Reports of black panthers have circulated through Texas for generations. From the Pineywoods to South Texas, people have described large, long-tailed black cats crossing roads, slipping through creek bottoms and appearing in places where conventional wildlife wisdom says they shouldn’t exist.
Most of these encounters leave little behind beyond a story. But occasionally a report comes from an experienced outdoorsman who gets a good enough look at the animal to make the account difficult to casually dismiss. My friend David Cleaver had one of those encounters, and what he describes sounds remarkably like one of the most impressive cats on Earth—a black jaguar.
Hear David’s complete firsthand account on the new Dark Outdoors® episode “Black Ghost: A Texas Jaguar Encounter” on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
David is a dedicated outdoorsman and hiker, and I consider him a highly reliable witness. His encounter wasn’t simply a fleeting glimpse of something dark disappearing into the brush. He describes a large black feline whose size, build and overall appearance didn’t match the animals normally encountered in Texas.
The possibility of a jaguar deserves consideration because jaguars aren’t strangers to Texas. They are part of our natural history and once occurred in the state. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department information lists the jaguar as endangered and considers it possibly extirpated in Texas, while acknowledging the possibility of a rare wandering animal arriving from Mexico.
That is a long way from saying jaguars are secretly breeding somewhere in Texas. There is no evidence of that. But an individual jaguar wandering into the state is biologically possible, and jaguars have continued to appear north of Mexico in the American Southwest.
But What About a Black Jaguar?
This is where David’s encounter becomes especially mysterious.
Black jaguars are real. Melanism can produce jaguars that appear almost completely black, although their characteristic rosette pattern can often still be seen under the right lighting.
There is a significant problem, however, with putting one in Texas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that melanistic jaguars have never been documented north of Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec. A black jaguar appearing in Texas would therefore be an extraordinary occurrence requiring extraordinary evidence.
So what are people seeing when they report black panthers in Texas?
There probably isn’t a single answer. Some sightings undoubtedly involve domestic cats, dogs, otters or other animals seen under poor conditions. Mountain lions can also appear extremely dark in certain light, although there is no scientifically documented population of truly black mountain lions.
But that doesn’t mean every report should automatically be discarded.
I’ve investigated unusual wildlife reports for years, and I’ve learned that the important questions are often simple ones: Who saw the animal? How close were they? How long did they see it? What characteristics could they clearly identify? And how experienced is the witness with wildlife?
David Cleaver’s encounter deserves to be considered in that light.
I can’t tell you that David saw a black jaguar. There is no photograph, DNA or other physical evidence that could prove what the animal was. But knowing David and hearing the details of his encounter, I believe he saw something extraordinary.
And considering that jaguars once roamed Texas, the possibility of an occasional big cat appearing where we least expect it is a mystery worth investigating.
I can’t tell you that David saw a black jaguar. There is no photograph, DNA or other physical evidence that could prove what the animal was. But knowing David and hearing the details of his encounter, I believe he saw something extraordinary.
Jaguars once roamed Texas. Whether one of their darkest forms could ever return is another question entirely.
For now, the black ghost remains just that—a mystery.
Chester Moore
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Most people walk into parks, trails and open country looking for something positive.
Maybe it’s a few miles of exercise, a chance to photograph wildlife or simply an opportunity to get away from traffic and noise. Hikers look for overlooks. Hunters notice tracks. Birders watch the trees. Those of us who have spent our lives outdoors develop a habit of looking at the ground for tracks, sheds, feathers and anything else that catches our attention.
Christine Ross was simply walking her dog, Ruca, across Albuquerque’s West Mesa on Feb. 2, 2009, when something caught her attention.
It was a bone protruding from an earthen trail.
Ross photographed it and sent the image to her sister, a registered nurse, who thought it looked like a human femur. Ross contacted the Albuquerque Police Department, and investigators soon confirmed the bone was human.
Then they started searching.
Police searching at the site.
What they eventually uncovered was almost incomprehensible. The skeletal remains of 11 women and an unborn child had been buried in makeshift graves across the mesa.
An ordinary walk outdoors had led directly into what became the largest crime scene in Albuquerque history.
For anyone who hikes, camps, hunts, fishes or explores remote country, there is something particularly disturbing about that.
When a Trail Becomes a Crime Scene
I’ve spent much of my life exploring places most people would consider remote, and one of the things I’ve learned is that wild and undeveloped landscapes can conceal things remarkably well.
Anyone who has tried to follow a blood trail through thick brush understands how quickly something can disappear. Hunters sometimes walk within yards of a downed deer without seeing it. A backpack dropped into thick vegetation can vanish from sight. An abandoned vehicle can sit surprisingly close to a road while trees and brush make it almost invisible.
Now imagine what time can do.
Vegetation grows. Rain moves soil. Wind changes exposed ground. Animals disturb objects and remains. Trails appear and disappear. Development changes access to places that were once isolated.
The outdoors doesn’t care whether something is evidence.
It simply keeps changing.
That’s one reason wilderness and undeveloped areas can become incredibly difficult crime scenes. A person can disappear into country that doesn’t look particularly intimidating on a map and become extraordinarily difficult to locate.
The West Mesa case demonstrates that in the darkest possible way.
They Were Beneath the Landscape
The remains discovered during the West Mesa investigation belonged to Monica Candelaria, Victoria Chavez, Virginia Cloven, Syllannia Edwards, Cinnamon Elks, Doreen Marquez, Julie Nieto, Veronica Romero, Evelyn Salazar, Michelle Valdez and Jamie Barela. Valdez was pregnant, and the remains of her unborn child were recovered with her.
Two of the victims, Syllannia Edwards and Jamie Barela, were only 15 years old.
These women had disappeared years before Christine Ross walked across the mesa with Ruca. Police believe their deaths were homicides, but the person responsible has never been identified.
That means people had undoubtedly passed through the broader landscape without realizing what was there.
I find that aspect of the case almost as disturbing as the discovery itself.
We tend to think that if something terrible happened near a trail, park or outdoor recreation area, somebody would notice. Surely a hiker would see something. Maybe a hunter would stumble across evidence or someone walking a dog would smell or notice something unusual.
