If you've ever lived in East Tennessee you've heard stories of The Sack Man. Stories of the Sack Man have gone on in the area dating back to 1957.

There are hundreds of legends as to whom he really is. Some say that he is just another homeless person that just couldn't get his bearings, others say that he was a highly successful doctor that went crazy after a child died under his care, and others say that he's a guardian angel.

The odd thing about him is that the only existing photo of the Sack Man is from the late 1960's at a soup kitchen. The odd part is that he hasn't aged a minute since the photograph was taken.

A local policeman has stated that every major accident that he's worked he has seen the Sack Man carrying his large brown sack, mumbling something as he passes and never acknowledging anyone or anything. This policeman, who is retired now, said that he kept a log of things to keep himself from being bored throughout his long shift. One day when he was bored and couldn't really concentrate on anything to write, he thought he'd go through and read some of his past entries. He noticed something in common with several of his entries. He noticed that on the days that he worked a traffic accident, most were tragic, that he saw the Sack Man on that same day. He always documented seeing the Sack Man, because he thought it was pretty humorous that a homeless guy would walk around with an empty sack and never pick anything of any kind of value up. Not even a single beer can.

What makes his sightings even more mysterious is that residents would practically see him in two places at one time. They would pass him going through downtown Carter County walking in the opposite direction and then see him minutes later about 10 miles away walking, again, in the opposite direction.

Many residents, myself included, have seen him walking from and to a small local cemetary almost every day.

As I stated before, there is only one photo that is believed to be in existance of the mysterious Sack Man. I've travelled around the area for weeks with my camera in the car and didn't see him until one lucky day I spotted him and went to take his picture and the batteries to my camera were dead.

Although the strange happenings that the retired local policeman has shared, not all things linked to the Sack Man bare tragedy.

Many residents that have approached the Sack Man with a friendly hand have found themselves to be blessed. A local family that had gone through a tough time said that they had given the Sack Man a little money to get him something to eat, but felt stupid for giving him money when they saw him at a covenience store about 30 minutes later. They stopped to get gas and he came out holding a lottery ticket. The man was standing at the pump shaking his head in disbelief whenever he seen a hand reach for his shoulder. He turned to see the Sack Man holding the ticket. The Sack Man said, "Bless you", handed the man the ticket, and walked away. The man's wife came walking out of the store with a strange look on her face. She asked her husband what the Sack Man handed him and he just laughed and said, "he gave me the lottery ticket." The woman scratched the ticket and it was a $7,000 winner.

There have been many stories that have come by people who have been "blessed" by the Sack Man. Molly Pritchard is a cancer survivor and she credits God and the Sack Man for going into remission. She was on her way to her doctor's appointment to see if her cancer had progressed. The Sack Man was walking through town and she asked him if she could give him a ride somewhere. She said that he shook his head no and looked at the bible that she had laying on her dash. He said "bless you child of God." She said that when she drove away that she had this strange warm feeling flow through her body- a good feeling. She was sitting at the doctor's office, waiting for the doctor, whenever she said that she heard a voice saying everything is ok. The doctor entered with a pleasant and surprised look on her face and said that no cancer showed up on her most recent test. She went ahead and ordered another test as a precautionary messure. That, too, didn't turn up any cancer.

A local farmer had a major crop growth during one of the biggest droughts in the area over the past 20 years that he had been farming. He was facing foreclosure on his house and property until the Sack Man offered a prayer to the distraught farmer.

The Sack Man's identity is still a mystery. Anyone and everyone that has talked to him is always met with a warm smile from the man whenever asked the question. Maybe we will never know who or what he is or was. All I know is that all that offer to help the Sack Man find themselves truly blessed by the outcome. Makes you wonder how much you could be blessed by helping the one person that seems to be one needing blessings.