The Skeleton Key Chronicles

16 hours ago

On Father’s Day weekend in 1969, six-year-old Dennis Lloyd Martin of Knoxville, Tennessee vanished during a family camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountains just days before his seventh birthday.

Dennis had been playing near the Spence Field area of the park with several other children when they decided to hide behind trees and jump out to surprise the adults. When the other kids ran out from their hiding spots, Dennis did not. His family notified park ranger within minutes and the search for Dennis began. What followed became the largest search effort the park had seen at the time, with roughly 1,400 searchers combing more than 50 square miles of rugged mountain terrain over several days. Despite these efforts no trace of Dennis was ever found.

Over the years a number of theories have have been circulated, ranging from the difficult terrain of the Smokies to reports from that afternoon of an unfamiliar man seen walking through the woods carrying something over his shoulder. ideas have surfaced as well, including claims about an ape-like creature sometimes reported in the region. That angle was revisited in Season 1, Episode 7 of the Hulu series Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal, which looks at real investigations that later became tangled with unusual or unexplained theories.

More than half a century later, Dennis Martin’s disappearance is still considered one of the most puzzling unsolved cases ever connected to the Great Smoky Mountains.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

1 day ago

In the late 1800s, a cleaning lady at a Philadelphia medical college agreed to donate her body to science. Today, what remains of Harriet Cole is still preserved inside the school where she once worked.

It's been more than 130 years since Harriet Cole worked as a cleaning lady at Hahnemann Medical College (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia. She’s still there, although in a significantly different form.

The woman who once disinfected the halls of this institute of higher learning now hangs inside them. Harriet was just 35 when she passed away and, having worked at the college for several years, she agreed that upon her death to donate her body to science. More specifically, she allowed Dr. Rufus B. Weaver, the leading professor of anatomy at the school, to take charge of her remains.

Dr. Weaver had plans for Harriet and he followed through. It would take the good doctor almost six months to meticulously detach her nervous system. To assist in the painstaking process he used fine needles to separate each and every nerve with surgical precision.

When he finished, he preserved the display, simply titled “Harriet,” with a lead-based paint and attached her nervous system to a blackboard with thousands of tiny pins.

“Harriet” became an extremely popular specimen, even making her way to the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, where it won several medals. While it's unclear if Harriet knew of Dr. Weaver's specific plans for her remains, it is certain that her generous gesture has mesmerized generations.

More than a century later, Harriet Cole is still there in Philadelphia, preserved behind glass inside the same building where she once cleaned the halls. … See MoreSee Less

The Skeleton Key Chronicles

2 days ago

On May 27, 1987, highway workers along Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County, Virginia noticed something lying just off the shoulder near mile marker 183. When they went over to check it, they realized it was the body of a man. The discovery set off an investigation that would eventually answer one major question in the case. But it would leave another one hanging for decades.

When investigators took a look at what the man had with him, they found several personal items in his pockets. There were eyeglasses, a pocket knife, and a small black notebook filled with handwritten notes.

That notebook turned out to be the detail that pointed investigators in the right direction. Some of the notes referenced a tractor-trailer and company information connected to J.B. Hunt Transport. Following those details eventually led investigators to a truck driver named John Swartz who they were able to track down.

According to investigators, Swartz said he had picked the unidentified man up several days earlier at a truck stop in Wytheville, Virginia. He had given the man a ride when an altercation took place while they were stopped along Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County. Swartz later admitted responsibility.

Even with that admission and the conviction that followed, investigators were never able to determine who the man was.
He was estimated to be between 20 and 40 years old, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and around 150 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans and a shirt bearing the rank insignia of a U.S. Army Specialist, E-4, along with a necklace holding a cross. The glasses found with him were similar to the type sometimes issued through VA programs, pointing to the possibility he may have once served in the military. If you recognize any of these details or have information that could help identify the man, Virginia State Police would like to hear from you.

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