Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, Hey, I'm Ben and I'm Nicole, and you're
Speaker 1: listening to Wicked and Grim.
Speaker 2: A true crime podcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Morning.
Speaker 1: The following podcast content and material intended more mature audience
Speaker 1: listener discretion.
Speaker 3: What's up? Welcome to Episode four?
Speaker 1: Episode four. It's so exciting.
Speaker 2: We're actually we're getting like some momentum on this and
Speaker 2: I'm digging it. Yeah, it's it's becoming in our routine,
Speaker 2: sit down, do the podcast, do the Instagram thing.
Speaker 3: Talk to people.
Speaker 1: I like it, But the next one, the next one,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to research and I haven't started.
Speaker 3: So do you even know what you're gonna be?
Speaker 1: Do you want me to be truthful?
Speaker 2: The truthful answer is no, isn't it no idea?
Speaker 3: I've got like a plethora of cases that I want
Speaker 3: to cover it.
Speaker 1: I just haven't spent the time yet. Like I'm so
Speaker 1: interested in true crime, and I know, like if I
Speaker 1: just spend five minutes, I'll probably have a list of
Speaker 1: like ten, but I just haven't done that yet, gotcha.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, Like I listened to true crime podcasts and
Speaker 2: I watch like the Netflix and YouTube videos and stuff,
Speaker 2: and I'm constantly adding to it and people talking to
Speaker 2: me about it lately too, because this podcast being like, hey,
Speaker 2: you should cover this one or cover this one, so
Speaker 2: my list is growing by day.
Speaker 1: Well, it's actually funny because I feel like you listen
Speaker 1: to true crime podcasts more than me now and before
Speaker 1: it was reversed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, that's definitely the case. Now I probably listened
Speaker 2: to like a true crime podcast well like Monday to
Speaker 2: Friday on the way home and from to and from
Speaker 2: work sort of.
Speaker 1: Thing, because you get you can listen to one episode
Speaker 1: in one day, right, because you listened half on your
Speaker 1: way and half on the way on a way to
Speaker 1: work in half on the way home.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which kind of sucks.
Speaker 2: That would sup because I'm like, I'm in the story,
Speaker 2: the suspense.
Speaker 3: Is building, how can you turn it off? Well, I
Speaker 3: have to. I gotta work, so then I couldn't do it.
Speaker 3: I got to work for.
Speaker 2: Like nine hours a day, and then I have to
Speaker 2: like stew on the episode all day at work and
Speaker 2: then I get to finally.
Speaker 3: Listen to it.
Speaker 1: That sounds awful.
Speaker 3: It is terrible, but it works.
Speaker 1: But I just also want to throw it out there
Speaker 1: if anyone has any like recommendations or stories that they
Speaker 1: want us to do like by all means hit us up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would be totally fine with doing one that someone recommended,
Speaker 1: So probably just via Instagram. Hey, Wicked and Grim, send
Speaker 1: us a message.
Speaker 2: Yes, send us a message. We'll make sure that there's
Speaker 2: a story up so you can apply.
Speaker 3: We were supposed to do that already.
Speaker 2: We'll make sure we do it after recording this episode. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so make sure there's a story up where you can
Speaker 2: just like watch a story. It's gonna be right at
Speaker 2: the very top. Click on it and you can just
Speaker 2: type in your your response to us and what you want.
Speaker 1: Us to talk about and ongoing submit requests exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't know about you, but I'm like freezing right now.
Speaker 1: Our host is freezing.
Speaker 3: I have like a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie
Speaker 3: on hood up over.
Speaker 1: Top of my head, drinking cold beer, which I mean
Speaker 1: isn't helping you.
Speaker 3: I mean, when am I not drinking cold beer?
Speaker 1: That's very true, And it's funny because it's actually the
Speaker 1: warmest it's been in forever. It's like one degree outside
Speaker 1: and we're freezing.
Speaker 2: I know it like spring is on its way, although
Speaker 2: it's still technically winter right now. We got a little
Speaker 2: ways to go before springs here.
Speaker 1: They've still got snow, lots of snow, lots of cold.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's making the huskies happy though.
Speaker 1: We went for a nice walk today. That was so
Speaker 1: nice though. That's probably what that's always what chills.
Speaker 3: Me well in the wind out there today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that that definitely sets in a chill and like
Speaker 2: your bone, so that's going to do it for us.
Speaker 1: And now the doggles are chewing on bones nomnam.
Speaker 2: Maybe they'll leave us alone and Ripley won't fart in
Speaker 2: this podcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh that was brutally Oh yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: at the if they're listening to this one, you probably
Speaker 1: listened to episode three and I could hardly get through
Speaker 1: what I was saying because the stench was so bad.
Speaker 3: I had a good laugh. I didn't even smell it.
Speaker 1: I don't know how.
Speaker 3: One what else? They don't know how what. I don't
Speaker 3: know how this case happened.
Speaker 2: I'm excited a transition or not.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: But you put a lot of giving me a lot
Speaker 1: of suspense for listening to this. I've told you nothing, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you've also said it's like so crazy, so wild.
Speaker 1: That's basically all you've said. So I'm quite intrigued.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 2: It's it's not like crazy and wild in a way
Speaker 2: that you're.
Speaker 3: Going to think it is.
Speaker 2: Can you guys hear the bones in the background, the
Speaker 2: dogsturreing the bottles, You probably can. I know Meek is
Speaker 2: being really loud, So if you hear.
Speaker 1: That, sorry, it's just apologize. I mean, it's better than
Speaker 1: them doing other things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's probably going to happen lot.
Speaker 2: We're in a tiny home recording a podcast with two
Speaker 2: huskies beside us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, they don't even know we're moving into a
Speaker 1: tiny home.
Speaker 2: Oh, we're moving into a tiny home this year.
Speaker 3: Guys. In the summer bomb dropped boom. We're at our house.
Speaker 3: We're going to go to a tiny home.
Speaker 2: Anyways, we'll talk about that maybe on our Instagram or
Speaker 2: something or another.
Speaker 3: Other time later.
Speaker 2: To get into this, I'm ready. So this is the
Speaker 2: Canada's largest man hunt.
Speaker 1: To date, like to date, which is kind of weird
Speaker 1: that I haven't heard of this.
Speaker 2: Then I haven't heard of it until recently. Either happened
Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty one.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's probably why I haven't heard about.
Speaker 2: And it is the case of the mad trapper of
Speaker 2: rat River suspense naming their hand river. Okay, so it
Speaker 2: takes place in the northwest, in northwest Canada and of
Speaker 2: course the early nineteen hundreds, so we're talking like Northwest territories,
Speaker 2: the Yukon, like north of US even, which is kind
Speaker 2: of crazy because yeah, so a lot of like fur
Speaker 2: trading is still really prominent. Native North Americans, the Gwichin
Speaker 2: tribe lived in this area and they practiced many of
Speaker 2: their traditional ways still. The Hudson's Bay Company the Northwest
Speaker 2: Company were also established in the area. So like a
Speaker 2: lot of fur tradings happening, a lot of hunting, and
Speaker 2: there was actually like during the Great Depression, a lot
Speaker 2: of people moved in this area and were like developing
Speaker 2: themselves as trappers as well. A lot of them kind
Speaker 2: of got in over their heads though, so they didn't
Speaker 2: really know what they're doing. But that's there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people trying to get into the industry, is basically
Speaker 2: what I'm trying.
Speaker 3: To say here.
Speaker 1: Yes, way back in the day, our parents weren't even
Speaker 1: alive then. Dang, it's way back in the day, no.
