I was 11 when Dennis went missing. I also lived in the park, my Dad worked for the Park service, and was on this search team. I remember my Dad looking worried, and him always saying, we need to pray for Dennis and his family. This has been to this day, very sad, and this family has never been forgotten.

60 years ago I was about Dennis's age and on a family picnic outing in Green Mountain Natl Forest in Vermont. My father was fishing on a stream and I got bored and wandered off downstream. When trying to find my way back I apparently followed a different branch of the main stream and wound up quite a ways from my father. I kept going because the picnic area was right on the stream so I should find it eventually. Nope. I was lost and confused and so I turned around and headed back down stream. This is when my father finally found me. I still recall the panic and confusion I felt back then when my mental map did not match the situation I found myself in.

You give your kids whistles. You tell them to try to make tunes, and always whistle back. You'd be surprised at how they like them, particularly the little ones.

His family thought that the footprints were too large, but three inches of rain had fallen that first night. Perhaps the rain had somewhat eroded the edges of the footprints, making them seem bigger. Certainly it's a known phenomenon in melting snow.

I cant imagine being a child going through that.. Or losing one of my kids. To imagine how they feel,if they're safe, scared... Being a child all alone in danger is just next level... 😢❤

Sadly these types of searches are still interfered with by well meaning but untrained volunteers. In 2011 an 8 year old boy went missing in VA and over 1000 volunteers went looking for him. Schools and community centers encouraged this, even the police put out pleas the same day he went missing. Search and Rescue asked for volunteers to hold back so that the trained professionals could get a head start. The public didn’t listen. This erased all tracks and traces of the boy with many volunteers getting injured or lost themselves taking precious resources away from the actual search. The boy was thankfully found alive by ACCIDENT. He had autism and the mass amount of people calling and screaming his name scared him further into the woods. Scared kids who are taught stranger danger may actually hide from rescue if there are too many loud people. The worst part? The public was PRAISED for their efforts even though they erased tracks and it was estimated that without their “help” he would have been found in the first two days. Search and Rescue is still mad about it.

You see, playing Hide and Seek in the wilderness is not a great idea. Kids don't realize the play is over and it's time to return until they're lost... And that's too late.

Adults missing of course is terrible but putting myself in a kids place just scares the hell outta me ..

Spence Field where Dennis Martin went missing is only about 12 miles as the crow flies from Happy Valley TN, where 51 yo Mike Hearon went missing in 2008. Mike's longtime neighbor and friend, Grady Whitehead, was the last person to see him alive and was also a Ranger in the GSMNP (1955-88) and helped search for Dennis Martin. I wish there was more info about Mr. Whitehead's opinon on what happened to both of them.

I imagine those Green Berets went to Army Ranger School. I was stationed right next door to it and knew a bunch of guys who went through it, and I'd be willing to bet the Green Berets were just looking for an excuse for barbeguing a rattlesnake in a national park.

This hits home, literally. We live 30 minutes south of Knoxville, right off the Tail of the Dragon. We’ve hiked several of the trails in the Smokys with our young kids. I could NOT imagine losing one of them. My heart breaks for his family.

I totally agree with only having trained trackers doing a search. The numbers ruined their chances of finding him. So sad.

As we know from hundreds of people who have been rescued, saved themselves and could tell their stories, or they were found deceased and it was evident from the scene what had happened to them or like a few who left notes, two main things happen that cause a “disappearance”: 1. The person got lost, or 2. They got injured. A very small percentage encountered foul play at the hands of a predatory human being. We also know that if a 10 ft, 11,000 lb elephant can be hidden in vegetation 3 feet from where you’re standing, then it’s logical to conclude one can be standing within inches of a human being and not see them. So, this “we searched everywhere and would’ve found him if he’d been there” really can’t be taken as fact.

Another danger with searchers who are moving and calling out, is that if the lost person does hear them the lost person may become even more lost or fatigued whilst trying to get to those constantly moving voices.

