Latest / Crime and Horror / This is what happens when you steal someone's life... - MrBallen

Transcript

This is what happens when you steal someone's life... - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share two stories about people who
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Speaker 1: found themselves in truly just hopeless situations. And in both
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Speaker 1: of these stories, the main character makes a very unexpected
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Speaker 1: decision that completely changes their lives, for better or for worse.
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Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
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Speaker 1: fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format,
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Speaker 1: let's get into today's stories. One night in late August
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Speaker 1: of 1557, a Frenchman in his 30s named Martin Guerre
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Speaker 1: was laying in a bed in a makeshift military hospital
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Speaker 1: in Saint-Quentin, France, writhing around in pain. So a few
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Speaker 1: weeks earlier, Martin had fought in this massive battle between
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Speaker 1: the French and Spanish armies. And it had been this
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Speaker 1: just horrible, bloody, violent battle. And during it, Martin had
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Speaker 1: been wounded very severely. In fact, he had lost his leg. Now,
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Speaker 1: this injury was obviously just devastating and very painful, but
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Speaker 1: Martin also knew he was just lucky to be alive here.
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Speaker 1: The doctors who had treated him at one point had
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Speaker 1: seemed certain that he was going to die. So Martin
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Speaker 1: and his doctors were all very surprised when he didn't
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Speaker 1: die and he pulled through and survived. And Martin knew
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Speaker 1: that a lot of his comrades, who'd already left St.
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Speaker 1: Quentin by this point and moved on with the army
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Speaker 1: or gone back home, they very likely thought that he
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Speaker 1: had died, given how bad it looked. But he was
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Speaker 1: alive and in a lot of pain. And really more
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Speaker 1: than that, he was just like sort of devastated. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he was incredibly lonely. You know, all of his army
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Speaker 1: mates had basically left the hospital or just moved on
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Speaker 1: with their careers or they'd gone home. And he was
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Speaker 1: still here, you know, unable to leave the hospital. And
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Speaker 1: he has this injury too. Like he hasn't really gotten
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Speaker 1: used to life without the use of his leg. And
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Speaker 1: so His whole world has come crashing down. He's sort
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Speaker 1: of by himself. You know, all he has is the
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Speaker 1: few army doctors who periodically come over and check on him.
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Speaker 1: But beyond those people, he was just isolated and sort
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Speaker 1: of trapped with these awful thoughts in his head 24-7.
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Speaker 1: And eventually, these spiraling thoughts became really like the worst
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Speaker 1: thing he was dealing with. Like they surpassed the actual
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Speaker 1: physical pain he was dealing with. It was just this
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Speaker 1: incredible depression that had set in. So Martin, he had
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Speaker 1: grown up in the small rural village in southern France
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Speaker 1: called Artigas. And he had gotten married at a very
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Speaker 1: young age to a woman named Bertrand. And they had
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Speaker 1: loved each other very much. And they had a son together. However,
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Speaker 1: Martin had sort of completely messed up his life when
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Speaker 1: he stole some grain from his father and had to
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Speaker 1: literally flee town. Stealing, especially from a family member at
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Speaker 1: the time, was not only criminal, but really quite shameful.
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Speaker 1: And Martin had been so afraid of what people would
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Speaker 1: say and what they would think of him, that he
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Speaker 1: decided not to face them at all. And he just
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Speaker 1: left Arteaga, leaving behind Bertrand and his son and his
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Speaker 1: whole life. Now, initially, after he had sort of run away,
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Speaker 1: he had considered going back and just saying he was
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Speaker 1: sorry and accepting whatever punishment he'd be given. But he
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Speaker 1: was always too scared to do it. And so he
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Speaker 1: just didn't. And then before long, he got caught up
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Speaker 1: in this war and years had passed by. It's like
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Speaker 1: he's basically just gone. He's been removed from Bertrand and
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Speaker 1: his son's life. Like, he's just out of their lives.
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Speaker 1: He's left them. And now, you know, he's had his
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Speaker 1: leg blown off. And in his mind, you know, in
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Speaker 1: this depressed state he was in, now, you know, he
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Speaker 1: had never really stopped thinking about his former life. He
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Speaker 1: missed his wife terribly, but he's thinking to himself, I'm
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Speaker 1: not the person she married. I'm a different person. I'm
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Speaker 1: a degraded, like, bad person like she wouldn't even want
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Speaker 1: to be with me at this point and then beyond
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Speaker 1: Bertrand and his son like and how they would look
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Speaker 1: at him he also was thinking that like he was
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Speaker 1: this this thief this this shameful person that the rest
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Speaker 1: of the village would not welcome back so in his
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Speaker 1: mind he really felt not just isolated in this hospital
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Speaker 1: you know with no army mates nearby you know stuck
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Speaker 1: because of this injury but he's also thinking I don't
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Speaker 1: even have a place in the world Like, I have nothing.
