part of a group and none of the Boy Scouts were searching while barefoot.[1]

A shoe and sock were also found.[10] By June 22, 56 square miles (150 km²) of ground had been covered.[1] More than a thousand searchers continued to look until June 26, when the search was cut back.[11] The search was abandoned on June 29, after a last search.[12] The search was officially closed down on September 14, 1969.[13] As of 2020, it is still the largest search in the history of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.[1]

Dennis's father offered a US$5,000 (equivalent to $34,859 in 2019) reward for information.[14] Psychics, including Jeane Dixon, offered clues, but nothing was found.[15] A few years after, a ginseng-hunter discovered the scattered skeletal remains of a small child in Big Hollow, Tremont. He kept the find to himself until 1985 because of fear that he would be prosecuted for the illegal ginseng. A subsequent search turned up nothing.[16]

The unsuccessful search for Martin led the National Park Service to review and amend its policies on searches for missing people.[5]

Three main theories exist about what happened to Martin.[16]

• The first is that he became lost and perished from exposure or some other cause, likely during the first night. This is the most probable theory according to park officials.[1]
• The second is that he was attacked by a hungry bear (or, less likely, a feral pig) and carried off.[5]
• The third is that he was abducted and taken out of the park by something or someone. His father was a proponent of the third theory.[17] On the afternoon that Martin disappeared, tourist Harold Key and his family, heard an "enormous, sickening scream" and shortly thereafter witnessed a man covered in hair seemingly hiding and attempting to flee the scene. Park Rangers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to link the sighting to Martin's disappearance, particularly given that Key's sighting was approximately five miles away from where Martin disappeared. The sighting occurred a little while after Dennis went missing. The family also added that the man in the woods had something slumped over his shoulder, a highly visible red, matching the color shirt Martin was wearing the day he went missing.[16][5]

• List of people who disappeared

• Carolyn Atkin (20 June 1969). "Only A Search Party On his 7th Birthday". Kingsport Times. p. 13. Retrieved 16 July 2017 – via newspapers.com.
• Hayley Martin (10 December 2008). "Great Smoky Mountain Disappearance". Tennessee Journalist. The University of Tennessee. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2017.

• Dwight McCarter; Ronald Schmidt (1998). Lost!: A Ranger's Journal of Search and Rescue. Graphicom Press. ISBN 978-0-9641734-1-5.

• Dennis Martin at NamUs
• Dennis Martin at The Doe Network
• "Dennis Martin". For People Like Me. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
• "Dennis Lloyd Martin". The Charley Project. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
• "TN - Dennis Martin, 6, Great Smoky Mountains NP, 14 June 1969". Websleuths. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
• Dennis Martin at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children