The Disturbing Truth About Zion National Park

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It means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon. But this summer, Mint Mobile has a better treat. Every plan, including unlimited, is $15 a month. And unlike ice cream, it won't drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture. Does anyone have any cash? Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Today we're starting in Zion National Park, where beautiful canyon walls can turn deadly in seconds, and some of the park's darkest stories still don't feel fully resolved. Then we're heading to Argentina, where a climber left behind conflicting stories, frozen bodies, and a suspicious camera that resurfaced decades later. Now I mentioned both videos and photos in these stories, but if you're listening audio only, don't worry, you're still going to enjoy this. These images matter far less than what happened before and after they were taken. So listen on if you dare, and don't forget to leave a five-star review on the show. My next goal is to hit 10,000 five-star reviews, and I don't even know if that's possible, but please help out. I appreciate all of you so, so much. You have to watch this. I think I found the most disturbing footage in National Park history, and it comes from Zion. That footage is 100% 100% real, and the scariest part is that it represents just one part of one case in Zion National Park, and there are plenty more that were never caught on camera. That video was taken in the middle of Zion on the Virgin River, and at first it looked like, you know, your ordinary flash flood chaos, I guess. You know, violent brown water ripping through the canyon, swallowing branches, rocks, and pretty much everything else in its path. But then the person filming realized something horrifying. There were people in that water. Two hikers were being thrown through the rapids like they were just ragdolls, right? Bystanders screamed from the safety of higher ground, but the canyon had already turned into a trap. No one could jump in. No one could reach them. No one could help them. No one could stop what was happening. And the worst part is that after that video went viral online, one family saw it and feared the unthinkable. They feared that they might be watching the final moments of a woman that they loved. Her name was JTal Agnihotri. JTal was 29 years old, a University of Arizona graduate student, fiercely independent, adventurous, and the exact kind of person who would see a place like Zion and want to experience it for herself. You know, the red cliffs, the narrow stone walls, the legendary river hike. I mean, to her, it all looked like something out of a dream. But what she didn't know, and frankly, most visitors don't know, is that Zion has a way of hiding danger in plain sight. The same canyon that looks beautiful in the morning can become a death trap by the afternoon. On Friday, August 19th, 2022, JTal was hiking with two friends through an area called the Narrows. Now, if you've never been there before, there's a strong chance that you've seen it on Instagram at the very least, but it's basically a very long slot canyon that was carved by the Virgin River over years and years of erosion. In some places, the canyon walls can become so tight and steep that sunlight barely reaches the water below. This is a very, very popular place and a truly beautiful place, but it's also one of the most dangerous places imaginable. Because if bad weather strikes and, you know, tons of people are down in the Narrows, there is literally nowhere for them to escape. However, the weather in Zion on this particular day had been relatively normal. The high temperature was forecasted to be around 93 degrees Fahrenheit, which is around 33 degrees Celsius, with very little precipitation expected. But then, almost out of nowhere that afternoon, rain started to hit the park like a fright train. So when the rain started to fall, JTal's two friends decided that it was probably time for them to get to safety and call it a day. But JTal wasn't going to let a little storm keep her from seeing the iconic upper area of the Narrows. So she told her friends that she would meet back up with them in the parking lot by 530 that evening. And with this, and perhaps against their better judgment, her friends agreed and the group parted ways. At the time, they had no idea that the next time they'd see JTal would be in a video that would shock everybody. The rain refused to let up, and the radar showed that conditions were only going to get worse. At 1.40 p.m., officials issued a flash flood warning, and the rain continued to pour down on Washington County, as thunderstorms rolled over the headwaters upstream of the Narrows. Hikers were warned to seek higher ground, but by 2.15 p.m., park officials were already receiving reports of people being swept off their feet by floods surging through Zion Canyon. Things were getting really bad, and so the National Park Service immediately mobilized for a large-scale response. More than 20 park rangers and members of the Zion Search and Rescue Service were deployed along the river with ropes and flotation devices ready to help anyone who was caught in the water. And while the rangers were scrambling, the flood was also being captured on video, and some of that footage, the footage that you just saw at the beginning, was about to become one of the most haunting keys to this entire case. But before that fateful video ever played a role in the search for anyone, rangers spent their time interviewing groups of visitors exiting the Narrows and Riverside Walk in order to ensure that they were not missing any members of their party. And strangely, at that time, no hikers were reported missing. However, Jatal's friends and family still hadn't heard from her by the time the sun went down, and so, by then, they were starting to panic. They hoped to get a call or a text that reassured them that she was safe from these dangerous floods, but as the hours ticked by, their phones still hadn't buzzed with any good news or any news at all. Jatal's friends just couldn't wait anymore, and so that evening, they made the gut-wrenching decision to report her missing. By the next day, the search operation was in full swing. The Virgin River was still swollen and fast-moving from all the flooding, which forced crews to navigate deep channels, heavy vegetation, piles of debris that had built up, and dangerous log jams where someone else could easily become trapped. Over the next few days, more than 170 responders searched for Jatal, combing stretches of river inside and south of the park for any sign that she had made it to shore. Water rescue teams battled powerful currents, while canine units searched the brush-covered banks. And while all of this was going on, her family and friends endured every passing hour with almost no answers. Her brother, Poojan, while he spoke to reporters as the search team entered its third day, he said, "We don't know what she's going through or where she is." But he also believed that if there had been any way for her to survive the flood, then she certainly would have fought for it. He also said that the floods seemed to come out of nowhere, with no warning signs or closures from the park service. And to be fair, flash floods in canyon systems like this are notoriously unpredictable and conditions can change incredibly fast. However, tragedies like this do raise some difficult questions afterwards. Was there enough warning? Could hikers have been evacuated sooner? Or was this simply one of those horrifying moments where Mother Nature moved faster than anyone could actually react? Still, it's important to remember that Jatal's friends begged her to leave the Narrows before the flooding began, and they escaped while she chose to stay in the canyon. And look, I'd never blame anyone for a freak natural disaster like this, but it felt important to point out one small choice, which in hindsight probably feels like the biggest choice that Jatal ever made. On Monday, August 22nd, four whole days after Jatal had disappeared, a Zion search and rescue team was combing through the Virgin River near an area called the Court of the Patriarchs. Now, the river was definitely still full from the weekend of heavy rains, but the weather had finally subsided just a little bit earlier than expected. That's when a group of hikers came down from the river, and that gave crews a chance to dig deeper through all of the wreckage. they trudged along the banks of the river they carefully stepped over driftwood and debris gazing into this muddy river that suddenly seemed calm compared to all the destruction it had literally just caused days earlier and it was in this moment that one of the crew members spotted something strange just underneath the water's surface he called out to his team and as they gathered around this mysterious object they all began to realize what they were looking at they were a whopping six miles downstream from where the flash flood initially tore through the narrows but it's there where they tragically found the remains of jay tal agni hotri the massive search was finally over but everything changed after one video started to go viral now going back to this footage i know it's kind of hard to understand at first but if you look closely it apparently shows two hikers being swept violently through the muddy current completely powerless against the river as it surges through the canyon the clip is chaotic and shaky and it's also not very long you can't see the faces of either hiker in that video but according to one report i saw jay tall's family believes that one of those hikers is her show button here football is finally back and prize picks is going crazy with the deals to start the season giving out promos every day in september on prize picks you can make all the picks you want all in the same app and now prize picks is available nationwide so what are you waiting for lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything is on prize picks what you want download the app today and use code spotify to get 150 dollars instantly in lineups if you win your first five dollar lineup prize picks run your game star wars the mandalorian and grogu is now streaming on disney plus what are you waiting for hop on the must-see the must-see galactic adventure comes home on disney plus this is the way our only chance is to work together i like this kid always wear your seat belt star wars the mandalorian and grogu now streaming on disney plus read pg-13 do you hear that that sound right that means that summer's officially here it means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shake or something like that just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shape like a cartoon but this summer mint mobile has a better tree every plan including unlimited is 15 a month and unlike ice cream it won't uh drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture does anyone have any cash give it a try at mintmobile.com switch upfront payment of 45 for three months ninety dollars for six months or 180 dollars for 12 month plan required fifteen dollars per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms tammy regularly 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rep number one zero zero zero four and look i'm honestly going to say it's a good thing we're going to talk about this in a little bit and look i'm honestly not sure how they could be so certain about that but it's really not that hard for me to understand why even like the slightest possibility might still haunt them to this day because for a few terrible terrible seconds that video captures exactly how brutal the flood really was the hikers are tossed through the current almost like driftwood they're being swallowed by waves of mud and debris as bystanders scream from the canyon walls above they're being swallowed by waves of mud and debris as bystanders scream from the canyon walls above and and look the canyon walls above and and look the canyon walls above and and look whether or not that footage actually whether or not that footage actually whether or not that footage actually featured jay tall it quickly became the featured jay tall it quickly became the featured jay tall it quickly became the closest thing that her her friends and closest thing that her her friends and closest thing that her her friends and family will ever have to seeing her final family will ever have to seeing her final family will ever have to seeing her final moments and so my heart goes out to her moments and so my heart goes out to her moments and so my heart goes out to her and her family all of her loved ones the and her family all of her loved ones the and her family all of her loved ones the weather that day was just unpredictable weather that day was just unpredictable and crazy but not every zion tragedy and crazy but not every zion tragedy and crazy but not every zion tragedy actually comes from the weather actually comes from the weather actually comes from the weather sometimes the most dangerous thing in the sometimes the most dangerous thing in the sometimes the most dangerous thing in the canyon isn't the river or the trail or canyon isn't the river or the trail or canyon isn't the river or the trail or the cliff the cliff the cliff but rather the person standing right next but rather the person standing right next but rather the person standing right next to you in may of 1997 paddy and james to you in may of 1997 paddy and james to you in may of 1997 paddy and james botterini went on a majestic hike up to botterini went on a majestic hike up to botterini went on a majestic hike up to zion national parks observation point zion national parks observation point zion national parks observation point this was supposed to be a romantic this was supposed to be a romantic this was supposed to be a romantic chance for the couple to kind of chance for the couple to kind of chance for the couple to kind of reconnect but on this afternoon when reconnect but on this afternoon when reconnect but on this afternoon when love was supposed to be in the air the love was supposed to be in the air the love was supposed to be in the air the only thing that echoed through the only thing that echoed through the only thing that echoed through the canyon walls were screams of canyon walls were screams of canyon walls were screams of desperation now observation point is one desperation now observation point is one desperation now observation point is one of zion national parks most famous of zion national parks most famous of zion national parks most famous overlooks but it isn't considered to be overlooks but it isn't considered to be overlooks but it isn't considered to be unusually dangerous at the time many unusually dangerous at the time many unusually dangerous at the time many park rangers were quick to point out park rangers were quick to point out park rangers were quick to point out that nobody had fallen to their death that nobody had fallen to their death that nobody had fallen to their death from observation point in more than 30 from observation point in more than 30 from observation point in more than 30 years which like i'm not the most years which like i'm not the most years which like i'm not the most superstitious person in the world but i superstitious person in the world but i superstitious person in the world but i don't think i'd be going around bragging don't think i'd be going around bragging about a streak like that but anyways as about a streak like that but anyways as about a streak like that but anyways as for james and patty they had been for james and patty they had been for james and patty they had been married nearly a decade and they lived married nearly a decade and they lived married nearly a decade and they lived in medford new jersey with their two in medford new jersey with their two in medford new jersey with their two young sons patty came from a wealthy young sons patty came from a wealthy young sons patty came from a wealthy california family and owned a 1 12th california family and owned a 1 12th california family and owned a 1 12th stake in the family business worth stake in the family business worth stake in the family business worth roughly 1 million dollars and james roughly 1 million dollars and james meanwhile reportedly struggled meanwhile reportedly struggled meanwhile reportedly struggled financially and had significant financially and had significant financially and had significant gambling debts from years of trips to gambling debts from years of trips to gambling debts from years of trips to las vegas in may of 1997 the couple las vegas in may of 1997 the couple las vegas in may of 1997 the couple was visiting california when james was visiting california when james was visiting california when james suggested that they extend their trip suggested that they extend their trip suggested that they extend their trip with a getaway to las vegas and then with a getaway to las vegas and then with a getaway to las vegas and then zion national park supposedly like a zion national park supposedly like a zion national park supposedly like a second honeymoon almost and the more second honeymoon almost and the more second honeymoon almost and the more that i think about it this this trip that i think about it this this trip that i think about it this this trip didn't really sound like the kind of didn't really sound like the kind of didn't really sound like the kind of honeymoon that most girls dream about honeymoon that most girls dream about honeymoon that most girls dream about right i mean people tend to visit right i mean people tend to visit right i mean people tend to visit tropical islands or eat fancy european tropical islands or eat fancy european tropical islands or eat fancy european dinners dinners dinners not make a pit stop at a las vegas not make a pit stop at a las vegas not make a pit stop at a las vegas casino on their way to a grueling casino on their way to a grueling casino on their way to a grueling desert hike but who knows and honestly desert hike but who knows and honestly who am i to say because patty agreed to who am i to say because patty agreed to who am i to say because patty agreed to this detour and on may 9th the couple this detour and on may 9th the couple this detour and on may 9th the couple headed up the observation point trail headed up the observation point trail headed up the observation point trail but the hike had been so much more but the hike had been so much more but the hike had been so much more grueling than the two of them expected grueling than the two of them expected grueling than the two of them expected and so they actually decided to turn and so they actually decided to turn and so they actually decided to turn around before reaching the summit and around before reaching the summit and around before reaching the summit and like i mentioned earlier this trail like i mentioned earlier this trail like i mentioned earlier this trail isn't one of the most dangerous ones in isn't one of the most dangerous ones in isn't one of the most dangerous ones in the park but it is still quite the park but it is still quite the park but it is still quite physically demanding the heat and the physically demanding the heat and the physically demanding the heat and the elevation had exhausted the two of them elevation had exhausted the two of them elevation had exhausted the two of them and they were basically ready to call it and they were basically ready to call it and they were basically ready to call it a day even if it meant they didn't a day even if it meant they didn't a day even if it meant they didn't actually get to observe observation actually get to observe observation actually get to observe observation points so they turned around and on the points so they turned around and on the points so they turned around and on the way down james was walking about 15 feet way down james was walking about 15 