Last Chair: Snowshoe’s Narnia Lamp Post Took a Walk on Bear Scat
Locals said the Magic Lamp Post vanished near Bear Scat—then turned up deeper in the spruce. Official Snowshoe still points hikers to the landmark off Top of the World.
SNOWSHOE, W.Va. — Every mountain has a private joke that becomes a pilgrimage. At Snowshoe, one of them is a lamp post in the spruce that locals nickname Narnia.
On September 6, 2026, Mikey Valach posted in the We Love Snowshoe Mountain Facebook group that the Narnia Lamp Post “up in Bear Scat” had gone missing in the last 24 hours, calling it a landmark treasured by locals and visitors. The post included a photo of an empty rock-and-stump base where the post had stood.
The panic did not last. Mary Lou Legg commented that it had been found—moved “further into the back of Bearscat trail”—and followed up that Monty and her pup Ralphie tracked it deeper into the woods. Photos in the thread showed the lamp post upright again among moss and spruce.
This desk is not inventing a theft ring or a resort bulletin. Snowshoe Mountain has not been quoted here. The tip is the Facebook group thread; the landmark itself is not folklore alone.
On its own winter “48 things” list, Snowshoe invites guests to “Hike out to the Magic Lamp Post or the Stairway to Nowhere,” and says to find the Magic Lamp Post off Top of the World (48 things to do at Snowshoe this winter, fetched September 6, 2026). A separate Snowshoe backcountry rides post routes riders onto Bear Scat Trail from the Snowcrest parking area past the maintenance building and a blue bike station—through the same spruce country where locals look for the lamp (top 5 backcountry rides, fetched September 6, 2026). Snowshoe’s summer list also points visitors to the 4,848′ marker at Bear Scat, calling Snowshoe the second-highest point in West Virginia (48 things to do at Snowshoe this summer, fetched September 6, 2026).
So the story is Mid-Atlantic small: a beloved lamp took a short walk deeper into Bear Scat, the group found it, and the hill’s own copy still treats the Magic Lamp Post as a real landmark off Top of the World. If you go looking, use the resort’s backcountry maps, stay on marked routes, and remember Last Chair’s only scoop here is that the wardrobe door moved a few trees farther in.
Sources
- We Love Snowshoe Mountain Facebook group thread, September 6, 2026 (reader tip)
- Snowshoe — 48 things to do this winter
- Snowshoe — Top 5 backcountry rides
- Snowshoe — 48 things to do this summer