Speaker 1: Today, I want to tell you about a journey that
Speaker 1: I've been on for most of my life. Ever since
Speaker 1: I was a kid, I've heard tales of bigfoot and
Speaker 1: wild men while spending time with my friends and family.
Speaker 1: As I grew older and read more about the paranormal,
Speaker 1: my interest in encryptids and other things strange only deepened.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm so excited to share with you what
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Speaker 1: where I talk about all things strange. This is more
Speaker 1: than just a podcast network. It's a community that allows
Speaker 1: me to meet so many amazing people who share their
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Speaker 2: Now, what are your reporting? I got a screen going
Speaker 2: on here. Something just kid with my dog, something to
Speaker 2: kill your dog? My dog. We're flying through there, over
Speaker 2: the tree. I don't know how it did it? Okay,
Speaker 2: damn it. I'm really confused. All I saw was my
Speaker 2: dog coming over the fence and name was dead once
Speaker 2: you hit the grill. I didn't see any cars. All
Speaker 2: I saw was my dog coming over the fence. Happen?
Speaker 2: What are you reporting? We got some wonder or something
Speaker 2: crawling around out here? Did you see what it was?
Speaker 2: It was enough out here. Look, I'm new to window
Speaker 2: now and I don't need anything. I don't want to
Speaker 2: go outside. Its hello, hit the boddy out here? What quin?
Speaker 2: I'm out there? It's thought of a mention about text nine.
Speaker 2: I don't know easy amount there. Yeah, I'm walking right, heady.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another special episode where we're diving into
Speaker 1: more strange cases of National park nightmares. Today we're heading
Speaker 1: deep into one of the most unsettling topics out there,
Speaker 1: the strange and often baffling disappearances that have taken place
Speaker 1: in our national parks and wild spaces. These are cases
Speaker 1: where people vanish, often without a trace, and the facts
Speaker 1: surrounding their disappearances leave behind more questions than answers. Sometimes
Speaker 1: there's no logical explanation, sometimes the evidence found doesn't make sense,
Speaker 1: and sometimes, despite exhaustive searches and investigations, no one really
Speaker 1: knows what happened. These are the stories that defy reason.
Speaker 1: Over the next few episodes, we'll be looking at several
Speaker 1: of these strange cases, each one with its own bizarre twists,
Speaker 1: unsettling details, and heartbreaking mysteries. And today we're starting with
Speaker 1: the case of Jared Adadero. It's a story that has
Speaker 1: haunted Colorado for more than two decades. It begins as
Speaker 1: an ordinary day a father, his two children, and a
Speaker 1: group of friendly hikers on a crisp autumn morning in
Speaker 1: the Rockies. But by nightfall, three year old Jared would
Speaker 1: be gone, vanishing without a trace in the wilderness. What
Speaker 1: followed was one of the most extensive and confusing search
Speaker 1: efforts in Colorado's history. There were theories of animal attacks,
Speaker 1: possible abduction, and even wilder speculation. But despite years of
Speaker 1: searching and the eventual discovery of his remains the mystery
Speaker 1: of what really happened to Jared Adadero remains unsolved to
Speaker 1: this day. So let's take a closer look at the
Speaker 1: events of that day, the investigation, and the strange details
Speaker 1: that continueing you to baffle investigators and experts alike. Jared
Speaker 1: was just three years old in nineteen ninety nine. He
Speaker 1: was the son of Alan Adadero and Stacey McKissick, and
Speaker 1: had an older sister named Joscelyn, who was six At
Speaker 1: the time, Allan, a devoted single father and a physical
Speaker 1: education teacher, was raising both kids on his own. To
Speaker 1: help navigate life as a single parent, he joined the
Speaker 1: Christian Singles Network, a local church group that quickly became
Speaker 1: a big part of their lives. That October, Allen and
Speaker 1: his kids were staying at the Pudra River Resort, a
Speaker 1: lodge he co owned with his twin brother Arlen. One day,
Speaker 1: members of the Christian Singles Network invited Joslyn and Jared
Speaker 1: to join them on a quick trip to the state
Speaker 1: fish hatchery nearby. At first, Alan hesitated, but when they
Speaker 1: assured him it would be a short, safe outing, he agreed.
Speaker 1: What happened next would change his life. Forever. At some
Speaker 1: point during the hatchery visit, the group decided to take
Speaker 1: a hike up the Big South Trail in the Arapaho
Speaker 1: and Roosevelt National Forest, about fifteen miles west of the resort.
Speaker 1: It was one of those stunning fall days. Colorado is
Speaker 1: famous for clear skies, crisp bear and golden leaves. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's what tempted them to venture farther, But this wasn't
Speaker 1: part of the original plan, and Alan hadn't known they'd
Speaker 1: be heading out on a rugged trail. Details of the
Speaker 1: hiker murky, and the timeline gets a little fuzzy. What
Speaker 1: we do know is the group split up, some moving faster,
Speaker 1: others hanging back. Jared, full of energy and curiosity, ended
Speaker 1: up running ahead. Along the way. He stopped to chat
Speaker 1: with two fishermen who later told investigators they weren't alarmed.
