On July 2, 1983, eight-year-old Michael Reel vanished in Tennessee’s Roan Mountain State Park. He’d been camping with his family at the Twin Springs Picnic area when he wandered to the creek to fill a pan of water. Somewhere along the way, Michael got lost. His mother soon reported him missing.
Over the next few days, 1,500 volunteers searched for Michael. But even with helicopters and bloodhounds, the going was tough. Teams had to navigate around steep ravines, thick briar patches, and dense brush in the rugged wilderness. Cold rain and fog hampered efforts. So did confusing and conflicting reports from eye-witnesses.
Some tourists claimed they’d seen a boy matching Michael’s description darting in and out of rhododendrons at the top of Roan Mountain. This area was three to four miles from Michael’s campsite and a very steep climb. Others insisted they saw him in areas searchers had already scoured. Rumors spread that Michael was somehow appearing in two different places at the same time.
The search went on for several days with no sign of Michael. One week after his disappearance, when hope was all but gone, rescuers found Michael alive and well in a field less than two miles from the campground.
“He was just standing there,” rescuer Jimmy Doyle told reporters. “I said, ‘Who are you?’ and he said ‘Michael Reel.'”
Michael had been near the campground the entire time. Or had he?
Michael told Doyle he’d only been in the forest for 30 minutes. He also said he’d been lounging in a cabin with his grandfather. Park officials didn’t know of a cabin, and Michael’s grandfather certainly didn’t take him to one. Adding to the mystery, some reports say Michael looked far too clean for a child lost in the wilderness for several days. With no food or water, it’s a wonder he survived at all.
Some Roan Mountain locals wondered if the mountains had been ‘keeping’ Michael. In Appalachian folklore, the mountains sometimes seem to possess a mind of their own. At times, the wilderness ‘takes’ people by hiding them, confusing them, or changing their sense of direction and time. This theme appears in many Missing 411 tales.
Watch this video for a in-depth breakdown of Michael Reel’s disappearance.
Framed this way, the story of Michael Reel’s disappearance seems spooky and strange. How did an eight-year-old boy survive a week alone in the wilderness? Especially when temperatures dipped into the 40s overnight? Where was the mysterious cabin? Why did eye-witnesses spot him in seemingly improbable places?
Conflicting news reports are responsible for much of the mystery. Some articles said Michael disappeared at night, some said he disappeared in the afternoon. Some said he was fetching water when he went missing, some said he was shooting a BB gun. Some even wondered if Michael’s family was hiding the truth.
As for eye witnesses seeing Michael in two places at the same time, some were simply confused or mistaken. When it comes to the strange cabin story, authorities believe Michael hallucinated while in the forest and imagined the whole thing.
Despite all this, the mystery of Michael Reel’s Roan Mountain adventure lives on in Reddit threads, YouTube videos, blog articles, and forums.
Except there’s just one thing…
Michael himself, now 51-years-old, stepped forward three years to ago to share his story. And he says the mystery surrounding his disappearance is all a bunch of bull.
Hear the story from Michael Reel himself.
