Woman Rides Rollercoaster Through Smoky Mountains, Then the Bears Appear

A woman taking a scenic trip through the Tennessee Mountains got more than she bargained for when she came face to face with a pair of bears.

The woman, who posts to TikTok under the username @stephanieee_.27, was in Gatlinburg, where she’s believed to have ridden a coaster through the forest at the Anakeesta Mountaintop Adventure Park, which she included in the hashtags, riding on a single-track open-air rail.

But while she was riding solo, she wasn’t alone, as seen in a viral video posted at the end of April.

In the clip, two black bears emerge from the treeline ahead of her, and while one ignores her and disappears back into the trees, the second takes notice, slowing down and watching her pass.

The TikToker, who goes by the name Annie on her profile, wrote in a caption: “That moment you have a close encounter with BEARS,” and explained in the comments she had “no control of how slow it was going. I was not able to speed it up.”

In the clip the rail makes a constant mechanical noise, and the bear watches intently as she passes close by, with the second becoming visible again as it watches her from behind the trees. But neither appears aggressive, and luckily she continues on the path without issue.

Gatlinburg is close to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for which the black bear is an iconic symbol: it is a protected bear habitat in the United States, and biologists estimate around 1,900 bears live in the park, according to the National Parks Service (NPS).

The Anakeesta website has some information on bears, quoting the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). It says: “While black bears are usually tolerant of humans, they should always be treated as wild animals, whether in residential or backcountry areas.”

They advised to never feed or approach the bears, but if one approaches you, yell and shout in an attempt to scare it away.

“If approached by a bear, stand your ground, raise your arms to appear larger, yell and throw rocks or sticks until it leaves the area,” the site adds.

That advice is in contrast for anyone coming into contact with a grizzly bear, as the NPS advises people to “play dead,” and “do not fight back.”

For Annie, the unexpected meeting with the two animals led her to go viral, with the clip watched more than 122 million times, as users awarded it more than 7.2 million likes.

TikTok users appeared both amazed and horrified, as one commenter said “that’s scary… black bear or not… they’re still bears.

“It’s like a sushi train but for bears,” another agreed, as one took issue with the noise of the rail: “The slow clicks as you advance are psychological torture.”

One user described it: “This feels like one of them dreams where you can’t run,” as yet another wrote: “That clicking noise is like a dinner bell.”

Newsweek has contacted @stephaniee_.27 on TikTok and Anakeesta via email for comment on this story.

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