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Speaker 1: My life is ruined. And so as Martin lay in
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Speaker 1: the hospital bed, you know, having these horrible thoughts and
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Speaker 1: feeling all this physical pain in his leg, you know,
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Speaker 1: just having this horrible time, he found his mind wandering
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Speaker 1: to somebody else in his life that had been very
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Speaker 1: important to him, his friend Arnaud. He just wished if
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Speaker 1: there was one person that he could talk to right now,
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Speaker 1: it would be him. So Arnaud was a fellow soldier.
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Speaker 1: And before this really horrible battle where Martin lost his leg,
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Speaker 1: The two had been great friends, and they bonded because
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Speaker 1: they had a lot in common. They were both from
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Speaker 1: small towns in the south of France, and they even
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Speaker 1: looked the same, like they could pass as brothers. So
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Speaker 1: they'd gotten really close, and they talked about their lives,
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Speaker 1: and they shared a lot with one another. But like
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Speaker 1: everyone else in the military that Martin had been friendly
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Speaker 1: with or just worked with, Arnaud had, you know, moved on.
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Speaker 1: He was no longer here. He had gone somewhere else,
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Speaker 1: you know, wherever the army sent him. And so Arnaud
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Speaker 1: was just yet another person in his life who he wished...
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Speaker 1: He could spend more time with, but knew he wouldn't.
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Speaker 1: And so Martin's recovery would take a very long time.
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Speaker 1: He was stuck in a hospital, basically bedridden with these
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Speaker 1: horrible thoughts and this awful pain for weeks and then
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Speaker 1: months and then years passed by. And Martin still was
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Speaker 1: just a shell of himself. And so he actually was
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Speaker 1: moved to hospice care. However, after getting to hospice, Martin
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Speaker 1: actually didn't die. Like typically hospice care is for people
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Speaker 1: that are at the end of life and that no
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Speaker 1: longer is it about trying to save them. It's about
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Speaker 1: keeping them comfortable until they pass away. But for Martin,
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Speaker 1: he didn't die. He actually got better. And one afternoon
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Speaker 1: in early September of 1560, so now about three years
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Speaker 1: or so after he had lost his leg, Martin sat
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Speaker 1: on a bench outside of the hospice that he had
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Speaker 1: been staying in since the war had ended. Now, where
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Speaker 1: he was located was actually just, you know, a few
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Speaker 1: miles from his hometown, Artigas. But despite the now close
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Speaker 1: proximity to, you know, his former life, if you will,
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Speaker 1: to Martin, it felt like, you know, Artigas could have
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Speaker 1: been a million miles away. It couldn't have felt further
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Speaker 1: away for him. So after Martin sort of miraculously healed
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Speaker 1: inside of hospice care and he was outfitted with a
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Speaker 1: wooden prosthetic leg and was told that he could now
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Speaker 1: leave and go about his life, well, It was good
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Speaker 1: on the one hand, he got to go, you know,
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Speaker 1: back into reality, but he still had a lot of
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Speaker 1: health problems as a result of his injuries. And, you know,
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Speaker 1: given this treacherous stretch of time where he had just
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Speaker 1: been like stuck in bed having these horrible thoughts, he
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Speaker 1: had completely convinced himself that truly he was like a
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Speaker 1: shell of the man he used to be and that
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Speaker 1: nobody from his previous life would want him. Not his wife,
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Speaker 1: not his son, not anybody. Like he was nothing now.
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Speaker 1: And so even though Martin was like better at this point,
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Speaker 1: in his mind, he sort of had resigned himself to
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Speaker 1: simply wasting away and dying all alone. He just figured,
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Speaker 1: even though the doctors say I'm better, that's the path
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Speaker 1: I'm on and I'm not going to change it. But now,
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Speaker 1: as Martin sat outside on this bench, he heard a voice.
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Speaker 1: And when he looked over at the road in front
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Speaker 1: of the hospice where he heard this voice, he saw
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Speaker 1: there was a man that he had never met before
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Speaker 1: who was clearly walking towards him. Like that was the
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Speaker 1: person speaking to him. As the man approached Martin, he
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Speaker 1: asked him, are you Martin Gare? And when Martin slowly nodded, saying, yes,
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Speaker 1: I am, this man's face lit up and he explained
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Speaker 1: that he'd been looking all over for him. He said
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Speaker 1: he'd been sent here on behalf of Martin's family back
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Speaker 1: in Artigas and he wanted to bring Martin back to them.
