Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, D'Lia Diambra. And the case I'm going to tell you about today

takes place at Big Witch Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. It's the story of a

dedicated park ranger who dared to stand between a gun-wielding man and innocent visitors near

the Great Smoky Mountains. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this geographic region, Big Witch Overlook is a 20-minute

drive northeast of Cherokee, North Carolina.

It's situated in the western part of the state very close to North Carolina's border

with Tennessee.

The overlook itself sits about 4,100 feet in elevation and has a large

parking lot where people can take in the views of the nearby mountain ranges. According to the website,

visit Cherokee NC.com, the area was named after a Cherokee tribal figure named Big Witch,

who was known for his skill in catching eagles and harvesting their feathers

for ceremonies.

On the first day of summer, 1998, a park ranger tasked with keeping visitors safe attempted

to catch something there too.

But in the blink of an eye made the ultimate sacrifice to fulfill his duty to protect the innocent lives around him

and the parkland he loved.

This is Park Predators.

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I'm Shortly after 2 o'clock on Sunday, June 21st, 1998, a man from Minnesota who'd been cruising on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina with his two kids experienced something extremely unusual while sitting in their car at Big Witch Overlook.

The family glanced over and noticed a man without a shirt on, walking through the parking

...