Summary of Legends 91: Landslide

Overview of Legends 91: Landslide

In this Lore episode, Aaron Mahnke explores the White Mountains of New Hampshire as a landscape where natural beauty and natural danger are inseparable. Through a series of local legends and tragedies, the episode shows how landslides, harsh weather, and isolation have shaped the region’s folklore — turning real deaths into ghost stories, memorials, and enduring cautionary tales.

Main Stories and Legends

Nancy Barton and Nancy Brook

• Nancy Barton was a young servant in Crawford Notch during the Revolutionary era.
• She saved money, fell in love with a farm worker named Jim Swindell, and trusted him with her life savings.
• Jim and Colonel Whipple allegedly disappeared with her money, prompting Nancy to chase after them through the winter woods.
• She became exhausted, crossed the freezing Saco River, and died near what became Nancy Brook.
• Local legend says her ghost — or something tied to her loss — can still be heard in the woods near the brook.

The Willey Family and the Willey Slide

• Samuel Willey moved his family to Crawford Notch and tried to build a successful inn for travelers.
• After an earlier slide narrowly missed them, he built a protective shelter on the cliffside.
• In August 1826, another, far worse landslide struck while the family was inside.
• Most of the family and two hired hands were found dead; three children were never recovered.
• The tragedy inspired later writers and artists, including Thomas Cole and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
• The area became famous enough to draw tourists, and the episode notes that Crawford Notch was “put on the map” by the disaster.

The Lake of the Clouds Tragedy

• In 1900, hikers Alan Ormsby and William Buckingham Curtis attempted a dangerous mountain crossing to attend an Appalachian Mountain Club event.
• Bad weather overtook them near Mount Washington, home to some of the worst weather on Earth.
• Curtis died first after a fall and exposure; Ormsby tried to continue for help but also died before reaching shelter.
• The AMC built a memorial and later a hut at Lake of the Clouds, where stories of a haunting presence developed.
• One AMC worker later reported seeing terrifying faces in the hut’s windows — despite the windows being boarded up.

Ben Campbell’s Restless Boots

• Ben Campbell worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club and hoped to become hutmaster at Lake of the Clouds.
• He got the position, but died before serving in it, falling while hiking in Scotland.
• His boots became a memorial, but people reported odd activity: footsteps, moving boots, and boots seeming to “wander.”
• Eventually the boots were nailed to the wall at Lake of the Clouds, where they remained.

The Old Man of the Mountain

• The episode closes by shifting from tragedy to symbolism with the Old Man of the Mountain, New Hampshire’s famous rock formation.
• White settlers saw it as a natural wonder, but the Abenaki had their own older legend.
• In that story, Nis-Kizos fell in love with Tarlow and kept a fire burning on Cannon Mountain while waiting for her return.
• When he learned she had died, he became part of the mountain, forever watching over the land.
• When the formation collapsed in 2003, some saw it not as an ending but as a reunion — the old man finally resting.

Themes and Takeaways

• Nature as beautiful and merciless: The White Mountains are presented as peaceful but deeply dangerous.
• Landscapes remember tragedy: Names, memorials, and local legends preserve the memory of loss.
• Folklore grows from real events: Many of the haunting stories are rooted in actual deaths, storms, and landslides.
• Perspective matters: The episode contrasts settler interpretations of the mountains with Indigenous legend, especially in the story of the Old Man of the Mountain.

Notable Impression

The episode’s central idea is that in the White Mountains, the line between history and haunting is thin. The mountains do not merely host stories — they seem to absorb them, preserve them, and sometimes echo them back through the wind, the weather, and the memories of those who pass through.