Speaker 2: Kidding, Well, it's almost one hundred years ago. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: in the summer of nineteen thirty one, a man going
Speaker 2: by the name of Albert Johnson arrived in Fort McPherson
Speaker 2: by the way of the Peel River on a raft.
Speaker 2: He entered Fort McPherson and he entered the Trading Post,
Speaker 2: the local trading post owned by the Hudson Bay Company.
Speaker 2: The chief trader at the Hudson's Bay Company named Bill Douglas,
Speaker 2: he was at the trading post and he spoke shortly
Speaker 2: with this Albert Johnson. Albert went in there. He was
Speaker 2: very abrupt, you know, kind of brushing by some of
Speaker 2: the locals, just kind of he knew.
Speaker 3: What he was doing.
Speaker 1: He was on a mission.
Speaker 3: He was on a mission.
Speaker 2: He was definitely not going to stop by our deans
Speaker 2: and you know, look at some stuff there and maybe
Speaker 2: go over to Sears, not ordering her to the catalog.
Speaker 3: Like he knew what he was doing. He was going
Speaker 3: to get his stuff and leave.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I like that, right.
Speaker 2: So he spoke shortly and ordered to supplies and evaded
Speaker 2: like any questions as he could. He was kind of
Speaker 2: like a shady looking figure sort of thing, like Bill
Speaker 2: Douglas described him. He was a medium sized man between
Speaker 2: thirty five to forty years old, slightly stooped shoulders, sun red,
Speaker 2: and skin fly bitten most likely.
Speaker 1: Well, he was just journeying on a raft.
Speaker 2: Well, he said he looked like he was a loner
Speaker 2: and obviously lived alone in the wilderness for months because
Speaker 2: of his sun redd and skin the fly bitten, that
Speaker 2: sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Like a hermit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2: He also said he was this is actually kind of funny,
Speaker 2: you kind of like a jab at him. He's the
Speaker 2: most unlikely material for romance.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank gosh.
Speaker 3: Like burn.
Speaker 1: That's like a burn like but very subtle.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Okay, there he went there.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, definitely he went there.
Speaker 2: So he ordered some supplies and you know, he left
Speaker 2: and over the course of the next ten days he
Speaker 2: spent fourteen hundred dollars on supplies, which.
Speaker 1: Is rob a ton of money back then, right.
Speaker 2: In nineteen thirty one, And of course you don't have
Speaker 2: debit or credit or anything.
Speaker 3: You're paying in cash. It's a ton to this.
Speaker 2: It would equal out today to be about twenty two thousand,
Speaker 2: two hundred and forty dollars.
Speaker 1: Holy man, he's roaded now.
Speaker 2: Of course, there's inflation and stuff like it's probably going
Speaker 2: to change today to tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. So it's an estimate.
Speaker 2: And one thousand dollars today is a little less than
Speaker 2: sixteen thousand dollars. Sorry, A thousand dollars then is a
Speaker 2: little less than a fixed thousand dollars then is a
Speaker 2: little less than sixteen thousand dollars to day. Just to
Speaker 2: kind of give you a perspective. Okay, So over the
Speaker 2: course of the ten days, he spent fourteen hundred dollars
Speaker 2: and he was carrying thousands in cash on him really,
Speaker 2: which is really weird, not necessarily just for the inflation
Speaker 2: even but trappers they didn't do that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm very intrigued of how he got all
Speaker 1: his cash. Well everyone is am I going to find out?
Speaker 2: Well, no, no, you won't. I wish we could, but
Speaker 2: it's not the case here. So Bill Douglas also figured
Speaker 2: out that Albert was outfitting himself to trap up the
Speaker 2: Rat River in the Rat River country. Word quickly spread around,
Speaker 2: you know, through the town everything of this this new individual,
Speaker 2: and it reached the local RCNP in a nearby settlement
Speaker 2: called a Clavic, and Constable Edgar Millan traveled to Fort
Speaker 2: McMillan to Fort McPherson, sorry to investigate this strange man,
Speaker 2: you know, like what's going on because a lot of
Speaker 2: times when trappers come in a new area, they announced
Speaker 2: himself like hey, you know, I'm going to be going
Speaker 2: to be trapping here, and especially to the local tribes,
Speaker 2: people in the Gwitchin tribe, and they you know, like
Speaker 2: say this is what's happening.
Speaker 3: Himself, he kept to himself.
Speaker 2: He didn't announce himself and Gwichin tribe a lot of
Speaker 2: times even when a new guy came in, they would
Speaker 2: like help him out, you know, make sure that he
Speaker 2: knew the area, knew the land, or even would like
Speaker 2: sew clothing for him.
Speaker 3: Mean, he was well equipped. None of that happened here.
Speaker 3: So it was a very strange situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like it is interesting.
Speaker 2: So Edgar Millan traveled to Fort McPherson to investigate this guy.
Speaker 3: I'm sure everything was fine.
Speaker 2: So Milne was thirty years old and he was known
Speaker 2: for his good humor, common sense, and really good bush crafts.
Speaker 2: So he was an all around like good RCMP individual
Speaker 2: and he was literally the perfect man to approach and
Speaker 2: talk to Johnson and learn more.
Speaker 3: So that's why he was dispatched.
Speaker 1: Right, okay, makes sense.
Speaker 2: So consper Constaber, I can't talk today. Constable Millin first
Speaker 2: went to the trading post when he arrived in Fort
Speaker 2: McPherson to talk with Bill Douglass and get some more
Speaker 2: information before he tracked down Albert Johnson.
Speaker 3: While talking to Bill.
Speaker 2: Douglass, he learned, you know everything we've already learned. Then
Speaker 2: he came down the Peel River and he described him.
Speaker 2: And he also said that recently, in the last couple
Speaker 2: of days, he bought a nine foot canoe off a
Speaker 2: local witchen and by all indicate indications, he still intended
Speaker 2: on trapping.
Speaker 3: Up the Rat River.
Speaker 1: What happened to his raft?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm pretty sure that a canoe would be better
Speaker 2: than a sitty little raft that he managed to put together, right,
Speaker 2: so he upgraded basically there.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, he's loaded might as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 2: So Constable Millan said, you know, I better talk to him.
Speaker 2: He doesn't know the Rat River area. He doesn't know
Speaker 2: what's going on because there's there's some rough waters up there.
Speaker 2: There's a Rat River rapids which are known for people
Speaker 2: to like.
Speaker 3: Not do too well.
Speaker 1: Long okay, okay, So.
Speaker 2: Millan found Albert Johnson at a steamboat landing just down
Speaker 2: by the river, introduced himself, you know, shook his hand,
Speaker 2: and Albert was like reluctantly shaking his hand back, and
Speaker 2: he was just kind.
Speaker 3: Of like leave me alone pretty much. That was kind
Speaker 3: of his attitude.
Speaker 2: He asked Johnson if he could do anything for him,
Speaker 2: and Johnson was like super abrupt and hurried, and he
Speaker 2: was like, no, no, I'm just leaving.
Speaker 1: So it's just just like wants to brush him off
Speaker 1: pretty much.
Speaker 2: So Milan described Johnson again as thirty to forty years old.
Speaker 2: He's about five foot ten inches, upturned nose, a broad,
Speaker 2: flat face, curiously stiff features, ice blue eyes, and clean shaven,
Speaker 2: which was like really uncommon for trappers to be clean shaven. Well,
Speaker 2: he wasn't like completely clean shaven, but like fairly clean shaven.
Speaker 2: You maybe stubble or something like that. A lot of trappers,
Speaker 2: you know, get the big old burly.
Speaker 1: Beard, and that's what actually, that's what I would picture
Speaker 1: in my head for sure.
Speaker 3: So he did not have that.