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Speaker 1: When Martin heard this, he couldn't believe it. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he really was so convinced that he was just destined
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Speaker 1: for a life of shame and agony until he died.
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Speaker 1: And now to hear that his family wants him back,
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Speaker 1: they're looking for him, like this was incredible. This was unbelievable.
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Speaker 1: I mean, he really assumed he would never go home again.
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Speaker 1: And now here was this guy saying, come with me,
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Speaker 1: let's go home. However, before Martin could ask any follow-up questions,
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Speaker 1: of which he had many, like about his family and
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Speaker 1: what they asked about him, that kind of thing, the
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Speaker 1: man told Martin that actually he had been sent here
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Speaker 1: to get Martin and he was going to bring him home,
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Speaker 1: but first... they needed to stop at the courthouse in
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Speaker 1: a city called Toulouse. Martin looked at him like, what
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Speaker 1: do you mean? And the man explained the reason behind it.
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Speaker 1: And Martin simply couldn't believe what he was being told.
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Speaker 1: A few days later, on the morning of September 12th,
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Speaker 1: Martin climbed out of a wagon in front of the
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Speaker 1: courthouse in Toulouse, a city about 40 miles away from Artigas.
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Speaker 1: And Martin, he felt butterflies in his stomach as he,
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Speaker 1: you know, used his cane to climb the court steps
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Speaker 1: to get up to the front doors. And then when
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Speaker 1: he got up there, he took a deep breath, threw
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Speaker 1: open the double doors, and stepped inside. And the instant
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Speaker 1: he did, the first thing he saw is the entire
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Speaker 1: courthouse was filled with people. And they all turned to
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Speaker 1: look at him and everyone's speaking with these hushed voices like,
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Speaker 1: oh my goodness, I can't believe it. And that's when
9:51
Speaker 1: Martin realized he had just walked directly in to the
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Speaker 1: middle of a trial. And so Martin, for a second,
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Speaker 1: he just stood there staring back at all these people
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Speaker 1: who were turned to look at him. And he realized
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Speaker 1: that he recognized many of their faces. He saw some
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Speaker 1: of his friends. He saw his uncle Pierre and some
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Speaker 1: of his sisters. He saw his wife Bertrand, as well
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Speaker 1: as a boy sitting next to her who must have
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Speaker 1: been his son. And all of these people there looking
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Speaker 1: at Martin with just looks of absolute shock on their faces.
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Speaker 1: Like they were completely stunned to see him. And they're
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Speaker 1: all looking at his wooden leg and they're looking back
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Speaker 1: at him. It was like they couldn't believe he had
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Speaker 1: just walked in here. However, before Martin could really, you know,
10:36
Speaker 1: fully appreciate the emotional moment he was having here, you know,
10:39
Speaker 1: seeing his loved ones after over a decade, he first
10:43
Speaker 1: looked towards the front of the courthouse. And as soon
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Speaker 1: as Martin saw what was up there, he knew that
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Speaker 1: what that man had told him, who came up to
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Speaker 1: him on the bench in front of the hospice, was true.
10:56
Speaker 1: And Martin had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
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Speaker 1: It would turn out Martin was wrong to believe that,
11:05
Speaker 1: you know, his wife and the town of Artigas would
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Speaker 1: never accept him back, that he was worthless and should
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Speaker 1: never return. Because his wife Bertrand and the town of
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Speaker 1: Artigas actually did welcome him back. Or so they thought.
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Speaker 1: Because when Martin walked into that courthouse and looked towards
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Speaker 1: the front of the room, what he saw was his
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Speaker 1: long-lost buddy, Arnaud, from the war. And Arnaud was on trial.
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Speaker 1: Arnaud did not just look like he could be Martin's brother.
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Speaker 1: He looked exactly like Martin. And since Arnaud really had
11:41
Speaker 1: been very disliked in his own hometown... for being a
11:45
Speaker 1: con artist. He wanted a fresh start and a new
11:48
Speaker 1: place after he left the army. So, years earlier, while
11:52
Speaker 1: Martin was lying in a makeshift army hospital so badly
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Speaker 1: injured that doctors were telling him he was almost certainly
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Speaker 1: going to die while that was happening, his best bud, Arnaud,
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Speaker 1: was using their likeness and his knowledge of Martin's life,
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Speaker 1: from all the times that Martin had confided in his friend,
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Speaker 1: to literally steal Martin's life. Arnaud had waltzed into Artigas
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Speaker 1: and told everyone there that he was Martin Gare, and
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Speaker 1: the entire town not only believed him, they celebrated his return.
