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  • Boots By The Riverbank: Why He Vanished Without a Sound

    Boots By The Riverbank: Why He Vanished Without a Sound
    2026/08/06
    Boots By The Riverbank: Why He Vanished Without a Sound

    A man’s fishing rod leaned against a birch, laces tucked in, socks folded on top - and Richard Farrell was gone with no splash, no snapped branch, no footprints in the frost; a fifty-one-hour search followed and one small detail in the incident report still had no answer. How did a forty-six-year-old experienced outdoorsman disappear from a frozen riverbank with his boots left neatly behind?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of that morning and the search that came after, listening to witness accounts and official findings to lay out what was found and what was never explained - could a single misstep on unstable shale be the whole story?

    Person: Richard Farrell
    Date: January 11
    Location: Paunsett River, Narrows; north bank and birch tree
    Status: Missing then found (body recovered)
    Search duration: Fifty-one hours

    - Gary Thorpe called 9-1-1 at roughly 9:40 a.m, after finding the boots on the north bank.
    - Temperature at the search site was 22 degrees Fahrenheit during the operation.
    - Dog teams tracked for about 40 minutes before losing scent at a granite ledge 430 feet above the river.
    - The Paunsett Narrows is a 30-foot-wide channel that drops 40 feet per mile and never fully freezes.
    - Tom Abell had been fishing on the south bank for 15-20 minutes and looked up to find the north bank empty.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • Handprints in the Mud: How a Seven-Year-Old Survived Impossible Cold

    Handprints in the Mud: How a Seven-Year-Old Survived Impossible Cold
    2026/08/05
    Handprints in the Mud: How a Seven-Year-Old Survived Impossible Cold

    A seven-year-old walked out into a December night when the temperature was below freezing, left two child-sized handprints pressed deep in the mud with no footprints to or from them, and was later found breathing under a limestone ledge one mile downstream after nearly forty hours in water at thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit - how did she survive? What detail in the mud haunted a state forensic analyst for his whole career?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the evening Cody Burke vanished to the moment searchers found her, laying out the timeline, the scene at Cold Mill Run, and the specific anomalies that puzzled rescuers and analysts - can the handprints and a tied sneaker explain how she lived?

    Person: Cody Burke
    Date: December 7-9
    Location: Cold Mill Run, near Millhaven Road and Vance Road bridge
    Temperature: Water at thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit
    Find: Child found breathing under a limestone ledge one mile downstream

    - Cody Burke was seven years old and wore size three pink sneakers that she had recently learned to tie.
    - At approximately 8:15 PM on December 7, neighbor Tom Aldrich saw Cody briefly in slippers at the front hall.
    - Sometime between 8:15 and 8:40 PM Cody changed from slippers into tied sneakers and left the unlocked back door.
    - A volunteer sweep team found a single tied pink size-three sneaker on the gravel near the Vance Road bridge around 10:30 PM.
    - Searchers found two deep, clear child-sized handprints pressed into the soft mud of the bank with no footprints leading to or away from them.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Bootprint at the Notch: Why the Dogs Turned East

    The Bootprint at the Notch: Why the Dogs Turned East
    2026/08/04
    The Bootprint at the Notch: Why the Dogs Turned East

    A single size 10½ left boot print in frozen soil pointed northwest from the granite edge of the Notch, but search dogs three miles back had stopped and one turned east - sending rescuers the wrong way for eleven days. How did a careful, experienced hiker vanish into repetition of trees and return to solid rock, leaving handlers and the final report with an unanswered contradiction?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the decisions and the field evidence that shaped the search for one man and the unanswered question that followed: did a single decision at a bend in the trail change everything, or did something about the scent and terrain mislead the dogs and the people who trusted them?