Speaker 2: And from his accent, Millan figured he was Swedish or
Speaker 2: from another Scandinavian region, so not local to the area
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: So where the heck did this guy come from?
Speaker 2: Well, we don't know, but we're gonna carry on and
Speaker 2: see what happened.
Speaker 1: Let's see.
Speaker 2: So Millan asked Johnson, you know, have your how he
Speaker 2: arrived at Fort McPherson, and Johnson said he arrived via
Speaker 2: the Mackenzie River. That's not true or not what Millan
Speaker 2: was told by Bill Douglas at the trading post. He
Speaker 2: came down the Peel River.
Speaker 1: Oh so this guy is already shady now.
Speaker 2: Like Millan, he's got his wits about him. He's a
Speaker 2: very common sense driven guy. He knows that like these
Speaker 2: rivers are fairly close together, could be that they were
Speaker 2: mistaken for one another, something like that.
Speaker 3: So he's kind of note to self. But it's not
Speaker 3: like a giant red.
Speaker 1: Flag giving him the benefit of.
Speaker 3: The doubt exactly.
Speaker 2: And also, trappers were known to lie about where they're going,
Speaker 2: very secretive, right, they don't want people coming in the
Speaker 2: trapping area or knowing if they're in like good trapping
Speaker 2: country or something. And to this day you talk to
Speaker 2: like a fisherman.
Speaker 1: Or a hunters, they're kind of still like that.
Speaker 2: Very secretive. I'm a hunter, I know a lot of hunters.
Speaker 2: I know family members who are hunters. They're very secretive,
Speaker 2: even though they're still close with me. So it's it's
Speaker 2: not uncommon for people to lie about.
Speaker 3: That sort of stuff either.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: So even if he was lying, it's not like it's
Speaker 2: again a red flag. So anyways, Johnson would need a
Speaker 2: trapping license though.
Speaker 1: Okay, they even had licenses and stuff back in the day.
Speaker 2: Okay, so Officer Millan offers, he's like, you know, you're
Speaker 2: if you're going to be trapping or anything, you need
Speaker 2: a trapping license. I can get one for you, like
Speaker 2: right here, I can write one up. You're good to
Speaker 2: go then, And he also said that I recommend you
Speaker 2: hire a guide to go up the rat with you
Speaker 2: because of the dangerous conditions the rapids and all that
Speaker 2: sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Someone that knows where the rapids are exactly you're going
Speaker 1: to go up the rat, you're gonna might drowned.
Speaker 2: You might want a guide who can like take you
Speaker 2: through the rapits properly, no one to portage whatever it
Speaker 2: might be. But at this suggestion, Johnson got visibly upset
Speaker 2: and he's like, no, I like to be alone.
Speaker 3: Just shut down. He was getting angry and.
Speaker 1: This guy is just trying to help him. He seems
Speaker 1: like he's being really nice.
Speaker 3: Oh just wait. He even said, I don't know if
Speaker 3: this is a direct quote.
Speaker 2: It was in quotations from the site I've picked it
Speaker 2: up on, but I don't know if it's a specific
Speaker 2: quote or they were just kind of writing dialogue for it. Okay,
Speaker 2: but he said that police caused trouble for him.
Speaker 1: That's what he said to the police officer. Yeah. Oh interesting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's like, please cause trouble for me. He's like,
Speaker 3: leave me alone.
Speaker 1: He doesn't like them just putting it right out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So at that point Milane was like okay, he shrugged
Speaker 2: it off and just kind of left Johnson alone and
Speaker 2: walked away.
Speaker 3: So, and that was in the summer.
Speaker 2: Of nineteen thirty seven. So alert Johnson takes off in
Speaker 2: his canoe. Don't really hear of him for a while
Speaker 2: until the winter. So winter came around, the local gwitchen
Speaker 2: reported a man, of course, it's it's Albert Johnson was
Speaker 2: sabotaging their traps. Oh in the Rat River.
Speaker 1: Someone else sabotaging someone else's traps.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is like a big old no no.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what the heck? Back off, buddy.
Speaker 2: So he failed to pass these Rat River rapids and
Speaker 2: set up at the mouth of the Rat River Canyon.
Speaker 2: You know, he was flinging the trap the traps into
Speaker 2: the trees and sometimes on reports, even replacing him with
Speaker 2: his own. So he doesn't have a trapping license. He's
Speaker 2: messing with other people's traps and he's just causing all
Speaker 2: sorts of trouble.
Speaker 1: He sounds kind of like an asshole.
Speaker 2: He sounds even more like an asshole when the Gwitchen
Speaker 2: tried to approach him about it.
Speaker 3: Okay, he threatened him with a rifle. What yeah, He's like, fuck, oh, buddy,
Speaker 3: get out of here.
Speaker 1: This guy needs to just go back wherever he came from.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: So the RCMP's like, yeah, okay, we need to take
Speaker 2: this report series. So like, this dude's caused some shita.
Speaker 2: So they dispatched two constables, Second Constable A. W. King
Speaker 2: and Which and Special Constable Joe Bernard. There's a fair
Speaker 2: bit of names in this, different constables and stuff. I'm
Speaker 2: terrible with names, so I'm going to do my best
Speaker 2: to keep track of these people. At times, there's like
Speaker 2: ten people. I just like there's a bunch of them.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and I will probably not be able to
Speaker 1: help you, so good luck, I know.
Speaker 2: So it was Boxing day when they set out via
Speaker 2: dog sled to go talk to Albert Johnson.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fun.
Speaker 2: They want to keep this civil, you know, just be like, hey, dude,
Speaker 2: like stop being a dick. If you're going to be trapping,
Speaker 2: you need your trapping license, all this sort of stories.
Speaker 1: Want a dog sled. So I'm just going to put
Speaker 1: that out there.
Speaker 2: Well, they were doing this in like minus forty degree temperature, Okay.
Speaker 1: And you can't want that. Then I take it back.
Speaker 2: But they knew this area well though, so even though
Speaker 2: it was like super cold, it was winter, all that
Speaker 2: sort of stuff, they knew where.
Speaker 3: They were headed and it was known as Destruction City.
Speaker 2: Destruction City is at the mouth of the Rat River
Speaker 2: Canyon before the Rat River Rapids, and it's called Destruction
Speaker 2: City because during the Yukon Gold Rush, hundreds of prospectors ship.
Speaker 3: Wrecked at the rapids.
Speaker 2: They couldn't make it through and they wintered there and
Speaker 2: died of scurvy.
Speaker 1: Oh my, that's so awful.
Speaker 2: Again, Millen knew this whitch and tribe knew this. All
Speaker 2: the locals knew this and tried to, you know, tell
Speaker 2: Albert Johnson, you should get a guide, help you do
Speaker 2: the rabbits want this happen, And of course he turned
Speaker 2: his nose away, and it happened.
Speaker 3: He couldn't make it through.
Speaker 2: Surprise surprise, right, should listen to your locals. They know
Speaker 2: their shit, they know what they're doing. So three days
Speaker 2: later they rounded the bend on the ice of the
Speaker 2: Rat River and spotted the cabin that Johnson had built.
Speaker 2: So Bernards stayed down with the dogs as King approached.
Speaker 2: I'm just referring by last names now, just you know.
Speaker 2: So King approached the cabin and they noted that like
Speaker 2: snow smoke was billowing from the stovepipe, like someone was
Speaker 2: clearly home, or so they figured most likely. Anyways, smoke
Speaker 2: was billowing, and a set of snow shoes were set
Speaker 2: by the front door. The cabin was handmade of logs.
Speaker 2: It's roughly estimated to be about eight foot by ten
Speaker 2: feet wide, and the roof was made with like, you know,
Speaker 2: like log beams, and then saw thrown on top which
Speaker 2: was frozen solid.