Sometimes that happens.
Sometimes it takes years.
Why Remote Places Attract More Than Outdoorsmen
Isolation is one of the things we seek when we go outdoors.
It’s why people backpack into wilderness areas instead of walking around city blocks. It’s why hunters travel deep into national forests and why fishermen launch boats into places where they won’t see another person all morning.
We want solitude.
Unfortunately, there are people who seek isolation for very different reasons.
I’ve written before about the importance of paying attention to unusual human activity in remote country. I once stumbled into an area associated with a meth lab, and that experience permanently changed the way I view certain signs in the woods.
The overwhelming majority of people you encounter outdoors are simply doing the same thing you are. They’re hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, working or enjoying the land.
But criminals understand geography, too.
A secluded road can provide privacy. An isolated trail means fewer witnesses. Undeveloped property can offer places where vehicles aren’t immediately noticed. Deserts, forests and swamps can conceal evidence in ways an urban environment cannot.
That’s not a reason to be frightened every time you enter the woods.
It’s a reason to pay attention.
Hikers Find Things
There’s an interesting reality surrounding outdoor recreation that doesn’t receive much attention.
Hikers, hunters, fishermen and other outdoorsmen sometimes become accidental evidence finders.
Think about where we go.
Hunters deliberately leave established trails and move through brush where most people never walk. Shed hunters spend hours staring at the ground searching for pieces of bone. Anglers follow creeks into isolated areas. Wildlife photographers explore places where animals concentrate. Hikers investigate old trails, overlooks and forgotten roads.
We’re looking at places other people aren’t.
That’s why outdoorsmen occasionally discover abandoned vehicles, clothing, weapons, personal belongings and human remains associated with missing-person and criminal investigations.
Most of the bones you find outdoors will obviously belong to wildlife. Deer remains are common in many areas. So are hogs, livestock and countless smaller animals.
But every once in a while, someone realizes the bone they’re looking at doesn’t belong to an animal.
At that point, everything changes.
Don’t Become the Investigator
If you ever encounter something outdoors that you genuinely believe could be human remains, your job isn’t to solve the mystery.
Don’t start collecting bones.
Don’t rearrange objects so you can photograph them better. Don’t search pockets, move clothing or start digging to see whether anything else is underneath.
Leave the scene as you found it and contact law enforcement.
There are several reasons for this.
First, you may be looking at a crime scene. Objects that appear completely insignificant could have evidentiary value investigators understand better than you do.
Second, where something is located can matter as much as the object itself. Moving evidence destroys information about its original position.
And finally, you don’t know what happened there.
An isolated set of remains could belong to someone who became lost or suffered a medical emergency. It could be a suicide, accident or homicide. Until investigators determine what occurred, treating the location carefully protects both the investigation and the person whose remains you’ve discovered.
Take note of where you are so authorities can find the location, back away and make the call from somewhere safe.
What Else Is Still Out There?
The West Mesa case contains another element that should interest anyone who spends time in wild or undeveloped country.
Investigators have identified additional missing women they believe could potentially be connected to the case.
That raises an obvious and unsettling question.
Could there be another burial site?
Police have conducted searches in other areas during the years since the original discovery, but the murders remain unsolved.
That’s one of the harsh realities of missing-person investigations involving outdoor environments. Searchers can cover enormous areas and still miss something.
I’ve participated in enough outdoor activities to understand how deceptive terrain can be. You can look across an open area and think you can see everything, but depressions, vegetation and changes in elevation create countless blind spots.
Put the same problem into thick timber, mountainous terrain or swamp and the difficulty increases dramatically.
Searching isn’t simply walking through an area and looking around.
Sometimes what you’re searching for is only feet away and still invisible.
A Dog Found What Everyone Else Had Missed
That’s why I keep coming back to Ruca.
A dog walking across the mesa noticed something protruding from the ground.
That one discovery changed everything.
Had Christine Ross taken another route that day, someone else might eventually have found the remains. Development might have exposed them. Weather could have uncovered additional evidence.
But we don’t know when that would have happened.
A memorial to the women of West Mesa.
The landscape had already concealed the victims for years.
Today, the burial area has been transformed. Albuquerque dedicated Women’s Memorial Park there in 2020, creating a place that remembers the women whose remains were discovered beneath the mesa.
Their names deserve to be remembered: Monica Candelaria, Victoria Chavez, Virginia Cloven, Syllannia Edwards, Cinnamon Elks, Doreen Marquez, Julie Nieto, Veronica Romero, Evelyn Salazar, Michelle Valdez and Jamie Barela.
They weren’t simply part of a famous crime scene.
They were people.
Remember This the Next Time You’re on a Trail
I don’t tell stories like West Mesa to make people afraid of parks, trails or wild places.
Quite the opposite. I’ve devoted my life to getting people outdoors.
But I also believe outdoorsmen should understand the environments we enter, including the darker possibilities.
Pay attention to what you see.
If you encounter an abandoned pack in an unusual location, don’t immediately start rummaging through it. If you find clothing or personal belongings scattered somewhere that doesn’t make sense, remember the location. If you discover something that could be human remains, don’t disturb it.
And if you encounter human activity in remote country that seems completely inconsistent with the location, there’s nothing wrong with turning around.
Most strange things we encounter outdoors have innocent explanations. Most bones belong to animals. Most abandoned objects are simply trash somebody should have carried out.
But “most” isn’t “all.”
On Feb. 2, 2009, Christine Ross went outside with her dog for a walk.
Ruca found a bone.
Police eventually found 11 women and an unborn child.
It’s difficult to imagine a darker reminder that sometimes the landscape beneath our hiking boots contains stories we cannot see.
Chester Moore
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Before heading into the Missouri Ozarks for a story, someone familiar with the area gave me a warning I wasn’t expecting. They told me there was something unusual I needed to watch out for in the woods: Bald Knobbers.