feet way down james was walking about 15 feet ahead of patty when all of a sudden he ahead of patty when all of a sudden he ahead of patty when all of a sudden he heard her slip by the time that he heard her slip by the time that he heard her slip by the time that he turned around he saw patty scrambling turned around he saw patty scrambling turned around he saw patty scrambling near the cliff's edge she was near the cliff's edge she was near the cliff's edge she was desperately trying to regain her desperately trying to regain her desperately trying to regain her footing she was kicking up dust and rocks footing she was kicking up dust and rocks footing she was kicking up dust and rocks in the process but by this point she in the process but by this point she in the process but by this point she was already too off balance and so in an was already too off balance and so in an was already too off balance and so in an instant patty took one last stumble and instant patty took one last stumble and instant patty took one last stumble and fell fell fell right off the edge of the trail she right off the edge of the trail she right off the edge of the trail she plummeted down the canyon wall and fell plummeted down the canyon wall and fell plummeted down the canyon wall and fell nearly 500 feet to her obvious death nearly 500 feet to her obvious death nearly 500 feet to her obvious death and this was and this was and this was it almost goes without saying a it almost goes without saying a it almost goes without saying a devastating sight i mean a husband devastating sight i mean a husband devastating sight i mean a husband watching his wife slip away from him watching his wife slip away from him watching his wife slip away from him when all you can do when all you can do when all you can do is just like watch well that's is just like watch well that's is just like watch well that's complete horror however that was only complete horror however that was only complete horror however that was only james's version of events because when james's version of events because when james's version of events because when other hikers described what they saw other hikers described what they saw other hikers described what they saw before and after patty went over the before and after patty went over the before and after patty went over the edge edge edge this stopped sounding like a tragic this stopped sounding like a tragic this stopped sounding like a tragic accident it started sounding like accident it started sounding like something much much darker so james something much much darker so james something much much darker so james claimed that patty simply just slipped claimed that patty simply just slipped claimed that patty simply just slipped and fell and fell and fell but the other hikers nearby described a but the other hikers nearby described a but the other hikers nearby described a very different feeling on that trail a very different feeling on that trail a very different feeling on that trail a retired couple from arizona donald and retired couple from arizona donald and retired couple from arizona donald and glenda cox had passed the butterinis on glenda cox had passed the butterinis on glenda cox had passed the butterinis on the trail shortly before patty's tragic the trail shortly before patty's tragic the trail shortly before patty's tragic fall as they continued hiking they heard fall as they continued hiking they heard fall as they continued hiking they heard scuffling behind them and then looked up scuffling behind them and then looked up scuffling behind them and then looked up just in time to see patty falling through just in time to see patty falling through just in time to see patty falling through open air which is very disturbing but open air which is very disturbing but open air which is very disturbing but what disturbed them the most however what disturbed them the most however what disturbed them the most however was the complete silence they reported was the complete silence they reported was the complete silence they reported that they heard no no screaming or that they heard no no screaming or that they heard no no screaming or panic or desperate cries coming from panic or desperate cries coming from panic or desperate cries coming from james and i've obviously never been in james and i've obviously never been in james and i've obviously never been in a scenario like this whatsoever but i a scenario like this whatsoever but i a scenario like this whatsoever but i can almost guarantee you that i'd be can almost guarantee you that i'd be can almost guarantee you that i'd be screaming my head off if i watched screaming my head off if i watched screaming my head off if i watched anyone take a fall like that anyone take a fall like that anyone take a fall like that especially if it was someone i loved especially if it was someone i loved especially if it was someone i loved and i bet you would do the same thing so and i bet you would do the same thing so and i bet you would do the same thing so donald and glenda rushed to get help donald and glenda rushed to get help donald and glenda rushed to get help while james continued down the trail while james continued down the trail while james continued down the trail until he encountered another group of until he encountered another group of until he encountered another group of hikers and those hikers later said that hikers and those hikers later said that hikers and those hikers later said that james appeared you know a little bit james appeared you know a little bit james appeared you know a little bit shaken that he was also like unusually shaken that he was also like unusually shaken that he was also like unusually calm at the same time and when he first calm at the same time and when he first calm at the same time and when he first said quote my wife fell there was so said quote my wife fell there was so said quote my wife fell there was so little urgency in his voice that they little urgency in his voice that they little urgency in his voice that they assumed that she had just suffered like assumed that she had just suffered like assumed that she had just suffered like a minor injury or something like that it a minor injury or something like that it a minor injury or something like that it was only after the group of hikers was only after the group of hikers was only after the group of hikers asked where she had fallen that they asked where she had fallen that they asked where she had fallen that they realized that she had actually fallen realized that she had actually fallen realized that she had actually fallen off the cliff these hikers then began off the cliff these hikers then began off the cliff these hikers then began calling patty's name down into the canyon calling patty's name down into the canyon calling patty's name down into the canyon below and they also started searching below and they also started searching below and they also started searching immediately but several witnesses later immediately but several witnesses later immediately but several witnesses later claimed that james barely participated claimed that james barely participated claimed that james barely participated in that makeshift search and rescue in that makeshift search and rescue in that makeshift search and rescue which is weird and eventually a hiker which is weird and eventually a hiker which is weird and eventually a hiker named robert falk spotted something named robert falk spotted something named robert falk spotted something along the cliffside and he knew what it was. His heart sank. Robert turned to James and he told him to stop. He said, quote, Jim, it's not good. Don't come up here. But as Robert knelt down to get a closer look at what he had seen, he could hear James's footsteps behind him. And he realized that right there, 500 feet below the trail, they had discovered Patty's body. And the scene was apparently so gruesome that it was immediately obvious that she had not survived. And so Robert observed this and then he turned back around and he realized that James still didn't seem to be that upset, at least not on the surface. The only notable reaction that James seemed to have in that moment was that he felt the need to pick up a rock and then throw it at a pack of vultures that were circling overhead. He seemed to be focused on anything other than the deep heartbreak that you'd assume. A husband would be feeling after losing his wife like this. And look, everyone deals with tragedy differently, but James's behavior just didn't really make any sense. And so now it was time for investigators to get to the bottom of what the hell had actually happened here. And it didn't take very long at all for them to notice some extremely unusual details about the scene. Despite the massive fall that Patty had taken, there were surprisingly very few signs along the cliffside that would indicate that James had died. And so he was able to get to the bottom of the cliffside in a few minutes. But when investigators found out that she had repeatedly struck the canyon walls on her way down, they also found no evidence of disturbed rocks or tracks consistent with someone who had naturally slipped over the edge. Instead, investigators believed that she appeared to have gone over the cliff unusually cleanly, which made people start to wonder if the fall was really an accident at all. When you combine the physical evidence on the trail itself, the witness statements from Donald and Glenda Cox, and James's strange behavior that day, it's not hard to see how people started to set their sights on James as the prime suspect. Investigators acknowledge that trauma naturally affects people differently, and intense shock can make people appear detached or emotionally numb. But additional details just kept coming out from that day, and they kept raising everyone's suspicion. And there also started to be some inconsistencies in James's statements. According to Patty's sister, James initially claimed that Patty had