Speaker 3: You know it's winter.
Speaker 1: Now, that's so impressive to me that someone can just
Speaker 1: like build that alone.
Speaker 3: Right, and only in like a few months.
Speaker 1: Like, wow, this guy seems really I don't know he's
Speaker 1: got it. He just seems like he's a good outdoors person.
Speaker 2: Well, there was something weird about the cabin. It didn't
Speaker 2: stand very tall. So King figured that it looked like
Speaker 2: the cabin was like sunk into the gravel bed like
Speaker 2: a good like three feet, So he would have like
Speaker 2: dug down three feet in the gravel bed on the
Speaker 2: side of a river before he built.
Speaker 3: His cabin up.
Speaker 2: Interesting, which is a little odd.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean he's already odd.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So King knocked at the door and there was no reply.
Speaker 2: You know, he's kind of waiting and he's like, hello, Albert.
Speaker 2: You know, RCMP was making sure everything's okay, and we
Speaker 2: heard of the incident blah blah. So no reply, and
Speaker 2: King peered in through a small frosted window and immediately
Speaker 2: from the inside the window was covered up. So someone
Speaker 2: is inside someone's home.
Speaker 1: Oh, like he could see in and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden it got covered up. Yes, Oh that's awkward, right,
Speaker 1: So I was awkward when someone came to my house.
Speaker 3: I mean, generally you are even.
Speaker 2: If someone answers the phone, you're like, sh don't answer it.
Speaker 3: I don't want to talk to anybody. I think it's
Speaker 3: just like people nowadays.
Speaker 1: Oh that is fun.
Speaker 2: But he covered up the window. He's definitely home. So
Speaker 2: King was like, pissed. He's going to now have to
Speaker 2: go back all this distance that he traveled to get
Speaker 2: a search warrant and back to the side of the cabin,
Speaker 2: which is going to be approximately one hundred and sixty miles.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, just because his asshole doesn't open the door, right.
Speaker 3: So King was pissed.
Speaker 1: I would be too, Yeah.
Speaker 2: So Inspector Eames, in charge of the RCMP dispat District,
Speaker 2: gave the warrant and sent Constable R. G. McDowell and
Speaker 2: Special Constable Lazarus sit A Chewless. I'm going to refer
Speaker 2: to him as Lazarus because sit of Chewless is really
Speaker 2: hard for me to remember and pronounce, sent them along
Speaker 2: with them. So they went back to Clavic, got these
Speaker 2: people and.
Speaker 3: They're heading back to the site.
Speaker 2: So mid morning on December thirty first, they once again
Speaker 2: came up on the cabin. Bernard again stayed behind with
Speaker 2: the dogs. Lazarus went around back as King approached with
Speaker 2: McDowell as his cover. So you got Lazarus going around
Speaker 2: back the cabin, King heading to the front door, McDowell
Speaker 2: covering him.
Speaker 1: In case he runs or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you got Bernard down at the river with.
Speaker 1: The sleds Okay, whole team.
Speaker 3: The whole team.
Speaker 2: They got four of them and one dude hunked down
Speaker 2: in the cabin.
Speaker 3: Maybe if he's home.
Speaker 2: So King called out, are you there, mister Johnson? And
Speaker 2: he thought he heard a noisseman inside to indicate like
Speaker 2: someone's in there, right, So he knocked in the door
Speaker 2: and there's no answer.
Speaker 3: So King goes, you know, we have.
Speaker 2: A warrant, you know, open up RCMP. So he begins,
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm not going to go back.
Speaker 3: You have no answer.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure there's someone in there. We have a
Speaker 2: search ward he starts kind of like shouldering door trying to.
Speaker 3: Like budget open. He's like kind of body checking it right.
Speaker 2: Shoulders at once, you know, it's not really moving. His
Speaker 2: shoulders again didn't move. Then all of a sudden, bang
Speaker 2: there was a shot through the door and King was shot.
Speaker 3: In the chest.
Speaker 2: What yeah, Kings shot in the chest. King so King
Speaker 2: fell backwards. He was shot in the chest and a
Speaker 2: gunfight began to ensue. King King managed to stand to
Speaker 2: his feet and stumble to a nearby little bit of
Speaker 2: willows and fell down and began crawling down the bank
Speaker 2: of the river. Because what had happened was there's gun holes.
Speaker 2: There's holes drilled in all four corners of the cabin
Speaker 2: where Albert Johnson could stick his rifle out and shoot.
Speaker 2: So now the gunfight was ensuing through these holes.
Speaker 3: To McDowell and Lazarus.
Speaker 1: Holy, this guy has planned it out. Okay, yah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this King I gonna live.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll get there. So King crawled back down to
Speaker 2: the river bank. Lazarus and McDowell as well made it down.
Speaker 3: King was bandaged.
Speaker 2: He was bundled up and strapped to the dog sled,
Speaker 2: and they rushed him back to the hospital. But remember
Speaker 2: this is not like.
Speaker 3: It takes the three days to get there rightly.
Speaker 2: So day and night they traveled, and they made it
Speaker 2: back in twenty four hours, half the normal time.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: They were like they were described.
Speaker 2: As like their thighs were like ice cold, like freezing
Speaker 2: and numb. And they carried him in.
Speaker 1: But also these poor dogs that's where my mind went right.
Speaker 2: They were okay, they were like dead tired.
Speaker 3: Yeah, dead tired.
Speaker 1: They deserved a good meal.
Speaker 2: So the bullet just missed his heart by an inch.
Speaker 1: Wow, so he's lucky.
Speaker 3: Yes, King managed to survive.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank goodness. But then they just left this crazy
Speaker 1: mofo out there.
Speaker 3: What else are they gonna do?
Speaker 1: I guess he's obviously nuts.
Speaker 2: So they managed to make it back. Kings barely made
Speaker 2: it with his life. He almost got shot in the heart.
Speaker 2: Inspector emes At a Clavic learns of this and quickly
Speaker 2: makes a team.
Speaker 3: To go back.
Speaker 2: Quickly establishes like, okay, we need to get some guys
Speaker 2: out here, because now we have we want.
Speaker 3: We have a wanted man. Now, not just like.
Speaker 1: A well he injured a freaking narci.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he shot an rcmpof s. Yeah, it's no longer
Speaker 2: just like a tough.
Speaker 1: Between a couple of traps now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the team was Inspector Eames McDowell, Lazarus Bernard, and
Speaker 2: they'd also brought three trappers along with them, three local
Speaker 2: trappers who are you know, really good shots and they
Speaker 2: really know the area. And they also brought them because
Speaker 2: they thought maybe Albert would have an easier time surrender,
Speaker 2: surrendering to trappers, just like he's a trapper, more relatable people.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh my goodness, But I feel like these trappers
Speaker 1: wouldn't have had to go. I wouldn't want to go.
Speaker 1: I would not be volunteering for that.
Speaker 2: They went along and Millan also joined in as well.
Speaker 2: So there's the five of them plus the three trappers,
Speaker 2: so there's eight.
Speaker 1: But King is in the hospital.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, kings. King's out of the story now, okay.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that that's probably lucky for him.
Speaker 3: Probably.
Speaker 2: So they settled for the cabin, armed with the guns
Speaker 2: as well as dynamite.
Speaker 1: Oh okay.
Speaker 2: So they arrived and they set up on both sides
Speaker 2: of the cabin and they waited.
Speaker 1: He knows they're there, guaranteed.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: After waiting, eventually they heard some clanging of what they
Speaker 2: think were dishes inside. So, okay, clearly he's in the cabin.
Speaker 2: Because they weren't sure if he's in there, maybe he
Speaker 2: could be out on doing some trap and stuff. He
Speaker 2: knows Robin went out in the bush.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: I doubt that.