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Speaker 1: Arnaud was actually so convincing that even Bertrand had believed
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Speaker 1: Arnaud was her husband, and she had gone on to
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Speaker 1: have two additional children with him, believing this was Martin. However,
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Speaker 1: one person, Martin's uncle, Pierre, He just didn't buy it.
12:45
Speaker 1: He thought this guy was a fake. He thought he
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Speaker 1: was an imposter, and he took him to court for fraud.
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Speaker 1: And that trial was why the man had tracked Martin
12:53
Speaker 1: down at the hospice and brought him to Toulouse, to
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Speaker 1: help prove to everyone there that, look, Arnaud's an imposter
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Speaker 1: because here's the real Martin. And of course, it worked,
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Speaker 1: because when Martin stepped into that courtroom and his own
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Speaker 1: family laid eyes on him, the actual Martin Gare, they
13:10
Speaker 1: realized right away that Arnaud truly was a fake. Arnaud
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Speaker 1: was ultimately sentenced to death and hanged in front of
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Speaker 1: Martin's house in Artigas while the entire village watched. As
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Speaker 1: for Bertrand, Martin's wife, she was horrified to learn that
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Speaker 1: she had not recognized her own husband and that she
13:29
Speaker 1: had had two kids with a stranger. She begged Martin
13:33
Speaker 1: to forgive her, but he never did. When you're refreshing
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Speaker 1: your space, choosing a paint color can feel weirdly high stakes.
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Speaker 1: like split pea soup on your walls? Luckily, Sherwin-Williams takes
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14:13
Speaker 1: to get started today. One morning in November of 1940,
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Speaker 1: an 84-year-old prospector named Irwin Robertson hiked down a snowy
14:34
Speaker 1: ridge in the Alaskan wilderness. He was pushing this sled
14:37
Speaker 1: that was full of supplies and animal furs, and it
14:40
Speaker 1: was pretty hard. I mean, as he was pushing this
14:41
Speaker 1: thing along, he was working so hard that he was
14:44
Speaker 1: breathing really heavy, and even though it was really cold outside,
14:48
Speaker 1: he could feel himself sweating underneath his clothes, like he
14:50
Speaker 1: was going to be covered in sweat. Now, Irwin knew
14:53
Speaker 1: that what he was doing was, you know, risky. I mean,
14:55
Speaker 1: after all, he certainly was not as young as he
14:57
Speaker 1: used to be, and You don't want to get hurt
15:00
Speaker 1: out here or, you know, totally exhaust yourself out here.
15:03
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the wild. But Irwin was not
15:06
Speaker 1: about to slow down because he could just not wait
15:10
Speaker 1: to get home. So Irwin had come to this area
15:12
Speaker 1: about 40 years earlier as part of the big Alaskan
15:16
Speaker 1: gold rush. And so, like basically every other prospector, he
15:19
Speaker 1: spent every summer and every fall at a cabin up
15:22
Speaker 1: in the mountains, predominantly hunting and mining. But his real home,
15:27
Speaker 1: you know, where he really considered where he lived, was
15:30
Speaker 1: in the pioneer town of Eagle, Alaska, where he lived
15:33
Speaker 1: during the winter and the spring. And that is where
15:36
Speaker 1: Erwin was headed this morning. He had just wrapped up
15:38
Speaker 1: a very successful fall season up in the mountains, and
15:42
Speaker 1: he'd actually intended on staying in the cabin up in
15:44
Speaker 1: the mountains a bit longer. But a few days ago,
15:47
Speaker 1: the temperature had suddenly dropped, and Erwin did not have
15:51
Speaker 1: the supplies to wait out a winter storm up in
15:53
Speaker 1: that cabin. So he had packed up his things, told
15:56
Speaker 1: the handful of other prospectors in the area where he
15:58
Speaker 1: was going, Then he set out for Eagle. Now, this
16:02
Speaker 1: was a 100-mile trek to get to his home in Eagle.
16:06
Speaker 1: And it was through some very rough terrain. And also,
16:08
Speaker 1: he's in Alaska. So this is like a very rough
16:12
Speaker 1: area to be navigating. But Erwin had made the trip
16:15
Speaker 1: at least once a year for the past four decades.
