Scary Horror Stories

Chain Down, Car Gone: How a Solo Hiker Vanished in the Fenn RangeA deserted trailhead, a chain lying off its hook, and a Subaru with one crescent of clear glass-tiny details that turned a routine Wednesday into a winter disappearance in the Fenn Range. Temperatures dropped to 18°F overnight; a laminated map was missing and a water bottle was found without its cap-what happened on the Upper Stringer that broke Marilyn Kowalski's careful pattern of solo hikes?In this episode, we follow the timeline from the 6:22 a.m. snowplow note to the search teams and tracking dogs on the Bridle Run corridor, tracing the exact clues that led volunteers into one of the coldest corridors in December and toward an unexpected recovery; how did a boot wedged forty feet from the crossing change the story?Person: Marilyn KowalskiLocation: Bridle Run corridor, Fenn RangeDate: December (week before recovery)Status: Recovered after searchEvent: Solo hiker missing, search and recovery- Chain across Decker Spur trailhead logged down at 6:22 a.m, by snowplow operator Harvey Myers.- Subaru in the lot had frost on every window except a half-moon of clear glass, defroster run within the prior 12 hours.- Donna placed six phone calls between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. the night Marilyn missed their 6:30 p.m. Wednesday dinner; car was missing by midnight.- Day pack found about 80 meters downstream from the Upper Stringer, saturated and snagged in exposed roots; water bottle inside was empty and missing its cap, laminated map absent.- Marilyn’s right boot recovered wedged between submerged rocks forty feet from the Upper Stringer crossing; heel still laced while the foot had come out.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: [email protected].

He Walked Out of the Map - Returned with One Boot and No MemoryCold and disoriented, a man walked out of an unmapped service road at 6:41 a.m. with one boot laced and one foot bare; three hours later that missing boot was found standing upright in the road, double-knotted, toe pointing north. What did the Kasson National Forest do to a seasoned hiker for eight of the eleven days he was gone, leaving him with no memory and a core temperature of 89 degrees?In this episode, we follow the recorded movements, the search efforts, and the small physical traces left behind to ask how a precise, experienced hiker named Dale Phillips could vanish into familiar terrain and return altered beyond recognition; where was he during those eight days, and why did the dogs lose his scent on a granite shelf?Person: Dale PhillipsDate: November 8-19Location: Kasson National Forest, Taber Ridge and an unmapped service roadStatus: Missing for eleven days; found alive with amnesia and core temperature 89°FSearch leader: Judith Walker- Motion-sensor camera captured three images of him walking north at 6:41 a.m. on November 19 from thirty yards off a gated service road.- The right boot was bare on frozen ground while the left boot was laced; the boot was later found standing upright in the road three hours and six minutes after the photos.- He began leave and signed the Hendrick Trailhead register at 2:17 p.m. on November 8, and texted his daughter "good first day" the next morning - his last contact for eleven days.- He crested Taber Ridge at roughly 6,200 feet, intended to camp on the ridge that reaches 6,200 feet with a 300-foot talus drop on the west side.- Search dogs tracked his scent northeast from the trailhead with about 1,500 feet of elevation gain before the scent stopped entirely on a granite shelf.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: [email protected].

She Came Back Wearing Her Own Vest - With No Memory WhyHer GPS was manually paused at 9:51 AM, her name was written on the clean orange hunting vest hanging from a broken pine branch four and a half miles from the trailhead, and she returned with no memory of the four days in between-what happened in the Vanek drainage that could erase an experienced hunter's memory?In this episode, we follow the timeline and physical evidence left on the landscape: the paused GPS, the scent that ends at a stream, and the vest found at shoulder height in terrain that required rope to reach. Can the sequence of concrete trail details explain where those missing days went?Person: Marcia SandersDate: October 13-17, 2019Location: Vanek drainage, central IdahoStatus: Found alive on October 17Occupation: Water-quality technician- GPS track shows movement from 7:14 AM to 9:51 AM on October 13, then a manual pause.- GPS unit recovered October 15, upright on a flat rock, battery at 62%, oriented downhill.- Vest found October 16 hanging from a broken pine branch at shoulder height, 4.5 miles from the trailhead.- Vest was clean and had Marcia's name written on it in her handwriting.- Scent trail picked up by dog teams ended at the west bank of a stream in a narrows with no evidence of crossing or climbing out.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: [email protected].

The GPS Blinked Alone: Who Moved Julie Callahan's Device?The moment a satellite icon blinked on a powered GPS left alone on a pump-house cap, a sixty-mile search became a puzzle of deliberate survival and unexplained movement. A fifty-six-year-old hiker who climbed 300 vertical feet of basalt and left a powered Garmin behind vanished into the Lassiter Breaks - who moved the device, and why was it eleven road miles from the nearest trailhead?In this episode, we follow the timeline from Julie Callahan’s ritual permits and ultralight gear to the calm choices she made on a 60-70 degree face and the single five-word message she sent before the GPS stopped moving. What do those choices reveal about where she went, and can the location of a blinking device point to what happened next?Person: Julie CallahanDate: September 8-11, 2019Location: Lassiter Breaks, Colver County, OregonDevice: Garmin inReach Mini, powered on with satellite icon blinkingMessage: "Detour, back on route soon."- Julie was 56 years old and had been doing 10-14 day solo trips each September for 20 years.- She climbed approximately 300 vertical feet up a basalt face rated 60-70 degrees and reached a ledge at about 6,200 feet.- On the ledge she set her Garmin inReach Mini propped against a trekking pole and sent one message to her sister containing five words.- The Garmin showed a full battery and confirmed satellite connection but logged no movement after she left it.- On September 11 at about 7:40 a.m., a meter reader found a trekking pole and the blinking Garmin on a pump-house cap on Saddlehorn Road, eleven road miles from the nearest trailhead.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: [email protected].

They Found Her Logbook First - Nine Miles Crawling, Unexplained TracksA weathered logbook found inside a remote Forest Service station contained an entry dated August 14 describing a young woman in a red rain shell heading toward Sentinel Notch-an entry read aloud by a volunteer on August 22 that matched the missing hiker the team had been searching for four days. How did that logbook sit unread at a station while a woman crawled nine miles through rugged terrain with a fractured fibula and severe dehydration, and why did tracking dogs stop inexplicably at a granite ford?In this episode, we walk through the sequence of events from the filed travel plan on August 12 to the discovery of Karen Duncan and the baffling details that complicated the search, asking how evidence that should have clarified the case instead added new questions.Person: Karen DuncanDate: August 12 (travel plan filed); August 14 (logbook entry); August 22 (logbook found)Location: Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest; Sentinel Notch; Lonepine Creek trailheadStatus: Found alive with fractured fibula and severe dehydrationCase: Nine miles crawled; bloodhounds stopped at granite ford- Karen Duncan was 23 years old and listed Ashland, Oregon as home.- Karen filed a travel plan on August 12 estimating return August 18 and left her vehicle at Lonepine Creek trailhead.- A volunteer named Crystal Christensen found and read a logbook entry dated August 14 on the morning of August 22.- Two bloodhounds tracked Karen's scent 4.5 miles north from the trailhead before stopping at a granite ford at 10:40 a.m.- The Sentinel Notch circuit is 41 miles with roughly 9,000 feet of total elevation gain and loss; the notch sits at 7,800 feet.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: [email protected].