Poor little fella got lost. He would’ve succumbed to the elements pretty quickly with his small size and the light clothing he was wearing. The rain would’ve soaked him through and chilled him to the bone, so if by some miracle he even survived the first night, there’s no way he did the second. I hate the thought of him being out there alone and so afraid. The thunder storm would’ve been terrifying.

This is a great video about this case. The only thing it’s lacking is a detailed account of Harold Key’s “role” in this case (and the FBI’s odd handling of this aspect of the story). I think Harold Key’s experience in the woods (he was with his family that day) is probably the most important & The Missing Enigma’s video on this case clears up a lot of misperceptions about what Harold Key heard and saw that day. The portion specifically relevant to Key starts around the 30 minute mark. The Missing Enigma’s video focuses on clearing up a lot of incorrect information about the case. *To be clear, this video doesn’t perpetuate any of these misperceptions* and does something other videos I’ve seen doesn’t do - explain fully what a complete disaster this search quickly became. This video and The Missing Enigma’s together are the best way to get as much of the complete story as you can, without resorting to blaming the disappearance on things like Bigfoot.

I love your channel. Just one small correction is that they were not family friends. It was another family that they had just met, whose name was also Martin. They had met them just that day and started at conversing and their kids were playing and so forth. One of many strange coincidences.

What awful circumstances surround this story. One can only hope of reuniting in a better place.

I have 2 boys myself and lost 1 of my sons once at LAX and you can’t imagine what I went through for less than 5 minutes when he was found. Those few minutes seemed like long endless agony… my heart goes to anyone losing a child even if it was only for few minutes… God bless all children of the world…. 🙏🌹

I've heard different ppl tell the Dennis Martin story, and what I noticed is that in one account, there was a family camping not far from the site where Dennis Martin went missing. The family came forward to park rangers only a day or 2 after he went missing, to report that the husband had heard a scream and saw a large,hairy man running through the forest with what looked like a small child slung over it's shoulder. The park rangers immediately dismissed the sighting. I'm surprised you have not found anything on that part of the story ..but then again not completely.

Something we all need to learn from these stories. Don’t let your kids wander off into the woods alone. So many of these stories or kids going missing all start with the same setup. Parents took their eyes off the kid and let them roam on their own, and next thing they knew the kid was gone. Always keep an eye on your kids, always be vigilant in supervising them, don’t let them roam the woods alone.

Thank you again for showing respect and professionalism in your narrative for the lost innocent child and the family.

I cant imagine how a parent can go on after that. It is so heartbreaking & I pray for any parent who lost a child🌻I did notice every time someone disappears, the weather gets really bad😢

Kyle, have you ever seen I Shouldn't Be Alive? It was an intense show on Animal Planet back in the 2000s/early 2010s where people went on to talk about their near-death (and sometimes death) experiences. When I started watching your channel, I wondered what you'd think of it. I think season 4 episode 11 "Hike into Hell Canyon" would be a good one to react to since it's got a lot of hiking mistakes. The girl and her dog are stuck in the Grand Canyon for like 3 weeks or something. Maybe something to check out, but either way, love your channel dude

Absolutely terrifying. The stuff of nightmares. I just can't even imagine what the Martin family went thru. The disastrous lack of cohesion for the search is frustrating. At least somebody learned something from that. Dennis's loss was not totally in vain. 😞

Poor little kid. 😢 heartbreaking.

Trenny Gibson also disappeared hiking in the Smokies without a trace. It was on a school trip in the 1970s.

Heartbreaking how fast these things happen.

I've always thought sighting of Keyes family should've been heeded, instead of saying distance to far. They heard a scream, suspicious man.

He probably saw something really interesting in the woods and ran after it. After the poor kid had gone in too far he realized he was lost but by then it was too late. His strong legs only took him further miles from his campsite and safety. This has happened to other children in the woods.

My dad was a park ranger and assisted in the search. Pretty sure he was abducted by the guy in the white van

You have discussed some of the dangers of this trail. Another alternative is he was attacked by some trail wacko. 🥺 Regardless, it's a very sad situation.

