https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/survival-instinct--7194394
Dive deep into real-life survival stories, essential bushcraft skills, and preparedness strategies that could save your life. We dissect critical decision-making in high-stakes scenarios, from wilderness survival to urban collapse, ensuring you're equipped with practical knowledge for any emergency. This isn't just theory; it's hardcore, actionable intelligence for those who refuse to be caught off guard.

New episodes drop daily, Monday through Sunday, at 9:00 AM EST, offering a fresh dose of survival wisdom every single day. Each episode provides expert insights, gear reviews, and techniques for self-reliance, presented in a no-nonsense, direct format.

This podcast is for preppers, outdoor enthusiasts, adventurers, and anyone serious about developing resilience and an unshakeable survival mindset. If you're ready to transform fear into preparedness and instinct into skill, you've found your tribe.

Subscribe to Survival Instinct now and sharpen your edge.]]>enPersonal Journals© 2026 OBOMEDIA Creatorshttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/8c587d093ce30c7fcb2e348f0508d735.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/survival-instinct--7194394Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:00:39 +0000Creator at ObomediaCreator at Obomediacreators@obomedia.comWhen the world goes sideways, will you be ready? Survival Instinct is your ultimate guide to mastering the wild, the unexpected, and the extreme. Dive deep into real-life survival stories, essential bushcraft skills, and preparedness strategies that...
Dive deep into real-life survival stories, essential bushcraft skills, and preparedness strategies that could save your life. We dissect critical decision-making in high-stakes scenarios, from wilderness survival to urban collapse, ensuring you're equipped with practical knowledge for any emergency. This isn't just theory; it's hardcore, actionable intelligence for those who refuse to be caught off guard.

New episodes drop daily, Monday through Sunday, at 9:00 AM EST, offering a fresh dose of survival wisdom every single day. Each episode provides expert insights, gear reviews, and techniques for self-reliance, presented in a no-nonsense, direct format.

This podcast is for preppers, outdoor enthusiasts, adventurers, and anyone serious about developing resilience and an unshakeable survival mindset. If you're ready to transform fear into preparedness and instinct into skill, you've found your tribe.

Subscribe to Survival Instinct now and sharpen your edge.]]>falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/hours-on-a-frozen-ledge-how-she-survived-with-a-broken-ankle--73101007
Cold, precise survival: a 23-year-old paraglider with a fractured ankle endured 29 hours on a Montana shelf at 14°F, left a half-eaten, unfrozen granola bar beside her abandoned glider bag, and used only her flight gear to send a signal-how did she turn equipment and method into rescue? What choice turned a routine launch into one of the most methodical survival acts recorded in the Abner Range?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of what happened from takeoff to the moment rescue became possible, outlining her gear, decisions, and the single overlooked item that tied her to the launch. How did training, checklists, and one small habit become the difference between being lost and being found?

Person: Marcia Norris
Date: February 8-9, 2011
Location: Spurling Shelf and Drumlin Shelf, Abner Range, Montana
Temperature: 14 degrees Fahrenheit
Injury: fractured right ankle

- She launched at 7:40 AM from Spurling Shelf at 8,200 feet after three weeks of weather monitoring.
- Ninety minutes later, around 9:10 AM, rotor turbulence forced a hard descent to Drumlin Shelf 1,300 feet lower.
- The landing skidded 20 feet on ice and caused a fractured right ankle and an abrasion on her left forearm.
- Her radio transmitted for 40 seconds before dying; her phone had no signal.
- Her glider bag was later found upright a mile and a half from her car with a not-frozen half-eaten granola bar on top.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73101007Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:00:05 +0000Creator at ObomediaHours on a Frozen Ledge: How She Survived with a Broken Ankle Cold, precise survival: a 23-year-old paraglider with a fractured ankle endured 29 hours on a Montana shelf at 14°F, left a half-eaten, unfrozen granola bar beside her abandoned glider...
Cold, precise survival: a 23-year-old paraglider with a fractured ankle endured 29 hours on a Montana shelf at 14°F, left a half-eaten, unfrozen granola bar beside her abandoned glider bag, and used only her flight gear to send a signal-how did she turn equipment and method into rescue? What choice turned a routine launch into one of the most methodical survival acts recorded in the Abner Range?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of what happened from takeoff to the moment rescue became possible, outlining her gear, decisions, and the single overlooked item that tied her to the launch. How did training, checklists, and one small habit become the difference between being lost and being found?

Person: Marcia Norris
Date: February 8-9, 2011
Location: Spurling Shelf and Drumlin Shelf, Abner Range, Montana
Temperature: 14 degrees Fahrenheit
Injury: fractured right ankle

- She launched at 7:40 AM from Spurling Shelf at 8,200 feet after three weeks of weather monitoring.
- Ninety minutes later, around 9:10 AM, rotor turbulence forced a hard descent to Drumlin Shelf 1,300 feet lower.
- The landing skidded 20 feet on ice and caused a fractured right ankle and an abrasion on her left forearm.
- Her radio transmitted for 40 seconds before dying; her phone had no signal.
- Her glider bag was later found upright a mile and a half from her car with a not-frozen half-eaten granola bar on top.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>891falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-survived-a-propeller-cut-how-she-crawled-ashore--73101005
Cold water, a missing freediving fin, and a descent line cleanly sliced by a rotating propeller at four meters - Karen Simmons spent more than four hours fighting what should have been unsurvivable odds; how did a 38-year-old radiology tech and experienced freediver crawl ashore with one fin and thirty seconds of consciousness left?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning a charter fisherman found an empty carbon freediving fin to the search-and-rescue response and Karen’s hospital statement, laying out the timeline, the cut descent line, and the conditions that morning to ask how protocol failed and how she survived.

Person: Karen Simmons
Date: January 9, 2022
Location: Miramar Shoal, Peloro Keys
Occupation: Radiological technician at Monroe County Medical Center
Dive depth: anchored at 39 meters, climbed from 38 meters

- At 7:52 AM on January 9, 2022, Holly Weber pulled a single carbon freediving fin from the water near Miramar Shoal with the foot pocket buckled shut and nothing inside.
- Karen Simmons was 38 years old and had been a certified freediver for six years with a personal best of 52 meters and coaching experience at the Marathon club for four years.
- The water temperature that week was the coldest recorded in the Peloro Keys in eleven years and visibility at depth was roughly eight feet.
- Karen anchored her descent line at 39 meters and clipped her surface marker buoy to a twelve-foot inflatable tender; the rope was bright yellow kernmantle rated to 800 kilograms.
- A search-and-rescue diver found the descent line intact from the bottom to four meters depth, where the fibers were compressed and slightly melted - consistent with rotating metal contact from a propeller.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73101005Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Survived a Propeller Cut - How She Crawled Ashore Cold water, a missing freediving fin, and a descent line cleanly sliced by a rotating propeller at four meters - Karen Simmons spent more than four hours fighting what should have been...
Cold water, a missing freediving fin, and a descent line cleanly sliced by a rotating propeller at four meters - Karen Simmons spent more than four hours fighting what should have been unsurvivable odds; how did a 38-year-old radiology tech and experienced freediver crawl ashore with one fin and thirty seconds of consciousness left?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning a charter fisherman found an empty carbon freediving fin to the search-and-rescue response and Karen’s hospital statement, laying out the timeline, the cut descent line, and the conditions that morning to ask how protocol failed and how she survived.

Person: Karen Simmons
Date: January 9, 2022
Location: Miramar Shoal, Peloro Keys
Occupation: Radiological technician at Monroe County Medical Center
Dive depth: anchored at 39 meters, climbed from 38 meters

- At 7:52 AM on January 9, 2022, Holly Weber pulled a single carbon freediving fin from the water near Miramar Shoal with the foot pocket buckled shut and nothing inside.
- Karen Simmons was 38 years old and had been a certified freediver for six years with a personal best of 52 meters and coaching experience at the Marathon club for four years.
- The water temperature that week was the coldest recorded in the Peloro Keys in eleven years and visibility at depth was roughly eight feet.
- Karen anchored her descent line at 39 meters and clipped her surface marker buoy to a twelve-foot inflatable tender; the rope was bright yellow kernmantle rated to 800 kilograms.
- A search-and-rescue diver found the descent line intact from the bottom to four meters depth, where the fibers were compressed and slightly melted - consistent with rotating metal contact from a propeller.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1057falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-hung-her-clothes-on-a-branch-survived-48-frozen-hours--73101003
Cold, precise survival: a retired biology teacher stripped off frozen layers in -28°F air, hung a complete set of clothes six feet high on a spruce, and then spent the next 48 hours alive but alone-how did she manage to survive with no tracks, one glove missing, and both skis lost to the current?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of actions and conditions that kept Diane Anderson alive after she fell through thin shelf ice on the Aldrich River, and we ask how training, timing, and improvisation combined to turn a near-immediate death into a two-day survival story.

Person: Diane Anderson
Age: 62
Location: Aldrich River, Boundary Hills
Date: December 17, 2009
Temperature: -28 degrees Fahrenheit

- The clothes were hanging six feet off the ground on a black spruce branch in air reading -28°F.
- Diane fell through shelf ice at 11:15 AM, four feet from the bank at the second bend of the Aldrich River.
- Water temperature at depth that December was 4°C, and Diane had roughly 30 seconds to get elbows over ice before arm failure.
- Within two minutes of leaving the water she stripped every wet garment and hung the thermal underlayer, fleece, ski pants, down jacket, sports bra, wool socks, and one glove on the branch.
- She lost both skis to the current under the shelf ice and then fashioned a spruce-bough frame bound with inner birch bark about 40 yards from the hanging clothes.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73101003Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Hung Her Clothes on a Branch - Survived 48 Frozen Hours Cold, precise survival: a retired biology teacher stripped off frozen layers in -28°F air, hung a complete set of clothes six feet high on a spruce, and then spent the next 48 hours alive...
Cold, precise survival: a retired biology teacher stripped off frozen layers in -28°F air, hung a complete set of clothes six feet high on a spruce, and then spent the next 48 hours alive but alone-how did she manage to survive with no tracks, one glove missing, and both skis lost to the current?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of actions and conditions that kept Diane Anderson alive after she fell through thin shelf ice on the Aldrich River, and we ask how training, timing, and improvisation combined to turn a near-immediate death into a two-day survival story.

Person: Diane Anderson
Age: 62
Location: Aldrich River, Boundary Hills
Date: December 17, 2009
Temperature: -28 degrees Fahrenheit

- The clothes were hanging six feet off the ground on a black spruce branch in air reading -28°F.
- Diane fell through shelf ice at 11:15 AM, four feet from the bank at the second bend of the Aldrich River.
- Water temperature at depth that December was 4°C, and Diane had roughly 30 seconds to get elbows over ice before arm failure.
- Within two minutes of leaving the water she stripped every wet garment and hung the thermal underlayer, fleece, ski pants, down jacket, sports bra, wool socks, and one glove on the branch.
- She lost both skis to the current under the shelf ice and then fashioned a spruce-bough frame bound with inner birch bark about 40 yards from the hanging clothes.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>918falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-survived-eleven-days-alone-above-a-burning-valley--73101001
Heat, smoke, and radio silence turned a routine lookout post into a life-or-death trap: a fully charged radio transmitted from sixty feet up the Tallow Peak lookout while 64 searchers and 11 agencies were searching four miles away. How did a methodical 26-year-old with supplies, a cistern of roughly 22 gallons, and training end up sheltering alone for eleven days while crews assumed she had evacuated?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of what happened at the Tallow Peak Fire Lookout and how decisions on the ground and in command left one person isolated. What choices did Darlene Olson make to survive, and why did the search move in the wrong direction?

Person: Darlene Olson
Age: 26
Location: Tallow Peak Fire Lookout, sixty feet above a burned slope
Event: Downed power line ignited fire on November 6; last confirmed radio contact at 4:17 a.m. on November 7
Search: 64 personnel from 11 agencies spent nine days looking, focused four miles away

- Cistern capacity: roughly 22 gallons of water at the start of her last week on post.
- Last confirmed radio contact time: 4:17 a.m, on November 7.
- Radio transmission recorded as functional on November 8 despite no confirmed receipt.
- Darlene rationed to one liter of water per day beginning November 9.
- Condensation collection produced roughly 0.25 liters per night after she modified the north catwalk railing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73101001Tue, 04 Aug 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Survived Eleven Days Alone Above a Burning Valley Heat, smoke, and radio silence turned a routine lookout post into a life-or-death trap: a fully charged radio transmitted from sixty feet up the Tallow Peak lookout while 64 searchers and 11...
Heat, smoke, and radio silence turned a routine lookout post into a life-or-death trap: a fully charged radio transmitted from sixty feet up the Tallow Peak lookout while 64 searchers and 11 agencies were searching four miles away. How did a methodical 26-year-old with supplies, a cistern of roughly 22 gallons, and training end up sheltering alone for eleven days while crews assumed she had evacuated?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of what happened at the Tallow Peak Fire Lookout and how decisions on the ground and in command left one person isolated. What choices did Darlene Olson make to survive, and why did the search move in the wrong direction?

Person: Darlene Olson
Age: 26
Location: Tallow Peak Fire Lookout, sixty feet above a burned slope
Event: Downed power line ignited fire on November 6; last confirmed radio contact at 4:17 a.m. on November 7
Search: 64 personnel from 11 agencies spent nine days looking, focused four miles away

- Cistern capacity: roughly 22 gallons of water at the start of her last week on post.
- Last confirmed radio contact time: 4:17 a.m, on November 7.
- Radio transmission recorded as functional on November 8 despite no confirmed receipt.
- Darlene rationed to one liter of water per day beginning November 9.
- Condensation collection produced roughly 0.25 liters per night after she modified the north catwalk railing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1041falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twelve-minutes-of-warmth-the-marker-that-saved-her-fingers--73100998
Cold water steals touch in under ten minutes; a dry-erase marker that had drifted six weeks downriver ended up upright in a boulder crack, uncapped and bone dry in a river running four times its normal flow - and that tiny nib became the difference between rescued and lost. How did an object she had never seen before become the single tool that bought her the minutes she needed?

In this episode, we follow the morning of June 21, 2019, as a solo paddler with swift-water training becomes trapped on a shrinking gravel island and must act within a twelve-minute window of usable hands; was it skill, luck, or the river’s strange generosity that determined her survival?

Person: Jessica Schmidt
Date: June 21, 2019
Location: Kessler Fork, Siltwater Reach
Status: Rescued
Responder: Tarval County Sheriff's Office

- At 6:45 AM she launched from Ridgetop put-in and flipped at 6:58 AM in 38°F water.
- The river was running approximately four times its median June flow.
- Cold-water dexterity lasts roughly eight to ten minutes, giving her about twelve minutes of functional hands.
- A birdwatcher, Wayne Mason, spotted an orange uncapped dry-erase marker in a spray-soaked boulder crack at 8:12 AM and called the sheriff two minutes later.
- The marker had spent six weeks drifting down the Montana river before coming to rest where she needed it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100998Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaTwelve Minutes of Warmth: The Marker That Saved Her Fingers Cold water steals touch in under ten minutes; a dry-erase marker that had drifted six weeks downriver ended up upright in a boulder crack, uncapped and bone dry in a river running four...
Cold water steals touch in under ten minutes; a dry-erase marker that had drifted six weeks downriver ended up upright in a boulder crack, uncapped and bone dry in a river running four times its normal flow - and that tiny nib became the difference between rescued and lost. How did an object she had never seen before become the single tool that bought her the minutes she needed?

In this episode, we follow the morning of June 21, 2019, as a solo paddler with swift-water training becomes trapped on a shrinking gravel island and must act within a twelve-minute window of usable hands; was it skill, luck, or the river’s strange generosity that determined her survival?

Person: Jessica Schmidt
Date: June 21, 2019
Location: Kessler Fork, Siltwater Reach
Status: Rescued
Responder: Tarval County Sheriff's Office

- At 6:45 AM she launched from Ridgetop put-in and flipped at 6:58 AM in 38°F water.
- The river was running approximately four times its median June flow.
- Cold-water dexterity lasts roughly eight to ten minutes, giving her about twelve minutes of functional hands.
- A birdwatcher, Wayne Mason, spotted an orange uncapped dry-erase marker in a spray-soaked boulder crack at 8:12 AM and called the sheriff two minutes later.
- The marker had spent six weeks drifting down the Montana river before coming to rest where she needed it.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1063falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-porcelain-shoe-how-a-runner-vanished-for-nine-days--73100994
The image is simple and uncanny: a single size 10.5 safety-orange trail runner, double-knotted and set upright on a welcome mat in the middle of the Nevada desert - and beside it, a man who had been missing for nine days and had no idea how long he'd been gone. How did a thirty-two-year-old civil engineer and experienced ultra runner disappear for nine days across thirty-one miles of empty high desert and then reappear with only a shoe as the first clue?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from race morning through the search and the unlikely discoveries that saved Scott Hughes, and we ask the question the evidence forces on everyone: what assumptions about search, tracking, and self-rescue failed, and which ones actually kept him alive?

Person: Scott Hughes
Age: 32
Event: Ridgeline Fifty K
Location: Shoshone Range, Elko, Nevada
Distance: 31 miles

- At 5:40 AM on September 8, 2014, a fifteen-year-old on a paper route found Scott alive and breathing beside a door with a single size 10.5 trail runner on the mat.
- Scott ran the Ridgeline 50K on August 30, 2014, a 31-mile course with roughly 6,000 feet total elevation change.
- His GPS tracker stopped transmitting at 10:49 AM during the descent into Piñon Draw after the unit struck a rock and the antenna was damaged.
- Piñon Draw is approximately mile 19 of the course and contains a buried drainage culvert whose top can appear as solid ground.
- A crucial tip-line report sat unreviewed for seven days while search teams were combing the wrong side of a dry creek bed and the tracker’s corrupt coordinate sent searchers miles off course.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100994Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Porcelain Shoe: How a Runner Vanished for Nine Days The image is simple and uncanny: a single size 10.5 safety-orange trail runner, double-knotted and set upright on a welcome mat in the middle of the Nevada desert - and beside it, a man who...
The image is simple and uncanny: a single size 10.5 safety-orange trail runner, double-knotted and set upright on a welcome mat in the middle of the Nevada desert - and beside it, a man who had been missing for nine days and had no idea how long he'd been gone. How did a thirty-two-year-old civil engineer and experienced ultra runner disappear for nine days across thirty-one miles of empty high desert and then reappear with only a shoe as the first clue?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from race morning through the search and the unlikely discoveries that saved Scott Hughes, and we ask the question the evidence forces on everyone: what assumptions about search, tracking, and self-rescue failed, and which ones actually kept him alive?

Person: Scott Hughes
Age: 32
Event: Ridgeline Fifty K
Location: Shoshone Range, Elko, Nevada
Distance: 31 miles

- At 5:40 AM on September 8, 2014, a fifteen-year-old on a paper route found Scott alive and breathing beside a door with a single size 10.5 trail runner on the mat.
- Scott ran the Ridgeline 50K on August 30, 2014, a 31-mile course with roughly 6,000 feet total elevation change.
- His GPS tracker stopped transmitting at 10:49 AM during the descent into Piñon Draw after the unit struck a rock and the antenna was damaged.
- Piñon Draw is approximately mile 19 of the course and contains a buried drainage culvert whose top can appear as solid ground.
- A crucial tip-line report sat unreviewed for seven days while search teams were combing the wrong side of a dry creek bed and the tracker’s corrupt coordinate sent searchers miles off course.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1098falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/stranger-s-orange-jacket-how-a-random-gift-saved-a-mountaineer--73100990
Cold, remote, and precise: a stranger's orange jacket wrapped a broken leg and turned a likely death into a rescue. A handwritten note, a trekking pole tied with an orange fleece, and a mountain ledge failing after years of freeze-thaw set a chain of events that hinged on one anonymous act-how did that jacket end up saving her life?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of decisions, conditions, and small preparations that determined a climber's fate, from trip plans and register entries to the moment a road-grader operator found a hand against a boulder; what choices and coincidences made survival possible?

Person: Tammy Hughes
Location: Arroyo Peak, Saguache Range
Date: August 1-3
Person: Doug Prentiss
Event: Orange jacket left as marker and note in register

- Tammy Hughes fell eight feet at approximately 2:00 PM on August 1 and sustained a non-displaced crack through her left tibia.
- Tammy signed the Corbett Lake register at 4:50 AM on August 1 and planned to return by evening on August 2 with Beth Okafor as emergency contact.
- Doug Prentiss tied an orange fleece strip to a trekking pole on the Shoulder and placed a note in the register on July 29 indicating "jacket in split rock at base of chute."
- The ledge Tammy weighted was 300 feet below the summit and at about 11,200 feet (the Shoulder), part of the route with roughly 2,000 feet of technical gain from a four-mile approach.
- At 6:14 AM on August 3, road-grader operator Connie Hansen found a woman in a drainage ditch beside Forest Service Road 118 with her left leg wrapped in an orange Gore-Tex jacket and a water bottle under her chin.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100990Sat, 01 Aug 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaStranger's Orange Jacket: How a Random Gift Saved a Mountaineer Cold, remote, and precise: a stranger's orange jacket wrapped a broken leg and turned a likely death into a rescue. A handwritten note, a trekking pole tied with an orange fleece, and...
Cold, remote, and precise: a stranger's orange jacket wrapped a broken leg and turned a likely death into a rescue. A handwritten note, a trekking pole tied with an orange fleece, and a mountain ledge failing after years of freeze-thaw set a chain of events that hinged on one anonymous act-how did that jacket end up saving her life?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of decisions, conditions, and small preparations that determined a climber's fate, from trip plans and register entries to the moment a road-grader operator found a hand against a boulder; what choices and coincidences made survival possible?