16:18
Speaker 1: So he knew what he was doing. So despite really
16:21
Speaker 1: exerting himself here, pushing the sled, he kept up as
16:24
Speaker 1: hard of a pace as he could manage for the
16:26
Speaker 1: next couple of hours... And then finally, around midday, he
16:30
Speaker 1: allowed himself to slow down and just take a quick break. However,
16:34
Speaker 1: after stopping and reaching into his parka and pulling out
16:36
Speaker 1: his canteen to take a sip of water, as he's
16:39
Speaker 1: sipping the canteen, something catches his attention out of the
16:43
Speaker 1: corner of his eye. And even though all he saw
16:45
Speaker 1: was just like a flash of movement out in the trees,
16:48
Speaker 1: he knew immediately what it was. So during this trek
16:52
Speaker 1: so far, there was this pack of wolves that was
16:55
Speaker 1: following him. He knew they were following him. But again,
16:58
Speaker 1: this is a man who lived in the wilds of Alaska,
17:01
Speaker 1: and so he was not unaccustomed to running into packs
17:04
Speaker 1: of wolves. He knew they were quite dangerous, especially for
17:07
Speaker 1: a guy who's alone in the woods right now. But
17:10
Speaker 1: he wasn't that concerned. However, he's thinking, OK, they're right
17:14
Speaker 1: over there. I'm going to take a very quick break.
17:17
Speaker 1: He capped his canteen, put it back in his parka,
17:19
Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm going to keep on moving here.
17:22
Speaker 1: A few hours later, Erwin was a good ways further
17:25
Speaker 1: down the ridge, but he was starting to get cold.
17:28
Speaker 1: In fact, ice had formed on his beard and on
17:30
Speaker 1: his eyelashes. So the temperature had dropped much faster than
17:34
Speaker 1: he had expected. And he was starting to get worried
17:37
Speaker 1: because he knew it was only going to get much
17:39
Speaker 1: worse after the sun went down. And remember, he's been
17:42
Speaker 1: exerting himself this whole time. He's been sweating under his clothes.
17:45
Speaker 1: So he's wet under his clothes. And now the temperature
17:48
Speaker 1: is dropping. So he's like getting really, really cold. And
17:51
Speaker 1: so he decided that it was in his best interest
17:53
Speaker 1: to actually just stop right now and build a fire
17:56
Speaker 1: and just make sure he was warm. And so Erwin,
17:58
Speaker 1: he continued pushing his sled, you know, keeping his eyes
18:01
Speaker 1: peeled for a good spot to actually stop and make camp.
18:04
Speaker 1: But as he's moving along, he hears something that causes
18:07
Speaker 1: him to just stop. It wasn't the sound of wolves.
18:11
Speaker 1: It was the sound of trickling water. And much like
18:14
Speaker 1: the wolves, water was quite dangerous out in the wilds
18:18
Speaker 1: of Alaska. But in many ways, water, especially in a
18:22
Speaker 1: very cold environment like this, was like the most lethal
18:26
Speaker 1: to people. Because getting fully wet in these temperatures basically
18:30
Speaker 1: guaranteed you would freeze to death. So Erwin moved very
18:34
Speaker 1: cautiously forward because, again, all he can do is hear
18:38
Speaker 1: the trickling water. He doesn't know where it is, and
18:40
Speaker 1: he's thinking, I better be careful I don't accidentally step
18:43
Speaker 1: into a creek or something and get wet here. He's
18:46
Speaker 1: already wet from sweating underneath his clothes. He can't afford
18:50
Speaker 1: to get more wet. And so he's moving carefully and
18:52
Speaker 1: cautiously and then he rounds a bend and he actually
18:56
Speaker 1: sees the source of the sound. It was a creek
18:58
Speaker 1: that had basically completely frozen over with the exception of
19:01
Speaker 1: a little bit of water that was sort of leaking
19:04
Speaker 1: out and sort of spilling out over the ice itself.
19:07
Speaker 1: And over time, like this water that was making the
19:09
Speaker 1: sound and leaking out, it was sort of freezing in
19:12
Speaker 1: layers on the surface of this creek. And so it
19:15
Speaker 1: was kind of like this you know, moundy block of
19:18
Speaker 1: ice that was sitting on top of this creek, but
19:20
Speaker 1: you could clearly see water sort of trickling its way
19:22
Speaker 1: through it. And so when Irwin saw this, he realized that,
19:25
Speaker 1: you know, as long as he was very careful to
19:26
Speaker 1: avoid stepping on the frozen creek itself, that this area
19:31
Speaker 1: would actually make a great spot to spend the night.
19:34
Speaker 1: He could refill his canteen from the little spout of
19:37
Speaker 1: water coming out of the creek. Plus, there were a
19:39
Speaker 1: bunch of dead trees nearby, which were perfect for firewood.
19:42
Speaker 1: And this was good news, because by this point, Erwin
19:45
Speaker 1: was so cold he was shivering. So he parked his
19:48
Speaker 1: sled and then began gathering up. some firewood. But as
19:51
Speaker 1: he was going around doing this he spotted a few
19:54
Speaker 1: of those wolves who had not stopped following him not
19:58
Speaker 1: very far away from him. They were sort of lingering
20:00
Speaker 1: in the trees clearly watching him and for the first
20:02
Speaker 1: time Erwin started to feel pretty anxious about these wolves.