Speaker 1: They thought Jared was just part of the group they
Speaker 1: saw a short distance behind. That was the last confirmed
Speaker 1: sighting of Jared out of Darrow. Not long after, the
Speaker 1: group heard a scream. Some described it as playful, maybe
Speaker 1: like kids rough housing or someone pretending to scare him.
Speaker 1: Others felt it sounded more serious. Either way, it was
Speaker 1: chilling in hindsight. The group searched for about an hour
Speaker 1: before returning to the resort to tell Alan his son
Speaker 1: was missing. Allan was devastated. Witnesses say he collapsed, beating
Speaker 1: his chest and screaming, they lost my baby, They lost
Speaker 1: my baby. Search and rescue teams were quickly called in
Speaker 1: Larimer County under Sheriff Bill Nelson led the efforts. He
Speaker 1: was confident they'd find Jared, after all, they'd done this
Speaker 1: countless times before. He figured it was just a matter
Speaker 1: of locating a scared little boy hiding somewhere nearby. But
Speaker 1: as night turned to morning with no sign of Jared,
Speaker 1: his optimism began to fade. The search was massive, but chaotic.
Speaker 1: The media swarmed the area, drawing comparisons to the recent
Speaker 1: John Benet Ramsay case, another tragic and unsolved mystery involving
Speaker 1: a Colorado child. Reporters, psychics, and even people claiming to
Speaker 1: have spiritual powers flocked to the scene. One man showed
Speaker 1: up with a donkey, claiming he could track Jared down.
Speaker 1: Another performed a Native American ritual begging the mountain to
Speaker 1: return the boy. As if things couldn't get worse, tragedy
Speaker 1: struck the search team. A military helicopter from F. E.
Speaker 1: Warren Air Force Base crashed during the mission. The UH
Speaker 1: one N Hughey had been refueling, then struggled in the
Speaker 1: thin mountain air. It stalled and plunged one hundred feet
Speaker 1: into the forest. One of the rescuers on board, Mark Sheets,
Speaker 1: suffered a severe concussion, a shattered leg, broken vertebrae, and
Speaker 1: a broken shoulder. He later said he'd volunteered for the
Speaker 1: mission hoping to make a difference, only to nearly lose
Speaker 1: his own life. Despite everyone's best efforts, no trace of
Speaker 1: Jared was found. Weeks passed, then months, then years, and
Speaker 1: the case went cold. It wasn't until May sixth two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, nearly four years later, that two hikers,
Speaker 1: Rob Osborne and Gareth Watt, stumbled upon something in Pooder Canyon,
Speaker 1: near the Big South Trail. They found a child's fleece sweater,
Speaker 1: blue pants, and a tiny pair of Tarzan sneakers, the
Speaker 1: very shoes Jared had been wearing the day he disappeared. Nearby,
Speaker 1: they found a human molar and a large piece of skull.
Speaker 1: DNA testing confirmed what Alan had feared for years. It
Speaker 1: was Jared, but the discovery only deepened the mystery. Many
Speaker 1: believed a mountain lion had killed him. Yet experts, including
Speaker 1: Allan himself, questioned that theory. The sweater showed no signs
Speaker 1: of a typical big cat attack, and the pants were
Speaker 1: found turned inside out, something a wild animal wouldn't do.
Speaker 1: Even the sneakers looked remarkably undamaged, with no evidence they
Speaker 1: had been dragged through the wilderness. Mountain lion tracks had
Speaker 1: been found near Jared's footprints during the initial search. According
Speaker 1: to Allan, they seemed to converge right where Jared's tracks
Speaker 1: suddenly vanished. Still, doubts lingered leave. Jared was abducted by
Speaker 1: a human predator, someone who later dumped his clothing and remains.
Speaker 1: Authorities investigated people close to the family but found no
Speaker 1: solid leads. Adding to the strange twists, Allan was later
Speaker 1: harassed by a man claiming to be Jared. The man
Speaker 1: was eventually arrested for violating a restraining order. DNA evidence
Speaker 1: had already confirmed Jared's remains, so the man's claims were
Speaker 1: quickly dismissed. Today, Jared's case remains officially unsolved. Allan Adadaro
Speaker 1: chose to keep his son's remains, creating a shrine in
Speaker 1: Jared's old bedroom. He finds peace in his faith and
Speaker 1: believes he'll see Jared again one day. In his book
Speaker 1: Missing the Jared Adadaro Story, Alan talks about his journey
Speaker 1: through grief and hope and how his beliefs helped him
Speaker 1: find meaning in unimaginable loss. Jared's story left an impact
Speaker 1: on Colorado. In his memory, Governor Bill Riddard declared September
Speaker 1: eighth Recreational Safety Awareness Week. It's a solemn reminder of
Speaker 1: the importance of caution and preparedness when we head into
Speaker 1: the wild. There have been two books written about Jared's case,
Speaker 1: both offering insight into the heartbreak, the unanswered questions, and
Speaker 1: a father's enduring love, and as of today, the mystery
Speaker 1: of what really happened to Jared out of Darro remains
Speaker 1: one of the Mountain's deepest secrets. As we close the
Speaker 1: chapter on Jared Out of Darro's heartbreaking and perplexing case,
Speaker 1: it's hard not to be left with a sense of unease.
