Off the Trails

In July of 1991, 12-year-old Jared Negrete set out on his first overnight backpacking trip with a group of Boy Scouts in the mountains of Southern California. But somewhere along the way, Jared became separated from the group and disappeared into the rugged wilderness surrounding San Gorgonio Mountain. What followed was an extensive search, a handful of puzzling clues, and a mystery that remains unsolved more than three decades later.


Sources:
Wikipedia, NamUS, LA Times, Reddit, Find A Grave, Hiking Angeles Forest



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**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

This week, we're heading back into the wilderness for Dark Trails Part II.

We had so much fun sharing these firsthand accounts in our first Dark Trails episode, and since we've gotten requests for more, we figured it was time for another round!

We'll be diving into more eerie encounters and unexplained experiences in the great outdoors that might just make you think twice about venturing off the beaten path.

**To watch the video version for free, head over to Patreon or YouTube!

Support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, with benefits starting at the $3 tier!

Follow us on Instagram at offthetrailspodcast

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

Some stories stick around because they leave people wondering what’s true. Others stick around because people want them to be true. Today, we’re diving into a few bizarre stories that captured people’s attention but ultimately didn’t hold up under scrutiny. And even though they’ve been debunked, they’re still pretty fascinating to look back on.


Sources:
Wikipedia, History, CNN, Telegraph, Time

Support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, with benefits starting at the $3 tier!

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

Today, we're looking to the sky. We have two stories involving strange objects appearing in remote wilderness areas—one that ended with a man missing for five days, and another that left behind physical injuries and evidence that investigators struggled to explain.

Were these encounters with something extraterrestrial, secret military technology, elaborate hoaxes, or simply something we still don’t understand?


Sources:
All That's Interesting, Wikipedia, Raz's Midnight Macabre, Atlas Obscura, Wikipedia-2, Mysteries Uncovered: True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained by Emily Thompson, CBC

Support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, with benefits starting at the $3 tier!

Follow us on Instagram at offthetrailspodcast

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

We officially made it- today is day 13 of our 13 Days of Sunday Scaries, and with this episode, we’re wrapping up our trip through the archives. The next time you hear from us, we’ll officially be kicking off our brand-new Sunday Scaries for 2026!

But before we get there, it feels only fitting to end the countdown the same way Sunday Scaries originally began- with some haunted hikes.

For this episode, we’re heading onto trails across the country where beautiful scenery comes with some pretty unsettling history. We’ll explore a trail built around one of Missouri’s most infamous haunted roads, a cliff in Maine marked by the tragic death of a young girl, and a Grand Canyon trail where hikers say they can still hear the cries of a grieving woman.

We’ll also head into the mountains of Virginia, where the spirit of a little boy is said to wander near the place he was found more than a century ago, before finishing in the forests of Oregon at an abandoned stone ruin known today as the Witch’s Castle. 

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

We’re almost at the end of our 13 Days of Sunday Scaries countdown. We have just one episode left after this one before we officially make our way out of the archives and into four brand-new Sunday Scaries for 2026!

But for today, we’re traveling to some of the darkest, strangest, and most forbidden destinations around the world.

We’ll venture into an eerily quiet forest at the base of Mount Fuji, visit an isolated island whose inhabitants have made it very clear that outsiders are not welcome, and head beneath the water to a cemetery swallowed by the sea. We’ll also visit an island off the coast of Brazil where thousands of venomous snakes have earned it a spot firmly off-limits to tourists, before ending in Mexico, where hundreds of decaying dolls hang from the trees.

Some of these places are dangerous, some are surrounded by dark histories and legends, and others are simply places we’re probably better off appreciating from a distance.

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

We’re continuing our trip through the 2025 Sunday Scaries archives, and for this one, we’re handing the storytelling over to you.

Sometimes the creepiest experiences outdoors aren’t the ones with a famous legend or ghost story attached to them. Sometimes, you’re just walking through the woods when something suddenly feels… off.

For this episode, we’re sharing listener stories about those moments- from unexplained voices and figures in the trees to strange encounters on familiar trails, and that overwhelming feeling that, for whatever reason, you need to get out of there.

Whether there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for these experiences or something a little stranger going on, these are the stories that tend to stick with you long after you’ve left the trail.

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

We’ve officially made our way through the 2023 and 2024 Sunday Scaries archives, which means we’re getting closer to this year’s brand-new episodes. But first, we’re headed back to 2025, where our first episode takes us through some spooky stories set at sea.

For centuries, sailors have shared stories of mysterious ships appearing on the horizon, abandoned vessels drifting without a crew, and entire groups of people seemingly vanishing into the ocean.

In this episode, we’ll explore everything from centuries-old legends and ships abandoned to drift thousands of miles on their own, to more modern-day vessels discovered with meals still sitting out and no trace of the people who had been aboard.
Some of these stories have likely explanations, while others have left behind questions that remain unanswered.

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Follow us on Instagram at offthetrailspodcast

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

In June of 2015, a family traveled from New Mexico into the mountains of southern Arizona for what was supposed to be a quiet Father’s Day weekend camping trip. But shortly after arriving, one member of the family disappeared during a walk that should have taken only a few minutes.

Sources:
Tombstone News, Las Cruces News, Charley Project, Reddit, Labyrinth Podcast, Strange Outdoors, NBC News, Facebook, Wikipedia

Support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, with benefits starting at the $3 tier!

Follow us on Instagram at offthetrailspodcast

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.

We’ve officially made it to the final Sunday Scary from our 2024 archives, and for this one, Danielle and I had a special guest joining us- our friend Kayla from the podcast Tragedy With A View.

Together, the three of us are heading onto some seriously spooky trails, where the scenery might be beautiful, but the history and legends surrounding them are anything but.

We’ll explore abandoned towns hidden deep in the woods, trails connected to devastating tragedies, forests filled with legends of strange creatures and unexplained encounters, and places where hikers still claim to hear voices, footsteps, and screams from people who may have never truly left.

There’s a little bit of everything in this one- ghost stories, folklore, forgotten history, and some very real events that are more disturbing than anything paranormal.

Support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month, with benefits starting at the $3 tier!

Follow us on Instagram at offthetrailspodcast

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If you have your own outdoor misadventure (or adventure) story that you'd like us to include in a listener episode, send it to us at [email protected]  

Please take a moment to rate and review our show, and a big thanks if you already have!

**We do our own research and try our best to cross-reference reliable sources to present the most accurate information we can. Please reach out to us if you believe we have mispresented any information during this episode, and we will be happy to correct ourselves in a future episode.