エピソード

  • Barefoot at Dawn: The Night the Footprints Went In and Not Back

    Barefoot at Dawn: The Night the Footprints Went In and Not Back
    2026/07/26
    Barefoot at Dawn: The Night the Footprints Went In and Not Back

    A string of adult barefoot footprints led out of Colder Lake, walked thirty feet up a muddy bank to a birch tree, and stopped-without a single return print. The prints were deep, evenly spaced, and calm in thirty-seven-degree mud after an overnight low near twenty degrees; who walked into the trees and never came back?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and eyewitness facts around the discovery at Colder Lake and the people connected to it, presenting the photographs, temperature measurements, and witness statements that frame the central mystery: why did a forty-eight-year-old woman leave her routines, paddle across a cold lake at night, remove her boots, and walk barefoot into the trees?

    Person: Cheryl Stevens
    Date: April 8, 2011
    Location: Colder Lake, Talbert County, Wisconsin
    Occupation: Office manager for a civil engineering firm
    Witness who photographed prints: Julie Zimmerman

    - The footprints began at the waterline and stopped at the base of a birch tree thirty feet from shore.
    - Soil temperature measured the morning after was thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit; overnight low the night before had been between nineteen and twenty-four degrees.
    - Julie Zimmerman photographed the prints from four angles at approximately seven in the morning on April 8, 2011.
    - Cheryl Stevens was forty-eight years old in 2011 and owned a cabin on the eastern shore since 2003, bought for $26,000 from an inheritance.
    - Cheryl left Milwaukee the evening of April 6, 2011; her car was not seen again at the cabin until Deputy Curt Osman arrived on April 8.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • A Dead Man's Order Arrives 14 Years Late: The Douglas Crale Mystery

    A Dead Man's Order Arrives 14 Years Late: The Douglas Crale Mystery
    2026/07/26
    A Dead Man's Order Arrives 14 Years Late: The Douglas Crale Mystery

    Cold dread: a folded diner order dated December 17, 2007 appears in 2021, written on Patty's Blue Ribbon thermal receipt stock - but the man who always placed that order died on October 9, 2007. How did a check bearing his handwriting and an obsolete menu item reappear fourteen years later, and who had access to the diner's receipt rolls in 2007?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events at Patty's Blue Ribbon Diner in Farwell, Indiana, from long-time regular Douglas Crale's weekly ritual through his death and the later discovery of the dated check, exploring the conflicting memories, physical evidence, and the oddity of a removed menu item that resurfaces. What does the paper trail really tell us about that December order?

    Person: Douglas Crale
    Date: December 17, 2007 (date on the found check)
    Date: October 9, 2007 (Douglas Crale's death)
    Location: Patty's Blue Ribbon Diner, Farwell, Indiana
    Analyst: Paul Weston (document analyst, Bloomington)

    - Douglas Crale visited the diner every Wednesday at 7:15 for 31 years and always ordered two eggs over-easy, white toast, black coffee, and a side of scrapple.
    - Douglas Crale died on October 9, 2007, at age sixty-four.
    - The found check was folded inside an exterior utility panel and unfolded on December 17, 2021 at 8:47 AM.
    - The check was written on the diner's thermal receipt stock and dated December 17, 2007, six weeks after Crale's death.
    - Document analyst Paul Weston confirmed the paper matched the diner's receipt stock from the mid-2000s and the ink showed no artificial aging.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • Locked Annex, Spinning Reels: Dead Broadcaster Returned at Dawn

    Locked Annex, Spinning Reels: Dead Broadcaster Returned at Dawn
    2026/07/25
    Locked Annex, Spinning Reels: Dead Broadcaster Returned at Dawn

    A locked radio annex hummed with life decades after it was sealed: reels were turning, tape was moving, and a voice on the monitor belonged to a man dead for eleven years - how did power reach a room disconnected since 1993 and why was a forty-three minute reel of a deceased broadcaster playing at dawn? Who reactivated the annex, and what deliberate actions led to that morning?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the sealed annex and the recordings to the inspections and the people involved, following the trail of physical evidence and timelines that lead back to one farm and one son. How did thirty years of routine broadcasts, a dying farmer’s last recordings, and a string of permits and machines culminate in a mystery that surprised everyone who opened the door?