fallen while hiking Angel's Landing, which is a completely different trail, before later correcting himself and saying the accident happened on Observation Point. Patty's sister also insisted that Patty was extremely afraid of heights and likely would have stayed far away from any exposed ledges. The red flags against James just kept piling up, but the icing on the cake came when investigators uncovered one of the red flags on the cake. And that was Patty's massive life insurance policy. Just months before her death, Patty had taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy that named James as the beneficiary. And when you combine that gigantic payout with Patty's ownership stake in her family's company, well, her death potentially gave James access to well over $1,000,000. And it didn't help that James later gave conflicting statements about that policy. When he was originally questioned about it, he admitted to knowing about the insurance money and some of Patty's assets. But then he had a different conversation later with a federal agent where he denied knowing anything about any of the money he was about to inherit. But then he had another conversation with a federal agent where he denied knowing anything about any of the money he was about to inherit. And then he had another conversation with a federal agent where he denied knowing anything about any of the money he was about to inherit. While those federal prosecutors slowly gathered enough evidence to make their move. And so finally, in October of 2000, James was indicted by a federal grand jury. But strangely, he wasn't charged with murder. Instead, prosecutors pursued charges including domestic violence, false statements to a federal officer, and wire fraud tied to his attempts to collect insurance money after Patty's death. And it took even more time, but by November of 2002, at this point more than a year later, more than five years after Patty had fallen, James finally stood trial in federal court. The trial even featured a fall trajectory analyst who suggested that Patty had been forcefully propelled outward rather than simply stumbling. The defense countered with another specialist who argued that the motion could still be consistent with an accidental stumble if Patty had awkwardly turned or lost her balance near the edge. As the experts went back and forth, the line between facts and speculation, only seemed to blur more and more. And then finally, after weeks of testimony, the jury reached a shocking conclusion. They acquitted James of all federal charges. And the controversy didn't end there either. According to later reports, 10 of the 12 jurors actually believed that James was guilty, but they didn't fully understand the rules of coming to a unanimous agreement. And so, despite most of the evidence, James was acquitted. But most jurors reportedly believing that he was guilty, they all eventually voted to acquit him. And because of double jeopardy protections, James could never be federally tried again on those charges. Civil lawsuits over Patty's estate and the insurance money continued for years. And in 2005, James gave up all claims to Patty's ownership stake in the family company as part of a settlement. But he still made no admission of guilt. And so, legally speaking, James walked free. But in the minds of so many people who followed the case, Patty's fall has never looked like an accident at all. And honestly, I don't really know who to believe. And while Patty's story is disturbing because no one can agree on what happened, this next Zion tragedy is horrifying for the exact opposite reason. Everyone knows exactly what happened. They were just too late to stop it. On September 14th, 2015, seven hikers in their 50s entered Keyhole Canyon and they took this photograph together. It looks like a really nice photo, but once you know the backstory behind it, it makes it very hard to look at. Everyone is smiling, but that's because they were completely unaware that this would become the final picture ever taken of any of them. I've actually mentioned this story on my channel before, and so I'm going to keep this one brief. But the group of middle-aged hikers had all met through a program called the Valencia Hiking Club, which was a community-based hiking club. built around shared outdoor adventures. Most of them were actually pretty experienced hikers, and it's obvious that they weren't just like a bunch of reckless people going through a midlife crisis. They were prepared, or at least they thought they were. The group also seemed to know that the weather in Zion could flip in an instant. Several members actually checked the forecast repeatedly, and they even called or texted family members asking for multiple weather updates as they approached the canyon. There was roughly a 40% chance of rain in the forecast, but since we know that the forecast isn't always accurate, timing their trip was still going to be a matter of life or death. And, tragically, at the exact moment the group of hikers lost cell service, a flash flood warning was issued for the Keyhole Canyon area, and within a short time, park officials actually closed the canyon entirely. But that closure notice never reached the hikers. There was no signal, or no blaring sirens in the backcountry, and there was no way for any of them to know that conditions had just shifted from risky to deadly. Since the hikers had no idea what kind of danger they were walking into, the hike itself felt completely normal, at least at first. They moved through narrow passages and shallow pools, occasionally stopping to rest and take in the scenery. At one point, they actually stopped together and took that photograph. And knowing what's about to happen, they decided to take a break and go to a place called the Keyhole Canyon. It looks like any ordinary hiking photo of friends sharing a fun moment in a beautiful place, but weather conditions were about to shift dramatically as heavy rain accumulated in the watershed feeding into the canyon, and within an hour, raging water surged into Keyhole Canyon. The peaceful rock formations instantly became channels for fast-moving floodwater, and there was nowhere for them to go. The group was completely trapped. Meanwhile, a smaller group of hikers who had entered the canyon just a little earlier managed to exit right before conditions got bad. And then once outside of the canyon, they alerted park rangers that the Valencia Hiking Club group was still inside. Officials had to weigh the risk of a rescue operation, but entering the flooded canyon would have placed many additional lives at risk. Over the following days, as conditions slowly improved, searchers recovered each hiker from the canyon. One by one, all seven of them were eventually found. Their names were Steve Arthur, Gary Favola, Muku Reynolds, Don Teshir, Robin Broom, Mark McKenzie, and Linda Arthur. And while the victims in this story were photographed just moments before their demise, it took a lot of work to get them out of the canyon. It took a lot of work to get them out of the canyon, and it took a lot of work to get them out of the canyon. It took a lot of work to get them out of the canyon. It took modern technology over 50 years to finally get the full picture of what happened to a group of extremely unlucky Boy Scouts in our next story. On September 17, 1961, a Boy Scout troop from Salt Lake City traveled down to Zion for what should have been a pretty normal two-day hiking and camping trip. Among the group of over 20 people were two 17-year-old boys named Alvin Nelson and Frank Johnson. Now, Alvin was athletic, and he was a great guy. He was a great guy. He was a great and adventurous. He loved the outdoors, and he was looking forward to serving an upcoming mission trip for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alvin and Frank were best friends, and on this particular day, their troop entered the Narrows, which you might remember is the exact same slot canyon from our first story. Obviously, the place was just as incredibly beautiful back in 1961 as it is today, but it's also always been incredibly dangerous. As Alvin, Frank, and the other boys went deeper into the canyon, none of them had any idea of what was going on miles away from them, far, far away from the Narrows itself. That day, heavy rain had fallen upstream and caused the Virgin River to swell with excessive water. Somewhere deep inside the Narrows, the troop suddenly heard this massive roar echoing through the canyon, and before anyone could even begin to guess what the sound was, they were greeted by a massive surge of muddy water exploding through the narrow passageway. Alvin and Frank were then able to get to the canyon, and they the troop and tons of other hikers were violently swept up in just an instant. As the river came crashing through the Narrows, some of the Boy Scouts were actually standing safely on higher ground, while another small group of scouts scrambled to safety on an even higher bank, and 15 others were luckily able to grab some nearby trees to avoid being ripped away by the flood, but not every member of the troop was so lucky. When the water finally settled and the boys looked around to make sure that everyone was alright, they realized that they were missing a few people. Their scout leader, Walt Scott, was the first, and then four other boys were missing as well, Stephen Florence, Paul Nichols, Alvin Nelson, and Frank Johnson. The rescue effort started as soon as these survivors made it out of the canyon. Search crews canvassed for miles and miles along the Virgin River and hoped that somehow Walt, or any of the boys, had managed to pull them out of the canyon. They were able to get to the canyon, and they were able to get to the out of the current and survive. The community surrounding Zion also jumped in to help look for the hikers, and one of those people was a local man named Vance Justette. At 10am the following morning, Vance was walking along the river near the town of Springdale, Utah, nearly 