‘Goosebumps:’ Wyoming story of a possible helpful ghost give Jake and Spike chills

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio don’t necessarily agree about whether ghosts actually exist, but they agreed a story told in a Wyoming news outlet earlier this month about a potential helpful ghost was chill inducing.

During Tuesday’s show, Jake acknowledged he is the member of the afternoon show partnership who generally doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he spotted a story in The Cowboy State Daily, an all-digital news organization in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and it piqued his attention.

“I saw this really cool ghost story and … this kind of gave me chills,” Jake said. “I thought it would be interesting if we got the author on to talk with us, because I’m not a person who generally believes in ghosts.”

Spike, on the other hand, is open to the possibility of the existence of ghosts saying at one point, “I’ve seen a few things in my life that defy description and explanation.”

“I kind of do (believe in ghosts). I would love for it to be real,” Spike said. “Again, we don’t know what we don’t know. For us to think that we know the answers. I mean, I respect everybody’s faith, you know, but who we’re just speculating. We’re believing what we’ve been told by people we care about and trust. Yeah, but who knows?”

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Teen hunter in 1951 got help getting out of a tough spot

The talk about ghosts set up guest Jackie Dorothy to talk about her recent story in The Cowboy State Daily, which dates back to a 1951 hunting trip in the timber of North Trapper Creek in the Bighorn Mountains.

Dorothy explained in her story the hunter, who was 17 at the time of the incident in 1951, told his story to Debra D. Munn, author of “Wyoming Ghost Stories,” but asked to remain anonymous.

“He had kept his story secret for more than 35 years and still had no answer for what had happened to him all those years ago,” the story reads.

After a successful elk hunt with his father and several other men, the teenager was tasked with walking back to the area where their truck was and driving it back to pick everyone up.

Noting “the weather will turn on a dime” in that area at times, Dorothy noted a thick fog came in out of nowhere and the 17-year-old boy got lost and made mistakes.

“He knew the area well. He shouldn’t have gotten lost, but the fog got thick,” Dorothy said on “The Jake and Spike Show.” “He got disoriented, and he started doing everything wrong. He was not stopping. He kept going. The terrain was getting rougher, he did not recognize where he was.”

After that, in the midst of the fog, the young hunter received some unexpected help, Dorothy outlined.

“And he said that this boy in a flannel shirt pointed in the right direction, and without that, he would have gone completely off the wrong side of the mountain and gotten lost without all the protection he usually would have had,” Dorothy said on KIRO Newsradio.

Dorothy’s Cowboy State Daily story explained that the boy in the flannel shirt pointed in the opposite direction of where the hunter was going. He took the boy’s advice, turned around, came to a road and made it back to camp soon thereafter.

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Helpful ghost in Wyoming? Who was the boy in the flannel shirt?

Dorothy went on to say that in her research, she came across a story from 1932, 19 years before the 1951 story about the 17-year-old hunter. At that time, the frozen body of another boy was found. Dylan McKinnon had been lost in the exact same area on Trapper Creek.

“The puzzle came together,” Dorothy said. “So the question remains, was it Dylan that came back and was guiding him to safety? Because he has been reported to be seen several times. I’ve had people actually reaching out to me and saying they’ve heard this story, and old timers swear it’s true.”

Spike was convinced the boy who died in 1932 helped the one who was lost in 1951.

“I’m a firm believer that this kid that was lost in the 30s and perished … in the weather there was trying to avoid the same fate for this kid featured in your story,” Spike said. “I get goosebumps just listening to this. I really do.”

It turned out, two other people had similar experiences and a boy in a flannel shirt helped them, Dorothy said in her story. Dorothy told KIRO Newsradio that Facebook users have commented on her online story and have said it’s all true and the boy in the flannel shirt has helped others.

Jake liked hearing a story about a ghost that wasn’t set on scaring or terrorizing people.

“The thing that I love about the story too is that it’s a good-natured ghost,” Jake said. If he is a ghost, yeah, any spirit he’s doing, he’s doing something to help people.”

During her interview about this story, Dorothy said on KIRO Newsradio that she has been looking more at ghost stories and is usually able to do enough work to simply dismiss them. That isn’t the case here.

“So what gave me goosebumps is the research part of this is, you know, you talk about, I look at ghost stories, and I have a fun time, actually, kind of just debunking them. But this one I can’t debunk,” she said.

Head here or tap on the player below to hear Jake and Spike’s entire interview with Jackie Dorothy of The Cowboy State Daily.

Listen to Jake and Spike weekdays from noon-3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.