The Most DISTURBING Wilderness Mystery From Every U.S. State⚠️

Introducing Pandora's Holiday Collection. This season, celebrate the ones you know by heart with a gift that says it all. From engravable pieces to festive charms to lab-grown diamonds, Pandora's jewelry is made for the ones who inspire you, who've been there through it all. Give a piece that says exactly what words can't. Pandora. More than a gift. Shop new styles in-store or online at pandora.net. Is your closet ready for summer? I used to dread shopping. Hours browsing online or fighting the store with no guarantee I'd find anything I liked. That's why Stitch Fix is my secret weapon. My stylist knows the trends and what actually works on me, then sends it straight to my door. Free shipping, free returns, no subscription needed. Get started today at stitchfix.com. That's stitchfix.com. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com. From a group of hikers who. Smoked weed and then one of them suddenly vanished into the woods, to an Appalachian trail hiker found in a shallow grave with his gear missing, all the way to footprints that crossed a frozen lake and then just stopped before the guy suddenly reappeared 14 months later, a thousand miles away. You're going to hear about all of that and more because today, I'm going to tell you one wilderness mystery from every single state. I'm mostly focused on stories that got buried, forgotten or ignored. So stick around because when we hit your state, I'm betting that you're going to say, wait, how have I never heard this before? But first, I need to warn you, this video is very dark. And so to keep myself sane, I've decided to make little jokes and state stereotypes as transitions between stories. I didn't want to just completely depress you guys for this entire video. So let me know if whatever I say about your state is actually accurate. I've been working on this one video for over a month now. It was an absolute beast to put together. And so if you appreciate all this hard work, please hit the subscribe button and help us reach our goal of hitting 1 million subscribers in 2020. Okay, let's get into it. We're starting in Alaska, a state so big that the phrase nearby means 200 miles away. On October 8th, 1995, park rangers in Alaska were making their rounds when they stumbled upon something that looked less like a campground and more like a crime scene. The tent was broken, clothes were scattered all over the place, and the campsite was completely abandoned. Maybe someone had left in a hurry, or maybe they left against their will. Whatever had happened here, it was bad. Really bad. But let's back up just a second to September 28th of that same year, when 36-year-old Kevin Robert O'Keefe traveled to Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park. Kevin was an experienced outdoorsman from Sacramento, and he flew in on a float plane, pitching his tent near Wolf Point. He planned to camp there and then spend several weeks exploring the surrounding wilderness. Kevin had scheduled a float plane to pick him up on October 10th, but two days before that, the park rangers discovered his campsite, and found a very disturbing scene. His tent was poorly pitched near the shoreline rather than in a proper tent site, and the main tent pole was broken. And as they looked around, they found a pair of boots, a glove liner, and Kevin's hat, and all this stuff was located in a ditch about 100 yards away from the campsite. And the strangest part was that his backpack, his sleeping bag, food, and water were completely untouched. At first, rangers assumed that Kevin had ventured out on a day hike, but when they came back to check, the campsite was exactly how they had found it previously. And so they realized that Kevin wasn't just a messy hiker, he was a missing hiker. And so they started searching. Rangers combed over miles of rugged terrain and in tough conditions, and people started to wonder if he had fallen into some icy water, maybe, or maybe he had suffered hypothermia. Some people also thought that the damage at his campsite indicated some kind of wildlife attack, but investigators reported no bear tracks or any other animal signs at all. Maybe someone came and took Kevin away, or maybe Kevin didn't want to be found at all. I mean, crews searched and searched, and despite chasing after all of these different theories, no trace of Kevin was ever found. And so to this day, his disappearance remains one of Alaska's most baffling mysteries, and a haunting reminder that the biggest state is also one of the most dangerous. And sure, Alaska is also extremely beautiful, but speaking of beautiful, have you ever had the beautiful song Sweet Home Alabama stuck in your head? Oh, and hold up. Who noticed that I started with Alaska, even though Alabama should have come first alphabetically? Comment if you noticed that. I wanted to make sure that you were all paying attention, and don't worry, I'll promise to stick to the alphabetical order from here on out. So let's turn our attention to Alabama's Bankhead National Forest, where an off-trail hiker's nose caught a whiff of something truly awful. Meet Chad Gary. 44 years old and from the small town of Wren, Alabama, Chad loved hunting for Native American artifacts and doing it way, way out in the forest. He had a passion for history and nature. I mean, it was pretty much the perfect hobby for him. And so on January 25th, 2023, Chad hiked into Bankhead National Forest to find himself something special, but he'd end up getting so much more than he bargained for. Days passed with no sign of him. Chad was a single guy, and so after the first couple days, no one really set off any alarm bells, but then on February 2nd, authorities found Chad's truck, and that's when he was found. Everything changed. The truck had seemingly been abandoned in a place called Indian Tomb Hollow, a remote area in the National Forest. This discovery sparked a massive search, and for days, hundreds of people walked across the ridges, hollows, and sinkholes, calling out Chad's name into the void. They never heard anything back. That is, kind of, until February 11th, when a random off-trail hiker thought they smelled something terrible way out in the woods. As much as they didn't want to, they followed their nose, to a nearby ridge, and that's where they made a heartbreaking discovery. Chad's body was found on that ridge, and to make this story even sadder, his family later said that the specific ridge where he was found was actually a place that Chad loved to visit and search for artifacts. Kind of mysteriously, I couldn't find any public information on Chad's true cause of death, but officials later said they believed he likely passed near the time that he disappeared, and that they don't believe his death was the result of foul play. I'd imagine that there's still a lot of information out there, but I don't think there's a lot of evidence that can be used to prove it. There's still lots of buried treasures out in Bankhead National Forest, but Chad's story is a chilling reminder that even our favorite places can turn deadly without warning. Now, from the southern hospitality of Alabama to the gray-haired retirees of Arizona, let's turn up the heat with this next story. A man stood on the side of the road on August 12th, 2020, staring out at the horizon of Tonto National Forest. From far away, he looked peaceful, but as the sun went down, he was still standing there all alone. And when you find out why, you'll realize he was feeling anything but peaceful. Earlier that day, 25-year-old tattoo artist Kyman Welch helped his uncle with air conditioning work. And then afterwards, they drove along Route 88 and stopped at a scenic overlook for the sunset. Around 7.15pm, Kyman said that he wanted a better view and headed down alone on a nearby trail. It happened very fast, and by the time that his uncle turned around, Kyman was already out of sight. Later that night, when the sun was setting, he was in the middle of the road, and he noticed that Kyman Welch hadn't returned. His uncle reported him missing. Within hours, authorities were searching brush and steep rock faces, but found absolutely nothing. And so where the hell was Kyman Welch? Temperatures that day had reached about 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and Kyman was hiking after a long day of work without special gear or water, which is a recipe for desert disaster. And yet, crews found no evidence of him along the trail. After a long day of work, investigators quickly cleared him of any suspicion. Another theory was that Kyman disappeared on purpose. He didn't have his phone with him, and his mother said that he'd struggled with mental health issues in the months leading up to his disappearance, but he was actively seeking help and even had some appointments scheduled. His family did not believe that he would abandon them, and investigators found no real evidence that he planned to take his own life. After hundreds of hours of searching, they still hadn't found any clothing, belongings, or remains. And to this day, Kyman Welch's case remains unsolved. Arkansas has a silent S in its name, and speaking of silence, I basically sat dumbfounded in silence after I read the next story that came out of this state. On a chilly afternoon in January of 2001, 68-year-old Gloria McDonald set out for what should have been a wonderful little nature walk in Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Gloria was visiting the park with her husband, her stepson, and his girlfriend on Friday, January 26. They planned a short hike on the scenic Lover's Leap Trail, which I've actually been on as well, and it's pretty cool. They set off, but after just 150 yards, Gloria paused. The narrow path was littered with debris from a recent ice storm, and this was quite treacherous for someone her age. She was very uneasy, and she told her family that she was going to turn around and go back to the lodge. She said that they should just continue without her, and that she'd meet them when they were on hiking. a bright yellow jacket. She waved goodbye as they watched her get farther and farther away, the yellow slowly fading into the forest. Only about 30 minutes later, the family returned to the lodge expecting to find her, but Gloria was gone. Her car was still parked outside and her purse was still locked inside the car, completely untouched. Nobody at the lodge had even seen her come back. There was no signs of a struggle, no footprints leading back into the woods, and no clues whatsoever to explain her sudden vanishing. State police, as well as the Polk County Sheriff's Office, launched extensive searches using all the things, bloodhounds, helicopters, grid searchers. Investigators considered that Gloria might have fallen on the icy terrain, but if that had happened on her walk back, they assumed they would have found her quickly. Instead, Arkansas State Police eventually put out a very chilling statement, quote, foul play is suspected. And this makes sense to me because when I was there, I noticed that this was a very chilling statement. This trail is very short and it's close to the road, and so I really can't imagine any other possibility. Two decades later, Gloria's disappearance remains unsolved, a quiet family hike that ended in complete heartbreak and mystery. Now from the Walmart state to the movie star state, our next story has haunted California for years. A hike down the Yosemite Falls trail didn't scream comfort to 30-year-old George Penka, but when he did this, he would be with his church group. And so he at least knew that he was going to be with his church group. And so he he'd be safe, or so he thought. And this is actually one of the most haunting things about his disappearance. He wasn't alone. He had about 20 other pairs of eyes, eyes he trusted well, to keep him away from any danger that might present itself. And yet, after four days of an incredibly extensive search, there wasn't a single trace of him. Absolutely nothing that could even begin to answer the question, what happened to George Penka? From everything I've seen, George was an ordinary guy. He was 30 years old. He was a young man. He was a young man. He was 30 years old. He lived in Los Angeles. And he was a happy, social person who enjoyed the community of those in his church. Now, he wasn't an experienced hiker, but he jumped at the opportunity to see one of America's most beautiful and famous national parks. The official story is that George vanished during the second part of the hike in June of 2011, when the group was walking down the trail, each kind of at their own pace, after turning around not long before. But when everyone was gathered at the end of the hike, George was nowhere to be seen. No one knew what had happened. No one knew where he might have gone. It was as if he just kind of slipped out of sight momentarily and then vanished. The search party that ensued included 140 people, helicopters, ground crews, tracking dogs, but nothing was found. No body, no sign of a struggle. The how of his disappearance was a complete and utter mystery, but the truly horrifying part was the why. There's no record of George struggling with mental health. He wasn't in debts, and there's no reason to believe he had any contention with anyone on the trail that day. There was no smoking gun, not even a little nugget of information about George's personal life that could have possibly led to a theory. George had, in pretty much the plainest meaning of the word, disappeared, and to this day, nobody knows the truth. Now, everyone knows that California has some problems, but just wait until I tell you about the crazy kinds of stuff that goes down in Colorado. $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. 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. Still waiting in line? Again? A car from Carvana 100% online and get it delivered to your door. Let me tell you, your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvana guy. Can't wait to take it for a spin. Only the best for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6'10 once. Seven days delivered or returned, Mr. Shaq? Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven day return policy at carvana.com. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. Traditional home security only alerts you after a break-in. and that's too late. SimpliSafe is changing that. Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way. We don't just alert. We help stop crime before it starts. Plans starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 70% off your new system with professional monitoring at SimpliSafe.com slash Spotify. SimpliSafe. Ahead of crime in real time. Outdoor deterrence plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit SimpliSafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. Alvy Webb was an 87-year-old hunter and on October 19th, 2019, he was on an annual hunting trip with his son and his grandson in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. They were all experienced hunters, but it's important to remember that Mother Nature will always be the deadliest hunter of all time. Alvy wore a bright orange stocking cap and an orange hunter vest over some camouflage. Their plan was simple. Alvy would hike about 100 yards down a trail to hunt alone near the camp. And then his son and grandson would go hunt somewhere else, and Alvy would go hunting alone near the camp. And plan to pick him back up at the bottom of a nearby hill right around 10 p.m. But just a few hours later, they came back to check on him. They called out his name and they got no response. They scanned for that bright orange gear, but they didn't see it. Alvy was nowhere to be found. They checked camp and of course the bottom of the hill. It seemed like he had kind of just vanished, right? And so they notified the authorities and crews began searching. They tried to track Alvy's cell phone, but it was either turned off or the battery had died. And investigators were just puzzled. I mean, he should have been easy to spot and they didn't think that he could have traveled very far due to his age and his health as well as the high altitude. And just as the search was ramping up, the weather turned. Deep snow and freezing temperatures made it hard to navigate. And if Alvy was still out there alive somewhere, well, he wasn't going to be warm enough in the gear that he was wearing when he disappeared. Authorities considered everything. Exposure, a fall, an animal attack, even someone trying to hurt him. They searched until the weather got so bad that they had no choice but to just pause efforts entirely. And that's where Alvy's story still stands today. A complete and total mystery. Fun fact, in Connecticut, you're never more than a mile from a Dunkin' Donuts or a state forest. I'm like 60% sure that's true. Anyways, on March 29th, 2025, a lonely car sat abandoned at the trailhead of the Candlewood Hill Wildlife Management Area in Groton. In Connecticut, there was no crash, there was no note, just a vehicle left at the edge of the woods like its owner planned to be right back after a quick hike. But Stephen Joseph Gush never came back. Police said that Stephen's cell phone was left near the entrance of the park. Some reports also said that his wallet was there. Others don't mention a wallet at all or even where the cell phone was, just near the entrance is all I read. And it's a small discrepancy with a very big implication. Either Stephen walked into the forest without the essential, or something interrupted him before he even got that far. A few hours earlier, Stephen was last seen by family in Ledyard, Connecticut. Friends and family described him as an avid hiker, familiar with the local trails. And that detail matters, of course, because it makes a simple, you know, he got turned around and lost story feel a lot less satisfying. People who know the area usually find their way back to the car. Not always, but usually. And yet for some reason, Stephen didn't. Authorities launched a serious search covering the area, but this turned up nothing. No clues whatsoever. And so investigators widened the hunt in a different direction, asking nearby residents to check doorbell cameras, outdoor security footage, and trail cams. If Stephen had been captured on camera, well, that timestamp could pin down the moment that everything changed. Stephen's family stayed in close contact with police and also organized searches of their own. But still, nothing. And then a chilling nearby thread surfaced. About a week later, a hiker reported being followed by a suspicious man at Bluff Point State Park, which is quite close by. Police said that they didn't believe it was connected to Stephen's disappearance and officers searched, but didn't find this suspicious subject. But still, I mean, it happened in the same town, in the same window of time, close enough to at least make people wonder. And so what happened after Stephen left that car. Did an accident pull him off trail? into a place that searchers somehow missed? Or did he cross paths with someone who made sure that he never made it back before any camera could prove which direction he went? Now, this is a very recent case, and so I hope that in time, Stephen's family will finally get some answers. Now, Delaware is one of the smaller states, but rest assured, it still has wilderness and still has some weird stuff going on. In Delaware's Blackbird State Forest, there's an image that has haunted locals for decades. A blue and white Chevrolet Blazer sitting abandoned on an access road with no driver in sight. Now, this photo's not dramatic in the way that a crime scene photo usually is. It's actually worse than that because it looks completely normal. That vehicle belonged to Jane Marie Pritchard. Jane was 28, a botany grad student at the University of Maryland. On September 20th, 1986, she arrived right around 7 a.m. She parked her vehicle on an access road just below Blackbird State Forest Road, and then she set up her research equipment with gear extending roughly 30 yards into the tree line. She was studying a native plant called hog peanut and taking notes minute by minute. However, Jane's notes ended abruptly just before 10 a.m. And later that day, two campers found her body about 20 feet from a trail. She was partially clothed, and investigators said that she had been shot with a shotgun. They also ruled out an accidental hunting incident, meaning there's only one thing that could have happened. Police interviewed nearly 300, and even produced this composite sketch. Apparently, this man was seen near Jane that morning, described as white, about 5'9 to 5'10, average build, bearded, wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans. It's the kind of description that's painfully ordinary, which is exactly why, to me, this composite sketch is so freaky. At one point, investigators arrested 28-year-old Michael Lloyd, the same man who actually first reported seeing Jane, but DNA would ultimately, exonerate him after spending 10 months in prison without bail. And he was released and no other suspect has been charged since. And so what happened in that window after 7:00 a.m. before 10:00 a.m. when Jane's notes stopped? Her vehicle stayed behind. Her work stopped mid-sentence and an unknown bearded man, almost certainly her killer, walked right back into his normal life. Who was he and why was he there? As of today, it remains a mystery. Now, there's a chance that might have been the first crazy story you've ever heard about Delaware or even the only story you've ever heard about Delaware. But I do know that you've heard some crazy stuff from Florida. On March 9th, 2023, Teresa Hartley sent a text that should have been completely normal. Loves and hugs, sister, is what she sent to her childhood best friend. The very next day, Teresa vanished into the Ocala National Forest in central Florida, never to be seen again. Teresa was 66 and she lived in St. Augustine, Florida. A longtime friend, Robert Markwell, spoke with her every day and had been helping her with things that were starting to slip, things like bills, paperwork, signs of memory loss. On Friday, March 10th, he talked to her like normal. But by Saturday, she was gone. Robert drove to her house and her roommate told him that Teresa had left with a mutual friend and they even said they might swing by Robert's place later. But this obviously never happened. When Robert called Teresa, it went straight to her voicemail. When he tried calling the friend that she'd gone with, Robert says the man hung up on him. Now, what happened out there really depends on which account you read. An incident report says that Teresa left in a white Dodge pickup with a trailer heading to Lake Delancey to gather some firewood. The truck apparently got stuck and the friend said that they started walking to seek help. And after some time, he told Teresa to turn around and wait with the vehicle while he kept going. Another report claims that two days passed before anyone went back for that stuck truck. But either way, the truck ended up being located near Forest Road 88 and Teresa was not there with it. Her niece, Cara, has openly questioned why the alarm wasn't raised sooner. Searchers combed the area and found two blue metal chairs that belonged to Teresa, plus some cigarette butts near where she was last believed to be. And there's another line that makes every choice that day feel even heavier. One report says that the friend didn't call for help right away because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The sheriff's office says it doesn't suspect foul play. And deputies have suggested that Teresa may have had a mental condition and simply wandered off into the woods. But I don't know, something something feels off here. And so let me know if you guys want me to do a full video on this story and go into way more detail. Now, let's hop the border from the Sunshine State to the Peach State for one of the wildest mysteries to ever come out of Georgia. Observe the North American dad, 50s great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, dang, that's a good offer. The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him boss. He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana dot com. Pickup fees may apply. Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want with Stamps dot com. Print postage on demand 24/7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90 percent with automated rate shopping. That's why over one million small businesses trust Stamps dot com. Go to Stamps dot com and use code podcast to try Stamps dot com risk free for 60 days. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond. Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them with Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into sign up for your one dollar per month trial at Shopify dot com slash special offer. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. If you're looking for a better way to save on electricity, both night and day, look no further than TXU Energy free nights and cool summer. It gives you free energy all night, every night, all year long. Plus a 25 percent bonus toward your daytime use every summer. It's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings. So all nights are always free. Summer days are now always discounted with savings like that. You'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again. Learn more at TXU dot com. Rep number one zero zero zero four. Some personality quirks are really funny. Like I talk to my left foot more than I talk to my right. You know what's not funny and not a personality quirk OCD. Although the term OCD is widely recognized, it's misunderstood by most people. It doesn't mean being tidy or clean. It's having obsessive fears, thoughts and urges. You question your character, you question your safety. That's OCD. Breaking the OCD cycle takes effective treatment. Go to no CD dot com to learn more. On the morning of January 25th, 2002, a small survey crew was working in the woods of Harris County, Georgia. It was an ordinary Friday, but they had no idea that somewhere out there, one single abandoned boot was about to change everything. Earlier that morning, 20 year old Christopher Tompkins kissed his mother goodbye around 10:00 a.m. and then headed to work. He lived with her in Ellerslie, Georgia, and by all accounts, he was a hardworking, happy young man with a steady job at the job site. Christopher and his four man crew went into the woods and then around 12:00 p.m. were walking the same direction space roughly 50 feet apart. A coworker turned around briefly, but when he looked back, Christopher was gone. There was no sound, no struggle, no clear direction. And stranger still, his tools were left behind, sitting on the ground right where he had just been working. It wasn't until nearly 5:00 p.m. that Christopher's mother learned that her son had vanished. And so that night and into the next morning, family and friends searched. Along the roadside, they found fibers from Christopher's pants that were torn off on some barbed wire, and then they found one of his boots. Just one law enforcement search with dogs and check nearby ponds. But days turned into weeks. Investigators initially believed that Christopher may have walked away and then gotten into a vehicle, but his family never believed this. Who would walk off into rural woods in cold weather wearing only one boots, leaving behind his tools, his belongings, his entire life without any word? I don't know the answer to that. But it's very likely that he didn't do it by choice. Christopher is still missing to this day. A haunting reminder that people don't always vanish in the dark of the night. Sometimes they disappear in broad daylight. Now, I don't think it's controversial to say that Hawaii is paradise on Earth, or at least it was until this next story. On August 30th, 2019, a young hiker parked his rental car at a trailhead around 6:00 a.m. He spoke briefly with