Person: Tammy Hughes
Location: Arroyo Peak, Saguache Range
Date: August 1-3
Person: Doug Prentiss
Event: Orange jacket left as marker and note in register

- Tammy Hughes fell eight feet at approximately 2:00 PM on August 1 and sustained a non-displaced crack through her left tibia.
- Tammy signed the Corbett Lake register at 4:50 AM on August 1 and planned to return by evening on August 2 with Beth Okafor as emergency contact.
- Doug Prentiss tied an orange fleece strip to a trekking pole on the Shoulder and placed a note in the register on July 29 indicating "jacket in split rock at base of chute."
- The ledge Tammy weighted was 300 feet below the summit and at about 11,200 feet (the Shoulder), part of the route with roughly 2,000 feet of technical gain from a four-mile approach.
- At 6:14 AM on August 3, road-grader operator Connie Hansen found a woman in a drainage ditch beside Forest Service Road 118 with her left leg wrapped in an orange Gore-Tex jacket and a water bottle under her chin.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1057falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/bilge-pump-handle-in-a-tree-how-three-men-vanished-at-sea--73100987
A single stainless-steel bilge pump handle lodged eleven feet up in a red oak turned a failing maritime search into a rescue that found three men alive after two and a half days adrift - but why was that handle in a tree, and how did one short radio transmission send everyone looking the wrong way? This episode drops you into the moment Earl Porter called in late July 2019 and into a search that missed its mark until a utility worker’s find flipped the story.

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Maren B’s departure to the moment rescuers redirected their efforts, tracking the radio logs, the plotted GPS position, and the assumptions that kept search teams moving away from Heron Island - could one misunderstood word have cost precious time?

Person: Charles Collins
Person: Felix Ruiz
Person: Person: Don Tapper
Date: July 17-18, 2019
Location: Heron Island

- The bilge pump handle was stainless steel with its mounting bracket still attached and lodged eleven feet up in a red oak.
- The Maren B called a four-second radio transmission at 15:19 consisting of two words: "Heron Island," then static.
- Collins logged a radio transmission at 14:47 with vessel name, MMSI number, and an approximate GPS position about twenty-two nautical miles northwest of the Talliston channel entrance.
- Seas were reported at seven to nine feet by 14:00 on July 18 after the storm wobble to the north.
- Earl Porter discovered the handle while tracing a downed power line on a Tuesday morning in late July 2019 and stood under it for a full minute before calling.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100987Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaBilge Pump Handle in a Tree: How Three Men Vanished at Sea A single stainless-steel bilge pump handle lodged eleven feet up in a red oak turned a failing maritime search into a rescue that found three men alive after two and a half days adrift -...
A single stainless-steel bilge pump handle lodged eleven feet up in a red oak turned a failing maritime search into a rescue that found three men alive after two and a half days adrift - but why was that handle in a tree, and how did one short radio transmission send everyone looking the wrong way? This episode drops you into the moment Earl Porter called in late July 2019 and into a search that missed its mark until a utility worker’s find flipped the story.

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Maren B’s departure to the moment rescuers redirected their efforts, tracking the radio logs, the plotted GPS position, and the assumptions that kept search teams moving away from Heron Island - could one misunderstood word have cost precious time?

Person: Charles Collins
Person: Felix Ruiz
Person: Person: Don Tapper
Date: July 17-18, 2019
Location: Heron Island

- The bilge pump handle was stainless steel with its mounting bracket still attached and lodged eleven feet up in a red oak.
- The Maren B called a four-second radio transmission at 15:19 consisting of two words: "Heron Island," then static.
- Collins logged a radio transmission at 14:47 with vessel name, MMSI number, and an approximate GPS position about twenty-two nautical miles northwest of the Talliston channel entrance.
- Seas were reported at seven to nine feet by 14:00 on July 18 after the storm wobble to the north.
- Earl Porter discovered the handle while tracing a downed power line on a Tuesday morning in late July 2019 and stood under it for a full minute before calling.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1081falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/child-s-shoe-on-a-desert-road-mother-vanished-heat-locked-in--73100984
The first image is a single pink-and-white left shoe standing upright on a two-track desert road at 6:14 a.m., with no other shoe, no vehicle, and no footprints besides the runner's-what does that one shoe mean for a mother and child who vanished into 108°F heat? The episode centers on a slow coolant failure, a missed turn, and a quiet timeline that turns routine habits into urgent clues-what choice turned a routine service call into a disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning the shoe was found through the previous day’s breakdown, detailing the habits, checks, and mileages that shaped Ruth Lewis’s last known movements-how did the empty coolant reservoir, a leaning marker post, and a precise calling ritual converge into a disappearance?

Person: Ruth Lewis
Person: Maisie Lewis
Location: Cinder Rim basin, Crockett County, Texas
Date: Tuesday morning (shoe found at 6:14 a.m.)
Temperature: 108 degrees Fahrenheit (engine stopped at 6:47 p.m. previous day)

- Shoe found by Wendy Watson at 6:14 a.m., a pink-and-white left canvas shoe with laces tucked inside, standing upright in the middle of the two-track.
- Ruth’s truck engine stopped accepting commands at 6:47 p.m. the prior evening when the thermometer read 108°F, seven miles west of the eastern access point.
- Ruth had checked coolant before departure and kept a laminated binder with route annotations written in green marker and an emergency procedures section.
- The route detour that cost Ruth forty minutes occurred when the painted marker post at the third tower was leaning at forty degrees and hidden by a saltbush.
- Ruth called her mother Frances every Wednesday at 10:15 p.m. without fail; she did not call on the Saturday after the breakdown.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100984Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaChild's Shoe on a Desert Road: Mother Vanished, Heat Locked In The first image is a single pink-and-white left shoe standing upright on a two-track desert road at 6:14 a.m., with no other shoe, no vehicle, and no footprints besides the...
The first image is a single pink-and-white left shoe standing upright on a two-track desert road at 6:14 a.m., with no other shoe, no vehicle, and no footprints besides the runner's-what does that one shoe mean for a mother and child who vanished into 108°F heat? The episode centers on a slow coolant failure, a missed turn, and a quiet timeline that turns routine habits into urgent clues-what choice turned a routine service call into a disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning the shoe was found through the previous day’s breakdown, detailing the habits, checks, and mileages that shaped Ruth Lewis’s last known movements-how did the empty coolant reservoir, a leaning marker post, and a precise calling ritual converge into a disappearance?

Person: Ruth Lewis
Person: Maisie Lewis
Location: Cinder Rim basin, Crockett County, Texas
Date: Tuesday morning (shoe found at 6:14 a.m.)
Temperature: 108 degrees Fahrenheit (engine stopped at 6:47 p.m. previous day)

- Shoe found by Wendy Watson at 6:14 a.m., a pink-and-white left canvas shoe with laces tucked inside, standing upright in the middle of the two-track.
- Ruth’s truck engine stopped accepting commands at 6:47 p.m. the prior evening when the thermometer read 108°F, seven miles west of the eastern access point.
- Ruth had checked coolant before departure and kept a laminated binder with route annotations written in green marker and an emergency procedures section.
- The route detour that cost Ruth forty minutes occurred when the painted marker post at the third tower was leaning at forty degrees and hidden by a saltbush.
- Ruth called her mother Frances every Wednesday at 10:15 p.m. without fail; she did not call on the Saturday after the breakdown.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>957falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/buried-alive-64-hours-the-watch-that-walked-away--73100980
Cold tension: a stainless-steel Seiko keeps running on a concrete lid 1.5 miles from the nearest road with no footprints nearby, even though its owner had been buried under 4.5 feet of avalanche debris and already free for seven days - how did the watch travel there and what vanished from the record that sent rescuers the wrong way?

In this episode, we follow the sixty-four-hour sequence of events around the avalanche that buried Heather Green, the search that spent sixty-one hours looking in the wrong place, and the small errors and recognitions that changed everything - can a single transcription error and an observant retired electrician explain why rescue teams missed her until a probe finally found her?

Person: Heather Green
Age: 54
Event: Avalanche on May 4
Location: Ridgecroft Peak (eastern shoulder), debris field 350 meters long
Time missing before rescue: 64 hours

- The watch was found face-up, clasp intact, still running on the concrete lid of transformer station four at 09:45 on May 14.
- The nearest road to the transformer station was 1.5 miles downhill with no footprints between it and the watch.
- Heather Green was buried under a maximum of 4.5 feet (approximately 1.37 meters) of avalanche debris; maximum field depth reached four meters.
- Heather had signed the trailhead register at Ridgecroft North on May 2 with planned exit date May 7 and emergency contact Amy Green, Portland.
- The avalanche fracture line ran approximately 110 meters wide and the debris extended 350 meters downhill; she was caught at the left margin.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100980Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaBuried Alive 64 Hours: The Watch That Walked Away Cold tension: a stainless-steel Seiko keeps running on a concrete lid 1.5 miles from the nearest road with no footprints nearby, even though its owner had been buried under 4.5 feet of avalanche...
Cold tension: a stainless-steel Seiko keeps running on a concrete lid 1.5 miles from the nearest road with no footprints nearby, even though its owner had been buried under 4.5 feet of avalanche debris and already free for seven days - how did the watch travel there and what vanished from the record that sent rescuers the wrong way?

In this episode, we follow the sixty-four-hour sequence of events around the avalanche that buried Heather Green, the search that spent sixty-one hours looking in the wrong place, and the small errors and recognitions that changed everything - can a single transcription error and an observant retired electrician explain why rescue teams missed her until a probe finally found her?

Person: Heather Green
Age: 54
Event: Avalanche on May 4
Location: Ridgecroft Peak (eastern shoulder), debris field 350 meters long
Time missing before rescue: 64 hours

- The watch was found face-up, clasp intact, still running on the concrete lid of transformer station four at 09:45 on May 14.
- The nearest road to the transformer station was 1.5 miles downhill with no footprints between it and the watch.
- Heather Green was buried under a maximum of 4.5 feet (approximately 1.37 meters) of avalanche debris; maximum field depth reached four meters.
- Heather had signed the trailhead register at Ridgecroft North on May 2 with planned exit date May 7 and emergency contact Amy Green, Portland.
- The avalanche fracture line ran approximately 110 meters wide and the debris extended 350 meters downhill; she was caught at the left margin.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>974falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-drew-a-map-in-darkness-survived-half-a-mile-underground--73100978
A mineral smell led a volunteer to a crawlspace where a 22-year-old man was half-submerged and clutching a nearly dissolved folded sheet of graph paper; conservators later revealed it was a precise hand-drawn map made eight days earlier in complete darkness half a mile underground. How did Kenneth York navigate an unmapped cave passage, draw a map by memory under those conditions, and end up beneath the house on Bowman Hollow Road?

In this episode, we tell what happened on April 11 and April 19, 2009: the dive, the disappearance, the discovery, and the restored map that changed the official record. How did a single diver, with 231 hours of cave time and a homemade rebreather, end up drawing a usable map from inside the Graben Hollow system?

Person: Kenneth York
Age: 22
Date: April 11, 2009; April 19, 2009
Location: Graben Hollow cave system; Bowman Hollow Road crawlspace
Hours logged: 231

- Kenneth signed the Graben Hollow access log at 7:42 AM on April 11, 2009 and listed planned penetration depth as 340 meters.
- He had accumulated 231 hours of underwater cave time over four years by spring 2009.
- The volunteer discovered Kenneth alive in a crawlspace on Bowman Hollow Road on the morning of April 19, 2009.
- The graph paper map was drawn eight days before discovery and was restored over three weeks by document conservators at the University of Knoxville.
- Kenneth entered a roughly 40-centimeter-wide crack after his reel jammed, proceeding without a guide line into an unmapped passage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100978Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Drew a Map in Darkness - Survived Half a Mile Underground A mineral smell led a volunteer to a crawlspace where a 22-year-old man was half-submerged and clutching a nearly dissolved folded sheet of graph paper; conservators later revealed it was...
A mineral smell led a volunteer to a crawlspace where a 22-year-old man was half-submerged and clutching a nearly dissolved folded sheet of graph paper; conservators later revealed it was a precise hand-drawn map made eight days earlier in complete darkness half a mile underground. How did Kenneth York navigate an unmapped cave passage, draw a map by memory under those conditions, and end up beneath the house on Bowman Hollow Road?

In this episode, we tell what happened on April 11 and April 19, 2009: the dive, the disappearance, the discovery, and the restored map that changed the official record. How did a single diver, with 231 hours of cave time and a homemade rebreather, end up drawing a usable map from inside the Graben Hollow system?

Person: Kenneth York
Age: 22
Date: April 11, 2009; April 19, 2009
Location: Graben Hollow cave system; Bowman Hollow Road crawlspace
Hours logged: 231

- Kenneth signed the Graben Hollow access log at 7:42 AM on April 11, 2009 and listed planned penetration depth as 340 meters.
- He had accumulated 231 hours of underwater cave time over four years by spring 2009.
- The volunteer discovered Kenneth alive in a crawlspace on Bowman Hollow Road on the morning of April 19, 2009.
- The graph paper map was drawn eight days before discovery and was restored over three weeks by document conservators at the University of Knoxville.
- Kenneth entered a roughly 40-centimeter-wide crack after his reel jammed, proceeding without a guide line into an unmapped passage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>922falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-was-alive-on-roofed-snow-why-searchers-looked-the-wrong-drainage--73100974
Cold, isolated, and still conscious inside a truck buried under four feet of consolidated snow, she left a double-knotted size-seven waterproof boot on the roof and a Douglas fir sprig tucked under its tongue as a deliberate signal-yet searchers missed her for nine of eleven days. The photograph from an airplane pointed teams to the wrong drainage and a single dog later corrected what trained searchers could not. How did a misread aerial image and two reversed batteries in a GPS combine to nearly kill a skilled backcountry photographer?

In this episode, we follow the eleven-day Weller Draw, Colorado incident in March 2014 and outline what happened on the ground, what the rescue teams did, and what critical errors sent the search in the wrong direction. We trace Dawn Romano’s decisions, the failed equipment, and the moments that kept her alive-what ultimately revealed her location?

Person: Dawn Romano
Location: Weller Draw, Colorado
Date: March 8-18, 2014
Vehicle: 2009 Ford F-250
Survival items: one wool blanket, one liter water, trail mix, folding knife, waterproof matches, one unused emergency flare

- The truck sat under four feet of consolidated snow and had been there for ten days before being found.
- Dawn had loaded GPS coordinates at home but installed two AA batteries reversed, rendering the GPS nonfunctional.
- The right front wheel dropped into a three-foot-deep runoff void, stopping the truck roughly nine-tenths of a mile down the northeast spur.
- Dawn carried a 31-page green field notebook she used to write while trapped inside the cab.
- A single dog found the victim in seven minutes after searchers had spent more than a week looking in the wrong drainage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100974Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Was Alive On Roofed Snow-Why Searchers Looked The Wrong Drainage Cold, isolated, and still conscious inside a truck buried under four feet of consolidated snow, she left a double-knotted size-seven waterproof boot on the roof and a Douglas fir...
Cold, isolated, and still conscious inside a truck buried under four feet of consolidated snow, she left a double-knotted size-seven waterproof boot on the roof and a Douglas fir sprig tucked under its tongue as a deliberate signal-yet searchers missed her for nine of eleven days. The photograph from an airplane pointed teams to the wrong drainage and a single dog later corrected what trained searchers could not. How did a misread aerial image and two reversed batteries in a GPS combine to nearly kill a skilled backcountry photographer?

In this episode, we follow the eleven-day Weller Draw, Colorado incident in March 2014 and outline what happened on the ground, what the rescue teams did, and what critical errors sent the search in the wrong direction. We trace Dawn Romano’s decisions, the failed equipment, and the moments that kept her alive-what ultimately revealed her location?

Person: Dawn Romano
Location: Weller Draw, Colorado
Date: March 8-18, 2014
Vehicle: 2009 Ford F-250
Survival items: one wool blanket, one liter water, trail mix, folding knife, waterproof matches, one unused emergency flare

- The truck sat under four feet of consolidated snow and had been there for ten days before being found.
- Dawn had loaded GPS coordinates at home but installed two AA batteries reversed, rendering the GPS nonfunctional.
- The right front wheel dropped into a three-foot-deep runoff void, stopping the truck roughly nine-tenths of a mile down the northeast spur.
- Dawn carried a 31-page green field notebook she used to write while trapped inside the cab.
- A single dog found the victim in seven minutes after searchers had spent more than a week looking in the wrong drainage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1159falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/alone-at-sea-the-dry-book-that-refused-to-sink--73100971
A dry library book was found wrapped in cling film inside an empty life raft floating in the Gulf of Mexico two days after a crabber hauled it up eleven miles south-southwest of Pelican Shoals buoy - how did the raft get away from the person who launched it, and were they still alive? The raft was salt-crusted, everything else soaked and ruined, yet The Practical Celestial Navigator remained perfectly intact; what does that single detail reveal about what happened next?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a missing solo sailor’s float plan to the discovery of the empty life raft and the small, odd clues that guided a Coast Guard search coordinator’s questions. You’ll hear what was found on board the sloop Soledad, the entries in Marie White’s log, and the moments that narrowed the search - starting with that dry book.

Person: Marie White
Date: departed January 29; book published 1981; birthday previous October (age 62)
Location: Bradenton City Marina departure; dismasted ~40 miles west of Cape Romano; raft found 11 miles SSW of Pelican Shoals buoy
Vessel: 34-foot fiberglass sloop named Soledad, built 1988, owned six years
Event: life raft found by commercial crabber Karen Burke on morning of February 9; Coast Guard called at 6:53 AM

- The life raft was found dry inside with a library hardcover titled The Practical Celestial Navigator wrapped in kitchen cling film.
- Marie had been absent from her regular Wednesday animal shelter shifts only four times in seven years, and had missed the shift on February 3 without notice.
- Marie departed Bradenton City Marina around 5:30 PM on January 29 and had been at sea seven days before ashore observers registered concern.
- In under four minutes during the squall the wind jumped from 12 knots to 35 knots and the mast came down at the starboard lower shroud chainplate.
- After the mast fell the rigging wrapped around the propeller following approximately six hours of motor use, leaving the engine spinning freely and disabling propulsion.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100971Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAlone at Sea: The Dry Book That Refused to Sink A dry library book was found wrapped in cling film inside an empty life raft floating in the Gulf of Mexico two days after a crabber hauled it up eleven miles south-southwest of Pelican Shoals buoy -...
A dry library book was found wrapped in cling film inside an empty life raft floating in the Gulf of Mexico two days after a crabber hauled it up eleven miles south-southwest of Pelican Shoals buoy - how did the raft get away from the person who launched it, and were they still alive? The raft was salt-crusted, everything else soaked and ruined, yet The Practical Celestial Navigator remained perfectly intact; what does that single detail reveal about what happened next?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a missing solo sailor’s float plan to the discovery of the empty life raft and the small, odd clues that guided a Coast Guard search coordinator’s questions. You’ll hear what was found on board the sloop Soledad, the entries in Marie White’s log, and the moments that narrowed the search - starting with that dry book.

Person: Marie White
Date: departed January 29; book published 1981; birthday previous October (age 62)
Location: Bradenton City Marina departure; dismasted ~40 miles west of Cape Romano; raft found 11 miles SSW of Pelican Shoals buoy
Vessel: 34-foot fiberglass sloop named Soledad, built 1988, owned six years
Event: life raft found by commercial crabber Karen Burke on morning of February 9; Coast Guard called at 6:53 AM

- The life raft was found dry inside with a library hardcover titled The Practical Celestial Navigator wrapped in kitchen cling film.
- Marie had been absent from her regular Wednesday animal shelter shifts only four times in seven years, and had missed the shift on February 3 without notice.
- Marie departed Bradenton City Marina around 5:30 PM on January 29 and had been at sea seven days before ashore observers registered concern.
- In under four minutes during the squall the wind jumped from 12 knots to 35 knots and the mast came down at the starboard lower shroud chainplate.
- After the mast fell the rigging wrapped around the propeller following approximately six hours of motor use, leaving the engine spinning freely and disabling propulsion.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>962falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-survived-five-days-with-sealed-water-the-jacket-clue--73100967
Cold, alone, and with a sprained ankle in an unmapped canyon, a twenty-six-year-old survived five days on a tiny seep of water while a sealed full bottle sat untouched in her jacket - how did she calculate every drop and stay alive without opening it?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the moment Laura Brooks spotted a yellow jacket with a sealed water bottle in Ember Gulch to the rescue led by Piñón County Search and Rescue, and we follow Christine Holt’s precise actions that kept her alive - did the seep explain the sealed bottle or point to something else?