There is a lot of vegetation on those ridges nicknamed "hells" that an adult human couldn't hardly trek through and likely wasn't able to be thoroughly searched if at all.

I'm betting on a kidnap, because if he had died out there in the woods, it seems like somebody sometime would have found remains. But who knows? I can't imagine being the father. It's too sad. Thanks for telling Dennis's story.

He wandered off and got lost. He walked fast, he's a young kid with no point of reference once he lost sight of the other boys, he could be at least a hundred metres away by the time they started looking, and getting further away while they searched locally. There's been plenty of cases where the disappeared's remains have been found years later, found in spots that searchers literally walked by during the search. He was probably dead from exposure in the first night. I think the footprints were his, scouts wouldn't be wandering around with a naked foot. More than likely his foot got stuck in some mud, and he lost the shoe pulling his foot out of the mud... I've done exactly the same thing, I reached in to retrieve my shoe, but a small child may not think about this, or wasn't able to overcome the suction to pull the shoe from the mud.

It's tragic that nobody noticed he is gone, and nobody was alarmed by the cry. This is a very common thing for humans. It's called the bystander effect. The more people there are, the less likely it is to someone to help. Basically everyone is thinking someone else will do it, because it's important we somehow think it cannot not happen. In the original study they stage an emergency situation, but I found it true in general. At work my team and I often decided to do something, and often we would end up not doing it until we started assigning a responsible person for the job. They'd not be necessarily the ones to do it, but they reminded everyone that it's due. Also at work when I ask for help, often nobody listens. But when I ask someone specific they immediately turn to help me. My takeaway from those experiences is, that if something is important to always ask someone specifically and not a group of people.

The great outdoors is big and easy to get lost in, and the dense growth of the forest in the Smokies would inhibit any search. This is an extremely sad story. (The Green Berets pretty much ate snakes for funsies - just to keep their skills up.)

I've heard Dave Paulides and the park ranger at the time talk about his story. There are no coincidences. I honestly couldn't even fathom what happened to that young boy. Whatever happened, it wasn't good.

I'm really glad you included updated information that The Missing Enigma uncovered as it really undid the damage that David Paulides caused. Also one of the searchers recalled smelling something rotting in the general area but was dissuaded from investigating it by his superiors for some unknown reason. He always wanted to explore back in that area (sorry can't recall the name of the area, but it's in one of Missing Enigma's videos on the Dennis Martin case). Would be worth exploring if his body is indeed there.

My first inclination when children go missing is the adults they were last around first, sometimes accidents happen but in this case it seems off. "All the adults knew where the little boys were" yet no one saw the bright red shirted boy? everyone knew and yet the youngest one never returned within 5 minutes. Never trust strangers, They will help you look for the child they are kidnapping by sending you in the opposite direction. My guess would sadly be the storm via water channels or those strangers they met that day waiting on the opportunity.

Every time i hear about a little kid getting lost it makes me think about this One time i was dispersed camping in the olympic national forest. We decided on a spot right next to the bridge and about 2 miles away from the campground. Out camp spot was lower then the road. But we could see it from our fire pit. We had our dogs with us. And we had been camping in this area for like 20+ years religiously. Nothing like this had ever happened before in all that time. Were sitting around getting ready to cook dinner. It was near dusk. Still light enough to see but would be getting dark soon. Our dogs suddenly started barking like a person was there. And we looked up towards the road and saw a little boy walking by himself in the middle of the forest heading for the bridge. We called at him and asked him where his parents were at and he just shrugged and said they were racing. And that he wanted to go see the water. I got up to go look down the road from where he came from and no one was there. We offered him some snacks and told him he could only go to the water with his parents. And that it was unsafe. Sit with us while we wait for your dad to catch up. So he came over and staryed snacking. After 5 minutes no one came. My mom had me drive down in the direction he gad come from. I drove up and down the road and didnt see anyone. So i stopped at the established camp ground and the whole camp ground was in shambles. People were running around and hollering for the boy. And i got out and talked to his dad. Explained he was safe at our camp site and that he is eating crackers and was on his way to the bridge. His dads face paled as he explained to me what happened. They had been on their way to the bathroom and were racing each other. The bathroom was right near the campground entrance. There was a little pull off round about driveway. The boy took one side and the dad the other. The dad thought hed beat the boy around the round about and was waiting for him for about 5 to 10 minutes before he walked down the road his son had taken. Just to find he wasnt there. They were looking everywhere for him. When he beat his dad to the bathroom the little guy just kept running, following the road and hung a left to go towards our camp site (thank god cause there is nothing in the other direction for several miles depending on which way he took on the T intersection. If he had taken one way he wouldnt have ran into anyone. For many miles). They weren't from the area and he didnt know where to go to look for him. I think aboit how he just wanted to see the water and ot makes me queasy. That area has a river with a lot of rapids. He would have died. It scares me how close he was to being just another story and statistic

