Cary native survives fall from Tennessee waterfall

Luke George, his sister-in-law, Brenae Allison, and their brother-in-law, Paul Forrest, hiked to Twisting Falls, across the state line from Beech Mountain, on Oct. 3 to get some photos on top of the scenic lookout.

Allison took a few shots of George, who was the only one brave enough to make it to the very top. But when George turned to come down, the rocks were slipperier than he had expected.

“Once you got close to the waterfall, the water was creating a mist and beating down on the rocks and covering the rocks with water and slime,” he recalled.

George carefully tried to navigate back down the route that he had taken on the way up, watching for slick spots along way.

“I thought I had my foot cleared, and I didn’t, so I slipped," he said.

As he plunged, George tried to grab a tree branch and some shrubs. This knocked him forward instead of backwards, a move that may have saved his life – his head didn't hit the rocks.

“There was a little piece of flat rock jutting out. I hit that face-forward around my chest halfway down, which kind of slowed my fall," he said.

George fell about 30 feet into a crevice beneath the waterfall as Allison and Forrest watched.

“I just remember a blur of Luke, seeing him fall," Allison said. "There was a rock in between us, so I didn’t even see where he landed. I thought I had just watched someone die."

Forrest was able to climb up on a high enough rock that he could see George below. He said he could tell that his brother-in-law was alive, but he didn’t know how serious his injuries were. The raging sound of the waterfall prevented them from communicating with one another. It also prevented him from communicating with Allison.

“I just started freaking out, trying to get a hold of 911. I remember dropping my phone. I was just kind of losing it,” Allison said, noting that there was no cell service on top of the mountain. “In my head, I’m thinking he’s in a rock hole. I don’t even know if he’s underwater. I have to get out of here.”

Allison started running back down the trail the same way they came up, searching for a place where she could get cell service. About halfway down the mountain, she was finally able to call 911.

“I just told them, 'We have a guy that fell down the side of a waterfall. We’re way deep in here. We’re going to need help. If you have a helicopter, send it now.'"

An hour later, volunteers with the Carter County (Tenn.) Emergency and Rescue Squad showed up to help. By this point, George had been lying in the hole for several hours.

He said he was cold and wet but calm. A competitive athlete and outdoors enthusiast trained in survival skills, he said he knew he had to remain calm.

The first rescuers who climbed down to the bottom of the waterfall to attend to him gave him a sweatshirt and a rain jacket off their own backs. They also gave him water and tried to keep him stable until they could make a plan to get him out.

“They were amazing. They deserve a huge shoutout. I was just crying,” Allison recalled of watching the team make their way to George.

Finally, first responders made the decision to put George in a harness and pull him up the incline with a rope.

“They took a rope, and somebody climbed up there and wrapped it around a tree," he said. "There was a belay team on one end, and they had a harness. I got in the harness, and the belay team was pulling me up.”

Allison said she was beside herself with gratitude for what the rescuers did for her family.

“You guys sacrificed your whole night and your lives to save our Luke," she told them.

George, who now lives in Charlotte with his wife and baby daughter, is recovering from cuts and bruises and a few broken bones.

“I have two fractures in my foot, and a piece of bone chipped off the top of my foot,” he said,

But after learning that at least one other person died at Twisting Falls in 2018 and that many other people have been rescued there, he said he feels very fortunate his injuries were not more serious.

“Just the way I fell, it could have been a lot worse. Instead of falling backwards, I fell sideways, and I had that piece of rock that retarded my fall a little bit,” he said.

The other thing George had was peace of mind even in the middle of the crisis. He said he believes that was the most important thing he learned from the fall.

“The No. 1 rule is to stay calm and assess the situation and don’t make the situation worse," he said.