Speaker 1: His story reminds us just how quickly things can go
Speaker 1: wrong in the wild, how a moment's decision can lead
Speaker 1: to a lifetime of unanswered questions. Despite years of searching,
Speaker 1: expert theories and the discovery of his remains, what exactly
Speaker 1: happened to Jared that day in the mountains remains a mystery.
Speaker 1: But his story, as tragic as it is, is far
Speaker 1: from unique. There are dozens hundreds of cases where people
Speaker 1: vanish in the vast expanse of America's national park. Some
Speaker 1: are experienced hikers, some are young children. Some, like Jared,
Speaker 1: disappear almost within sight of others. And what's most chilling
Speaker 1: is how often these cases leave no trace, no clues, nothing,
Speaker 1: And that brings us to our next case. It's more recent,
Speaker 1: it's quieter, but it's just as baffling. In twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: a seventy year old man named James H. Prewitt set
Speaker 1: out for a day hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Speaker 1: He was familiar with the outdoors, prepared for the cold,
Speaker 1: and expected back by the end of the day. But
Speaker 1: James never returned, and when searchers went looking for him,
Speaker 1: they found absolutely nothing. No footprints, no gear, not even
Speaker 1: a scrap of clothing. It's as if he walked into
Speaker 1: the Colorado Wilderness and simply vanished. Let's take a closer
Speaker 1: look at the disappearance of James Pruitt and why this
Speaker 1: case continues to confound those who search for answers. James H.
Speaker 1: Prewitt was seventy years years old when he embarked on
Speaker 1: what should have been an ordinary day hike on February
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, twenty nineteen. He arrived at the Glacier Gorge
Speaker 1: Trailhead parking lot, a popular entry point for hikers in
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain National Park. Prewett was an experienced hiker, and
Speaker 1: nothing about his trip seemed unusual. However, no one knows
Speaker 1: exactly which route he intended to take that day. He
Speaker 1: never told anyone his plans. He parked his car, gathered
Speaker 1: his gear, and set off into the wild, and then
Speaker 1: he was gone. Days passed with no sign of Pruet,
Speaker 1: no call for help, no word of his whereabouts. When
Speaker 1: he failed to return, there was no immediate alarm. Perhaps
Speaker 1: he had decided to extend his trip, But as the
Speaker 1: days stretched on, his absence became more and more concerning.
Speaker 1: By March third, park rangers grew suspicious when they noticed
Speaker 1: his vehicle still sitting in the same spot at Glacier
Speaker 1: Gorge trailhead, untouched and covered in fresh snow. That was
Speaker 1: the moment everything changed. A full scale search began, but
Speaker 1: there was one major problem. The weather had already erased
Speaker 1: any trace of his journey. When search efforts finally kicked off,
Speaker 1: more than two feet of snow had fallen in the area.
Speaker 1: Bearing any tracks that could have given investigators a clue
Speaker 1: as to where Pruit had gone. His path into the
Speaker 1: wilderness had been completely wiped away. Teams of rangers, volunteers,
Speaker 1: and professional search and rescue units combed the area, using helicopters, drones,
Speaker 1: and avalanche rescue dogs to try and pick up any
Speaker 1: sign of him. But Rocky Mountain National Park and Winter
Speaker 1: is an unforgiving landscape, treacherous, unpredictable, and vast. It didn't
Speaker 1: take long for the search teams to realize they were
Speaker 1: up against impossible odds. The snowfall had created severe avalanche risks,
Speaker 1: making some areas too dangerous to even explore. Sub Zero
Speaker 1: temperatures and high winds made visibility difficult. Despite their best efforts,
Speaker 1: not a single trace of James Pruitt was found. No footprints,
Speaker 1: no gear, no clothing, nothing. By all appearances, It was
Speaker 1: as if he had simply vanished into thin air, with
Speaker 1: no remains or belongings found. All investigators can do is
Speaker 1: speculate about what may have happened to him. There are
Speaker 1: a few key theories. One of the most straightforward explanations
Speaker 1: is that Pruit simply lost his way. It's easy to
Speaker 1: become disoriented in a snow covered wilderness, and if he
Speaker 1: wandered off the main trail, he may have gotten stuck
Speaker 1: in deep snow or fallen into an area where he
Speaker 1: couldn't escape. With temperatures well below freezing and the unpredictable
Speaker 1: weather of the Rockies, hypothermia could have set in quickly,
Speaker 1: making it impossible for him to seek help. Rocky Mountain
Speaker 1: National Park is full of steep cliffs, ravines, and hidden
Speaker 1: drop offs, many of which become invisible under heavy snow.