another hiker, and when they split ways, neither of them knew how important that brief moment would become. Kyle Britton was a 27 year old experienced hiker from San Diego. He planned to hike part of a technical trail on the big island called the Z Trail. After he parked at the Waipio Valley Overlook, he asked a nearby stranger where the bathroom was. The stranger pointed him in the right direction, unknowingly becoming the last person to ever see Kyle dead or alive. Hours passed and Kyle never returned to his car. He missed his flight home, and when his parents couldn't reach they contacted the local police. Authorities quickly found his locked rental car, but of course, Kyle was nowhere in sight. Search and rescue teams scoured the surrounding jungle, waterfalls, and coastal cliffs, fighting brutal terrain. But days of effort came up empty, that is, until a search drone captured something chilling. A few days in, a drone captured a strange nighttime video of a mysterious man walking along nearby trails without a flashlight. Teams searched this area, but they found nothing else to explain why this man was there. The place that Kyle disappeared is notoriously hazardous, and investigators believe that he might have slipped, fallen, or even been swept into the ocean somehow. After a three-week search with multiple teams and hundreds of volunteers, there was still no trace, no backpack, clothing, or gear, and Kyle is still missing to this day. Now, some say potato, some say potato, but in Idaho, where our next story takes place, people say that the best way to stay safe is to stay at home and lock your door. At 1.17 p.m. on Monday, October 19, 2020, Fern Baird signed her name into the Prairie Creek Trailhead logbook in Ketchum, Idaho, and wrote five simple words, to the lake and back. She meant for it to be an easy hike, but Mother Nature has a way of taking simple plans and just throwing them out the window. Now, Fern was a 62-year-old Utah woman visiting Idaho, and that morning, she asked a hotel employee for a hike recommendation. She said it was a scenic and easy day hike. Security footage later showed her leaving the hotel alone, wearing a gray jacket, black pants, gloves, and a fanny pack. But hours later, she still hadn't returned. Deputies were called, and they found her car parked at the trailhead. Her purse was still inside of it, even. Everything about the scene looked like Fern had obviously planned to come back, and yet she was nowhere to be found. Days turned into weeks as officials and volunteers searched the rugged wilderness. They worked trails and creek beds, hovered over dense canopy, and called her name into the cold. And speaking of cold, overnight temperatures sank into the 30s, and then even dropped well below freezing. Pretty soon, snow started to fall, which wiped away any chance of tracking footprints. No one who signed the trail log that day remembered seeing Fern. Authorities didn't find a reason to suspect foul play, which only left the same question: What the hell happened to her? Did she take a bad step and injure herself? Did she fall into a ditch or a tree well? Theories kept coming in, even after the official search was called off 10 days later. In the summer of 2024, a volunteer search group launched a multi-day effort. Fern's friend, Bill Silliman, joined this effort, hoping for answers. He spotted what looked like teeth in the dirt, but it ended up just being a deer jawbone. And so Fern was still out there, and they were no closer to any answers. And that's still the case to this very day. Fern wrote in that trail log book that she was simply going to the lake and back. And we don't know for sure if she even made it to the lake, but sadly, we do know that she has never come back. The story I found from Illinois made me cringe immediately, because it happened at a place called Starved Rock State Park. And I swear, sometimes it's like the people that name these parks want bad things to happen in them. On March 14th, 1960, three friends checked into the Starved Rock Lodge in Starved Rock State Park. That's when they found out that they were actually going to the lake. Mildred Lindquist, Frances Murphy, and Lillian Oding planned to spend four quiet days surrounded by canyons and waterfalls. After lunch, they set out for a hike in St. Louis Canyon, but the women never returned. At first, lodge employees didn't realize that anything was wrong, even as family members tried to reach them. It wasn't until two days later, when Frances' husband Robert drove to the lodge looking for his wife, that police were finally notified. Search teams went into the canyon. They found a woman who looked like Frances, but they didn't know who she was. They found a small cave, and inside of it were the three women's bodies, beaten, bloody, and arranged in a way that felt chillingly deliberate. Two of the women were naked from the waist down, and yet there was no evidence of S.A. It hadn't been a robbery, either. Their jewelry and watches were still on their bodies. And nearby, crews found a bloody, frozen tree limb, which was later confirmed as the primary murder weapon. And on Frances Murphy's glove, investigators found an unknown hair, a detail that would haunt this case for years. Police quickly focused on a 21-year-old dishwasher at the lodge. His name was Chester Weeger, and he said that he was getting a haircut at the time of the murders. He passed a polygraph, and there was no physical evidence tying him to that cave. However, after months of relentless interrogations, threats of the electric chair, and nights without sleep, police actually got him to confess. But then days later, he took it back. And I guess none of that mattered to the jury because he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Chester spent over 60 years behind bars, but always insisted that he was innocent. He was granted parole and released in 2019, but in 2022, this story flipped again. With advances in DNA technology, authorities retested the unknown hair from Frances' glove and determined that it did not belong to Chester Weeger. Two years later, in March of 2024, Chester's attorney told the media further testing had identified the death of Chester Weeger. Chester told the media that the death of Chester Weeger was identified as one of the three brothers from the mysterious Bray family. And so this case is considered closed, I guess, because Chester was convicted, but clearly it's not really. There are still so many questions that haven't been answered. Now, look, I mean no offense to anyone who lives in Indiana, but I'm still trying to figure out what the hell a Hoosier is. Like maybe you guys can help me out in the comments after I tell you this next story from your state. In October of 1975, two hunters were hiking deep in Morgan Monroe, Ohio State Forest when they tripped over the strangest pile of leaves they'd ever seen. I mean, how do you trip over a pile of leaves? Well, they found out when they pushed the leaves aside. A man's skeleton was underneath, mostly decomposed, but still dressed in jeans, a white knit pullover, and white sneakers. Wisps of strawberry blonde hair were clinging to the skull, and around his neck there was a small key and a pocket-sized Bible. Investigators quickly realized that this was not just an accident. The man's hands were gone, completely and, apparently, purposefully removed. There was no clear cause of death at first, but of course, theories rushed in. It might have been torture. Or someone trying to block identification by the fingerprints being removed, maybe? The autopsy showed poor dental history, and so could he have been a drifter that no one reported missing, or perhaps a traveler who came to town for a concert and then just never made it home? Authorities released a clay reconstruction. Tips poured in, but all of them were dead ends, except for one. Two months before the unidentified man was likely killed, a young Michigan pilot named Dennis Collins vanished after taking out a life insurance policy and flying towards Canada. Later, eerie parallels between the two cases began to surface. Reddish hair, similar build, similar dental issues, and the key on the skeleton matched the same kind of aircraft that Dennis had been flying. However, the details didn't completely line up. The body was shorter, and the dental defects were on the wrong side. Dennis Collins' plane was never found, and so, was he murdered and dumped in an Indiana forest, or did he crash into Lake Superior? Either way, the man with the severed hands is still unidentified. For a moment, it felt like one mystery might solve another, but instead, we're left with two even crazier ones. This next mystery comes from Iowa, but don't worry, it doesn't involve corn in any way. Again? That's time you'll never get back. Save time and money with Stamps.com. Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with Stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to Stamps.com and use code "podcast" for a free, welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. This season, celebrate the ones you know by heart, with a gift that says it all. From engravable pieces, to festive charms, to lab-grown diamonds, Pandora's jewelry is made for the ones who inspire you, who've been there through it all. Pandora. More than a gift. The GLP-1 pills you've been hearing about are on Ro. Yep, they're here. With clinically proven ingredients for weight loss. Now in a pill. And now on Ro. Two FDA-approved GLP-1 pill options, both at the lowest cash pay price available. Get real results from a daily GLP-1 pill. Now on Ro. To see if you qualify, go to ro.co slash choices. Rx only. Go to ro.co slash safety for serious side effects and boxed warning associated with GLP-1s. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. Right. You know what? New customer offer for initial plan term. Only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Shaq here. What's it like to buy a car from Carvana 100% online and get it delivered to your door? Let me tell you. Your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvana. my guy. Shaq. Not always. I was 6'10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. See our seven-day return policy at carvana.com. Now, a quick disclaimer. These next two stories aren't really outdoor mysteries. I just couldn't find any from these states, but I didn't want to leave these states out either, and so here we go. 12-year-old Johnny Gosch lived in West Des Moines, Iowa. He woke up around 6 a.m. on Sunday, September 5th, 1982 to run his usual paper route, but for some reason, on this Sunday morning, he didn't wake his father up like he usually did. He decided that he was just going to go at it alone. There are numerous accounts of his final sighting. He was seen by other boys picking up his papers at the drop-off point. He was also seen by a witness speaking to a man. Outside of a blue car, a different witness said they heard a car speed away after the door was shut. These increasingly unusual sightings accumulated in the discovery of his red wagon, but no Johnny anywhere in sight. The tragedy of the investigation's utter futility is that this was probably avoidable. Law enforcement was late to take the parent's statements, and those initial hours were crucial. Evidence was lost, and trails went cold. There were leads regarding human. trafficking, and other explanations in the following years that never had any verifiable evidence and just ended up going nowhere. Johnny's case was handled so poorly that it actually raised awareness for other cases involving missing children in the country, and this was due in large part to the continued advocacy of his mother, Noreen, who, aside from Johnny, is the most tragic figure in this story. But we're not done yet. So in 1997, she had a visitor at her home, and while this is certainly not confirmed, Noreen swears that she had a visitor at her home. The only known truth of the matter is that Johnny is still officially missing. There's no agreed upon explanation for what happened to him, but some people still do believe that he's alive. But this begs the question, of course, if he is alive, then why won't he reveal himself? The answer may never come to pass. Now from the cornfields of Iowa, to the cornfields of Kansas, this next story would have even Dorothy and Toto shaking in their ruby slippers. In the spring of 1988, Randy Wayne Leach was a high school senior from Linwood, Kansas, heading into what should have been one of the best seasons of his life. But instead, it became memorable for the worst kind of reason. At 6.30pm on April 15th, he left home for a pre-graduation party driving his mother's gray Dodge 600 sedan. He was seen at the party, and nothing abnormal was reported. But, how he left is where the mystery begins. Not a single witness remembers seeing him leave, and yet at some point, Randy was gone, and so was the car. His parents didn't realize he never made it home until they woke up the next morning. To this day, law enforcement has never found Randy or the Dodge 600. The car was never recovered. There was no body to be found, even after an extensive search. In 2002, the case was reclassified as a homicide, although no one was charged. There was effectively nothing physical to go off of. And the most perplexing part is the timeline. Randy left home at 6.30 and he reportedly arrived to the party somewhere between 9.30 and 10, but the party was only a few miles away. And so what was he doing in those three hours? If foul play was involved, that time window has to be critical. But, however, Randy was never seen again, and we still don't know what happened. Kentucky is known for bourbon, horse racing, and apparently insane wilderness mysteries too. In 1792, just months before Kentucky became a state, a man named James Harrod went missing while hunting in the wilderness. Harrod was a family man. He married Ann Coburn MacDonald, and together they had a daughter. He was a pioneer, a frontiersman, and he played a leadership role in founding