Internet, I hate to obsess but here goes.
The body of 24-year-old Meredith Emerson was found last night, thanks to alert citizens in north Georgia and also to
Gary Michael Hilton, the man accused of kidnapping her. He led authorities to her body Monday.
This is one spooky-looking dude.
Click here for an update from 11 Alive News in Atlanta.
This is bothersome on several levels. The first is as someone who has hiked Blood Mountain many times (and, yes, alone). The second level is as a female. I knew exactly where she had parked her car. I know that trail really well. People say, "She shouldn't have gone off by herself." On the one hand, true, maybe she should have taken a friend. But a) that's hindsight and b) most of life involves such calculated risk. We drive our cars everyday. I drive through Atlanta--sometimes white-knuckled--everytime I go up to the same mountains. But we never ask of someone killed in a car wreck: "Was he driving by himself?" Operating a car seems to offer us this feeling of invincibility that hiking in the woods does not.
Is this case also similar to asking a female rape victim what she was wearing? There's some of that in people's comments, I'd say. But I also am very aware of the reality that women are more vulnerable to attack, especially from people bigger and stronger, and especially in the wilderness.
A third and perhaps deeper sadness over this story for me lies on a spiritual level. That particular mountain has been a getaway for me through the years. Hiking in the beauty of the Southern Appalachians does something for me, deeply, in which I re-connect and re-charge. Blood Mountain is such a place. It has been a place of prayer and musing. Almost holy ground.
You know what I mean if you do this too, or something similar.
Does this tragedy mean I'll never go there again, alone? I don't honestly know yet.
Thoughts?
3 comments:
Dear Allison, I can only imagine how this must feel for you. First of all, the killer is captured and surely will not be set free. But even so, maybe you should avoid that mountain for a while. The memories will be so awful. The other perspective is that we should do whatever we fear. I know you are capable of that, but I just don't see how it would help right now.
As for hiking alone, who knows? As women, we do face greater dangers. But we also have to live our lives. Think of things that would make you feel safer. A self-defense course, mace on your keychain, things like that. But I do think the hiker had some self-defense training. From what I've read, she was seen with the killer on two separate days. She probably thought he was harmless, or that she could control him. As we said yesterday, it is just tragic. I'm all too acquainted with fear--since early childhood, but I have often done things that other people considered dangerous. Not hiking, unfortunately, but going to places and dealing with people that were considered chancy. I know you've done those things, too. Just be careful, dear one.
thanks. I appreciate your kind words, as always. I do feel so conflicted about this, and things similar. What's foolhearty to one would be brave to another, etc. My neighbor said to me the other day: "She shouldn't have gone off by herself." I just kept my mouth shut!
Allison, I live just 40 minutes from the Byron Herbert Reece trailhead area. I have hiked there many times, with friends and alone. I *NEVER* felt unsafe...until now. I feel that Gary Michael Hilton has taken away from all of us that enjoys hiking there the absolute pleasure of just being there. I feel the same as you about Blood Mountain. It is a spiritual place...a place for recharging...a place of peace. My ancestors walked those lands centuries ago and in some ways I feel connected to them when I am there. Now, this fear has come over me and I can't shake it...not yet anyway. *sigh* Is nothing safe anymore?
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