Awesome video! I normally hate the lmnt ads but this one was an appropriate length and not incredibly intrusive, way more likely to buy it this way man

You do a great job on your videos. I've watched several Dennis Martin videos and this is my favorite. Love your content. Your videos are a must watch.

I just found your channel the other day and have to say, it’s a breath of fresh air to watch content that doesn’t involve politics.

This happened right where I live. My dad was one of the Army soldiers who searched for Dennis. I was 1yo and my dad had just came home from Vietnam.

I’m taking myself to that time, I would’ve been 7 and finishing 2nd grade, leading a carefree childhood. I never heard of this case until David Paulides covered it, and then I heard it as an adult and found myself grieving for the little boy and his family. How terrible that would be.

If your seven-year-old hikes fast, maybe call him back? And remember, if everybody's watching the kids, nobody's really watching the kids. Children are small.

😂 As soon as I read the title of the video, I didn't even have to look at the channel. I was like, "Yup, that's gotta be Kyle Hates HIking"!

12 years now ive snuck around off trail praying to find a trace of this child the tip from the old ginseng digger claiming to have found him but didn't report it at the time due to his illegal harvesting makes the most sense i have combed that hollow over but its so thick and his skeleton could be gone by now sadly

legit just told my dad this story today...so glad it is getting more attention! Thank you Kyle!!

*THE MISSING ENIGMA* channel has done some amazing videos on this. He also has an update with the released FBI files...

That lawn chair with a lawn mower engine attached was considered a helicopter? Lol

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving Kyle. That goes for all your followers also. Happy Thanksgiving.❤

Dont know why i watch this stories... often horrible but on the other hand very interesting what happens on this planet and since you tell this storys like a horror movie... its fascinating to listen... good job...

Such a sad story. Hopefully, the mystery will be solved one day. Never watched your videos before. You did a great job in your presentation. Will be watching more.

I’ve been to several large-scale volunteering endeavors (mostly clean-ups and trail work) but, it’s clear when too many people are involved it quickly devolves into chaos. It is so sad that kids get lost like this. 😢

This case drives me nuts!! Did the weird guy seen by the keys family have anything to do with Dennis disappearance?? I think possibly.

Kyle i really appreciate your channel. Your professionalism and the informative way you present your stories is top notch. Thank you ☮️💜

I’ve beard this story several times. Only a few minutes into listening, I can tell you have more detail than any other account of it I’ve heard.

So obsessed with your channel!

Learned of this case through the missing 411. Very strange and sad. Hope there is comfort now knowing father and son are together 🙏😇❤️

Probably the best updated version I've heard. So I subscribed 🤟😝🤘 And I'll bet my paycheck it was a elusive hungry feral bigfoot. Too many out there not to have tracked down a human predator.

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Your video is very well produced and narrated. Thank you!

One month after Dennis disappeared the news was totally dominated by the launch of Apollo 11 to the moon as well as the death of Mary Jo Kopechne in the car of Senator Ted Kennedy. In the words of Bryan Adams "It was the summer of '69. Oh yeah!"

