I apologize in advance for the length of this post...there are a lot of details to describe.
I've read in a couple of places about three boys who were staying at Camp Garland that night, who went over to Camp Scott to "get some girls." It is my belief that this possibly did occur, and if it did, that they witnessed something pertinent that upset them very much. I want to make the disclaimer right now that I do not believe in their direct involvement in the crime.
Their troop was staying at the campsite situated closest to Camp Scott. This would have been the Osage campsite. See the map here:
http://okscouts.protosite.org/Camps/documents/garland.pdf
You have to scroll down to the second page to see the layout of the camp itself. This, along with the maps that have been posted here of Camp Scott, as well as Google Earth to see the overall layout of the camps in relation to each other, should help with my explanations and descriptions.
The Cub Scout pack that I'm involved with did an overnighter not too long ago at the Osage and Cherokee campsites at Camp Garland - the same area in which it's said that these boys were staying. Just beyond them is a trail that leads to what is known as Scott's Bluff, and we were told that it overlooks "what used to be a Girl Scout camp. Some of the adults in attendance knew what had happened, but some did not, and a joke or two was made about "Boy Scouts with binoculars," which I'm sure there were back in the day. I did go down there in the late afternoon. It's a very short hike, with part of the trail hugging the bluff. I stopped for a few minutes at a break in the trees to have a look, and you can indeed see Camp Scott from there. I could see the roof of a building which I later ascertained must have been the Great Hall, and I could see the border of the camp that wound around Cherokee and Comanche. There is a cleared area there to allow for power lines to run through. From the layout of Camp Scott, it looks like the campsites may have been arranged to accommodate the power lines, so I'm assuming they were there in 1977.
I had brought my copy of "Someone Cry for the Children" along with me, and read portions of it after I was in my tent for the night, trying to get my bearings and see whether the surroundings matched the descriptions. I did notice a couple of things:
They weren't kidding about the ticks. I saw quite a few, of three or four different species, and I did end up with a seed tick attached to me. Those things really are tiny and nearly invisible. There were other ticks on my tent, and another hitched a ride home with me on my ice chest. They're pretty prevalent.
We went on a "nature hike," during which we were both on and off trails. I didn't find the off-trail hiking to be terribly hard to navigate. In fact, I had the three-year old sister of one of the scouts walking with me, and she did pretty well. I am short and probably not in as good shape as most preteen boys, so I can't imagine they would have found it that difficult either. Granted, we did have full daylight, but with flashlights, I think it could have been done. Granted also, we're talking about early spring, when the foliage wouldn't have been as thick as it would be in summer, but mostly I think the difference would just be in grass and brush height. More difficult, but still, I think, doable. Advisable? No, but we're talking about 3 boys in their young teens, and I don't think there would have been a lot of off-trail tromping around anyway.
Although Osage campsite is the closest to Camp Scott, it's also the furthest away from the Camp Garland entrance. This isn't really that big a deal - it's maybe a 10 or 15 minute walk from the campsite to the entrance. The boys could easily have taken the trail all the way to the entrance and doubled back toward the highway and continued on to Camp Scott. Another possibility is that they went part of the way down the main trail of the camp, and then branched off onto one of the smaller trails going more or less south. Some of these go downhill. I'm not terribly familiar with all of these trails yet, but I'm betting that this would have allowed them to avoid the problem of ravines and bluffs. My guess is that they would more or less have followed the creek west to Highway 82, crossed that, and ended up in some of the cleared-off area south of Camp Scott. There is a lot of pasture land surrounding the camp. I could be wrong, but I believe that at least some of this was there in 1977 also. They probably would have cut through these areas, skirting around the camp from the south and making their way to the westernmost sides, either through Cherokee and/or Comanche units or continuing on toward Kiowa. They would have had to cross Snake Creek at some point, but that doesn't worry me so much...water levels for creeks and rivers in Oklahoma are usually very low, and it would have been warm enough for them to wade across pretty comfortably if they had to. However, to me it seems likely that there would have been some way to cross it, maybe a footbridge or something. I know Camp Garland has them.
I seem to remember some witness accounts that said some of the girls and/or counselors saw lights with a "dull red glow" on the parameters of the camp (please feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong). While I can't see these boys having blocked the flashlight beams with garbage bags, I think they'd be likely to shade the beams with their hands, which would create a "dull red glow." So I think it's possible that these boys may have been there that night, and may have been seen.
A couple of other observations: Those woods are NOT quiet. There are noises all night long. Insects, frogs, racoons, owls. With it having rained earlier in the evening, the underbrush wouldn't have been that "crunchy," either. It might be easier than some people think to get around without being heard, if one were careful.
I also noticed that visibility was extremely good. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and didn't even need to take my flashlight with me. We did have a full moon and a clear sky, so I know that made a difference. The moon was so bright that it shined right through my tent walls. My tent had a rain guard over it, so that's double thickness, and I could still see the moon shining quite clearly.
In Oklahoma, the weather changes FAST. Just because Carla couldn't see her hand in front of her face at one point in the night doesn't necessarily mean that visibility was bad all night long. The clouds from the thunderstorm may or may not have lingered, and the low-hanging clouds that were present may or may not have reflected a little bit of light. I don't know what phase the moon was in that night, but it could have made a difference to what kind of visibility there was out there.
I don't know what of this, if any, is of value, especially since it's mostly just my own conjectures and opinions. Take it for what it's worth!
