Tag: national parks

Yellowstone National Park has 50 mile ‘zone of death’ where all crime is ‘legal’… as expert reveals why loophole has never been closed

An iconic American park is hiding a 50-mile area where all crime is legal, an expert claims.

It’s been two decades since Professor Brian Kalt uncovered the ‘Zone of Death’ at Yellowstone National Park.

The Michigan State University College of Law professor published research in 2005 in a paper called The Perfect Crime.

He theorized that all crime in the 50-square-mile section of Yellowstone that sits in Idaho can’t be prosecuted.

Yellowstone stretches across nearly 4,000 square miles in Wyoming, with small portions of the park located in Montana and eastern Idaho. 

When Congress designated the park’s borders in 1872, Yellowstone became one of the few federal parks that fall exclusively under the federal government’s jurisdiction, meaning that states are powerless to prosecute crimes. 

According to the Sixth Amendment, alleged criminals are entitled to a trial by jury, comprised of residents who live in the district where the crime was committed. 

However, the 50-square-mile section of Yellowstone in Idaho is desolate land where no humans live. 

Therefore, any trial for a crime committed in the ‘Zone of Death’ would violate the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights. 

When Kalt initially published his research, he noted that the findings weren’t meant to inspire crime, but to raise awareness among lawmakers about a potential legal loophole – one that has yet to be closed.

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Wall Street’s Planned Theft of America’s Lands and Waters

Up next on Wall Street’s exploitation list.

If not stopped, on November 17th, the U.S. government will pass a rule that allows for America’s protected lands, including parks and wildlife refuges, to be listed on the N.Y. Stock Exchange. Natural Asset Companies (NACs) will be owned, managed, and traded by companies like BlackRock, Vanguard, and even China.

Since the early 2000’s, outfits like Goldman Sachs have been trying to trade air, or specifically carbon without much success. Their 2005 carbon exchange staggered along until it was quietly discontinued, and their Climate Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is now facing delisting. “ESG” was the next attempt to monetize the un-monetizable, with the “E” part of that acronym standing for Environment, ill-defined as that was. Now ESG is failing. Market leaders say it is facing “a perfect storm of negative sentiment” and its U.S. investments fell by $163 billion in the first quarter of 2023 alone.

Its stepchild, Net-Zero, is so loathed, it looks like it might blow up the entire carbon scam. Says Australian senator Matt Canavan, “Net-Zero has absolutely carked it. It is a soundbite and totally insane. Almost everything we grow, we make, we do in our society relies on the use of fossil fuels.” Vanguard has pulled out of Net-Zero funds. The British government too is backing out of Net-Zero, saying “we won’t save the planet by bankrupting the British people.” New Zealand’s new government revised the country’s Net-Zero plans in its first week in office. In the hard hit Netherlands, the Farmer-Citizen movement is now the dominant party in the Dutch senate and every provincial assembly. Sweden has abandoned its 100 percent Net-Zero plans and Norway has announced another $18 billion in oil and gas investments.

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National Parks Celebrate April Fool’s Day with Paranormal Pranks on Social Media

In honor of April Fool’s Day, a number of national parks turned to the paranormal in an attempt to pull a fast one on their social media followers. Perhaps the most impressive joke this year came by way of Zion National Park which shared a photo (seen above) that, upon first glance, appears to show a Sasquatch visiting the site’s picturesque Watchman Trail. “Though typically known to inhabit North America’s Pacific Northwest region, Bigfoot, like many visitors, has chosen Zion as her destination for recreation,” the park wrote on Facebook before, as is custom, revealing that the photo was a hoax.

Zion National Park was not the only location to enlist Bigfoot in Thursday’s tomfoolery as Whiskeytown National Recreation Area posted a typically hard-to-decipher image which they claimed was a “close-up photo of Bigfoot” purportedly “captured by one of our former employee’s wildlife cameras recently.” Showing some serious commitment to the bit, they went on to say that “scientists are struggling to come up with an answer for how this unique species has moved into the park from locations west” and detailed a number of theories for the odd turn of events until ultimately unleashing the all-too-familiar April Fool’s punchline.