20:07
Speaker 1: You know, the fact that they were now even closer
20:09
Speaker 1: than the last time he saw them suggested that, you know, one,
20:12
Speaker 1: they're still following him, but two, they're getting braver. They're
20:16
Speaker 1: getting closer. But Erwin's thinking, like, I can't just continue
20:20
Speaker 1: on here. You know, as much as it makes sense
20:22
Speaker 1: to get away from the wolves, I'm beat physically and
20:25
Speaker 1: I'm soaked. My clothes are wet. Like, I'm getting so cold.
20:28
Speaker 1: I'm going to die of hypothermia if I'm not careful.
20:31
Speaker 1: I got to start this fire. I have to make
20:33
Speaker 1: camp here. I just have to. About 20 minutes later,
20:36
Speaker 1: Erwin had gathered up all the wood that he would need,
20:38
Speaker 1: and he piled it all next to his sled, and
20:40
Speaker 1: then he got ready to start his fire. And in
20:43
Speaker 1: this kind of very cold environment, actually starting the fire,
20:47
Speaker 1: the process of igniting the fire, was a potentially very
20:50
Speaker 1: dangerous process. Because in order to light the match, to
20:54
Speaker 1: light the fire, Erwin would have to take off his
20:57
Speaker 1: mittens and expose his hands to the freezing cold. But
21:01
Speaker 1: Erwin had to do it. So he reached down and
21:04
Speaker 1: he bit one of his mittens and pulled it off
21:05
Speaker 1: with his teeth. And then with that hand, he reached
21:08
Speaker 1: into his parka and he pulled out his fire kit,
21:11
Speaker 1: which contained these thin scraps of tinder that he would
21:13
Speaker 1: use as fire starting material. Then he grabbed a match
21:17
Speaker 1: and he struck it to light it, but it didn't catch.
21:20
Speaker 1: Like the head of the match did not catch on fire.
21:23
Speaker 1: And so Erwin tried again, striking the match once more.
21:26
Speaker 1: but it didn't light. And again, he just kept trying
21:28
Speaker 1: over and over. And eventually he just snapped the match
21:31
Speaker 1: in half. Now, Erwin didn't panic because he knew that,
21:34
Speaker 1: you know, in extreme cold, some matches light better than
21:38
Speaker 1: others and some don't even light at all. And he
21:40
Speaker 1: had seen this happen before. So he wasn't panicking. Instead,
21:43
Speaker 1: he pulled off his other mitten to make sure he
21:45
Speaker 1: had max dexterity here. And he took out the other
21:48
Speaker 1: match and he held the thing he was striking it against.
21:51
Speaker 1: And he struck the second match thinking this one will light.
21:55
Speaker 1: but it didn't. And he tried again and again, and
21:57
Speaker 1: he's starting to get a little panicked when finally he
22:00
Speaker 1: strikes the match and this one does catch. But by
22:04
Speaker 1: this point, he's now had his naked hands exposed to
22:07
Speaker 1: the unbelievably cold temperatures for over a minute, and his
22:11
Speaker 1: hands were like starting to seize up from the cold.
22:14
Speaker 1: They were shaking, in fact, so badly from the cold
22:17
Speaker 1: that even though he's got this light, his hands shook
22:20
Speaker 1: so much that by the time he transferred it to
22:22
Speaker 1: the tinder, the shaking caused it to extinguish. It was out.
22:26
Speaker 1: And at this point, Erwin did start to panic because
22:29
Speaker 1: his hands are in so much pain and they're so
22:32
Speaker 1: stiff from the cold that he was afraid that even
22:34
Speaker 1: if he put his mittens back on his hands, they
22:37
Speaker 1: wouldn't warm up fast enough for him to then remove
22:40
Speaker 1: his mitten and try this whole fire thing again. He
22:42
Speaker 1: really needed the fire in order to warm his hands,
22:46
Speaker 1: but obviously he needs his hands to make the fire.
22:48
Speaker 1: And so he's got a problem here. So Erwin, who
22:51
Speaker 1: was not one to give up easily... He just gritted
22:53
Speaker 1: his teeth, and with his, you know, failing hands, he
22:56
Speaker 1: just reached down and, you know, fumbled and grabbed a
22:59
Speaker 1: third match, thinking, I gotta light this one, I gotta
23:02
Speaker 1: start this fire to warm my hands up, to warm
23:04
Speaker 1: my whole body up, I gotta do this. And so
23:07
Speaker 1: he's got this third match, he's barely able to hold it,
23:09
Speaker 1: and it took all his focus just not to drop it,
23:12
Speaker 1: but finally he managed to scrape it against the side
23:15
Speaker 1: of this matchbook, and to his relief, it did catch.