10 miles away from where the troop was initially hit with the flood, and even though they were far from that initial flood zone, the destruction was still extremely clear. As Vance looked along the bank, he saw something strange poking out from a pile of driftwood that had swept up on shore. He took a few steps closer, and he stopped in his tracks when he realized exactly what he was looking at. It was a pair of human legs. Vance was obviously shocked, but he also knew that there was this active search going on, and so he got a closer look, and he realized that the legs belonged to a victim. The victim's clothes looked like they had been ripped off, and now only a pair of white tennis shoes remained. The victim's clothes were ripped off, and now only a pair of white tennis shoes remained. Stephen had also gotten lodged between pieces of driftwood just a short distance from where Walt's body was found, and Paul had gotten trapped between two trees near Zion's south campground. After a very long and difficult day of searching, the flood had tragically claimed the lives of three people, but two others were still unaccounted for, and so the authorities were left asking themselves, where the hell were Alvin and Frank? Crews continued to scan the river for any clues that might lead them to the two boys, but days, weeks, and eventually months past without any new discoveries. It was almost as if the river had simply swallowed the boys up and then refused to spit them out. The lack of progress forced the official search to eventually wind down, and then the families of the two boys were stuck with years and years of living with the unknown. Alvin's sister, Dora Lee Freebairn, later talked about how difficult it was to live with all of the unanswered questions. What if the boys had managed to survive longer than people realized? What if rescuers were searching in the wrong places? What if the boys were somehow still alive? As years slowly turned into decades, it started to seem more and more likely that the canyon would never give either boy back. That is until 2006, when a random man discovered something shocking while swimming in the Virgin River. According to Chief Kurt Wright of the Human Skull, Chief Wright immediately wondered if it had belonged to the missing Boy Scouts from 1961. In his mind, the disappearance of Alvin and Frank was one of the park's only truly unsolved tragedies, and so he saw this new discovery as a chance to finally crack the case. But DNA testing was expensive, especially for a small department like his. So the bone fragment was placed in the well, and that's where it sat for years. And honestly, that probably should have been the end of the story, but it's not. Because in 2012, Chief Wright learned that the University of North Texas was offering free DNA testing for law enforcement agencies. And so seeing a chance to finally solve one of Zion National Park's biggest mysteries, he reopened the investigation after decades of silence. Chief Wright tracked down surviving relatives of Alvin Nelson and Frank Jones, and collected DNA samples for testing. And can you just imagine getting that call out of nowhere, by the way? I mean, decades after a family member vanished, police suddenly saying that they might have found him? I mean, that's pretty crazy. Alvin's sister, Dora Lee, said that it brought all of the emotions just rushing back, like instantly. Chief Wright waited for the results until one day, his phone rang. He answered it with hope, but the voice on the other end was the lab technician who told him that the skull fragment, was not a match for Frank Johnson's DNA. And so Chief Wright hung up and sat for a moment in his disappointment. I mean, his odds of getting answers were just chopped in half. But then a week later, his phone rang again. And this time, the lab technician had a lot better news. They told Chief Wright that after more than five decades, modern science was able to determine that the skull fragment did belong to the other missing boy, Alvin Nelson. And this tiny, tiny piece of proof had spent all of those years deep beneath the floodwater, the rock slides, and layers of canyon sediment in the Virgin River. And despite all of the official search efforts, it took basically a random and almost accidental discovery to bring the truth to light. And so for the first time since 1961, Alvin's family finally had some closure, but it remains to be seen if Frank Johnson's family will ever get the same. My heart goes out to the family of both of the boys, as well as, the families of all of the victims I talked about in this video. Please show all of them some love in the comments. I always appreciate it when you guys do that. And I appreciate all of you so, so much for watching. And be safe if you're ever in Zion National Park. Zion's stories are terrifying because the danger can arrive in seconds, but this next story is different. It's slower and honestly much harder to explain because high in the Andes, the question isn't just how two climbers died, it's whether someone else was responsible. In 1973, these Americans, who were the first to die, were the first to die. And they were the first to die. American climbers traveled to Argentina, hoping to summit the highest mountain in all of the Americas. But after interviewing them at their hotel, a reporter whispered a very disturbing prediction about them to his photographer. He said, quote, take each of their photos today because I don't think they're all coming back. This prediction would turn out to be dead on. No pun intended. Folks, this is not just another story about a climber. It's actually the story about the final smiling photos of people who had no idea that they were about to die. It's the story of how egos and broken trust turned a mountain into a straight up battlefield. And some people say it's the story of cold blooded murder, but we'll get there. And as if that wasn't all traumatic enough, literally decades after this story had been forgotten by everybody, a bombshell discovery was made. And well, it might just change everything. In 1972, Portland lawyer Carmi Duffo convinced his local climbing club to take on the, quote, moderately difficult climb of Aconcagua, which stands at 22,838 feet, which is about 6,961 meters. Carmi would recruit six men to go with him. And some of them he had climbed with before, but others were just complete strangers who had been recommended by some of his friends. However, this group would not end up just being full of men because there was one more person who would end up joining. And she was a woman named Janet May Johnson. Janet, who was an elementary school teacher, she didn't appear at first glance to be a formidable climber, we'll say. But with that said, Janet was no slouch. She routinely climbed in the Rockies and Colorado, and she had even summited Kilimanjaro over in Africa. And so with hopeful eyes on Aconcagua, Janet packed her gear, which included her trusty Nikomat film camera, and she flew down to Argentina to meet her fellow climbers. Folks, this did not go well. During their very first night together in Argentina, the Americans just didn't, they didn't really mesh with each other. Something just, fell off. And this was despite the fact that they were still in the comfort of a hotel at this point. They weren't even on the mountain yet, you know, being subjected to mother nature's whim. The group was even interviewed by local news about their upcoming expedition, but they just seemed disconnected. I don't really know how else to say it. But at least they weren't climbing alone. They actually had an experienced mountain guide named Miguel Alfonso to lead their way. So the crew left the hotel and they started the journey up to base camp. And the thing you have to know about Aconcagua is that base camp is at 14,000 feet above sea level, which is about 4,300 meters. And from base camp, it's another 8,000 feet or 2,400 meters to the actual peak, right? And so when they arrived at base camp after two days of climbing, just to get there, they were already feeling the effects of altitude. This was their plan. Carmi Defoe would lead with Miguel as his guide. A man named Jim Petroski, who was one of Carmi's friends, he would be the deputy leader for the group. Now, one of the climbers was actually bilingual. And so he would translate between Carmi and Miguel, who only spoke Spanish, as well as another doctor. The four other climbers in the group were Bill Zeller, who was an American police officer, Arnold McMillan, who was a dairy farmer. And then there was John Cooper, who was a NASA engineer. You heard that right. And of course, there was Janet, once again, who was the teacher. So they had their plan, but even with it, I don't know, something just still wasn't right about this group. And so when they arrived at base camp, the camp manager actually got the same feeling that the reporter had back at the hotel, what I told you about right at the beginning of the video. It was this dark feeling. There was no group attitude here. There was no camaraderie. It kind of just felt like everyone was on their own, every man for himself, right? And perhaps most importantly, even though everyone had fancy professional gear, and so they were prepared in that aspect, it just seemed like they weren't really taking this dangerous expedition as seriously as they probably should have. The climb up Aconcagua takes about a week, all the way up to two weeks, potentially. And it takes so long because there are three camps that you have to kind of progress to on your way up to the peak. And so during the day, you have to be kind of shuttling your gear up the mountain to these various camps. And then at the end of the day, you have to come back down to the base camp to rest. And so you add in the altitude and also the fields of these tall, icy pillars, and you have to navigate through these. You add all that stuff up, and this is obviously a very, very exhausting journey. And this became apparent very quickly because the first few days and nights of the expedition took a major toll on the Americans. And from reports of what the group dynamic was like, once again, the climbers weren't really keeping each other in great company, you could say. The vibes were just very off, as the kids would say these days. And so, yeah, I mean, it was a lot of quiet hiking as the air got thinner and thinner, the further and further they climbed. Show button here. Football is finally back, and PrizePix is going crazy with the deals to start Giving out promos every day in September. Lock in for kickoff, because everyone and everything is on PrizePix. What you want? PrizePix. Run your game. Hop on. This is the way. I like this kid. Rated PG-13. Do you hear that? That sound, right? That means that Summer's officially here. It means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert. Tape like a cartoon. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the save. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. For the first time ever, Texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with day-to-day energy. Daytime summer savings. It's called Free Nights in Cool Summer. You get free nights every night, all year long. Plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first-of-its-kind plan, created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with Free Nights in Cool Summer. TXU Energy. Energy for everything. Visit TXU.com for more information. Rep number 10004. They reached Camp 1, but of course, they were completely gassed and their spirits were very low. John Cooper, once again, NASA engineer, he even wrote in his diary that Bill Zeller, the police officer, had been doing most of the gear shuttling. I mean, literally carrying the load because everyone else was just so sick, tired, and exhausted. And while he did praise Bill in his writing, let's just say that John gave Janet a much less glowing review. So according to John, Janet was pretty much useless. She was mostly just kind of snapping pictures of her fellow climbers as they struggled up the mountain. You can kind of see how that's a bit annoying, right? After a night in Camp 1, they all started to climb together up to Camp 2, but it wasn't long until three of the Americans basically just gave in to the exhaustion. They quit. And this actually included the group's leader, Carmi Defoe, as well as their translator and the doctor in the group. All these people turned back. And that left Jim Petroski to now be the de facto leader for the climbers. And yet, despite these setbacks, the smaller group actually fared a little bit better than when everyone was still involved. They ended up making it to Camp 3 in just a few days, and they were even able to relax for an entire day and kind of wait out a snowstorm. The very next morning, the climbers emerged from their tents, well-rested, and they saw something very, very surprising. That was. the summit of the mountain. The weather had done a complete 180. It was now completely clear. The sky was beautiful. The snow was even powdery, not icy, which would make it easier to climb. And so, this was very, very exciting for the group. They made a big breakfast. They kind of started to get ready. And for the first time, you know, since they had arrived in Argentina, it felt like they were actually a team. You know, a team with this common goal. And they decided that today was the day to make the final push up the Polish glacier and reach Aconcagua's peak. Like, they had come all this way, and it was finally time to do this. So, the climbers woke up, and everyone's kind of getting ready to make that final summit push. But as they were doing this, Jim, who was now the group's new leader, well, he was kind of lagging behind. He was struggling with things as simple as just putting on his crampons, which is, like, an essential thing if you're going to be climbing a big mountain like this. He tried to stand up, but he could barely do it. He could barely even do that without basically falling over. And so, this was obviously very worrisome for the group. Jim was experiencing symptoms not just of altitude sickness, but of severe, potentially fatal brain swelling. And so, basically, Jim needed to get to a lower elevation as soon as possible, or he was going to die. But the other four Americans, well, they all felt great. They weren't about to give up. I mean, they'd come all this way. And so, they're not going to turn back. Now, and so, Miguel, the local guide there, the only one who actually knew the route by heart, and also the only one who didn't need the ego boost of summoning the mountain, because he'd done it before, well, he decided to take Jim back down to base camp. And this selfless act probably saved Jim's life, by the way. And so, now, the only four climbers left were Bill, the police officer, Arnold, the farmer, John, the NASA engineer, and Janet, the teacher. Both of their previous leaders had now turned around. They now had nobody in charge, really. They had no clear roles. And frankly, they had no chance in hell. Let me just say that the next series of events are a version of kind of what's been cobbled together from those who didn't die. And the stories of the survivors don't completely align with the evidence. And at some point, frankly, they don't even align with each other's stories. And so, after I tell you what the survivors say happened, be sure to keep watching until the end of the video, because literally years after all of this took place, there was that insane discovery I alluded to earlier that has given us a much better sense of what actually happened on the mountain that day. But we'll get there. So, Bill, Arnold, John, and Janet made a plan. They were gonna climb the Polish Glacier, summit Aconcagua, and then return to camp all before the sun went down, right? This meant about 2,000 feet or just over 600 meters of climbing. And it was only about a half a mile, by the way. A very short distance. And so they grabbed their ice axes and they lightened their packs, you know, leaving some of their heavier gear behind and they began climbing, right? And once again, they were trying to do all this before the sunset. And so they had to move. And I don't know if the conditions changed or if they just misjudged their energy levels. But the dark truth is that they did not move fast enough. And speaking of darkness, well, eventually, it would set in. They didn't make it in time. And by the time this happened, they were still 1,000 feet or just over 300 meters away from the summit. I mean, folks, they were officially in the danger zone at this point, we'll say. Their flashlights were pretty useless against the blackness that was all around them. And once again, they packed so lightly that they were able to move for this final push. They didn't have any tents or sleeping bags and they barely even had any food. And of course, this is a massive deal because obviously the climbers realized they weren't going to make it to the summit and they weren't going to be able to make it back down to their camp. And so they had no choice but to just spend the night there, you know, completely unsheltered right there on the glacier. This is a climber's worst nightmare. Using their ice axes, the four climbers quickly dug this like snow cave on the glacier. And then once inside, they tried their best to sleep on top of these reflective space blankets, you know, which separated their shivering bodies from the ice beneath them a little bit, but it's still not very ideal. And it turns out that Janet and Bill just simply couldn't handle being packed in so tightly. And so they would actually end up moving outside the cave and they literally just sat there in the bone chilling wind all night. And yet, despite how awful this situation was, thankfully, everyone survived. Well, at least for now, I'll say. And by the morning, this is also just insane, most of them decided that they were still going to try to go reach the summit. However, John, well, he came to the opposite conclusion. He told them that he was completely done. He had been miserable since camp one and now at 21,000 feet or about, you know, 6,400 meters with the summit right there, mind you, like in sight. Well, now he was going to quit. He was going to climb about two hours back down the glacier all the way back down to camp three. And with this, it seems that the fleeting camaraderie that the group had experienced the day before, well, it seems like it was rapidly depleting, we'll say. And a perfect example of this is that when John decided to turn around, nobody in the group accompanied him. No one else went with him. they left him essentially to descend all on his own so now there's only three of them left and they moved slowly but consistently up the polish glacier janet continued to snap more pictures with her nicomat film camera as they climbed further and further up through her camera lens janet saw what looked like the peak of akinkagua and they pushed further ahead towards it however this view through the lens was actually false hope as another snowy ridge stood between them and the summit it's always a little further than it seems and folks on this second day of pushing they once again didn't make it darkness set in for the second night in a row but this time the trio didn't just stop in camp they decided to just keep going right and so the snow was about waist deep at this point and bill and arnold were taking turns kind of breaking the trail ahead of them so they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow ahead of them and after doing this for some time the men kind of turned around to go check on janet and they were horrified to discover that she was gone janet had basically vanished into the pitch black night and so they frantically began searching they called out her name over and over and over until finally they heard a whimpering voice off in the distance it's at this point that they found janet laying in the snow way off of the the route they had been following by the way