I knew the name, but certainly not that version of it. The only Baldknobbers I knew were the famously silly country music and comedy entertainers associated with Branson. But the person who warned me described something much darker—secretive gatherings, strange regalia and people you supposedly didn’t want to encounter in remote areas. I have found no credible evidence that an organized Bald Knobber group exists in Missouri today, but the person had previously given me surprisingly accurate information about secretive organizations. That was enough to send me down the rabbit hole.
I recently explored that warning, the real history of the Bald Knobbers and some of my own experiences with strange gatherings in remote places in a new episode of the Dark Outdoors podcast, “They Warned Me About the Bald Knobbers.”
What I discovered while researching the episode was stranger than the warning itself because the real Bald Knobbers were not folklore.
Secret Meetings in the Ozarks
The Bald Knobbers emerged in southwest Missouri during the 1880s, when parts of the Ozarks were struggling with crime, violence and divisions that remained after the Civil War. The original Taney County movement organized under Nat Kinney and presented itself as an answer to lawlessness.
Their name came from the bald knobs of the Ozarks, including the kind of isolated elevated country where the organization gathered. Snapp’s Bald, north of Kirbyville, is identified as the location of an early meeting.
That outdoor connection immediately interested me.
Historical Bald Knobber photo
Long before someone warned me about people supposedly using Bald Knobber imagery in modern Missouri, real men were gathering secretly in remote Ozarks country.
Whatever motivations existed at the beginning, vigilantism went into very dark territory. The Bald Knobber movement became associated with intimidation and violence, and the Missouri State Archives records Bald Knobber vigilantism that included men being taken from jail and hanged from a tree along Swan Creek.
Then the movement spread.
The Masks
The image most people now associate with the Bald Knobbers largely comes from the Christian County faction.
These men took the imagery to another level. The Missouri State Archives notes that Christian County Bald Knobbers used initiation rites and esoteric signs and wore what were described as hideous masks.
And hideous is an appropriate word.
The surviving imagery depicts dark head coverings with grotesque faces and horns projecting upward. They look more like props from a horror movie than something worn by actual men in nineteenth-century Missouri.
But men really wore them.
Imagine being in an isolated part of the Ozarks after dark and seeing several figures wearing those masks coming toward you. There is nothing paranormal about that scenario. That’s what makes it disturbing.
Strange People in the Woods
This is where the Bald Knobber story intersects with something I’ve investigated repeatedly with Dark Outdoors.
I’ve received accounts of people encountering strangely dressed individuals in remote outdoor locations. Some involve hooded figures. Others involve fires, ceremonies or gatherings that witnesses interpreted as occult activity.
The obvious temptation is to immediately attach a supernatural explanation to these encounters.
History tells us to be careful about doing that.
People have been putting on masks, robes and hoods and gathering away from public view for a very long time.
When my wife and I were first dating and I was still in high school, we were driving down a dark road when we saw what initially appeared to be the woods on fire. As we got closer, we realized what we were actually seeing.
A group of Ku Klux Klansmen was gathered around a burning cross.
We got out of there.
It was frightening, but there was nothing supernatural about it. We had simply driven upon a group of people conducting something they obviously weren’t doing in the middle of town in broad daylight.
That experience has stayed with me when investigating reports of unusual human activity in the outdoors.
The Hood Isn’t Always White
There’s another strange wrinkle involving Klan regalia that illustrates how difficult interpreting these encounters can be.
Most Americans immediately associate the Ku Klux Klan with white robes and pointed white hoods. Historically, however, Klan organizations have also used different-colored robes and markings to signify leadership positions and other roles.
Green, black, purple and other colors have appeared in Klan regalia.
Imagine encountering several people wearing green robes and pointed hoods in the woods without knowing any of that history. What would you think you had encountered?
A cult?
An occult ceremony?
Some strange secret society?
That’s one of the reasons eyewitness accounts of strangely dressed people need to be examined carefully. A witness can accurately describe what they saw while being completely wrong about what it represented.
Old Symbols, New People
This brings me back to the Bald Knobbers.
I found no credible evidence that the nineteenth-century organization somehow survived intact into modern Missouri. I’m not making that claim.
But organizations, subcultures and individuals borrow imagery from the past constantly.
We’ve examined this while investigating reports for Dark Outdoors involving hooded figures and alleged ritual activity. Elements associated with occult movements, fraternal organizations, ancient religious traditions and modern groups sometimes overlap visually without those organizations having any actual relationship to one another.
A robe is a robe. A hood is a hood. A mask is a mask.
The meaning comes from the people wearing it.
So could someone today acquire or manufacture a Bald Knobber-style mask and wear it in the Missouri woods?
Certainly.
Would that make them a Bald Knobber?
No.
But imagine being the person who encounters them.
From Vigilantes to Branson
The other remarkable part of this story is how dramatically the Bald Knobber name changed.
In 1959, the Mabe brothers began performing music and comedy for visitors to Branson. They eventually adopted the Baldknobbers name and deliberately took it in a positive direction, using a piece of Ozarks history as the identity for an entertainment act.
The Baldknobbers helped establish the live entertainment formula that became synonymous with Branson.
That’s the version I knew.
For most of my life, if someone said “Baldknobbers,” I thought of goofy comedy and country music.
Now I think about something else entirely.
What Would You Do?
I still don’t know what was behind the warning I received before heading into the Ozarks.
Maybe it was simply regional folklore that survived long after the original Bald Knobbers disappeared. Maybe somebody had seen people borrowing the imagery. Maybe stories have been repeated and embellished for generations.
I can’t prove otherwise.
But I also know that strange human activity in remote places isn’t something invented for horror movies or paranormal podcasts. History is filled with secret meetings, masked vigilantes, clandestine ceremonies and people deliberately choosing isolated locations where they believed nobody else would see what they were doing.
I’ve unexpectedly encountered something like that myself.
That’s why if I’m walking through the Missouri woods someday and see a black horned mask staring back at me from between the trees, I’m not going to stick around and ask whether the person wearing it can document his historical connection to the Bald Knobbers.
Some mysteries are better investigated from a distance.
The New World screwworm doesn’t simply feed on something that’s already dead. Its larvae invade wounds and feed on the living flesh of warm-blooded animals.
