Compassion is caring enough to see the person, not the mistake, even when you disagree with the choices they made. As I share today's story, you will have opinions. Likely strong ones. About what they shouldn’t have done. About what they could’ve done differently. About what you would’ve done if they were your family, but passing judgement doesn't bring anyone back to life.

Sources

Reddit CBS News The Independent Axios The Guardian Business Insider 

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Yosemite is a place people go to disappear into nature. Granite walls, endless forests, and trails that seem to stretch forever. But for some, disappearing quickly changes to missing. And in September of 2016, that’s what happened to one hiker. A remote campground. A solo hike. And no answers. This is the story of Peter Fancher Jackson.

Sources:
NamUs, NPS, Charley Project, Your Central Valley, Reddit, Medium, More Than Just Parks, YouTube - Northern Crimes, YouTube - The Missing Enigma

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One minute, you’ve just picked up dinner and you’re on your way home. The next, the road ahead of you is completely obscured by snow. No matter how well your vehicle handles in snow or how close to home you might be, no one can drive in zero visibility.

Sources:
Remembering Inspire More Reader's Digest CBC 

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There are moments at sea where experience, preparation, and even luck mean nothing. Where a single sound in the dark can turn a lifetime of knowledge into pure instinct. Tonight’s story is one of those moments. A family, four children, a dream years in the making—and a reef that should not have been there. This is the story of John Silverwood, the Emerald Jane, and the night everything changed.

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There’s something appealing and romantic about foraging and there’s a special kind of calm that comes from working in your yard or garden.  But when plant encounters go wrong, you don’t just get a bad taste in your mouth, it could be your last meal.

Sources:
CDC, News.com, KSBW, NIH, BBC, MDA State, Food Safety, Bon Appetit, Poison Control Utah, Local 12

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Imagine this - you're standing on a mountain ridge almost four miles above sea level. The wind is howling, and screaming, and you’re barely able to stay standing. The world around you is white in every direction. You’re cold and you know that there will be no rescue tonight. You’re experiencing a fierce storm on Denali. A place that can be deadly when the weather turns . Luckily you’re only imagining this scenario but in the summer of 1967, twelve men walked straight into one of the worst storms the mountain had seen in decades. Only five returned.

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Some people spend their lives searching for treasure. For mushroom hunters, that treasure grows quietly in the shadows. But sometimes, unknown dangers can also be lurking in those same shadows.

Sources:
NamUs, Seattle Times, Facebook, Reddit, Your Source One, YouTube - The Missing Enigma

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In a small mining town in the Colorado Rockies, a man and his dog walked into the mountains and never returned. Less than a year later, another man working in the exact same location took interest in the disappearance from the year before. Soon he would follow the same trail and he too would vanish.  One mountain, two men, countless theories.



Sources

FRNWH Unsolved Strange Outdoors CBSNEWS Chicago Tribune Historic Mysteries Colorado.gov MRA.org

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It was supposed to be a peaceful setting—an artist setting up his easel by the roadside, surrounded by the wild, glacier-cut beauty of Washington’s North Cascades. But for days, his car would sit abandoned. His canvas, unfinished. And the man himself—gone. What happened to Alexander Pisch?

Sources:
Go Skagit, NPS, Fox13 Seattle, KATV, Reddit, Facebook, Websleuths, Strange Outdoors, More Than Just Parks, Instagram

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Some trails are just trails, a good workout, fresh air, a chance to clear your head, and  maybe a nice view. And then there are the other ones. The ones that feel… different. Maybe it’s the way the trees seem to close in around you. Or how the silence gets heavier the farther you go. Sometimes, it’s the way the hair on the back of your neck stands up when you catch a shadow. In this episode these are trails that are beautiful by day and eerie by night.


jahernandez.com Portland Ghosts Willhiteweb Find a Grave Blue Ridge Country.com Lexington Virginia Outside Online Maine Trail Finder News Center Maine

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It should have been a quick flight, just a few hours across the Andes Mountains from Uruguay to Chile. Onboard were members of a rugby team, and many of their friends, and family. Spirits were high, the mood light. But as they crossed into the mountains cloud cover dropped visibility to almost nothing. What would happen next would end or define the lives of the 45 people on board.

Victims 

• Gastón Costemalle
• Alexis Hounié
• Guido Magri
• Daniel Shaw
• Carlos Valeta
• Dr. Francisco Nicola, Team physician
• Esther Horta Pérez de Nicola
• Eugenia Dolgay Diedug de Parrado
• Fernándo Vázquez
• Francisco Abal
• Felipe Maquirriain
• Julio Martínez-Lamas
• Graciela Augusto Gumila de Mariani
• Susana Parrado
• Daniel Maspons
• Juan Carlos Menéndez
• Liliana Navarro Petraglia de Methol
• Gustavo Nicolich
• Marcelo Pérez, Captain of rugby team
• Enrique Platero
• Diego Storm
• Arturo Nogueira
• Rafael Echavarren
• Numa Turcatti

Survivors

• José Pedro Algorta
• Roberto Canessa
• Alfredo Delgado
• Daniel Fernández
• Roberto Francois
• Roy Harley
• José Luis Inciarte
• Álvaro Mangino
• Javier Methol
• Carlos Páez Rodríguez
• Fernando Parrado
• Ramón Sabella
• Adolfo "Fito" Strauch
• Eduardo Strauch
• Antonio "Tintin" Vizintín
• Gustavo Zerbino

Sources 
Rare Historical Photos Britannica Wikipedia BBC All Thats Interesting Mental Floss ABC News Find a Grave


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Today, we’re heading deep into Yosemite National Park- a place known for its stunning granite cliffs, towering waterfalls, and wild, untouched beauty. But even in a place so breathtaking, things can go wrong fast. This is the story of Jeanne Hesselschwert- a woman who vanished on what should have been a simple roadside stop… and the chain of events that followed.