Speaker 1: One possibility is that Pruitt accidentally walked over a snow
Speaker 1: covered crevasse or fell into a deep canyon, becoming completely
Speaker 1: hidden from view. And stay tuned for more sasquatch ott
Speaker 1: to see We'll be right back after these messages. Avalanches
Speaker 1: were also a risk during that time, and while no
Speaker 1: confirmed avalanches were reported, in the exact area he disappeared.
Speaker 1: It's possible that a small slide buried him in the snow,
Speaker 1: making recovery efforts impossible. Pruitt was seventy years old, Even
Speaker 1: though he was an experienced hiker. Age and health factors
Speaker 1: always play a role in physical endurance, especially in extreme environments.
Speaker 1: A sudden heart attack, stroke, or another medical event could
Speaker 1: have incapacitated him before he had a chance to call
Speaker 1: for help. If this happened in a remote part of
Speaker 1: the park, he may have collapsed and quickly become buried
Speaker 1: under snow and ice before rescuers even had a chance
Speaker 1: to look for him. While the official theories are the
Speaker 1: most logical, the case has also sparked speculation. The lack
Speaker 1: of any physical evidence, no gear, no clothing, no body
Speaker 1: lead some to wonder if something more bizarre happened. There
Speaker 1: are stories, though purely speculative, of other cases in which
Speaker 1: people seem to vanish without a trace in national parks.
Speaker 1: Some link these cases to missing four one pin one phenomena,
Speaker 1: a term used for unexplained disappearances in the wilderness. However,
Speaker 1: without any evidence of foul play or anything supernatural, these
Speaker 1: remain just theories. In the end, what happened to James
Speaker 1: Pruett remains a mystery to this day. Not a single
Speaker 1: clue has been found, no footprints, no camp site, no
Speaker 1: scraps of clothing, nothing to suggest where he might have
Speaker 1: gone or what might have happened. His case remains open
Speaker 1: but unsolved, and officials have presumed him to ceased due
Speaker 1: to the extreme conditions and length of time since his disappearance.
Speaker 1: For his family and friends, the lack of closure is
Speaker 1: perhaps the hardest part. Without a body, without a note,
Speaker 1: without a single sign, there are no real answers, and
Speaker 1: so another name is added to the long and eerie
Speaker 1: list of those who have vanished in America's national parks,
Speaker 1: their stories forever left open ended. James Pruitt's disappearance is
Speaker 1: a chilling reminder of how quickly nature can swallow a
Speaker 1: person whole. Even experienced hikers can fall victim to the
Speaker 1: unpredictable dangers of the wilderness. And yet his case isn't unique.
Speaker 1: There are hundreds, if not thousands, of similar cases, people
Speaker 1: who set out for what should have been an ordinary hike,
Speaker 1: only to vanish without a trace. As we continue our
Speaker 1: journey into the strange and often unexplained disappearances from America's
Speaker 1: national parks. We come to a case that's as unsettling
Speaker 1: as it is mysterious. This is the story of Jong
Speaker 1: Yon Juan, a forty five year old man from Los Angeles, California,
Speaker 1: who disappeared without a trace inside Grand Canyon National Park.
Speaker 1: It was September seventeenth, twenty seventeen. Rangers found a white
Speaker 1: Toyota Camry parked at Moran Point on the south rim
Speaker 1: of the Grand Canyon. Moran Point is one of those
Speaker 1: iconic overlooks where visitors often stopped to take in sweeping
Speaker 1: views of the canyon. It's not far from Desert View Drive,
Speaker 1: a place where tourists frequently pull off to watch the
Speaker 1: sun rise or set. But this particular car wasn't parked
Speaker 1: like it belonged to a tourist just passing through. The
Speaker 1: vehicle had been sitting there long enough to raise concern,
Speaker 1: and when rangers ran the plates, they discovered it was
Speaker 1: registered to Jong Yan Juan, a resident of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: That's where things started to get strange. Juan was not
Speaker 1: known to have any specific plans in the area. No
Speaker 1: one family, friends, or acquaintances knew he was heading to
Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon. He hadn't told anyone he was taking
Speaker 1: a trip. There was no record of him reserving lodging nearby,
Speaker 1: and no clear reason why he would have chosen Moran
Speaker 1: Point as a destination. The last confirmed sighting of his
Speaker 1: vehicle had been earlier that day, near the New Hants trailhead.
Speaker 1: For those unfamiliar, New Hants Trail is one of the
Speaker 1: most rugged, remote and least maintained trails on the South Rim.
Speaker 1: It's not a trail you stumble across by accident, and
Speaker 1: it's certainly not recommended for inexperienced hikers. Descending steeply for
Speaker 1: over six miles, the trail drops about four thy five
Speaker 1: hundred feet in elevation to the Colorado River. Conditions are harsh,
Speaker 1: there's little shade, no water sources, and plenty of warnings
Speaker 1: about the difficulty level. Even seasoned hikers take it seriously.
