My father was OLD East Texas - from the 1920's, back near the Big Thicket. He told me that he himself had heard "the Voice in the Swamp" - the unknown voice that would call the name of travelers while they walked alone in the Thicket. He heard it call his name when he roamed the bottoms of the Naches river as a boy, a ghostly sweet voice, but he never answered back. He told me that no one should ever answer the voice back; if one did, one would be led astray and into the Thicket forever...
The big trees hide many secrets.
Does he know anything about Athens?