That disturbing fact is part of what made the parasite such a nightmare for American ranchers and wildlife managers before it was eradicated from the United States decades ago. Now, in 2026, New World screwworm has returned to the U.S. mainland, and the battle to stop it has taken on new urgency.
But what if one of the next weapons against this flesh-eating parasite isn’t simply more traps, treatments or sterile flies?
What if it’s genetics?
That’s the subject of Episode 80 of the Dark Outdoors podcast, featuring a conversation between Chester Moore and Matt James of Colossal Biosciences about the potential for advanced genetic technologies to become part of the fight against New World screwworm.
For generations, one of the most effective weapons against New World screwworm has been the sterile insect technique.
Enormous numbers of sterile male flies are produced and released into areas where the parasite is present. Females that mate with those sterile males produce no viable offspring, allowing authorities to suppress the population.
It was an extraordinary biological weapon against an extraordinary parasite, and sterile insect releases remain central to the fight today.
But biotechnology has advanced dramatically since the original screwworm eradication campaign.
Colossal Biosciences has publicly discussed the potential for genetic biocontrol and gene-drive technology to be applied to New World screwworm. Instead of relying exclusively on repeated releases of sterile flies, advanced genetic techniques could potentially introduce traits designed to interfere with reproduction and spread those traits through a population.
That possibility is at the center of Moore’s conversation with James.
The discussion examines what these emerging technologies might mean, how genetics could potentially complement existing eradication methods and where the science could go from here.
Wildlife Could Pay the Price
This parasite is often discussed as a livestock problem, but cattle aren’t the only animals at risk.
New World screwworm can infest warm-blooded animals when female flies lay eggs in wounds. That puts wildlife in a particularly difficult position because wild animals can’t be routinely inspected the way livestock can.
A deer injured while fighting, a wild sheep wounded on the landscape or another animal suffering even a relatively small injury could potentially become infested.
The United States has already seen what screwworm can do to wildlife.
When New World screwworm appeared in the Florida Keys in 2016, endangered Key deer were hit hard. That outbreak remains an important warning about what can happen when the parasite reaches a vulnerable wildlife population.
The return of screwworm to the U.S. mainland makes the development of every effective control tool worth watching.
Genetics and the Future of Conservation
The larger question explored in Episode 80 goes beyond screwworm.
Modern biotechnology is creating possibilities for wildlife conservation that would have sounded like science fiction not long ago. Scientists are exploring genetics as a way to preserve endangered species, restore genetic diversity and address biological threats.
Screwworm turns that idea around.
Could some of the same rapidly advancing genetic technologies being considered to help wildlife also be used against an organism capable of devastating wildlife and livestock?
There are enormous scientific and ecological questions surrounding these technologies, and no single approach replaces the proven methods already being used against this parasite.
But the possibilities are fascinating.
The New World screwworm is back.
Could genetics help send it away again?
Listen to Dark Outdoors Episode 80: “Can Genetics Stop the Screwworm? A New Weapon Against a Flesh-Eating Parasite” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Related Dark Outdoors Screwworm Coverage
New World Screwworm Resource Center Follow Dark Outdoors’ continuing coverage of the screwworm threat, wildlife implications, interviews and new developments.
Texas Faces Screwworm. The Key Deer Did 10 Years Ago Chester Moore talks with Dr. Roel Lopez about the devastating 2016 Key deer outbreak and what that experience could teach us about protecting wildlife today.
Flesh-Eating Screwworm Is A Huge Threat — And It’s Back In America Legendary wildlife biologist Larry Weishuhn discusses his firsthand experience with screwworm and why the parasite’s return deserves serious attention.
Dark Outdoors investigates terrifying encounters, unsolved mysteries, true crime and dangerous wildlife.
Hosted by award-winning wildlife journalist Chester Moore, the podcast explores the stories, threats and mysteries found where people and the wild intersect.
Because the outdoors has a dark side.
Chester Moore
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There are certain things you expect to find when you get deep into wild country. Game trails winding through timber are normal, as are tracks from hunters, hikers and fishermen in places where people have legitimate reasons to travel. An old logging road cutting through a forest or ATV tracks on public land aren’t automatically anything to worry about.
But sometimes the amount of human activity doesn’t match the location, and that’s when I start paying attention.
One of the most important outdoor safety lessons I can give anyone who spends time hiking, hunting, fishing, photographing wildlife or exploring remote country is to notice human sign that doesn’t make sense. If you’re miles from where you would expect much activity and suddenly encounter heavily worn footpaths, repeated tire or ATV tracks, unusual amounts of trash or makeshift camps in strange locations, don’t automatically assume you’ve discovered an interesting place to explore. There might be a perfectly innocent explanation, but sometimes the smartest move you can make outdoors is turning around.
I’ve learned that firsthand. Years ago, I was exploring an area when I began noticing things that didn’t fit. There was too much evidence of people for the location, and eventually I found out why. I had stumbled into an area associated with a meth lab.
That experience permanently changed the way I look at human sign in isolated places. Wildlife gets most of the attention when outdoor danger is discussed, but I’ve spent decades investigating dangerous wildlife encounters and strange situations in the woods, and some of the circumstances that concern me most involve people. A bear generally has a reason for what it does, and so does a venomous snake. A criminal who believes you’ve discovered something you weren’t supposed to see introduces an entirely different kind of danger.
When Human Sign Doesn’t Fit
People who learn tracking are usually taught to look for wildlife sign. Tracks, scat, rubs, beds and feeding activity can reveal an incredible amount about what animals are doing in an area, but I think outdoorsmen should learn to read human sign as well.
Context is everything. A well-used trail half a mile from a popular campground isn’t unusual, and tire tracks around a hunting lease during deer season aren’t mysterious. Beer cans around an easily accessible fishing hole might be disgusting, but they’re unfortunately not surprising. The situation changes when you’re deep in an isolated area where the amount or type of activity seems completely out of proportion with the surroundings.