Person: Christine Holt
Date: the Friday before the third week of January (left Morado Falls at six Saturday morning)
Location: Ember Gulch, below the Morado Plateau Saddleback Loop junction
Status: Survived after five days with a sprained ankle and no signal
Responder: Piñón County Search and Rescue (coordinator Jason Rafferty)

- Laura Brooks found the yellow jacket and sealed water bottle at 9:47 AM from the canyon rim, sixty feet above the canyon floor.
- Christine began with 750 milliliters of water, one granola bar, one bag of mixed nuts, a space blanket, a lighter, and a dead phone.
- A seep on the north wall produced a bead of water every 40-50 seconds, collected in a shallow rock pocket.
- Christine fashioned funnels from the space blanket lining and boiled seep water with her lighter, sustaining herself over four days without running out.
- The entire rescue operation from discovery to extraction took thirty-one hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100967Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Survived Five Days With Sealed Water - The Jacket Clue Cold, alone, and with a sprained ankle in an unmapped canyon, a twenty-six-year-old survived five days on a tiny seep of water while a sealed full bottle sat untouched in her jacket - how...
Cold, alone, and with a sprained ankle in an unmapped canyon, a twenty-six-year-old survived five days on a tiny seep of water while a sealed full bottle sat untouched in her jacket - how did she calculate every drop and stay alive without opening it?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the moment Laura Brooks spotted a yellow jacket with a sealed water bottle in Ember Gulch to the rescue led by Piñón County Search and Rescue, and we follow Christine Holt’s precise actions that kept her alive - did the seep explain the sealed bottle or point to something else?

Person: Christine Holt
Date: the Friday before the third week of January (left Morado Falls at six Saturday morning)
Location: Ember Gulch, below the Morado Plateau Saddleback Loop junction
Status: Survived after five days with a sprained ankle and no signal
Responder: Piñón County Search and Rescue (coordinator Jason Rafferty)

- Laura Brooks found the yellow jacket and sealed water bottle at 9:47 AM from the canyon rim, sixty feet above the canyon floor.
- Christine began with 750 milliliters of water, one granola bar, one bag of mixed nuts, a space blanket, a lighter, and a dead phone.
- A seep on the north wall produced a bead of water every 40-50 seconds, collected in a shallow rock pocket.
- Christine fashioned funnels from the space blanket lining and boiled seep water with her lighter, sustaining herself over four days without running out.
- The entire rescue operation from discovery to extraction took thirty-one hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>977falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-walked-40-miles-with-a-41-stitch-leg-why--73100963
Cold, desperate, and alone: a structural engineer walked roughly forty miles across Idaho’s high ridges with a bone-deep laceration that required forty-one stitches - and a four-ounce roll of athletic tape he left behind decided everything. How did a bent trekking pole and a choice at mile forty-one keep him alive, and why did he deliberately avoid the exposed ridgelines that night?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from 4:45 AM on December 7 to the moment a county inspector opened a cabin door at 7:15 AM on December 9. You will hear what equipment he carried, the decision he made at mile sixty-two, and the single detail that changed the outcome - could one small omission explain why he had to walk out in the dark?

Person: Howard Roberts
Date: December 7-9, 2019
Location: Parrón Wilderness, central Idaho
Distance walked: approximately 40 miles
Injury treatment: 41 stitches

- He left Dunbar Trailhead at 4:45 AM on December 7 to run his self-designed Parrón Ridge Hundred route.
- He cached supplies at Fenner Creek (mile 41) in late October and left four ounces of partially unrolled athletic tape in the canister.
- At about mile 62 on the night of December 8 he struck a granite shelf and suffered a deep laceration below his right kneecap.
- He improvised a tourniquet by cutting off a compression sleeve, torquing a trekking pole through the sleeve, and bracing it for 22 minutes in 11°F temperatures.
- He walked about thirteen hours in the dark and wind gusts over 50 mph before being found alive in a cabin at 7:15 AM on December 9; the bent pole was visible in the doorway.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100963Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Walked 40 Miles With a 41‑Stitch Leg - Why? Cold, desperate, and alone: a structural engineer walked roughly forty miles across Idaho’s high ridges with a bone-deep laceration that required forty-one stitches - and a four-ounce roll of athletic...
Cold, desperate, and alone: a structural engineer walked roughly forty miles across Idaho’s high ridges with a bone-deep laceration that required forty-one stitches - and a four-ounce roll of athletic tape he left behind decided everything. How did a bent trekking pole and a choice at mile forty-one keep him alive, and why did he deliberately avoid the exposed ridgelines that night?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from 4:45 AM on December 7 to the moment a county inspector opened a cabin door at 7:15 AM on December 9. You will hear what equipment he carried, the decision he made at mile sixty-two, and the single detail that changed the outcome - could one small omission explain why he had to walk out in the dark?

Person: Howard Roberts
Date: December 7-9, 2019
Location: Parrón Wilderness, central Idaho
Distance walked: approximately 40 miles
Injury treatment: 41 stitches

- He left Dunbar Trailhead at 4:45 AM on December 7 to run his self-designed Parrón Ridge Hundred route.
- He cached supplies at Fenner Creek (mile 41) in late October and left four ounces of partially unrolled athletic tape in the canister.
- At about mile 62 on the night of December 8 he struck a granite shelf and suffered a deep laceration below his right kneecap.
- He improvised a tourniquet by cutting off a compression sleeve, torquing a trekking pole through the sleeve, and bracing it for 22 minutes in 11°F temperatures.
- He walked about thirteen hours in the dark and wind gusts over 50 mph before being found alive in a cabin at 7:15 AM on December 9; the bent pole was visible in the doorway.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1045falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/left-behind-at-marker-flat-how-one-tent-survived-an-arctic-night--73100961
Cold enough to freeze breath solid, a tent sat alone at 7,200 feet after three nights at -6°F while search teams flew over the wrong ridge; a single size twelve boot propped on a rock shelf led a bird photographer to call for help - how did one man survive when every system meant to protect him failed? What did Wade Bishop do in four days alone with dwindling fuel, a dead radio, and an arctic high arriving four days early?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events on the Alder Spine from the launch of the Alderman Spine Surveying Expedition through the evacuation decision and the silent days that followed, laying out who stayed, who left, and the precise conditions that tested every assumption. What choices kept a tent and a man intact when the forecast did not?

Date: November 14, 1998
Location: Marker Flat, Alder Spine
Person: Wade Bishop, age 32
Event: Three consecutive nights at -6°F
Team: Four planned; three evacuated on November 10

- At 08:20 on November 14, 1998, Dennis Tate found a single size twelve brown leather boot standing upright on a rock shelf.
- Wade Bishop was alone inside a tent approximately 400 yards from where the boot was found and had been alone for four days.
- Search aircraft had flown over the area 11 times but had been searching the wrong mountain.
- The National Weather Service later confirmed an arctic high that arrived four days ahead of forecast, causing the coldest November stretch in 22 years.
- On November 10 at 06:40, three team members (Frank Auletta, Bryce Lund, Donna Parrish) evacuated and left Wade with four-season shelter, four days of food, three fuel canisters, and a handheld VHF radio.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100961Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:00:13 +0000Creator at ObomediaLeft Behind at Marker Flat: How One Tent Survived an Arctic Night Cold enough to freeze breath solid, a tent sat alone at 7,200 feet after three nights at -6°F while search teams flew over the wrong ridge; a single size twelve boot propped on a...
Cold enough to freeze breath solid, a tent sat alone at 7,200 feet after three nights at -6°F while search teams flew over the wrong ridge; a single size twelve boot propped on a rock shelf led a bird photographer to call for help - how did one man survive when every system meant to protect him failed? What did Wade Bishop do in four days alone with dwindling fuel, a dead radio, and an arctic high arriving four days early?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events on the Alder Spine from the launch of the Alderman Spine Surveying Expedition through the evacuation decision and the silent days that followed, laying out who stayed, who left, and the precise conditions that tested every assumption. What choices kept a tent and a man intact when the forecast did not?

Date: November 14, 1998
Location: Marker Flat, Alder Spine
Person: Wade Bishop, age 32
Event: Three consecutive nights at -6°F
Team: Four planned; three evacuated on November 10

- At 08:20 on November 14, 1998, Dennis Tate found a single size twelve brown leather boot standing upright on a rock shelf.
- Wade Bishop was alone inside a tent approximately 400 yards from where the boot was found and had been alone for four days.
- Search aircraft had flown over the area 11 times but had been searching the wrong mountain.
- The National Weather Service later confirmed an arctic high that arrived four days ahead of forecast, causing the coldest November stretch in 22 years.
- On November 10 at 06:40, three team members (Frank Auletta, Bryce Lund, Donna Parrish) evacuated and left Wade with four-season shelter, four days of food, three fuel canisters, and a handheld VHF radio.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1054falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-survived-14-days-on-a-14-inch-ledge-how--73100951
The thought of standing on a fourteen‑inch ledge for nearly two weeks with cold water up to your boots sparks panic and awe - Heather Weber did exactly that, carving forty‑one tally marks into leather and stone while a rescue searched the wrong canyon. How did a fifty‑two‑year‑old technical canyoneer survive a hydraulic trap, rationed food, and immersion injury long enough to be found?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the morning Heather left Albuquerque to the discovery that followed, covering her schedule, gear, the flash flood that trapped her, and the search that focused on the wrong drainage; could a routine call schedule and a chisel be the difference between life and death?

Person: Heather Weber
Age: 52
Event: Flash flood trapping in a flooded slot canyon
Date found boot at trailhead: October 14, 2011
Rope recorded in gear photo: 200-foot rope

- Heather left Albuquerque on September 29, 2011 and a trailhead camera recorded her truck entering Saddleback Canyon at 8:44 AM that day.
- She climbed onto the ledge at 11:17 AM on September 30 and the flash flood arrived twelve minutes later, stopping fourteen inches below her boots.
- A chockstone the size of a refrigerator wedged the slot canyon exit, creating a hydraulic trap that reduced outflow by 2-3 inches per day.
- Heather made daily marks with a masonry chisel at 5:15 AM, matching her weekly call time, reaching 41 horizontal lines carved into leather and stone.
- By about October 4 (day five), she had halved her food rations and developed immersion injury in her left foot with two toes losing most sensation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100951Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Survived 14 Days On a 14‑Inch Ledge - How? The thought of standing on a fourteen‑inch ledge for nearly two weeks with cold water up to your boots sparks panic and awe - Heather Weber did exactly that, carving forty‑one tally marks into leather...
The thought of standing on a fourteen‑inch ledge for nearly two weeks with cold water up to your boots sparks panic and awe - Heather Weber did exactly that, carving forty‑one tally marks into leather and stone while a rescue searched the wrong canyon. How did a fifty‑two‑year‑old technical canyoneer survive a hydraulic trap, rationed food, and immersion injury long enough to be found?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the morning Heather left Albuquerque to the discovery that followed, covering her schedule, gear, the flash flood that trapped her, and the search that focused on the wrong drainage; could a routine call schedule and a chisel be the difference between life and death?

Person: Heather Weber
Age: 52
Event: Flash flood trapping in a flooded slot canyon
Date found boot at trailhead: October 14, 2011
Rope recorded in gear photo: 200-foot rope

- Heather left Albuquerque on September 29, 2011 and a trailhead camera recorded her truck entering Saddleback Canyon at 8:44 AM that day.
- She climbed onto the ledge at 11:17 AM on September 30 and the flash flood arrived twelve minutes later, stopping fourteen inches below her boots.
- A chockstone the size of a refrigerator wedged the slot canyon exit, creating a hydraulic trap that reduced outflow by 2-3 inches per day.
- Heather made daily marks with a masonry chisel at 5:15 AM, matching her weekly call time, reaching 41 horizontal lines carved into leather and stone.
- By about October 4 (day five), she had halved her food rations and developed immersion injury in her left foot with two toes losing most sensation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1060falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-vanished-between-boats-how-one-choice-redeemed-a-lost-swim--73100948
A quiet crossing morphed into a survival gamble in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes when a swimmer vanished from his escort boat’s GPS position and a hand-annotated chart turned up days later behind a road grader four kilometers from the nearest marina-how did a laminated plan end up on a hilltop, and what single decision kept him alive? The Strait of Gibraltar’s complex currents and commercial traffic turn every meter into a threat; this episode follows the moment when preparation met unpredictable force and asks which choice changed everything.

In this episode, we follow the timeline of the swim, the search that covered a four-by-eight-kilometer corridor, and the discovery that reopened the unanswered questions about navigation and survival at sea. What did Gary Fitzgerald do alone in open water, with no boat in sight and a current he could not beat, that altered the outcome?

Person: Gary Fitzgerald
Date: September 9, 2019
Location: Strait of Gibraltar, roughly two kilometers west of Punta Paloma
Event: Eleven-hour search and rescue operation
Finder: seasonal road worker

- The search covered a four-by-eight-kilometer corridor with two patrol vessels, an aerial asset, and a secondary support boat over eleven hours.
- Gary Fitzgerald was 44 years old and had planned the crossing for eight months with a laminated, hand-annotated navigation chart.
- He started the crossing at 04:52 with the escort vessel Meridian running 50 meters off his left shoulder.
- For the first 2 hours and 48 minutes the swim followed his planned heading before a container ship passed.
- Eleven days after the search was closed, a laminated navigation chart was found wedged behind a road-grader blade on a hilltop four kilometers from the nearest marina.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100948Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:41:21 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Vanished Between Boats: How One Choice Redeemed a Lost Swim A quiet crossing morphed into a survival gamble in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes when a swimmer vanished from his escort boat’s GPS position and a hand-annotated chart...
A quiet crossing morphed into a survival gamble in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes when a swimmer vanished from his escort boat’s GPS position and a hand-annotated chart turned up days later behind a road grader four kilometers from the nearest marina-how did a laminated plan end up on a hilltop, and what single decision kept him alive? The Strait of Gibraltar’s complex currents and commercial traffic turn every meter into a threat; this episode follows the moment when preparation met unpredictable force and asks which choice changed everything.

In this episode, we follow the timeline of the swim, the search that covered a four-by-eight-kilometer corridor, and the discovery that reopened the unanswered questions about navigation and survival at sea. What did Gary Fitzgerald do alone in open water, with no boat in sight and a current he could not beat, that altered the outcome?

Person: Gary Fitzgerald
Date: September 9, 2019
Location: Strait of Gibraltar, roughly two kilometers west of Punta Paloma
Event: Eleven-hour search and rescue operation
Finder: seasonal road worker

- The search covered a four-by-eight-kilometer corridor with two patrol vessels, an aerial asset, and a secondary support boat over eleven hours.
- Gary Fitzgerald was 44 years old and had planned the crossing for eight months with a laminated, hand-annotated navigation chart.
- He started the crossing at 04:52 with the escort vessel Meridian running 50 meters off his left shoulder.
- For the first 2 hours and 48 minutes the swim followed his planned heading before a container ship passed.
- Eleven days after the search was closed, a laminated navigation chart was found wedged behind a road-grader blade on a hilltop four kilometers from the nearest marina.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1192falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-threaded-his-bike-through-a-lock-then-vanished-into-fog--73100945
Fear of being lost in the mountains tightens the throat: Warren Simmons disappeared after threading his road bike through a padlocked gate and walking into four hundred meters of fog; six days later he was found alive on a flat-topped boulder at 9,000 feet. How did a calibration technician who planned routes by hand miss a four-tenths-mile junction and descend six and a half miles into the wrong drainage?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the closed Coloma Pass connector to the moments that sent searchers looking in the wrong valley, asking how a single outdated note and a slab of morning fog redirected a precise rider into a near-impossible survival scenario. What decisions and small errors turned a familiar loop into a six-day ordeal?

Person: Warren Simmons
Date: August 14-19
Location: Coloma Pass connector, Cutler County
Status: Found alive after six days
Height above sea level where found: 9,000 feet

- Bike found propped against a padlocked gate with front wheel reinstalled and lock threaded through the frame.
- Warren had been missing for six days before being located on a flat-topped boulder.
- His printed elevation profile margin read four words: "closure gate open, no issue," written in June.
- Cutler County closed the Coloma Pass connector on August 9 due to a rockslide, five days before Warren's ride.
- Warren descended approximately six and a half miles into Seco Fork instead of Quill Basin after missing a junction four-tenths of a mile below the crest.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100945Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:41:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Threaded His Bike Through A Lock - Then Vanished Into Fog Fear of being lost in the mountains tightens the throat: Warren Simmons disappeared after threading his road bike through a padlocked gate and walking into four hundred meters of fog; six...
Fear of being lost in the mountains tightens the throat: Warren Simmons disappeared after threading his road bike through a padlocked gate and walking into four hundred meters of fog; six days later he was found alive on a flat-topped boulder at 9,000 feet. How did a calibration technician who planned routes by hand miss a four-tenths-mile junction and descend six and a half miles into the wrong drainage?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the closed Coloma Pass connector to the moments that sent searchers looking in the wrong valley, asking how a single outdated note and a slab of morning fog redirected a precise rider into a near-impossible survival scenario. What decisions and small errors turned a familiar loop into a six-day ordeal?

Person: Warren Simmons
Date: August 14-19
Location: Coloma Pass connector, Cutler County
Status: Found alive after six days
Height above sea level where found: 9,000 feet

- Bike found propped against a padlocked gate with front wheel reinstalled and lock threaded through the frame.
- Warren had been missing for six days before being located on a flat-topped boulder.
- His printed elevation profile margin read four words: "closure gate open, no issue," written in June.
- Cutler County closed the Coloma Pass connector on August 9 due to a rockslide, five days before Warren's ride.
- Warren descended approximately six and a half miles into Seco Fork instead of Quill Basin after missing a junction four-tenths of a mile below the crest.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1210falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/boot-on-the-ledge-how-a-rancher-survived-an-icy-vanishment--73100941
A single dry size-seven boot, laces still tied, sat four feet from the waterline on a granite ledge while the lake below had already swallowed a snowmobile - and nobody knew whether the owner was alive. How did a woman with decades of wilderness experience vanish from an apparently intact sheet of ice, and what did she do in the hour and forty-nine minutes afterward?

In this episode, we follow the timeline and concrete evidence found on the Shelf and around Callen Lake, hearing about routines, tools, and the decisions that led to a walk across honeycombed ice; could habit and training explain survival where the surface betrayed the depths?

Person: Kelly Cooper
Date: July 7 (left property at 6:15 a.m.) and July 9 (boot found at 6:18 a.m.)
Location: northwest arm of Callen Lake, granite ledge called the Shelf
Status: boot found dry on rock; lake water temperature 41°F
Event: snowmobile loaded with avalanche probe and tools; ice honeycombed from below

- Kelly left the ranch at 6:15 a.m. to check a heeled fence post and planned to be back by noon.
- The boot found was a woman’s left boot, size seven, laces tied, leather dry, sitting four feet from the waterline.
- Kelly’s probe tests across the ice returned eight to ten inches of resistance at three points before she crossed.
- The ridge above Callen Lake is fourteen miles from the nearest house, and Kelly ran the ranch alone for more than two decades.
- Water temperature that morning was 41°F, a level that causes rapid physiological responses to cold.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100941Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:40:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaBoot on the Ledge: How a Rancher Survived an Icy Vanishment A single dry size-seven boot, laces still tied, sat four feet from the waterline on a granite ledge while the lake below had already swallowed a snowmobile - and nobody knew whether the...
A single dry size-seven boot, laces still tied, sat four feet from the waterline on a granite ledge while the lake below had already swallowed a snowmobile - and nobody knew whether the owner was alive. How did a woman with decades of wilderness experience vanish from an apparently intact sheet of ice, and what did she do in the hour and forty-nine minutes afterward?

In this episode, we follow the timeline and concrete evidence found on the Shelf and around Callen Lake, hearing about routines, tools, and the decisions that led to a walk across honeycombed ice; could habit and training explain survival where the surface betrayed the depths?

Person: Kelly Cooper
Date: July 7 (left property at 6:15 a.m.) and July 9 (boot found at 6:18 a.m.)
Location: northwest arm of Callen Lake, granite ledge called the Shelf
Status: boot found dry on rock; lake water temperature 41°F
Event: snowmobile loaded with avalanche probe and tools; ice honeycombed from below

- Kelly left the ranch at 6:15 a.m. to check a heeled fence post and planned to be back by noon.
- The boot found was a woman’s left boot, size seven, laces tied, leather dry, sitting four feet from the waterline.
- Kelly’s probe tests across the ice returned eight to ten inches of resistance at three points before she crossed.
- The ridge above Callen Lake is fourteen miles from the nearest house, and Kelly ran the ranch alone for more than two decades.
- Water temperature that morning was 41°F, a level that causes rapid physiological responses to cold.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1017falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-left-her-camera-how-nancy-survived-78-hours-on-the-flats--73100937
Tension from isolation: a camera bag placed three inches above a four-foot-eleven high-tide mark became the only deliberate sign that saved a missing photographer after 78 hours alone in zero-visibility fog - how did one small, precise action point rescuers to her location?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Tuesday morning discovery through the local search response and the missing-persons report, reconstructing what happened on the extreme low tide and why a single placed bag mattered. What did Nancy intentionally leave behind that told rescuers exactly where to look?

Person: Nancy Stroud
Date: June 17-20, 2019
Location: Cresswick Estuary / Vernal Point area
Event: 78 hours missing on tidal flats
Status: Found alive after three nights

- The camera bag was sitting upright on a steel marker post five feet two inches tall, with its base three inches above the waterline chalk mark.
- High tide that Tuesday morning reached four feet eleven inches, and the bag was soaking wet despite being placed above the mark.
- Nancy shot 840 photographs during the roughly twenty-minute window when the extreme low tide exposed a 200-yard strip of flat for the planned shoot.
- The fog arrived at 6:40 a.m., reducing visibility to zero between the service road and the channel, and the harbormaster logged zero visibility at 6:40, 9:10, and partial lifting at 11:50.
- The missing persons report reached county search and rescue coordinator Linda Gallagher at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, after Nancy had been out of contact for 56 hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100937Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:40:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Left Her Camera - How Nancy Survived 78 Hours on the Flats Tension from isolation: a camera bag placed three inches above a four-foot-eleven high-tide mark became the only deliberate sign that saved a missing photographer after 78 hours alone...
Tension from isolation: a camera bag placed three inches above a four-foot-eleven high-tide mark became the only deliberate sign that saved a missing photographer after 78 hours alone in zero-visibility fog - how did one small, precise action point rescuers to her location?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Tuesday morning discovery through the local search response and the missing-persons report, reconstructing what happened on the extreme low tide and why a single placed bag mattered. What did Nancy intentionally leave behind that told rescuers exactly where to look?

