Episodi

  • The Boat That Wasn't There: Anchor Suspended Over Water

    The Boat That Wasn't There: Anchor Suspended Over Water
    Jul 31 2026
    The Boat That Wasn't There: Anchor Suspended Over Water

    Fear and curiosity collide in a harbor town where a 75-pound anchor hangs sixty feet of chain above just 31 feet of water, and no one can explain how the Maren B. got there. Who put a taut anchor over too-shallow water and left the engine cold - and why did the fuel log show no extra gallons used? Press play to find the one detail that still refuses explanation.

    In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of observations and records that followed Pamela Allen’s early-morning discovery at Kettrick Point, from the harbormaster’s handwritten inspection to the fuel notebook entries and witness accounts, and the single unresolved detail that resisted fourteen months of scrutiny.

    Person: Pamela Allen
    Location: Kettrick Point
    Date: July 14, 2009
    Person: Leon Erickson
    Weight: 75 pounds

    - The anchor was seventy-five pounds of galvanized steel hanging at the end of sixty feet of chain above thirty-one feet of water.
    - Pamela Allen saw the boat after running on the breakwater at 5:58 a.m., having been on the breakwater for about four minutes.
    - Kettrick Point Marina had forty-two slips and a fuel dock, and Pete Ochoa kept handwritten harbor entry records.
    - Leon Erickson’s fuel log showed the tank full at 80 gallons on July 11 and approximately seven-eighths full two days later, leaving about seventy gallons.
    - A round trip by water from Dunmore Landing to Kettrick Point is about eleven nautical miles and would have burned an estimated sixteen to eighteen gallons at the Maren B.’s cruising speed of nine knots.

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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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    21 min
  • The Midnight Coal No One Should Have Seen

    The Midnight Coal No One Should Have Seen
    Jul 30 2026
    The Midnight Coal No One Should Have Seen

    A retired teacher finds a fire rekindled beside his sleeping tarp and wood in the ring that isn't his - a coal had been burning underground and someone else had cut and left tulip poplar in the pit. How did a careful, experienced outdoorsman wake to a blaze he swears he had put out, and who left the wood?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the night Russell Sharp made camp to the morning Carl Owens discovered a man staring at a fire, and through the four-month reporting that traced the people and clues involved. Listen to hear how a hand-sawn stump, an invisible shelter, and an underground root fire almost close the story - and what detail remains unexplained.

    Person: Russell Sharp
    Person: George Pickett
    Person: Carl Owens
    Date: June 12-14 (night of June 12 to morning of June 14)
    Location: Blackthorn State Forest pull-off

    - Russell Sharp, age 62, retired earth science teacher with 28 years in the classroom and 9 years leading navigation workshops.
    - Carl Owens stopped at the Blackthorn pull-off at 7:40 a.m. on June 14 and saw a man beside a burning fire.
    - George Pickett, age 71, lived on a 42-acre private inholding within Blackthorn and had lived there since 1988.
    - George found a burning coal pressed against a surface root at about 2:00 a.m. on June 13 and then rebuilt the fire using tulip poplar from his stand.
    - Debra Keller spent four months reporting, finding a hand-sawn stump 1.5 miles from Russell's campsite and a 71-year-old man living in a shelter invisible from trails.

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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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    20 min
  • Locked Line, Dead Phone, Signal at 2:47 AM

    Locked Line, Dead Phone, Signal at 2:47 AM
    Jul 29 2026
    Locked Line, Dead Phone, Signal at 2:47 AM

    A dead telephone line recorded a returned signal at 2:47 AM on May 5, 2019, even though the junction box had been disconnected six months earlier; what could have triggered a line test in a physically disabled system? A motel room that hadn’t been rented in seven months contained a face-down handset and a printout that said only "Line test - signal returned." How are that log entry, a ringing heard down the hall, and a notebook note connected?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events as recorded and remembered: the system log, the motel owner's account, and the guest who woke to a distant ring and wrote in the dark. We trace where each piece of evidence was found and ask what mechanism could produce a signal on a dead line.

    Person: Gregory Myers
    Location: Saguaro Rest Motel, State Route 93, Calvary Flats area, Nevada
    Date: May 5, 2019 (log timestamped 2:47 AM)
    Owner: Phil Ochoa (motel owner for 14 years)
    Entry: "Line test - signal returned" printed in system queue

    - The phone in room fourteen was face-down on the nightstand with the cord coiled tight.
    - Room fourteen had been taken out of service and its line disconnected at the junction box on October 18 (six months earlier).
    - The system printed a single-page log entry timestamped five minutes before 3:00 AM saying "Line test - signal returned."
    - Gregory Myers, two doors away in room eight, woke "just before three in the morning," counted four rings, and wrote one sentence in his notebook.
    - Kevin Ochoa, a network infrastructure worker, confirmed the line was "physically dead" and that the returned-signal entry should not have been possible.

