I agree with everyone else that it would be extremely helpful to know where the foot print and the skeleton were in relation to where he was playing. Also, where were the adults in relation to the kids, and in what direction did he run to hide?
http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/galleries/2009/jun/26/scenes-search-dennis-martin/12263/
This link posted by someone else earlier shows the area they were in. If he ran off to the left, he could have tripped and fallen down the big hill. If he hit his head and was knocked out, he couldn't call for help (or if he did, it's possible they wouldn't have heard him). I think it's quite possible for him to have just kept sliding or rolling down that hill until he was so hidden they never saw him. The following rain would have help to cover his body more or wash it further away.
By the time the searchers got near to where he had rolled to, he may have already been dead or unable to respond.
Ranger McCarter said that the skull remains, according to one of the linked articles in the thread, were found about 3 to 3 and a half miles downhill from where Dennis was last seen and in the same direction as the shoe print, found "by the West Prong."
We would really need to try to find out the direction he went, and the hazards in the immediate area. One question inquired if Dennis may have turned around and saw his father. I have no recollection of that, so if anyone can expound on that, this would also help in studying the case!
The reports kind of mesh together over time, and because sadly so many years have passed, it is hard to keep the information straight. But it has been said that Dennis "disappeared behind a bush and was never seen again." But than, there is information that says that Dennis took off in another direction, alone. Did the adults or other children SEE him disappear behind the bush? Behind anything for that matter? Or was the view of everyone else abstracted from site? When the other children were playing, or the adults looking, did anyone look back to see the direction that Dennis was going? Again, if they did not, how do we know that he disappeared behind a bush, or thicket brush?
I was reading another article on the case, or maybe it might have been on a comment section on line somewhere, and one of the people familiar with the area was saying that because the thicket is so intense and extreme, you could have someone as little as 5 feet away, and not be found. A comparison was drawn that one time a small plane went down in the Smokies, and it took about A YEAR for them to find it. It might have been Ranger McCarter who cited this, not sure. However, he said, if it took a year to find an airplane, it could be almost impossible to find a lost child in that type of terrain. Any roaring rapids could drown out sounds of screaming, yelling, crying, or distress as little as ten feet away.
Do any of you have Google Earth installed on your computer? I don't. But maybe if you do, you might want to check Great Smokey Mountains National Park and narrow the searches down for the following where each event took place: Google Maps might help as well. Here are key places and events in this heartbreaking case:
Russell Field: This is where the whole family was the day/night before the tragedy. They hiked the next morning to Spence Field.
Spense Field: The site of the tragedy, where Dennis Martin vanished without a trace after splitting off from his brother, and the unrelated Martin family friends' children when planning to sneak up and scare the adults at the site. This was on June 14th, 1969. The time is estimated to be between 3-4:30 PM depending the account you read. Don't know how much the articles account for time zone changes. 4PM seems to be the most accepted time of the tragedy.
Sea Branch: (Rowan's Creek) The area where a witness heard a "sickening scream" on the afternoon that Dennis Martin vanished and saw an unkempt man about three minutes later moving in the woods toward the scream. The time frame he gives is about 7PM. The distance is about 7-9 miles from Spense Field. Researchers and investigators saw that was too far for Dennis to have traveled. McCarter said that the witness heard a child scream. Other reports just say it was a sickening scream. The FBI did not investigate this area because they believed it was too far. McCarver said "It is possible for a physically strong man to carry a small child between the two points." He believes more significantly, that "Dennis could have reached that area alone."
I don't know though. Carrying a kid for 7-9 miles. That seems almost impossible. Most investigators account for the investigators assessment that the distance was too far and the scream heard was an animal.
West Prong (Near Pigeon River): The area where the Oxford type shoe print similar to what Dennis was last seen wearing was found. Investigators did not examine the shoe print finding in detail because the area had already been searched. However, it is noted that there were no small children involved in the search. This print was found at least after one rain storm had already been in the area.
Tremont's Big Hollow (also try Tremont Big Hollow) The area where the skull bones of a small child were found a few years after Dennis went missing. The man knew McCarter, but did not report the skull until 1985, because he had been illegally hunting ginseng, and did not want to be prosecuted. Ranger McCarter and investigators searched in 1985, found nothing. It is believed that over the years, animals destroyed the remains. The area is 3-3 and a half miles away from where Dennis was last seen at Spense Field, and 9 miles away from where the scream and unkempt man were reported by the witness.
I do believe that an injury situation in the Dennis Martin case is very possible. He might have fallen into an underwater area, being whisked away too fast to call for help. Horrifyingly, he may have also fallen into an underground area and might have been either killed or so severely injured that the searches could not do anything because it was too late.
It seems like there were many areas underground or underwater that no matter how many searches and types of equipment they had, the rescue team may not have been able to penetrate those areas.
Satch
