Traveling and discovering the beautiful world around has been a hobby that the majority of people have and love to do. Some travel to have fun and break from the hectic routine of their lives, while some travel to explore new places, discovering something new and adventurous.
A YouTuber named Rich Aloha went on a trip to explore the famous Foster Falls State Park in Sequatchie, Tennessee. He had planned on going for scuba diving and treasure hunting in the waterfalls but instead what he would find under the water is something more mysterious than anything we could ever imagine, which will not only change his but two more lives after the revelation that the finding will make.
Rich is a Florida based YouTuber who loves going on new adventures like diving and hiking. And he records his expeditions every time, to upload them on his YouTube channel. He had always expected his Youtube page would change his life, but not in a way it would turn out to be.
On the occasion of his 27th birthday, Rich decided to take a trip to Tennessee, and discover the Foster Falls. Little did he know that this trip would be very different and mysterious, unlike any other trip.
Rich Aloha had started his Youtube channel in 2009, sharing pictures and videos of his traveling experiences. The very first place he had made a video of his experience in, was Wekiwa Springs, State Park.
Aloha's partner in all his journeys he has ever taken since his Youtube channel has been constant. It is his cat he takes along everywhere, every time. And so like every other place, he took his cat to Foster Falls as well.
In 2019, Rich decided to go diving and experience a place that is famous among people for the picturesque view that it has and the vast swimming area that it provides, with its 60-foot high waterfalls.
The water in the foster falls is so deep that it can be dangerous to go spend time in the waters if you do not know swimming. And because of the deep pool, people have dropped and lost a lot of things in the water, which is settled down and never found again.
There's so much that can be found in the waters of Foster Falls. People lose a lot of precious things like jewelry, or even cash at times. But what Rich was going to find while diving would be something that will change a lot of lives in one day.
"I might be finding a drone, or an iPhone, maybe a GoPro," Rich exclaimed at the beginning of the video for his Youtube channel. "And if I’m really lucky, I might even find some cash." But what he was going to find was something very different from all these things.
While trying to find a treasure in the waterbed of foster falls, Rich found something during his scuba diving that gave him goosebumps. It would be the last or least imagined of things anyone would ever think of while anticipating a treasure hunt.
A lot of visitors have lost things in the Foster falls that belonged to them and have never even thought of finding their stuff back from deep down the waterbeds. But Rich had always been a person who does things that are difficult and tries to succeed in them.
Rich was very excited about this adventure and without thinking much, he dove inside the water. He knew it was going to be a great experience for him, but he was unaware of the big change it would bring in his life.
Rich had done scuba diving earlier as well, but this time it felt different. He could not understand if it was the location or something else that made him have a weird and strange feeling about foster falls.
Rich went pretty far inside the pool in search of some treasure, but it seemed to be an unlucky day. At one point, he had actually thought like the pool was devoid of any treasure at all and he thought of making his way back.
Since he had made his way this far, Rich thought to not give up so soon. He went a little further and that is when he spotted something out of the blue. He was finally satisfied his attempts would not fail. Little did he know what was he getting into..
From the corner of his eyes, Rich could see something gold and black lying among the rocks in the waterbed. It was a bracelet. Rich was pretty excited about his first finding, but he was unaware of where it would lead him.
Once Rich found the bracelet, he wore it on his wrist and went further to explore more valuables. He knew there would be stuff. Next, he found a ring and wondered if it was a wedding ring? What was even happening?
Rich took the ring but did not wear it like he wore the bracelet because he did not want to put on someone else's wedding ring if it was one. There was a lot more that was to come until his life would change forever.
It seemed to Rich like everybody lost their stuff after coming to one common point in the pool. Or was it a coincidence? After finding the bracelet and the ring, Rich found a pair of sunglasses and a discarded turtle shell. But what came next gave him chills.
Rich had started his adventure with the hope of finding a GoPro, and he really did find one at last! But who could drop a GoPro in the water? And was it even working? His whole life was going to change now.
Rich decided to bring his expedition to an end after he had found the GoPro because he wanted to check if there was some footage in the GoPro that could give him some clue as to who had dropped and lost it.
"We’ll review the footage and see if I can’t get that back to the rightful owners," said Rich, closing out his YouTube video. "But this is definitely one for the books." And he was about to witness something unimaginable.
After coming back from the foster falls, Rich went straight to a known Park Ranger who had requested him to find the lost items under the foster fall and report to him if Rich finds something unusual.
The GoPro seemed to be belonging to a guy named Richard Ragland, who had the last recorded video of himself enjoying with his friends under the falls. But what Rich then came to know about Richard shook him to the core.
“I was going through the footage and I said, ‘Oh my God, this is the guy,'” Aloha told WSB-TV. Richard had been known all around Tennessee. He was 22 years old when he went on a road trip with his friends in 2107. That trip changed everything.
Richard was born and bought up in Georgia. In his later years, he served as the National Guard until he realized he wanted to become an actor. But destiny had other plans for Richard, who was now known by everyone.
On their road trip, Richard and his friends took a stop at the foster falls and thought that now that they were there, they might as well take a swim in the pool. That is when Richard took out his camera to record himself and his friends.
While filming and having fun, the situation became bad for Richard. He seemed to be feeling a pull downwards to the surface. He struggled in peddling his way upwards and by the time his friends could help him, it was too late.
Richard was nowhere to be seen now. His friends called for help and a team of rescuers and ambulance arrived. Richard had drowned under the water and it was getting really difficult to find him in such depths.
The ambulance arrived and by the time Richard was given CPR, it was too late. He was even taken to a hospital that was nearby, but as soon as the doctors checked him, he was no more. And that is why Richard and his story was known in the whole of Tennessee.
After Rich had found that the GoPro belonged to Richard, he decided upon something. He wanted to locate Richard's parents and return the GoPro to them so that they could see the last video their son made.
The last film that Richard had made on his camera had him saying these words, "You start to not take your life for granted and not allow people to manage your life. I didn’t want anybody to manage my life."
Rich located Mr and Mrs Ragland and gave them their son's belonging. "The SD card was intact, all the footage was there. It was like an out of body experience," said Richard's mother. "What we’ve seen so far is Rich being Rich, living life to the fullest."
At first, the contacting of Rich and getting the GoPro brought back the worst memories for Richard's parents and they initially thought they would not see the video. But eventually, they gave up.
After watching the last video their son ever talked and smiled in, Richard's parents finally felt like they got some closure. Since the loss of their son was the biggest tragedy of their lives, they needed closure to let the feeling go away.
Mr. and Mrs. Ragland was more than thankful to Rich. “For him to go through his efforts to do his research, make numerous phone calls, he didn’t give up until he got in touch with us and that means the world to us,” Richard's mother told WSB-TV of Aloha.
Rich has indeed been very kind to be doing the deed. “I’m glad I found it, personally, because I try to do the right thing and get the item back to the rightful owner,” Aloha said in an interview with NYL news.
But Rich believes that the whole of this event was God's made up plan. “I strongly believe that God led me to this GoPro because the only thing I saw was the end tip of the thumbscrew and everything else was just covered in muck,” Aloha told WSB-TV.
Life is really uncertain. One moment you're living your life and enjoying each second, and you would never know that that could be your last day. Richard used to live his life to the fullest but no one could think of what happened to him.
After losing their son two years back, Richard's parents Robin and Gary were reunited with their son through his GoPro. They had never thought they could get closure to the incident, and that too something as close and direct as the video.
Kind and helpful people are hard to find but sure exist in the world. There's a lot that Rich could have himself done with the GoPro or just could have thrown it away. But he really took the extra efforts to find Richard's family and give them what belonged to them.