Matthew Standridge

Retired-ranger backcountry warnings and Appalachian folklore

Adults who like campfire-style true stories, folklore and old-time skills about American national parks and Appalachia, plus hunters and cast-iron cooks (inferred from titles, the about text and a hunter's cookbook link; there are no audience statistics).

• Realistic avatar
• A photorealistic elderly man with a long white beard, shown in a park-ranger uniform and campaign hat in forest, swamp and canyon scenes, or in a fedora and plaid shirt on Appalachian porches and in barns. The channel icon is a close portrait of a grey-haired, white-bearded man in a brown shirt with suspenders, in front of shelves with hanging herbs.

First-person countdown of 5-7 items (lights, tree marks, places people vanish, old family rules): a popular myth is dealt with first, all but one item are backed by records, and the one the narrator cannot explain is held for the end.

Ranger videos 19-22 min; Appalachian-local videos 16-19 min

• Retired-ranger backcountry warnings (lights, tree marks, camping spots)
• Missing persons and unexplained encounters in national parks
• Appalachian death omens, rules and family customs
• Appalachian and Native folklore creatures and legends
• Old-time skills: winter survival, wells, camp cooking
• Appalachian history: coal barons, moonshine, hidden places

• [N] [Things] You Should NEVER [Ignore/Follow] In The Woods From a Retired Park Ranger
• [N] [Things] [Appalachian families did or never did] (From A Mountain Local)
• The [Dark Topic] Appalachia Never Talks About (From A Mountain Local)
• I'm From Appalachia. - [Legend], the [Creature] the Old Folks Warned About
• Why Rangers Never [Do X] - [N] Reasons Nobody Tells You

Cinematic widescreen scenes with an elderly white-bearded man in a hat (ranger uniform, or fedora and plaid shirt) as the focal figure, and a snake, large animal, owl or ghostly figure behind him. Almost no text: only 1 of 10 has a caption (HE WASN'T THERE, yellow).

• 15 of 20 titles carry an insider tag (retired park ranger, mountain local or 'From Appalachia'), as do 8 of the 10 most viewed
• The 6 retired-ranger videos (Oct 6-11) have a median of about 18,400 views, against about 730 for the 14 uploads before them
• Every ranger description shares one hook: 40 years with the National Park Service, N-1 items explained, one the narrator cannot explain (6 of 6)
• 9 of 10 thumbnails pair the old man with an animal or a ghostly figure in a cinematic scene, with a caption in only 1 of 10
• Steady output: 19 uploads between Sep 17 and Oct 11 (median gap 1 day), after a single upload on Aug 11