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Disappearance of Frederick Valentich - UFO Encounter · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: In October of nineteen seventy eight, a young Australian pilot
0:10
Speaker 1: set out on a routine evening flight, then vanished without
0:14
Speaker 1: a trace during his final minutes in the air, though
0:18
Speaker 1: he had made contact with ground control and reported a
0:22
Speaker 1: strange object circling above his aircraft. For several minutes, he
0:27
Speaker 1: watched as it moved erratically and followed him, before finally
0:31
Speaker 1: radio contact suddenly ended. Nearly fifty years later, there has
0:36
Speaker 1: been no confirmed wreckage, no body, and no definitive explanation
0:41
Speaker 1: of what happened. He simply vanished into thin air. His
0:46
Speaker 1: disappearance remains one of the most debated mysteries in aviation history.
0:50
Speaker 1: And this is the story of Frederick Valentiche.
0:55
Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
0:59
Speaker 2: and Grim true crime podcast.
1:02
Speaker 1: The following podcast material intended more mature audience listener discretion.
1:30
Speaker 1: Mind popped like super fast. Did you hear that? It
1:33
Speaker 1: was like done?
1:36
Speaker 2: I am not going to go there?
1:37
Speaker 1: What whoa? Whoa? Was that a premature can opening? Is
1:41
Speaker 1: that what you were going to say?
1:43
Speaker 2: I don't know, I was going to say some things,
1:45
Speaker 2: but wow, this isn't really actually PG thirteen, is it?
1:49
Speaker 1: Our podcast is definitely not a PG thirteen podcast. We
1:52
Speaker 1: talk about a lot of dark stuff and in fact,
1:55
Speaker 1: the last episode we were talking about a porn star,
1:58
Speaker 1: so that goes to say a lot there.
2:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, we also did a little bit of research on
2:03
Speaker 2: said porn star.
2:05
Speaker 1: Curiosity got the best of it. I'm gonna leave it
2:07
Speaker 1: at that.
2:09
Speaker 2: We're literally the worst. I just feel like, I don't know.
2:12
Speaker 2: I'll say in our tiny home just gets up to Shenanigans.
2:15
Speaker 1: I will say he was in the correct field of.
2:18
Speaker 2: Work, the correct business.
2:20
Speaker 1: Yes, full full stop. Yeah, But we do want to
2:26
Speaker 1: say that today's episode is pre recorded. Today's and next
2:30
Speaker 1: episode will be pre recorded, but a week in advance,
2:34
Speaker 1: so just a heads up on that, so there won't
2:36
Speaker 1: be any Patreon shout out come Tuesday. We'll reserve it
2:40
Speaker 1: for the following Tuesday, where we'll go back the entire
2:42
Speaker 1: two weeks. So just heads up on that, because Nicole,
2:45
Speaker 1: you're going on a little bit of a trip and
2:48
Speaker 1: I'm taking a bit of a week off while you're gone,
2:49
Speaker 1: so we couldn't record episodes while you're gone.
2:51
Speaker 2: So here we are, Yeah, going down to the Okanagan
2:54
Speaker 2: to shoot a wedding and made a little trip out
2:56
Speaker 2: of it. I guess.
2:57
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be nice.
2:58
Speaker 2: It is gonna be nice. It's gonna be a good,
3:00
Speaker 2: good time.
3:01
Speaker 1: Some relaxing times for both of us, well earned, well deserved,
3:04
Speaker 1: I think.
3:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. So instead of just taking the week off, Ben
3:07
Speaker 2: has prepared to what are you gonna call mini episodes.
3:11
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a mini.
3:12
Speaker 2: Episode, like Halloween week style kind of kind of.
3:15
Speaker 1: They're they're more fun, They're a little bit shorter, little
3:19
Speaker 1: lighter research because I had to, you know, research my
3:21
Speaker 1: butt off ahead of time, so I made sure my
3:24
Speaker 1: workload was a little bit lighter. But there's still some
3:26
Speaker 1: very interesting cases like this one today. It is a
3:31
Speaker 1: very famous UFO encounter case. Okay, so yeah, I think
3:35
Speaker 1: you guys will like these. A little bit of a
3:37
Speaker 1: divergence from our typical true crime stuff, but still just
3:41
Speaker 1: as good.
3:41
Speaker 2: It's nice to change it up, and I could see
3:43
Speaker 2: this being being something you're really into. Oh.
3:46
Speaker 1: I was definitely into both of these episodes that I
3:48
Speaker 1: was researching, this one in particular, the UFO aspect, the paranormal,
3:52
Speaker 1: the supernatural. Yeah, I love that sort of stuff.
3:54
Speaker 2: Huh. Okay, Well, let's hear it okay.
3:57
Speaker 1: Well, by all accounts, Frederick valente Which was a young
4:01
Speaker 1: man just trying to build a future in the skies.
4:04
Speaker 1: He was born on June ninth, nineteen fifty eight, and
4:07
Speaker 1: he was the eldest child of Guido and Alberta Valentache.
4:11
Speaker 1: He grew up in Avondale Heights, which is a suburb
4:14
Speaker 1: of Melbourne, Australia, alongside with his younger brother Ricky and
4:18
Speaker 1: his twin sisters Olivia and Laura. Now, like many young boys,
4:22
Speaker 1: he became fascinated with aircrafts at an early age. But
4:26
Speaker 1: unlike most young boys, though that fascination never faded. As
4:31
Speaker 1: he grew older, flying stopped being a hobby and it
4:34
Speaker 1: became a very clear career goal for him. For the context,
4:39
Speaker 1: I do want to say, during the nineteen seventies, aviation
4:42
Speaker 1: still carried a certain sense of prestige and adventure with it.
4:46
Speaker 1: Commercial pilots and military aviators. They were very well respected professionals,
4:51
Speaker 1: and Frederick desperately wanted to join their ranks. Now it's
4:55
Speaker 1: not to say that it isn't respected today, but there
4:57
Speaker 1: is a different sense of air about it. Let's say
4:59
Speaker 1: that he eventually enrolled in the Royal Australian Air Force
5:03
Speaker 1: Training Corps and spent years pursuing every opportunity he could
5:07
Speaker 1: find to gain experience around aircrafts now His original plan
5:11
Speaker 1: was to join the Royal Australian Air Force itself, but
5:14
Speaker 1: that ambition hit an early obstacle. Frederick applied twice and
5:19
Speaker 1: was rejected both times because he lacked the educational qualifications
5:23
Speaker 1: required for entry. For some people, that might have marked
5:27
Speaker 1: the end of a dream, you know, getting denied, especially
5:29
Speaker 1: twice over, but for Frederick it simply meant finding another path.