what would become Kentucky's first English-speaking town, Harrodsburg. He lived a well-rounded life, but tragedy wasn't very far from his family circle. Ann had previously been married to a man who was killed by Native Americans. When Harrod vanished without a trace, people wondered if his status had something to do with it. Unlike many missing person stories, Harrod was the kind of man who definitely could have had enemies, and so it isn't a stretch to imagine that those who felt their land and communities had been trampled on might have wanted some revenge. Harrod was also a soldier. He'd courted death before before, but Ann wanted nothing to do with death. She'd already lost one husband, and now it was happening again. Were Native Americans really the explanation this time? Harrod's past could definitely lead you there, but there was no tangible evidence that this was actually the case. No sign of a fight or struggle. No note suggesting he chose to disappear. No reason to believe that he wasn't happy where he was. Ann did make one statement. She said her husband was murdered by a man named Bridges. Maybe it wasn't actually an enemy of the past, but rather a false friend of the present. You should go to Louisiana for food, music, and true southern hospitality, but just in case you needed a reason not to go to Louisiana, this next story should do the trick. The case of Bobby Dunbar is profoundly unique. He was lost, but then he was found. Or so he thought. Bobby was four years old when he vanished. He was on a fishing trip with his family at Swayze Lake on August 23, 1912. He disappeared, and a search party that covered the entirety of the lake and tracked footprints surrounding it was unable to find anything conclusive. The case was effectively closed, until eight months later when things started to get very interesting. A handyman named William Cantwell Walters was traveling alone in Mississippi, but he wasn't actually alone. A boy was with him. A boy that matched the description of the missing Bobby Dunbar. Walters was arrested, and the boy was brought back to Louisiana, where he was given back to the Dunbars and resumed a normal life. Only this was not normal at all, because the boy couldn't remember a single thing about his life before he went missing. Around the same time, a woman named Julia Anderson came forward claiming that the boy who had been returned to the Dunbars was not actually Bobby Dunbar, but rather her own son named Bruce Anderson. However, she was largely ignored. There was a trial, but the court sided with the Dunbars, and the boy was kept with them. Walters was charged with kidnapping, but his appeal was successful, and he was released. And so the case seems settled, there was now a boy in the Dunbar's home, but it didn't seem right. In 2004, nearly a century after the event took place, a DNA test was conducted, and it revealed that the boy who went home with the Dunbars after the arrest of William Cantwell Walters was not biologically related to them. Historians have concluded that this boy was almost certainly Bruce Anderson. He was never returned to his mother, and although he was found dead, the case was eventually resolved. What happened to the real Bobby Dunbar remains a mystery. Newsflash, Maine is basically Canada. And now that I have everyone from Maine's attention, all 12 of you, here's a wild mystery from your state. I'm sorry, Maine, I love you. There's a stretch of the Appalachian Trail in Maine that feels less like a hiking trail, and more like a dare. It's called the Hundred Mile Wilderness. And in 1983, a 54-year-old woman walked right into it and was never seen again. As many of you know, I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2018, but Texas native Jesse Hoover had me beat by a few years. In May of 1983, Jesse set out to thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail southbound. She'd recently become a widow after her husband was suddenly killed in a car accident. She had five kids, she was grieving, and according to her family, the idea of the trail gave her something that grief had taken away. Jesse also suffered from epilepsy, and she was not an experienced hiker, which is exactly why her family begged her not to go. But she went anyway, boarding a Greyhound in Fort Worth and traveling all the way to northern Maine, choosing to start at Mt. Katahdin and then head straight into the most remote section of the entire trail, the Hundred Mile Wilderness. On May 20th, Jesse entered Baxter State Park, but rangers took one look at her gear and then refused to let her climb Mt. Katahdin, believing that she was dangerously unprepared. However, they couldn't stop her from doing the next part. To enter the Hundred Mile Wilderness back then, hikers had to pass through the Abel Gatehouse. An attendant there remembered Jesse for the same reason that the rangers did. She was so obviously unprepared that she just stuck out like a sore thumb. He even asked her if she was carrying any bug spray, and she wasn't. Jesse walked past that gatehouse and right into the Hundred Mile Wilderness, and she was never seen again. Her family didn't realize that anything had gone wrong for a long time, and so she was finally reported missing on July 11th, and wardens immediately faced a nightmare. The first 48 hours were long gone by this point, the potential search area stretched over 15 million acres, and the section of trail she had vanished from had actually just been thoroughly searched for a different missing hiker just days earlier. That search turned up no trace of Jesse, and so a second one was never launched. I do think there's a chance that someday a hunter or logger might come across a clue, but until then, we're all just left to wonder. Maryland is known for blue shelled crab and Old Bay seasoning, but unfortunately the story I found from there doesn't involve either of those things. On June 12, 2021, hikers in Katahkin Mountain Park came across female human remains in the woods. And at first, even the most basic question had no answer. Who was she? In the days that followed this gruesome discovery, searchers located even more remains, and things got even darker. Investigators described the victim as dismembered, a hand and a foot were missing apparently. Interestingly, the remains were discovered only two miles away from Camp David, but that's kind of besides the point. Nearby, there were a few personal items, things that suggested she hadn't simply just vanished into thin air, right? They found a puma handbag and a keychain shaped like the country El Salvador. But even with those clues, she stayed unidentified for weeks. Authorities said they had no missing person reports tied to the park and no abandoned vehicles left behind at the trailhead. And that's the part that makes this case feel so unsettling. If no one reported her missing from the park and no one left a car behind, then how did she arrive there and who knew where she had gone? But a month later, she finally had a name back. And that was Joanna Michelle Amaya, and she also went by the name Dior Reyes. She was 26, and her family said their last contact with her had been in the fall, months before she was found. And that's the question that this case leaves behind. If Joanna could be gone for months before she was even identified, then who knew she was gone? And who knew she was gone? Who noticed first? And how many people didn't notice at all? To this day, Joanna's cause of death has not been identified, and I would assume that foul play is a real possibility here. Massachusetts was the home of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, and it wouldn't surprise me if the state has been cursed ever since. Exhibit A, this story. By the time Joshua Slocum disappeared, he was already a legend. In the late 1890s, he became the very first person to sail solo around the world, spending nearly $1,000 a year. He was the first person to sail solo around the world, spending nearly $3,000 a year. He was the first person to sail solo around the world, spending nearly three years alone aboard a rebuilt 37-foot boat called the Spray. On this boat, there was no engine, no radio, no crew. He survived storms and vast stretches of open ocean where he wouldn't see another ship for weeks at a time. When he returned, he wrote a best-selling book and basically became famous overnight. After that, shorter trips must have felt pretty easy until November 14th, 1909. That day, Slocum left Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, bound for the Caribbean. This wasn't supposed to be an expedition. It was just a seasonal cruise south, right? The Spray was stocked with months' worth of food and water, and the route was familiar. Locals watched him set out alone, the same way that he had always done. But that was the last confirmed sighting of him ever. He presumably drowned, but nothing from his boat ever surfaced, no wreckage, no body. Ships along the route were alerted, harbors kept watch, and yet they found nothing. Over a century later, theories, still swirl. A steamship could have struck him at night and then never noticed, a sudden wind might have rolled the boat, or maybe even something simpler, maybe he just slipped on a wet deck and, you know, he fell overboard. Alone at sea, a fall like that can be fatal in seconds, and the boat is going to just keep moving without you. Either way, neither Slocum or his boat has ever been found. One of the most experienced sailors alive basically vanished on what should have been a very routine trip. Pretty freaky. People from the Upper Peninsula of Minnesota, Michigan, are apparently called youpers. Did I say that right? And apparently these youpers don't seem to mind being called that, which is concerning to me, but not as concerning as this next story. On a bitter winter morning in February of 1978, 23-year-old Stephen Kubacki stepped out of his attic apartment in Holland, Michigan, strapped on his cross-country skis, and then disappeared. And then, 14 months later and thousands of miles away, he reappeared in a way that's stunned everybody. Steve attended Hope College, he loved the nearby forests and lakes, and friends described him as intense, unusually bright, and deeply engaged with big ideas. On February 18th, 1978, Lake Michigan was locked beneath thick ice, and despite this danger, Steve decided to ski out onto the frozen expanse all by himself. He never came back, and when search crews checked the lake's edge, his footprint stretched more than 200 yards across the ice, but then they just stopped. No signs of a struggle, no break in the ice, no explanation at all. Authorities searched for days, but they found nothing. And so some people thought that maybe he'd fallen through the ice, and others went the darker paranormal route, UFOs, I don't know, it was the 70s after all. Spring eventually came, but Steve's body never surfaced, and his family was left with nothing but questions. But then, on May 5th, 1979, a disoriented man woke up in a meadow outside of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He didn't know his name or how he got there, and this man was Stephen Kubacki. He reunited with his family and claimed that he didn't remember anything. The media swarmed, desperate for answers, but Steve just didn't give any. He built a quiet life, he avoided the spotlight, and for decades, this story stayed surreal. That is until nearly half a century later, when Kubacki wrote a book, and finally revealed the truth: his disappearance wasn't an accident, he did it on purpose. Young and impulsive, he wanted to break away from normal society, and so he staged the footprints on the ice, and then left his gear behind, erasing himself completely, and leaving the world to wonder where the hell he had gone. And so I guess this one is technically not unsolved, but I mean, who the hell does that? Minnesota is home to some of the kindest people in America, but that doesn't make them immune from having crazy and tragic outdoor mysteries like everywhere else. On April 5th, 2019, US Border Patrol agents trudged through snowdrifts along the Sioux Hustler Trail in northern Minnesota, responding to a welfare check. When they reached this remote campsite, they found something that sent chills down their spine: a bright red stain of blood in the snow. But before they could dig any deeper, a winter storm rolled in and forced them to pause the search. And so, the forest's secrets were buried, at least for now. Three weeks later, on April 25th, the agents returned, and by now the snow had melted enough to reveal a lot more. Near the blood-stained ground, they found signs of a campsite that suggested someone had been living out there in complete solitude. But then they found something a lot worse. Skeletal remains, lying among a shredded jacket and torn pieces of clothing. Over a year later, investigators would finally confirm the identity. It belonged to 29-year-old Jordan Grider from New Mexico, not Minnesota. Jordan had vanished into those woods back in the day, but he was still alive, and he was still alive. Jordan was back in October of 2018, apparently seeking some peace and quiet. He'd been camping alone in Superior National Forest, far away from roads and people. Authorities examined the scene, trying to figure out what happened. Could someone have hurt him way out there in the middle of nowhere? They found no evidence of foul play, and so they also considered wildlife. Jordan's mother did say that she was convinced that he was attacked by a pack of wolves, or maybe it was simply the freezing temperatures that ended his life. Either way, there were no definitive answers. Only the Minnesota forest. Jordan had been living in the forest for several years, and he had been living in the forest for several years, and he had been living in the forest for several years, and he truly knows. M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. There, I did it. You guys have no idea how many takes that took me, but anyways. My life is booked and busy. I don't have time to try on a million outfits that still don't feel right. That's why I get styled with Stitch Fix. My personal stylist sends outfits picked for my size, style, and budget so I can get dressed and get on with my day feeling confident. It's no risk, all style. Free shipping, free returns, no subscription. Now, always discounted. With savings like that, you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again. Learn more at TXU.com. Rep number 1-0-0-0-4. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling, and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. Pandora. More than a gift. Observe the North American dad. 50s. Great polo collection. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles, and says, dang, that's a good offer. No haggling. No hassle. No one called him. Boss. Astonishing. Sell your car today on Carvana.com. Zeb Hughes and Gunnar Palmer is pretty hard to wrap your head around. They were duck hunters on the Mississippi River, experienced, comfortable, and doing something that they'd done plenty of times before. And then they were gone. In December of 2020, Zeb Andrew Hughes, 21, of Wesson, Mississippi, and Jameson Gunnar Palmer, 16, of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, went on a duck hunting scouting trip. On December 3rd, they left near Latournow Landing, and when they didn't come home that evening, and didn't return any calls, they were reported missing. Their truck and trailer were found at the boat landing, and later, their boat was found flipped over downriver along with life jackets, hunting equipment, and other gear that they had brought. But Zeb and Gunnar were never found. There was never any further trace. Just that overturned boat, the last piece of evidence from two people who should have been capable to be out there. Their families are left wondering what could possibly explain it, and why it seemed to happen so fast. I mean, a flipped boat doesn't feel like a slow, quiet accident. It feels like a reaction, a scramble, a struggle. And what makes this even more horrifying is that these men weren't just trained, they were actually armed. And so, on the off chance that foul play was involved, they had weapons with them, and if anyone could have possibly known how to use them, it would have been these two. And yet still, the pair vanished. In the aftermath of this, Mississippi lawmakers actually took action. The Zeb Hughes Law was created to speed up the process for families to receive official death certificates, offering legal closure when emotional closure has yet to come. Missouri's state name is basically Misery, and this next mystery might give you a hint why. Ronna Bremer was a young mother in Ozark, Missouri, living a stay-at-home life devoted to her two small children. She was pregnant with her third when she vanished. On December 20, 1988, her husband Joel Bremer told police that he and Ronna had argued and he walked away from the house. He said he returned later and went to sleep, and only realized the next morning that Ronna was gone. She had seemingly disappeared from her home in the middle of the night. I mean, that's. The only other report came from a family member who said Ronna called at 10.30pm to ask if Joel was home, and of course, he wasn't yet. The investigation went nowhere for two years, that is, until 1990. When something truly sinister happened, a human skull was discovered near a relative's property, and it was quickly confirmed to be Ronna's. And the chilling part was that it was only a skull, like no other bones, no other remains, like nothing else that could explain what had happened to her. And then the case went cold again for about 11 years. In 2001, a witness came forward with information about a relative of Ronna's who had been part of the search party on the day she disappeared. His name was David. And the witness claimed that Gray had confessed to murdering a woman by strangling her in a car, but nothing ever became conclusive. There were also whispers that Joel Bremer had been violent in his marriage to Ronna, and he was later convicted of SA-ing one of their children. But even with that, his story that night, the horrifying discovery of her skull, all that stuff, Ronna's disappearance and death remains unsolved. Now, I'll be honest, most of my knowledge about Montana, it comes from the TV show Yellowstone, but after digging into this next story, I'm definitely going to be doing my homework before I go there next. In October of 2005, a hunter was trekking through the Bighorn Mountains in southeastern Montana when he heard a crow in a nearby tree going absolutely bonkers. He'd spent enough time in the wilderness to know that that's never a good sign, and so he followed the screeching to see what the hell was going on. And what he found on the ground was so shocking that it almost made him start screeching too. But rewind to September 19, 2004, just about a year earlier, a 48-year-old man named Robert Springfield went elk hunting in Black Canyon with his two sons. Robert was wearing winter clothing and carrying a bow as well as a few arrows. At some point, they split up and agreed to meet at a prearranged spot later. As afternoon turned to evening, the sons reached the meeting point and waited. And waited. And waited. But Robert never showed up. So that night, they reported him missing. A huge search effort followed, and yet, not a single trace of Robert was found. The case went ice cold, but then more than a year later, that crow brought the mountains back to life. The hunter followed the bird's violent shrieks to a tree and then searched beneath it. And there, he found partial human remains, a coat, and a wallet. Inside the wallet was the identity of the man that he was standing over. It was, of course, Robert Springfield. Strangely, though, Robert's bow and arrows weren't there with his body. The FBI conducted DNA tests, but communication with the family was minimal, and the remains weren't returned for burial until two years later. Robert's death certificate listed the cause of death as "undetermined." And to this day, his case remains unsolved with one missing weapon and far too many unanswered questions. So you probably thought I was done with the corn jokes after Iowa and Kansas, but I bet you forgot about Nebraska. It's a state that's also filled with corn and wild mysteries. It was July 6th, 2019, in Jering, Nebraska, a small town framed by wide skies and steep bluffs. 25-year-old Chance Engelbert, a former competitive rodeo bareback rider and a young father, was there visiting his wife's family with their infant son. Earlier that day, Chance had gotten into an argument with some of his relatives, and it actually got so tense that Chance reached out to a friend and then asked for a ride back to his home in Wyoming, over 200 miles away. He sounded upset, the friend later told reporters. Yeah. No crap. This ride never came. Surveillance footage caught Chance walking through Jering in the early evening, and then around 9:00 PM, his aunt received a very odd text from him. It was just jumbled letters and a grumpy face emoji, not something that he would normally send. And then moments later, his phone went dark. Chance never came back that night, and the next morning, his wife reported him missing. Canals were drained, fields were walked, helicopters covered miles of terrain from the air, and still, nothing. Nothing was ever found. For years, the case went cold, leaving everyone in limbo, hoping that Chance was alive somewhere, or at the very least, that answers would come. But then, in October of 2025, hikers found skeletal remains on the rugged north side of Scotts Bluff National Monument. Personal items with the remains matched what Chance had been carrying the night he vanished, and DNA testing later confirmed that it was him. The Douglas County coroner's office ruled his death accidental, with injuries consistent with a fall from height, estimated between 100 and 100 feet. It is believed that he was shot in the back of his head, and that he died in a car accident during the crash. There was no evidence that anyone else was involved, and so this might sound like an open and closed case, but the questions didn't exactly disappear. Questions about the phone, and about how he got there in the first place, all we have is a blunt ending to Chance's story, and honestly, in my opinion, it leaves a lot to be desired. Who's in more danger? A hiker all alone in the middle of the hot Nevada desert, or your wallet in a Las Vegas casino? You know I had to make a gambling joke for Nevada, okay. On Friday, August 14, 2020, 43-year-old Trevor Basile, a beloved art teacher, husband, and a father, left home to do something that he loved. He left to go rock hunting. He went outside of Panaca, Nevada, an area that he knew well and had gone into countless times before, sometimes staying late into the night with a bucket in hand. There was no reason to think that this trip would be any different. That morning, Trevor drove to one of his favorite spots in the hills south of town, parked and then headed down the trail. But as daylight faded into night, he never returned. His family hadn't heard from him, so they went searching, and near Miller Wash, about 15 miles south of town, they found his vehicle parked alone on Oak Wells Road. It didn't look wrecked, it didn't look abandoned in a panic, it was just kind of sitting there, eerily. And so, they reported him missing. By the next morning, more than 100 volunteers headed into the hills along with law enforcement. Search dogs picked up Trevor's scent and followed it for seven miles until they found Trevor's scent in a bucket full of rocks and a towel left behind right out in the open. That bucket, of course, belonged to Trevor, but Trevor was nowhere in sight. From there, they threw everything they had at the search, but unfortunately, nothing else turned up. The dogs ended up losing his scent, and some people wondered if all the volunteers had maybe muddied the trail, while at the same time, others pointed to the brutal heat, so intense that the dogs could only work for a few hours each morning. By the third day, searchers focused back near the vehicle, thinking that Trevor might have doubled back, disoriented, maybe suffering from heat exhaustion. Other theories soon followed, maybe a medical episode, a fall into thick brush, even a mountain lion attack, but no real evidence ever surfaced. The official search was soon called off, and even unofficial searches have come up empty. New Hampshire is the first of four states that I'll start with the word "new," which is extra funny knowing that New Hampshire is actually one of the oldest states we have. So a car was left at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center parking area right at the base of Mount Washington in the White Mountains. I know this place very well, and so I know that this is the kind of place where people start hikes and sometimes don't come back. The vehicle belonged to Stefan Su, a 21-year-old from Massachusetts. His family says the last time anyone saw him at home was the morning of March 8, 2019 after an argument with his father. Stefan left, and then two days later, he was reported missing. And already, the timeline starts to fracture: Stefan's family said that his phone pinged in Westford, Massachusetts. He's now living in Massachusetts on March 10, back near his home, but New Hampshire Fish and Game also received reports of the incident. possible sightings someone matching his description in the cutler river drainage on march 8th and on the mount washington auto road on march 9th and then on march 16th his car was found at pinkham notch inside the car there was a receipt suggesting that he bought cold weather gear things like a new coat a backpack boots things that indicate he might have been planning to hike mount washington another report describes his hiking experience as limited and if that's true it's a very terrifying combination a young man with little hiking experience heading up solo on a mountain known for extreme conditions and killing a lot of hikers search teams went out they focused on trails and the areas tied to those reported sightings and still nothing turned up and the official search was eventually suspended family and friends kept looking but to this day no sign of stefan has ever been found and so what's the truth here did he even step onto mount washington at all in the first place or did the mountain become the story only because that's where his car was left behind it's a very strange one i had never heard of this despite the fact that the white mountains are my favorite place in the world and so i hope that stefan's family gets some answers soon new jersey is a state but it's also something i put on my christmas list last year on october 7th 2013 barnett barry zeldin went on a solo hunting trip in burlington county new jersey but he never came home barry was 74 and he and his wife janet had recently celebrated their 50th birthday on march 16th and on march 16th barry zeldin went on a solo hunting trip in burlington county on march 16th and he and his wife janet had recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary he left that morning planning to return by nightfall but when he didn't return janet wasn't immediately alarmed barry sometimes went on multi-day hunting trips and so it didn't feel too unusual that he didn't show up but by october 11th four days after he left members of his hunting club began searching and that's when they found his vehicle a 1992 chevy blazer parked along the side of the road the windows were down and his dog taffy was alive inside the keys were still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the area and he was still in the car everything about it suggested that barry fully intended to return authorities found no conclusive evidence of foul play no remains no signs of a struggle and yet more than a decade later there's still no trace of him janet later said that barry was quote very good in the woods and