On November 4, 1989, 22-year-old Eloise Lindsay set out on a solo backpacking trip. She departed from Table Rock State Park in Pickens County, South Carolina enroute to the popular Foothills Trail.

Four days after starting the trek, Eloise heard men talking in the woods. Their voices carried through walkie talkies, and she believed they were discussing her. She claimed the men made “vague statements” and referred to a woman walking ahead of them. Fear quickly took over, and Eloise dropped her backpack and ran deep into the backcountry.

“I could tell there was no good intent involved,” she later told reporters.

Eloise spent almost two weeks in the wilderness, surviving on doughnuts and pound cake she found in a bag hanging from a tree. She avoided building a fire because she was afraid to reveal her location to the mysterious men. During heavy rain, Eloise sheltered under a burned-out truck.

Two weeks after she began her trip, a deer hunter found Eloise alive. She had blisters, bruises, and infections from her time in the forest but was otherwise unharmed.

Authorities searched the area and found no sign of pursuers. They believe Eloise encountered hunters or other hikers who meant her no harm. Yet Eloise insisted the men who pursued her had ill intent.

“I’m never going hiking again,” she said. “Never ever, ever.”

South Carolina’s Table Rock State Park has its share of mysteries. A young man named Jason Knapp vanished there in 1998. A camper named Stephanie Womacks disappeared in 2025. Both cases remain unsolved.

Sources:

Was She Paranoid or Prey?, November 22, 1989, The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, GA)

Hiker Said She Was Being Followed, November 22, 1989, Sun-News (Myrtle Beach, SC)