On December 10, 2003, the Whittacre family went out to dinner to celebrate their son Bart’s college graduation,but when they returned home they found a masked man in their home with his gun drawn. Kent, his wife, and two sons were shot, however Kent and Bart were the only two who would survive. As the investigation into who attacked the family continued, Kent learned that the killer may be a lot closer to him than he ever could have imagined.  

In 1979, Sherry Hopsen met a charming parachute instructor named Bruce Lindahl and the two hit it off. After dating for a few months, Bruce became very interested in learning about Sherry's best friend Beth who had been recently murdered and found in the woods near the local university. Bruce had some less than desirable qualities, but Sherry didn't notice how alarming some of his habits actually were before she broke it off with him. It wouldn't be until many years later that Sherry found out her boyfriend at the time was not only a serial killer, but her best friends killer as well.

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After the Unabomber was seen after placing his 12th bomb in 1987, he disappeared for six years. The public hoped he was finished, however Ted Kaczynski was far from done. Over the years the Unabomber task force had very little information about Ted to get closer to a suspect. That was until Ted's sister-in-law started to piece together the similarities in the bomber and her husband's brother. After nearly twenty years of terror, Ted Kaczynski was finally caught on April 3rd 1996.

In 1978 Ted Kaczynski began what would become a series of bombings around the United States over the next two decades. Kaczynski, who was then an unknown serial bomber, wanted to rid the country of modern technology which he believed was destroying human minds and society. By 1996, the Unabomber had killed three and injured twenty nine others with his carefully crafted homemade bombs. The investigation into the Unabomber was the most expensive investigation in the history of the FBI with an estimated to cost around 50 million dollars.

In 1971, Noel Marshall, Tippi Hedren, and their family raised and purchased over 100 lions, tigers, and other big cats for an adventure comedy movie they planned to make called Roar. So many things went wrong while filming, the movie has been described as “the most dangerous film ever made”. A memorably eye-catching tagline for the film was "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie, 70 members of the cast and crew were."

From a very young age Benedict Allen dreamed of becoming an explorer. At the age of twenty two he saved up just enough money to get himself to South America and back, with the plan that he would cross the north of the Amazon basin. After spending five months in the rainforest with two local guides, Benedict found himself with two illegal gold miners, who one night, decided they would kill him. Benedict managed to get away, however he found himself alone in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Benedict knew if he wanted to live and see his family again, he needed to do whatever it took to find a way out.

In 1988 Steve Cartisano founded the Challenger Foundation Camp in southern Utah for troubled teens. The program brought the teens into the Utah desert and was designed to help kids by instilling discipline, kicking them out of their bad habits and giving treatment. However after the death of 16-year-old Kristin Chase, the abuse occuring at this camp would finally come to light. Steve Cartisano was never held responsible and instead of finding a new line of work, decided to open multiple other wilderness therapy programs. His final program, Pacific Coast Academy in Samoa, was shut down after a video that was secretly taken at the camp exposing the abuse came to light.

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Let's chat about some unbelievable stories our listeners have sent to us!

A near-death experience, or NDE, refers to a profound, often life-changing event that occurs when a person is close to death, or becomes clinically dead for a time, yet survives. For some, the experience can involves a range of vivid, unusual sensations and perceptions, such as moving through a tunnel of light, an out of body experience, encountering deceased loved ones, a life review, etc. Though many people have NDEs the question of why these types of occurrences happen remains unanswered.

International Emergency/Suicide Hotlines:

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Steven Stayner was abducted at the age of 7 in 1972 by Kenneth Parnell, who held him captive for seven years. Steven eventually escaped in 1980 at the age of 14 and in a courageous act, he also rescued another kidnapped child, Timothy White. His remarkable survival story immediately became a national sensation. However Steven’s story is linked to his older brother, Cary Stayner, who later gained infamy for committing a series of murders in the 1990s.