and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and they were able to get out of the snow and she was alive but she was not doing well at all janet was in such bad condition that she she literally asked the men to let her quote lay here and die like let that sink in you're gonna hear that quote again in a few minutes here but of course bill didn't let her do this he picked her up and he tied her to himself and this is the first kind of moments we'll say of where versions of the story kind of start to come to a close one version says that the three of them camped together and did end up braving another freezing night but then another version says that arnold went further up ahead of bill and janet and then spent the night by himself regardless of which one of those versions is true it was still another freezing night on the glacier once again no tent at this point no food no sleeping bags and somehow miraculously all three of them survived the night again but at this point janet was in even worse shape now i mean her hands were swollen and black uh frostbitten and frankly bill wasn't looking so great either his face was literally getting blackened from sun exposure at this point and so with janet barely hanging on bill and arnold finally made the decision to turn back and folks it's worth mentioning that at this point they were only about two hundred feet or about 61 meters from the summit they were right there they were so close but they had no choice they had to turn around and so janet who was still tied to bill was really really struggling on the way down they managed to get past that snow cave they had dug a few nights previously arnold even fired off a flare gun that had been left behind in a you know a last ditch effort to try to get rescued but of course no one saw it no one no one came to help them and so bill was basically carrying janet down the mountain and arnold would end up going ahead of the group because he was moving faster and he hoped that he could get to help more quickly and so he was kind of booking it down the mountain right as fast as he could anyways and at one point he says that he fell down a very steep section of the glacier claiming that he slid headfirst for a thousand feet or just over 300 meters and this fall caused him to lose his ice axe and gave him a black eye he then limped the rest of the way down the mountain as camp three finally came into his vision but as he was making this final short leg of the trek he started to to like hear things he started to hear voices and see members of the argentine army passing him to go and and rescue janet and bill he started to see lots of things you know things like dead mules scattered all around him and perhaps most strikingly he saw a soldier sitting there with with his his head in his hands just off of the trail now as you probably guessed most of these sounds and sights did not actually happen he was hallucinating but one of the things he saw was actually partially based in reality later that night as arnold was laying comfortably in his sleeping bag and his tent for the first time in a while all of a sudden he just woke up with a jolt and the truth kind of just hit him that dead soldier that he thought he had seen well it wasn't actually a soldier it was john cooper remember john had left the group sometime earlier and he hadn't been seen or heard from since in the meantime bill and janet were taking their time as they went down and at one point bill started to actually hallucinate as well he was hearing voices of phantoms who promised to rescue them he was seeing construction trucks parked on the mountain and all of a sudden bill kind of snapped out of it but that's when he says that he and janet also took a fall and folks this one was much much worse remember the two of them are tied together but when they fell of course this rope came undone and so they go tumbling and after bill eventually stopped and kind of took a second to take stock and kind of see how far he had fallen he looked down in front of him and was actually stunned to see that camp three was right there he was that close to safety but since he had fallen further down than janet did he actually turned around and went back up to try and go check on her but before he could even reach her bill reached someone else and this of course was john cooper according to bill john didn't have any cuts on his skin he didn't have any tears in his clothing and he sat kind of facing the direction of the tents down in camp three and it was unclear where he was what had happened but one thing was clear as day and that was that john cooper was dead and so bill makes this determination and then he keeps going up to try to find janet and fortunately he did find her alive you know shaken up certainly but she was okay she had the wind knocked out of her from falling and her glasses were broken um but overall she was fine right and so she she was sitting there taking a moment to recover and this is where one of the more questionable decisions was made right and so bill who had been carrying everyone pretty much from the get-go who pretty much saved janet's life earlier well bill decided to leave janet there so that he could go down and set up a tent for them at cam three he assumed that she would just take a moment to get her stuff together and then she would follow him when she was ready and it's easy to criticize in hindsight obviously but i don't know you can understand why this was at least a little bit of a questionable decision right and it doesn't really stop there either because the next questionable decision was that according to the survivors when bill arrived at camp three and met arnold there they crawled into their tents and then they just kind of slept through the night whether it was due to exhaustion or delusion from the altitude for whatever reason they didn't they didn't wait up for janet and it wasn't until the very next morning you know when they woke up that they finally realized that she hadn't made it and they started searching for her but they didn't see anything they searched for a little while and then finally they decided to go further down the mountain and again it's easy to criticize this stuff when you weren't there and you're not suffering you know from altitude sickness and all this stuff but i don't know according to arnold bill was so confused that he literally had no idea what direction to even travel so you can kind of understand the state that they're in but still they did kind of leave her there janet never made it back down to base camp eight climbers in this group went up the mountain but only six of them came back down john cooper was dead and janet of course was assumed dead as well because she had completely vanished after bill last saw her john and janet's bodies remained on the mountain and as the tragic news began to spread a media firestorm would be ignited questions about this failed expedition followed the survivors everywhere they went frankly and and they tripped up anyone who tried to get some straight answers which included the u.s and the argentine government as well as of course the families of the dead i mean john cooper was a son a father and husband and at nasa he was active through the entire apollo program janet johnson was a beloved daughter her mother would collect newspaper clippings of this whole story and if there was ever any misspelling of janet's name her mother would literally like cross them out and correct them and she actually speaking of crossing things out she was so sickened by her daughter's mysterious death that whenever she saw janet's quote where she asked to quote be left to die on the mountain you know i told you about earlier well whenever her mother saw this in the newspaper she would immediately cross it out she couldn't even stand to look at it right both of these families wanted answers about how their loved ones ones died. Things just didn't really seem to add up. And also, both families wanted their bodies retrieved. Unfortunately, these two things were going to have to wait because the climbing season was coming to an end. Any attempt to recover the bodies was going to have to, you know, take place next year. It was too late now. And so, the first people under the gun for answers about what happened were the survivors. When Jim Petroski and Miguel Alfonso turned back down the mountain, John and Janet were still alive. And so, the only real potential witnesses to their deaths would have been Bill Zeller and Arnold McMillan. And, you know, based on the story I just told you, they weren't exactly the most reliable narrators. And they didn't really give a ton of clarity to the U.S. or the Argentine government. Once everyone got back to Portland, Oregon, Carmi Defoe's climbing club, you know, the ones that kind of organized this entire disaster expedition in the first place, well, they held this secret meeting. To kind of, like, get ahead of the press and kind of get everyone's story straight, right? And after that meeting, the story that each of the surviving climbers would tell the media and their hometown newspapers was that Janet and John were desperate to reach the summit and that they, quote, probably died of pulmonary edema, which is basically when your lungs fill up with fluid. It's a story that, in theory, does kind of make some sense. And it did answer, a number of questions, we'll say, at the time. However, that didn't last very long. Because in late 1973, Miguel Alfonso and a crew of other Argentine climbers decided to go back up the mountain to try to find the bodies. And though this wasn't an easy task, they were successful. They came upon what was left of Camp 3 at the time, and it was just kind of windswept, just kind of gear strewn everywhere. And only about 150 people, yards further uphill from the camp, they found what they came for. They found the frozen body of John Cooper. And they also found his diary. However, what they didn't find was Janet. There was no sign of her anywhere. And here's where things really start to get