Maybe you’re following an obscure trail and discover another path that looks far more heavily traveled than anything around it. Perhaps repeated vehicle tracks lead somewhere that doesn’t appear to have any recreational reason for traffic. You might find discarded supplies, unusual camps or other evidence suggesting people are spending substantial amounts of time in a place where you wouldn’t expect anyone to be.
None of those things automatically means criminal activity is occurring, and that’s important to remember. There can be perfectly innocent explanations for unusual activity in the woods, and you shouldn’t convince yourself that every piece of trash or tire track belongs to some criminal operation. At the same time, you aren’t obligated to satisfy your curiosity and find out what’s at the end of every strange trail.
That’s probably the biggest lesson I took from my own experience. When something doesn’t feel right, you don’t win anything by discovering exactly what’s happening.
You Don’t Need to Investigate
There is a natural tendency among outdoorsmen to explore. That’s part of why we’re out there in the first place. We want to know what’s over the next ridge, where an old logging road goes or what is around the next bend in a creek. I’ve built much of my career around that same curiosity.
But there are times when curiosity can get you into serious trouble.
If you encounter something that genuinely causes you to suspect illegal activity in a remote location, create distance and get out. You don’t need photographs, you don’t need to walk another hundred yards to see where the trail goes, and you certainly don’t need to confront anyone. Once you’re somewhere safe, authorities can determine whether what you saw deserves investigation.
Illegal activity in wild places isn’t limited to one thing. Over the years, law enforcement agencies have encountered clandestine drug operations, illegal marijuana grows, smuggling activity, stolen property and other criminal enterprises in isolated outdoor areas. Remote country provides exactly what criminals sometimes want: fewer witnesses and less chance of somebody accidentally wandering through.
The problem is that outdoorsmen do wander through. Hunters follow game, anglers explore creeks, wildlife photographers move off established routes looking for animals and hikers wonder where old trails lead. That sense of exploration is one of the things I love most about the outdoors, but it also means we can accidentally enter places where someone desperately doesn’t want visitors.
The Dark Side of Illegal Grows
Illegal growing operations provide a particularly disturbing example.
The marijuana landscape has changed dramatically in America, but legalization in various states did not make illegal grows disappear. Unauthorized cultivation has continued on public and private lands, and some operations have been associated with organized criminal activity. These sites can also have serious environmental consequences involving habitat destruction, trash, water diversion and chemicals that threaten wildlife and waterways.
For the person who accidentally discovers one, however, the immediate concern is much simpler: Who is protecting it?
I’ve collected frightening accounts involving people who encountered growing operations or suspicious activity in remote country. One of the areas that inevitably comes up in discussions of this subject is Northern California’s so-called “Murder Mountain” region, which became internationally known through the Netflix documentary series examining disappearances, crime and the underground marijuana economy surrounding Humboldt County.
One of the stories we’ve discussed through Dark Outdoors involves an encounter near that infamous region. Another account involved something that sounds like it came straight out of a horror movie—a trained dog being sent after a hiker who had discovered a growing area.
Think about how quickly the normal rules of outdoor safety change in that situation. You’re hiking through the woods, realize you’ve walked into someplace you probably shouldn’t be and suddenly your concern isn’t a mountain lion, bear or rattlesnake. It’s a dog being deliberately used against you by another human being.
That is an entirely different category of outdoor threat.
Sometimes People Are the Biggest Danger
A major part of what I do with Dark Outdoors involves examining the things that can go wrong beyond the pavement. Some of those stories involve wildlife, and I’ve investigated animal attacks and encounters with bears, sharks, big cats, venomous animals and other creatures capable of seriously injuring or killing a person.
I respect those threats, but wildlife behavior often has patterns we can learn. We can study bear behavior and understand circumstances that increase the potential for conflict. We can learn where venomous snakes are likely to be encountered. We can study how mountain lions hunt and what might cause one to behave unusually around people. Knowledge doesn’t eliminate danger, but it gives us tools for reducing risk.
Human beings are harder to predict.
Someone protecting an illegal operation might be frightened you’re going to report them. They might be under the influence of drugs. They might be armed, desperate, paranoid or violent, and you have no way of knowing what you’re dealing with.
That’s why recognizing the situation before you walk into the middle of it matters so much.
Read the Country Around You
I believe strongly in situational awareness outdoors. That means occasionally stopping and actually looking at what’s around you instead of moving constantly toward your destination.
Ask yourself what has changed. Are you suddenly seeing more human tracks? Is there vehicle traffic where you wouldn’t expect it? Has a barely visible trail become heavily worn? Are there signs people are staying in an isolated area for extended periods? Does something simply seem out of place?
None of these observations should turn you into a paranoid wreck every time you go into the woods. Millions of people enjoy America’s wild places without encountering anything remotely like an illegal operation. The point isn’t to be afraid of every footprint you find. The point is to remain aware of your surroundings and recognize when the evidence around you doesn’t fit the location.
Outdoorsmen already use this kind of thinking constantly. A deer hunter notices a fresh scrape and starts considering how recently a buck passed through. A fisherman sees nervous bait along a shoreline and starts looking for predators. A turkey hunter finds tracks crossing a road and knows birds are using the area. A wildlife photographer hears alarm calls and realizes something has disturbed the animals nearby.
We recognize patterns because patterns tell us what’s happening around us. Human patterns deserve the same attention.
Don’t Let Curiosity Make the Decision
I understand the temptation to investigate something strange better than most. My career has been built around asking questions, investigating wildlife mysteries, following unusual reports and going places where interesting things have happened. Dark Outdoors itself exists partly because I’m fascinated by the things that happen beyond the edges of normal civilization.
But there is a difference between investigating a story and blindly walking into a potentially dangerous situation.
If you’re alone in remote country and discover convincing signs that something illegal might be occurring, you aren’t law enforcement and you aren’t obligated to solve the mystery. Back out the way you came if that’s the safest route, avoid confrontation and don’t announce your presence. Don’t handle suspicious materials or enter structures simply to see what’s inside. Once you’re safely away, provide authorities with whatever useful information you can remember about the location and what you observed.