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Some places create a feeling as soon you step into them. It’s not just the air or the silence, it’s something heavier, like the land is holding something dark. Today, we’re traveling to a few of those places.

A forest at the base of Mount Fuji where the world falls silent.
A hidden island where a tribe defends their home from the modern world.
An island in the Philippines where the dead rest beneath the sea.
A patch of land off Brazil’s coast crawling with deadly snakes.
And a tiny stretch of canal south of Mexico City where dolls hang from the trees creating a feeling of being watched.

These are the places where beauty, history and a feeling of unease can exist side by side.

Sources:
Wikipedia - Snake Island CNN Global Debauchery Atlas Obscura. Wikipedia - Aokigahara Survival International A-Z Animals Wikipedia - Island of the Dolls Yamanashi-Kankou Vocal Media Guinness World Records

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In February of 1979 five friends set off in a small fishing boat. The men smiling, laughing, heading out for just another day on the water off the coast of Maui. But no one would return. This is the mystery of the Sarah Joe.

Sources -
Wikipedia Travel News FRNWH Medium 1 Medium 2 Hawaii Activities Maui News Unsolved Mysteries Listverse Dusty Track Blog

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Sometimes the scariest moments outdoors aren’t about what you see - they’re about what you feel. Today, we’re hearing stories from listeners who’ve crossed paths with the unexplainable, from phantom voices to haunted trails to places that simply didn’t want them there.

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Crater Lake–impossibly blue, ancient, and eerily still. It’s a place born from fire, shaped by collapse, and steeped in legend. But in the fall of 2006, this sacred landscape became the backdrop for one of Oregon’s most heartbreaking mysteries–the disappearance of an eight-year-old boy who seemed to vanish into thin air.

Autism Anchoring Dogs is no longer in operation. Please see below for a list of other service dog organizations;

https://www.autismspeaks.org/assistance-dog-information

Episode Sources;
USA Today, Facebook, Autism Anchoring Dogs, Strange Outdoors, People, More Than Just Parks, YouTube, Travel Medford, NPS, Crater Lake Institute, Crater Lake Institute-2


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The ocean has always been a place of mystery. It gives and it takes, and sometimes, it keeps its secrets. Every so often, a ship is found drifting across open water- its sails torn, the wheel unmanned, meals still sitting on the table- yet no one aboard. From the Mary Celeste in 1872 to modern-day mysteries like the MV Alta, stories of ghost ships have haunted sailors and storytellers for centuries. In today’s episode, we’re setting out to sea to uncover the legends, the facts, and the lingering questions behind some of the eeriest vessels ever found afloat.


Sources
YouTube, Smithsonian, Britannica, Listverse, Unilad Tech, History Extra, Britannica 2, NPR, Wikipedia - Kaz_II, Wikipedia - Flying_Dutchman, The Guardian, Strange Outdoors

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In the fall of 2018, deep in the Idaho wilderness, a seasoned outdoorswoman vanished from a remote hunting camp. Connie Johnson had decades of backcountry experience. For her, the wilderness wasn’t just a place to visit- it was her life. But one October morning, when the hunting party she was working with returned to camp, there was no sign of Connie or her dog, Ace. That was the beginning of a mystery that remains unsolved today.

SelwayBitterroot.org, klewtv, IdahoNews, IdahoCountyFreePress, Reddit, UNH, Medium, ListVerse



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Imagine setting out on what should have been a routine dive- clear skies, calm seas, everything going exactly to plan. But within hours, you’re stranded twenty miles from shore, drifting further into the vast Pacific Ocean with nothing but your wits, your dive buddy, and a growing list of dangers beneath the surface.

Episode Sources:
YouTube - I Shouldn't Be Alive, Neemyd, LinkedIn, IMDB, Getty Images, Britannica, Emperor Divers, Travel Zone, NOAA, Smithsonian, A-Z Animals, PBase, How Stuff Works, Snow Brains, Metro, NASA, EYOS, Google Maps

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This week, we’re bringing you a special collaboration with Outside She Goes. Together, we’re diving into four haunting cases of women who vanished in the wild. From the rugged mountains of Colorado and California, to the unforgiving trails of Vermont and Alaska-Michelle Vanek, Rosemary Kunst, Paula Jean Welden, and Sharon Buis set out into nature and were never seen again. These stories remind us of the beauty, mystery, and danger that live side by side in the outdoors.

Episode Sources:
NamUs, Strange Outdoors_SB, The Doe Network, KTOO, YouTube - Bryan’s Mysteries & Adventures on Trail, AllTrails, Goldbelt Tram, Strange Outdoors_RK, Find a Grave, WebSleuths, Valhikes, State of California Dept. of Justice, 5280

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