5:34
Speaker 1: By nineteen seventy eight, he had earned his private pilot's
5:37
Speaker 1: license and accumulated roughly one hundred and fifty hours of
5:41
Speaker 1: flight time. He also held a Class four instrument rating,
5:44
Speaker 1: allowing him to fly at night under visual meteorological conditions.
5:49
Speaker 1: While that experience made him a capable recreational pilot, he
5:53
Speaker 1: was still working towards the bigger goal of becoming a
5:56
Speaker 1: commercial pilot, and that journey was still proving to be difficult.
6:01
Speaker 1: Records later showed that Frederick struggled with the written examinations
6:05
Speaker 1: that were required for commercial certification. He had failed multiple
6:09
Speaker 1: subjects on several occasions. He had also attracted the attention
6:13
Speaker 1: of aviation authorities more than once as well. On one occasion,
6:17
Speaker 1: he entered controlled airspace near Sydney without authorization and received
6:22
Speaker 1: a warning. On two separate occasions, he was accused of
6:25
Speaker 1: deliberately flying into clouds despite restrictions that prohibited him from
6:30
Speaker 1: doing so.
6:31
Speaker 2: Okay, you know, I like his ambition here, but it
6:35
Speaker 2: maybe is almost seeming like this ain't for him.
6:38
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, not everything comes easy for everyone, So
6:44
Speaker 1: working towards something, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
6:48
Speaker 2: But he's also breaking rules and getting noticed for the
6:52
Speaker 2: wrong reasons too.
6:53
Speaker 1: For sure. But he's not like doing things on purpose
6:57
Speaker 1: or doing massive issues like hey, like you can't be
6:59
Speaker 1: doing on this okay, learning something and just a bit
7:02
Speaker 1: of a slow learners. He's got to, you know, fail
7:05
Speaker 1: a couple times before he really, I guess, establishes it
7:08
Speaker 1: in his mind.
7:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there is something to be said about
7:11
Speaker 2: not giving up, that's for sure.
7:13
Speaker 1: I Mean that's how I learned mostly is by failure.
7:15
Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot of people. Yeah, that's the
7:17
Speaker 2: biggest way you learn a lesson is by failing, right.
7:20
Speaker 1: That's true. And none of these incidents ended his flying career,
7:23
Speaker 1: though either, but they definitely painted like a picture of
7:26
Speaker 1: a young pilot still still learning his craft and I
7:30
Speaker 1: guess occasionally pushing beyond limits of his own experience. But
7:34
Speaker 1: despite those setbacks, those closest to him remembered someone who
7:39
Speaker 1: remained determined flying was still his future, and he continued studying,
7:43
Speaker 1: logging flight hours and working towards the qualifications that he needed.
7:48
Speaker 1: He was also dating a young woman named Rhonda Rushton,
7:52
Speaker 1: and they had plans for the future together, and he
7:54
Speaker 1: showed little signs of abandoning the career that he spent
7:57
Speaker 1: pursuing or the relationship. There was, however, or another subject
8:01
Speaker 1: that occupied a surprising amount of his attention. Like many
8:05
Speaker 1: people during the nineteen seventies and even today, Frederick was
8:08
Speaker 1: fascinated by UFOs. But that decade specifically had it had
8:15
Speaker 1: seen an explosion of public interest in unexplained aerial sightings. Books, documentaries,
8:20
Speaker 1: newspaper stories, and films regularly explored the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors,
8:26
Speaker 1: and Frederick followed the subject rather closely. According to family members,
8:30
Speaker 1: he collected articles, he read books, and discussed sightings, and
8:34
Speaker 1: reportedly claimed to have seen a strange object himself months
8:39
Speaker 1: before this story took place. Now his father Guido would
8:44
Speaker 1: later even describe the interest as intense. Frederick did not
8:48
Speaker 1: view UFOs as harmless curiosity. He took the subject rather
8:52
Speaker 1: seriously and occasionally spoke about the possibility that unidentified crafts
8:57
Speaker 1: could pose a threat to human aircrafts. At the time,
9:01
Speaker 1: though those conversations seemed no different from the countless discussions
9:05
Speaker 1: taking place around Australia and much of the world during
9:07
Speaker 1: the height of the UFO craze, nobody could have known
9:11
Speaker 1: how significant that interest would later appear, but I digress.
9:16
Speaker 1: By October of nineteen seventy eight, Frederick Valentine was twenty
9:20
Speaker 1: years old. His commercial pilot ambition was progressing more slowly
9:25
Speaker 1: than he wanted, but he was still flying. He was
9:27
Speaker 1: still studying and chasing the future that he envisioned for himself.
9:31
Speaker 1: On the evening of Saturday, October twenty first, nineteen seventy eight,
9:35
Speaker 1: he arrived at Moorabin Airport outside of Melbourne and prepared
9:39
Speaker 1: for a short flight to King Island, which is a
9:41
Speaker 1: small island located in Bass Strait between Mainland Australia and Tasmania. Now,
9:48
Speaker 1: the route wasn't unusual or even especially difficult. From Moriban Airport,
9:53
Speaker 1: it would follow the Victorian coastline southwest towards Cape Otway
9:57
Speaker 1: before turning south and crossing the Strait to King Island.
10:01
Speaker 1: The entire journey was expected to take little over an
10:04
Speaker 1: hour and was pretty routine. Before departure, he obtained a
10:09
Speaker 1: weather briefing and filed a flight plan. Conditions across the
10:12
Speaker 1: route were rather favorable and visibility was excellent, with winds
10:16
Speaker 1: being very light, and there was no significant weather systems
10:19
Speaker 1: expected to interfere with the flight at all. For a
10:22
Speaker 1: pilot building hours of experience, it was the kind of
10:25
Speaker 1: evening that offered few reasons for any concern. The aircraft
10:29
Speaker 1: he would be flying was assessed now one eight two
10:32
Speaker 1: L and registered as vh DSJ. It was a single
10:36
Speaker 1: engine aircraft that would be fueled before departure. With approximately
10:40
Speaker 1: five hours of fuel on board, he carried far more
10:43
Speaker 1: fuel than he would be needing for this planned trip.
10:46
Speaker 1: At six nineteen pm, Frederick took off from Morbin Airport
10:51
Speaker 1: and headed southwest. The first portion of the flight followed
10:54
Speaker 1: the Victorian coastline, allowing him to remain over or near
10:58
Speaker 1: land before reaching the final land mark on the route.