Person: Nancy Stroud
Date: June 17-20, 2019
Location: Cresswick Estuary / Vernal Point area
Event: 78 hours missing on tidal flats
Status: Found alive after three nights

- The camera bag was sitting upright on a steel marker post five feet two inches tall, with its base three inches above the waterline chalk mark.
- High tide that Tuesday morning reached four feet eleven inches, and the bag was soaking wet despite being placed above the mark.
- Nancy shot 840 photographs during the roughly twenty-minute window when the extreme low tide exposed a 200-yard strip of flat for the planned shoot.
- The fog arrived at 6:40 a.m., reducing visibility to zero between the service road and the channel, and the harbormaster logged zero visibility at 6:40, 9:10, and partial lifting at 11:50.
- The missing persons report reached county search and rescue coordinator Linda Gallagher at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, after Nancy had been out of contact for 56 hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>921falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-broke-her-leg-sixty-feet-up-built-her-own-rescue--73100934
She survived ninety-six hours on a slope with a fractured fibula, two crackers, and four ounces of water-then built a deliberate signal at the trailhead that led rescuers to a spot they’d already flown over. How did a thirty-eight-year-old structural engineer with precise habits turn a near-impossible situation into a successful rescue?

In this episode, we tell the episode's account of the incident and the sequence of decisions that kept her alive, describing the terrain, the timing, and the improvised solutions she used-ending with the question of what exact construction saved her and how it was found.

Person: Peggy Hayes
Age: 38
Occupation: Structural engineer
Date of summit: May 10, 2003
Duration stranded: 96 hours

- She fell sixty feet down a couloir after snow balled under her left crampon and struck rock, snapping the mid-shaft of her fibula.
- She reached the summit at approximately 11:40 AM, signed the register, photographed her signature, and began the planned descent.
- She had two crackers and four ounces of water remaining immediately after the fall.
- The couloir below the summit measured roughly 300 vertical feet and took her four hours and forty minutes to descend to the talus field.
- She left a signal at Ridgeback Trailhead: two trekking poles lashed into a cross with orange sleeping-pad foam and a zip-lock containing her laminated trail permit with four lines written on the back.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100934Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:40:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Broke Her Leg Sixty Feet Up - Built Her Own Rescue She survived ninety-six hours on a slope with a fractured fibula, two crackers, and four ounces of water-then built a deliberate signal at the trailhead that led rescuers to a spot they’d...
She survived ninety-six hours on a slope with a fractured fibula, two crackers, and four ounces of water-then built a deliberate signal at the trailhead that led rescuers to a spot they’d already flown over. How did a thirty-eight-year-old structural engineer with precise habits turn a near-impossible situation into a successful rescue?

In this episode, we tell the episode's account of the incident and the sequence of decisions that kept her alive, describing the terrain, the timing, and the improvised solutions she used-ending with the question of what exact construction saved her and how it was found.

Person: Peggy Hayes
Age: 38
Occupation: Structural engineer
Date of summit: May 10, 2003
Duration stranded: 96 hours

- She fell sixty feet down a couloir after snow balled under her left crampon and struck rock, snapping the mid-shaft of her fibula.
- She reached the summit at approximately 11:40 AM, signed the register, photographed her signature, and began the planned descent.
- She had two crackers and four ounces of water remaining immediately after the fall.
- The couloir below the summit measured roughly 300 vertical feet and took her four hours and forty minutes to descend to the talus field.
- She left a signal at Ridgeback Trailhead: two trekking poles lashed into a cross with orange sleeping-pad foam and a zip-lock containing her laminated trail permit with four lines written on the back.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1059falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/map-on-the-birch-man-on-the-run-surviving-the-kessler-gorge--73100928
A laminated topographic map was zip-tied to a birch at shoulder height beside a nature trail - bright orange tie, eleven miles of river with no public access below, and a missing 62-year-old retired engineer drifting somewhere in the cold, fast Kessler Gorge. Who left the map, and why was it pinned where only a dog walker would spot it?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a Friday morning canoe launch through a capsized boat, lost map and navigation by coordinates alone, to a search that split in multiple directions; can a man with a swollen knee, a working GPS and three days of supplies survive a night beside a high, indifferent river?

Person: Richard Murphy
Date: April 26, 2019
Location: Kessler River / Tilden Gorge, Tilden County, Virginia
Status: Missing person report filed three days before map discovery
Event: Canoe capsized at approximately 2:30 PM at Hammer Bend

- Launch time: 8:15 AM on Friday, April 26, 2019.
- Water temperature at capsize: 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Temperature dropped to 38 degrees Fahrenheit by 4:00 PM that day.
- Survival gear retained after capsize: canoe, dry suit, barrel with three days of food, GPS, fire kit, headlamp, bivy sack.
- Lost in river during capsize: paddle and laminated topographic map.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100928Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:40:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaMap on the Birch, Man on the Run: Surviving the Kessler Gorge A laminated topographic map was zip-tied to a birch at shoulder height beside a nature trail - bright orange tie, eleven miles of river with no public access below, and a missing...
A laminated topographic map was zip-tied to a birch at shoulder height beside a nature trail - bright orange tie, eleven miles of river with no public access below, and a missing 62-year-old retired engineer drifting somewhere in the cold, fast Kessler Gorge. Who left the map, and why was it pinned where only a dog walker would spot it?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a Friday morning canoe launch through a capsized boat, lost map and navigation by coordinates alone, to a search that split in multiple directions; can a man with a swollen knee, a working GPS and three days of supplies survive a night beside a high, indifferent river?

Person: Richard Murphy
Date: April 26, 2019
Location: Kessler River / Tilden Gorge, Tilden County, Virginia
Status: Missing person report filed three days before map discovery
Event: Canoe capsized at approximately 2:30 PM at Hammer Bend

- Launch time: 8:15 AM on Friday, April 26, 2019.
- Water temperature at capsize: 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Temperature dropped to 38 degrees Fahrenheit by 4:00 PM that day.
- Survival gear retained after capsize: canoe, dry suit, barrel with three days of food, GPS, fire kit, headlamp, bivy sack.
- Lost in river during capsize: paddle and laminated topographic map.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1093falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/buried-alive-in-a-grain-bin-how-grant-survived-eleven-hours-under-wheat--73100925
Adrenaline and claustrophobia collide: a size eleven boot stood upright on concrete while a man named Grant O'Brien lay buried under eleven feet of wheat, alive but trapped for hours - how did he survive inside 400,000 pounds of grain until rescue? What two small objects ultimately decided whether he lived?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning of March 3, 2009, through the rescue and Grant's return to his apartment to give his cat Pepper an insulin injection at 8:43 p.m. We cover the conditions that led him to descend alone, the moment the grain crust collapsed, and the precise actions Grant took while buried - but what saved him in the end?

Person: Grant O'Brien
Date: March 3, 2009
Location: Mosher and Tilton grain storage complex outside Dalton Flats, western Kansas
Duration buried: approximately eleven hours
Weight of grain in bin: four hundred thousand pounds

- Grant descended into Bin Seven at 4:11 a.m. to break a grain crust and texted his neighbor Sandra Tice at 4:23 a.m. about his cat's insulin.
- Three minutes after the message, the crust collapsed and Grant sank nine feet before the grain compressed around him from chest to toes.
- Grant could move only his left hand and controlled his breathing in groups of thirty while pressing his left palm to his chest.
- A passerby, Larry Foster, spotted the upright left boot on the concrete apron at 6:42 a.m. and called the Dalton Flats sheriff's office at 6:51 a.m.
- Grant administered his cat Pepper's insulin injection at 8:43 p.m. the same day after being rescued.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100925Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:40:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaBuried Alive in a Grain Bin: How Grant Survived Eleven Hours Under Wheat Adrenaline and claustrophobia collide: a size eleven boot stood upright on concrete while a man named Grant O'Brien lay buried under eleven feet of wheat, alive but trapped...
Adrenaline and claustrophobia collide: a size eleven boot stood upright on concrete while a man named Grant O'Brien lay buried under eleven feet of wheat, alive but trapped for hours - how did he survive inside 400,000 pounds of grain until rescue? What two small objects ultimately decided whether he lived?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning of March 3, 2009, through the rescue and Grant's return to his apartment to give his cat Pepper an insulin injection at 8:43 p.m. We cover the conditions that led him to descend alone, the moment the grain crust collapsed, and the precise actions Grant took while buried - but what saved him in the end?

Person: Grant O'Brien
Date: March 3, 2009
Location: Mosher and Tilton grain storage complex outside Dalton Flats, western Kansas
Duration buried: approximately eleven hours
Weight of grain in bin: four hundred thousand pounds

- Grant descended into Bin Seven at 4:11 a.m. to break a grain crust and texted his neighbor Sandra Tice at 4:23 a.m. about his cat's insulin.
- Three minutes after the message, the crust collapsed and Grant sank nine feet before the grain compressed around him from chest to toes.
- Grant could move only his left hand and controlled his breathing in groups of thirty while pressing his left palm to his chest.
- A passerby, Larry Foster, spotted the upright left boot on the concrete apron at 6:42 a.m. and called the Dalton Flats sheriff's office at 6:51 a.m.
- Grant administered his cat Pepper's insulin injection at 8:43 p.m. the same day after being rescued.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>972falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-waited-51-hours-on-a-sheer-plateau-while-rescue-searched-four-miles-away--73100923
Cold survival under a basalt cliff: a paraglider sat perfectly anchored like a windsock while its pilot calmly ate a granola bar after a forced landing, and rescue teams spent 51 hours looking four miles away. How did a single misheard digit redirect a full SAR operation and leave a 47-year-old outfitter stranded on a plateau with no trail, no road, and no cell signal?

In this episode, we recount the sequence of events from launch to rescue, the radio relay that introduced the wrong coordinate, and the decisions that kept search teams searching Pinto Flats instead of the Morrow Plateau. What mistakes, confirmations, and near-misses allowed Rebecca Dempsey to survive alone for more than two days?

Person: Rebecca Dempsey
Age: 47
Date: February 9-11, 2019
Location: Morrow Plateau, Dellhart River canyon, Utah
Flight hours logged: 340

- Rebecca launched from Decker Ridge at 11:22 AM on February 9, 2019 and landed on the plateau at 12:17 PM after a rotor collapse and B-stall recovery.
- The Morrow Plateau is about 0.75 miles long and 0.25 miles wide, with three sides dropping 420 feet of sheer basalt.
- Rebecca spent 51 hours on the plateau before being found on the morning of February 11, 2019.
- A relay pilot copied coordinates by ear and transposed an eight as a three, moving the reported position four miles northeast to Pinto Flats.
- Search-and-rescue teams launched a helicopter grid search over Pinto Flats before sunset on February 9 and found nothing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100923Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:39:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Waited 51 Hours on a Sheer Plateau While Rescue Searched Four Miles Away Cold survival under a basalt cliff: a paraglider sat perfectly anchored like a windsock while its pilot calmly ate a granola bar after a forced landing, and rescue teams...
Cold survival under a basalt cliff: a paraglider sat perfectly anchored like a windsock while its pilot calmly ate a granola bar after a forced landing, and rescue teams spent 51 hours looking four miles away. How did a single misheard digit redirect a full SAR operation and leave a 47-year-old outfitter stranded on a plateau with no trail, no road, and no cell signal?

In this episode, we recount the sequence of events from launch to rescue, the radio relay that introduced the wrong coordinate, and the decisions that kept search teams searching Pinto Flats instead of the Morrow Plateau. What mistakes, confirmations, and near-misses allowed Rebecca Dempsey to survive alone for more than two days?

Person: Rebecca Dempsey
Age: 47
Date: February 9-11, 2019
Location: Morrow Plateau, Dellhart River canyon, Utah
Flight hours logged: 340

- Rebecca launched from Decker Ridge at 11:22 AM on February 9, 2019 and landed on the plateau at 12:17 PM after a rotor collapse and B-stall recovery.
- The Morrow Plateau is about 0.75 miles long and 0.25 miles wide, with three sides dropping 420 feet of sheer basalt.
- Rebecca spent 51 hours on the plateau before being found on the morning of February 11, 2019.
- A relay pilot copied coordinates by ear and transposed an eight as a three, moving the reported position four miles northeast to Pinto Flats.
- Search-and-rescue teams launched a helicopter grid search over Pinto Flats before sunset on February 9 and found nothing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>977falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-lost-her-line-what-pulled-her-from-thirty-three-feet--73100921
Cold, alone and cut off from her surface marker, a freediver survived sixty hours in 67°F water after her poly line snapped upward in an instant - a large fast object passed overhead at 5:48 PM; what happened next allowed her to live, but who or what pulled that line?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline and concrete details of the event and the six-week reconstruction by investigators to follow the choices she made and the anomalies they could not easily explain. How did a diver who was thirty-three feet down at dusk make the precise decisions that turned an impossible situation into survival?

Person: April Anderson
Date: January 19-24, 2017
Location: Notch, Pelican Flat Road, Tavernier, Florida Keys
Status: Found conscious after nearly 60 hours
Event: Poly cord snapped upward at 5:48 PM while diver was at 33 feet

- April entered the water at 5:15 PM and signed an estimated return of 7:00 PM.
- The poly line snapped upward and vanished at approximately 5:48 PM.
- She broke the surface at about 5:50 PM with no flag, no line, and in a wetsuit with a torn right shoulder seam.
- GPS records later showed no vessels within 300 meters during the three-minute window she used to surface.
- She was found conscious and shaking beside a yellow kayak nearly sixty hours later, wearing a wetsuit torn at the left hip.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100921Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:39:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Lost Her Line. What Pulled Her From Thirty-Three Feet? Cold, alone and cut off from her surface marker, a freediver survived sixty hours in 67°F water after her poly line snapped upward in an instant - a large fast object passed overhead at...
Cold, alone and cut off from her surface marker, a freediver survived sixty hours in 67°F water after her poly line snapped upward in an instant - a large fast object passed overhead at 5:48 PM; what happened next allowed her to live, but who or what pulled that line?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline and concrete details of the event and the six-week reconstruction by investigators to follow the choices she made and the anomalies they could not easily explain. How did a diver who was thirty-three feet down at dusk make the precise decisions that turned an impossible situation into survival?

Person: April Anderson
Date: January 19-24, 2017
Location: Notch, Pelican Flat Road, Tavernier, Florida Keys
Status: Found conscious after nearly 60 hours
Event: Poly cord snapped upward at 5:48 PM while diver was at 33 feet

- April entered the water at 5:15 PM and signed an estimated return of 7:00 PM.
- The poly line snapped upward and vanished at approximately 5:48 PM.
- She broke the surface at about 5:50 PM with no flag, no line, and in a wetsuit with a torn right shoulder seam.
- GPS records later showed no vessels within 300 meters during the three-minute window she used to surface.
- She was found conscious and shaking beside a yellow kayak nearly sixty hours later, wearing a wetsuit torn at the left hip.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1190falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/bark-coated-and-frozen-how-a-ski-instructor-survived-29-c-alone--73100919
Cold that close to death: a 53-year-old ski instructor spent two nights alone in a shelter, stripped his clothes by a river, and improvised a bark coat before being found at -29°C; how did embedded fibers in river ice and stove residue in a shelter log finally rewrite the timeline and explain why he crossed the river?

In this episode, we follow the documented sequence recorded by river ice, shelter deposits, and witness reports to piece together what happened from December 11th to December 15th; could the physical evidence answer why Douglas Marshall left his planned route and endured two nights in near‑fatal cold?

Person: Douglas Marshall
Date: December 11-15 (found December 14, river search December 15)
Location: Palisade Fork / Spruce Flat Shelter / Guthrie Lake Road trailhead
Occupation: Cross‑country ski instructor at Pelham Ridge Nordic Center (21 years)
Finder: Marilyn Green (birdwatcher) at 16:37 on December 14

- Douglas Marshall was 53 years old and had been a ski instructor at Pelham Ridge for 21 years.
- He filed a trip plan on December 11 to ski 12 kilometers to Spruce Flat Shelter for one night and return by midday December 12.
- By December 12 at 16:00 he was overdue; search teams began that night but swept a corridor that missed his actual location by about 3 kilometers.
- Two nights of stove ash, two mineral rings on the pot, and a deep sleeping bag impression inside Spruce Flat Shelter show he occupied the shelter for two full nights.
- A roughly 1‑meter‑across refrozen hole in the Palisade Fork ice contained blue synthetic and merino fibers matching his base‑layer top where his clothes were later found stripped near the riverbank.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100919Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:39:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaBark-Coated and Frozen: How a Ski Instructor Survived -29°C Alone Cold that close to death: a 53-year-old ski instructor spent two nights alone in a shelter, stripped his clothes by a river, and improvised a bark coat before being found at -29°C;...
Cold that close to death: a 53-year-old ski instructor spent two nights alone in a shelter, stripped his clothes by a river, and improvised a bark coat before being found at -29°C; how did embedded fibers in river ice and stove residue in a shelter log finally rewrite the timeline and explain why he crossed the river?

In this episode, we follow the documented sequence recorded by river ice, shelter deposits, and witness reports to piece together what happened from December 11th to December 15th; could the physical evidence answer why Douglas Marshall left his planned route and endured two nights in near‑fatal cold?

Person: Douglas Marshall
Date: December 11-15 (found December 14, river search December 15)
Location: Palisade Fork / Spruce Flat Shelter / Guthrie Lake Road trailhead
Occupation: Cross‑country ski instructor at Pelham Ridge Nordic Center (21 years)
Finder: Marilyn Green (birdwatcher) at 16:37 on December 14

- Douglas Marshall was 53 years old and had been a ski instructor at Pelham Ridge for 21 years.
- He filed a trip plan on December 11 to ski 12 kilometers to Spruce Flat Shelter for one night and return by midday December 12.
- By December 12 at 16:00 he was overdue; search teams began that night but swept a corridor that missed his actual location by about 3 kilometers.
- Two nights of stove ash, two mineral rings on the pot, and a deep sleeping bag impression inside Spruce Flat Shelter show he occupied the shelter for two full nights.
- A roughly 1‑meter‑across refrozen hole in the Palisade Fork ice contained blue synthetic and merino fibers matching his base‑layer top where his clothes were later found stripped near the riverbank.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1056falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-buried-his-logbook-what-he-wrote-after-the-fire-defies-time--73100917
The thought of being cut off, alone and unreachably high, makes the skin prickle-this episode unspools a burned logbook found intact with a last entry dated four days after the fire that destroyed the only road out; how could anyone write after the ridge burned through? What did the entries reveal about surviving a burn-over with no radio, no road, and a mountain still holding heat in its soil?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events around a November wildfire that isolated a single lookout and the unusual actions taken before and after the fire, asking whether fieldcraft and quiet knowledge can outlast protocol failures and a destroyed communication line.

Person: Grant Porter
Date: November 12, 2011
Location: Ridgecap Fire Lookout Station, Kettner County
Age: 44
Pages preserved: 61

- The logbook cover was burned on three sides but sixty-one pages of blue ballpoint ink inside were completely intact.
- The last logbook entry found in the tower was dated November 14, 2011, two days after the fire crossed the ridge on November 12.
- Connie Lawson, age 15, noticed the master padlock missing and the gate open on November 19, 2011, and did not enter the access road.
- Grant placed the logbook inside the steel lid of a 500-gallon galvanized water tank buried under approximately four inches of pine duff about 40 feet south-southeast of the tower.
- On the morning of November 12 the tower’s radio antenna had melted, leaving Grant alone at roughly 7,000 feet with no radio and no road out.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100917Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:39:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Buried His Logbook; What He Wrote After The Fire Defies Time The thought of being cut off, alone and unreachably high, makes the skin prickle-this episode unspools a burned logbook found intact with a last entry dated four days after the fire...
The thought of being cut off, alone and unreachably high, makes the skin prickle-this episode unspools a burned logbook found intact with a last entry dated four days after the fire that destroyed the only road out; how could anyone write after the ridge burned through? What did the entries reveal about surviving a burn-over with no radio, no road, and a mountain still holding heat in its soil?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events around a November wildfire that isolated a single lookout and the unusual actions taken before and after the fire, asking whether fieldcraft and quiet knowledge can outlast protocol failures and a destroyed communication line.

Person: Grant Porter
Date: November 12, 2011
Location: Ridgecap Fire Lookout Station, Kettner County
Age: 44
Pages preserved: 61

- The logbook cover was burned on three sides but sixty-one pages of blue ballpoint ink inside were completely intact.
- The last logbook entry found in the tower was dated November 14, 2011, two days after the fire crossed the ridge on November 12.
- Connie Lawson, age 15, noticed the master padlock missing and the gate open on November 19, 2011, and did not enter the access road.
- Grant placed the logbook inside the steel lid of a 500-gallon galvanized water tank buried under approximately four inches of pine duff about 40 feet south-southeast of the tower.
- On the morning of November 12 the tower’s radio antenna had melted, leaving Grant alone at roughly 7,000 feet with no radio and no road out.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>982falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-climbed-40-feet-of-bare-rock-with-frozen-hands-and-lived--73100914
Cold, alone, and sitting on an 18-inch ledge above a glacial river, a 28-year-old woman climbed 40 feet of blank limestone with hands numbed by 39°F water after her kayak flipped - and left a dry paddle blade on the road 41 feet above. How did she turn four inches of lower flow and twenty-two minutes on the ledge into a chance at survival?

