WHAT DID HAPPEN TO THE LITTLE BOY?
Ann S. Brown c 2025
That question has been asked many times down through the years, since the day of that terrible tragedy. It happened in the early 1800’s. The young woman in this story grew up in the Fees Branch section of Ashe County NC, near Helton Creek. She met and married a young man who lived in the Haw Orchard area of Mt. Rogers in Grayson County, Va. It was there in Virginia, that they made their home. They had two beautiful children and by all accounts were very happy. Until the young father took a job that kept him away for weeks at a time. That added lots of stress to their otherwise happy life. And after the birth of their second child the young mother became very sad and despondent. She longed to see her mother whom she had not seen for a very long time. So one crisp fall morning when her husband was away the young mother bundled up her children and left her home. She was carrying her baby girl and leading her three year old son by the hand. She followed a well worn path that would lead her across Fees Ridge to Helton Creek in Ashe County, NC to her parents home some four or five miles away.
She was walking through the most heavily wooded part of Fees Ridge. Dark clouds covered the sun and a strong wind picked up. She had came too far to go back home so she just kept walking. By that time the baby was crying loudly and the little boy was very frightened. The wind was making strange noises blowing through the treetops. She later said there was a sound like a woman crying and at times it seemed like something was following them. She could hardly hold on to both children as she hurried along. Suddenly her little boy was gone. His tiny hand was no longer in hers. She said she called and called his name but the sound of her voice was carried away by the wind. The mother looked for her son the best she could, but it was very dark in the forest. She could hardly see the path. Heartbroken, she pressed on and finally arrived at her parent’s house. Her father led a search party back along the path. They searched all of Fees Ridge for days and weeks. They even searched along the big rocks where mother panther had been seen at times. But they never found any sign of the little boy. The mother never recovered from the fright of that day and the loss of her son. So what do you think happened to the little boy?
Down through the years, especially on cold autumn nights when the moon was full people have imagined that they heard a little boy crying. Or was it the wind whistling through the balsam pine? Or perhaps it was young panther cubs calling for their mother. Panthers roamed these mountains back in the early 1800’s and some folks say they still do.