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Biden Admin Reverses Decision to Remove William Penn Statue

The Biden administration has reversed a decision by the National Park Service to remove a statue of William Penn from a park in Philadelphia. Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania (named for his father) in the late 1600s and is a revered figure in the state.

(Previous TGP report on the planned removal of the statue posted by David Greyson at this link.)

The Park Service recently announced plans to renovate the park where the statue is located, Welcome Park, to make it “inclusive” of Native Americans, even thought the park is built where Penn’s home once stood and is named after the ship, the Welcome, that brought Penn to the New World from England in 1682. The Park Service also planned to remove a replica of Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, as well as a Penn timeline on a wall at the park. In other words, the Biden administration was erasing Penn.

The Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, is led by Biden appointee Secretary Deb Haaland, a radical progressive who is the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

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The baffling disappearance of the anthropologist Sam Dubal on Mt. Rainier

Dr. Sam Dubal, 33, left for Mt. Rainier National Park on Friday, October 9, 2020, for a solo hike and was supposed to return the next day. He was spotted that day on the Mother Mountain Loop trail near Lake Mowich in the Park. Sam was reported missing on October 12 after he didn’t return home.

He was well equipped for the overnight hike, with a tent, a sleeping bag, snow gear, rain gear, a cellphone, and a charger. Sam was also an experienced hiker under challenging conditions. After an extensive search, Sam was unable to be located.

Mt. Rainier is considered one of North America’s most dangerous mountains due to its high chance of volcanic eruption. Still, it has also had a heavy toll of hiking deaths, with many visitors dying on its icy slopes because of accidents, misadventures, foul play or reasons unknown.

As of November 2023, the only clue has been a water bottle found in October near the Loop trail. No other sign of Sam has been located despite many searches in the park. The nature of this disappearance is very puzzling, as he was experienced, and the Mother Mountain trail is not difficult nor dangerous.

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The puzzling disappearance of Jared Negrete from Mount San Gorgonio

12-year-old, Jared Michael Negrete (born September 11, 1978), was a Boy Scout who was on his first overnight backpacking trip. He was last seen on Friday, July 19, 1991, at about 6 pm, when he fell behind his fellow Scouts on a hike to the summit of 11,500-foot Mt. San Gorgonio in San Bernardino National Forest, Southern California.

An extensive search turned up only some candy wrappers and a camera with a haunting image of Jared on it. Thirty years later, despite the large search and follow-up hikes into the area by amateur investigators, no remains have been found.

Many are asking why would a Scout Leader leave Jared alone on his first trip, whilst he and the other scouts completed their hike?

San Gorgonio Mountain, also known locally as Mount San Gorgonio, or Old Greyback, is the highest peak in Southern California and the Transverse Ranges at 11,503 feet (3,506 m). It is in the San Bernardino Mountains, 27 miles (43 km) east of the city of San Bernardino. It lies within the San Gorgonio Wilderness, part of the Sand to Snow National Monument managed by the San Bernardino National Forest.

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Thelma “Polly” Melton: Vanished From the Great Smoky Mountains

Thelma Pauline “Polly” McAllister was born in Alabama on February 26th, 1923, to parents Fred and Luella. She was one of six children.

Those who knew Polly described her as friendly, intelligent, and generous. She loved the outdoors and was an avid hiker. She had previously worked as a teacher.

Twice divorced with no children, Polly married Robert “Bob” Melton, a man 20 years her senior, in 1975. The couple resided in Jacksonville, Florida, for most of the year, but spent each fall living in their Airstream trailer in North Carolina’s Deep Creek Campground, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Bob had two adult sons from a previous marriage.

Polly was a two-pack-a-day smoker on medication for nausea and high blood pressure when she went missing. Additionally, she was no longer permitted to drive alone, for undisclosed reasons.

While staying in North Carolina, Polly Melton was a frequent volunteer at the Bryson City Presbyterian Nutrition Center, where she served meals to elderly people. She reportedly never missed a day of working at the food bank.

For this reason, it was undeniably odd when Polly chose not to sign up to volunteer on September 25, 1981. However, she offered no explanation for this decision.