    Person: Stanley Holmes
    Date: November 9-22, 2022
    Location: Ochre Pines forest, Hobb's Run bend and the Notch
    Status: Found after eleven days; survived to tell parts of the story
    Coordinator: Kathleen Clark, Ochre County search-and-rescue

    - Stanley signed the trailhead register at Gulch Road at 7:52 AM on November 9.
    - The initial search radius was set two miles from Hobb's Run bend based on probability methods.
    - Doug Ferris's lead shepherd displayed a refusal posture at Hobb's Run, turned its head east and would not commit.
    - A single size 10½ left boot print was found at the granite edge of the Notch on November 22 by county surveyor Vernon Zimmerman.
    - Sixty-one pages of operational notes failed to resolve why dogs indicated east while Stanley had gone north.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • The Boot on the Lid: How a Hunter Walked Into Vanishing Country

    The Boot on the Lid: How a Hunter Walked Into Vanishing Country
    2026/08/03
    The Boot on the Lid: How a Hunter Walked Into Vanishing Country

    A single size ten men's hunting boot, blaze-orange insulation, laced tight and placed upright on a concrete tank lid in frost - found four days after a twenty-two-year-old hunter walked into Cutter Basin and didn't come out. The boot was centered with deliberate precision, the sole dry while frost covered the ground around it; how does one explain a boot waiting as if its owner would return? What happened to Wayne Bailey in those four days?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of events from October 17-20, 2011, tracing the movements of Wayne Bailey, the observations of his two hunting companions, and the search-and-rescue response that found the boot and a tracking-dog terminus on a rocky bench. We present the known physical evidence and the unanswered questions that kept coordinator Patricia Porter returning to the case.

    Person: Wayne Bailey
    Date: October 17-20, 2011
    Location: Cutter Basin, elevation roughly 8,000 feet
    Status: Found missing then located by search teams; no fall or struggle evident
    Search coordinator: Patricia Porter

    - Dale Cooper discovered a single men's hunting boot size ten, blaze-orange insulation, laced tight, sitting upright on a concrete tank access lid on October 20, 2011.
    - The boot's sole was dry while frost covered every inch of ground around it the morning it was found.
    - Wayne Bailey, age 22, entered Cutter Basin on October 17, 2011, and was last seen by companions on October 19 during a mid-morning push upslope.
    - Companions Roy Ashe and Paul Geiger reported Bailey vanished "like a door had opened in the forest and closed behind someone" during a corridor move around 6:15 a.m, on October 19.
    - Tracking dogs located a terminus on a fractured sandstone bench roughly 40 by 60 feet at about 8,000 feet elevation where there was no blood, no gear, no disturbance in the frost, and no sign of a fall or camp.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Yellow Boot on Broken Ledge: A Cliffside Mystery Revealed

    The Yellow Boot on Broken Ledge: A Cliffside Mystery Revealed
    2026/08/02
    The Yellow Boot on Broken Ledge: A Cliffside Mystery Revealed

    A single yellow boot, laces trailing and sole facing outward, sat wedged 180 feet up a basalt cliff while the woman it did not belong to lay a mile away with a broken leg - how did a boot appear on Broken Ledge with no rope, harness, or person nearby? The strange boot launched a full search-and-rescue response across central Oregon high country, but the central question remains: who placed it and why?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of Marcia Lane’s planned solo trip, the search operations that followed, and the puzzling physical evidence found at the cliff and nearby bench to explore how a prepared, experienced hiker ended up a mile from an inexplicable boot. What do the GPS track, boot prints, dog alerts, and missing gear tell us about that afternoon?

    Person: Marcia Lane
    Date: September 8-12, 2019
    Location: Broken Ledge / Maury Loop Traverse, central Oregon
    Status: Found alive with a broken leg one mile from cliff
    Event: Yellow boot wedged 180 feet up basalt face; inReach last signal at 2:17 PM

    - Boot found by Carol Jones at 7:15 AM, wedged in a crack 180 feet up the face of Broken Ledge.
    - Marcia Lane was 38 years old and left a trip plan at the Crook County Sheriff’s Office on September 8, 2019.
    - Marcia’s inReach logged crossing 6.2 miles in 136 minutes (approx. 2.8 mph) on September 10.
    - Rainfall: about two inches fell across the high country the evening of September 9, and a cold front moved in.
    - Search teams found boot prints on a bench about a quarter mile from Broken Ledge, oriented toward the cliff with no return prints.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 分
  • She Followed a Hum Into the Pines - Surviving Four Miles on a Broken Ankle

    She Followed a Hum Into the Pines - Surviving Four Miles on a Broken Ankle
    2026/08/01
    She Followed a Hum Into the Pines - Surviving Four Miles on a Broken Ankle

    The terror is simple: a sixty-one-year-old woman walking alone through dark Montana pines with a fractured ankle, guided only by a low mechanical hum and a torn notebook. What led her to leave a dry creek bed and walk four and a half miles without a map or beacon, and how did a navy ceramic mug become part of the trail that saved her?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the recovered notebook entries, the search response, and the small, overlooked objects that shaped what happened-asking whether her survival was luck, technique, or something in between.

