As Springfield residents decorated for Halloween in September 1972, the crime rate in the quiet, affluent township was at its lowest in years. That mood was shattered when the body of sixteen-year-old Jeannette DePalma was discovered in the local woods, allegedly surrounded by strange objects. Some feared witchcraft was to blame, while others believed a serial killer was on the loose. Rumors of a police cover up ran rampant, and the case went unsolved - along with the murders of several other young women. 

Episode 36: Unsolved Tragedy Frozen In Time 

In January 1959, nine young hikers vanished in Russia’s Ural Mountains. When rescuers found their camp, the tent had been slashed open from the inside and abandoned, with boots and supplies neatly left behind. The hikers’ bodies were discovered scattered across the snow—their conditions in which they are found, is unexplainable. The Soviet investigation concluded only that a “compelling natural force” was to blame, but theories still swirl. Over 60 years later, the Dyatlov Pass remains one of the world’s most chilling unsolved mysteries.

Episode 30: Bearly Made it Out: Caught between Mama and her Cubs

On a pristine summer morning in the Alaskan backcountry, Dan and John set off on what should have been a peaceful fishing trip. But their adventure takes a terrifying turn when they come face to face with a massive Brown bear blocking the trail. As they retreat, hoping to avoid confrontation, they find themselves cut off by her cubs just minutes later—unwittingly caught in the most dangerous position in the wild: between a mother bear and her offspring.

The book then delves into Dan's recover and life after recovery. Finding what makes life worth living for. 

   After World War Two broke out and his homeland of Norway was overtaken by German soldiers, Jan Baalsrud trained to be a spy. He was assigned to secretly go into Norway with 11 other men, blow up an airfield tower along with as many water planes as they could, and recruit fighters. Their plan quickly fell apart as they were attacked by German Soldiers soon after arriving in Norway. In their escape, only one of the 12 soldiers evaded capture. Join us as we tell Jan Baalsrud’s survival story as he tries to evade capture by jumping into freezing waters and trekking through the frozen wilderness of Norway. 

 Deep in the Canadian forest lay a plane, upside down, with 10 passengers inside. Four of those 10 passengers survived the crash. Where people are normally found frozen to death before rescue arrives, these men must survive.  Among those four men include the pilot, a provincial housing minister, a cop, and a prisoner. Join us as we recap the arduous survival story of these four men after their plane crashed in the backcountry of the Canadian wilderness.  

 Two friends embark on a biking trip across the United States on the Trans America Trail. Seven days into their trip, they stopped at Cline Falls State Park for the night. With the feeling they were being watched, they climbed into their tent and went to sleep. Only to be woken up as a truck runs over their tent and a man attacks them with an ax. Join us as we tell Terri and Avera’s survival story as they fight to stay alive.  

A Christmas Eve flight home turns tragic after a lighting strike hits a plane.  The plane instantly fell apart as it tumbled to the ground.  Juliane Koepcke fell 10,000 feet (3,000 m) still buckled into her row of seats. Join us as we tell Juliane's survival story in the Amazon Rain Forest after being the sole survivor of a tragic plane crash.  

Lead investigator for the abduction and murder of Meredith Emerson, John Cagle, shares his perspective of the investigation. Join detective John Cagle on his journey to get justice for Meredith while safe guarding her memory.

Six canoers embark on a 600-mile canoeing trip in the Canadian Tundra. On the 29th day, over 100 miles from the closest town, Alex gets attacked by a Grizzley Bear.  Join us as we tell the tale of Alex's survival journey in the wilderness after a Grizzly Bear attack. 

Andrea Lankford, with twelve years of experience, recounts the vivid and sometimes comical experiences working in the vastly extraordinary National Parks in the United States. Through her stories she exposes the unknown world of Park Rangers’ difficulties with safeguarding the Park from the public and the public from the park, and the public from each other. 

On a beautiful summer afternoon in 1998, Dan Stephens, a 22-year-old canoeist, was leading a trip deep into Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage—and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened with a lump on his head from a fall and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused.

Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest's solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day. After a two-day trek into a remote area of the woods, he stepped away from his campsite and made a series of seemingly trivial mistakes that left him separated from his supplies, wet, and lost, as cold darkness fell.

Alone in a hunting cabin, off-grid in an untamed wilderness. How does a marriage come to this? After John disappeared while hunting—presumed dead from a bear attack—Cameron found the crime photos. His role in the recent Seattle serial murders was discovered. The media destroyed her reputation. She lost her dental practice, is on the brink of losing her home. Everyone has a secret. But if her husband could hide the unimaginable from her, who’s to say he’s truly dead? “What brings you so far from home?” the Alaska State Trooper had asked. 

The truth. 

A missing body. A bloody bear trap. Is a serial killer back from the grave? Tok, Alaska. Cameron Prescott hopes the past stays buried. After believing her murderous husband is finally dead, the fierce survivor longs to start over with her state trooper boyfriend. But her illusion of peace shatters when she hears of a fresh killing that resembles her late husband’s grisly signature. Horrified to learn the evidence points to a member of law enforcement, Cameron questions how well she knows her new man. And as the lies and bodies pile up, Cameron is convinced she's being stalked by a killer.

Is trusting anyone just a path to a cold tomb?

FBI BAU special agent Harley Cole, as brilliant as she is at hunting serial killers, has bent the rules one too many times and, put on leave, decides to return to her small-town Southwestern roots and visit her dying father. But when a new killer strikes nearby, leaving a trail of women in abandoned desert mines, it hits close to home for Harley, eerily reminiscent of her sister’s unsolved case—and forces her to consider the local FBI field office’s desperate plea for help.