Another banger Kyle, awesome job. Loving your podcast btw!

It really makes you think all those “What if..” and “I wonder…” questions. I wonder if it was an abduction? What if they’d had an experienced leader running the search and rescue operation, would the outcome be different?? What a nightmare for the families involved. Peaceful enjoyment in the outdoors turned into every parent’s worst nightmare.

I believe he was abducted. He was having fun with his brother and friends tricking the adults. He would have wanted to be close for all the excitement. He would not have wandered off. I feel for his parents, we never know what tomorrow will bring.

I've been binge watching your videos the last few days. I've heard this vase before but my son's 7th birthday is this Friday. I couldn't imagine him disappearing never knowing. The fear that poor child had to have experienced. The what is played by his family. And especially his father and brother and probably grandfather as well. Children lost in the the woods will always be heartbreaking

I do not understand why people are in such denial about wildlife. This is exactly what reasonably may have happened. Exactly what happened to Jose Salazar in NM had his father not been so close, nobody would have ever known what happened to him.

As a beginner hiker and true crime hobbyist I really enjoy your channel.

This is the 2nd video of yours I've watched, and noth were very well done and covered. Sad story to be sure and this is a case I remember hearing about before. In 69 i was a 12 year old Army brat. Not much older and my brother, 1 year younger than myself would wander all thru the woods near Ft. Leonardwood MO, and once becoming confused and disoriented enough that for a time I thought we were lost. Its not a good feeling, even when there are others, or at leat 1 other kid with you. Luckily we had been well enough trained by our dad who was a Drill Sgt. There at the time, growing up hunting and living a life in the outdoors that we ended up coming out at the right spot. To be 7 and al9ne, with dark falling, cold temps lowering, I can feel the fear this poor child had known then. Not a good thing.

This is a very detailed story it’s good to see a large creator cover it I cover his story about a year ago with all the details there are several other people missing from the same place in the smokies there were eye witness that came forward and Forrest rangers that spoke on this

Bill was watching the kids playing hide and seek, with Bill being the"seeker". Bill could see Dennis go behind a bush and could see him, he turned away for a couple of seconds, looked back and he wasn't there.

Don't have much stock in the creepy man lead . Was he suspicious? Maybe? Or did the man recounting the story hear on the news about a missing boy and adapt that story in his mind? Equally possible

Highly recommend the book Unsolved Disappearances in the Great Smoky Mountains. This and many other stories are covered.

There IS strength in numbers, but those numbers NEED to be organized!

The part about them barbecuing a rattlesnake made me laugh for some reason.

I wasnt going to subscribe, but then i found myself binging on multiple videos. I have subscribed.

I live in the Great Smoky Mountains. There are many caves in the area. Some you have to access by rope going straight down. I've always thought the poor boy fell in one.

I have watched a lot of videos on this case, but this is the first i have heard of the Green Berets eating snakes or a homemade map being found near where the mystery man was seen walking by Harold Key.

I remember hearing Paulides talk about this story as if the Green Berets were out there “Helping” But refusing to cooperate and also seeming as though they had a secondary motive. Almost like it was Top Secret. He also said the story of the story that a man came forward a week later stating that He heard a scream and looked up and seen a Boy standing at the edge of a higher cliff and then some sort of hairy mountain man walking away with what looked like a child slung over his shoulder. You mean to tell me he made that stuff up. Kyle said it was a creepy man in a car. Thats completely different than Paulides.

I read an article about a man's father was a retiring physician and his son was helping him clean out his office after he retired. The son said that he found a human skull on a shelf in a locked closet. When he asked his father, he said that's the missing kids, the Dennis Martin boy. He said a priest had it and after the Dr asking about it, the skull was gifted by the priest to the doctor. I found it all pretty bizarre

Hey Kyle! It'd be really cool if you could cover the lost on a mountain in Maine story. I think it'd do really well on here. & bring it to light to a new audience 🙏

It is a wild, steep, densely forested place, with thousands of creeks and streams. The park is said to have 2 black bears per square mile. Rainfall in the Smokies in some places have been recorded as high as 80 to 100 inches a year. The understory is thick and immense. So many places to get lost and so much wildlife to carry off a body once deceased. Winds have been clocked in top of the mountains nearing 90 miles per hour. It would be a true miracle if his remains or part of them were found today. So sad for his family.