23:18
Speaker 1: And so immediately, Irwin, very carefully, you know, kind of
23:21
Speaker 1: sheltered this little flame And he carried it over to
23:24
Speaker 1: the tinder and he put the flame on the tinder,
23:27
Speaker 1: but nothing happened. Erwin waited for the bundle to catch fire,
23:32
Speaker 1: but it just didn't. And then the flame, the match,
23:35
Speaker 1: just burned out. And for a long moment, Erwin just
23:38
Speaker 1: stared at this scene in front of him in confusion.
23:42
Speaker 1: He didn't understand because he knew that this time he
23:45
Speaker 1: had done it all right. He had lit the match.
23:47
Speaker 1: He put it on the tinder. He had done this
23:49
Speaker 1: so many times before, but it's just not working. But
23:52
Speaker 1: then he looked more closely at the tinder and his
23:55
Speaker 1: heart just sank because he knew that the situation he
23:58
Speaker 1: was in was truly catastrophic. Several days later, there were
24:12
Speaker 1: some people living in Eagle, Alaska, who noticed that Erwin
24:16
Speaker 1: was not in Eagle. He had not arrived. And it
24:19
Speaker 1: didn't make any sense because he had told people when
24:21
Speaker 1: he would be there. And, you know, there was no
24:23
Speaker 1: reason he would be late unless something happened. And so
24:26
Speaker 1: these folks were just concerned enough that they went to authorities.
24:30
Speaker 1: And by November 19th, which is almost exactly a week
24:33
Speaker 1: after Irwin had struggled to light that fire, the U.S.
24:36
Speaker 1: Marshal's office was out in force looking for Irwin. And
24:40
Speaker 1: so on November 19th, a deputy from the U.S. Marshal's
24:44
Speaker 1: office who was out in the wilderness, you know, a
24:46
Speaker 1: part of the search, He and his team came through
24:48
Speaker 1: these trees and he saw this clearing up ahead and
24:51
Speaker 1: he noticed there was something in the middle of it.
24:53
Speaker 1: It was a sled that was surrounded by supplies and
24:56
Speaker 1: it was set up on the bank of a frozen creek.
24:59
Speaker 1: And so immediately the deputy thought like this could be
25:02
Speaker 1: Erwin's sled. He could be nearby. And so he and
25:06
Speaker 1: his men, they rushed down to this sled and they
25:08
Speaker 1: look around and they see there's like a rifle propped
25:11
Speaker 1: up against a tree and there's the stack of of
25:13
Speaker 1: unused firewood, and there's all this tinder and a bunch
25:17
Speaker 1: of matches that are strewn about on the ground that
25:19
Speaker 1: also don't appear to have been used. But beyond these
25:23
Speaker 1: supplies and these things they're seeing, there was nothing else. Like,
25:26
Speaker 1: Erwin was not here. However, the longer the deputy stood
25:30
Speaker 1: there just looking around, the more he realized what actually
25:34
Speaker 1: must have happened to Erwin. Because after sort of doing
25:37
Speaker 1: an initial scan, he realized there was something else in
25:40
Speaker 1: this clearing that he hadn't noticed at first. wolf tracks.
25:46
Speaker 1: The deputy told his men that, you know, very likely
25:48
Speaker 1: Erwin has been killed and carried off by wolves here,
25:51
Speaker 1: so follow these tracks and see if we can recover
25:54
Speaker 1: Erwin's body. And so the search party set out to
25:57
Speaker 1: go look. However, pretty quickly they realized that, you know,
26:00
Speaker 1: as they're following these tracks that something just seemed off here.
26:04
Speaker 1: You know, it seemed obvious given that Erwin had not
26:06
Speaker 1: shown up yet, he's been found, his stuff's all here,
26:09
Speaker 1: he's not here, and there's these tracks here. It seemed
26:11
Speaker 1: obvious that he must have been killed by wolves, but
26:15
Speaker 1: they don't see any blood anywhere. Like, wouldn't he have
26:17
Speaker 1: been attacked by his stuff and there'd be signs of
26:20
Speaker 1: an attack and then he's been like dragged off? There
26:22
Speaker 1: should be a trail of blood or something. You know,
26:25
Speaker 1: any indication that a struggle happened, but no, it was
26:28
Speaker 1: just tracks, nothing else. And so eventually, as the deputy
26:31
Speaker 1: and his men are just following these tracks sort of
26:34
Speaker 1: farther and farther away from the sled and what they
26:37
Speaker 1: had found near the creek, they stopped and they're like,
26:39
Speaker 1: hold on a something doesn't add up here. Let's go
26:42
Speaker 1: back and take another look at the actual site where
26:44
Speaker 1: the sled was. Because again, there's no evidence of an
26:47
Speaker 1: actual wolf attack. There's just evidence of wolves. And so
26:51
Speaker 1: they turn around and they follow the wolf tracks back
26:53
Speaker 1: to where the sled is. And they start looking around
26:56
Speaker 1: more closely for, you know, maybe there is some sign
26:58
Speaker 1: of a wolf attack that they missed. And they're looking
27:01
Speaker 1: around and they eventually spot what appeared to be Erwin's tracks.
