Dan Becker Podcast

On September 11, 2001, Brian Clark was working on the 84th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when a hijacked plane struck the building just below him. Hundreds of people were trapped above the impact zone. Only four made it out alive. Brian was one of them. What followed was an almost impossible escape. With smoke filling the stairwells, conflicting instructions about where to go, and no way of knowing if the building would survive, Brian made a series of split-second decisions that would ultimately save his life and the life of a complete stranger. But it's the extraordinary chain of events that led to his survival that makes his story so remarkable. Events Brian himself believes were far more than just coincidence.

Kelsey Vandermyde was born in a hand-built cabin deep in the Montana wilderness—far from civilization, with no electricity and very little contact with the outside world. Her dad was a doomsday prepper who believed the world was ending. He had three wives at one point and 20 children in the family. Kelsey grew up surrounded by fear, survival, isolation, and stories most people would have a hard time believing—including a SWAT raid at their remote property, coming face-to-face with a mountain lion at nine years old, and the fact that serial killer Israel Keyes stayed at their cabin after committing crimes. Kelsey also shares what it was like trying to enter public school after growing up isolated, the dark path her life took afterward, and how she eventually found hope, healing, and faith.

Paul Traub was asleep in his home when two teenagers broke in. After waking him, they told him he would not survive. What followed was a cruel, deliberate attempt to reenact their own twisted version of the movie Saw. They made Paul answer disturbing questions as part of a game, stabbed him 20 times—including in the face and head, where part of a knife broke off in his skull—and then left him for dead. But they weren’t done. The teens started fires throughout the house, disabled the smoke detectors, turned on the gas burners, stole Paul’s car, and left him trapped inside as the home filled with flames. Somehow, Paul got to his feet, ran through the fire, and escaped to a neighbor’s house. In this episode, he tells the full story of that night, the unimaginable fight to survive, and what happened after.

Gene Odom was Ronnie Van Zant’s close friend, bodyguard, and head of security for Lynyrd Skynyrd. In 1977, he survived the plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and five others—and changed the band forever. But this conversation is about much more than that night. Gene takes us inside his lifelong friendship with Ronnie, the early days of Lynyrd Skynyrd, life on the road, the people and politics surrounding the band, and what happened before and after the crash. He doesn’t hold back as he shares the memories, conflicts, loss, and fallout he witnessed firsthand. This is Gene Odom’s story—in his own words. The views, memories, and opinions shared in this interview are Gene’s own.Footage Notice: All footage was provided directly by Craig Reed and is used in this video with his express permission.

Jere Van Dyk is an American journalist and author who has spent decades covering Afghanistan and Pakistan for The New York Times and CBS News. In the early 1980s, he lived alongside Afghan fighters while reporting on their war against the Soviet Union. In 2008, while researching a book on the Taliban, he was captured near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border and held prisoner for 45 days. He later told that story in his book, Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban.