372 // Polly Melton

In this episode Crawlspace Media's Tim Pilleri, Lance Reenstierna and Jennifer Amell discuss the disappearance of Thelma Pauline Melton from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
On an idyllic summer afternoon while hiking with her friends in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, Polly Melton disappeared into thin air. Polly was 58 at the time of her disappearance and would be 99 today.
If you have any information in Polly's case please call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 615-744-4000.
Check out our Missing subscription service where we have a bonus show and ad-free episodes! missing.supportingcast.fm/
Thank you to Laura Riste for her help on this episode. Please check out her site about Trenny Gibson at www.canadiangurl77.com/ and check out the new FB page for Trenny's case: / searching.for.trenny .
Sources/Links
www.canadiangurl77.com/
charleyproject.org/case/thelm...
unsolvedappalachia.org/thelma...
www.amazon.com/Unsolved-Disap...
Follow Missing:
TikTok: / missingcsm
KZbin: / missingcsm
IG: / missingcsm
Twitter: / missingcsm
FB: / missingcsm
Check out our entire network at crawlspace-media.com/

[@amy0077]

Thanks Lance, Tim & Jen!

[@alfredvalrie5541]

25:58 in the South it’s very common to find a way to collect on a dead relative, $50 in free money in the Eighties went a long way, and simply check fraud would go unprosecuted

[@trumpwon8064]

This is a good show guys. 👏

[@zq9m3xh8]

If she planned to go off with somebody, or even on her own, why arrange to make yourself vanish on a hiking trail in front of friends? Seems ludicrous. Just get your stuff together and leave in the middle of the day, or night.

[@laurariste9775]

True, but I think somehow Polly believed that vanishing this way would have been easier somehow on her husband, He was in poor health at the time and actually owned the campground that they parked their trailer in.

[@holtridge7337]

I agree with you. I think she died that day probably from a medical emergency and her remains haven't been located yet.

[@alfredvalrie5541]

@@holtridge7337I agree. Polly had a medical emergency from being goaded by her friends and walking quickly, had a medical emergency, and was never located.

[@holtridge7337]

@@alfredvalrie5541 I wish they could have found her remains so her family could have some form of closure. Considering how long it's been, that seems more and more unlikely.

[@BlueBird-vi8vo]

In the 80's, they literally would walk your check back to bookkeeping and check the signature on the check against the signature on the signature card.

[@lisagibson9030]

I'm torn on this one. People have messy lives. I'm not convinced that she wouldn't have just left her husband if she wanted to. Why disappear mid-hike? She wasn't feeling well. Maybe she left the trail to use the bathroom and got lost in the woods. It happens.

[@BlueBird-vi8vo]

There were no video cameras anywhere in public.

[@rrosie1968]

I thought her name was Pauline not Polly 👀

[@Peeved100]

Nickname.

[@ludiprice]

I thought she was at least 70 from her picture! But then 2 packs of cigarettes a day will age you a ton for sure.

[@4thtime910]

I don't agree

[@holtridge7337]

Yeah it makes people look older for sure. My Aunt smoked a lot in her 40s and she looked like she was in her 60s.

[@JW-28]

She ran off with a guy imo.

[@trumpwon8064]

Agreed

[@rickybyrd1426]

It's pretty obvious what she did, and it would be so easy to just take off with somebody and start a new life, but at the same time it would be mentally taxing. You would have to constantly be on your guard. You would be thinking all the time about how people were reading the newspaper or watching the news on television, and how easily it could be for somebody in public to recognize you and put 2 x 2 together. I don't see how she could have had any peace of mind whatsoever.

[@stevenicholson7488]

Maybe a serial killer in the smokey mts in the 70s?