27:05
Speaker 1: And they began following these thinking that, you had become
27:10
Speaker 1: hypothermic and confused and wandered off into the woods. And
27:14
Speaker 1: either he died out there or had been attacked out
27:17
Speaker 1: there by wolves. But, you know, let's follow these. This
27:20
Speaker 1: is bound to lead us to wherever Irwin went. But
27:22
Speaker 1: the footprints, they only led away from the sled like
27:25
Speaker 1: a few feet before doubling back and stopping right at
27:29
Speaker 1: the edge of this frozen creek. And so for a minute,
27:32
Speaker 1: the deputies looking down like, trying to make sense of
27:35
Speaker 1: how these tracks just stop right here. Like, did they
27:38
Speaker 1: miss something? Like, where did Irwin go? But then the
27:42
Speaker 1: deputy just literally looked at the creek towards the center
27:45
Speaker 1: of this frozen creek, which to that point he hadn't
27:48
Speaker 1: really been focusing on. It was like all the things
27:50
Speaker 1: on the land. Now he's looking at the creek itself,
27:54
Speaker 1: and suddenly he knew what happened to Irwin. So a
27:58
Speaker 1: week earlier, on the night that Erwin is trying to
28:00
Speaker 1: start this fire, he's desperate. He's becoming hypothermic. The wolves
28:04
Speaker 1: are nearby. He finally strikes that third match. He gets
28:07
Speaker 1: it to light, but the tinder won't light because the
28:10
Speaker 1: tinder was wet. We can assume the reason it was
28:12
Speaker 1: wet is because he kept his fire kit inside of
28:15
Speaker 1: his parka and he was working so hard with that sled.
28:18
Speaker 1: He was sweating so much that he sweat on the
28:20
Speaker 1: tinder and he soaked it. And so now he does
28:23
Speaker 1: not have a way to start a fire. He cannot
28:26
Speaker 1: make fire. without fire, he is going to freeze to death.
28:30
Speaker 1: There's no two ways about it. He is a veteran
28:33
Speaker 1: of the Alaskan wilderness. He knows he's doomed. And worse
28:36
Speaker 1: than that is he knows the wolves are getting closer
28:40
Speaker 1: and closer. And so no longer was it about like, oh,
28:42
Speaker 1: what do I have to do to survive this thing? No,
28:45
Speaker 1: it became, how do I want to die? And as
28:49
Speaker 1: he listened to the wolves howl not too far away,
28:52
Speaker 1: he thought to himself, I certainly don't want to die
28:56
Speaker 1: by being eaten alive. And so he made a choice.
29:01
Speaker 1: A week later, the deputy from the U.S. Marshal's office
29:04
Speaker 1: was standing by the creek trying to figure out what
29:06
Speaker 1: happened to Erwin, and he looks out and he realizes
29:09
Speaker 1: there is a lump in the middle of the ice,
29:12
Speaker 1: right in the center of the creek, that he had
29:14
Speaker 1: not recognized at first as anything significant, but now he
29:17
Speaker 1: was looking more closely and he realized it was Erwin.
29:22
Speaker 1: In an effort to avoid being eaten by wolves, Irwin
29:25
Speaker 1: had at some point walked into the middle of the creek,
29:29
Speaker 1: laid down on his back right in that break in
29:31
Speaker 1: the creek where that little bit of water was trickling
29:33
Speaker 1: out that he had filled up his canteen right there.
29:35
Speaker 1: And he had just laid there and the water kept
29:38
Speaker 1: spilling out onto him and gradually... froze in layers over
29:42
Speaker 1: his whole body, essentially freezing himself into this cocoon in
29:47
Speaker 1: the creek. And so eventually he had frozen to death
29:50
Speaker 1: inside of the creek, but the ice had kept the
29:54
Speaker 1: wolves away. Thank you so much for watching today's episode.
30:02
Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of it in the
30:04
Speaker 1: comments below. And remember, we have a whole playlist of
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Speaker 1: them a watch. All right, until next time, see ya.