Speaker 3: I doubt it.
Speaker 1: May do that in the comfort of your home.
Speaker 3: Probably a little warmer.
Speaker 2: So after hearing the utensils and dishes clanging, Eames calls out, Johnson,
Speaker 2: this is the RCMP.
Speaker 3: Come out.
Speaker 2: There's no serious charge against you. The man you shot
Speaker 2: isn't dead.
Speaker 1: There's still serious charge against.
Speaker 3: Well, like not serious.
Speaker 1: He didn't kill kill someone. I guess you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Not a murder charge. So he's trying to lure him out.
Speaker 2: He's trying to like, you know, it's a bargaining situation
Speaker 2: sort of thing.
Speaker 3: So there's no response.
Speaker 1: It was quiet, even though they clearly know he's in there.
Speaker 2: But oh yeah, and after a while, all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: gunfire from the cabin again again, So gunfight ensues. So
Speaker 2: two men actually managed to make it up to the
Speaker 2: door during this gunfight, and they start trying to smash
Speaker 2: in the door.
Speaker 1: Because he's he's not shooting, but he is shooting at
Speaker 1: the door at the door too though, right, Well, so
Speaker 1: they're brave.
Speaker 2: Because they've got eight guys surrounding the cabin, right and
Speaker 2: he's shooting out through these little tiny holes in each corner,
Speaker 2: so he can't really see very well, so you can't
Speaker 2: really see these guys coming up there.
Speaker 1: And they know where the holes are now and stuff.
Speaker 2: So okay, okay, So they try to start breaking down
Speaker 2: the door, and they get the door about half broken
Speaker 2: down by the time they are drove off by gunfire
Speaker 2: through the door. Now inside, they said, when they were
Speaker 2: smashing this door, they saw that it was double walled.
Speaker 2: It was like reinforced inside. So you have your outside
Speaker 2: log wall and there was an inside log wall as well.
Speaker 1: Interesting, I'm so intrigued to here what the inside looks like.
Speaker 3: Oh, it was like fortified.
Speaker 2: So the shooting continued for a long while.
Speaker 3: And it was basically a standoff.
Speaker 2: They couldn't get Albert to come out or anything, and
Speaker 2: they're not going anywhere, so it's just shooting back and forth,
Speaker 2: back and forth.
Speaker 3: They set up a fire down by.
Speaker 2: The river, and they decided, you know, we need to
Speaker 2: do something. We've got this dynamite here, let's thaw it out.
Speaker 3: So they won't. They don't.
Speaker 2: It's not a dangerous situation. Really, They're they're thawing it
Speaker 2: out by the fire.
Speaker 3: They're not lighting it on fire.
Speaker 2: I just want to make note of that because it
Speaker 2: sounds dangerous thawing dynamite out by a fire.
Speaker 3: But it's good.
Speaker 1: I feel like anything involving dynamite is.
Speaker 2: Dangerous, but well, what happens next is a little dangerous
Speaker 2: for sure. They decide that they're gonna throw a stick
Speaker 2: of dynamite at the door of the cabin and try
Speaker 2: and blow it open.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, that point, you're going to do that.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, the first one fails that no one was injured,
Speaker 2: Like mid are it blew up before it hit the
Speaker 2: door sort of thing, right, So they continue to use
Speaker 2: dynamite and try and get this door blown open, and
Speaker 2: they kind of get the.
Speaker 3: Door blown open, there's still it's just not working.
Speaker 2: So all the cabin is so reinforced that the dynamite
Speaker 2: isn't doing a lot of damage.
Speaker 1: This guy knows what he was doing.
Speaker 3: Hey, oh definitely he's a.
Speaker 1: Serious plan in action right now, I feel like, so.
Speaker 2: Continuing this gunfight and some dynamite at three am in
Speaker 2: the dark, because you know, they've been doing this all
Speaker 2: day now and into the night, Eames and another man
Speaker 2: rushed the cabin in the dark, and when they reached
Speaker 2: the door, because the door is like mostly broken open
Speaker 2: now right at the door, they turned on the flashlight
Speaker 2: to try and like surprise, him blind them. Immediately as
Speaker 2: the light was turned on, the flashlight was shot out
Speaker 2: of his hand immediately.
Speaker 1: Holy, who is this guy?
Speaker 2: This guy is like an excellent marksman. He's building a
Speaker 2: freaking bunker and he's holding off the RCMP like no tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is insane.
Speaker 3: So that failed.
Speaker 2: Now, the temperature that they're they're dealing with is approximately
Speaker 2: fifty below zero. These guys are dealing with frostbite on
Speaker 2: their face, their fingers, they're tired, they're freezing.
Speaker 3: Of course they're dogs as well.
Speaker 2: Oh no, so they had to go back to a
Speaker 2: clavic again and restrategize.
Speaker 1: This is insane.
Speaker 3: It gets brutal, trust me. We're just ramping up here.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I already feel like this is a bit much.
Speaker 1: The sky is like nuts.
Speaker 2: He's the mad Trapper of Rat River. And actually funny
Speaker 2: that we're onto that topic right now, because around this time,
Speaker 2: the radio and news sources began picking up the story.
Speaker 2: And it's like mostly like amateur radio stations and stuff
Speaker 2: at the time, like nothing big, but word was starting
Speaker 2: to get out of the situation and it was getting
Speaker 2: across like all across North America. It wasn't just the
Speaker 2: local area, and now it was like a lot of
Speaker 2: people knew about the story, and media dubbed him at
Speaker 2: this time the Mad Trapper of Rat River. So that's
Speaker 2: where he got his name, is from the media.
Speaker 1: Okay, that media, Yeah, yeah, they.
Speaker 3: Do it every time. They got to get the nicknames
Speaker 3: in there.
Speaker 1: I think I'm picturing this to be happening way earlier time,
Speaker 1: like eighteen hundreds or something, because I'm like, oh, they
Speaker 1: have radio, I think you might be one. Imagination is
Speaker 1: just like, okay, I'll call him down.
Speaker 3: I mean, let your imagination go, that's for sure. But
Speaker 3: they definitely did have radios.
Speaker 2: So Eames and his crew arrived on January seventeenth and
Speaker 2: set up base camp at the mouth of Rat River.
Speaker 2: So they've already gone to Klavic and they're now back
Speaker 2: on the Rat River Canyon to try and take him
Speaker 2: on once more. However, this time the cabin was abandoned.
Speaker 3: Oh so they got to look at the bunker or
Speaker 3: the cabin, which everyone you want to call it.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so smart actually that it's a band
Speaker 1: and of course they'd come back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So inside the cabin there was bunkers dugout just
Speaker 2: big enough for Albert to sit in in the gravel
Speaker 2: in the ground, and they're aligned with spruce boughs. There
Speaker 2: was a fire designed on the back wall, designed perfectly
Speaker 2: to reflect the heat right back into these little bunkers.
Speaker 2: Very well thought out.
Speaker 1: He's smart, he is.
Speaker 2: There was no signs of trapping activity. The only thing
Speaker 2: they really found in there was like, of course, gunshells
Speaker 2: and some like half eaten like elk scraps of like
Speaker 2: meat and.
Speaker 3: Things like that.
Speaker 2: So there wasn't really much to find in there. But
Speaker 2: they did find that.
Speaker 3: You know, it's double walled. It's not a cabin.
Speaker 2: It's basically a military bunker that this guy built.
Speaker 1: I was expecting it to be a little bit more
Speaker 1: exciting in there, but okay, I'll take it.