In this episode, we walk through the sequence of events from launch to rescue and show what choices, gear, and timing shaped the outcome. What did she do in those twelve minutes of usable hand function that no rescuer expected?

Person: Gloria Pruitt
Date: October 13-14, 2019
Location: Kettridge Fork / Forest Service Road 7-Echo, Anker County
Temperature: 38-42°F river; 39°F at incident
Rescue coordinator: Philip Hall

- River flow was four inches lower than in late September, converting a washed-out hydraulic into a recirculating trap.
- Gloria flipped at approximately 4:15 PM, wet-exited, and pulled onto an 18-inch rock ledge one and a half miles below the launch.
- She spent seven of the documented twelve minutes of meaningful hand function sitting on the ledge before beginning the ascent.
- The broken kayak paddle blade was found on the gravel shoulder at 7:00 AM on October 14th, 41 feet straight up from the river.
- Gloria had completed swift-water rescue certification in 2017 and had lived out of a van for four years, volunteering every Tuesday at the local food pantry.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100914Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:39:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Climbed 40 Feet of Bare Rock With Frozen Hands and Lived Cold, alone, and sitting on an 18-inch ledge above a glacial river, a 28-year-old woman climbed 40 feet of blank limestone with hands numbed by 39°F water after her kayak flipped - and...
Cold, alone, and sitting on an 18-inch ledge above a glacial river, a 28-year-old woman climbed 40 feet of blank limestone with hands numbed by 39°F water after her kayak flipped - and left a dry paddle blade on the road 41 feet above. How did she turn four inches of lower flow and twenty-two minutes on the ledge into a chance at survival?

In this episode, we walk through the sequence of events from launch to rescue and show what choices, gear, and timing shaped the outcome. What did she do in those twelve minutes of usable hand function that no rescuer expected?

Person: Gloria Pruitt
Date: October 13-14, 2019
Location: Kettridge Fork / Forest Service Road 7-Echo, Anker County
Temperature: 38-42°F river; 39°F at incident
Rescue coordinator: Philip Hall

- River flow was four inches lower than in late September, converting a washed-out hydraulic into a recirculating trap.
- Gloria flipped at approximately 4:15 PM, wet-exited, and pulled onto an 18-inch rock ledge one and a half miles below the launch.
- She spent seven of the documented twelve minutes of meaningful hand function sitting on the ledge before beginning the ascent.
- The broken kayak paddle blade was found on the gravel shoulder at 7:00 AM on October 14th, 41 feet straight up from the river.
- Gloria had completed swift-water rescue certification in 2017 and had lived out of a van for four years, volunteering every Tuesday at the local food pantry.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1000falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/left-for-dead-at-antler-wash-how-one-runner-survived-nine-days--73100910
A civil engineer and veteran marathoner was left with just twenty ounces of water and four energy gels in a high desert canyon after a flash flood turned a dry wash into an impassable four-foot debris shelf; his GPS died at 11:47 AM near Antler Wash-how did he survive nine days where the nearest paved road was at least six miles away? What decision kept him alive when the landscape itself had changed overnight?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning of September 5 through the discovery nine days later and describe the terrain, the race logistics, and the key decisions that shaped the outcome; could one runner’s training, planning, and calm be the reason he was found alive?

Person: Wayne Walsh
Date: September 5 (race start) and September 14 (found)
Location: Antler Wash, near Cutter Canyon Marathon course, Elko, Nevada
Status: Missing nine days; later found alive
Item found: Racing bib number 417 at relay station four miles from course

- Wayne Walsh carried a twenty-ounce soft flask of water and four energy gels when he started the Cutter Canyon Marathon.
- A flash flood on September 3 deposited a four-foot consolidated debris shelf running approximately one mile in each direction at Antler Wash.
- Wayne’s GPS tracker stopped recording at 11:47 AM on the morning he entered Antler Wash, roughly at mile eleven.
- The relay station where bib 417 was placed sat four miles from the nearest point on the marathon course and eleven miles down a gravel service road from Marie Schultz’s location.
- Wayne had lived in Elko for twenty-two years and had finished the Cutter Canyon Marathon four times prior to this race.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100910Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:38:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaLeft for Dead at Antler Wash: How One Runner Survived Nine Days A civil engineer and veteran marathoner was left with just twenty ounces of water and four energy gels in a high desert canyon after a flash flood turned a dry wash into an impassable...
A civil engineer and veteran marathoner was left with just twenty ounces of water and four energy gels in a high desert canyon after a flash flood turned a dry wash into an impassable four-foot debris shelf; his GPS died at 11:47 AM near Antler Wash-how did he survive nine days where the nearest paved road was at least six miles away? What decision kept him alive when the landscape itself had changed overnight?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning of September 5 through the discovery nine days later and describe the terrain, the race logistics, and the key decisions that shaped the outcome; could one runner’s training, planning, and calm be the reason he was found alive?

Person: Wayne Walsh
Date: September 5 (race start) and September 14 (found)
Location: Antler Wash, near Cutter Canyon Marathon course, Elko, Nevada
Status: Missing nine days; later found alive
Item found: Racing bib number 417 at relay station four miles from course

- Wayne Walsh carried a twenty-ounce soft flask of water and four energy gels when he started the Cutter Canyon Marathon.
- A flash flood on September 3 deposited a four-foot consolidated debris shelf running approximately one mile in each direction at Antler Wash.
- Wayne’s GPS tracker stopped recording at 11:47 AM on the morning he entered Antler Wash, roughly at mile eleven.
- The relay station where bib 417 was placed sat four miles from the nearest point on the marathon course and eleven miles down a gravel service road from Marie Schultz’s location.
- Wayne had lived in Elko for twenty-two years and had finished the Cutter Canyon Marathon four times prior to this race.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1009falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-glove-on-the-culvert-31-hours-alone-on-carver-face--73100908
Fear tightens the chest: a single Petzl climbing glove stood upright on a culvert with dried blood on the palm seam, on a road closed since 2011-no trail, no people, and a climber gone missing for 31 hours; what happened between a clear-weather summit and that glove? Who survived long enough to leave a notebook and a rationed water plan?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events as recorded in the climber’s notes and messages to reconstruct the choices and small odds that turned a routine ascent into a survival ordeal; could a cached liter of water, a splint made with an ice axe, and precise timestamps be the only trail left to find him?

Person: Glenn Davis
Date: August 12-14, 2019
Location: Carver Face, northwest route and Carver Face
Age: 22
Item found: Petzl climbing glove with dried blood on palm seam

- At 5:41 AM on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, Ralph Callahan found the upright Petzl climbing glove on the lip of a concrete culvert.
- Glenn wrote a timestamped notebook entry at 2:47 PM on Monday, August 12, immediately after a rock the size of a carry-on suitcase gave way under his right foot.
- He built a splint on the ground using his ice axe in about 20 minutes and began moving downward at 3:07 PM.
- Glenn had sent a text to his brother Dennis around 1:30 PM saying he had taken the Face, reached the summit, and was descending the east couloir.
- A cached liter of water Glenn left at the base of a descent remained full and was found by a ranger two days after the rescue.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100908Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:38:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Glove on the Culvert: 31 Hours Alone on Carver Face Fear tightens the chest: a single Petzl climbing glove stood upright on a culvert with dried blood on the palm seam, on a road closed since 2011-no trail, no people, and a climber gone missing...
Fear tightens the chest: a single Petzl climbing glove stood upright on a culvert with dried blood on the palm seam, on a road closed since 2011-no trail, no people, and a climber gone missing for 31 hours; what happened between a clear-weather summit and that glove? Who survived long enough to leave a notebook and a rationed water plan?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events as recorded in the climber’s notes and messages to reconstruct the choices and small odds that turned a routine ascent into a survival ordeal; could a cached liter of water, a splint made with an ice axe, and precise timestamps be the only trail left to find him?

Person: Glenn Davis
Date: August 12-14, 2019
Location: Carver Face, northwest route and Carver Face
Age: 22
Item found: Petzl climbing glove with dried blood on palm seam

- At 5:41 AM on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, Ralph Callahan found the upright Petzl climbing glove on the lip of a concrete culvert.
- Glenn wrote a timestamped notebook entry at 2:47 PM on Monday, August 12, immediately after a rock the size of a carry-on suitcase gave way under his right foot.
- He built a splint on the ground using his ice axe in about 20 minutes and began moving downward at 3:07 PM.
- Glenn had sent a text to his brother Dennis around 1:30 PM saying he had taken the Face, reached the summit, and was descending the east couloir.
- A cached liter of water Glenn left at the base of a descent remained full and was found by a ranger two days after the rescue.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1138falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wrong-chart-wrong-tide-surviving-the-arrowhead-shelf-silence--73100904
Fear snaps into focus when simple navigation errors become a life-or-death trap: a fisherman radios two words - "Wrong chart" - and then silence, while fourteen coho salmon appear nine miles from water on a doorstep. How did a four-degree chart discrepancy turn a routine run into a crash on the Arrowhead Shelf, and who survived the silence?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from departure to discovery, following the Ardith K, its three-man crew, and the search that began after a single EPIRB ping and a four-second radio call. What did those two words actually mean, and how did a tiny chart difference determine the crew's fate?

Person: Ronald Campbell
Vessel: Ardith K
Date: July 8 (transmission and EPIRB), found July 12
Location: Arrowhead Shelf, northern rim
Search hours: 22 hours across two days in the northeast corridor

- 9:52 AM on a Tuesday: a meter reader found 14 dead coho salmon arranged on the concrete at four Cormorant Lane.
- Ardith K departed July 6 at 4:40 AM with provisions for four days plus one extra day.
- Campbell had transferred 946 pounds of coho to a tender and kept 14 fish aboard in two coolers.
- At 3:09 PM the Ardith K's AIS went silent; at 3:14 PM the EPIRB sent one ping; at 3:16 PM a four-second radio transmission said "Wrong chart."
- Chart discrepancy: an updated nautical chart issued nine months earlier differed by four degrees in waypoint coordinates for the interior anchorage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100904Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:38:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaWrong Chart, Wrong Tide: Surviving the Arrowhead Shelf Silence Fear snaps into focus when simple navigation errors become a life-or-death trap: a fisherman radios two words - "Wrong chart" - and then silence, while fourteen coho salmon appear nine...
Fear snaps into focus when simple navigation errors become a life-or-death trap: a fisherman radios two words - "Wrong chart" - and then silence, while fourteen coho salmon appear nine miles from water on a doorstep. How did a four-degree chart discrepancy turn a routine run into a crash on the Arrowhead Shelf, and who survived the silence?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from departure to discovery, following the Ardith K, its three-man crew, and the search that began after a single EPIRB ping and a four-second radio call. What did those two words actually mean, and how did a tiny chart difference determine the crew's fate?

Person: Ronald Campbell
Vessel: Ardith K
Date: July 8 (transmission and EPIRB), found July 12
Location: Arrowhead Shelf, northern rim
Search hours: 22 hours across two days in the northeast corridor

- 9:52 AM on a Tuesday: a meter reader found 14 dead coho salmon arranged on the concrete at four Cormorant Lane.
- Ardith K departed July 6 at 4:40 AM with provisions for four days plus one extra day.
- Campbell had transferred 946 pounds of coho to a tender and kept 14 fish aboard in two coolers.
- At 3:09 PM the Ardith K's AIS went silent; at 3:14 PM the EPIRB sent one ping; at 3:16 PM a four-second radio transmission said "Wrong chart."
- Chart discrepancy: an updated nautical chart issued nine months earlier differed by four degrees in waypoint coordinates for the interior anchorage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1046falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/left-their-shoes-on-the-white-line-she-walked-back-for-him--73100902
The desert can be a measured, unforgiving opponent: two small sneakers placed heel-to-heel on Route 9's white line, toes pointed inward, would later tell investigators that someone wanted a body to be found - even though by then both were already safe. How did a 63-year-old retiree ration two gallons of water, make improvised trail markers, and decide to walk back into the heat to get help while leaving a deliberate clue behind?

In this episode, we follow the forty hours surrounding a car breakdown on Route 9 in southern Arizona, the choices Judith Vaughn made with an eight-year-old boy named Felix, and the moments that turned discipline into survival - including the question that kept searchers from finding them sooner.

Person: Judith Vaughn
Person: Felix Ibarra
Date: June 12, 2009
Location: Route 9, southern Arizona, mile 31
Temperature: reached at least 104 degrees

- The Jeep Cherokee stopped at 7:22 AM on Friday, June 12, 2009, on Route 9 with no town or shoulder nearby.
- Judith had two gallons of water in the cooler and did not open the sealed gallon, rationing sips beginning at 10:30 AM.
- At 9:15 AM Judith wrote a note on a granola bar box with names, date, breakdown time, direction of travel, and "Took water," and placed it under the windshield wiper.
- Judith waited in the car for almost five hours after preparing to leave, actually departing around 2:00 PM.
- Felix's backup sneakers were found later placed heel to heel on the white line at mile 31, soles clean and intentionally positioned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100902Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:38:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaLeft Their Shoes on the White Line - She Walked Back for Him The desert can be a measured, unforgiving opponent: two small sneakers placed heel-to-heel on Route 9's white line, toes pointed inward, would later tell investigators that someone wanted...
The desert can be a measured, unforgiving opponent: two small sneakers placed heel-to-heel on Route 9's white line, toes pointed inward, would later tell investigators that someone wanted a body to be found - even though by then both were already safe. How did a 63-year-old retiree ration two gallons of water, make improvised trail markers, and decide to walk back into the heat to get help while leaving a deliberate clue behind?

In this episode, we follow the forty hours surrounding a car breakdown on Route 9 in southern Arizona, the choices Judith Vaughn made with an eight-year-old boy named Felix, and the moments that turned discipline into survival - including the question that kept searchers from finding them sooner.

Person: Judith Vaughn
Person: Felix Ibarra
Date: June 12, 2009
Location: Route 9, southern Arizona, mile 31
Temperature: reached at least 104 degrees

- The Jeep Cherokee stopped at 7:22 AM on Friday, June 12, 2009, on Route 9 with no town or shoulder nearby.
- Judith had two gallons of water in the cooler and did not open the sealed gallon, rationing sips beginning at 10:30 AM.
- At 9:15 AM Judith wrote a note on a granola bar box with names, date, breakdown time, direction of travel, and "Took water," and placed it under the windshield wiper.
- Judith waited in the car for almost five hours after preparing to leave, actually departing around 2:00 PM.
- Felix's backup sneakers were found later placed heel to heel on the white line at mile 31, soles clean and intentionally positioned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1077falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/buried-six-days-how-a-winding-watch-kept-her-alive--73100899
Fear tightens the chest: a mechanical field watch kept running after six days buried in avalanche debris, its ticking the slender margin between life and death. Tenner Creek's debris field crushed poles to confetti and sheared a sleeping pad to thumbnails - yet the wrist-wound watch kept time; how did that tiny motion mean Laura Simpson lived?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Laura Simpson leaving Prosper at 5:15 a.m. on May 8 to the discovery at Tenner Creek on May 14, following the missed signals, the misdirected search, and the gear that mattered most. Could a watch wound in darkness be the difference between recovery and loss?

Person: Laura Simpson
Date: May 8-May 14
Location: Tenner Creek drainage
Event: Natural avalanche release
Status: Found alive after six days

- Laura left Prosper at 5:15 a.m. on May 8 and signed the voluntary trail register at Tenner Creek that morning.
- The avalanche released by natural trigger between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on May 8, covering about two acres near a creek switchback.
- Laura was twenty-four years old and carried a full rescue kit including beacon, probe, and collapsible shovel.
- The trailhead camera recorded Laura's dark blue pickup continuously from May 8 onward, but the image reached search coordinators over thirty hours later.
- Eleven volunteers were deployed to Whitfield Basin on Monday based on incorrect information, while the actual debris field remained at Tenner Creek.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100899Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:38:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaBuried Six Days: How a Winding Watch Kept Her Alive Fear tightens the chest: a mechanical field watch kept running after six days buried in avalanche debris, its ticking the slender margin between life and death. Tenner Creek's debris field crushed...
Fear tightens the chest: a mechanical field watch kept running after six days buried in avalanche debris, its ticking the slender margin between life and death. Tenner Creek's debris field crushed poles to confetti and sheared a sleeping pad to thumbnails - yet the wrist-wound watch kept time; how did that tiny motion mean Laura Simpson lived?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Laura Simpson leaving Prosper at 5:15 a.m. on May 8 to the discovery at Tenner Creek on May 14, following the missed signals, the misdirected search, and the gear that mattered most. Could a watch wound in darkness be the difference between recovery and loss?

Person: Laura Simpson
Date: May 8-May 14
Location: Tenner Creek drainage
Event: Natural avalanche release
Status: Found alive after six days

- Laura left Prosper at 5:15 a.m. on May 8 and signed the voluntary trail register at Tenner Creek that morning.
- The avalanche released by natural trigger between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on May 8, covering about two acres near a creek switchback.
- Laura was twenty-four years old and carried a full rescue kit including beacon, probe, and collapsible shovel.
- The trailhead camera recorded Laura's dark blue pickup continuously from May 8 onward, but the image reached search coordinators over thirty hours later.
- Eleven volunteers were deployed to Whitfield Basin on Monday based on incorrect information, while the actual debris field remained at Tenner Creek.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1019falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-glove-came-back-warm-how-chad-survived-ninety-hours-dark--73100896
Warm neoprene pulled from Sable Creek still felt like a body had just left it - not damp, but warm - after traveling forty-one miles of flooded limestone in four days. A man named Chad Mills vanished into unmapped conduits and a team declared him dead; how could a glove arrive warm if he survived ninety hours in total darkness?

In this episode, you will hear the account of Chad Mills’ April 2019 cave dive in Pelican Sink and the chain of events that followed, including the initial solo surfacing, the rescue response, and what the returned glove implies about underground movement and survival. Could the unmapped passages and a diver’s careful margins explain how Chad lasted?

Person: Chad Mills
Date: April 5-9, 2019
Location: Pelican Sink system, Terrell Parish
Age: 48
Rescue coordinator: Pamela Price

- A neoprene diving glove, right hand, 5 millimeters thick with a yellow guideline loop, was recovered on April 9.
- The glove traveled approximately 41 miles of flooded limestone in four days before being found at Sable Creek.
- Chad and his dive partner Scott entered Pelican Sink on April 5 with a planned four-hour lateral penetration dive.
- Visibility inside Pelican Sink that morning measured less than 18 inches due to suspended brown sediment.
- The guide reel was clipped at a T-junction; Scott exited alone at 4:17 PM and called 911 from a payphone.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100896Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:37:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Glove Came Back Warm: How Chad Survived Ninety Hours Dark Warm neoprene pulled from Sable Creek still felt like a body had just left it - not damp, but warm - after traveling forty-one miles of flooded limestone in four days. A man named Chad...
Warm neoprene pulled from Sable Creek still felt like a body had just left it - not damp, but warm - after traveling forty-one miles of flooded limestone in four days. A man named Chad Mills vanished into unmapped conduits and a team declared him dead; how could a glove arrive warm if he survived ninety hours in total darkness?

In this episode, you will hear the account of Chad Mills’ April 2019 cave dive in Pelican Sink and the chain of events that followed, including the initial solo surfacing, the rescue response, and what the returned glove implies about underground movement and survival. Could the unmapped passages and a diver’s careful margins explain how Chad lasted?

Person: Chad Mills
Date: April 5-9, 2019
Location: Pelican Sink system, Terrell Parish
Age: 48
Rescue coordinator: Pamela Price

- A neoprene diving glove, right hand, 5 millimeters thick with a yellow guideline loop, was recovered on April 9.
- The glove traveled approximately 41 miles of flooded limestone in four days before being found at Sable Creek.
- Chad and his dive partner Scott entered Pelican Sink on April 5 with a planned four-hour lateral penetration dive.
- Visibility inside Pelican Sink that morning measured less than 18 inches due to suspended brown sediment.
- The guide reel was clipped at a T-junction; Scott exited alone at 4:17 PM and called 911 from a payphone.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1127falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-drove-through-the-gap-surviving-three-frozen-nights-alone--73100894
Cold, alone and methodical: a technical writer survived three frozen nights trapped in her truck with a camp stove, eleven pennies, and a journal that recorded every choice. She was 0.75 miles past a locked gate, nose-down in a shallow ditch with the passenger mirror scraped off - how did she decide what to burn, what to save, and why did the search team look in the wrong place?

In this episode, we tell the story exactly as the journal and witnesses record it, following the timeline from a gas station fill-up to the moment Wade Williams found her three days later; what she carried, the decisions she made, and the gap in a gated logging road that she drove through - will the pennies explain why she stayed?

