221-Year-Old Bottle of Rum is Buried on Top of Mount Katahdin, ME

This story is about to have hiking enthusiasts, history buffs, and all New Englanders ready to hike the tallest peak in Maine: Mount Katahdin.

There are not one, but two ancient legends about the first trip up Mount Katahdin by a "Yankee" (non-Native person). Both trips include a hidden bottle of rum that is still left to be found today.

In the summer of 1804, Charles Turner and six others became the first non-Native Americans to summit Mount Katahdin.

On their quest, led by two local Natives, they were suggested to stop, not reaching the summit. There was an ancient curse, the evil Pamola.

The curse stated that anyone who climbed to the summit (especially and specifically a Native) did not return, as the evil spirit of Pamola had won the battle, according to a SummitPost article.

Many moons prior to Turner's trek up, seven Native Americans made the same journey up Mount Katahdin. However, they did not return, leaving the rest of the tribe to believe in the legend of Pamola.

Charles and his crew were determined, and despite warnings of the curse, they pushed on and reached the summit. At the summit, Charles Turner and his crew all carved their names into a lead plate. They buried the plate and a sealed bottle of rum at the highest point of the mountain.

The lead plate and the 221-year-old bottle of rum are still somewhere on the top of the highest point of Mount Katahdin.

Another article from Portland Monthy describes a similar story just 42 years later.

This story has Henry David Thoreau making a failed trek to the top in 1846. Thoreau and a small crew were led by an old Indian man named Louis Neptune. Neptune advised Thoreau to leave a bottle of rum on top of the mountain to "appease the mountain spirit," according to Portland Monthly.

But his crew did not reach the summit.

Did he ALSO bury a bottle of rum? And since he never made it to the top of Katahdin, is it lower on the mountain?

I am sure many hikers are about to bring a shovel to the top of the summit, so just a reminder, leave no trace.