There is no discovery or story worth getting hurt over, and there is certainly no reason to risk a confrontation simply because you want to know what’s at the end of a trail.
The Trail That Doesn’t Belong
I still love finding obscure trails. There is something irresistible about an old path disappearing into timber or a forgotten road cutting through country that looks like it hasn’t changed in decades. Those places are part of what makes exploring the outdoors special.
My experience stumbling into an area associated with a meth lab, however, taught me something I’ll never forget. Not every trail is there for hikers, not every camp belongs to hunters and not everyone who chooses an isolated location wants to be found.
So when you’re deep in remote country and the amount of human activity suddenly doesn’t match the surroundings, pay attention before allowing curiosity to pull you farther down the trail. Sometimes the most important sign in the woods isn’t a bear track, mountain lion print or the impression of a big snake crossing the trail.
It might be a human footprint in a place where you weren’t expecting to find one.
Dark Outdoors investigates terrifying encounters, unsolved mysteries, true crime and dangerous wildlife. Hear more accounts involving illegal operations and other frightening encounters from the backcountry at https://linktr.ee/darkoutdoorspodcast.
Because the outdoors has a dark side.
Chester Moore
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For decades, people along the Texas coast reported seeing strange, wolf-like animals roaming the beaches and marshes of Galveston Island. Most dismissed the sightings as coyotes.
They were only partially right.
In this episode of Dark Outdoors®, Chester Moore investigates one of the most remarkable wildlife mysteries in America and explores how it unexpectedly intersects with one of the biggest scientific stories of our time: de-extinction.
Listen to the Episode
Want to hear the full conversation about dire wolves, de-extinction, and the science and ethics surrounding Colossal Biosciences’ controversial project? Listen on your favorite platform:
From the groundbreaking work of Colossal Biosciences and the renewed public fascination with the dire wolf to the incredible discovery of the “Ghost Wolves” of Galveston Island—wild canids carrying rare red wolf ancestry thought to have been largely lost—this episode examines the science, the mystery, and the conservation implications behind these extraordinary animals.
How did these wolf-like canids survive unnoticed for so long?
Could their genetics help recover one of North America’s most endangered predators?
And what does the growing field of de-extinction mean for the future of wildlife conservation?
Join Chester as he separates myth from reality while exploring a story where eyewitness reports, cutting-edge genetics, and conservation collide in ways few could have imagined.
In This Episode:
The science behind de-extinction
Colossal Biosciences amazing dire wolf project
The mystery of Galveston’s Ghost Wolves
Red wolf genetics and hybridization
How local sightings led to a remarkable scientific discovery
What this means for the future of wildlife conservation
Sometimes the greatest mysteries of the outdoors aren’t solved by folklore—they’re solved by science. And sometimes, that truth is even more remarkable than the legend.
Follow Dark Outdoors for more investigations into wildlife, true crime, conservation, history, and the unexplained—where the natural world meets mystery.
Chester Moore
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Anyone who spends enough time outdoors understands that reality. Mature whitetails alter their travel patterns when hunting pressure increases. Coyotes quickly learn to avoid traps and adapt to suburban neighborhoods, slipping through drainage ditches and greenbelts where few people ever notice them. Even mountain lions adjust their movements to avoid human activity while taking advantage of opportunities their prey never sees coming.
Human predators evolve as well.
That thought stayed with me after spending more than an hour talking with Daniel of the Drunk Turkey Show about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. In Part One of this series, we explored how the isolation of the Arizona desert may have worked to the advantage of whoever abducted her. The winding roads, sparse development, weak cellular coverage and dark-sky ordinances created an environment where someone familiar with the terrain could move with confidence while remaining remarkably difficult to detect.
Listen to “High-Tech Predator? The Nancy Guthrie Case – Part 2” here:
If you enjoy Dark Outdoors, please follow the show, leave a rating and review, and share this episode with someone who enjoys true crime, the outdoors, and investigative storytelling.
As our conversation continued, however, Daniel shifted the discussion in a different direction. His focus wasn’t simply on the landscape. He wondered whether the person responsible possessed something else that has become increasingly valuable to modern criminals: a sophisticated understanding of technology.
“I’ve been saying this for a minute that I think he’s very tech-savvy,” Daniel said during our interview. It wasn’t presented as a conclusion supported by investigators, but as an observation based on publicly known details surrounding the case and how the offender appeared to operate. That distinction matters. The goal isn’t to assign capabilities that law enforcement hasn’t confirmed. Instead, it’s to examine a broader question that extends far beyond one investigation.
Have violent predators begun evolving faster than many of us realize?
For generations, outdoorsmen learned to read physical sign. A fresh boot print crossing a sandy wash, broken mesquite limbs along a game trail or tire tracks disappearing onto an isolated ranch road could tell an experienced observer a remarkable story. Today’s investigators still read those clues, but they have also become students of an entirely different landscape. Cell phone records, GPS data, vehicle telematics, surveillance cameras, Bluetooth connections and cloud storage now reveal patterns that simply didn’t exist twenty years ago.
Ironically, the Nancy Guthrie investigation demonstrates that point. Publicly released evidence shows investigators were eventually able to recover valuable images from a doorbell camera that initially appeared inaccessible. Those recovered images, showing a masked individual outside the residence carrying a backpack, became one of the most important publicly released developments in the case. The recovery itself illustrates something every investigator understands: digital evidence often survives even when people believe it has disappeared.
That technological landscape works both ways.
It provides investigators with powerful tools, but it also gives offenders opportunities previous generations never possessed. Consumer drones can map remote terrain. Public satellite imagery allows anyone to examine neighborhoods from a computer. Social media often reveals routines, favorite hiking trails and even when someone is away from home. Fitness apps, geotagged photographs and online property records create an enormous amount of publicly available information that can be used for entirely legitimate purposes—or exploited by someone with criminal intent.