she believed that he could survive indefinitely out there but the question is why would he need to barry had no obvious reason to disappear on purpose after 50 years of marriage and if he had gotten himself into a survival situation then how did that happen the most likely explanation is simple and it's terrifying after leaving the car windows down for his dog he suffered an injury or a medical emergency but then again because he was so capable in that environment it's hard not to wonder if there was actually another factor that no one ever noticed the new mexico desert has inspired some pretty unique and beautiful art but it's also responsible for my next story when melvin nadell stepped away from camp he told his buddies that he would be right back and i've told enough wilderness mysteries on this channel to know that no one should ever promise that when they're in the mountains on september 6th 2009 melvin and two friends were hunting deep in the elk mountain area of the santa fe national forest around 4 30 p.m they were sitting at camp when melvin said he was going to go for a short walk he carried a 44 special revolver and a camouflage hunting bow with arrows marked in black and white zebra stripes and he was going to go for a short walk and he was going to go for a short walk and he promised that he would be back by nightfall his friends waited until the stars were out and then they finally started searching when they realized he hadn't come back melvin's jeep cherokee was still parked right where he left it most of his gear was locked inside including his backpack his phone and his gps unit something that he rarely went without after he had gotten lost once before for some reason this time he hiked off without it now authorities soon jumped in search dogs followed his scent about 50 yards down the trail that his friends saw him take and he was able to get back but then the scent trail just stopped now melvin wasn't just some reckless guy he was a well-known fitness instructor he was a gym owner a black belt in taekwondo for crying out loud he was disciplined methodical and he was also a husband and a devoted father there were no major health problems except authorities did learn that his knee was injured at the time and wrapped up doesn't sound serious but maybe he re-injured it maybe he ran into trouble and just couldn't get away crews found no sign of a struggle no no evidence of foul play and they had zero leads to go off of whatsoever and unfortunately that's how things stand today melvin is still missing and his family is left with nothing but questions you've all heard of times square central park and the empire state building but i bet you didn't know that there's a whole state full of crazy mysteries that happened way outside of the big apple on april 12th 1976 stephen paul thomas bruce weaver and some other college friends set out on a last-minute hiking trip near mount marcy this is the highest mountain in new york state in the morning that they left stephen's mother told him that she was nervous about him going hiking with a group of people he didn't really know but stephen joined them anyways there were six people total in the group they hiked up the mountain and smoked some marijuana along the way according to the group steve was unusually quiet kind of lost in his thoughts they made it very close to the summit but they decided to stop in camp before nightfall you know they thought it was smarter to dry off warm up get some sleep and so they made camp and they started a fire however stephen wasn't done much to everyone's frustration he continued up the trail and he put away all of his equipment the people in his group said that they thought he was just going to go check how much further the the top of the mountain was but by 6 p.m he still hadn't returned they didn't start a real search until 10 p.m that night and it continued into the next day but they never found him winds on the mountain were hitting 55 to 60 miles per hour and it's definitely possible probably likely that the harsh conditions played a role but no one understands why he decided to go off on his own he knew the weather was bad and he he had to be tired after a full day of hiking maybe the marijuana impaired his judgment there's also the human element of course stephen was the the last minute invite the odd one out kind of and he was also the only one that kept going now authorities said there was nothing suspicious about the group's appearance but it's still just strange most likely no one else hurt him uh maybe something as simple as feeling a little bit unwelcome pushed him into a choice that quickly turned deadly north carolina was home to the wright brothers the guys who flew in the first ever airplane and they were probably trying to fly away from crazy stuff like my next story a missing person is one thing we've covered plenty so far but a a whole crew vanishing is another kind of mystery entirely in 1920 the crew left the u.s east coast for rio de janeiro brazil carrying some coal that outbound trip went smoothly and then the ship began its return voyage towards the united states heading for hampton roads virginia in late january 1921 the deering was seen off of the north carolina coast by a light ship witnesses said that the crew didn't seem to be in the correct part of the ship when they were spotted which is unusual and unsettling and then on the morning of january 31st the ship was sighted in an area known as the graveyard of the atlantic a fitting name as it turns out the coast guard couldn't reach the vessel for days because of harsh weather but when they did finally get there the ship was still intact there's no structural damage there was only one problem and it also happened to be the biggest one um the crew was gone personal belongings and key navigational equipment were missing the lifeboats were gone as the conditions were certainly a factor but it doesn't fully explain why an entire crew would abandon an undamaged ship and then just vanish the government investigated and found nothing conclusive but one leading theory is mutiny not a storm or an outside attack but a crew collapsing from within navigation records were reportedly kept in a different hand after a certain date suggesting tension and maybe even a change in leadership and as for what happened after they left the ship in those lifeboats well the crew was never found what the hell happens in north dakota i don't mean that in like a insulting way i just never hear from you guys so if you're from north dakota let me know what you're up to is your closet ready for summer i used to dread shopping hours browsing online or fighting the store with no guarantee i'd find anything i liked that's why stitch fix is my secret weapon my stylist knows the trends and what actually works on me then sends it straight to my door free shipping free returns no subscription needed get started today at stitchfix.com that's stitchfix.com shipping billing admin payroll marketing you're managing all the things so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 24 7 and schedule pickups from your office or home save up to 90 with automated rate shopping that's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days i'm serena williams and i'm healthier on row i've lost 34 pounds in a year with glp1's diet and exercise on row you can access glp1 options including the first fda approved glp1 pill for weight loss go to row.co slash journey to see if you qualify 14 to 20 average weight loss in one year in non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus two 2.2% to 3.1% in placebo R. Rx only. To stay informed about serious side effects, go to roe.co slash safety. Off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com slash spotify. Outdoor returns plans start at $49.99 a month. Joseph Bruce Sr., a member of the Spirit Lake tribe, was known as a father and a family man. Kind, funny, and deeply connected to his children and community. On the morning of June 25th, 2018, right around 10am, Joe told his girlfriend on the phone that he was leaving the Devil's Lake area and heading home, but he never made it. That silence was very uncharacteristic for him. Friends and family said that Joe was, never the type to ignore calls or text messages. He stayed in touch, but then suddenly, he just didn't. What makes it even harder to understand is why he was actually coming home. His son, who was severely disabled, was actually having a medical emergency, and the moment that Joe heard about this, he dropped everything and planned to get back. His van was later found near the reservation, and a many-acre search was conducted, but it turned up nothing that explained where he went or even what happened. But then about a year later, Joe was able to get home, and a year later, remains were found on the Spirit Lake Reservation and confirmed to be Joe. His death, tragically, is suspected to be a homicide. His wife said that she didn't even know he would be in the Devil's Lake area that day, raising even more questions about what he was doing there in the first place and what happened on his attempt to return home. His family has completely rejected the idea that he would just abandon them. Both his wife and mother described him as deeply family-oriented. The case makes little sense, and the mystery isn't just why he was in Devil's Lake. It's what happened after he decided to go home. Cincinnati, Ohio is famous for something called Skyline Chili. Apparently, it's cinnamon chili over spaghetti, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I do know how I feel about the sad story that I found from this state. Cuyahoga National Park is meant to be a place of beauty, a quiet getaway in Ohio that blocks out all the noise. That is likely what Hillary Sharma believed that her visit would be, but unfortunately, she never came. She went to the park in August of 2014, and when park rangers found her body, the conclusion was very simple. She took her own life. But not everything about this case fits neatly into that explanation. When Hillary stepped into Cuyahoga, she effectively stepped off the grid. And what made the conclusion about her death hard for some people to accept was how she was described by those who knew her. Friends said that she enjoyed going to the park to capture photographs. Her obituary described her as a unique soul, funny, able to make friends with anyone, and artistically talented, embracing music, drawing, and photography. There was some speculation that she had actually been murdered, but the coroner still ruled that she had taken her own life. And the last time that she was seen, she seemed happy to the people around her, which makes the idea even more unsettling. It raises the question of how much we can ever really know about someone's inner world, especially when the setting itself leaves more mystery. Now, Oklahoma has that weird shape with the panhandle, but what's even weirder is this next case that tormented the state for years. In October of 2009, Bobby and Sherilyn Jameson loaded up their pickup in Eufaula, Oklahoma, and drove out with their six-year-old daughter, Madison. They were on this trip to go look at a parcel of remote land, but a few days later, their truck was found abandoned with their phones, wallets, IDs, a GPS unit, coats, and their small-tog Maisie all left inside. And as if that wasn't strange enough, it gets even stranger when you hear about the family's behavior beforehand. They were reportedly having financial problems, and yet $35,000 in cash was found hidden in the vehicle. Both parents were said to be dealing with health struggles, including mental health, and there was also conflict involving Bobby's father over a lawsuit and alleged criminal ties, though police said they didn't believe the father was involved, to be clear. And it gets even stranger somehow. Friends and neighbors claimed that the Jamesons were parents, and that they were annoyed about spirits in their home involved in what they called spiritual warfare. Surveillance footage even showed the couple unloading a moving van, and their movements were described as trance-like. Searches of the surrounding woods and mountains turned up nothing at first. But then, in November of 2013, hunters found skeletal remains of two adults and a child in remote woodland less than three miles away from where the truck had been left. In July of 2014, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner confirmed the remains were that of the family. Because of the state the bodies were found in, no clear cause of death could be determined, leaving the manner of death a mystery. And there are a lot of possible explanations here. No one has been charged, and the evidence remains inconclusive. Some details suggest an accident. Others make you wonder if foul play or violence can really be ruled out. I've always thought that Oregon was just filled with forests, mountains, and hippies, and it pretty much is. But then I read this next case, and I've also come to the conclusion that the state is literally haunted. On December 19th, 2015, Alyssa McCrann left Portland and drove to the Columbia River Gorge. She parked her Mazda CX-7 at the Multnomah Falls trailhead. She laced up her running shoes and headed towards the Franklin Ridge Loop Trail, where the tourist-packed paths suddenly give way to a quiet forest for miles. At 10:00 AM, Alyssa posted once to Facebook, presumably about her run, but I couldn't find this post, unfortunately. But later that afternoon, around 3:00 PM, a couple hiking near Franklin Ridge saw her on the trail. She was running hard with no pack, no water, and no serious cold weather gear. This was despite the fact that it was a rainy day in December. This couple spoke to her briefly, and the couple even warned her to turn back. I mean, the sun would be down in about an hour, and it was only going to get colder and wetter. But Alyssa ignored this warning and she kept running. And that was the last time that anyone saw her. When Monday came around, Alyssa didn't