Hostage

After Charley was kidnapped on July 4, 1874 in Philadelphia, negotiations took place for over a year, stymied at every turn by police, politicians, and the public alike. No one but Charley's own father seemed to care that the fate of a four-year-old boy was caught in the crosshairs of a political nightmare.

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Two men earned Charley’s trust by bringing him and his brother candy every afternoon. One day in 1874, 4-year-old Charley and Walter Ross hopped into a carriage with these two men, thus beginning the first kidnapping for ransom in US History.

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In 1972, Bobby struggled to follow the intricate directions left for him by his wife’s kidnappers, while she sat in the woods of Minneappolis, praying she had been taken by men of their word. But as dawn began to break, Virginia Piper was given reason to believe her kidnappers had abandoned her to die.

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When Minneapolis socialite Ginny Piper was kidnapped from her own home in 1972, the police struggled to unearth suspects. Her husband Bobby was prepared to pay ransom, but soon realized that one wrong move could leave his wife dead.

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By the time she turned 18, Natascha promised herself she would escape her kidnapper. Between 2004 and 2006, the beaten, emaciated, but courageous teenager schemed to escape the man who took her hostage at 10-years-old. It was either escape, or die in a dungeon. 

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Children were being abducted all over Austria, however Natascha Kampusch never thought anyone would want her. Little did she know that on a fateful spring morning in 1998, Natasha would be thrown into a van and abducted on her way to school. She would spend over 3,000 days in captivity, held in a small concrete cell where no one could hear her screams.

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After a year in captivity, John McCain had lost all hope of ever returning home. Then, in 1968, a new commander took control of the prison, and asked McCain to teach him English. McCain used his proximity to power to manipulate his North Vietnamese captors into special privileges, and established a network of secret communication throughout the Hoa Loa prison. 

Parcasters - To learn about an iconic event in American history, check out our our new episode on John McCain on HOSTAGE, wherever you get your shows. Listen now at parcast.com/hostage

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On October 26, 1967, young, audacious Naval Lieutenant John Sidney McCain III prepared for his 23rd mission over North Vietnam. This area was normally off-limits to fighter jets, but they had a mission to destroy a power plant in central Hanoi. Nobody thought the mission would result in McCain being held captive for close to 6 years. 

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After his 9-year-old daughter was kidnapped in 1836, James Parker made it his life mission to find her. Twenty-four years passed and Cynthia Ann Parker had adopted the Comanche way of life and birthed three children. She refused to return to white society and considered herself part of the Tribe. 

Parcasters - If you are interested in stories of captivity and thrilling escape, check out other podcast CULTS, where we discuss the followers Aravindan Balakrishnan held prisoner in the name of workers’ rights. Listen now at parcast.com/cults