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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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    22 min
  • The Envelope That Knew the Flood Before It Happened

    The Envelope That Knew the Flood Before It Happened
    Jul 28 2026
    The Envelope That Knew the Flood Before It Happened

    Fear that history can be lost in a single night - fourteen boxes of nineteenth-century letters turned to pulp before dawn - and a sealed envelope arrived eight days earlier describing the exact failure that caused it. Who sent a typed document dated April 5, 2011 that named the valve, the staircase, and the very collections that would be damaged, and why did one predicted detail still not make sense?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the envelope’s discovery to the flood itself, laying out the maintenance notes, the buried culvert, and the staff actions that followed, and ask how an unfiled warning and a moved ledger changed what survived.

    Person: Todd Fitzgerald
    Date: April 14, 2011
    Location: Mossfield University Special Collections sub-basement
    Event: Drainage valve bracket failure causing flood
    Item: Manila envelope dated April 5, 2011

    - 1:44 AM on April 14, 2011 was the recorded time the valve bracket failed.
    - Fourteen boxes of nineteenth-century correspondence were destroyed before dawn.
    - Biscuit the golden retriever found the sealed envelope on April 9, 2011 at the uprooted birch tree.
    - The envelope contained eleven sheets typed on a manual typewriter dated April 5, 2011.
    - Todd Fitzgerald had moved the Hartwick ledgers approximately two feet higher in September 2010.

    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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    22 min
  • Dry Suitcase Eight Miles Downriver - What Did David Do On The Ferry?

    Dry Suitcase Eight Miles Downriver - What Did David Do On The Ferry?
    Jul 27 2026
    Dry Suitcase Eight Miles Downriver - What Did David Do On The Ferry?

    A dry, locked, dark green hard-shell suitcase was found upright on eight inches of exposed sand on a fast, swollen river - bone dry despite being eight miles downstream; the building access log shows no one opened the storage unit after David placed that very suitcase there two weeks earlier. How did an object stored and accounted for in a locked unit end up dry on a sandbar, and what happened during the Meridian Ferry crossing that might explain it?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline from February 22 to March 5, 2011, including building access records, ferry crew observations, and the suitcase discovery, to present the unresolved gap in memory and evidence that still puzzles investigators. Could the Meridian Ferry crossing on March 3 be the key to the suitcase’s impossible journey?

    Person: David Do
    Date: February 22, 2011 (storage entry) and March 3-5, 2011 (ferry crossing and discovery)
    Location: Picker's Bend on the Carver River
    Event: Meridian Ferry crossing from Orren to Bellhaven, March 3, 2011
    Witness: Chris Polk (deckhand) and John Andrews (discoverer)

    - The suitcase was found upright on eight inches of exposed sand at 4:15 AM on March 5, 2011, with no water on it.
    - David Do's key-card recorded entry to the first-floor storage room on February 22, 2011; no further openings of that unit were recorded until March 5.
    - The Carver River was running four to six miles per hour and swollen from snowmelt at the time the suitcase was found.
    - The Meridian Ferry left Orren at approximately 9:50 PM on March 3, 2011; the crossing takes 14-18 minutes and the deck was glazed with ice.
    - Ferry deckhand Chris Polk observed David Do on the open deck moving toward the stern "with purpose" during that crossing; an impact was later heard from the stern.

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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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    22 min
  • A Sealed Tank Fills Itself: The Serano Cistern Mystery

    A Sealed Tank Fills Itself: The Serano Cistern Mystery
    Jul 26 2026
    A Sealed Tank Fills Itself: The Serano Cistern Mystery

    He found roughly four thousand gallons of water in a sealed concrete cistern in the middle of a drought, with soil cracked and stock ponds empty for 143 days - so how did it appear and then quietly lose 380 gallons without anyone touching the lid? This episode follows that impossible water, the lab results that ruled out the ranch’s well and surface sources, and the single eight-inch gap in the seal that might be the only clue.

    In this episode, you will hear the timeline of discovery, the measurements taken by a reporter and a rancher, and the laboratory analysis that showed elevated calcium carbonate and low sulfate - pointing to an unmapped source. What could an underground or hidden pathway look like when four thousand gallons arrive and then begin to pass through a sealed tank?