Speaker 1: There's no evidence that Jong Yan ever planned to hike
Speaker 1: that trail, or any trail for that matter, but his
Speaker 1: car being seen there raises the obvious question why why
Speaker 1: would a man from Los Angeles who had no known
Speaker 1: connection to the area park his car near a remote,
Speaker 1: dangerous trailhead, and then why was his car later found
Speaker 1: at Moran Point. It was almost as if he or
Speaker 1: someone else moved it. From the moment park rangers realized
Speaker 1: something wasn't right, they launched a search operation. They scoured
Speaker 1: the area around Moran Point, sent teams down Neuhant's trail,
Speaker 1: and conducted aerial searches. But there was no sign of
Speaker 1: Jong Yon Juan. No footprints, no dropped items, no clues.
Speaker 1: He was simply gone. Unlike other parts of Grand Canyon
Speaker 1: National Park, where disappearances sometimes have clear explanations heat stroke,
Speaker 1: dehydration accidents, the circumstances here were different. Juan wasn't seen hiking,
Speaker 1: He wasn't seen at a visitor center or interacting with
Speaker 1: anyone in the park. His presence there was a complete
Speaker 1: mystery from the start. Even more perplexing was the fact
Speaker 1: that there was no indication of his intentions. He left
Speaker 1: no notes, no messages, He made no phone calls or
Speaker 1: text to anyone letting them know where he was. There's
Speaker 1: been no financial activity since he vanished. His family didn't
Speaker 1: report him missing before the discovery of his car because
Speaker 1: they didn't even know he was gone. Some wonder if
Speaker 1: jong Yan intentionally disappeared. Did he come to the Grand
Speaker 1: Canyon with the intent to start a new life somewhere
Speaker 1: off the grid, or did he plan to end his
Speaker 1: life at one of the most famous and remote landscapes
Speaker 1: in the world. The problem with those theories is that
Speaker 1: there's no supporting evidence. No witnesses saw him approach the
Speaker 1: canyon's edge, no remains have ever been found at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the cliffs near Moran Point or along the
Speaker 1: steep treacherous New Hants Trail, and typically when someone vanishes
Speaker 1: with the intent to disappear, there are signs, preparations, clues
Speaker 1: left behind. In this case, there's nothing. It's as if
Speaker 1: Jan yan Yan simply vanished into thin air. Grand Canyon
Speaker 1: National Park has a long history of strange disappearances. Every year,
Speaker 1: millions of visitors passed through, many staying safely on marked
Speaker 1: paths and overlooks. But for those who wander beyond intentionally
Speaker 1: or otherwise, the risks are extreme. Temperatures can soar, terrain
Speaker 1: is brutal, and the sheer drop offs are unforgiving. Yet
Speaker 1: even in those harsh conditions, it's rare for someone to disappear,
Speaker 1: so completely that no trace is ever found. As of today,
Speaker 1: jong Yan One's whereabouts remain unknown. His case is still
Speaker 1: open with the National Park Service, and authorities continue to
Speaker 1: seek any information that could provide answers. But the truth
Speaker 1: is we may never know what happened, and that's the
Speaker 1: unsettling reality of America's wild places. For all their beauty,
Speaker 1: they hold secrets, secrets that sometimes never give up their dead.
Speaker 1: As we leave behind the mystery of Jong Yan Yuan,
Speaker 1: a man who vanished without explanation from one of the
Speaker 1: most iconic and visited national parks in America, we're left
Speaker 1: with a lingering question. How does someone simply disappear without
Speaker 1: a trace. And yet, as strange as jong Yan's case is,
Speaker 1: it's far from the only story of its kind. In fact,
Speaker 1: some of the most unsettling disappearances involved those who seem
Speaker 1: least likely to wander far young children. Children tend to
Speaker 1: leave evidence behind, They leave footprints, they call out when
Speaker 1: they're lost or frightened, and most of the time, when
Speaker 1: a child goes missing, searchers are able to find them quickly.
Speaker 1: But that wasn't the case with Samuel Bolka. In our
Speaker 1: next story, we travel north to Crater Lake National Park
Speaker 1: in Oregon, where eight year old Samuel, an energetic, bright
Speaker 1: and playful boy, vanished in broad daylight while his father
Speaker 1: watched from only a few yards away. What followed was
Speaker 1: one of the most exhaustive and frustrating searches ever conducted
Speaker 1: in the park, and to this day, the disappearance of
Speaker 1: Samuel Boylka remains one of the most haunting mysteries of
Speaker 1: the Pacific Northwest. October fourteenth, two thousand and six, was
Speaker 1: a clear, chilly autumn day. Samuel, who his family affectionately
Speaker 1: called Sammy, was visiting Crater Lake with his father, Kenneth Bowlka.