    Person: Ed Torrance
    Date: Died in March 2000
    Location: WGTN annex, Hester County
    Duration: 43 minutes consolidated tape
    Inspector: Doug Vance (2007 permit note)

    - Ed Torrance hosted the Torrance Farm Report from 1971 to 1993 at 6:15 AM for fifteen minutes, five days a week.
    - Ed died at age sixty-seven on the farm, two hundred meters from the old water tower.
    - Kevin Torrance began transferring over sixty hours of deteriorating tape in 2008 and produced a consolidated 43-minute reel.
    - The WGTN annex had been padlocked and disconnected since 1993, with its subpanel disconnected and conduit capped.
    - A 2007 county permit inspection by Doug Vance noted "unauthorized work on conduit near the east wall" and was signed off as cosmetic.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    23 分
  • The Photo From the Ledge That Shouldn't Be There

    The Photo From the Ledge That Shouldn't Be There
    2026/07/25
    The Photo From the Ledge That Shouldn't Be There

    A small drugstore print captured a relaxed woman in a red fleece standing on an eleven-inch shale ledge, 412 feet above a canyon-yet sunrise that morning was 48 minutes away. The four-by-six photo sat unopened at a county sheriff's substation for four days and was shared 211 times online; how did that image get mailed there anonymously, and who was the woman on the ledge?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events recorded in the photo and the steps that followed, tracing where the print came from, who mailed it, and what it revealed about the person captured on the guardrail.

    Person: Gina Vaughn
    Date: November 8, 2019 (photo taken); November 19, 2019 (photo reviewed)
    Location: Aldermere Pass, Cotter Range
    Height above canyon floor: 412 feet
    Town population: just under 3,000

    - The photograph was a 4 inch by 6 inch glossy drugstore print ordered under the name G. Vaughn.
    - Timestamps on the original files read 6:14 to 6:16 AM; sunrise that day was at 7:02 AM.
    - The guardrail at the summit is orange, 42 inches high, with an approximately 11-inch-wide ledge of loose shale on the exterior side.
    - The print sat in a county sheriff’s substation envelope for four days before anyone opened it.
    - By the next morning the image had been shared 211 times on Facebook.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    22 分
  • Returned GPS: How a Lost Device Logged a Day It Wasn't There

    Returned GPS: How a Lost Device Logged a Day It Wasn't There
    2026/07/24
    Returned GPS: How a Lost Device Logged a Day It Wasn't There

    A small Garmin reported an elevation 123 feet higher than the land it sat on, powered through a frosty night on a concrete bollard, and logged coordinates hundreds of miles from its owner's route - so what really happened in the four-day, forty-mile gap? This episode hinges on one concrete, inexplicable log entry and the question of how a meticulously kept device recorded a place and altitude its owner insists he never entered.

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the device's discovery to the entries inside its internal log, following the people who found and owned the GPS and the timestamps that refuse to align. How did a device registered in Spokane record an elevation override at a campsite, vanish, then reappear days later in Colville National Forest?

    Person: Sherry Baker
    Person: Larry Hill
    Person: Nadine Pell
    Device: Garmin eTrex 32x
    Date: July 28 (elevation override), August 3 (reappearance)

    - At 7:42 AM on a February Tuesday the GPS sat powered on at a roadside rest area reading elevation 842 feet while the actual ground was 719 feet.
    - Sherry Baker took 17 photographs of the device before logging it with the maintenance attendant and posting one photo to a birdwatching group.
    - Larry Hill bought the Garmin eTrex 32x in June for $140 and registered its serial number the same afternoon.
    - On July 28 the device recorded an elevation override of 842 feet at coordinates matching Larry's last campsite in the Selkirk Mountains.
    - The GPS reappeared on August 3 at a gravel pull-off inside Colville National Forest, sat for 11 minutes, then moved southwest at vehicle speed with the carabiner missing.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    20 分
  • The Man Who Kept Visiting a Stranger's Grave for Decades

    The Man Who Kept Visiting a Stranger's Grave for Decades
    2026/07/24
    The Man Who Kept Visiting a Stranger's Grave for Decades

    A man left burgundy dahlias in a mason jar at a grave that had received no visitors for 28 years, and the flowers were from a cultivated garden variety not sold locally - who tended that grave in secret? What drove someone to scrub a headstone with vinegar in 2003 and return with fresh flowers for decades after a county declared the man unclaimed?