Speaker 2: So they knew he couldn't have gone far because of
Speaker 2: the weather and in all this there was a recent
Speaker 2: blizzard and they knew he was on foot. So he's
Speaker 2: in this canyon minus fifty degrees. He can't be going
Speaker 2: that far even if he has days on them. So
Speaker 2: they combed the Rat River Canyon for four different days
Speaker 2: trying to find him, and due to supply issues with
Speaker 2: all the men that he has Eames decides that he's
Speaker 2: going to send most of people back, himself included, and
Speaker 2: he's going to keep a couple of guys there to
Speaker 2: keep searching. So he took Millen to stay and his
Speaker 2: three best shots, which were Carl Gunland, Noel Verville. Those
Speaker 2: guys are both trappers and an army sergeant Frank Riddle
Speaker 2: or Riddelldell.
Speaker 3: Yes, so those four stayed.
Speaker 2: And when I say like best shots, I mean like
Speaker 2: with a rifle, like good aim, good accuracy. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: he's not he's not making it very far. That's why
Speaker 2: these guys are staying to track him. Hopefully they can
Speaker 2: get a trail because he like, he can't use his
Speaker 2: rifle he's got he's all his food that he's carrying
Speaker 2: is in his bag. He can't hunt because if he
Speaker 2: uses his rifle, he'll be given away.
Speaker 1: Right well, yain even to set a fire, right fire.
Speaker 3: Smoke's gonna give you away. The flame at Knight's going
Speaker 3: to give you away. So he's got.
Speaker 2: A heavy backpack. He can't really do much.
Speaker 3: He's going to be given away.
Speaker 2: They estimated that because of the conditions and everything, he's
Speaker 2: gonna need to intake about three to four times the
Speaker 2: normal calories because he's essentially running a marathon every day
Speaker 2: as far as he's traveling and going through the snow
Speaker 2: and the weight.
Speaker 1: He's packing, right, and even just like the coldness and
Speaker 1: having to keep your body warm would burn calories.
Speaker 2: I feel like all the conditions and everything. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: hold on, where am I here?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: So they tracked Johnson the best of their ability, picking
Speaker 2: up his trail occasionally, and they he did his best
Speaker 2: to hide tracks, walking on like frozen ice, frozen spots
Speaker 2: of the snow. So there's even at points he wore
Speaker 2: his snow shoes backwards to try and send them in
Speaker 2: the wrong direction.
Speaker 1: Really, yes, yes, okay, I think that's genius.
Speaker 2: And they could tell that he was headed for Alaska
Speaker 2: across the Great Divide, so he's headed west. On Jane
Speaker 2: twenty eighth, Riddell found an old trail and spotted a
Speaker 2: light off in the distance after he followed it. Now
Speaker 2: this is at night, so he can kind of clamb
Speaker 2: up on.
Speaker 3: This ridge and get a look.
Speaker 2: And Riddell goes back and get Verville, and they see
Speaker 2: this man tending a fire.
Speaker 3: He's not very far away, only like.
Speaker 2: I think it was like sixty yards or something like that.
Speaker 1: The city was and he actually is lighting a fire.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he didn't know they were there, but they
Speaker 2: didn't they didn't do anything about it. They were contemplating
Speaker 2: taking a shop. But these two guys are trappers, they're
Speaker 2: not RCMP officers, so they don't want to get charged
Speaker 2: with manslaughter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but isn't that what they're there for.
Speaker 3: Well, they don't even know if it's the right guy.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, that's smart, then that's good.
Speaker 2: So they go back and get Constable Milling. And the
Speaker 2: next morning, all four men they peer over the same
Speaker 2: ridge and no person's in sight, but the camp is
Speaker 2: still there. They approached the camp and Johnson was immediately
Speaker 2: seen diving into a trench, a snow trench that he
Speaker 2: had dug out. So this guy is already ready, he's
Speaker 2: on the ball.
Speaker 1: He probably knew they were there.
Speaker 2: Then maybe, or he's just that prepared every time, I guess. So,
Speaker 2: of course, gunfight ensues, shots are being fired. Milan even
Speaker 2: called out to Albert Johnson to give up, and then
Speaker 2: two hours of silence, two hours of them waiting for
Speaker 2: Albert to give.
Speaker 3: Up or say something.
Speaker 1: Trench.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's a couple fires or a couple gun
Speaker 2: shots back and forth. He's like, give up in silence,
Speaker 2: maybe little map maybe. So after two hours, finally they
Speaker 2: decide to move in and more shooting begins, and unfortunately,
Speaker 2: the two trappers see Millan fall face forward into the snow.
Speaker 3: Oh no, they managed to.
Speaker 2: Crawl up behind him, tie his boots together and drag
Speaker 2: him back. And there's reports, not that I've seen any
Speaker 2: facts on it, but there's some people claiming that at
Speaker 2: this time they heard Johnson laughing.
Speaker 3: Ah, but they turned him over and yes.
Speaker 2: Johnson, sorry, Officer Millan was unfortunately dead.
Speaker 1: Okay. Was he the only RCMP there because the other
Speaker 1: one was army and the two are trappers?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Sorry, So there's there's a Constable Millin, two trappers and
Speaker 2: the army sergeant Greig.
Speaker 1: This guy is a piece. I'm getting angry now.
Speaker 2: So they inspected his rifle and they found that a
Speaker 2: screw caused a misfire in his gun, giving Albert Johnson
Speaker 2: the moment he needed to shoot Officer Milan.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, as it was his gun that did it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the three remaining men took care of ensuring
Speaker 2: that animals couldn't get to Officer Millan and everything like that,
Speaker 2: and Riddell after that they made sure or sorry, Riddell
Speaker 2: went back to a clavic to get Eames. So he's
Speaker 2: the two guys are staying there and Riddell goes back
Speaker 2: and on February fourth, Emes and ten others. This is
Speaker 2: where I start not talking about names because there's too
Speaker 2: many people to keep trying.
Speaker 1: This is a man hunt.
Speaker 3: Oh it's it's a man hunt and a half. And
Speaker 3: remember this started on was it Boxing day? So we're
Speaker 3: now into February fourth?
Speaker 1: Oh wow?
Speaker 3: Just as over a month now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So ten others arrived on the scene, and unfortunately
Speaker 2: Johnson escaped during one night silently.
Speaker 3: They didn't know he left, and he left.
Speaker 2: No tracks except to come over and look at Officer
Speaker 2: Milan's body.
Speaker 1: Seriously, yes, and then he left and that pissed me off,
Speaker 1: like really, just oh okay, that's nice of him.
Speaker 2: Three more days they were eluded by Johnson as he
Speaker 2: cleverly hit his tracks constantly, you know, making sure he's
Speaker 2: on and off his snow shoes, back tracking snow shoes
Speaker 2: on backwards, walking on icy patches, doing what he can
Speaker 2: to hide he's zig zagging everywhere. He's out running dog
Speaker 2: sleds on his or by foot, and he's backtracking, going
Speaker 2: in circle, all this sort of stuff, and he's out
Speaker 2: running dogs lives.
Speaker 1: Exactly hiding here. This is so intriguing.
Speaker 2: So by this time there was a pilot, Captain C. W. May,
Speaker 2: who served in World War One and actually even fought
Speaker 2: against the infamous Red Baron. He solved their reoccurring supply
Speaker 2: issue because again Eames is going to have to take
Speaker 2: guys off because they're running out of food, especially for
Speaker 2: the dogs.
Speaker 3: Even food supplies.
Speaker 2: So this pilot manages to bring those supplies and can
Speaker 2: go back and forth and get supplies as needed. So
Speaker 2: now they don't have to abandon and rejoin. It's just
Speaker 2: a solid man hunt.
Speaker 1: Now good.