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Speaker 1: As daylight faded, Cape Otway gradually came into view. The
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Speaker 1: rugged stretch of coastline had long served as an important
11:10
Speaker 1: navigational point for both ships and aircrafts. Its lighthouse, first
11:14
Speaker 1: commissioned in the nineteenth century, stood at the southern edge
11:17
Speaker 1: of the Australian mainland and marked a point where Frederick
11:20
Speaker 1: would leave the coast behind and begin to cross the
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Speaker 1: Bass Straight. At approximately seven pm, he radialed Melbourne Flight
11:28
Speaker 1: Service and reported that he had Cape Outway in his sights.
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Speaker 1: The weather remained clear, and after passing Cape Outway, he
11:36
Speaker 1: turned south and left the mainland behind him. Ahead of
11:41
Speaker 1: him stretched the Bass Strait, a vast expanse of darkening
11:44
Speaker 1: water separating Victoria from Tasmania. Although the crossing itself isn't
11:49
Speaker 1: particularly long, it represented the most isolated portion of the flight.
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Speaker 1: Once over the strait, there would be few visual references
11:56
Speaker 1: beyond the fading coastline behind him. The lights visible in
12:00
Speaker 1: the distance and the night sky above him were all
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Speaker 1: that really remained. For several minutes, everything was normal. Then
12:07
Speaker 1: shortly after seven o six pm, Frederick contacted Melbourne Flight
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Speaker 1: Service or ground controllers. I'm going to be calling him
12:14
Speaker 1: from here on out with a question that would transform
12:17
Speaker 1: an ordinary evening flight into one of the most famous
12:20
Speaker 1: mysteries in Australian aviation history. He contacted them and said,
12:26
Speaker 1: quote is there any known traffic below five thousand feet? End? Quote? Now,
12:32
Speaker 1: pilots often ask about nearby aircrafts, particularly at night, and
12:36
Speaker 1: Bass Strait was not one of Australia's busiest air corridors,
12:39
Speaker 1: but it wasn't completely empty either. It was not unusual
12:42
Speaker 1: for a pilot to spot lights in the distance and
12:45
Speaker 1: seek confirmation about other traffic operating in the space. The
12:49
Speaker 1: controller on duty that evening was Steve Robbie, and after
12:53
Speaker 1: checking the available information, he informed them that there was
12:57
Speaker 1: no traffic operating in the vicinity at that altitude. But
13:01
Speaker 1: that didn't make sense because Frederick responded and said that
13:04
Speaker 1: he could see another aircraft. According to his description, it
13:08
Speaker 1: was positioned roughly one thousand feet above him. Now, listening
13:14
Speaker 1: to the transcript today, one of the most striking aspects
13:16
Speaker 1: of the conversation is how hard he appears to be
13:20
Speaker 1: trying to identify what he's seeing. He was not making
13:23
Speaker 1: grand claims or declaring that he had encountered something supernatural.
13:28
Speaker 1: He reported it as a large, illuminated object by four
13:33
Speaker 1: bright lights. At one point he said it passed approximately
13:36
Speaker 1: that one thousand feet overhead at what he believed was
13:40
Speaker 1: a high rate of speed. Now Robbie at ground control
13:43
Speaker 1: naturally asked him to identify the aircraft, but Frederick couldn't.
13:48
Speaker 1: Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly attempted to describe what he
13:51
Speaker 1: was seeing, yet he never seemed completely confident in his
13:55
Speaker 1: own conclusions. Frederick was staring directly at the object. Was
14:00
Speaker 1: there of that he was certain, but what it actually
14:03
Speaker 1: was he couldn't say. And over the next several minutes
14:07
Speaker 1: this continued and the reports became increasingly unusual. Frederick stated
14:12
Speaker 1: that the object appeared to be approaching him from the east.
14:15
Speaker 1: Then he reported that it moved away before turning again.
14:18
Speaker 1: The movement seemed difficult to predict, an erratic, and at
14:20
Speaker 1: one point he marked that it appeared to be quote
14:23
Speaker 1: playing some sort of game with him. The object did
14:27
Speaker 1: not seem to be traveling in a straight line. Instead,
14:30
Speaker 1: it appeared to change positions repeatedly, making it difficult for
14:34
Speaker 1: him to judge its speed, distance in any one direction.
14:37
Speaker 1: As the conversation continued, Frederick attempted to provide more detailed observations.
14:42
Speaker 1: He described the object as being long in shape and
14:45
Speaker 1: said it was moving too quickly for him to accurately
14:48
Speaker 1: estimate its speed. He also reportedly seen it as a
14:52
Speaker 1: metallic surfaced object that appeared shiny or reflective. Then came
14:58
Speaker 1: a green light that seemed to potentially emanate from the
15:01
Speaker 1: object itself. Now, whether the light was attached to the
15:05
Speaker 1: object or reflecting from it, or associated with something else
15:09
Speaker 1: entirely has been debated for decades, though, and perhaps the
15:12
Speaker 1: most puzzling description came from Frederick reporting that the object
15:15
Speaker 1: was even orbiting above him. Now, this detail would later
15:20
Speaker 1: attract enormous attention from both aviation experts and UFO researchers
15:26
Speaker 1: because it seemed so unusual. You have an airplane flying
15:31
Speaker 1: in a direct line, and there's an aircraft circling above
15:35
Speaker 1: this other aircraft in the darkness over Bass Strait. And
15:39
Speaker 1: it was difficult enough on its own to explain, but
15:41
Speaker 1: an object repeatedly appearing overhead, disappearing and returning with a
15:45
Speaker 1: green light and circling it was just so strange.
15:49
Speaker 2: I honestly feel like you would feel almost quite vulnerable.
15:53
Speaker 2: Well maybe me. I'm not, like, I'm not a pilot,
15:55
Speaker 2: so I'm not comfortable in that scenario at all. But
15:58
Speaker 2: I would feel like I'd be terrified and just feel
16:01
Speaker 2: very in a vulnerable state of what the shit is
16:03
Speaker 2: singing to do?
16:04
Speaker 1: Oh? One hundred percent? You're effectively alone.
16:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, and pretty much helpless.
16:10
Speaker 1: Really, yeah, the only connection you have is to ground control, right.
16:14
Speaker 2: And ground control. Sorry, had no idea about this other thing.
16:17
Speaker 1: No, it should not be there. Okay. Now, Despite the
16:21
Speaker 1: increasingly unusual nature of the conversations, Frederick remained having with
16:25
Speaker 1: the ground control. He still also remained coherent through it all.
16:29
Speaker 1: He answered questions, he provided altitude information, and continued describing
16:33
Speaker 1: what he believed he was seeing. Nothing in the transcript
16:36
Speaker 1: suggests someone was screaming or panicking or losing control of
16:39
Speaker 1: the situation. He was extremely coherent and keeping his.