In another uncharacteristic move, she reportedly used the phone at the center the day before—the first time she’d ever done so in all of the years that she’d been volunteering there. To whom she made the call and what they spoke about is unknown.

Neither her friends nor family could remember speaking with her on the phone that day. No long-distance charges appeared on the bill, suggesting the call was local.

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Feds Recommend Buying A Map To Avoid Bringing Marijuana Into National Forests In Minnesota Following Legalization

The U.S. Forest Service is reminding people that Minnesota’s new marijuana legalization law enacted this week does not mean people can possess or use cannabis at national forests in the state—so it recommends buying a map to know where you can and can’t indulge.

On Tuesday—the same day that adult-use marijuana legalization took effect in Minnesota—the Forest Service issued an alert, notifying the public that possessing any amount of cannabis “is still prohibited on all National Forest lands and at all National Forest campgrounds and facilities.”

“Forest officials ask visitors to be mindful of National Forest System boundaries and to become familiar with relevant federal and state regulations prior to visiting the Chippewa and/or Superior National Forests,” it says.

The agency, which also sent out a notice last month to remind federal workers that they remain barred from using marijuana even in legal states, said that it’s received questions from visitors about the “legality of marijuana use on public lands” since the Minnesota legislature moved to end prohibition at the state level.

“While recreational cannabis use may be legal in the State of Minnesota, effective August 1, 2023, Chippewa and Superior National Forest officials are reminding visitors that it is illegal on National Forest System lands,” it said.

An FAQ section explains how national forests are federally regulated and, therefore, federal law applies and supersedes the state’s newly implemented policy.

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Elderly artist forced to vacate shack he’s maintained for nearly 80 years

An elderly Massachusetts artist is being kicked out of the Cape Cod shack he maintained for nearly 80 years as the National Park Service begins granting long-term leases to new renters.

Salvatore Del Deo, 94, resided in the Provincetown dune shack for the past 77 summers, where he paid taxes and was deeded the dwelling, according to CBS News.

But the Park Service does not recognize Del Deo as the owner and has ordered him to vacate the shack.

The artist and veteran arrived in Provincetown in 1946, where he met Jeanne “Frenchie” Schnell, who built a remote dune shack along the Cape Cod National Seashore as Del Deo helped maintain the abode.

In 1953, after serving in the Korean War, Del Deo returned to Provincetown, where he met his future wife, Josephine, at a party.

Schnell gifted the shack to Del Deo and his wife as a honeymoon suite.

The Park Service took possession of 19 dune shacks in the ’60s through eminent domain, offering the current owners lifetime leases, and the new renters signing long-term leases, while others only leased year-to-year.

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Strange Phenomena and Mysterious Vanishings at the El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico

Sprawled out over an expanse of withered parched desert in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States, is the El Malpais National Monument. Known for the dramatic volcanic field covered with a barren moonscape of treacherous sharp-edged rubble, tangled lava flows, cinder cones, pressure ridges, complex lava tube systems, caves, caverns, and other volcanic features and formations that cover much of the park’s total area, all surrounded by sandstone bluffs and mesas, the name “Malpais” itself means “badlands” in Spanish, and it is popular with hikers and cavers. It is also known for being one of the eight candidate sites considered by the Manhattan Project to test detonate the first atomic bomb, as well as for its important archeological sites surrounding the various peoples who have inhabited the area for thousands of years, to whom it was a sacred place full of spirits and magic. A lesser known and more sinister aspect of the park is that it has also had its share of strangeness surrounding it, and may possibly be hungry in a sense, drawing people in to vanish off the face of the earth. 

In June of 2002, James Chatman, 46, and his daughter Crystal Tuggle, 20, came to El Malpais for a day hike among the rugged lava beds. A National Park Service archaeological team saw them late on the afternoon of June 20 going off along a simple half-mile walk that would take them from the parking area to an attraction called Big Tubes, which is composed of around 17 miles of tunnels and troughs created by the lava. It was thought to be pretty odd that they were going out there into the perilous unstable terrain without hiking boots or gear, but the trail was well worn and the destination close and so nothing much was thought of it at the time. Little did they know that this would be the last time anyone would see Chatman and Tuggle alive.

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