Speaker 1: The two had made the trip from their home in Portland, Oregon,
Speaker 1: to enjoy a weekend getaway. It was the first time
Speaker 1: Kenneth had taken his son on a trip like this alone.
Speaker 1: Sammy was a bright, energetic boy. He loved video games,
Speaker 1: riding his bike, and playing miniature golf. He also had autism,
Speaker 1: which made the world around him a little different than
Speaker 1: it was for most kids his age. He was described
Speaker 1: as high functioning, but could sometimes become fixated on things
Speaker 1: or have difficulty with transitions. He wasn't prone to wandering
Speaker 1: off though and his family had always taken great care
Speaker 1: to ensure his safety. That afternoon, around four pm, Kenneth
Speaker 1: and Sammy stopped at a popular scenic overlook called Cleetwood Cove,
Speaker 1: a trailhead on the north side of Crater Lake's rim.
Speaker 1: They parked their car at the pullout, intending to enjoy
Speaker 1: the view of the deep blue water that fills the
Speaker 1: ancient volcanic caldera. What happened next has puzzled investigators and
Speaker 1: haunt haunted Sammy's family ever since. As they got out
Speaker 1: of the car, Sammy ran ahead of his father toward
Speaker 1: a gently sloping hill near the overlook. It wasn't a
Speaker 1: dangerous area, no cliffs, no steep drop offs. Kenneth followed behind,
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on his son as Sammy climbed about
Speaker 1: fifty feet up the hillside. Kenneth later described Sammy as
Speaker 1: being in a playful mood, scampering up and down, staying
Speaker 1: within sight. Then, in a moment that seemed to happen
Speaker 1: in the blink of an eye, Sammy disappeared. Kenneth lost
Speaker 1: sight of his son for just a few seconds. He
Speaker 1: had been walking towards Sammy, calling to him, trying to
Speaker 1: get him to come back down the hill toward the car,
Speaker 1: But when Kenneth crested the slope where he had last
Speaker 1: seen his son, Sammy was nowhere to be found. At first,
Speaker 1: Kenneth thought his son might be hiding. It wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been unusual for Sammy to play a game like that,
Speaker 1: But as he began searching in earnest, calling his son's
Speaker 1: name louder and louder, there was still no sign of him.
Speaker 1: Kenneth immediately flagged down a passing vehicle and asked them
Speaker 1: to notify park rangers. Within hours, a full search was underway. Rangers,
Speaker 1: search and rescue teams, and volunteers combed the area around
Speaker 1: Cleetwood Cove. They scoured the hillside, dense woods, and rugged terrain.
Speaker 1: The initial search area covered more than four square miles.
Speaker 1: Helicopters flew overhead with thermal imaging, teams used tracking dogs,
Speaker 1: and ground searchers spread out in grid patterns looking for
Speaker 1: any sign of the missing boy. At times, more than
Speaker 1: two hundred people were involved in the search. But there
Speaker 1: was nothing, not a piece of clothing, not a footprint,
Speaker 1: not even a single clue that indicated where Sammy had gone.
Speaker 1: It was as if the earth had swallowed him whole,
Speaker 1: and that's where this case takes a strange turn. The
Speaker 1: area where Sammy vanished wasn't particularly dangerous. It wasn't close
Speaker 1: to the rim of the caldera, and there were no
Speaker 1: cliffs where he could have accidentally fallen. It was open
Speaker 1: enough that searchers should have easily spotted any movement or
Speaker 1: evidence of his presence, even after just a few minutes.
Speaker 1: But he was gone instantly and completely complicating matters. Samuel's
Speaker 1: autism may have played a role in how he responded
Speaker 1: to the search efforts. Experts familiar with autism suggested that
Speaker 1: Sammy might have become frightened by the searchers calls and
Speaker 1: noises if he had gone into a kind of hiding mode.
Speaker 1: It's possible he deliberately avoided the people looking for him,
Speaker 1: even if he was cold, hungry, or scared. Park officials
Speaker 1: also raised the possibility that Sammy may have found a
Speaker 1: small hiding place, like under a log or in a
Speaker 1: thicket and remained there unseen. But despite thorough searches using
Speaker 1: dogs trained to detect human scent and helicopters equipped with
Speaker 1: infrared cameras, nothing was ever found. The weather in Crater
Speaker 1: Lake National Park can be brutal, especially at elevation. Temperatures
Speaker 1: at night dropped below freezing in the days after Sammy disappeared.
Speaker 1: If he had been lost and exposed to the elements,
Speaker 1: hypothermia would have set in quickly. Search teams continued their
Speaker 1: efforts for eight days before scaling back the operation. After that,
Speaker 1: they moved into a recovery mode, expecting to find remains
Speaker 1: rather than a living child, but no remains were ever found.
