Whiskey Jim

Whiskey Jim was a person who was at the center of a variety of disappearances in the Appalachian mountains during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Early Sightings and Initial Search
Whiskey Jim was first sighted sometime in the 1760s by various farmers and settlers in the Eastern Tennessee area, who would catch glimpses of him standing in the distance in the early hours of the morning. The few who would attempt to follow him would vanish, and any other attempts to communicate with him failed. As the number of disappearances involving him increased, a group of men from around the region decided to bring him to justice under the assumption that he had murdered those who had gone missing. After a year long manhunt that resulted in no leads or further sightings, the group of men gave up their search.

Disappearance of the Murdoch Family
In 1805, residents of Asheville, North Carolina noticed that the Murdoch family, who were tobacco farmers, had not made contact with anyone in several months. A small group of trappers went out to their farm and discovered that they had completely vanished. Nothing from their home had been taken, and the only thing that seemed to be out of place was a chair in the kitchen which had been knocked over. Unsure as what to do, the small group split into smaller groups, one which would watch the home and one which would return into town and alert the authorities. During the night, the group that stayed on the Murdoch farm saw Whiskey Jim standing on the edges of the property.

The search for Whiskey Jim continued for many weeks, but it soon became apparent that many of the search teams were going missing as well, leading to the investigation being called off in fear.