16:43
Speaker 2: Cool, which is impressive.
16:45
Speaker 1: Right, So he sounded like a pilot attempting to understand
16:48
Speaker 1: an increasingly confusing set of circumstance and doing it very
16:51
Speaker 1: professional or professionally. I guess there we go. That's what
16:54
Speaker 1: I was trying to say, but the situation then changed.
16:59
Speaker 1: At one time point during the exchange, Frederick reported that
17:01
Speaker 1: the object had disappeared from view, and for a brief
17:05
Speaker 1: moment it may have seemed as though the encounter was over,
17:08
Speaker 1: but instead he soon informed Melbourne Flight Service or ground control,
17:11
Speaker 1: that the object had returned, and around the same time,
17:14
Speaker 1: another problem emerged inside his cockpit. This time he reported
17:19
Speaker 1: that his engines were beginning to run rough, and unlike
17:22
Speaker 1: his observations of the object, the rough running engine represented
17:26
Speaker 1: a direct and potentially immediate threat of safety to the flight.
17:31
Speaker 1: As Frederick continued speaking with ground control, he attempted to
17:34
Speaker 1: monitor both situations at once. He was tracking the movements
17:37
Speaker 1: of this unidentified object while also paying attention to the
17:41
Speaker 1: performance of his aircraft. The object, according to the reports,
17:45
Speaker 1: remained nearby and the engines continued to develop problems. By
17:49
Speaker 1: this stage, nearly six minutes had passed since he first
17:53
Speaker 1: reported this unidentified object following or flying with him, and
17:58
Speaker 1: then came the final exchange. Frederick reported that the object
18:03
Speaker 1: was once again above him. Robbie on ground control continued
18:08
Speaker 1: trying to determine exactly what he was looking at, and
18:11
Speaker 1: Frederick attempted to answer, but before he was able to
18:15
Speaker 1: provide any sort of complete explanation, he delivered the words
18:19
Speaker 1: that would become inseparable from this case. He said, it
18:25
Speaker 1: is hovering and it's not an aircraft.
18:30
Speaker 2: Oh man.
18:32
Speaker 1: Those were the last words ever heard from Frederick Valantache
18:39
Speaker 1: for approximately seventeen seconds. After he said that the radio
18:43
Speaker 1: frequency remained open. He should be speaking like he's keying
18:46
Speaker 1: a mic, he's holding it down, But instead of speech,
18:50
Speaker 1: Melbourne Flight Service on ground control heard a strange sound.
18:54
Speaker 1: Various descriptions have been offered over the years. Some reports
18:57
Speaker 1: described it as a metallic scraping. Others compare it to
19:00
Speaker 1: grinding or rubbing, or even rhythmic metallic noises. But whatever
19:05
Speaker 1: produced the sound, it was unlike anything heard during the
19:09
Speaker 1: earlier portions of that conversation. And then all of a
19:12
Speaker 1: sudden it stopped and the transmission ended and the frequency
19:18
Speaker 1: fell silent. Steve Robbie on ground control, immediately attempted to
19:24
Speaker 1: reach the aircraft again, but there was no response. He
19:27
Speaker 1: called repeatedly, hoping that perhaps a radio malfunction had interrupted communication,
19:32
Speaker 1: but nothing came back. Somewhere over bass Strait, a twenty
19:36
Speaker 1: year old pilot had vanished at approximately seven to twelve
19:39
Speaker 1: pm that night. Aviation authorities began working backwards through the
19:44
Speaker 1: timeline trying to figure out what happened. They knew Frederick
19:47
Speaker 1: had departed from Morbn Airport at six p nineteen. They
19:50
Speaker 1: knew he had reported Cape Otway in sight at approximately
19:53
Speaker 1: seven pm. They knew his unusual reports began shortly after
19:57
Speaker 1: seven oh six pm, and that contact had been lost
20:00
Speaker 1: roughly six minutes later. Based on his flight plan and
20:03
Speaker 1: established speed, investigators could make a reasonable estimate of where
20:07
Speaker 1: the aircraft should have been, but they couldn't determine But
20:12
Speaker 1: they couldn't determine its exact location. Then, at approximately seven
20:17
Speaker 1: thirty three PM, the situation was upgraded to a distress phase.
20:22
Speaker 1: What followed was a significant search operation involving both military
20:26
Speaker 1: and civilian resources. Aircrafts were dispatched into the region, while
20:30
Speaker 1: ships already operating in bas Strait were alerted and asked
20:33
Speaker 1: to watch for any sign of a wreckage or a
20:35
Speaker 1: survivor or anything. Among the aircraft involved was a Royal
20:40
Speaker 1: Australian Air Force Lockheed P three Orion Maritime Patrol aircraft.
20:46
Speaker 1: Sorry that was a bit of a mouthful. Had a
20:48
Speaker 1: bit of a gap in there. It's for taking a breath.
20:51
Speaker 1: A plaf it had a platform that was specifically designed
20:54
Speaker 1: for large area search operations over the water, and over
20:57
Speaker 1: the next four days, search crews examined more than two thousand,
21:01
Speaker 1: six hundred square kilometers of ocean between Victoria and Tasmania.
21:05
Speaker 1: On paper, the search area may not have seemed overwhelming,
21:08
Speaker 1: but Bass Strait has you know, challenged sailors and aviation
21:12
Speaker 1: aviators for generations alike. Strong currents, unpredictable conditions, and vast
21:16
Speaker 1: stretches of open water make locating a wreckage extremely difficult,
21:21
Speaker 1: even when investigators know roughly where the accident should have occurred.
21:25
Speaker 1: In Frederick's case, they were searching without a confirmed crash site.
21:29
Speaker 1: They were forcing crews to rely on estimated positions and
21:32
Speaker 1: probability calculations alone, and as aircraft crisscrossed the search area,
21:38
Speaker 1: investigators expected that eventually something would appear, you know, a
21:42
Speaker 1: seat cushion from the plane, a fuel stick, a section
21:45
Speaker 1: of a wing, some indication that the aircraft had in
21:49
Speaker 1: fact entered the water for a brief period. It appeared
21:53
Speaker 1: that they might have found exactly that during the search.
21:57
Speaker 1: An oil slick was reported in the area, and given
22:00
Speaker 1: the circumstances, it immediately attracted the attention of those who
22:03
Speaker 1: were searching. Samples were collected and examined in hopes that
22:07
Speaker 1: it might be able to be connected, but the analysis
22:11
Speaker 1: ultimately provided no breakthrough. It did not connect. Other reports
22:16
Speaker 1: followed a similar pattern. At various points, search crews believed
22:19
Speaker 1: that they had spotted debris or floating objects in the
22:22
Speaker 1: water that warranted closer examination, Yet each time additional resources
22:26
Speaker 1: were directed towards that location, nothing conclusive could be found.