Spence Field is technically in North Carolina, but the Tennessee rescue and emergency management people escalated the incident to Washington. North Carolina used a helicopter equipped with stereographic imaging, capable of picking up tiny flecks of light, to search the eastern slopes, and a four man team with long ropes, finding and retrieving a red shirt which did not belong to the child. On Fontana Lake, pontoon boats with underwater cameras led the Coast Guard Auxiliary equipped with ocean drag bars, and North Carolina Wildlife Protectors policed the Park side of the Lake. Pontoon boats were used as diving platforms, and Green Berets helped search a badly polluted animal den. The Park Service identified some lack of readiness and mistakes in its final report.

Trenny Gibson a 16yr old from Knox area went missing in the park in the 70s while on a school field trip and was never found. She was with a large group day hiking from Clingman's dome to Andrews bald and back.

Thank God. I have watched several of your videos and I think this is the first one I’ve seen that you’re not wearing the same red shirt. Shew! Go Blue 👕 😂

The FBI report on the Dennis Martin case was finally released some time ago. The Missing Enigma channel did a great job of covering the document. It's a sad case, but most likely just an abduction according to the report.

Taken into the underground tunnels that run under this country. The feeling i get around this case and i can't shake it. I cannot imagine what his parents are going thru to this day. No closure not one clue and the chaos of this search my heart goes out to this family. I hope one day they can find peace.

A terrible story every time I hear it, now even more so as my own son is of the same age. I can only imagine the desperation of the father and my own boy in that situation 😢

All the other stories I saw in this case, said that the people they met up with, were not family or friends. That they did not know them, but it was in coincidental that they had the same last name.

I feel called out! Or maybe youtube just knows WAY TOO much. 😅 Case before last that I saw of yours was in CA, then it was in CO, now in TN?!? I literally lived/live in all 3 of those states, SUPER close to where the first two cases were and practically in that order. 😱

This is an hour away from me in East Tennessee, we go to Knoxville from Kingsport to watch the UT games and stay at our cabin in Pigeon Forge.

I honestly believe that unfortunately he never lived to see the sunrise the next morning. I believe he either died from falling into a hidden crevice (the park is absolutely littered with them) and/or he died from hypothermia. I further believe that his remains are still somewhere within the park, most likely within a couple of mile radius of where he went missing. As time went on it's likely that animals would've scattered parts of his remains and/or covered by forest dirt/leaves and further obscured them. May he rest in peace.

Thank-you Kyle as usual good stuff. ❤

Just thinking of the initial feelings when u realize u can't find ur child and yelling their name and feeling a little worried but never assuming ur kid is actually missing to knowing your child is gone and something is terribly wrong and the panic u would feel is so heartbreaking l. The sickness in your stomach and your heart being torn apart would be unbearable

My father-in-law was raised in the area around the park. He knew the park and surrounding areas. My brother-in-law was with him. They went to join the search. They were so upset over this child. They've passed away now. After the search was called off they came back home. My father-in-law didn't really believe in pyscs . I can't spell it. This woman was popular in our county. She described an area in the mountain exactly where they searched. She told him that the boy had seen him but couldn't call to him. He suspected foul play all along. He went back down there and they wouldn't let him search. He didn't tell them where he'd got his information. The old woman he talked to didn't have a tv so she didn't know any news that'd been told about the boy.

There was also a family or a couple hiking in the area and saw a hairy man with a children in a red shirt walking briskly away from them the child was over his shoulder atleast that’s what I remember from David paulidise I pray he’s found 🙏🙏🙏

There's so many theories about this case! Very sad just send blessings their way!