Travel Channel Series ‘America Unearthed’ Comes To Wyoming
Wyoming takes center stage in a new episode of the Travel Channel series America Unearthed. Host Scott Wolter and his crew came to the Cowboy State to investigate the mysterious origin of a pictograph near Thermopolis known as the "Water Ghost Woman".
Archeologists estimate the image of the woman could have been etched into a rock in Hot Springs County around 500 B.C. and may depict the spirit woman Pa Waip who was renowned by the Shoshone tribe centuries later. According to Shoshone legend, the ghost of the woman who lured men into the water and drowned them was a warning about the raging rapids of the Wind River. Others believed her image had healing powers.
While in Wyoming, the America Unearthed crew also explored another controversial artifact, a sandstone tablet discovered near Rock Springs in the 1940s. One theory suggests the tablet may have been left by Scandavaian explorers as early as 1200 B.C., although that account is disputed by other historians.
The carvings in Wyoming were part of the episode "Phoenicians In America", which debuted on June 25th. America Unearthed airs every Tuesday nights on the Travel Channel.