22:30
Speaker 1: Whether the sightings involved natural to be debris or mistaken observations,
22:34
Speaker 1: or something else entirely was never really determined, but all
22:38
Speaker 1: we know was that as the days passed, the lack
22:41
Speaker 1: of evidence became increasingly difficult to explain, and by October
22:45
Speaker 1: twenty fifth, four days after Frederick's disappearance, the search was
22:49
Speaker 1: officially suspended as not a single confirmed piece of wreckage
22:53
Speaker 1: had been recovered. Once those efforts ended, the focus shifted
22:59
Speaker 1: towards understanding what had happened, and the only substantial evidence
23:03
Speaker 1: that remained consistent of you know this, it was the
23:06
Speaker 1: six minute radio conversation that was recorded, but the focus
23:10
Speaker 1: soon shifted towards the young pilot at the center of
23:12
Speaker 1: the mystery too, Who was Frederick? Was there anything about
23:16
Speaker 1: the flight itself that could explain what had happened after
23:18
Speaker 1: the final transmission. As investigators began interviewing family members, friends,
23:23
Speaker 1: flight instructors, and aviation personnel, they gradually assembled a fuller
23:29
Speaker 1: picture of the twenty year old pilot. Now, much of
23:33
Speaker 1: what they learned was already known. Frederick had been passionate
23:36
Speaker 1: about aviation for years. He pursued flying despite repeated setbacks,
23:40
Speaker 1: including rejection from the Royal Australian Air Force and difficulties
23:44
Speaker 1: obtaining a commercial pilot license. He was said to be
23:47
Speaker 1: focused on becoming a professional pilot, even when progress it
23:50
Speaker 1: was more slowly than he hoped. His flying record, however,
23:54
Speaker 1: remained an unavoidable part of the investigation. Authorities reviewed as
23:58
Speaker 1: history and found, you know, those few incidents that raised
24:01
Speaker 1: questions about his judgment and experience level, but nothing explained
24:06
Speaker 1: the disappearance. There was nothing that severe that could say, well,
24:09
Speaker 1: that's clearly what could have attributed to this. Still, investigators
24:14
Speaker 1: had to consider whether experience might have played a role
24:16
Speaker 1: in whatever happened over Bass Strait As interviews continued, attention
24:21
Speaker 1: turned towards Frederick's personal life, getting deep within his actual life,
24:26
Speaker 1: and one of the most important interviews came from his girlfriend,
24:29
Speaker 1: Ronda Rushton. The two had been dating for several months,
24:34
Speaker 1: and according to Ronda, Frederick had seemed somewhat different in
24:38
Speaker 1: the days leading up to that flight. See The two
24:40
Speaker 1: of them reportedly celebrated monthly anniversaries, and shortly before the flight,
24:45
Speaker 1: he had given her a ring. Now nothing serious, though
24:48
Speaker 1: not an engagement ring or anything. Some reports even describe
24:51
Speaker 1: it as a friendship ring, but still some later writers
24:55
Speaker 1: would point to the gift as evidence that he may
24:58
Speaker 1: have been saying goodbye, while others viewed it as nothing
25:01
Speaker 1: more than a thoughtful gesture between the young couple. Now,
25:05
Speaker 1: investigators could not determine which interpretation, if either, was correct,
25:09
Speaker 1: and as the investigation widened, authorities also examined Frederick's financial situation.
25:14
Speaker 1: Records indicated that he owed money to Southern Air Services,
25:18
Speaker 1: the company for which he rented aircrafts. The debt was
25:21
Speaker 1: not particularly large, but investigators explored it because hey financial
25:25
Speaker 1: pressure is often examined in missing persons cases, and it
25:28
Speaker 1: has a lot to do with motivation. During that review,
25:33
Speaker 1: another unusual issue surfaced. Some reports suggested Frederick had previously
25:37
Speaker 1: explained portions of debt by saying that passengers had not
25:41
Speaker 1: paid him for flights. When investigators attempted to verify some
25:45
Speaker 1: of those claims, they encountered inconsistencies. Certain passengers cannot be
25:49
Speaker 1: verified or identified, while other details proved difficult to confirm.
25:53
Speaker 1: They just couldn't do much with it on its own.
25:56
Speaker 1: The issue did not suggest criminal activity or a planned disappearance,
26:01
Speaker 1: but like so many aspects of this case, it just
26:03
Speaker 1: raised additional questions without proving any meaningful answers. It seemed
26:09
Speaker 1: that the deeper investigators looked, the more one particular issue
26:13
Speaker 1: continued to stand out. See Investigators also found that before
26:18
Speaker 1: the flight, Frederick had given different explanations regarding the purpose
26:23
Speaker 1: for traveling to where he was going. Some people recalled
26:27
Speaker 1: him saying that he was intending to collect passengers and
26:30
Speaker 1: return with them to the mainland. Others remembered him saying
26:33
Speaker 1: that he was picking up crayfish. Investigators attempted to verify
26:38
Speaker 1: both stories, but neither held up. No passengers appeared to
26:41
Speaker 1: be waiting for transportation, no arrangements for collecting any crayfish
26:45
Speaker 1: could be located, and more importantly, investigators weren't able to
26:49
Speaker 1: determine what the actual purpose of the flight had been
26:53
Speaker 1: if neither explanation was true. So the mystery deepened further
26:57
Speaker 1: when they examined airport procedures. King Island had not been
27:01
Speaker 1: informed that Frederick actually intended to land there, no arrival
27:06
Speaker 1: arrangements had been made, no runway lights had been requested,
27:09
Speaker 1: despite the fact that he was expected to land after sunset,
27:13
Speaker 1: So had the flight proceeded normally, he would have arrived
27:16
Speaker 1: at an airport that was not even expecting him. For investigators,
27:20
Speaker 1: this became one of the most puzzling discoveries in the
27:23
Speaker 1: entire story, and questions that initially seemed unrelated to the
27:26
Speaker 1: disappearance suddenly became very important. Why had he given different
27:32
Speaker 1: explanations for the trip, Why had nobody on King Island
27:35
Speaker 1: been expecting him, What exactly had he planned to do
27:39
Speaker 1: once he arrived, and perhaps most importantly, was King Island
27:44
Speaker 1: ever the true destination. Investigators never found a definitive answer.