Person: Paula Cole
Date: March 14, 2019
Location: Pelham Timber access road outside Salkum, Washington
Status: Found alive in vehicle
Event: Truck stuck in frozen ditch three days after driving through a gate gap

- At 7:40 AM on March 14, 2019, land surveyor Wade Williams spotted a red truck in the trees and called 911 at 7:52 AM.
- Paula was 0.75 miles past a locked gate when her truck went nose-down in a shallow ditch 13 minutes after passing through the gap.
- She had filled a 23-gallon fuel tank to the top at 4:47 PM the previous day before leaving Ellensburg.
- Inside the truck she placed an aluminum pot on a camp stove, had two granola bars and a bag of almonds, and hung a fleece jacket over the headrest.
- She lined 11 pennies on the dashboard and defined a rule to move one penny left each time she decided to abandon the truck.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100894Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:37:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Drove Through the Gap - Surviving Three Frozen Nights Alone Cold, alone and methodical: a technical writer survived three frozen nights trapped in her truck with a camp stove, eleven pennies, and a journal that recorded every choice. She was...
Cold, alone and methodical: a technical writer survived three frozen nights trapped in her truck with a camp stove, eleven pennies, and a journal that recorded every choice. She was 0.75 miles past a locked gate, nose-down in a shallow ditch with the passenger mirror scraped off - how did she decide what to burn, what to save, and why did the search team look in the wrong place?

In this episode, we tell the story exactly as the journal and witnesses record it, following the timeline from a gas station fill-up to the moment Wade Williams found her three days later; what she carried, the decisions she made, and the gap in a gated logging road that she drove through - will the pennies explain why she stayed?

Person: Paula Cole
Date: March 14, 2019
Location: Pelham Timber access road outside Salkum, Washington
Status: Found alive in vehicle
Event: Truck stuck in frozen ditch three days after driving through a gate gap

- At 7:40 AM on March 14, 2019, land surveyor Wade Williams spotted a red truck in the trees and called 911 at 7:52 AM.
- Paula was 0.75 miles past a locked gate when her truck went nose-down in a shallow ditch 13 minutes after passing through the gap.
- She had filled a 23-gallon fuel tank to the top at 4:47 PM the previous day before leaving Ellensburg.
- Inside the truck she placed an aluminum pot on a camp stove, had two granola bars and a bag of almonds, and hung a fleece jacket over the headrest.
- She lined 11 pennies on the dashboard and defined a rule to move one penny left each time she decided to abandon the truck.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1085falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-left-his-radio-sealed-found-alive-aboard-another-ship--73100891
Fear tightens when routine fractures: a brand-new VHF, still in shrink-wrap, is pulled from 61 nautical miles offshore while its owner is five days overdue after leaving at 11:47 PM to cross the Columbia Bar. How did a sealed radio end up adrift and the sailor later turn up alive aboard a foreign container ship - and why did the Coast Guard search the wrong ocean for days?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Howard Holmes's planned solo transit to the Coast Guard's precise but misplaced search, and uncover the overlooked message that would have changed everything. How did a fax pinned to a marina corkboard three days earlier point to the real answer?

Person: Howard Holmes
Age: 51
Vessel: Perseverance, 42-foot sloop
Found object: VHF marine radio, brand-new, factory shrink-wrapped, priced $49.99
Last seen departure: 11:47 PM, February 8, 2019

- Radio recovered by Nancy Johnson at 7:52 AM on February 14, 2019, floating upright in four-foot swells.
- Radio found 61 nautical miles offshore, still sealed with hang-tag reading $49.99.
- Howard's receipt for the spare VHF dated January 18, 2019, found in his 1998 Tacoma glove box.
- Howard missed his regular Thursday food bank shift on February 7 and again on February 14; he had volunteered every Thursday for six years.
- Marina security camera recorded Perseverance leaving its slip at 11:47 PM on February 8, despite Howard's handwritten note saying "Columbia Bar, solo transit, Feb 9, back by Feb 12."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100891Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:37:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Left His Radio Sealed - Found Alive Aboard Another Ship Fear tightens when routine fractures: a brand-new VHF, still in shrink-wrap, is pulled from 61 nautical miles offshore while its owner is five days overdue after leaving at 11:47 PM to...
Fear tightens when routine fractures: a brand-new VHF, still in shrink-wrap, is pulled from 61 nautical miles offshore while its owner is five days overdue after leaving at 11:47 PM to cross the Columbia Bar. How did a sealed radio end up adrift and the sailor later turn up alive aboard a foreign container ship - and why did the Coast Guard search the wrong ocean for days?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Howard Holmes's planned solo transit to the Coast Guard's precise but misplaced search, and uncover the overlooked message that would have changed everything. How did a fax pinned to a marina corkboard three days earlier point to the real answer?

Person: Howard Holmes
Age: 51
Vessel: Perseverance, 42-foot sloop
Found object: VHF marine radio, brand-new, factory shrink-wrapped, priced $49.99
Last seen departure: 11:47 PM, February 8, 2019

- Radio recovered by Nancy Johnson at 7:52 AM on February 14, 2019, floating upright in four-foot swells.
- Radio found 61 nautical miles offshore, still sealed with hang-tag reading $49.99.
- Howard's receipt for the spare VHF dated January 18, 2019, found in his 1998 Tacoma glove box.
- Howard missed his regular Thursday food bank shift on February 7 and again on February 14; he had volunteered every Thursday for six years.
- Marina security camera recorded Perseverance leaving its slip at 11:47 PM on February 8, despite Howard's handwritten note saying "Columbia Bar, solo transit, Feb 9, back by Feb 12."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1128falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-boot-on-the-ledge-how-teresa-survived-when-maps-failed--73100889
Fear and curiosity collide at 700 feet: a size-seven hiking boot, double-knotted and deliberately placed in a sandstone crack, sits upright with no body, no tracks, and no explanation - how did Teresa leave a boot where no map or search team could find her? What did one hydrological engineer do with two hours of arm strength left to prove she was still alive?

In this episode, we walk through the known facts of Teresa Sharp’s disappearance and the search that missed the one place she went off-route, and we follow the clues from her last notebook entry to the boot on the ledge to ask how an expert in terrain misread a distance by four miles.

Person: Teresa Sharp
Date: January 3-8, 2014
Location: Sulero Plateau / Pale Sister Rim Trail
Occupation: Hydrological engineer
Finder: Brian Graham

- A size-seven hiking boot was found upright in a sandstone crack 700 feet above the canyon floor.
- Brian Graham, a birder from Flagstaff, Arizona, drove four hours and photographed the boot eleven times before calling 911.
- Teresa’s last notebook entry was at 2:14 p.m. on Friday, January 3, noting “saddle clear, wind west, water 1.4 liters” and a creek visible below.
- The actual distance from the saddle to the main creek was 5.25 miles, but Teresa estimated about one mile, a four-mile error.
- Search teams activated three ground teams, a helicopter, and a drone, and had swept documented drainages without finding Teresa before the boot was discovered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100889Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:37:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Boot on the Ledge: How Teresa Survived When Maps Failed Fear and curiosity collide at 700 feet: a size-seven hiking boot, double-knotted and deliberately placed in a sandstone crack, sits upright with no body, no tracks, and no explanation -...
Fear and curiosity collide at 700 feet: a size-seven hiking boot, double-knotted and deliberately placed in a sandstone crack, sits upright with no body, no tracks, and no explanation - how did Teresa leave a boot where no map or search team could find her? What did one hydrological engineer do with two hours of arm strength left to prove she was still alive?

In this episode, we walk through the known facts of Teresa Sharp’s disappearance and the search that missed the one place she went off-route, and we follow the clues from her last notebook entry to the boot on the ledge to ask how an expert in terrain misread a distance by four miles.

Person: Teresa Sharp
Date: January 3-8, 2014
Location: Sulero Plateau / Pale Sister Rim Trail
Occupation: Hydrological engineer
Finder: Brian Graham

- A size-seven hiking boot was found upright in a sandstone crack 700 feet above the canyon floor.
- Brian Graham, a birder from Flagstaff, Arizona, drove four hours and photographed the boot eleven times before calling 911.
- Teresa’s last notebook entry was at 2:14 p.m. on Friday, January 3, noting “saddle clear, wind west, water 1.4 liters” and a creek visible below.
- The actual distance from the saddle to the main creek was 5.25 miles, but Teresa estimated about one mile, a four-mile error.
- Search teams activated three ground teams, a helicopter, and a drone, and had swept documented drainages without finding Teresa before the boot was discovered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>946falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/visual-maximo-reservar-su-significado-completo-para-el-cierre--73100886
Cold, lonely precision: a 29-year-old ultrarunner leaves a modified trekking pole on a porch at 5:43 AM in nine-degree weather after a self-supported 91-mile winter traverse attempt - but he had been tracking everything, down to thirty-minute satellite pings. What did he mean by "keeping records," and why was the pole left transformed into something unrecognizable?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a midnight start at Dellwood Creek Trailhead through frozen caches and failing supplies to the moment a newspaper girl finds an altered Leki pole, tracing the decisions, gear list, and the concept Robert called his "pain budget." Can the data he recorded explain what happened on the trail?

Person: Robert Zeller
Age: 29
Event: Senlac Winter Traverse attempt
Start time: 11:15 PM on Saturday
Discovery time: 5:43 AM Monday

- Robert carried two Leki Micro Vario carbon trekking poles priced at $230 each.
- His inReach Mini was set to transmit location every 30 minutes.
- The route length he attempted was 91 miles.
- At the Pierson Spring water cache, bottles were frozen solid and he carried them tucked against his body.
- He had completed 600-kilometer ultramarathon events prior to this attempt.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100886Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:37:08 +0000Creator at Obomediavisual máximo. Reservar su significado completo para el cierre Cold, lonely precision: a 29-year-old ultrarunner leaves a modified trekking pole on a porch at 5:43 AM in nine-degree weather after a self-supported 91-mile winter traverse attempt -...
Cold, lonely precision: a 29-year-old ultrarunner leaves a modified trekking pole on a porch at 5:43 AM in nine-degree weather after a self-supported 91-mile winter traverse attempt - but he had been tracking everything, down to thirty-minute satellite pings. What did he mean by "keeping records," and why was the pole left transformed into something unrecognizable?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a midnight start at Dellwood Creek Trailhead through frozen caches and failing supplies to the moment a newspaper girl finds an altered Leki pole, tracing the decisions, gear list, and the concept Robert called his "pain budget." Can the data he recorded explain what happened on the trail?

Person: Robert Zeller
Age: 29
Event: Senlac Winter Traverse attempt
Start time: 11:15 PM on Saturday
Discovery time: 5:43 AM Monday

- Robert carried two Leki Micro Vario carbon trekking poles priced at $230 each.
- His inReach Mini was set to transmit location every 30 minutes.
- The route length he attempted was 91 miles.
- At the Pierson Spring water cache, bottles were frozen solid and he carried them tucked against his body.
- He had completed 600-kilometer ultramarathon events prior to this attempt.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1150falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-signal-that-should-have-saved-her-lost-on-crowell-ridge--73100884
Cold, deliberate survival - a hand-built pole with a bright orange dry-bag was planted at the exact height to clear a plow blade, and inside was a laminated card reading PROPERTY OF SORROW CREEK BASE CAMP - RETURN TO CHRISTINE WRIGHT; how did a snowplow driver stop at mile eleven for a flag no map showed, and why did the signal that shouldn’t have been needed almost fail?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment Christine Wright’s satellite communicator failed to the hours she spent engineering signals on Crowell Ridge, and we follow the missteps that sent every rescue team to the wrong side of a mountain - could a cracked circuit board and a single wrong permit coordinate doom a seasoned field cook?

Person: Christine Wright
Event: Satellite communicator failure on November 1, 2019
Location: Crowell Ridge, Sorrow Creek drainage, central Montana
Date: November 9, 2019 (snowplow discovery) and October 24-November 5, 2019 (camp timeline)
Case: Evacuation after teammate Bobby Crane broke his fibula

- Christine was 53 years old and lived in Hardin, Montana, with two decades of field cooking experience.
- The team arrived at Crowell Ridge on October 24, 2019, and planned for extraction by November 4, 2019.
- On November 1, 2019, Christine’s satellite communicator developed a crack in its circuit board and went dark.
- A talus crossing at 8,100 feet resulted in Bobby Crane breaking his fibula, prompting an immediate evacuation.
- On November 9, 2019 at 6:14 AM, Judith Whitaker stopped at what she thought was mile marker eight but was at mile eleven and found a pole with an orange dry-bag and a laminated Sorrow Creek Base Camp card.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100884Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:36:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Signal That Should Have Saved Her: Lost on Crowell Ridge Cold, deliberate survival - a hand-built pole with a bright orange dry-bag was planted at the exact height to clear a plow blade, and inside was a laminated card reading PROPERTY OF...
Cold, deliberate survival - a hand-built pole with a bright orange dry-bag was planted at the exact height to clear a plow blade, and inside was a laminated card reading PROPERTY OF SORROW CREEK BASE CAMP - RETURN TO CHRISTINE WRIGHT; how did a snowplow driver stop at mile eleven for a flag no map showed, and why did the signal that shouldn’t have been needed almost fail?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment Christine Wright’s satellite communicator failed to the hours she spent engineering signals on Crowell Ridge, and we follow the missteps that sent every rescue team to the wrong side of a mountain - could a cracked circuit board and a single wrong permit coordinate doom a seasoned field cook?

Person: Christine Wright
Event: Satellite communicator failure on November 1, 2019
Location: Crowell Ridge, Sorrow Creek drainage, central Montana
Date: November 9, 2019 (snowplow discovery) and October 24-November 5, 2019 (camp timeline)
Case: Evacuation after teammate Bobby Crane broke his fibula

- Christine was 53 years old and lived in Hardin, Montana, with two decades of field cooking experience.
- The team arrived at Crowell Ridge on October 24, 2019, and planned for extraction by November 4, 2019.
- On November 1, 2019, Christine’s satellite communicator developed a crack in its circuit board and went dark.
- A talus crossing at 8,100 feet resulted in Bobby Crane breaking his fibula, prompting an immediate evacuation.
- On November 9, 2019 at 6:14 AM, Judith Whitaker stopped at what she thought was mile marker eight but was at mile eleven and found a pole with an orange dry-bag and a laminated Sorrow Creek Base Camp card.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>918falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/carved-into-stone-how-23-marks-saved-a-canyoneer-s-life--73100880
A trapped canyoneer carved 23 precise marks into sandstone with a carbide-tipped chisel while stranded 14 feet above a canyon floor submerged by a silent flash flood - could those scratches be the difference between being found and being lost? Discover how a routine habit, a broken tool, and one stubborn marking method intersected to create a rescue that almost didn’t happen.

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning Amy Wilson entered Corda Narrows to the moments she spent awake on a ledge carving into stone, and we trace how those 23 marks led to her eventual discovery. What choices and preparations mattered when every modern system failed?

Person: Amy Wilson
Date: October 12-14, 2019
Location: Corda Narrows, Kettrick County
Age: 24
Equipment: 40-meter static rope; personal locator beacon; carbide-tipped rock chisel

- Amy began her descent at approximately 7:30 AM on October 12, 2019 with clear skies and temperatures in the low 60s.
- At about 1:00 PM on October 12, water first touched her ankles and rose to waist height within eight minutes.
- She reached a sandstone ledge 14 feet above the canyon floor and the flood crested four feet above the ledge before receding.
- Her personal locator beacon was in a dry bag she accessed within the first 20 minutes of being on the ledge.
- She carved 23 marks into the canyon wall using a carbide-tipped chisel while stranded and awake for most of two days.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100880Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:36:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaCarved Into Stone: How 23 Marks Saved a Canyoneer's Life A trapped canyoneer carved 23 precise marks into sandstone with a carbide-tipped chisel while stranded 14 feet above a canyon floor submerged by a silent flash flood - could those scratches...
A trapped canyoneer carved 23 precise marks into sandstone with a carbide-tipped chisel while stranded 14 feet above a canyon floor submerged by a silent flash flood - could those scratches be the difference between being found and being lost? Discover how a routine habit, a broken tool, and one stubborn marking method intersected to create a rescue that almost didn’t happen.

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning Amy Wilson entered Corda Narrows to the moments she spent awake on a ledge carving into stone, and we trace how those 23 marks led to her eventual discovery. What choices and preparations mattered when every modern system failed?

Person: Amy Wilson
Date: October 12-14, 2019
Location: Corda Narrows, Kettrick County
Age: 24
Equipment: 40-meter static rope; personal locator beacon; carbide-tipped rock chisel

- Amy began her descent at approximately 7:30 AM on October 12, 2019 with clear skies and temperatures in the low 60s.
- At about 1:00 PM on October 12, water first touched her ankles and rose to waist height within eight minutes.
- She reached a sandstone ledge 14 feet above the canyon floor and the flood crested four feet above the ledge before receding.
- Her personal locator beacon was in a dry bag she accessed within the first 20 minutes of being on the ledge.
- She carved 23 marks into the canyon wall using a carbide-tipped chisel while stranded and awake for most of two days.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1091falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-vanished-in-four-minutes-found-alive-on-a-limestone-shelf--73100875
Fear tightens the chest: a trained open-water swimmer disappears from her escort boat in under four minutes on the Strait of Gibraltar, and the single clue that broke the case was a dry white swim cap wedged four meters above the waterline - how did she survive a night alone on this limestone coast? Could a tow float and reading the water really be the difference between life and death in one of the world's strongest tidal choke points?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline of the crossing and the forty-one-hour search that followed, describing the swimmer's training, the escort team, the currents, and the precise moments that mattered - and ask how established rescue assumptions missed the cove where she was found.

Person: Karen Richardson
Date: September 13-14, 2019
Location: Strait of Gibraltar / Punta Cires to Tarifa
Role: Escort boat captain Marco Ibáñez; shore coordinator Harvey Powell; coach Dennis Falk
Event: 41-hour search; found alive on a limestone shelf

- At 06:18 on September 13, 2019, Karen Richardson entered the water to attempt the Strait of Gibraltar crossing.
- Karen had a resting heart rate of 44 beats per minute and had completed five channel-class crossings by her mid-thirties.
- At 10:20 the escort boat Vela Blanca pulled away to avoid a container vessel; the maneuver took approximately four minutes.
- Karen surfaced at 10:22 and the escort boat was no longer in sight; she deployed a tow float and activated a green light stick.
- At 06:47 on September 14, 2019, Tracy Dixon found a bright white, dry swim cap wedged four meters above the current waterline, leading to Karen being found alive on a limestone shelf within 600 meters of the coast guard’s reconstructed location.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100875Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:36:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Vanished in Four Minutes-Found Alive on a Limestone Shelf Fear tightens the chest: a trained open-water swimmer disappears from her escort boat in under four minutes on the Strait of Gibraltar, and the single clue that broke the case was a dry...
Fear tightens the chest: a trained open-water swimmer disappears from her escort boat in under four minutes on the Strait of Gibraltar, and the single clue that broke the case was a dry white swim cap wedged four meters above the waterline - how did she survive a night alone on this limestone coast? Could a tow float and reading the water really be the difference between life and death in one of the world's strongest tidal choke points?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline of the crossing and the forty-one-hour search that followed, describing the swimmer's training, the escort team, the currents, and the precise moments that mattered - and ask how established rescue assumptions missed the cove where she was found.

Person: Karen Richardson
Date: September 13-14, 2019
Location: Strait of Gibraltar / Punta Cires to Tarifa
Role: Escort boat captain Marco Ibáñez; shore coordinator Harvey Powell; coach Dennis Falk
Event: 41-hour search; found alive on a limestone shelf

- At 06:18 on September 13, 2019, Karen Richardson entered the water to attempt the Strait of Gibraltar crossing.
- Karen had a resting heart rate of 44 beats per minute and had completed five channel-class crossings by her mid-thirties.
- At 10:20 the escort boat Vela Blanca pulled away to avoid a container vessel; the maneuver took approximately four minutes.
- Karen surfaced at 10:22 and the escort boat was no longer in sight; she deployed a tow float and activated a green light stick.
- At 06:47 on September 14, 2019, Tracy Dixon found a bright white, dry swim cap wedged four meters above the current waterline, leading to Karen being found alive on a limestone shelf within 600 meters of the coast guard’s reconstructed location.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>911falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/left-his-bike-followed-water-22-days-lost-above-8-000ft--73100871
Fear tightens when you realize a man walked twenty-two days above 8,000 feet bleeding through a carbon shoe, guided only by the sound of water. A stiff jersey crusted with dried salt hung over a saddle beside a locked pump station fourteen miles from the nearest paved road-yet the rider was nowhere to be found. How did Thomas Hunt survive alone in roadless alpine terrain for more than three weeks?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment Curtis Whitley found the abandoned Pinarello to the family’s discovery weeks later, following the trail of clues left on and off the trail. You’ll hear the sequence of events, the decisions Thomas recorded in his notebook, and the critical timeline questions that kept searchers looking the wrong way-how did a planned ride turn into a twenty-two-day survival?