    Person: Russell Callahan
    Date: February 11, 2019
    Location: eastern draw, Serano ranch, Presidio County, Texas
    Event: discovery of cistern full to within 6 inches of the lip (about 4,000 gallons)
    Analysis: water sample showed low sulfate and elevated calcium carbonate

    - Ground had not received meaningful rainfall for 143 days prior to discovery.
    - The concrete cap measured about three feet across with a silicone seal intact on three sides.
    - The northern silicone gap ran roughly eight inches long and up to three millimeters wide.
    - Reporter Richard Reed measured an eleven-inch drop over six days, equal to about 380 gallons lost.
    - The ranch’s active production well draws from the Rustler aquifer at 310 feet, but its profile did not match the cistern water.

    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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    16 min
  • The Looming Sound: Secrets Buried Under Hollowell Mill's Walls

    The Looming Sound: Secrets Buried Under Hollowell Mill's Walls
    Jul 26 2026
    The Looming Sound: Secrets Buried Under Hollowell Mill's Walls

    Cold air, an abandoned mill, and a sound so precise it was logged as "sounds like a loom"-two residents heard a three-beat rhythm through Hollowell Textile Mill's walls in January 2019; what had been sealed inside for thirty years, and why did the noise only appear below 15°F? Which record was right about the mill's interior: the salvage manifest saying all machinery was removed, or an asbestos inspector's 1989 sketch showing a turbine housing still bolted in the basement?

    In this episode, we follow the field reports, the local memories, and the conflicting documents that turned a brief note into a long mystery. Listen to how two witnesses, city records, and a decades-old abatement sketch converge on the same question: what exactly remained inside Hollowell Mill and what made that loom-like sound?

    Person: Alan Harrison
    Date: January 21, 2019
    Location: Hollowell Textile Mill, Brinnell, Ohio
    Temperature: 11°F
    Document: Asbestos abatement sketch dated October 1989 showing a turbine housing

    - January 9, 2019 at just after 9:00 PM, Gina Wallace heard a three-beat rhythm coming from the mill's south wall and listened for about two minutes.
    - January 21, 2019 at approximately 9:15 AM, Alan Harrison recorded the sound in a field report as "sounds like a loom" while standing at the northeast corner.
    - The mill closed in 1989 and official salvage manifest from that late summer stated all machinery had been removed and floor bolts ground flush.
    - An inspector identified as D. Corbin prepared and initialed an October 1989 site sketch showing a turbine housing still bolted to its concrete pad in a sub-grade chamber in the northeast basement.
    - The loom-like sound can only be produced in sustained temperatures below 15°F, a threshold met in at least 22 of the 31 winters since the mill closed.

    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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    23 min
  • The Woman in the Fishbowl: Dead, Dining, and a Nine‑Minute Gap

    The Woman in the Fishbowl: Dead, Dining, and a Nine‑Minute Gap
    Jul 26 2026
    The Woman in the Fishbowl: Dead, Dining, and a Nine‑Minute Gap

    A cold December morning photograph shows a woman in Nora's Diner's corner "fishbowl" booth wearing a pale blue cardigan - the exact outfit of Edna Marsh, who died in October 2017 - and ordering Edna's regular breakfast. How did a woman who'd been dead for over two years appear to be eating at 6:22 AM when the kitchen log records the meal plated at 6:31 AM?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events captured by a retired postal worker's camera, diner staff recollections, and the digital point-of-sale records, and we follow the one remaining discrepancy that refuses to be explained: the nine‑minute gap between the photograph and the plated meal.

    Person: Edna Marsh
    Date: October 2017 (death)
    Location: Nora's Diner, Route 7, Fennick, Ohio
    Event: Photograph taken December 11, 2019 at 6:22 AM
    Status: Kitchen log shows plating at 6:31 AM

    - The photograph was taken by Dale Cooper, a retired postal worker, on December 11, 2019 at 6:22 AM.
    - Edna Marsh regularly sat in the fishbowl booth for more than 40 years and ordered "two eggs over-easy, white toast, two sausage patties, black coffee with one sugar."
    - Edna Marsh died of a stroke and was found in October 2017.
    - The diner's point-of-sale log shows a ticket for the Edna order rung at 6:18 AM on December 11, 2019, entered by waitress Jessie Polk.
    - The diner's kitchen log indicates the eggs from that order were not plated until 6:31 AM, leaving a nine-minute discrepancy with the photograph.

    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 min