    Date: August 14, 2019
    Person: Marie Webb
    Location: Aldecott National Forest
    Status: Missing then found alive with fractured left lateral malleolus
    Event: Walked approximately 4.5 miles guided by a mechanical hum

    - Marie Webb was sixty-one years old and a retired high school librarian at the time of the incident.
    - Bloodhounds traced her scent one mile and a quarter northeast from Finch Place to a dry creek crossing where the trail stopped.
    - Marie fractured the left lateral malleolus after stepping on a shifting rock at the creek bed.
    - She logged time, direction, terrain features, and her condition in a torn spiral notebook recovered later.
    - The guiding sound was a battery-charging unit that ran forty minutes each morning and evening at a wildlife research station.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • The Folded Cheese: What the Wilderness Took and Left Behind

    The Folded Cheese: What the Wilderness Took and Left Behind
    2026/07/31
    The Folded Cheese: What the Wilderness Took and Left Behind

    A cold campsite, a neatly arranged snack, and a folded square of sharp cheddar that was supposed to be sealed - an ordinary object that became the strangest clue in a missing person case. What could explain a resealed bear canister, a removed block of cheese, and a woman who vanished five days earlier?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline and evidence found at a backcountry campsite and follow the initial actions of search teams, detectives, and a tracking bloodhound to ask the question left in the case file: how did that cheese get folded and who was the last person with Peggy Edwards?

    Person: Peggy Edwards
    Date: July 14 (camp site found at 6:40 AM)
    Location: FS Road Seven, Echo trailhead, upper ridge loop
    Status: Missing for five days before campsite discovered
    Case: Lead detective noted unexplained detail about the cheese

    - Peggy Edwards was 26 years old and lived in Duvall where she worked as a veterinary technician.
    - She signed the trail register at 4:52 PM on July 9 listing upper ridge loop and a return date of July 15.
    - The campsite contained a tent, an unlit stove with a pot of water, three slices of summer sausage, and a folded square of sharp cheddar.
    - Gene Farris stated the cheese had been packed sealed in its original wrapper and the bear canister was latched when found.
    - Bloodhound Duchess tracked from the campsite toward the trailhead, along the lot edge, then onto a service track for roughly 80 yards before turning back.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分
  • She Crossed the Canyon-Boot Upright, Scent Vanished, Why?

    She Crossed the Canyon-Boot Upright, Scent Vanished, Why?
    2026/07/30
    She Crossed the Canyon-Boot Upright, Scent Vanished, Why?

    A single hiking boot stood upright on a four-inch limestone ledge nine hundred feet above Karroway Canyon, laces double-knotted and tongue folded back - yet no owner in sight and scent that ended abruptly on the rock. How did Michelle Mitchell, a 48-year-old solo hiker with a decade of desert experience, leave a boot placed upright on the east rim when her trail vanished in the slickrock below?

    In this episode, you’ll hear the timeline from the morning Michelle signed a trail kiosk to the discovery of the boot and a blank registration form wedged under a stone - and the question that haunted rescuers: did she cross the canyon deliberately, and if so, why leave a boot upright where no evidence of a trail survives?

    Person: Michelle Mitchell, 48
    Date: June 3-11, 2019
    Location: Karroway Canyon, Westwall and Eastrim rims
    Status: Missing (no memory of carrying boot east)
    Finder: Rachel Simpson, utility lineman, photographed boot at 7:42 AM on June 11

    - Michelle signed the Westwall kiosk at 8:51 AM on June 3, the last confirmed record.
    - Michelle was reported missing by her sister Nancy on June 7 after weekly calls went unanswered.
    - Scent tracking dogs stopped abruptly on slickrock two miles north of the Soldier Creek junction on June 8.
    - A blank Eastrim trail registration form was found folded under a flat stone about 300 yards from a western pour-off.
    - On June 10 Michelle spent a night on a four-inch eastern ledge with her right foot wrapped in rain fly and about four ounces of water left.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 分