27:51
Speaker 1: As they continued reviewing Frederick's background, another aspect of his
27:54
Speaker 1: life inevitably entered the discussion, and that was his interest
27:58
Speaker 1: in UFOs, and given the content of the final radio transmission,
28:03
Speaker 1: that interest naturally attracted attention. Investigators had to consider whether
28:08
Speaker 1: his fascination with UFOs may have influenced how he interpreted
28:13
Speaker 1: unusual lights or objects in the sky. Yet at the
28:16
Speaker 1: same time, they found no evidence suggesting that Frederick was
28:21
Speaker 1: detached from reality or suffering from serious mental health issues either.
28:25
Speaker 1: By the early nineteen eighties, authorities had spent years examining
28:29
Speaker 1: every single lead available to them, according to this story,
28:33
Speaker 1: they had reviewed weather reports, flight records, witness statements, radio transmissions,
28:38
Speaker 1: personnel interviews, and operational procedures all alike. Yet despite all
28:42
Speaker 1: of that work, they remained unable to answer the most
28:46
Speaker 1: basic of questions in the case what had happened after
28:50
Speaker 1: that final transmission. They didn't know, and in nineteen eighty two,
28:55
Speaker 1: the Department of Transport released its findings. Theation concluded that
29:01
Speaker 1: Frederick Valentich was presumed dead. The case of the disappearance, however,
29:06
Speaker 1: could not be determined. It was a frustrating conclusion, but
29:09
Speaker 1: it reflected the reality of the evidence. Investigators now know
29:13
Speaker 1: far more about Frederick than they had when the search
29:16
Speaker 1: had actually began. But what they still lacked was a
29:19
Speaker 1: definitive explanation, and as the official investigation reached its end,
29:24
Speaker 1: a new phase of the mystery was only beginning. See
29:27
Speaker 1: In the years following the disappearance, numerous witnesses came forward
29:31
Speaker 1: claiming they observed unusual lights in the sky. On that
29:35
Speaker 1: very evening of October twenty first, nineteen seventy eight, Several
29:40
Speaker 1: reports described a bright green light moving erratically over Bass
29:45
Speaker 1: Strait around the same time Frederick vanished. One witness even
29:49
Speaker 1: later claimed to have seen a green object positioned above
29:53
Speaker 1: a smaller aircraft before it disappeared, In fact, before both
29:58
Speaker 1: disappeared from view. If you recall, Frederick himself had reported
30:02
Speaker 1: seeing a green light during his final transmission, and the
30:05
Speaker 1: similarities were shocking. Skeptics, however, are far less convinced. Though
30:12
Speaker 1: most of the reports surfaced after extensive media coverage had
30:15
Speaker 1: already publicized details of the case, people's memories can become
30:19
Speaker 1: very influenced, and the witness accounts, though certainly interesting, could
30:23
Speaker 1: not be verified in a way that conclusively connected them
30:26
Speaker 1: to Frederick's disappearance.
30:27
Speaker 2: I feel like you just read my fucking mind. There
30:31
Speaker 2: was like had this been released or not because I'm
30:33
Speaker 2: like one of those skeptics.
30:34
Speaker 1: Well, it's good to be skeptical. Yeah, but it was
30:38
Speaker 1: definitely released.
30:39
Speaker 2: Okay, ah see, because I'm going back and forth quite
30:42
Speaker 2: a bit in my head here, and if it hadn't
30:44
Speaker 2: been released and that report came in, I might be
30:49
Speaker 2: very swayed one way.
30:50
Speaker 1: That would be some significant evidence. Yes, But there is
30:53
Speaker 1: another piece of evidence that emerged only weeks after the
30:56
Speaker 1: incident actually happened that I haven't talked about yet. See.
31:00
Speaker 1: An amateur photographer named Roy Manifold had spent the evening
31:05
Speaker 1: near Cape Otway Lighthouse photographing the sunset, and after learning
31:10
Speaker 1: about Frederick's disappearance, he examined the photos that he took
31:13
Speaker 1: that night more closely, and in one of them, he
31:16
Speaker 1: noticed a dark object appearing in frame. Initially, he suspected
31:21
Speaker 1: it was a small defect in the film in the sky,
31:24
Speaker 1: or an issue during processing or something. However, examination of
31:29
Speaker 1: the negative suggested the object was actually present in the
31:33
Speaker 1: photograph and not an anomaly due to the camera or film.
31:38
Speaker 1: What exactly the image showed is subject of debate still
31:41
Speaker 1: to this very day, though some UFO researchers argue that
31:45
Speaker 1: that photograph captured a genuine UFO near Cape Otway on
31:49
Speaker 1: the night of Frederick's disappearance, but others think it is
31:52
Speaker 1: something far less extraordinary, such as maybe an insect passing
31:57
Speaker 1: close to the camera, or even a bird that's a
31:59
Speaker 1: bit blurred out. Like much of the evidence in the case,
32:03
Speaker 1: it ultimately depends on what the viewer believed they were
32:05
Speaker 1: looking at. Now. The most tangible development arrived several years
32:10
Speaker 1: later see In nineteen eighty three, a cable flap from
32:14
Speaker 1: a Sesna aircraft was discovered on Flinders Island, northeast of Tasmania,
32:21
Speaker 1: and because the component originated from a Sesna one eight two,
32:25
Speaker 1: investigators immediately considered the possibility that it might have come
32:30
Speaker 1: from Frederick's missing plane. It seemed like for the first
32:33
Speaker 1: time in years, there appeared to be a physical piece
32:35
Speaker 1: of evidence that could potentially be linked to his disappearance,
32:39
Speaker 1: but unfortunately, the discovery produced more questions and answers. The
32:44
Speaker 1: recovered component was consistent with a range of Sesna one
32:48
Speaker 1: eighty two aircrafts that included Frederick's specific one that was
32:51
Speaker 1: registered v h DSJ, but investigators were unable to conclusively
32:57
Speaker 1: prove it came from his plane under that registration, and
33:00
Speaker 1: it was never enough to solve the case. Now. As
33:04
Speaker 1: the years passed, several competing explanations emerged from different accounts
33:10
Speaker 1: on what they believe happened in Frederick's final moments. Among
33:14
Speaker 1: aviation experts, one of the most widely accepted possibilities involved
33:18
Speaker 1: spatial disorientation. You see, flying over open water at night
33:23
Speaker 1: can be deceptively difficult, particularly for relatively inexperienced pilots. Without
33:30
Speaker 1: a visible horizon, the human body can create powerful illusions
33:34
Speaker 1: to make it difficult to accurately judge an aircraft's altitude
33:37
Speaker 1: and even the direction. Under this theory, Frederick may have
33:42
Speaker 1: become disoriented while crossing the Bass Strait. Lights from the coastline,
33:47
Speaker 1: stars or planets, even reflections on the water, or even
33:51
Speaker 1: his own aircraft lights may have been misinterpreted as another
33:54
Speaker 1: object moving around him, and what he believed was an
33:58
Speaker 1: aircraft orbiting overhead could have potentially been the result of
34:02
Speaker 1: visual illusions combined with an aircraft that was no longer
34:05
Speaker 1: in a normal flight pattern. Researchers Jame mcgaha and Joe
34:11
Speaker 1: Nickel even proposed that Frederick may have entered what's called
34:14
Speaker 1: a graveyard spiral, which is a dangerous flight condition in
34:18
Speaker 1: which a pilot gradually loses awareness of the aircraft's true
34:22
Speaker 1: orientation while descending in a tightened turn. Under circumstances, many
34:28
Speaker 1: of the observations reported during the radio transmission could potentially
34:32
Speaker 1: be explained without requiring another aircraft be present at all.
