A person rescued by a North Carolina lineman after being buried in mud by Hurricane Helene mentioned he knew his spouse and youngsters had died beneath him as a result of they stopped scratching his leg three days earlier than.
A rumor circulating on-line following Hurricane Helene’s devastating landfall within the U.S. South in late September 2024 tells the tragic story of a North Carolina lineman discovering a person buried in mud. In accordance with social media posts, the person informed the lineman he did not need to reside anymore, and that he knew his spouse and youngsters have been lifeless as a result of had they stopped scratching his leg three days earlier than. The posts contained no figuring out info, nor did they point out a location or date when the supposed incident befell. A minimum of one model of the story mentioned the lineman labored for the ability firm Duke Vitality.
One of the crucial generally shared variations of the rumor learn as follows:
A lineman in North Carolina mentioned they discovered a person buried as much as his shoulders and as they tried to dig him out he mentioned “Dont, please let me go, I dont wanna reside anymore.” They requested him why he didnt need to reside & he mentioned “bcuz my spouse & youngsters are gone.” They informed him many ppl are nonetheless being discovered & his household could possibly be protected and he replied “i do know they didnt make it bcuz theyre below me & they stopped scratching my leg 3 days in the past.” However we ship Lebanon more cash.
We acquired reader mail asking concerning the rumor. One such e mail learn:
I reside close to the areas of TN and NC affected by the hurricane. This story retains popping up on my Fb newsfeed, and everybody appears to consider it. Nevertheless, I feel it sounds utterly made up and just a little ridiculous. It is also extraordinarily disrespectful if somebody is making up issues of this nature contemplating a whole lot have truly died horrible deaths and a whole lot extra are nonetheless lacking. I’d love to have the ability to share whether it is false with individuals who have sadly believed it.
As of this writing, we have now but to uncover any proof confirming this rumor as true. Our analysis stays in progress.
For additional studying, we beforehand reported about the true story of a photographer who captured the second of a dramatic mudslide rescue involving six folks within the city of Black Mountain, North Carolina. We additionally published the facts about how customers shared unfounded and false rumors about restoration efforts within the city of Chimney Rock.
Contacting State and Native Officers
By e mail, a spokesperson for North Carolina Emergency Administration (NCEM) informed Snopes, “We’re conscious of this rumor circulating on-line. Duke Vitality has confirmed this can be a rumor.” Duke Vitality spokesperson Meghan Miles additionally responded to us by e mail, saying, “I’d encourage you to succeed in out to native authorities about your request.”
Rutherford County Emergency Administration (RCEM) spokesperson Kerry Giles and North Carolina Utilities Fee (NCUC) spokesperson Sam Watson each mentioned they have been unfamiliar with the story. Watauga County emergency administration coordinator Mike Snider responded to our message, “This didn’t occur in Watauga County. I had not seen that rumor.”
Dominion Vitality senior communications specialist Cherise Newsome informed us, “We haven’t any studies of this incident.” She added that their service space contains the northeastern portion of North Carolina; Helene particularly devastated the western a part of the state.
We contacted officers in additional than 20 different counties to ask concerning the rumor and can replace this text if we obtain extra particulars.
Posts That Promoted the Rumor
In a single outstanding instance of a person sharing the rumor, on both Oct. 15 or 16, @livezeystephanie posted a photograph displaying the textual content on TikTok (archived). That put up acquired over 3.5 million views and 120,000 shares. We despatched a non-public message to the person however haven’t but acquired a response. (We traced the picture below the textual content to a Sept. 27 post (archived) on X from the North Carolina Division of Transportation displaying the caption, “I-40, wanting down at U.S. 74.”)
A person commented below @livezeystephanie’s put up, “This doesn’t sound remotely truthful.” Then, @livezeystephanie replied, “1000s are lacking, whole households gone & you’ll be able to’t consider this?? you do not need to consider it.” (For clarification, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Oct. 15 that 81 folks remained lacking within the western a part of the state.)
In one other common put up, a verified Fb person with greater than 196,000 followers uploaded a video initially created by TikTok person @bionic_mama88, who recounted the story of the North Carolina lineman, saying she learn it elsewhere. The video acquired over 318,000 views on Fb. As of Oct. 17, the video didn’t seem on @bionic_mama88’s TikTok page, and it appeared the person both deleted the clip or modified its privateness settings. We despatched a non-public message to @bionic_mama88 however didn’t obtain a response.
Numerous other users also shared the identical story, together with one Fb commenter who posted an alternate model of the story particularly mentioning Duke Vitality (archived).
That account of the story learn:
That has additionally been confirmed by one other LEO to an in depth good friend of ours….
Additionally A woman I work with-her husbands works for Duke energy and they’re up there. She mentioned they walked up on a person buried as much as his neck in mud. He was nonetheless alive however barely respiratory. They began to dig him out and he was crying and telling them to cease and that he wished to die. They requested him why and he mentioned “my spouse and son are lifeless”. They requested him how he knew that as a result of so many individuals are nonetheless simply lacking and he mentioned this—- ” I do know they’re lifeless as a result of they’re below me and three days in the past they stopped scratching my leg…..
Helene’s Rising Demise Toll
On Oct. 16, the Asheville-based WLOS-TV reported that the North Carolina Division of Well being and Human Providers introduced 95 verified storm-related deaths within the state from Helene.
Earlier within the month, ABC News reported over 230 identified deaths from the storm throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