Person: Thomas Hunt
Date: August 10-August 28, 2019
Location: Archer Pass east descent and County Road 7-N pump station
Finder: Curtis Whitley
Family Contact: Brooke Hunt

- The bicycle was found leaning against a pump station gate at 9:47 AM on August 22, 2019, fourteen miles from the nearest paved road.
- Thomas Hunt began his ride on the morning of August 10, 2019, and was not reported missing until August 28, 2019-an eighteen-day gap.
- Thomas was sixty-three years old and had been a civil engineer for thirty years with a methodical approach to terrain and gradients.
- After crashing on the east descent of Archer Pass at approximately thirty-two miles per hour, Thomas could stand but could not ride due to a bent rear derailleur and a painful iliac crest injury.
- Thomas carried a Rite in the Rain notebook in which he recorded every decision while moving on foot above 8,000 feet, following the sound of water to stay oriented.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100871Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:36:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaLeft His Bike, Followed Water: 22 Days Lost Above 8,000ft Fear tightens when you realize a man walked twenty-two days above 8,000 feet bleeding through a carbon shoe, guided only by the sound of water. A stiff jersey crusted with dried salt hung...
Fear tightens when you realize a man walked twenty-two days above 8,000 feet bleeding through a carbon shoe, guided only by the sound of water. A stiff jersey crusted with dried salt hung over a saddle beside a locked pump station fourteen miles from the nearest paved road-yet the rider was nowhere to be found. How did Thomas Hunt survive alone in roadless alpine terrain for more than three weeks?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment Curtis Whitley found the abandoned Pinarello to the family’s discovery weeks later, following the trail of clues left on and off the trail. You’ll hear the sequence of events, the decisions Thomas recorded in his notebook, and the critical timeline questions that kept searchers looking the wrong way-how did a planned ride turn into a twenty-two-day survival?

Person: Thomas Hunt
Date: August 10-August 28, 2019
Location: Archer Pass east descent and County Road 7-N pump station
Finder: Curtis Whitley
Family Contact: Brooke Hunt

- The bicycle was found leaning against a pump station gate at 9:47 AM on August 22, 2019, fourteen miles from the nearest paved road.
- Thomas Hunt began his ride on the morning of August 10, 2019, and was not reported missing until August 28, 2019-an eighteen-day gap.
- Thomas was sixty-three years old and had been a civil engineer for thirty years with a methodical approach to terrain and gradients.
- After crashing on the east descent of Archer Pass at approximately thirty-two miles per hour, Thomas could stand but could not ride due to a bent rear derailleur and a painful iliac crest injury.
- Thomas carried a Rite in the Rain notebook in which he recorded every decision while moving on foot above 8,000 feet, following the sound of water to stay oriented.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1191falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-walked-from-a-sunk-snowmobile-found-alive-days-later--73100867
Adrenaline and cold calculation meet: a woman survived a plunge into 34°F water, crawled over breaking ice, left a single glove on Lunder Lake, then walked to a nearby cabin and was missing for two days before being reported-how did she stay alive long enough to be found? What choices kept her moving when hypothermia was closing in?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the moment a lone glove is spotted on Lunder Lake to the discovery of a cabin with gear arranged in a deliberate line, laying out the sequence of events and the unanswered questions about direction and survival: how did she get from the sinking Ski-Doo to the cabin, and why were there no tracks leading away?

Person: Marie Ramsey
Date: July 12-14, 2011
Location: Lunder Lake and Ramsey cabin, Kettrick Range
Event: Snowmobile sank through ice; woman missing for two days
Status: Found alive after walking to cabin

- At 9:22 AM on July 14, Beverly Harris found one work glove palm-up on Lunder Lake about 20 feet from the waterline.
- Marie Ramsey entered 34°F water after ice gave way about 130 feet from the western shore.
- She counted groups of sixty for an estimated 50-55 minutes while on the sinking snowmobile before moving to shore.
- The Ski-Doo tread marks pressed 10 feet into the western shore mud and then stopped with no further tracks.
- Owen Breck arrived at the Ramsey cabin at 11:40 AM on July 14 to find the door open, stove cold, gear laid in a deliberate row, and a tin cup with labrador tea residue.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100867Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:36:07 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Walked From A Sunk Snowmobile - Found Alive Days Later Adrenaline and cold calculation meet: a woman survived a plunge into 34°F water, crawled over breaking ice, left a single glove on Lunder Lake, then walked to a nearby cabin and was missing...
Adrenaline and cold calculation meet: a woman survived a plunge into 34°F water, crawled over breaking ice, left a single glove on Lunder Lake, then walked to a nearby cabin and was missing for two days before being reported-how did she stay alive long enough to be found? What choices kept her moving when hypothermia was closing in?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the moment a lone glove is spotted on Lunder Lake to the discovery of a cabin with gear arranged in a deliberate line, laying out the sequence of events and the unanswered questions about direction and survival: how did she get from the sinking Ski-Doo to the cabin, and why were there no tracks leading away?

Person: Marie Ramsey
Date: July 12-14, 2011
Location: Lunder Lake and Ramsey cabin, Kettrick Range
Event: Snowmobile sank through ice; woman missing for two days
Status: Found alive after walking to cabin

- At 9:22 AM on July 14, Beverly Harris found one work glove palm-up on Lunder Lake about 20 feet from the waterline.
- Marie Ramsey entered 34°F water after ice gave way about 130 feet from the western shore.
- She counted groups of sixty for an estimated 50-55 minutes while on the sinking snowmobile before moving to shore.
- The Ski-Doo tread marks pressed 10 feet into the western shore mud and then stopped with no further tracks.
- Owen Breck arrived at the Ramsey cabin at 11:40 AM on July 14 to find the door open, stove cold, gear laid in a deliberate row, and a tin cup with labrador tea residue.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>770falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-placed-her-bag-then-walked-out-of-the-world-for-two-hours--73100859
Fear of getting lost in a place you know intimately: a camera bag was found standing upright in eight inches of rising tidal water with a single evening primrose threaded through its handle-yet its owner had been missing for over two hours. How did Lisa Myers, a careful 46-year-old who logged 31 visits to the Harwick Estuary and left her phone in the car, vanish into fog so complete a compass became useless?

In this episode, we follow the morning of June 4, 2019, at Alder Point Preserve and the Harwick Estuary, tracing Lisa Myers’ routine decisions, the unexpected second fog bank that altered the marsh’s sound and light, and the baffling clues left behind that sent rescuers the wrong way-could the deliberate placement of a bag be a beacon or a trap?

Person: Lisa Myers
Date: June 4, 2019
Location: Harwick Estuary, Alder Point Preserve
Status: Missing for over two hours before discovery of evidence
Equipment: Pelican case, Lowepro soft bag, carbon-fiber tripod

- Lisa parked her gray Subaru at 4:30 AM after a roughly 40-minute drive and entered the Flat around 4:45 AM.
- She had recorded 31 visits to the Flat over four years and kept a green Moleskine documenting each trip.
- Low tide was forecast for 5:22 AM exposing nearly two miles of walkable flat at -0.3 feet.
- At 6:47 AM a dog named Biscuit triggered discovery of the soft camera bag standing in eight inches of water with a yellow evening primrose threaded through the handle.
- The National Weather Service station at Machias revised visibility overnight so that by 6:15 AM visibility would drop to one-eighth of a mile due to a second fog bank.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100859Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:35:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Placed Her Bag-Then Walked Out of the World for Two Hours Fear of getting lost in a place you know intimately: a camera bag was found standing upright in eight inches of rising tidal water with a single evening primrose threaded through its...
Fear of getting lost in a place you know intimately: a camera bag was found standing upright in eight inches of rising tidal water with a single evening primrose threaded through its handle-yet its owner had been missing for over two hours. How did Lisa Myers, a careful 46-year-old who logged 31 visits to the Harwick Estuary and left her phone in the car, vanish into fog so complete a compass became useless?

In this episode, we follow the morning of June 4, 2019, at Alder Point Preserve and the Harwick Estuary, tracing Lisa Myers’ routine decisions, the unexpected second fog bank that altered the marsh’s sound and light, and the baffling clues left behind that sent rescuers the wrong way-could the deliberate placement of a bag be a beacon or a trap?

Person: Lisa Myers
Date: June 4, 2019
Location: Harwick Estuary, Alder Point Preserve
Status: Missing for over two hours before discovery of evidence
Equipment: Pelican case, Lowepro soft bag, carbon-fiber tripod

- Lisa parked her gray Subaru at 4:30 AM after a roughly 40-minute drive and entered the Flat around 4:45 AM.
- She had recorded 31 visits to the Flat over four years and kept a green Moleskine documenting each trip.
- Low tide was forecast for 5:22 AM exposing nearly two miles of walkable flat at -0.3 feet.
- At 6:47 AM a dog named Biscuit triggered discovery of the soft camera bag standing in eight inches of water with a yellow evening primrose threaded through the handle.
- The National Weather Service station at Machias revised visibility overnight so that by 6:15 AM visibility would drop to one-eighth of a mile due to a second fog bank.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1064falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-threw-his-boot-downriver-then-waited-to-be-found--73100857
Fear of being alone on a snowbound ridge, with a broken fibula and no cell signal: a dry mountaineering boot carried three pages of notes, a topographic fragment, orange surveyor's tape and one ibuprofen tablet downriver and into a stranger's hands - but why did George Henderson choose that exact creek crossing and throw his boot instead of heading for the trailhead?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the summit of Brentenhead to the river where the boot was found, covering the injury, the wrong drainage descent, the eleven-day ordeal and the rescue decision that hinged on a routine morning check; what did those notes and the boot reveal about his intent?

Person: George Henderson
Date: May 6-9, 2014
Location: Brentenhead summit / lower Brenten River
Injury: fractured fibula (right)
Distance from trailhead at summit: 4.5 miles

- At 4:37 PM on May 6, George signed the Dunmore Route Nine trailhead log, planning a camp at 7,200 feet and a summit push the next morning.
- On May 7 at 9:14 AM he wrote "Clear, cold, worth it" and reached the summit of Brentenhead (9,140 ft).
- Approximately two hours and 26 minutes after summiting, a crampon failed on a 40-degree ice slope and he fell about 20 feet, fracturing his right fibula.
- He descended on one boot and a trekking pole, stopping at a creek crossing near 6,200 feet where he realized he could not make it out alone.
- On May 9 at 6:40 AM a woman checking trotlines pulled a size 11 mountaineering boot from the lower Brenten River that was dry inside and contained three pages of handwritten notes, a topographic fragment, orange surveyor's tape, and one ibuprofen tablet.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100857Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:35:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Threw His Boot Downriver - Then Waited to Be Found Fear of being alone on a snowbound ridge, with a broken fibula and no cell signal: a dry mountaineering boot carried three pages of notes, a topographic fragment, orange surveyor's tape and one...
Fear of being alone on a snowbound ridge, with a broken fibula and no cell signal: a dry mountaineering boot carried three pages of notes, a topographic fragment, orange surveyor's tape and one ibuprofen tablet downriver and into a stranger's hands - but why did George Henderson choose that exact creek crossing and throw his boot instead of heading for the trailhead?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the summit of Brentenhead to the river where the boot was found, covering the injury, the wrong drainage descent, the eleven-day ordeal and the rescue decision that hinged on a routine morning check; what did those notes and the boot reveal about his intent?

Person: George Henderson
Date: May 6-9, 2014
Location: Brentenhead summit / lower Brenten River
Injury: fractured fibula (right)
Distance from trailhead at summit: 4.5 miles

- At 4:37 PM on May 6, George signed the Dunmore Route Nine trailhead log, planning a camp at 7,200 feet and a summit push the next morning.
- On May 7 at 9:14 AM he wrote "Clear, cold, worth it" and reached the summit of Brentenhead (9,140 ft).
- Approximately two hours and 26 minutes after summiting, a crampon failed on a 40-degree ice slope and he fell about 20 feet, fracturing his right fibula.
- He descended on one boot and a trekking pole, stopping at a creek crossing near 6,200 feet where he realized he could not make it out alone.
- On May 9 at 6:40 AM a woman checking trotlines pulled a size 11 mountaineering boot from the lower Brenten River that was dry inside and contained three pages of handwritten notes, a topographic fragment, orange surveyor's tape, and one ibuprofen tablet.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>896falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-dry-candle-on-the-capsized-canoe-where-is-laura-sanders--73100855
Cold water, a capsized canoe, and a perfectly dry white birthday candle lodged in its geometric center after seventy-two hours in a flooding river - how could that happen, and where is the woman who owned that candle? The Tolliver River was running a foot and a half above normal, and the canoe arrived hull-up against the bank with the candle unsoiled; what explanation could reconcile those facts?

In this episode, we present the sequence of events from Laura Sanders’s solo canoe trip and the discoveries that followed, laying out the timeline, the gear she carried, and the scene found by the land surveyor - and we return to the question that started it: what happened after the canoe capsized?

Person: Laura Sanders
Date: April 10-14, 2019
Location: Tolliver River, eastern bank near Millford Road bridge and Route Nine crossing
Event: Solo canoe trip and capsizing in a braided wetland
Finder: Gloria Porter, land surveyor

- Laura Sanders, age 53, put in at the Millford Road bridge on April 10, 2019 with a four-day float plan.
- The Tolliver River was running about 1.5 feet above normal during her trip.
- On April 12 at approximately 2:17 p.m., Laura paddled into a braided wetland and capsized after spending 40 minutes trying to find an exit.
- After two hours of failed re-entry attempts in 38-40°F water about 2 feet deep, she had with her a broken alder branch, her painter line, a dry bag, orange rain gear, trail mix, four energy bars, and a box of waterproof matches.
- On the morning of April 14, Gloria Porter photographed an overturned red Royalex canoe lodged against the eastern bank with an unlit, dry white birthday candle sitting in its near-geometric center, then called the Denton County Sheriff's Office.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100855Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:35:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Dry Candle on the Capsized Canoe: Where Is Laura Sanders? Cold water, a capsized canoe, and a perfectly dry white birthday candle lodged in its geometric center after seventy-two hours in a flooding river - how could that happen, and where is...
Cold water, a capsized canoe, and a perfectly dry white birthday candle lodged in its geometric center after seventy-two hours in a flooding river - how could that happen, and where is the woman who owned that candle? The Tolliver River was running a foot and a half above normal, and the canoe arrived hull-up against the bank with the candle unsoiled; what explanation could reconcile those facts?

In this episode, we present the sequence of events from Laura Sanders’s solo canoe trip and the discoveries that followed, laying out the timeline, the gear she carried, and the scene found by the land surveyor - and we return to the question that started it: what happened after the canoe capsized?

Person: Laura Sanders
Date: April 10-14, 2019
Location: Tolliver River, eastern bank near Millford Road bridge and Route Nine crossing
Event: Solo canoe trip and capsizing in a braided wetland
Finder: Gloria Porter, land surveyor

- Laura Sanders, age 53, put in at the Millford Road bridge on April 10, 2019 with a four-day float plan.
- The Tolliver River was running about 1.5 feet above normal during her trip.
- On April 12 at approximately 2:17 p.m., Laura paddled into a braided wetland and capsized after spending 40 minutes trying to find an exit.
- After two hours of failed re-entry attempts in 38-40°F water about 2 feet deep, she had with her a broken alder branch, her painter line, a dry bag, orange rain gear, trail mix, four energy bars, and a box of waterproof matches.
- On the morning of April 14, Gloria Porter photographed an overturned red Royalex canoe lodged against the eastern bank with an unlit, dry white birthday candle sitting in its near-geometric center, then called the Denton County Sheriff's Office.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1056falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/trapped-in-grain-22-hours-one-gap-and-a-thin-wire-of-hope--73100854
The thought of being buried waist-deep in grain for nearly a day is a slow, suffocating terror: a two-and-a-half-inch gap in broken machinery, an empty phone in a locked truck, and a man trained in safety left with nothing but time and will. What small failures turned a routine repair into a twenty-two-hour rescue, and what kept him alive until help arrived?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the moment glasses were found on a silo ladder to how George Holt became trapped in a Jetmore, Kansas silo and the chain of missed signals that stretched his ordeal to twenty-two hours. How did a careful, OSHA-certified worker end up buried to his thighs with no way to call for help?

Person: George Holt
Date: March 8-9, 2017
Location: Kettler farm, outside Jetmore, Kansas
Employer: Meridian Ag Structures
Duration trapped: nearly nineteen hours inside silo; ordeal described as twenty-two hours

- Reading glasses were left lens-side up on the third rung of the silo's exterior ladder at roughly 9:00 AM on March 9, 2017.
- Dale Jensen noticed the glasses and called 9-1-1 after seeing a pickup truck and tools near the silo around 9:00 AM.
- The temperature the night before dropped into the high twenties Fahrenheit.
- George Holt had been trapped in the silo for nearly nineteen hours without a phone or radio signal through corrugated steel walls.
- A two-and-a-half-inch gap in a broken machine was the reason George remained alive until the hatch was opened.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100854Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:35:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaTrapped in Grain: 22 Hours, One Gap, and a Thin Wire of Hope The thought of being buried waist-deep in grain for nearly a day is a slow, suffocating terror: a two-and-a-half-inch gap in broken machinery, an empty phone in a locked truck, and a man...
The thought of being buried waist-deep in grain for nearly a day is a slow, suffocating terror: a two-and-a-half-inch gap in broken machinery, an empty phone in a locked truck, and a man trained in safety left with nothing but time and will. What small failures turned a routine repair into a twenty-two-hour rescue, and what kept him alive until help arrived?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the moment glasses were found on a silo ladder to how George Holt became trapped in a Jetmore, Kansas silo and the chain of missed signals that stretched his ordeal to twenty-two hours. How did a careful, OSHA-certified worker end up buried to his thighs with no way to call for help?

Person: George Holt
Date: March 8-9, 2017
Location: Kettler farm, outside Jetmore, Kansas
Employer: Meridian Ag Structures
Duration trapped: nearly nineteen hours inside silo; ordeal described as twenty-two hours

- Reading glasses were left lens-side up on the third rung of the silo's exterior ladder at roughly 9:00 AM on March 9, 2017.
- Dale Jensen noticed the glasses and called 9-1-1 after seeing a pickup truck and tools near the silo around 9:00 AM.
- The temperature the night before dropped into the high twenties Fahrenheit.
- George Holt had been trapped in the silo for nearly nineteen hours without a phone or radio signal through corrugated steel walls.
- A two-and-a-half-inch gap in a broken machine was the reason George remained alive until the hatch was opened.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1164falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-landed-where-no-one-thought-to-look-55-hours-alone--73100853
Cold, high, and unseen: a trained respiratory therapist and experienced paraglider survived 55 hours alone on a granite plateau 6,400 feet above sea level after a controlled landing where no searcher looked. How did a methodical pilot with two fired maritime smoke canisters, an emergency blanket and a fractured ankle end up perched on a cliff nobody checked?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from launch through the first day of the search and the later discoveries that reframed the case, asking how routine checks, a missed weekly call, and two matching smoke canisters changed everything.

Person: Vicki Dalton
Age: 29
Date: February 7-9, 2019
Location: Vorda Ridge / Vorda Plateau, 6,400 ft
Item: two maritime smoke canisters (same lot number)

- Launch time: afternoon of February 7, 2019 from Vorda Ridge
- Last known GPS transmission: 15:15 on February 7 (app went quiet)
- Discovery photo time: 7:42 on the morning of February 9 (retired mail carrier took 11 shots)
- Duration alone on plateau: 55 hours before being seen in the photograph
- Injury: fractured right ankle sustained during the landing

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100853Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:35:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Landed Where No One Thought to Look: 55 Hours Alone Cold, high, and unseen: a trained respiratory therapist and experienced paraglider survived 55 hours alone on a granite plateau 6,400 feet above sea level after a controlled landing where no...
Cold, high, and unseen: a trained respiratory therapist and experienced paraglider survived 55 hours alone on a granite plateau 6,400 feet above sea level after a controlled landing where no searcher looked. How did a methodical pilot with two fired maritime smoke canisters, an emergency blanket and a fractured ankle end up perched on a cliff nobody checked?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from launch through the first day of the search and the later discoveries that reframed the case, asking how routine checks, a missed weekly call, and two matching smoke canisters changed everything.

Person: Vicki Dalton
Age: 29
Date: February 7-9, 2019
Location: Vorda Ridge / Vorda Plateau, 6,400 ft
Item: two maritime smoke canisters (same lot number)

- Launch time: afternoon of February 7, 2019 from Vorda Ridge
- Last known GPS transmission: 15:15 on February 7 (app went quiet)
- Discovery photo time: 7:42 on the morning of February 9 (retired mail carrier took 11 shots)
- Duration alone on plateau: 55 hours before being seen in the photograph
- Injury: fractured right ankle sustained during the landing

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1144falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/alone-with-the-rope-how-a-freediver-vanished-then-came-back--73100851
Fear of being cut off from the surface - alone at forty meters with a snapped line - is the exact terror this episode delivers: a size medium neoprene glove threaded onto a severed yellow rope was found on a boat at 7:41 AM on January 9, 2019, but the diver was missing. How did a routine freedive in Pelican Cut turn into sixty-seven minutes between the first distress call and a woman pulled from the water?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events and the concrete details recovered from that morning to understand what unfolded in Pelican Cut, and whether a snapped descent line and a lone boat can explain the sixty-seven-minute gap.

Person: Sandra Murphy
Date: January 9, 2019
Location: Pelican Cut, Cayo Sereno, southwest Florida
Event: Freedive to 40 meters with snapped descent line
Time found by marine unit: 7:41 AM

- A size medium neoprene glove was found threaded onto a severed yellow polypropylene rope on the floor of the hull.
- The Lee County marine unit pulled alongside the boat at 7:41 AM after a first distress call, sixty-seven minutes earlier.
- Sandra turned fifty-five in October 2018 and had been freediving for nine years with a personal record of forty-three meters set in March 2018.
- Her dive log listed January 9 entry as site: Pelican Cut, depth: forty meters, departure: 5:45, with the page ending mid-entry.
- At 5:51 AM a nineteen-foot center-console boat left the marina without its owner’s knowledge; at 5:58 AM Sandra clipped her descent line and began her breathing sequence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100851Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:34:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaAlone with the Rope: How a Freediver Vanished Then Came Back Fear of being cut off from the surface - alone at forty meters with a snapped line - is the exact terror this episode delivers: a size medium neoprene glove threaded onto a severed yellow...
Fear of being cut off from the surface - alone at forty meters with a snapped line - is the exact terror this episode delivers: a size medium neoprene glove threaded onto a severed yellow rope was found on a boat at 7:41 AM on January 9, 2019, but the diver was missing. How did a routine freedive in Pelican Cut turn into sixty-seven minutes between the first distress call and a woman pulled from the water?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events and the concrete details recovered from that morning to understand what unfolded in Pelican Cut, and whether a snapped descent line and a lone boat can explain the sixty-seven-minute gap.

