It was September 9, 1870, and Truman Everts had become separated from the rest of his party in a dense pine forest in the heart of Yellowstone. He wasn’t too concerned at first, until the next morning when his pack horse ran off with all his supplies.
“I lost my blankets, gun, pistols, fishing tackle, matches—everything, except the clothing on my person, a couple of knives, and a small opera-glass,” Everts later wrote for the Scribner's Magazine.
Everts’ account of his 37 days of peril brought nationwide attention to Yellowstone and helped promote the campaign to make the region America’s first national park. But first, the erstwhile tax collector had to survive to tell his tale.
When he was found, mumbling to himself and emancipated, Everts insisted he had never gone insane as people assumed when they heard his story of ghostly apparitions. Everts said that his ghostly companions were very real and guided him to his rescue.
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