show up for work. The next day, authorities found her car parked at the trailhead exactly where she'd left it, and a full search was started. More than 100 people combed over 150 miles of trail. Dogs searched for her scent, but they didn't find anything. Snow at the higher elevations erased footprints, and rain turned trails into mud. A plane even searched overhead. They checked her cell phone data, and they found a detail when they did this that didn't really make sense. Apparently, her last signal didn't come from the trail or the area where she was last known to be at all. Instead, it pinged from a street in Tigard, Oregon, nearly 45 minutes away from where her car was parked. In everything that I read, I couldn't find an explanation from authorities for how this was possible or what they even did with that lead. But beyond that bizarre ping, the theories were pretty simple. She probably strayed off trail after dark or the near freezing cold caught up to her. But either way, Alyssa is still missing, and whatever happened to her is still out there somewhere beyond the roar of the falls. Pennsylvania rhymes with Transylvania, home of Dracula. And after finding this next crazy mystery, I wouldn't be surprised at all if you told me this state is filled with vampires. That might be the dumbest transition yet. On an October morning in 1996, 37 year old mental health counselor Michael Malinowski left his home in Yardley, Pennsylvania. He planned to attend a psychology seminar and then spend a couple of quiet days hiking and taking photographs in Pine Creek Gorge, also known as the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. He checked into a small cabin at the Pine Tree Lodge for two nights and then called his roommate to say that he'd arrived safely. It was a completely normal call, and it was also the last time that anyone is known to have heard from him. A few days later, Michael's gray Nissan Sentra was found abandoned at an overlook. Inside of it was an unzipped day pack with his phone, a jacket, a partly empty water jug, apples, crackers, an empty camera case and boots. However, the one thing missing was his camera. In the mix of of what was left behind suggested something chillingly simple. Whatever he planned to do from that overlook, he likely expected it to be short. His cabin room was checked and the bed had clearly been slept in. Clothes were laid out neatly. Nothing at all in that room suggested a struggle. For five days, up to one hundred and twenty five firefighters and volunteers, multiple dog teams, nine rappelling crews and three helicopters swept the canyon walls and surrounding woods. For hours and hours, but they found nothing. No clothing, no gear, no camera and no remains. Theories ranged from a fatal fall to a voluntary disappearance, even to Michael taking his own life. But none of these led anywhere. And nearly three decades later, there's still no indication of what happened to Michael in Pine Creek Gorge. Rhode Island is the smallest state in the U.S., but that doesn't mean that big bad things don't happen there. Intelligent, capable, fluent in several languages. languages, that's how people described Wojtek Fudali before the word missing was added. He was last seen on December 6th, 2008 in Narragansett, Rhode Island, staying at a friend's house and in the time leading up to his disappearance, friends and roommates reported strange behavior from him. Apparently he had stopped taking a prescribed anti-anxiety medication and developed a sudden deep interest in religion and nature and also started underdressing in cold weather while talking about wanting a simpler life. A week before he vanished, local police encountered someone they described as barefoot in pajamas holding a bible. When Wojtek went missing, his phone, keys, money, and clothes were left behind, suggesting that he walked out suddenly without taking the basics of everyday life. A neighbor later told police he saw a man matching Wojtek's description sitting alone on a dock that morning staring out over the water. Another witness later that morning reported seeing a man running in the marsh who appeared nude or maybe only wearing underwear, again matching Wojtek's description. But after these potential sightings, the trail basically ended. Years later, there's still no trace of him. Searches focused on the neighborhood, the marshes, and the nearby water. Police dogs and a helicopter combed an area that wasn't even that remote, mostly homes, roads, and tidal flats. Dogs did alert near some deeper water, feeding the theory that the environment may have swallowed any, so that's a possibility. And one detail is especially haunting. A case summary claims that friends woke around 5am to see Wojtek naked, hitting himself with a metal pole, repeatedly saying, trust me. Now I don't know if that's actually true, but even the fact that it was apparently reported is very unsettling. South Carolina can be peaceful, quiet, and very southern, but that just means that the truly wild mysteries can and will catch you by surprise. On April 11th, 1998, 20-year-old Jason Knapp was at his Clemson apartment when his roommates left for the evening. Jason was watching a movie, he was relaxing, he was staying in. And that's the last time that anyone ever saw him. The next morning, Easter Sunday, well, Jason was gone. Days passed, and then all of a sudden, his car turned up at Table Rock State Park, locked, still sitting there like he planned to be back to it soon. His stereo faceplate was still attached, something his mother said was completely unlike him to leave in a public parking area, especially for a long period of time. Investigators found one hard piece of proof that Jason had made it into the park with his car, and that was a day-use pass purchased sometime between 3 and 5pm with his fingerprints on it. So we know that he was there. He got out of the car, and then presumably entered the trail system. Searchers combed the park and the surrounding terrain, but nothing meaningful ever surfaced. No clear trace of where Jason went or why, he never came back out of the woods. With leads drying up, investigators even entertained tips from psychics, not because it was solid evidence, but because the case offered so little else to go off of. And so you're left with a tight, unsettling window. A normal night at home, a sudden decision to go to Table Rock State Park, a pass proving that he entered, a car left behind with the one theft-to-turn item that he always removed still sitting in place. So what happened between that parking lot and the woods? And how does a 20-year-old disappear so completely in broad daylight without leaving anything behind? I've been to Table Rock State Park a few times. It's such a peaceful area, and so it's very unsettling to think that it hides such a dark mystery. Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota, and I'm telling you right now that if I had a personal Mount Rushmore of mysteries, I would seriously consider putting this next one right up there. On June 1st, 2015, Alicia Hummel, a 29-year-old preschool teacher, left her home in Sioux City for what she hoped would be a peaceful first day of summer vacation. She was going to go fishing, and she made multiple social media posts about how excited she was. But tragically, she didn't get very far, and this is a case with very little left to the imagination. A South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks employee found her body floating around 2pm, just as he noticed a dark sedan with a loud exhaust speeding away on the only access road in the area. An autopsy was carried out at the scene of the incident, and the police were looking for her. The autopsy confirmed a brutal homicide. Some of her gear was recovered nearby, but her phone and fishing pole were missing, fueling speculation that possibly those items held key evidence. The timeline was terrifyingly tight, we'll say. Only about 30 minutes from her last text to friends to the time when she was found dead. Little time for natural error or accident, implying foul play of course, and yet there were no witnesses and no suspects to question. Friends and family described her as loving, joyous, and full of light. She was going through a divorce at the time, but her husband was 200 miles away and couldn't have been involved. According to those closest to her, she didn't have enemies, but perhaps she accidentally made one that day. Nearly a decade later, Alicia's murder still remains unsolved. Are you in Tennessee right now? Chances are you're not, but if you are, you might want to pack your bags immediately after I tell you the story that I found from your state. They were two brothers who knew the woods better than most. Lifelong locals familiar with Appalachian Tennessee's thick forests and hidden hollows. But on August 6th, 2021, something truly unexplainable happened in those very same woods. That morning, Scott Hawkins, 52, and his younger brother Tracy Hawkins, 44, told their mother that they were heading out to hunt wild ginseng. They borrowed her 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer, drove to a pull-off along Highway 116 in Caryville near the Holly Gamble Funeral Home, and then walked into the woods just after 9am. They said they'd be back by early evening and time for dinner. But night fell with no call, no message, and no return from the brothers, and so after 24 hours, their mother reported them missing. Deputies found the Trailblazer parked where they had left it, with nothing to show where the two experienced outdoorsmen had gone. Search efforts ramped up, but the deeper they searched, the less they found. And this is what makes this case so freaky. Most cases, are only one missing person, not two people, let alone two brothers. Two brothers who knew these Tennessee woods and also had each other's backs. And yet, four and a half years later, the Campbell County Sheriff's Office says there are still no credible leads and no evidence explaining what happened to Scott and Tracy. Their mother has said that she fears they're gone for good, but she still wants answers. Everything is bigger in Texas, except for this terrifying mystery. You're going to understand why in just a second. Deep inside Big Bend National Park, there's a murder case that feels like it should be everywhere, and yet somehow it isn't. I went looking for any coverage, YouTube videos, podcasts, but beyond just an FBI bulletin, I couldn't find a single trace of this story. In a world where every true crime case gets dissected for hours and hours on podcasts and videos and stuff, John Gary Monroe's story is almost silent. So here's what we do know. On October 30th, 1994, John entered Big Bend National Park to go camping. And then three days later, on November 2nd, a group of hikers came across his body at a campsite right around 5.15pm. And that's it. That's the entire public window. John arrives to camp, and then a few days later, he's found dead. John was 43, living in San Antonio at the time, and investigators noted that he also had some ties to Houston. One release describes him simply as a husband, a person with a life waiting for him beyond the park's borders. He was around 5, 9 to 5, 11, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The public-facing information doesn't say what campsite this happened at. It doesn't explain how John was killed. It doesn't say who saw him last alive, whether or not he was camping alone, or what investigators believe happened in those missing days between when he showed up in the park and when he was found murdered. Instead, 29 years after his death, the FBI announced a $25,000 reward for information that leads to identifying, arresting, and murdering John. The FBI also announced a $25,000 reward for identifying and arresting a person responsible for his homicide. The Uinta Highline Trail runs through the High Uinta Wilderness. I've been to this mountain range a few times, and you can believe me when I say that this area is incredibly remote. Eric Robinson was an experienced solo hiker who had experience in the Himalayas and countless remote Australian tracks. You'd think that these two would be a match made in heaven, but the outcome told another story. Eric came to the Uintas prepared. His bag was fully packed with the essentials, but he was not able to get to the Uintas. The Uinta Highline Trail runs through the Uinta Highline Trail on the Uinta Highline Trail. On July 28, 2011, he began a 60-mile hike on the Uinta Highline Trail and planned to come back 10 days later, but he never did. Search efforts turned days into weeks. The county sheriff's office launched searches, ground teams, helicopters, dogs, you know, the whole thing. They really searched and searched, but nothing showed up. His wife Marilyn even flew in from Australia to join the effort, but it was to no avail. For years, fate was unknown, fueling whispers of the Uinta Triangle. a mysterious zone that people associate with unexplained vanishings but then in august of 2016 a father and two sons hunting near alsop lake stumbled upon a backpack a tent and remains dna soon confirmed that it was eric but the cause of death remained unclear and the most unsettling part about this to me is that alsop lake is not on the uinta highline trail at its closest point the lake is about two miles straight line from the uinta highline trail with no obvious path connecting the two like you could technically hike between them but you'd be going way around a mountain and out of your way like it doesn't it doesn't make sense like how did eric get so far off his intended route and how did he die tragically his family still doesn't have those answers vermont is where i was born and raised and where i first got into hiking at age 16 and because of this i've been fascinated with this next mystery for a long time far longer than i've been making these youtube videos on the afternoon of sunday december 1st 1946 bennington college student paula jean weldon told her roommate that she was going to go for