Person: Sandra Murphy
Date: January 9, 2019
Location: Pelican Cut, Cayo Sereno, southwest Florida
Event: Freedive to 40 meters with snapped descent line
Time found by marine unit: 7:41 AM

- A size medium neoprene glove was found threaded onto a severed yellow polypropylene rope on the floor of the hull.
- The Lee County marine unit pulled alongside the boat at 7:41 AM after a first distress call, sixty-seven minutes earlier.
- Sandra turned fifty-five in October 2018 and had been freediving for nine years with a personal record of forty-three meters set in March 2018.
- Her dive log listed January 9 entry as site: Pelican Cut, depth: forty meters, departure: 5:45, with the page ending mid-entry.
- At 5:51 AM a nineteen-foot center-console boat left the marina without its owner’s knowledge; at 5:58 AM Sandra clipped her descent line and began her breathing sequence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1181falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/left-for-dead-at-28-f-the-ski-that-lured-her-away--73100848
Cold that kills quietly: a single cross-country ski stood boots-end up in a snowbank at -28°F with no tracks for 48 hours - and a 22-year-old expert skier vanished after signing a trail register two days earlier. What choice led her across thin ice and into a sequence of decisions that tested human limits in -23°F and left one object to mark the place of disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a December 14, 2009 roadside discovery back to the December 12 trailhead signature and the hours between. The episode covers the trail conditions, the fallen spruce that forced a river crossing, and the survival choices made in extreme cold - what did she do after the ice gave way?

Person: Jessica York
Date: December 12, 2009
Location: Tenmile backcountry, north bank then south bank of Tenmile River
Temperature: -23°F at the river; -28°F at Route 7 on December 14
Event: Cross-country skier fell through river ice and was later linked to a ski found at mile marker nine

- Trail register signed at Ridgeline trailhead on December 12, 2009 at 6:55 AM by a 22-year-old woman.
- Spruce tree had fallen across the trail sometime in November, blocking the full width and trunk chest-high.
- Jessica entered the river ice and was out in 45 seconds, hauling herself to the south bank using her poles.
- After exiting the water, the air temperature was -23°F and she had roughly 90 minutes before her core temperature would fall past useful thought.
- At 6:20 AM on December 14, 2009 a single cross-country ski was found upright, boots-end up, at mile marker nine on Route 7 outside Millhaven with no tracks leading away.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100848Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:34:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaLeft For Dead at -28°F: The Ski That Lured Her Away Cold that kills quietly: a single cross-country ski stood boots-end up in a snowbank at -28°F with no tracks for 48 hours - and a 22-year-old expert skier vanished after signing a trail register...
Cold that kills quietly: a single cross-country ski stood boots-end up in a snowbank at -28°F with no tracks for 48 hours - and a 22-year-old expert skier vanished after signing a trail register two days earlier. What choice led her across thin ice and into a sequence of decisions that tested human limits in -23°F and left one object to mark the place of disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a December 14, 2009 roadside discovery back to the December 12 trailhead signature and the hours between. The episode covers the trail conditions, the fallen spruce that forced a river crossing, and the survival choices made in extreme cold - what did she do after the ice gave way?

Person: Jessica York
Date: December 12, 2009
Location: Tenmile backcountry, north bank then south bank of Tenmile River
Temperature: -23°F at the river; -28°F at Route 7 on December 14
Event: Cross-country skier fell through river ice and was later linked to a ski found at mile marker nine

- Trail register signed at Ridgeline trailhead on December 12, 2009 at 6:55 AM by a 22-year-old woman.
- Spruce tree had fallen across the trail sometime in November, blocking the full width and trunk chest-high.
- Jessica entered the river ice and was out in 45 seconds, hauling herself to the south bank using her poles.
- After exiting the water, the air temperature was -23°F and she had roughly 90 minutes before her core temperature would fall past useful thought.
- At 6:20 AM on December 14, 2009 a single cross-country ski was found upright, boots-end up, at mile marker nine on Route 7 outside Millhaven with no tracks leading away.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1011falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wired-shirt-on-the-lightning-rod-nine-days-trapped-on-saddle-peak--73100847
Fear of being unseen and alone drives this story: a red-and-black wool shirt wired twelve feet up a lightning rod, twenty-two empty water bottles lined in order, and a man who spent nine days on a burning ridge refusing to be a lost statistic-how did Clifford Fisher survive long enough to build his own signal?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events that left Fisher stranded after the Harlan Creek Fire exploded across ridgelines, the small disciplined choices he made inside the tower, and the gaps in the rescue that nearly cost him his life; what broke down between the plan and the search, and how did one wired shirt become the only clue?

Person: Clifford Fisher
Date: November 3-11, 2019
Location: Saddle Peak, Calloway Range
Event: Harlan Creek Fire
Search coordinator: Steven Sanders

- Fisher logged faint smoke from the Harlan Creek drainage at 7:12 AM on November 3.
- The evacuation order was issued November 4 at 1:47 PM and Fisher acknowledged by radio two minutes later.
- Fisher parked at mile marker 3, wrote “road blocked at mile marker four, turned back, will shelter here” at 6:03 PM on November 4.
- He lined up twelve one-liter water bottles along the north wall and rationed them down to one full bottle beside the logbook.
- A red-and-black wool shirt was wired to a lightning rod twelve feet above ground, spotted later by lineman Neil Morgan.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100847Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:34:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaWired Shirt on the Lightning Rod: Nine Days Trapped on Saddle Peak Fear of being unseen and alone drives this story: a red-and-black wool shirt wired twelve feet up a lightning rod, twenty-two empty water bottles lined in order, and a man who spent...
Fear of being unseen and alone drives this story: a red-and-black wool shirt wired twelve feet up a lightning rod, twenty-two empty water bottles lined in order, and a man who spent nine days on a burning ridge refusing to be a lost statistic-how did Clifford Fisher survive long enough to build his own signal?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events that left Fisher stranded after the Harlan Creek Fire exploded across ridgelines, the small disciplined choices he made inside the tower, and the gaps in the rescue that nearly cost him his life; what broke down between the plan and the search, and how did one wired shirt become the only clue?

Person: Clifford Fisher
Date: November 3-11, 2019
Location: Saddle Peak, Calloway Range
Event: Harlan Creek Fire
Search coordinator: Steven Sanders

- Fisher logged faint smoke from the Harlan Creek drainage at 7:12 AM on November 3.
- The evacuation order was issued November 4 at 1:47 PM and Fisher acknowledged by radio two minutes later.
- Fisher parked at mile marker 3, wrote “road blocked at mile marker four, turned back, will shelter here” at 6:03 PM on November 4.
- He lined up twelve one-liter water bottles along the north wall and rationed them down to one full bottle beside the logbook.
- A red-and-black wool shirt was wired to a lightning rod twelve feet above ground, spotted later by lineman Neil Morgan.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>912falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-wrote-her-location-on-a-rock-then-walked-two-miles-alone--73100845
Fear of being completely cut off in the wild - and the calm precision that beats it - drives this episode from the first line: a dry-erase marker stood upright in a granite crack nineteen miles from the nearest trailhead, and a woman in her sixties had written her location on a boulder before walking alone into unreachable drainage. How did a 62-year-old with Level Four kayak certification survive eight days in freezing water and flood-altered canyons with only a marker and a knife?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of what happened after Alice Peterson launched on October 9 and became separated from her kayak, tracing the exact survival moves she made and the environmental conditions that should have killed her. What decisions and small preparations turned a near-impossible situation into a precise act of survival?

Person: Alice Peterson
Age: 62
Certification: Level Four kayak certification
Distance from nearest trailhead: 19 miles
Flow reading: 240% of historical October median

- A dry-erase office marker was found upright in a granite crack and had not been there two days earlier.
- Bruce Walsh photographed the marker at 6:42 AM before noticing a broached kayak and dried blood on rocks.
- Alice carried a spare dry-erase marker in her sealed fleece pocket after volunteering at the food bank.
- On October 9, the monitor station 12 kilometers upstream recorded flows at 240% of the historical October median.
- Alice had maybe 12-14 minutes of usable hand function in 4°C water and within 14 minutes had a fire burning using shaved wood from a fallen trunk.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100845Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:34:20 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Wrote Her Location on a Rock - Then Walked Two Miles Alone Fear of being completely cut off in the wild - and the calm precision that beats it - drives this episode from the first line: a dry-erase marker stood upright in a granite crack...
Fear of being completely cut off in the wild - and the calm precision that beats it - drives this episode from the first line: a dry-erase marker stood upright in a granite crack nineteen miles from the nearest trailhead, and a woman in her sixties had written her location on a boulder before walking alone into unreachable drainage. How did a 62-year-old with Level Four kayak certification survive eight days in freezing water and flood-altered canyons with only a marker and a knife?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of what happened after Alice Peterson launched on October 9 and became separated from her kayak, tracing the exact survival moves she made and the environmental conditions that should have killed her. What decisions and small preparations turned a near-impossible situation into a precise act of survival?

Person: Alice Peterson
Age: 62
Certification: Level Four kayak certification
Distance from nearest trailhead: 19 miles
Flow reading: 240% of historical October median

- A dry-erase office marker was found upright in a granite crack and had not been there two days earlier.
- Bruce Walsh photographed the marker at 6:42 AM before noticing a broached kayak and dried blood on rocks.
- Alice carried a spare dry-erase marker in her sealed fleece pocket after volunteering at the food bank.
- On October 9, the monitor station 12 kilometers upstream recorded flows at 240% of the historical October median.
- Alice had maybe 12-14 minutes of usable hand function in 4°C water and within 14 minutes had a fire burning using shaved wood from a fallen trunk.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1037falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-shoe-on-the-box-how-a-misread-clue-sent-rescue-teams-eight-miles-wrong--73100844
A single orange-and-gray Salomon Speedcross size ten, laces double-knotted and with an insole molded to a left foot, sat alone on a padlocked equipment housing in western North Carolina - and that lone shoe helped send searchers eight miles off course. Which small detail turned a thousand-person-day effort into a weeks-long chase in the wrong direction, and how did a torn gel wrapper rewrite the map of where Curtis actually was?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the Ridgeline 50K start to the moment search coordinators changed strategy, describing the discoveries, the mistaken identifications, and the information that finally reframed the search. What specific piece of gear - and what logged detail - caused teams to pour seventy percent of resources away from the route Curtis actually took?

Person: Curtis Phillips
Event: Ridgeline 50K race
Location: Harmon Creek State Recreation Area trailhead, western North Carolina
Date: September 2, 2017
Status: Missing for nine days before found

- A volunteer logged Curtis through mile 16 at 10:41 a.m. on September 2, 2017, noting he looked strong and handed him a Gu gel and water.
- Seventy percent of search resources were directed northeast toward creek canyon drainages after poles were identified as Curtis's.
- Black Diamond aluminum bastones found two miles from the trailhead were actually Jeff Mabry’s; Mabry had dropped at mile 14 and walked northeast.
- A torn Maurten 100 gel wrapper was found on day six on a rocky shelf southwest of the main search corridor, contradicting the aid station log.
- The misidentification of the poles led searchers to work the wrong area for three critical days before ownership was clarified ten days after the race.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100844Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:34:08 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Shoe on the Box: How a Misread Clue Sent Rescue Teams Eight Miles Wrong A single orange-and-gray Salomon Speedcross size ten, laces double-knotted and with an insole molded to a left foot, sat alone on a padlocked equipment housing in western...
A single orange-and-gray Salomon Speedcross size ten, laces double-knotted and with an insole molded to a left foot, sat alone on a padlocked equipment housing in western North Carolina - and that lone shoe helped send searchers eight miles off course. Which small detail turned a thousand-person-day effort into a weeks-long chase in the wrong direction, and how did a torn gel wrapper rewrite the map of where Curtis actually was?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the Ridgeline 50K start to the moment search coordinators changed strategy, describing the discoveries, the mistaken identifications, and the information that finally reframed the search. What specific piece of gear - and what logged detail - caused teams to pour seventy percent of resources away from the route Curtis actually took?

Person: Curtis Phillips
Event: Ridgeline 50K race
Location: Harmon Creek State Recreation Area trailhead, western North Carolina
Date: September 2, 2017
Status: Missing for nine days before found

- A volunteer logged Curtis through mile 16 at 10:41 a.m. on September 2, 2017, noting he looked strong and handed him a Gu gel and water.
- Seventy percent of search resources were directed northeast toward creek canyon drainages after poles were identified as Curtis's.
- Black Diamond aluminum bastones found two miles from the trailhead were actually Jeff Mabry’s; Mabry had dropped at mile 14 and walked northeast.
- A torn Maurten 100 gel wrapper was found on day six on a rocky shelf southwest of the main search corridor, contradicting the aid station log.
- The misidentification of the poles led searchers to work the wrong area for three critical days before ownership was clarified ten days after the race.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>886falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-had-every-tool-the-orange-pole-that-saved-him--73100842
The pulse of near-disaster: a hiker with a shattered knee, a dead phone, and one orange trekking pole left his fate teetering on three miles of gravel road and 53-degree night air-how did a single bright stick close a nine-day search gap? Could a folded note zip-tied to a grip and a simple piece of gear undo every other failure?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline, the gear list, and the crucial discoveries that connected a missing man to a mountain and then to a parking lot in Millhaven; what exactly did Crystal Griffin find against the Cooperative Extension Office door that sped rescue within two hours?

Person: Gary Russo
Date: August 4, 2019 (last confirmed GPS ping) and August 13, 2019 (pole found)
Location: Cregar Ridge, Daniel Boone National Forest / Millhaven, Kentucky
Injury: fractured left tibial plateau
Found item: orange trekking pole with folded paper zip-tied to the grip

- Gary Russo was 48 years old with 11 years of trail journals and logged entries for every route.
- His phone pinged a GPS tower at north access at 7:09 AM and he signed the east access register at 7:22 AM on August 4.
- Last confirmed GPS ping was at 2:51 PM on August 4, approximately 400 feet below the summit on the north face.
- One trekking pole shattered on impact; the orange pole survived and later was found propped against a locked office door on August 13.
- Crystal Griffin found the orange pole 30 feet from the Cooperative Extension Office front door at 6:47 AM on August 13, 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100842Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:33:56 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe Had Every Tool - The Orange Pole That Saved Him The pulse of near-disaster: a hiker with a shattered knee, a dead phone, and one orange trekking pole left his fate teetering on three miles of gravel road and 53-degree night air-how did a single...
The pulse of near-disaster: a hiker with a shattered knee, a dead phone, and one orange trekking pole left his fate teetering on three miles of gravel road and 53-degree night air-how did a single bright stick close a nine-day search gap? Could a folded note zip-tied to a grip and a simple piece of gear undo every other failure?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline, the gear list, and the crucial discoveries that connected a missing man to a mountain and then to a parking lot in Millhaven; what exactly did Crystal Griffin find against the Cooperative Extension Office door that sped rescue within two hours?

Person: Gary Russo
Date: August 4, 2019 (last confirmed GPS ping) and August 13, 2019 (pole found)
Location: Cregar Ridge, Daniel Boone National Forest / Millhaven, Kentucky
Injury: fractured left tibial plateau
Found item: orange trekking pole with folded paper zip-tied to the grip

- Gary Russo was 48 years old with 11 years of trail journals and logged entries for every route.
- His phone pinged a GPS tower at north access at 7:09 AM and he signed the east access register at 7:22 AM on August 4.
- Last confirmed GPS ping was at 2:51 PM on August 4, approximately 400 feet below the summit on the north face.
- One trekking pole shattered on impact; the orange pole survived and later was found propped against a locked office door on August 13.
- Crystal Griffin found the orange pole 30 feet from the Cooperative Extension Office front door at 6:47 AM on August 13, 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1025falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/crab-pot-radio-60-hours-of-signals-from-a-lost-boat--73100838
A crab pot less than a mile from the Oregon coast held a handheld VHF radio that had been transmitting for nearly sixty hours-while drift models put the missing vessel thirty miles offshore. The radio’s steady green power light and a nest of orange fabric rewrote the search; who was still out there and what did those sixty hours reveal?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from departure through the storm and the search, laying out the physical evidence that redirected the Coast Guard's efforts and the unanswered questions it raised about the vessel’s location and last hours.

Person: Karen Coleman
Person: Dennis Farr
Person: Troy Winslow
Date: July 16-19, 2021
Location: off the northern Oregon coast

- At 08:05 on July 19, 2021 a walker found a crab pot on a basalt shelf thirty feet below a bluff.
- The handheld VHF radio inside the crab pot had its antenna extended and a slow green power light blinking after nearly sixty hours of transmissions.
- A buoy twelve miles offshore recorded sustained winds of 37 knots and eleven-foot seas with breaking crests by 15:00 on July 16, 2021.
- The Marta June departed for a crab pot string roughly twenty-two miles offshore, northwest of Tillamook Head, before the storm.
- The Coast Guard search area was centered thirty miles offshore, a parallelogram forty miles wide and eighteen miles deep, based on last known heading and destination.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100838Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:33:44 +0000Creator at ObomediaCrab Pot Radio: 60 Hours of Signals from a Lost Boat A crab pot less than a mile from the Oregon coast held a handheld VHF radio that had been transmitting for nearly sixty hours-while drift models put the missing vessel thirty miles offshore. The...
A crab pot less than a mile from the Oregon coast held a handheld VHF radio that had been transmitting for nearly sixty hours-while drift models put the missing vessel thirty miles offshore. The radio’s steady green power light and a nest of orange fabric rewrote the search; who was still out there and what did those sixty hours reveal?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from departure through the storm and the search, laying out the physical evidence that redirected the Coast Guard's efforts and the unanswered questions it raised about the vessel’s location and last hours.

Person: Karen Coleman
Person: Dennis Farr
Person: Troy Winslow
Date: July 16-19, 2021
Location: off the northern Oregon coast

- At 08:05 on July 19, 2021 a walker found a crab pot on a basalt shelf thirty feet below a bluff.
- The handheld VHF radio inside the crab pot had its antenna extended and a slow green power light blinking after nearly sixty hours of transmissions.
- A buoy twelve miles offshore recorded sustained winds of 37 knots and eleven-foot seas with breaking crests by 15:00 on July 16, 2021.
- The Marta June departed for a crab pot string roughly twenty-two miles offshore, northwest of Tillamook Head, before the storm.
- The Coast Guard search area was centered thirty miles offshore, a parallelogram forty miles wide and eighteen miles deep, based on last known heading and destination.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1026falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/tied-shoe-empty-tank-how-a-librarian-walked-nine-miles-alive--73100835
Heat and desert disorientation turned a one-mile hope into a four-mile death trap; a tied shoe wedged in a root, a double-knotted lace, and a nearly dead phone are the slim clues that kept Christine and her nine-year-old daughter moving in 104°F. How did a careful, experienced desert reader end up nine and a half miles from her car and still survive?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the blown tire on Route 83 through the decision at the fence line and the long walk east, reconstructing what Christine carried, what she knew, and the single misread horizon that changed everything - could a visible water tank be a mirage you can die following?

Person: Christine Green
Age: 52
Companion: Mara, age 9
Date: June 23, 2019
Temperature: 104 °F

- Distance from abandoned car to shoe site: 11 miles from nearest road
- Distance Christine estimated to tank: 1-1.5 miles; actual distance measured later: ~4 miles
- Phone battery at roadside: 11 percent
- Time they left the road: approximately 5:00 PM
- Rationing: about 4 ounces of fluid per person every 90 minutes, with one juice box kept in reserve

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73100835Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:33:32 +0000Creator at ObomediaTied Shoe, Empty Tank: How a Librarian Walked Nine Miles Alive Heat and desert disorientation turned a one-mile hope into a four-mile death trap; a tied shoe wedged in a root, a double-knotted lace, and a nearly dead phone are the slim clues that...
Heat and desert disorientation turned a one-mile hope into a four-mile death trap; a tied shoe wedged in a root, a double-knotted lace, and a nearly dead phone are the slim clues that kept Christine and her nine-year-old daughter moving in 104°F. How did a careful, experienced desert reader end up nine and a half miles from her car and still survive?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the blown tire on Route 83 through the decision at the fence line and the long walk east, reconstructing what Christine carried, what she knew, and the single misread horizon that changed everything - could a visible water tank be a mirage you can die following?

Person: Christine Green
Age: 52
Companion: Mara, age 9
Date: June 23, 2019
Temperature: 104 °F

- Distance from abandoned car to shoe site: 11 miles from nearest road
- Distance Christine estimated to tank: 1-1.5 miles; actual distance measured later: ~4 miles
- Phone battery at roadside: 11 percent
- Time they left the road: approximately 5:00 PM
- Rationing: about 4 ounces of fluid per person every 90 minutes, with one juice box kept in reserve

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1084falsefull