Speaker 2: And by this time he goes up in the air
Speaker 2: and he kind of sees where Johnson's been heading, and
Speaker 2: they realize he's going to cross the Great Divide?
Speaker 3: Do you know what the Great Divide is?
Speaker 1: But I actually don't. I was going to ask when
Speaker 1: I was like, did you already say what it was?
Speaker 2: And I forgot, So a continental divide is what it is.
Speaker 2: Great Divide is like its nickname it's a large drainage
Speaker 2: divide on a continent where one side of the mountains
Speaker 2: drain off into one ocean and the other side of
Speaker 2: the mountains drain off into another. So it's that big
Speaker 2: that it actually divides the drainage of the continent.
Speaker 1: Interesting.
Speaker 2: And so this runs right down Canada into the States
Speaker 2: from the yukon the mountain in the Rockies, right, Okay,
Speaker 2: So he's crossing that rocky range in the middle of winter,
Speaker 2: so low by foot in minus forty to fifty weather,
Speaker 2: in blizzards and snow. It's an impossible task. The local
Speaker 2: witches are even saying there's no way a man can
Speaker 2: make that alone.
Speaker 3: It's impossible.
Speaker 1: The fact that he's still even alive, I feel like
Speaker 1: is a miracle.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: So. February thirteenth, Captain May led a recon flight where
Speaker 2: they found his tracks where he that's right, he found
Speaker 2: his tracks where he joined tracks of a caribou herd on.
Speaker 3: The other side of the divide. He made it across.
Speaker 1: He did it.
Speaker 3: He did it.
Speaker 2: So by February fifteenth, the crew made it to the
Speaker 2: other side the divide, and they are four days now
Speaker 2: estimated behind Johnson, Oh right, and like I said, by foot,
Speaker 2: they've got a plane. These guys have dog sleds and
Speaker 2: he's four days ahead.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's it gets crazier.
Speaker 2: Luckily, there was an old trapper on the other side
Speaker 2: of the mountain in a local area there by the
Speaker 2: name of Frank Johnson that showed them a pretage route
Speaker 2: that helped them gain on Johnson, and by February sixteenth
Speaker 2: they found his trail where he left the caribou herd
Speaker 2: tracks and they estimated that they were no more than
Speaker 2: thirty six hours old, so they have gained significant Yeah.
Speaker 2: And at this time another another individual joined the hunt,
Speaker 2: Major Earl Hershey, among other people. So he was a
Speaker 2: bit of a significant individual in this in this role. Okay,
Speaker 2: So noon the following day after finding his trail, Sorr,
Speaker 2: I'm like just going off information here, but there's so
Speaker 2: much to.
Speaker 1: This I know well, and I'm just so I'm very engaged.
Speaker 2: Soon noon the following day, after finding his trail, they're
Speaker 2: going down the Frozen Eagle River when Hersey, I think
Speaker 2: that's how you say his name, Hersey. He turns a
Speaker 2: bend and he sees Albert. Unfortunately, Albert sees him too.
Speaker 1: Oh dagn for whatever reason, he.
Speaker 3: Was walking towards him.
Speaker 2: He was backtracking, most likely to confuse their trail again.
Speaker 1: So oh okay, so he had probably has no idea
Speaker 1: how much they gained on him. Yeah, he thinks they're still.
Speaker 2: Way back, so face to face around this bend, I
Speaker 2: mean they're they're a little bit of ways, They're not
Speaker 2: like nose right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it was a mad scramble and they're in the
Speaker 2: middle of a river, steep river banks and either side
Speaker 2: of them. Hersey takes a knee and fires a shot
Speaker 2: as well as another individual behind him takes a shot
Speaker 2: as Johnson scrambles and tries to make it up one bank.
Speaker 2: He couldn't make it up the bank. It was too steep,
Speaker 2: and he's scrambling and they're shooting back and forth in
Speaker 2: this and unfortunately, during this mad scramble, as he's coming
Speaker 2: back down that bank headed to the overside the other
Speaker 2: side of the river, Hersey gets shot from Albert as well.
Speaker 1: What the frig I thought this Johnson guy was gonna
Speaker 1: get shot for sure at this point, because they caught
Speaker 1: him when he wasn't prepared. Finally, they did catch.
Speaker 3: Him when he's not prepared. We'll see what happens. He
Speaker 3: tries to get up the other side of the river.
Speaker 2: Again, it's too steep. He's stuck on the frozen river.
Speaker 2: So he tries to run. But of course, by this time,
Speaker 2: the entire crew has caught up and he's got a
Speaker 2: whole lack of people firing at him. Now, yeah, not
Speaker 2: everyone's firing yet because they're STI trying to get him
Speaker 2: to surrender. They're shouting at him, give up, give up.
Speaker 2: As he's running away, they see him stumble a little bit,
Speaker 2: and some reports stay. Some reports say they think he
Speaker 2: got shot. Other reports say he was just throwing his
Speaker 2: backpack down, because he immediately turned around and took cover
Speaker 2: behind his backpack and started returning fire. So what happens next?
Speaker 2: Clearly he's not giving up, he's returning fire. Everyone begins shooting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have to get him at this point.
Speaker 3: Then, So what happens? Shooting back and forth?
Speaker 2: Shooting back and forth, because you know, Albert's not answering.
Speaker 3: Again, he never answers.
Speaker 2: They never heard a single peep from him, but they
Speaker 2: could see him WinCE every time.
Speaker 3: A bullet hit.
Speaker 2: Oh, I never made a noise, but they could see
Speaker 2: him WinCE, they could see him move, they could see
Speaker 2: him flinch, but not a noise came.
Speaker 3: Out of him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like this guy's just a machine.
Speaker 2: And ten minutes after noon when they ran into him
Speaker 2: at noon, So ten minutes later, after this firefight, Albert
Speaker 2: laid still.
Speaker 3: Now they're thinking this might be.
Speaker 2: A trick because he's definitely pulled tricks on them in
Speaker 2: the past.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I also feel like, how bad are their shots?
Speaker 1: He has to be done, Well.
Speaker 3: You have an army sergeant, you have our CNP.
Speaker 1: Like, he has to be done.
Speaker 2: So they walk over to him and turn him over.
Speaker 2: He is, in fact dead. Autopsy showed that he was
Speaker 2: shot with five bullets and one of the bullets actually
Speaker 2: severed his spine.
Speaker 1: Which reallyz shot that killed him, I guess so.
Speaker 2: And when they turned him over, he was a withered
Speaker 2: shell of a man, scrawny, but he had this like
Speaker 2: smirk on his face.
Speaker 3: Almost.
Speaker 2: I looked at the photo and I'm going to post
Speaker 2: like the drawing on our Instagram, and that drawing is
Speaker 2: from the photo taken when he's turnover.
Speaker 1: You saw the photo of him after he died.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's not gruesome whatsoever. I just don't want to
Speaker 2: post a photo of a dead guy on Instagram, so
Speaker 2: I'll post the drawing of it because it's like an
Speaker 2: infamous photo. But he doesn't look like he's smirking to me,
Speaker 2: but he's His teeth are definitely showing.
Speaker 3: He's burying his.
Speaker 2: Teeth for sure, But I don't know if it looks
Speaker 2: like a grin to me or not.
Speaker 1: But he's probably just like I don't, all hunkering down
Speaker 1: like oh like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So they estimate he traveled by foot approximately one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty to two hundred and fifty kilometers over the
Speaker 2: course of this man hunt. Ah, it was far more
Speaker 2: than third days and an average temperature of minus forty
Speaker 2: degrees celsius.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a good diet plan. Maybe that's what I
Speaker 1: need to get on.
Speaker 3: I mean, it would work.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I would say it's a good
Speaker 2: diet plan, but it's a diet.