I've read in a couple of places about three boys who were staying at Camp Garland that night, who went over to Camp Scott to "get some girls." It is my belief that this possibly did occur, and if it did, that they witnessed something pertinent that upset them very much. I want to make the disclaimer right now that I do not believe in their direct involvement in the crime.
Their troop was staying at the campsite situated closest to Camp Scott. This would have been the Osage campsite. See the map here:
http://okscouts.protosite.org/Camps/documents/garland.pdf
You have to scroll down to the second page to see the layout of the camp itself. This, along with the maps that have been posted here of Camp Scott, as well as Google Earth to see the overall layout of the camps in relation to each other, should help with my explanations and descriptions.
The Cub Scout pack that I'm involved with did an overnighter not too long ago at the Osage and Cherokee campsites at Camp Garland - the same area in which it's said that these boys were staying. Just beyond them is a trail that leads to what is known as Scott's Bluff, and we were told that it overlooks "what used to be a Girl Scout camp. Some of the adults in attendance knew what had happened, but some did not, and a joke or two was made about "Boy Scouts with binoculars," which I'm sure there were back in the day. I did go down there in the late afternoon. It's a very short hike, with part of the trail hugging the bluff. I stopped for a few minutes at a break in the trees to have a look, and you can indeed see Camp Scott from there. I could see the roof of a building which I later ascertained must have been the Great Hall, and I could see the border of the camp that wound around Cherokee and Comanche. There is a cleared area there to allow for power lines to run through. From the layout of Camp Scott, it looks like the campsites may have been arranged to accommodate the power lines, so I'm assuming they were there in 1977.
I had brought my copy of "Someone Cry for the Children" along with me, and read portions of it after I was in my tent for the night, trying to get my bearings and see whether the surroundings matched the descriptions. I did notice a couple of things:
They weren't kidding about the ticks. I saw quite a few, of three or four different species, and I did end up with a seed tick attached to me. Those things really are tiny and nearly invisible. There were other ticks on my tent, and another hitched a ride home with me on my ice chest. They're pretty prevalent.
We went on a "nature hike," during which we were both on and off trails. I didn't find the off-trail hiking to be terribly hard to navigate. In fact, I had the three-year old sister of one of the scouts walking with me, and she did pretty well. I am short and probably not in as good shape as most preteen boys, so I can't imagine they would have found it that difficult either. Granted, we did have full daylight, but with flashlights, I think it could have been done. Granted also, we're talking about early spring, when the foliage wouldn't have been as thick as it would be in summer, but mostly I think the difference would just be in grass and brush height. More difficult, but still, I think, doable. Advisable? No, but we're talking about 3 boys in their young teens, and I don't think there would have been a lot of off-trail tromping around anyway.
Although Osage campsite is the closest to Camp Scott, it's also the furthest away from the Camp Garland entrance. This isn't really that big a deal - it's maybe a 10 or 15 minute walk from the campsite to the entrance. The boys could easily have taken the trail all the way to the entrance and doubled back toward the highway and continued on to Camp Scott. Another possibility is that they went part of the way down the main trail of the camp, and then branched off onto one of the smaller trails going more or less south. Some of these go downhill. I'm not terribly familiar with all of these trails yet, but I'm betting that this would have allowed them to avoid the problem of ravines and bluffs. My guess is that they would more or less have followed the creek west to Highway 82, crossed that, and ended up in some of the cleared-off area south of Camp Scott. There is a lot of pasture land surrounding the camp. I could be wrong, but I believe that at least some of this was there in 1977 also. They probably would have cut through these areas, skirting around the camp from the south and making their way to the westernmost sides, either through Cherokee and/or Comanche units or continuing on toward Kiowa. They would have had to cross Snake Creek at some point, but that doesn't worry me so much...water levels for creeks and rivers in Oklahoma are usually very low, and it would have been warm enough for them to wade across pretty comfortably if they had to. However, to me it seems likely that there would have been some way to cross it, maybe a footbridge or something. I know Camp Garland has them.
I seem to remember some witness accounts that said some of the girls and/or counselors saw lights with a "dull red glow" on the parameters of the camp (please feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong). While I can't see these boys having blocked the flashlight beams with garbage bags, I think they'd be likely to shade the beams with their hands, which would create a "dull red glow." So I think it's possible that these boys may have been there that night, and may have been seen.
A couple of other observations: Those woods are NOT quiet. There are noises all night long. Insects, frogs, racoons, owls. With it having rained earlier in the evening, the underbrush wouldn't have been that "crunchy," either. It might be easier than some people think to get around without being heard, if one were careful.
I also noticed that visibility was extremely good. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and didn't even need to take my flashlight with me. We did have a full moon and a clear sky, so I know that made a difference. The moon was so bright that it shined right through my tent walls. My tent had a rain guard over it, so that's double thickness, and I could still see the moon shining quite clearly.
In Oklahoma, the weather changes FAST. Just because Carla couldn't see her hand in front of her face at one point in the night doesn't necessarily mean that visibility was bad all night long. The clouds from the thunderstorm may or may not have lingered, and the low-hanging clouds that were present may or may not have reflected a little bit of light. I don't know what phase the moon was in that night, but it could have made a difference to what kind of visibility there was out there.
I don't know what of this, if any, is of value, especially since it's mostly just my own conjectures and opinions. Take it for what it's worth!