One of the more interesting moments in my conversation with Daniel involved the backpack visible in the recovered surveillance images. The FBI has publicly identified the apparent model in hopes someone recognizes it, but beyond that, little has been confirmed. Daniel discussed theories circulating among independent researchers about what someone operating in such an isolated environment might choose to carry, including the possibility of modern electronic equipment. There is no public evidence that investigators have concluded a drone or similar technology was used in this case, and it would be irresponsible to suggest otherwise. Still, the discussion highlights how dramatically the landscape has changed. Today’s offenders have access to equipment that once belonged exclusively to the military or specialized law enforcement units.
That reality shouldn’t create fear. It should encourage awareness.
One of the recurring themes throughout my work on Dark Outdoors is that the greatest dangers in wild places often don’t come from wildlife. They come from people willing to exploit those places. Hunters, anglers, hikers and campers routinely venture into areas where cell service is weak, neighbors are miles away and help may take precious minutes to arrive. Those same conditions that make the outdoors appealing can also provide opportunities for someone intent on doing harm.
One point Daniel and I agreed on throughout our conversation is that no amount of technology replaces awareness. Criminals may become more sophisticated, but so can the people who enjoy the outdoors. Hunters have always been observant by necessity. They notice a truck parked where one normally isn’t. They recognize fresh tire tracks on a lease road or an unfamiliar camp set up in a remote area. Anglers often remember the vehicle parked at the boat ramp before daylight or the person who seemed more interested in watching people than fishing.
Those instincts remain just as valuable today as they were decades ago.
Technology has undoubtedly changed the investigative landscape, but it hasn’t changed the importance of trusting your instincts. If something feels out of place, it probably deserves a second look. Avoid broadcasting your exact location in real time. Let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to return. Pay attention to people who appear to be conducting surveillance rather than enjoying the outdoors. None of those precautions are signs of paranoia. They’re simply extensions of the situational awareness outdoorsmen have practiced for generations.
The Nancy Guthrie investigation is still unfolding, and many of its most important facts remain known only to investigators. Neither Daniel nor I pretend to know exactly what happened that night. What our discussion ultimately revealed was something broader than one tragic case. Predators adapt. They study their environment. They learn from previous crimes. They take advantage of new tools when those tools provide an advantage.
The rest of us have to evolve, too.
Whether you’re hiking a desert trail, hunting a secluded lease in Texas or simply walking your dog along a wooded greenbelt, awareness remains your greatest defense. Hunters often say every animal leaves sign if you know how to read it. The same may be true of human predators. Today, however, those signs may be found not only in the dirt beneath our boots but also in the digital footprints left behind.
That may prove to be one of the most enduring lessons of the Nancy Guthrie case.
Chester Moore
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The first thing that caught my attention about the Nancy Guthrie case wasn’t that she disappeared.
Sadly, America sees missing person cases every day. Most never become national news. This one did because Guthrie is the mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. Like millions of Americans, I followed the headlines as investigators searched for answers. But as more information became public, it wasn’t the celebrity connection that kept drawing me back to the story.
It was the setting.
During one of the first media briefings, investigators mentioned the rugged desert surrounding Guthrie’s home. There was even discussion of mountain lions and coyotes. Having spent more than three decades covering wildlife and dangerous situations in the outdoors, that immediately struck me as odd. A mountain lion attack doesn’t simply erase someone. It leaves unmistakable evidence. From everything investigators were saying, it was obvious this was something entirely different.
Then I pulled up aerial maps of the neighborhood.
I found myself studying the winding roads, the homes backed against open desert and the natural terrain surrounding the community. Instead of looking at the case only through the lens of a missing person investigation, I began looking at the landscape itself. What advantages might it offer someone intent on committing a crime? What challenges would it create for investigators trying to reconstruct what happened?
Those questions led me to invite Daniel, host of the Drunk Turkey Show and a former law enforcement officer, to join me on Dark Outdoors. His program has closely followed the Guthrie investigation, and I wanted to hear his perspective on something that had been bothering me since I first saw the maps.
Listen to the Dark Outdoors® interview with Daniel from the Drunk Turkey Show:
Did the location itself help whoever committed this crime?
“I think it could have been an advantage to the person,” Daniel said. “The area definitely was an advantage to the guy.” He pointed to several factors that stood out immediately, including the neighborhood’s somewhat rural character, less-than-ideal cellular coverage and the darkness surrounding the community.
The Catalina Foothills community.
That answer immediately changed the direction of our conversation.
Most public discussions surrounding high-profile criminal investigations focus on suspects, motives or forensic evidence. Daniel instead focused on geography. Before talking about who might have committed the crime, he talked about why this particular place may have appealed to someone willing to commit it.
One aspect of the neighborhood especially caught his attention.
“They don’t have any corner lights,” Daniel said. “It’s super dark.”
He believes those conditions suggest whoever committed the crime may have possessed a familiarity with the area that extended beyond simply driving through it.
“That’s one of the things that makes me feel like the guy’s somewhat familiar with the area, whether that’s he’s from the area or he did a certain amount of surveillance in the area,” Daniel said.
That observation shouldn’t be confused with evidence identifying a suspect. Daniel wasn’t claiming investigators had reached that conclusion. He was explaining how experienced investigators often begin evaluating a crime scene. They study the environment. They look at access routes, visibility, lighting and how someone could move into and out of an area without attracting attention.
Listening to him reminded me of something I’ve noticed while reporting on outdoor-related crime over the last three decades.
Some of the most challenging investigations I’ve covered haven’t unfolded deep in the wilderness or in the middle of crowded cities. They’ve occurred in those places where neighborhoods blend into natural landscapes—desert communities, wooded subdivisions, greenbelts and trail systems where people seek peace, privacy and a connection with the outdoors. Most of those places are incredibly safe. But when someone with evil intentions understands the terrain better than everyone else, the landscape itself can become an advantage.
Daniel pointed to another factor that deserves consideration.
From what he understands, cellular coverage in portions of the area isn’t ideal. That, he said, could make it more difficult to narrow the location of devices or reconstruct movements during critical moments of the investigation. At the same time, he noted the neighborhood is not isolated wilderness. It contains numerous homes and regular vehicle traffic, making the investigative picture even more complicated.