Speaker 1: Plan, yeah, the New Age diet plan.
Speaker 2: And to this day, they still don't know who Albert
Speaker 2: Johnson was.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: It's a mystery if that's even his name.
Speaker 1: Oh. I was just ready for the juice to come out.
Speaker 1: Of what this guy was up to.
Speaker 2: Several hundred people have Wroten written into the RCMP claiming
Speaker 2: to know him. Some called him the Blueberry Kid, which
Speaker 2: is some criminal guy. I didn't research the Blueberry Kid
Speaker 2: at all, but others claimed him to be a murderer
Speaker 2: from the Michigan a World War One sniper, ex provincial policeman,
Speaker 2: a husband, father, brother son.
Speaker 1: A definitely a badass.
Speaker 3: Sorry for in No, Yeah, he's a badass for sure.
Speaker 2: Oh that reminds me. There was an article I came across.
Speaker 2: I'm going to see if I can find it again
Speaker 2: and put it down the notes below.
Speaker 3: It was like Badass of the Week or something like this,
Speaker 3: and someone wrote an article in this guy.
Speaker 2: Their description was hilarious of this events because they don't
Speaker 2: hold back.
Speaker 3: They're cursing, it's wearing.
Speaker 2: This motherfucker did this and this god damn like it
Speaker 2: was just the way they wrote it hilarious.
Speaker 3: I highly recommend you check it out.
Speaker 1: Well, he seems like a machine like but.
Speaker 2: Just like the RCNP investigated, is meant like all these
Speaker 2: calls that they could they use fingerprints DNA run testing
Speaker 2: at the time, like it's not very advanced, but and
Speaker 2: nothing came up from any of them.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: The most promising call or sorry lead they got called
Speaker 2: him Arthur Nelson from nineteen twenty five. He was from
Speaker 2: British Columbia and he went to the Yukon where he
Speaker 2: disappeared in nineteen thirty one. And it was only two
Speaker 2: months later where Albert Johnson appeared. There are other there's
Speaker 2: some other like deep theories out there. I didn't want
Speaker 2: to get into theory stuff on this, yeah, but still
Speaker 2: none of them came up with any concrete evidence. Then
Speaker 2: in two thousand and seven, they exumed Johnson's body from a.
Speaker 3: Clavic where he was buried.
Speaker 2: Interesting to run some DNA tests on these, you know,
Speaker 2: like Arthur Nelson. Yeah, it's not too long ago, and
Speaker 2: all DNA tests have ruled out all known potential matches,
Speaker 2: including this Arthur Nelson. So we still to this day
Speaker 2: have no fucking clue who Albert Johnson was really bad
Speaker 2: trapper of Rat River.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing to me that he killed He only
Speaker 1: was a He only killed one person, all right, that
Speaker 1: other because wasn't there. He got shot, but he didn't die.
Speaker 2: He killed one other individual, so he shot. Now I
Speaker 2: can't remember names.
Speaker 3: He shot the first.
Speaker 2: Individual through the chest through the door, who survived. Second
Speaker 2: individual was Millon, yeah.
Speaker 3: Passed away.
Speaker 2: And the third individual was Hersey who was shot and
Speaker 2: he actually just survived that The doctor said if they
Speaker 2: arrived minutes later, he would have passed. So they got
Speaker 2: him to the hospital literally just in time, Okay, thankfully
Speaker 2: via the plane.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. I can't believe how many people that he
Speaker 1: had coming after him and he freaking got away, like
Speaker 1: for a long time.
Speaker 2: He didn't make a peep and he just didn't talk.
Speaker 2: He just kept going out running the dog sleds by
Speaker 2: foot and backtracking like it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: Like crazy, as like a mofo as this guy is,
Speaker 1: he actually is like a little bit admirable.
Speaker 2: Like you said, he's a badass. I'm not gonna say admirable.
Speaker 2: He can do some shit and he's a badass.
Speaker 1: Okay. Well, the fact that he can outrun that many
Speaker 1: people and is like so well in the outdoors and stuff,
Speaker 1: I guess I just think that's like holy because I'm
Speaker 1: the furthest from that. They should be a movie of this.
Speaker 2: They should, I wonder if they have. I know there's
Speaker 2: books written about it. I know there's documentaries about it,
Speaker 2: but I don't know if there's a movie. I didn't
Speaker 2: come across anything like that.
Speaker 1: Well done you.
Speaker 2: To Hayden at work for putting me on this one.
Speaker 2: So that was a good, good one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, good job. I've never heard of it. That's all.
Speaker 2: Now you have there.
Speaker 1: You go again with your ones that don't have proper
Speaker 1: outcomes for me.
Speaker 3: I like the mystery ones.
Speaker 1: I like to know when that's happened, where they are now.
Speaker 2: It's all like there is you know everything except you
Speaker 2: know when he appeared, and you know how he died,
Speaker 2: you know everything in between there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I want to know a bit more.
Speaker 2: Well, if you want to know a bit more, I
Speaker 2: recommend you research it. Because they they dove into it.
Speaker 2: They released everything that was in his pack and all
Speaker 2: this sort of stuff. It's just too much for me
Speaker 2: to really get into.
Speaker 1: What's in his pack. Might be a little bit.
Speaker 2: I did actually take a screenshot on my cell phone,
Speaker 2: So if you really want to know what's in his
Speaker 2: backpack when he died, I can tell you.
Speaker 3: I just got to pull up the picture.
Speaker 1: On my phone. You make some other like hopefully none
Speaker 1: of the dogs or anything died during this chase, because
Speaker 1: that would have been hard on them too.
Speaker 3: There was no report of it.
Speaker 1: I'm very so we have two huskies. I think we
Speaker 1: mentioned this before, so I'm all about this dog tape.
Speaker 2: Like one third of a dog team already. Okay, So
Speaker 2: what was in his pack? He had a razor, a comb,
Speaker 2: a mirror, needle, thread oil, rag fish hooks, wax matches, nails, acts,
Speaker 2: pocket compass, one hundred and nineteen shells, a knife made
Speaker 2: from an old tarping strap, a tarping spring sorry, all
Speaker 2: in neatly sewn moose hide case, five freshwater pearls, some
Speaker 2: gold dust, two tho four hundred and ten dollars in bills,
Speaker 2: and two pieces of gold bridgework that were not his own.
Speaker 2: So by bridgework like gold teeth.
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, huh okay, that I mean, I guess that's
Speaker 1: what I kind of expected to be in there.
Speaker 2: You expected him to have someone else's gold teeth in
Speaker 2: this bag.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Nothing in that pack surprised me overly. Well,
Speaker 1: we went through the information, so huh interesting. I guess
Speaker 1: now I know when I have to pack if I'm
Speaker 1: going out in the wilderness.
Speaker 2: This was one bad assitude. Or if I if I
Speaker 2: may one Wicked dude.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean yeah, he wasn't a good dude.
Speaker 3: All right, Well let's wrap this up.
Speaker 1: So you're doing next episode though, I am doing the
Speaker 1: next episode and I'm giving no hints because I don't
Speaker 1: know what it's going to be on yet.
Speaker 3: You gotta do your research, gotta hurry out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And why I'm doing my research, I'm definitely gonna
Speaker 1: dot down a bunch of cases that I'm interested into,
Speaker 1: because I know there's lots.
Speaker 2: So if you guys have any in any cases you
Speaker 2: want to recommend us, hit us. Hit us up on
Speaker 2: Instagram at Wicked and Grim. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 2: Just give it a search. You'll find us and let
Speaker 2: us know what you think.
Speaker 1: Perfect.
Speaker 3: Okay, you want to send us out here.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. Okay, stay Wicked