    In this episode, we follow a local journalist’s reporting into the life and burial records of the man on that headstone, the unusual physical evidence found at the grave, and the small-town trail and cemetery that made the visits visible - can the few archival facts and one volunteer’s memory explain why someone kept coming?

    Person: Clifford Mast
    Date of birth: 1933
    Date of death: August 14, 1991
    Location: Greenvale Township Cemetery, Millhaven, Ohio
    Event: Sycamore Creek Trail opened in September 2019

    - A passerby photographed dark burgundy dahlias in a Ball wide-mouth quart mason jar beside Clifford Mast’s headstone on a Thursday evening in early October 2019.
    - Clifford Mast’s headstone showed born 1933, died August 14, 1991; county records list cause of death as cardiac arrest and no next of kin.
    - Volunteer cemetery coordinator Dennis Scholl had never seen anything left at Mast’s grave in his 11 years of maintaining Greenvale Cemetery before the 2019 flowers.
    - The headstone had been scrubbed clean with a soft brush and diluted white vinegar in 2003, leaving crisp inscriptions 16 years after that cleaning.
    - The burgundy dahlia variety was not stocked by any local florist or nursery in Millhaven County, indicating the flowers were garden-grown and tended across seasons.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    25 分
  • The Piano Bench, the Glass, and the Stranger Beneath the Farmhouse

    The Piano Bench, the Glass, and the Stranger Beneath the Farmhouse
    2026/07/24
    The Piano Bench, the Glass, and the Stranger Beneath the Farmhouse

    A piano bench sat in a gravel lane and a glass filled nearly to the rim rested beside it in 23-degree air, but the house it belonged to was locked tight and the only fingerprints on the glass belonged to a woman 40 miles away-who had touched it, and why? What moved beneath the floorboards of a 66-acre farmhouse for weeks, leaving no footprints and an open crawlspace panel that kept appearing?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline of events recorded in a homeowner’s steno pad and the visits from utility and repair workers, laying out what was found, when it was found, and the single question that remained unresolved: how long had someone been living under the house?

    Person: Tammy Sanders
    Date: January 9, 2011
    Location: Ervin Road farmhouse, Portsmith Township
    Age: 44
    Property size: 66 acres

    - On January 9, 2011 a 15-year-old paper carrier found a piano bench in the gravel lane and a room-temperature glass of water next to it.
    - The glass’s only fingerprints matched a woman who was 40 miles away from the farmhouse.
    - Tammy Sanders had lived on the property for 9 years and kept a steno pad recording unusual noises beginning November 17.
    - The crawlspace access panel (approximately 45 cm square) was found open at least three times between November 24 and December 19 with a broom handle used to prop it shut.
    - Sounds moved from beneath the kitchen north wall on November 17 to directly beneath the piano on December 11, a horizontal shift of nearly 9 meters.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    16 分
  • Plow Driver Finds a Tagged Bag: The Manifest Passenger

    Plow Driver Finds a Tagged Bag: The Manifest Passenger
    2026/07/24
    Plow Driver Finds a Tagged Bag: The Manifest Passenger

    Fear that something impossible is true: a tagged, boarded suitcase sits by a fence before its owner ever arrives, tied to a cancelled flight that never notified passengers-what happened in the seven hours between the cancellation and dawn? Could a manifest entry, a plow driver's GPS, and one coral-pink carry-on expose a quiet, unresolved decision that bent the rules of one family's life?

    In this episode, we tell the episode's events as recorded: the discovery of the bag, the airport manifest anomalies, and the personal details about the siblings at the center of the story to ask whether the paperwork and timestamps can explain what really occurred.

    Person: Grant Rafferty
    Person: Sharon Sanders
    Person: Todd Sanders
    Date: December 10, 2019
    Event: Flight 204 cancelled at 11:18 PM on December 9, 2019

    - A county snowplow driver, Grant Rafferty, stopped at exactly 4:15 AM on December 10, 2019, per his GPS dispatch log.
    - The coral-pink hard-shell spinner carry-on was found sitting upright against the east chain-link fence of Colfax Regional Airport, perfectly latched and still clean.
    - The bag bore a luggage tag with a boarding barcode belonging to a flight cancelled at 11:18 PM the night before.
    - The airport manifest logged a standby entry under Sharon Sanders' credentials at 9:47 PM that listed Todd Sanders as non-revenue with no payment record.
    - Journalist Amy Zeller documented the unresolved manifest anomaly in spring 2021, eighteen months after the bag was found.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分