34:36
Speaker 1: Supporters of this theory point to several details for this,
34:40
Speaker 1: like Frederick reporting an object orbiting above him, he reported
34:44
Speaker 1: engine roughness, he appeared confused about the object changing position,
34:50
Speaker 1: and a graveyard spiral could potentially account for all of
34:53
Speaker 1: those observations. Maybe the object wasn't moving at all, Maybe
34:57
Speaker 1: it was fixed in space and he was the one
35:00
Speaker 1: spiraling out of control. This theory is very compelling because
35:05
Speaker 1: it explains multiple aspects of the transmission with a single event.
35:11
Speaker 1: The problem is that it simply remains that just a theory.
35:15
Speaker 1: Mechanical failure presents another possibility too. Yet this explanation suffers
35:20
Speaker 1: from the same limitations as many others, and again it
35:22
Speaker 1: is just that a theory. Some researchers suggest Frederick may
35:27
Speaker 1: have staged his own disappearance, and some even point to
35:31
Speaker 1: the fact that his aircraft carried enough fuel to travel
35:34
Speaker 1: far beyond its planned route, and despite those suspicions, investigators
35:39
Speaker 1: never undercovered any sort of evidence showing that Frederick successfully
35:43
Speaker 1: landed elsewhere or even built a new life after he disappeared.
35:47
Speaker 1: And then there's the explanation that transformed the case into
35:50
Speaker 1: an international mystery, the UFO theory, or as they are
35:54
Speaker 1: officially calling it in many governments now, a UAP, which
35:58
Speaker 1: stands for unidentified anomal phenomena because governments officially recognize these
36:04
Speaker 1: as real unidentified objects in the sky. That is very
36:08
Speaker 1: much so true.
36:09
Speaker 2: Okay, So this is a thing.
36:11
Speaker 1: Government documentation and government officials acknowledge that UFOs or UAPs
36:17
Speaker 1: whatever you call them, are real. We just don't know
36:21
Speaker 1: what they are, or at least they claim they don't
36:24
Speaker 1: know what they are.
36:25
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, okay.
36:27
Speaker 1: Supporters of the UFO theory point to Frederick's descriptions of
36:30
Speaker 1: the object, the reported green light witness sightings, Roy Manifolds, photographs,
36:36
Speaker 1: and reports of unusual aerial activity throughout southeastern Australia during
36:40
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. To them, the evidence suggests that Frederick
36:44
Speaker 1: encountered something genuinely unknown in the sky before disappearing. Regardless
36:51
Speaker 1: of what we think it is. Nearly fifty years later,
36:56
Speaker 1: there's no theory that could prove exactly what it is.
37:01
Speaker 1: There's nothing that can prove what happened to him, Yet
37:05
Speaker 1: the known facts remained surprisingly simple. On October twenty first,
37:09
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, twenty year old Frederick Valentache departed Melbourne
37:14
Speaker 1: in a Cessna one eighty two and headed towards King Island.
37:19
Speaker 1: The weather was good, the aircraft was filled with fuel,
37:22
Speaker 1: the flight plan it was filed, and shortly after passing
37:26
Speaker 1: Cape Otway, he reported an unidentified flying object near his craft.
37:32
Speaker 1: Then six minutes later, radio contact was lost, and neither
37:37
Speaker 1: Frederick nor his aircraft have ever been found. Everything beyond
37:43
Speaker 1: those facts remain open to interpretation. Perhaps the aircraft right
37:49
Speaker 1: now lies somewhere beneath the waters of Bass Strait, waiting
37:52
Speaker 1: to one day be discovered. Perhaps investigators came close to
37:56
Speaker 1: the truth decades ago but lack the evidence needed to
37:59
Speaker 1: prove it. Or perhaps the answer disappeared with Frederick on
38:05
Speaker 1: that spring evening in nineteen seventy eight, just like he planned.
38:09
Speaker 1: Or maybe something we don't yet understand took him from
38:14
Speaker 1: this world. But whatever happened in the sky south of
38:16
Speaker 1: Cape Otway. One thing is certain. Frederick Valentine set out
38:22
Speaker 1: on what should have been an ordinary flight, and instead
38:27
Speaker 1: he became part of one of the most legendary mysteries
38:30
Speaker 1: in Australian aviation history and also UFO history. And that's
38:38
Speaker 1: the story of Frederick Valentine.
38:42
Speaker 2: Uh, this is a tough one. I just sat back
38:46
Speaker 2: pretty well all the whole episode, just listening, soaking it
38:50
Speaker 2: in because I have trouble believing this kind of shit
38:53
Speaker 2: or that there's I guess, like, what do you want
38:57
Speaker 2: to call it? Alien related activity? There?
39:00
Speaker 1: Well, UFO doesn't necessarily mean alien, though, I want to
39:04
Speaker 1: clarify that this is UFO. I mean it could be.
39:07
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's not. But when you say UFO,
39:10
Speaker 1: it doesn't automatically mean alien. Yes, okay, Well, the wheels
39:18
Speaker 1: are turning. I know they are turning because.
39:23
Speaker 2: What he was describing though, is kind of like you're
39:26
Speaker 2: what everyone assumes is an alien of sorts, like this
39:30
Speaker 2: ship that's like all zippy around.
39:32
Speaker 1: The cigar shaped cylindrical metallic object.
39:35
Speaker 2: Like very high tech, like yes, technology than we have.
39:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, UFO and alien craft go hand in hand.
39:43
Speaker 1: Typically when someone says UFO, it means alien aircraft, but
39:47
Speaker 1: definition wise, it does not mean that. So when you
39:50
Speaker 1: have like the government saying UFOs or UAPs are real,
39:55
Speaker 1: they're not saying aliens are real. They're saying there's something
39:58
Speaker 1: in the sky and we don't know what it.