shaken up, folks. When they found John's body, he was not positioned how Bill and Arnold had said he was earlier. He wasn't sitting like they said. His legs were actually fully extended. And his hands were kind of laying across his midsection, not up kind of towards his face, like they had said earlier. And upon a closer look, new details emerged. Ones that showed that John didn't die of pulmonary edema like Carmi Defoe had claimed. John's face was battered, and he had this horrified look on his face. He looked terrified. And most disturbingly, his hands covered a. a circular hole in his abdomen, which was bloody and very, very deep. The initial theory about this hole was that John had fallen, must have fallen very hard on his ice axe. And as he attempted to examine this painful wound, he basically just went unconscious and died. But another theory quickly emerged. A theory from the very person who actually performed John's autopsy. The coroner said that the wound could not have come from. An ice axe handle, which is a rectangular shape. The only object that could have made a circular wound like this was an ice screw. An ice screw driven deeply into his body by someone else. But the autopsy report was even more shocking than that. Ultimately, John's cause of death was not even that wound in his abdomen. Of course, it wasn't the fluid in his lungs like they claimed earlier. It wasn't even hypothermia. The cause of his death. Was. Get this. Cranial contusions. Injuries to his brain and his skull. This, coupled with that wound, opened up a brand new, unbelievable idea. What if the mountain didn't actually kill John? What if it wasn't an accident? What if somebody else had killed him? We're talking about murder here, folks. And now, the pressure was on to find Janet's body, which was basically the next piece of the puzzle. For this climbing disaster, now turned possible murder mystery. Two full climbing seasons went by. Dozens of people climbed Aconcagua, but nobody ever found Janet. That is, until February of 1975, when a 17-year-old was descending from the mountain with his father and a family friend. And he saw something red, kind of stuck in one of those fields of ice pillars. Upon inspection, it would turn out that. The red was Janet's jacket. And of course, goes without saying, but inside of her jacket was her body. She was laying face up, tangled in rope, missing a crampon, and her ice axe was nowhere to be found. Her boot was slashed in several places as well, which is strange. And she was found within about 100 feet, or say 30 meters, of where John was found. Bit of a warning for you here. Janet was in. Uh. Worse condition, we'll say, than John was. And so, if you don't want to hear a description of her, then you can skip ahead about 15 seconds and miss that. But, anyways, you good? Okay. So, Janet's body was kind of stuck to the ice beneath her, right? And her face was blackened from all the sun exposure over the years. The skin was even lifted off her nose and her forehead, her chin. Her nose was even broken. And lying on top of her body was this singular. Fist-sized rock. This was a very, very strange find. And it brings up a lot of questions. And so, Bill had said that he and Janet had this, like, long fall down the mountain, right? But the area that her body was found in was actually quite shallow. And the slashes on Janet's boot didn't really look like they were naturally caused. You know, they almost looked intentional, right? And her only wounds were to her face. Which is strange because. Because she allegedly took several falls. I mean, wouldn't she have more than just three wounds on her face if that was the case? But maybe the weirdest finding of all was that rock I just told you about. There were no other rocks around in this giant ice field. So, how did a fist-sized rock end up on top of Janet's body? What is that? Is this a coincidence? Is it a tribute? Was it a weapon? I mean, who knows? And then, folks, the autopsy report came in. Which. Stated that Janet, too, had died of cranial injuries. The same thing as John. Like, something just didn't add up here. And, at the time, the media had basically accepted the deaths of John and Janet as climbing accidents. I mean, these things do happen. You know, maybe it was easier that way instead of wondering if something uglier had occurred. But, despite this narrative, there were some people that were unconvinced. Both Bill and Arnold, once again, admitted to experiencing hallucinations. You know, voices and visions, things like that. And we know that psychosis at that altitude can lead to illogical actions. Maybe even, and this is a big maybe, but maybe even violent impulses. I mean, I don't know. This obviously needed to be investigated a lot further. But, before these possible murders could even be investigated, the world shifted. Argentina's government was overrun by a military coup, and just a year after Janet's body was found, well, the case was essentially buried. The dead were put to rest, John back home in Kansas, and Janet by the trailheads of Aconcagua. Over the years, people would talk every now and again, and make up stories about what might have happened, you know. Maybe it was this love triangle between John, Janet, and Bill, and Arnold. That went wrong. But, of course, that theory doesn't really make sense, because, first of all, Janet was a lesbian. She wasn't attracted to men. And also, as was written in his diary, John didn't really care for Janet very much. And so, that didn't really make sense. You know, maybe there was, like, a serial killer on the mountain that was trying to, like, secretly rob climbers and steal money. But, of course, that's ridiculous, too. I mean, climbing Aconcagua is hard enough, but sneaking up and down the mountain, stealing stuff, like, that's ridiculous. If I had made this video a few years ago, this would have been the end of the story. But, it's not. Because, as fate would have it, almost 50 years after the mysterious deaths of John and Janet, a bombshell discovery was made, and it held the power to completely rewrite everything that I've told you thus far. In February of 2020, a young porter found an item sitting on top of an ice pillar. And he was kind of unsure what it was, and so he brought it back to a more experienced guide down in their campsite. And when this guide saw it, he was completely shocked. And he also knew exactly what it was immediately. He held in his hands right there a Nicomat camera, and the name Janet Mae Johnson was written across it. Oh, and guess what? There was film inside of it. Now, this guy. camera wasn't the only thing that was found that day this is a little gruesome but when those amateur climbers back in 1975 found janet and tried to you know take her body off the mountain they accidentally left her arm behind kind of gross i know but 44 years later these guys that found the camera also found this detached arm which was still stuck inside the jacket and in the jacket's pocket they found two more canisters of film and folks this film was obviously a massive deal because the photos if they could be developed and that's a big if well the photos might answer all these questions about the mystery or at least some of them and they might even tell us how john and janet died the film was analyzed and it turns out that by some miracle almost 50 years later you have been sitting there on the mountain for almost 50 years but they got it and so folks what i have for you right here are photos taken by janet may johnson there's shots of the mountain those ice pillars i've talked about the landscape but there's also pictures of her fellow climbers capturing just about every stage of their journey some were action shots some show the climbers posing and some even show janet herself she even took photos of armors and other items that were found in the mountain and they were able to develop it and Bill after John had already turned around and descended. From these photos, we can take away a few new pieces of information. Some people say that the photos show that the snow on Aconcagua was very soft, meaning that the long falls and slides down the mountain that Bill and Arnold described would not have just been improbable, but were actually impossible. And in this photo, we can actually see Janet nearing the peak of Aconcagua the day before her disappearance. You can even see that she's tied to the person who took the photo by rope. And this is a bit curious because, once again, didn't Bill and Arnold say that Janet was kind of struggling and that she was behind them for most of the climb? We heard a lot about this group of climbers being disconnected, you know, lacking camaraderie, you know, every man and one woman for themselves. But, the discovery of these photos revealed that Janet must have had at least some sort of connection with her fellow climbers. I mean, she cared enough about them to document them as part of her journey. And John, in his diary, well, he cared enough to praise Bill for all of his hard work and to show concern about the sick party members. And even though he didn't love Janet necessarily, well, he even admired some of her quirks. The last surviving member of this expedition died in 2023. And so, we may never know what really happened on Aconcagua, even with these photos, unfortunately. But, all of the pieces of this puzzle, the misaligned accounts, the altitude psychosis, the strange wounds in that rock, and of course the photos from Janet's camera, all of this stuff tell us that the real story of Aconcagua is definitely not the one that's widely accepted or certainly was published. If you have your own take on this story, or some new way to fit all these puzzle pieces together that I might have missed, please leave it in the comments. I'm honestly pretty impressed by some of the connections you guys have made to the mysteries that I bring up on this channel. And so, if you feel like it, give this one a shot. Try to connect those dots. Just please do so respectfully. That's all I ask.