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Death In Yellowstone: True stories of park’s fatal perils

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Yellowstone National Park historian Lee Whittlesey is the author of "Death In Yellowstone," a compilation of true stories about the park's fatal perils.

Don’t bother asking Lee Whittlesey about his favorite Yellowstone ghost stories. He doesn’t believe in ghosts. He doesn’t need to. The Yellowstone National Park historian knows horror stories far scarier than made-up specters. They are haunting, disturbing and particularly terrifying because they actually happened. These are the stories of people falling into boiling water, of wild animals attacking and feasting on flesh, and the unsolved mysteries as to whether a person fell or was pushed. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Yellowstone, death in yellowstone, fatality, lee whittlesey, safety

‘Savage Christmas’ a quirky Yellowstone tradition celebrated each August

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Buffalo Bill Cody never celebrated Savage Christmas in Yellowstone. But he did dress as Santa Claus while visiting a group of kids in Arizona during Christmas of 1910. (Buffalo Bill Historical Center - click to enlarge)

Like so many elements of Yellowstone history, the origins of Savage Christmas are shrouded in apocryphal legends and weird juxtapositions of unlikely circumstnces. Still observed today with a Christmas tree, for instance, in the Old Faithful Inn in late August, Savage Christmas has its origins in summer celebrations and parades in the park dating to around World War II, said park historian Lee Whittlesey. But according to (false) popular folklore, Savage Christmas is an annual Yellowstone celebration of Christmas in August that started in the park's unspecificed "early days" when a group of visitors were trapped at the Old Faitful Inn after several inches of snow fell on Aug. 24, making stagecoach travel impossible. (Stagecoach drivers were commonly referred to at the time as "savages.") Continue Reading →

Filed under: Yellowstone, history, lee whittlesey, savage christmas, savage days, yellowstone history

Yellowstone ‘lake music’ remains mystery a century after written reports

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Some Yellowstone National Park visitors have reported hearing odd sounds in the skies above Yellowstone Lake on clear days in the early mornings. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Yellowstone Lake and the rugged backcountry that surrounds it is a place where millions go seeking solitude and silence. Yet it in a well-documented but rarely discussed phenomenon, some visitors to the Lake area have experienced remarkable celestial sounds of unknown and unexplained origin. There are several descriptions in the historical record — as well as many more from popular anecdotal accounts — of strange sounds or "lake music" coming from the skies around Yellowstone Lake and Shoshone lake. Continue Reading →

Filed under: People, Yellowstone, chittenden, history, lake music, lee whittlesey, shoshone lake, sounds