a hike it was around 50 degrees that day which is pretty warm for a vermont december and so she dressed for town not for a mountain that can turn brutal by night she wore a red parka with a fur trimmed hood blue jeans and sneakers at about a passing motorist named lewis knapp saw her hitchhiking and gave her a ride he dropped her off near route 9 only a few miles away from the long trail which leaves route 9 and climbs towards the top of glastonbury mountain paula started up the trail with no backpack and no extra clothing or gear and then around 4 p.m she ran into a man named ernest whitman and some of his friends and she started asking them some basic questions asking for directions how long the trail was things like that and she said she was going to go for a hike and she said she was going to go for a hike and whitman warned her not to go very much further because darkness was coming fast and she clearly wasn't dressed for what the mountain would feel like once the sun dropped however paula kept hiking anyways and that encounter is the last confirmed time that anyone saw her dead or alive overnight the temperatures fell the wind picked up snow even started to move in and by the morning of december 2nd when paula still hadn't returned her college notified authorities and her family sadly searchers flooded the area and the mountain was covered in snow students locals even the national guard everyone combed the long trail towards glastonbury mountain as well as nearby trails like bald mountain and stretches of route 9 but they found nothing no sign of paula and by december 15th the search had to be called off and speaking of the uinta triangle there's actually another one in vermont in the years that followed this case paula's disappearance turned into one of the defining cases of the bennington triangle or the glastonbury triangle now i've hiked glastonbury mountain in the last couple of years and i've been able to hike glastonbury mountain at least six times that i can recall and every single time that i've been up there it's just given me this weird feeling um probably because i've always known about this story but but still i can tell you personally that something something's not right on that mountain you've heard the saying virginia is for lovers but i'll tell you right now there's absolutely nothing to love about this next story scott lilly was from south bend indiana and obsessed with civil war history at 30 years old he decided to live out his dream by hiking the appalachian trail and visiting civil war battlefields along the way he started his hike on june 15th 2011 near the mason dixon line heading south into virginia with his ultimate goal being springer mountain which is the southern terminus of the at the last place anyone is known to have seen or heard from him was at the priest which is an at shelter on july 31st and then nearly two weeks later on august 12th hikers found scott lilly's body just off of the trail near cow camp west central virginia he was in a shallow grave and his cause of death was ruled asphyxia by suffocation most of his backpacking gear was strangely gone his purple or blue backpack his ozark trail hiking shoes and even a nintendo game he was known to have carried with him none of that stuff as far as anyone knows has ever turned up now because this happened on federal land in the george washington and jefferson national forest the fbi took the lead assisted by other agencies investigators conducted 83 interviews including every long distance hiker known to be in the area at the time and in september of 2011 the fbi publicly asked to speak with five specific hikers identified through shelter log books in 2012 the fbi offered a ten thousand dollar reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction and they said that they didn't believe scott's murder was connected to other unsolved cases nearby but then the trail kept moving to this day nobody has ever been named even a suspect let alone convicted just an unsolved murder in the woods waiting for the one person who knows something to finally speak up some people say that washington is just a carbon copy of oregon but if you thought my oregon mystery was insane just wait until you get a load of this one i'm sorry that was kind of a low blow washington richard lee set out for the cascade mountains on september 9th 2004 he was 47 years old experienced in the wilderness and headed into the colchuk lake area for two days of adventure while he was there richard was sent to the police station after his brother called his brother from his cell phone and his brother said that he sounded calm and happy everything was totally fine but that wasn't going to be the case for much longer two days passed and when richard didn't return or call by september 11th his wife and brother grew worried but they waited just a little longer now richard knew his way around the forest after all so no need to panic but by september 15th they still hadn't heard a word and so the waiting turned into the actual panic now richard was sent to the police station and he was told by the police that he was going to the police station and he was going to the police station now it was certainly warranted search and rescue teams descended on the colchuk lake area and mapped out a 70 square mile grid however almost immediately as is the case in a lot of these stories the weather flipped snow fell up to eight inches covering tracks burying clues and swallowing up any hope of an easy search days passed and eventually they located richard's car and soon after a crew spotted something hidden among the trees well off the trail they bushwhacked over to it and they found richard's camera and they found richard's camera and they found richard's camera his gear was still there his food was still there and there was a sleeping bag hung high in the tree secured away from any bears some searchers said that the campsite felt wrong not dangerous exactly just kind of unsettling like like something had interrupted the natural order of the place it looked like a camp that richard planned to return to but of course richard was still gone snow had covered any footprints that might have led away and there was no evidence of foul play at the site or anywhere nearby the seasons passed the snow melted eventually and the search came up empty richard lee was never found and the washington wilderness still hasn't given up its secrets now we're heading deep deep into coal country with our next chilling story from west virginia 24 year old cassie sheets was a mother of three on march 12 2021 she joined two friends james and grant for what was meant to be a spontaneous late night hike to the summit of spruce knob west virginia's highest peak the trio reached the top of the peak right around midnight and then broke into an unoccupied cabin for shelter from the wind or at least that's what the two men later claimed because cassie was never seen alive again according to james and grant they heard a strange noise outside and grant went to investigate and then returned saying that he'd broken a window to get back in and then moments later cassie supposedly stepped out to use the bathroom and then she just vanished into the forest people obviously questioned this story right from the beginning the phone time stamps didn't add up either and they also didn't have the proper gear for a freezing midnight hike like what is that searches swept the area for months using ground teams dogs as well as volunteers but nothing turned up until december of 2021 nine months later when hunters found remains deep in the forest dna testing would eventually confirm the remains were cassie's her cause of death remains undetermined with no obvious trauma reported but her family insists that james and grant know more than they're telling and the police seemingly agree continuing to seek tips unconvinced by the friend's account however no charges have been filed and so for now cassie's death remains a mystery i heard that people from wisconsin love cheese that's pretty much all i know about wisconsin honestly other than this next crazy mystery i should say it was a june morning in 2003 summer weather was in the air but something deeply was close behind it 23 year old andrew robert bliss pulled his silver 2001 chevy impala onto a remote road near the town of draper wisconsin about 1 000 miles away from his home back in new york state he just quit his job and was shaken up by a painful breakup and so he drove west looking for a change of scenery some solace in the north woods of pines swamps and silence around 8 a.m on june 20th a logging truck driver spotted andrew walking smiling and waving like he was out there having a good time but by that evening his car sat there abandoned the doors were open the keys were left in the ignition and the gas tank was completely empty and andrew was gone it was clear that the gas was the issue he'd apparently run out and had even been helped by the police but where his car stood there was just no sign of him his friends back home hadn't heard from him in days and so the sudden cross-country road trip raised some pretty serious concerns about depression however the people who saw him last didn't describe someone in despair although you know they couldn't have known what was going on in his head obviously and so searches began but nothing at all was found and so theories soon took over maybe he had hitchhiked and that's probably the most terrifying possibility that he waved down the wrong stranger but maybe he disappeared into the woods maybe something else entirely happened out there whatever the truth is andrew bliss's disappearance remains unsolved and finally the moment has arrived without further ado i'll present you with the wilderness mystery that you've all been waiting for wyoming stewart isaac was not the kind of man who would just vanish into the wilderness now he wasn't a hiker or a camper or someone chasing adventure and yet on september 6th 2010 the 48 year old packed a bag left a note for his family in maryland and then drove west alone towards yellowstone national park the note only said that he was leaving for a cross-country road trip it didn't say if or when he would be coming back after about 32 hours of driving stewart arrived at the park that was around september 7th but then nothing after this no contact no updates all the way until september 24th at around 3 30 in the morning stewart unexpectedly called a high school friend who lived in guam now the two usually would text or email each other and so this call felt strange they talked for roughly two hours but i couldn't find any details on what was said or why he chose that moment after like two weeks of not contacting anyone to reach out to this friend and then two days later on september 26th a ranger on routine night patrol spotted something eerie about eight miles east of old fateful this ranger found stewart's black 2009 lexus sitting quietly in the darkness the car was unlocked and the keys were still inside but stewart himself was gone search teams found no footprints no gear and no sign that stewart had even left the car theories range from him tragically taking his own life especially considering how abruptly he left home and that weird late night phone call but they also explore wildlife even foul play however no one knows why stewart went to yellowstone where he was for those missing weeks or what happened after his car was found and he's still missing to this day my heart goes out to every single victim that i talked about in this video and guys if you could leave some positive comments show them some love down below i would really really appreciate that and with that said youtube seems to think you'll enjoy this video next and so give it a click and i will see all of you in the next video my life is booked and busy i don't know have time to try on a million outfits that still don't feel right that's why i get styled with stitch fix my personal stylist sends outfits picked for my size style and budget so i can get dressed and get on with my day feeling confident it's no risk all style free shipping free returns no subscription required get started today at stitch fix.com that's stitch fix.com traditional home security only alerts you after a break-in and that's too late simply safe is changing that stop this is simply safe police are on the way we don't just alert we help stop crime before it starts plans starting around a dollar a day right now get 70 off your new system with professional monitoring at simply safe.com spotify simply safe ahead of crime in real time outdoor deterrence plans start at 49.99 a month visit simply safe.com licenses for alarm license information starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like shopify they have the tools you need to start and grow your business from designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond shopify can help with everything you need there's a reason millions of companies like mattel heinz and all birds continue to trust and use them with shopify on your side turn your big business idea into sign up for your one dollar per month trial at shopify.com special offer shipping billing admin payroll marketing you're managing all the things you need to know about shopify.com so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way mail and ship when you want how you want with stamps.com print postage on demand 24 7 and schedule pickups from your office or home save up to 90 with automated rate shopping that's why over 1 million small businesses trust stamps.com go to stamps.com and use code podcast to try stamps.com risk-free for 60 days introducing pandora's holiday collection this season celebrate the ones you know by heart with a gift that says it all from engravable pieces to festive charms to lab-grown diamonds pandora's jewelry is made for the ones who inspire you who've been there through it all give a piece that says exactly what words can't pandora more than a gift shop new styles in-store or online at pandora.net