That complexity is one reason the Guthrie case has remained so compelling. Cases like this remind us that modern investigations rarely depend on one piece of evidence. Instead, detectives assemble hundreds or even thousands of small details until they begin forming a clearer picture of what happened.
As our discussion continued, however, Daniel shifted away from geography and began talking about something that immediately caught my attention.
Technology.
Not technology used by investigators.
Technology that may have been understood—or even used—by whoever committed the crime.
That immediately made me think of another case that forever changed how many investigators look at modern offenders.
Bryan Kohberger.
The man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students wasn’t simply another homicide suspect. Prosecutors allege he attempted to minimize the digital trail surrounding the crime, altered his driving route afterward and possessed an academic interest in criminal investigations. Ultimately, investigators used a combination of DNA, surveillance footage and digital evidence to build the case against him.
Whether Kohberger intended it or not, that investigation demonstrated something important.
Today’s offenders aren’t just learning how to commit crimes.
Some appear to be learning how investigators solve them.
I asked Daniel whether he believed we may be witnessing a new generation of offenders—people who understand cameras, digital evidence and modern investigative techniques better than many criminals of the past.
His answer surprised me.
He said what first pushed him in that direction wasn’t one dramatic piece of evidence. It was a collection of small details that, when viewed together, painted a very different picture.
He pointed to a camera system that appeared to record activity before and after a critical period but not during it. He mentioned reports that multiple nearby homes experienced internet issues that night. He noted what he believed was an individual who appeared aware of where cameras were positioned and how they functioned. None of those observations establish what happened or identify a suspect, but together they caused him to begin looking at the case through a different lens.
As Daniel laid out his reasoning, I realized we were no longer discussing only the Nancy Guthrie investigation.
We were talking about whether violent offenders themselves may be evolving.
For decades, crime stories have often portrayed killers as impulsive or reckless. Increasingly, some investigators are confronting offenders who study forensic science, understand digital technology, research investigative procedures and attempt to anticipate how law enforcement will respond. Cases like Kohberger’s suggest that possibility is no longer theoretical.
Then Daniel made another observation that stopped me.
He believes there may be one more piece to the puzzle in the Guthrie case—one that could push this conversation even further into the modern age.
It wasn’t another witness.
It wasn’t DNA.
It wasn’t a cellphone.
It was the possibility that the person responsible may have understood technology in ways most people haven’t even considered.
That discussion led us into cameras, internet disruptions and one possibility that sounds more like something from a crime thriller than a real investigation.
A drone.
Next: Part Two — Cameras, Drones and the Rise of the High-Tech Predator.
Chester Moore
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When a shark attack occuted in the clear waters of the Caribbean, chaos erupted on the beach. Most people stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Registered nurse Chris Carroll made a decision few people ever would—he swam straight toward the victim, knowing the shark could still be nearby.
That incredible act of courage was the focus of Part 1 of this special Dark Outdoors interview. In Part 2: The Aftermath, Chris sits down with Chester Moore to reflect on what happened after the rescue attempt and how those unforgettable moments changed his life forever.
This isn’t another sensationalized shark attack story. It’s a powerful conversation about courage, compassion, faith, and the choices that define us when we’re faced with extraordinary circumstances.
Chris shares the emotional toll of the experience, what he learned about shark attacks from witnessing one firsthand, and why he believes ordinary people are capable of extraordinary acts when they choose to put someone else’s life ahead of their own.
If you’ve ever wondered what drives someone to run—or swim—toward danger instead of away from it, this is an episode you won’t soon forget.
If this episode sparked your interest in sharks and the reality behind these incredible apex predators, now is a great time to pick up my new book:
Gulf Great White Sharks: Unveiling the Mystery of Apex Predators in the Forgotten Sea
For decades, many people believed great white sharks were little more than occasional visitors to the Gulf of Mexico. The evidence tells a very different story.
Drawing on years of research, interviews with leading shark scientists, historical accounts, and modern tracking data, this is the first book ever written entirely about great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. It explores their history, the latest discoveries about their movements, fascinating encounters with fishermen and divers, and why these magnificent predators are reclaiming their place in Gulf waters.
Whether you’re a lifelong shark enthusiast, an angler, a conservationist, or simply fascinated by wildlife mysteries, this book offers an evidence-based look at one of the ocean’s most misunderstood animals.
For a limited time during Shark Week you’ll receive:
Please include your mailing address in the notes and don’t forget to sign up to join the Gulf Great White Shark Society. It’s free and this offer is for members-only.
Thank you for supporting Dark Outdoors and the Gulf Great White Shark Society. Every podcast listen, book purchase, and shared story helps us reach more people with evidence-based information about sharks, wildlife, conservation, and the incredible stories that unfold where people and the outdoors intersect.
Chester Moore
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A woman is screaming in the water. People on shore don’t know what to do. Then one man makes a decision few ever would—he swims toward the danger.
In this gripping first installment of a two-part Dark Outdoors interview, Chester Moore talks with registered nurse Chris Carroll, who found himself in the middle of a fatal tiger shark attack while vacationing in the Caribbean. What began as a relaxing day at the beach became a life-and-death emergency that tested his training, his instincts, and his courage.
Chris shares, in remarkable detail, the moment he realized he wasn’t responding to a drowning victim—but to someone who had just been attacked by a large shark. He recounts the terrifying swim, the rescue attempt, and the split-second decisions that unfolded in the water.
This is not a sensationalized shark attack story. It’s an honest conversation about courage, fear, and what drives someone to risk their own life to help another person.
In Part 1 you’ll hear:
Chris Carroll’s firsthand account of the attack and rescue attempt.
The moment he realized a shark was involved.
What was going through his mind as he swam toward the victim.
How his experience as a nurse prepared him for an unimaginable situation.
The lessons he learned from one of the most intense moments of his life.
If you’ve ever wondered how an ordinary person responds when confronted with extraordinary danger, this is an interview you won’t forget.
And if you’re a shark fan don’t forget to check out our episode of the Megalodon.
Listen to The Megalodon Mystery
Ready to investigate one of the ocean’s greatest mysteries? Listen to The Megalodon Mystery on your favorite podcast platform:
