Recent String of Horrific Fatalities in the Smoky Mountains of TN (April 2016)

Recently a friend and I decided to travel the USA. Currently we're staying in Gatlinburg TN... in the gorgeous Smoky Mountains. Despite a huge draw of tourists each year, this is generally a wonderfully peaceful, happy place. However; the past week has brought with it tragedy, shock and great loss to these gentle hills.


Monday, April 4th
Helicopter Crash Kills Five, Ensuing Fire Destroys 1,500 Acres of Mountainside

The helicopter came down at around 3.30pm Monday, killing all on board

It crashed in Pigeon Forge, under a mile from a residential neighborhood It started a forest fire that went 'across the top of a nearby mountain'

The fire had been mostly contained by 8.45pm

The crash was reported to have caused at least two explosions.

We had just driven into Newport TN (just outside Gatlinburg) to get the car's oil changed. While driving home we noticed all this smoke billowing up from the Southern side of the mountains. We hadn't heard anything on the news, but it was clear that there was a huge fire up there.

We stopped and took this photo, among others:

Certainly it is a tragedy that five people lost their lives in this crash, but it very nearly could have been much much worse if you consider that:

About four hours after the crash, more than a dozen emergency vehicles were at the site, which is less than a mile from a large outlet mall in Sevierville and adjacent to a neighborhood off the main tourist drag. The site is about three miles from Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park.

Friday, April 8th
Two People Found Dead in Hot Tub in Gatlinburg Cabin
This was the headline on my newsfeed just a few days after that fire. Apparently it was an older couple on vacation in the area, who died together in a hot tub. Truly a heartbreaking - albeit bizarre - thing to happen, especially on the heels of that crash. It's still unclear the exact reason they both passed.

No foul play is suspected in the deaths of Jon Levin, 63 of Oak Ridge, and Myra Smith-Findell, 62, of Corbin, Kentucky. An autopsy will determine how they died. Gatlinburg police officers discovered their bodies Saturday morning at a rental cabin owned by Gatlinburg Falls Resort.

Monday, April 11th
Man Jumps to Death From Space Needle in Gatlinburg, TN... is Decapitated
We were leaving work downtown and drove right past this nightmare scene. The road was completely taped off and there were police cars and ambulances everywhere. This was late afternoon, and there were hundreds of people, mostly families with kids walking the strip.

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) — The Gatlinburg Police Department says they received a call after 5:30 p.m. Monday reporting that someone had fallen from the Space Needle.

The street below the Space Needle was closed for hours.

Officers say a man in his late fifties jumped from the observation deck around 5:40 Monday night. Hundreds of people were nearby but police did not report that anyone else was hurt.

Typically, Local 8 News does not report on suicides, but because hundreds of people were impacted by what happened, it became necessary to report.

Jonny Bryant said, “It’s a pretty dramatic incident. You know, when I came into work today, I didn’t think I would see a body laying on the sidewalk and then, having to deal with that the rest of the night.”

At first everyone thought he had stripped naked before he jumped off the 342 foot tower, but the force of the impact literally blew his clothes off of him. There are some people claiming he was suicidal, others suggesting he was pushed.

From the comments in the link:

Mans name is David Ray Pinyan, he could have been pushe/helped over that railin. He was a know and convicted conartist haveing gained peoples trust claiming to be a Christian befriending them and then taking their money, hundreds of thousands of dollars. He knowingly targeted Christiains and I assume thats the only reason he was alive this long. He for sure took a cowards way out by jumping off the tower just thankful he didn't hurt anyone while doing his death leap. Good bye....

They have of course cleaned up the scene, but there still remains a big dent in the arcade's awning which has since been covered with a tarp.

Witnesses say the arcade building caught some of the man’s fall, and they’re thankful no one below was hurt.

The building caught the man's head... which then rolled down the hill into the street. Maybe no one was physically injured, but this grizzly event has certainly done some psychological damage to dozens of children. He landed directly in front of an open-air arcade in the middle of the day! Just unreal...

Where he jumped from, same day:

Anyone around this area can tell you it's been an incredibly ill-fated week out here. It sends a chill down my spine every time I see that space needle now... knowing I drove right by that. All of these happenings are so completely out of place in this otherwise serene and happy setting...

God bless all those effected, the wildlife, the families and the innocent bystanders.

Is that Dr. Who's Police Box in your first photo.

Bad things come in threes. You have had three.

Relax.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

Ah the power of three... it's power to become 6 and 9 and so forth especially.

I just hope this strange, morbid trend has passed. Of course, I do understand that terrible things happen all the time- all over the world- but this really is a lot in a short time... especially for this small area.

... and PS: the only calls that "phonebooth" can receive are those from Nature.

It does look like Dr Who 's box !! Lol....well you've had an accident ( helicopter malfunction ), accidental suicide ( the couple in a hot tub probably took some bad drugs while on vacation ), and a murder ( conman was pushed off space needle ) . ...not to mention 3 different elements ...fire, water , air.....I just had to throw the elements in there, being this is a conspiracy website ! .......but seriously, that's all horrible events for a small town. ..or any town ....Let's hope it's done for A long time.

a reply to: Meldionne1

Fire, Water, Air... and all in the Mountains! You've made a really interesting observation there.

Nice, I like the correlations

Kinda not really the point of the thread, I know, but about that murder theory, after reading up on David Ray Pinyan, it really does sound more like suicide. Maybe he did defraud people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but every news source I've checked said that he was only suspected of defrauding several investors out of a total amounting to several thousands of dollars. Twelve charges were brought against him and the prosecution accepted a plea deal for one count in 2012. He was issued a 10 year suspended sentence and 5 years probation on the condition that he make his investors whole over a certain period of time (don't know how much time.) I'm sure he could've been murdered, but if what was written is true, it makes more sense that he was having trouble putting together the scratch to keep himself out of prison, and maybe wasn't feeling up to doing the time.

Now, while the helicopter crash is probably the result of a mechanical error, how creepy would it be if all three incidences were a result of someone's suicide attempt?

a reply to: Burnitalldown
I agree, that suicide seems more likely. Thanks for posting the extra information as well.

The biggest correlation for me was my own proximity to all of it... actually witnessing two out of three myself, all in the same town. Crazy timing.

I'm still trying to find out if the pilot was someone I knew from Pigeon Forge who flew helicopters. My friend here thinks it might be.

A crazy week indeed, for such a relatively small place.
I've been taking note as I've spent a lot of time there on various vacations, extended and short. I don't live too far from there, matter of fact. A few hours drive.

The place has really been booming over the last decade, growing all the time.
I imagine the more people you put in one small place, the more you'll have stuff like this. Just a case of numbers, really.

The helicopter crash could have been a lot worse, that is for sure. That mall and the strip around it is always full of people and the street full of traffic with no where to run to, even if you saw it coming and had a chance to react (doubt it, but still...wouldn't really matter)

RIP to the dead. Hopefully it's the end of this "streak"......

Well if your going to string unrelated tragedies together into some sort of paranormal conspiracy thing then how did you miss the big obvious one?

From news WVLT: Gatlinburg TN, "Justin Shults and his wife Stephanie have been missing since the terror attacks in Brussels." Now confirmed killed in the attack.

They all knew something and are somehow related. Connect the dots...

or grasp at straws, whatever.

a reply to: Foundryman

I had no idea about Mr. and Mrs. Schults... and theirs is also terrible news. Thank you for bringing it up, but will you spare me the sarcasm?

...Unless you'd like to quote me where I've "[strung] unrelated tragedies together into some sort of paranormal conspiracy thing."

Which straws am I grasping at in my OP? The only way these events are related is by their locality and my own experience with them in said locality.

originally posted by: Jakal26
A crazy week indeed, for such a relatively small place.
I've been taking note as I've spent a lot of time there on various vacations, extended and short. I don't live too far from there, matter of fact. A few hours drive.

The place has really been booming over the last decade, growing all the time.
I imagine the more people you put in one small place, the more you'll have stuff like this. Just a case of numbers, really.

The helicopter crash could have been a lot worse, that is for sure. That mall and the strip around it is always full of people and the street full of traffic with no where to run to, even if you saw it coming and had a chance to react (doubt it, but still...wouldn't really matter)

RIP to the dead. Hopefully it's the end of this "streak"......

You've said what many others around here have been saying in one way or another: that it's a reflection on the influx of tourism to the area. The Smokys have been the most visited National park in the USA for a long time, but as the numbers keep on growing; so statistically will the cases like these, or so it seems to be.

One of my good friends poetically said that it's "Gatlinburg's karma" for being so crooked and corrupt coming around.

I don't know about that

a reply to: Aqualung2012

I'm sorry for your loss if in fact the pilot was a friend of yours.

Here is a video from WBIR (knox news) that may assist you in finding this out.

WBIR

Be safe while you're visiting!

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Thank's very much for the link

So the pilot's name was Jason Dahl then I guess... No, that's not the pilot we know. Definitely looks a lot like him though.

We will be in the area for a while longer, and we will most definitely be safe as we can be on our path.
Thank you TN

a reply to: Aqualung2012

You're more than welcome.
Happy for you that it wasn't your friend.

What types of adventures have you been on since being there?

I mean besides the space needle, crash site, etc.

The Smokies can be a fun and interesting place with some spooky stories and legends!

Perhaps you and your friend may be interested in some 411/Missing research?

a reply to: TNMockingbird

We have had quite a few nice adventures since we've been here. I actually lived here for several years a while back: doing a tattooing apprenticeship, and just had to come back, I love it here so much.

Sure, I would love some 411! This is absolutely a fascinating/spooky area and most of our trips are out on the trailheads. We'll be camping on the Appalachian Trail soon as it warms up a bit, but as far as historical/specific locations, we haven't even begun.

Yes please, feel free to PM me if you have any good suggestions.

a reply to: Aqualung2012

I doubt Karma because of innocents.

Karma doesn't work like that in my eyes. It is individual. A city really can't have a Karmatic revenge. It is more human if that makes sense...

If you believe in that kind of thing...

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
While driving home we noticed all this smoke billowing up from the Southern side of the mountains.

They don't call them the Smokey Mountains for nothin'.

a reply to: UnBreakable

That was my first thought: that it could be the famous "smokiness" that's natural here, but the more we looked, it was clearly a fire.

originally posted by: Aqualung2012
a reply to: UnBreakable

That was my first thought: that it could be the famous "smokiness" that's natural here, but the more we looked, it was clearly a fire.

Smokey Mountains are supposed be a hotbed for Bigfoot too, if you believe that sort of thing.

To Terminal1 as well as UnBreakable: A belief to me is dependent on mystery. I feel the same about Bigfoot as I do Karma in that way. I don't understand the way Karma could or couldn't unfold but I do believe there are much greater interconnections with our actions. Nor have I ever seen a Bigfoot, yet I believe it's more than possible they exist on Earth. Same with curses and synchronicity, etc... I believe in all of these things in that respect.

...But do I actually believe Gatlinburg has a curse playing out or bad Karma? No, but maybe there's reason I've been made aware of all these things. No idea.