Identified! TN - Gatlinburg, under OberGatlinburg tramway, WhtFem 30-45, UP1589, clothes, Dec'74 - Charlotte Roberta Henry

She appears to have been sitting on her coat and just died.

By this you mean "she just up and died while sitting on her coat" or "when they found it appeared that she had just/recently died"?
 
By this you mean "she just up and died while sitting on her coat" or "when they found it appeared that she had just/recently died"?

From http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/May/20/unclaimed-unnamed/?print=1


"Under the tramway She may have walked out beneath Gatlinburg's Aerial Tramway, taken a seat beneath a tree and passed out. About a month later her decomposing body was found by someone taking a shortcut to a Cove Mountain chalet."


From http://www.doenetwork.org/media/news50.html

"She was wearing short brown men's socks and no shoes. Her coat and sweater were folded neatly beside her where she had been sitting on them. She was wearing a white button-down Sweettree sweater, a size 36A bra, a dark blue coat, extra-large dark blue knit Mayer-Land-Marquis pants and a white short-sleeved shirt with a floral design of yellow flowers. "
 

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These are hard because her car may have been towed or she left her stuff in a rental and after all this time, nobody would have that info. That is a beautiful and peaceful place. I wonder if she had a terminal disease or took some pills. That makes me sad.
 
I think of this lady every time I ride the tram in Gatlinburg (I live in East TN). It's a huge tourist area, very popular. She could have been from most anywhere, or may have taken a detour on the way to her planned destination just to see the area. Also I have wondered if maybe she had a medical condition and was attempting to walk to the top. She may have felt unwell, sat down, and had a heart attack or some other medical emergency.
 
I think of this lady every time I ride the tram in Gatlinburg (I live in East TN). It's a huge tourist area, very popular. She could have been from most anywhere, or may have taken a detour on the way to her planned destination just to see the area. Also I have wondered if maybe she had a medical condition and was attempting to walk to the top. She may have felt unwell, sat down, and had a heart attack or some other medical emergency.

Connie had a non malignant fibroid tumor of the uterus that may have caused bleeding and anemia.
 
If that body was there six months to a year, as one of the links says, it does not fit the timeline for Connie.


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I think of this lady every time I ride the tram in Gatlinburg (I live in East TN). It's a huge tourist area, very popular. She could have been from most anywhere, or may have taken a detour on the way to her planned destination just to see the area. Also I have wondered if maybe she had a medical condition and was attempting to walk to the top. She may have felt unwell, sat down, and had a heart attack or some other medical emergency.

dogperson,

I briefly wondered if she could have been a hiker from the Trail. But with a purse or pack and without shoes, there's no way to know. But with the pantyhose under the pants, I did think she might be living rough, because I don't recall from my Gatlinburg adventures it being that cold if you were just about town.

I haven't taken the tram yet, but spend a lot of time in Gatlinburg, my next trip down, I will, and I will think of "Gatlinburg Gal"

I find it so hard to believe she could have sat beneath the OberGatlinburg tramway for all that time and not been found if she died in the summer, I'm thinking it had to have been October or so, especially given her clothing.
 
Thanks! Can anyone pop her picture in the thread, I haven't figured out how to do that.

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dogperson,

I briefly wondered if she could have been a hiker from the Trail. But with a purse or pack and without shoes, there's no way to know. But with the pantyhose under the pants, I did think she might be living rough, because I don't recall from my Gatlinburg adventures it being that cold if you were just about town.

I haven't taken the tram yet, but spend a lot of time in Gatlinburg, my next trip down, I will, and I will think of "Gatlinburg Gal"

I find it so hard to believe she could have sat beneath the OberGatlinburg tramway for all that time and not been found if she died in the summer, I'm thinking it had to have been October or so, especially given her clothing.

I like the nickname "Gatlinburg Gal"
 
If that body was there six months to a year, as one of the links says, it does not fit the timeline for Connie.


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There's no way in my opinion she could have been there that long. Gatlinburg gets HOT in the summer and she was (I hate saying it this way) intact enough that they could tell she didn't shave her legs.
 
Yea it's hot in the summer I agree. "Winter" in IN/TN area starts about mid November (I'm only about 350 miles northwest of Gatlinburg). That could explain why she was carrying around a few layers of clothing. It's fffreeezingg..even with my limited knowledge of decomp vs weather, I think it's safe to say that she was out there no more than three pushing on four weeks at the most. JMHO
 
My husband and I visited Gatlinburg last fall and actually rode the tram twice that weekend and on our last trip down the mountain they announced that it was the last tram of the evening, and the tram operator joked that you would have to walk down the mountain after the trams stopped for the day. Or maybe he wasn't joking. Anyway, could that have happened to Gatlinburg Gal? Maybe she came up the mountain with all her stuff (purse, etc.) but missed the last trip of the tram and tried to walk back down. It would be extremely difficult to do after dark though, I would think, unless you walked in a straight line under the tram and headed toward the lights of town.
I also agree with the post that it gets very hot there in summer. I don't think you could be out there long without extensive decomp occurring. When we were there in Oct we wore short sleeves and jeans, lots of people had shorts on, and we got pretty warm and sunburned.
 
Ok. I checked. This year, skiing opened Mid-November at OberGatlinburg. Average temperatures in Gatlinburg over the years make it seem consistent that is a safe bet most years.

No shoes. Multiple layers. Men's socks over pantyhose. Pantyhose/tights under pants are sometimes used in place of long johns, particularly if you're not a woman who normally needs them.

The location, plus the men's socks makes me think ski boots or hiking boots. The rest of the clothing seems more inclined towards skiing. If it was a warmish day of skiing, she might not have worn a hat and gloves.

Might she have, for some reason perhaps a fall and sprained ankle, taken off her skis and boots and started walked down the hill, leaving them behind?

I wonder if ski patrol or OberGatlinburg (whatever it was called then) found any ski equipment or unclaimed shoes in November.
 
Did I see somewhere she had unshaven legs? Hard to say whether it was a "fad" (you know, hippie 1970s stuff) or if she was possibly homeless and unable to afford razors or have a place to shower.
 

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