Speaker 1: Theories about what happened to Samuel Bolka ranged from the
Speaker 1: heartbreaking to the bazaar. Some believe he simply got disoriented,
Speaker 1: wandered farther than anyone realized, and succumbed to the elements
Speaker 1: in an area searchers missed. Others have speculated about the
Speaker 1: possibility of an abduction, though no credible evidence ever supported
Speaker 1: that theory. And then there are those who point to
Speaker 1: the long history of strange disappearances in America's wilderness, cases
Speaker 1: where people seemed to vanish into thin air, leaving no
Speaker 1: trace behind. As of today, Samuel's case remains open with
Speaker 1: both the National Park Service and the National Center for
Speaker 1: Missing and Exploited Children. His family continued to hope for
Speaker 1: answers even all these years later. Crater Lake is known
Speaker 1: for its breathtaking beauty. Its clear, still waters are nearly
Speaker 1: two thousand feet deep, making it one of the deepest
Speaker 1: lakes in the world. But it's also a place of mystery,
Speaker 1: a landscape carved by ancient volcanic eruptions where the wilderness
Speaker 1: still holds secrets, and somewhere in those woods, the mystery
Speaker 1: of what happened to Sammy Bolka endures. As we wrap
Speaker 1: up the heartbreaking case of Sammy's disappearance, a bright young
Speaker 1: boy who seemed to vanish into thin air and broad
Speaker 1: daylight at Crater Lake, one question still lingers, how does
Speaker 1: someone disappear so completely, so instantly, without leaving behind a
Speaker 1: single clue. Sammy was only a few yards away from
Speaker 1: his father, on a gentle slope without cliffs or dangerous terrain,
Speaker 1: and despite exhaustive searches and countless theories, nothing has ever
Speaker 1: been found. His disappearance remains a painful reminder that sometimes
Speaker 1: the w wild places we love can hold secrets we
Speaker 1: may never uncover, and stay tuned for more sasquatch out
Speaker 1: to see, We'll be right back after these messages. But
Speaker 1: our next case takes that mystery even further. It's not
Speaker 1: just a child who disappears in the blink of an eye,
Speaker 1: but a seasoned National Park ranger, someone who knew the land,
Speaker 1: someone who should have been safer than anyone else out there.
Speaker 1: And yet what happened to Paul Braxton Fugate in nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty has puzzled investigators for over four decades. It's not
Speaker 1: just that he vanished, it's the circumstances surrounding his disappearance
Speaker 1: that led many to believe he was the victim of
Speaker 1: something far more sinister. Let's head to the Cherikawa National
Speaker 1: Monument in Arizona, a landscape of towering stone spires and
Speaker 1: isolated trails, a place where strange things are said to happen,
Speaker 1: and where on a quiet Sunday afternoon, ranger Paul Fugate
Speaker 1: walked out of the visitor center and was never seen again.
Speaker 1: On January thirteenth, nineteen eighty, Paul arrived for work at
Speaker 1: Cherikawa National Monument, a breathtaking landscape of towering rock spires,
Speaker 1: ancient volcanic pinnacles, and rugged canyons located in the far
Speaker 1: southeastern corner of Arizona, near the New Mexico border. Cherikawa
Speaker 1: is beautiful but remote, a place where civilization feels distant
Speaker 1: and the wilderness stretches endlessly in every direction. Paul was
Speaker 1: forty one years old at the time. He was an
Speaker 1: experienced park ranger, deeply familiar with the monument's terrain and trails.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, he loved his job and was well
Speaker 1: liked by his co workers. That Sunday, he was assigned
Speaker 1: to work at the park's visitor center, assisting guests and
Speaker 1: overseeing operations. It was a typical day, nothing seemed out
Speaker 1: of the ordinary, but around two PM, Paul told a
Speaker 1: colleague he was heading out to check on one of
Speaker 1: the park's trails. He left the visitor center on foot,
Speaker 1: wearing his standard National Park Service uniform green and gray,
Speaker 1: with the distinctive NPS arrowhead patch on his sleeve and
Speaker 1: his gold colored ranger badge pinned over his heart. He
Speaker 1: didn't take any personal items, and he left his car behind.
Speaker 1: That was the last time anyone saw him. When Paul
Speaker 1: failed to return to the visitor center later that afternoon,
Speaker 1: staff initially assumed he was delayed, but as hours passed
Speaker 1: and daylight faded, concern began to grow. Calls over the
Speaker 1: parks radio went unanswered, his vehicle remained untouched. By evening,
Speaker 1: a formal search was underway. Search teams combed the trails
Speaker 1: and rugged terrain of Cherikawa National Monument for days, then weeks.
Speaker 1: They covered every known path Paul could have taken, and
Speaker 1: plenty of places off trail as well. Helicopters scanned from
Speaker 1: above ground, teams scoured canyons and rock formations, and fellow
Speaker 1: rangers searched every remote corner they could reach. They found nothing,
Speaker 1: no footprints, no clothing, whipment, no signs of a struggle.
Speaker 1: It was as if Paul Fugate had simply stepped off
Speaker 1: the trail and disappeared into thin air. But from the beginning,
Speaker 1: investigators suspected that something darker may have happened. Despite the
Speaker 1: absence of physical evidence, there were whispers about foul play.
Speaker 1: Within days of his disappearance, it was clear that this
Speaker 1: wasn't a case of a ranger getting lost or injured
Speaker 1: on the trail. Paul knew the terrain too well, and
Speaker 1: if he'd been in an accident, searchers believed they would
Speaker 1: have found some trace of him. In the years following
Speaker 1: his disappearance, rumors swirled. Some suggested that Paul may have
Speaker 1: stumbled onto illegal activity in the remote part, possibly drug
Speaker 1: trafficking or poaching operations. In the nineteen eighties, southeastern Arizona
Speaker 1: was becoming increasingly known as a corridor for drug smuggling
Speaker 1: and other criminal enterprises. Could Paul have seen something he
Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to see. Others speculated that his disappearance might
Speaker 1: have been connected to personal disputes, though there's no public
Speaker 1: record indicating that Paul was involved in any conflicts that
Speaker 1: would have made him a target. Despite these theories, no
Speaker 1: concrete evidence ever surfaced. The Coachees County Sheriff's Office, working
Speaker 1: alongside the National Park Service, kept the investigation open. Leeds
Speaker 1: came and went, but nothing panned out. During the first
Speaker 1: few years, the reward for information grew to twenty thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: but as time passed, the trail grew cold. Then, decades later,
Speaker 1: something changed. From early on, there were whispers that this
Speaker 1: wasn't a simple case of a ranger getting lost in
Speaker 1: the wilderness. Investigators began to suspect foul play. They believed
Speaker 1: Paul may have witnessed something he wasn't supposed to see.
Speaker 1: At the time, the remote areas near the US Mexico border,
Speaker 1: especially in southeastern Arizona, were becoming hotspots for illegal drug
Speaker 1: trafficking and other criminal activities. Some speculated Paul stumbled upon
Speaker 1: smugglers or poachers operating in the back country and was silenced.
Speaker 1: The problem is, there's no evidence to support this theory,
Speaker 1: but there's also no evidence to contradict it, and that's
Speaker 1: what makes this case so chilling. For years, there were
Speaker 1: rumors that Paul had been murdered and that his body
Speaker 1: had been buried somewhere deep in the monument or transported
Speaker 1: far away. Some suggested a cover up, though it's unclear
Speaker 1: who would be involved or what motive they might have
Speaker 1: had beyond keeping criminal activity quiet. Another theory, one that
Speaker 1: veers into conspiracy, suggests Paul may have been involved in
Speaker 1: something himself that he might have willingly disappeared to start
Speaker 1: a new life or to escape some unknown threat. But
Speaker 1: by all accounts, Paul was deeply committed to his work
Speaker 1: and there was no evidence he planned to leave his
Speaker 1: life behind. And then there's the possibility that Paul's disappearance
Speaker 1: ties into something stranger. Anomalous disappearances the kind you hear
Speaker 1: about in missing persons cases that seem to defy explanation.
Speaker 1: Those who lean toward this theory point to other cases
Speaker 1: in remote parks where people vanish without leaving behind even
Speaker 1: the smallest trace. For decades, Paul's case went cold. The
Speaker 1: original reward for information grew to twenty thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: the early years, but no credible leads ever surfaced. It
Speaker 1: wasn't until nearly forty years later that something changed. In
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the National Park Service and the Coachees County
Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office announced a renewed investigation. They claimed new information
Speaker 1: had come to light, details they have never fully disclosed
Speaker 1: to the public. The reward was increased to sixty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in hopes of prompting someone to come forward with
Speaker 1: information that could break the case open. What exactly was
Speaker 1: uncovered remains a mystery, but this renewed effort suggests investigators
Speaker 1: believe there are still answers out there. As of today,
Speaker 1: Paul Braxton Fugate's disappearance remains one of the oldest active
Speaker 1: missing persons cases in National Park Service history. There's no closure,
Speaker 1: no body, no confession, just questions that seem to multiply
Speaker 1: with time. And for those who wear the uniform of
Speaker 1: the National Park Service, his story is a chilling reminder
Speaker 1: it's not just tourists or hikers who disappear out there.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the very people sworn to protect the land.
Speaker 1: Whether Paul Fugate was the victim of a crime, or
Speaker 1: whether something else entirely happened on that quiet January afternoon,
Speaker 1: we may never know, but the mystery of his disappearance
Speaker 1: lingers in the rugged spires of Chiricahua and in the
Speaker 1: minds of those who still search for answers. For those
Speaker 1: who work in the National Park Service, Paul's story serves
Speaker 1: as a sobering reminder even the most experienced can vanish,
Speaker 1: and sometimes the wilderness keeps its secrets. If you have
Speaker 1: any information about Paul Braxton Fugut's disappearance, the National Park
Speaker 1: Service is still actively seeking tips. Maybe one day, his family,
Speaker 1: in the close knit ranger community, we'll get the answers
Speaker 1: they've been waiting for. Di