40:00
Speaker 2: But in the fine print it's saying aliens. I'm kidding.
40:05
Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, so aliens are inferred, but not necessarily
40:10
Speaker 1: by definition part of it, if that makes sense.
40:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. See, I have trouble because he kind of really
40:15
Speaker 2: like believed in this shit, right, yes, and was fascinated
40:19
Speaker 2: by it. So I'm like, anyone or someone like this
40:23
Speaker 2: could potentially come up with a story of sorts like this.
40:26
Speaker 1: Oh for sure, that's one hundred percent, And people are
40:29
Speaker 1: skeptical of them because of that. Investigators were, there's a
40:32
Speaker 1: lot of people out there who research the story and
40:34
Speaker 1: they're very skeptical because well, he had a fascination with UFOs.
40:38
Speaker 1: Maybe he jumped that conclusion. But the thing is he
40:41
Speaker 1: never jumped to that conclusion. He may have. I mean,
40:46
Speaker 1: at the very end he said this is not a
40:48
Speaker 1: spacecraft or an aircraft story. Yeah, but that's about the
40:51
Speaker 1: only conclusion he jumped to. The entire time he's trying
40:54
Speaker 1: to explain what he's seeing and nothing more.
41:00
Speaker 2: Okay, well two things. I am like slightly surprised he
41:02
Speaker 2: wasn't super frantic. But I also just have to say
41:06
Speaker 2: sometimes when you believe in things, I feel like it
41:10
Speaker 2: kind of opens that I don't know, what do you
41:11
Speaker 2: want to call.
41:12
Speaker 1: It, like portal, portal door, Yeah.
41:14
Speaker 2: You know of it, of something to that extent happening
41:17
Speaker 2: to you.
41:19
Speaker 1: That's very true.
41:20
Speaker 2: So but I still don't believe. I think that he
41:23
Speaker 2: is literally probably I feel terrible saying this, but at
41:26
Speaker 2: the bottom of the ocean.
41:28
Speaker 1: Me is very likely. But who knows. Maybe there was
41:32
Speaker 1: a UFO of sorts in the sky that night, whether
41:35
Speaker 1: it's alien or not. Maybe it's ball lightning if you
41:38
Speaker 1: know what that is, something along those lines. Maybe there
41:42
Speaker 1: was something there that night and it interfered with his
41:44
Speaker 1: aircraft and then left and his aircraft crashed as a result.
41:49
Speaker 1: That's also a possibility.
41:51
Speaker 2: A weather type related scenario.
41:54
Speaker 1: Could be could still be alien.
41:57
Speaker 2: The technology that this was the eighties, right or late seventies. Yeah,
42:02
Speaker 2: so the technology too that they would have had in
42:05
Speaker 2: I don't know, even communicating would not be like what
42:08
Speaker 2: we have today.
42:09
Speaker 1: No, it definitely wouldn't be so.
42:11
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, I don't know. You probably think that
42:16
Speaker 2: it was an alien of sorts.
42:17
Speaker 1: Ay, I mean when you listen to the actual audio
42:21
Speaker 1: and the transcript of this, it sends a chill down
42:25
Speaker 1: your spine. It really does, because he is so believable.
42:30
Speaker 1: He is very methodical about how he describes it and
42:33
Speaker 1: what he's talking about and explaining. He's calm, he's collective.
42:37
Speaker 1: He's not jumping to conclusion saying, oh my god, it's UFO,
42:40
Speaker 1: I love UFOs, or I've been researching it. Nothing like that.
42:44
Speaker 1: He's just there's a green light, not sure you know
42:47
Speaker 1: the speed, it's about one thousand feet above me, like
42:50
Speaker 1: ground controls or anyone supposed to be in the area.
42:51
Speaker 1: He's very professional and very cordial about it, I guess.
42:56
Speaker 1: Is how you could say it, very methodical about how
42:59
Speaker 1: he's community and.
43:00
Speaker 2: Not emotional or nervous or stress in any way.
43:05
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not saying that, but he definitely comes across
43:07
Speaker 1: to a point of where's he's keeping his calm and
43:11
Speaker 1: he's trying to be level headed, and he's not jumping
43:15
Speaker 1: to conclusions. Wow, except at the very end right before
43:19
Speaker 1: the audio cuts off and he says, this is not
43:21
Speaker 1: an aircraft.
43:22
Speaker 2: Gosh, I would be like, holy shit, I don't know
43:24
Speaker 2: what this is. I'm gonna fucking die. Like that would
43:27
Speaker 2: be my reaction. I would I feel like professional out
43:31
Speaker 2: the window, which I'm breaking out.
43:33
Speaker 1: That's a valid reaction for sure. But yeah, if you
43:36
Speaker 1: guys have any input on this or any thoughts, we'd
43:39
Speaker 1: love to hear it. This is a story that has
43:41
Speaker 1: fascinated me for a long time, and I will be honest,
43:45
Speaker 1: I don't know what to believe. The likely scenario is,
43:48
Speaker 1: as you said, his plane likely crashed somewhere unfortunate and
43:54
Speaker 1: he will never be found, or maybe one day will
43:56
Speaker 1: be found. Yeah, but that doesn't explain what he saw.
43:59
Speaker 1: He saw something, and what was it we don't know.
44:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, something took him off course and something well, I mean,
44:07
Speaker 2: regardless of his alien or whatever, Like he's no longer
44:10
Speaker 2: with us, so something took his life, I'm assuming, unless yeah,
44:16
Speaker 2: he's living, God knows where.
44:20
Speaker 1: It's possible.
44:21
Speaker 2: These ones are so weird to me. I like a
44:24
Speaker 2: little tidy box at the end that it's like closed
44:26
Speaker 2: and we know what happened and we can just like
44:29
Speaker 2: go to bed and move on with our life.
44:31
Speaker 1: Who knows. Maybe Frederick right now is listening to this
44:33
Speaker 1: episode sitting on a beach in Tahiti, laughing that no
44:36
Speaker 1: one's figured.
44:37
Speaker 2: It out yet, drinking a pina colada maybe and being like, yeah,
44:42
Speaker 2: I did it and living my best life now.
44:44
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe jeez. Anyways, hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode.
44:49
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, we're taking a little bit of a
44:51
Speaker 1: break this week, but that doesn't mean there's not going
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Speaker 1: to be another episode coming out next week on Tuesday
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Speaker 1: Patreon New Patreon subscribers wi be announced because it will
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Speaker 1: be pre recorded. In fact, as soon as we hit
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Speaker 1: stop on this recording, we're going to hit record on
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Speaker 1: the next episode. So we're all ready to go. But
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Speaker 1: the Patreon shout outs will come out the next week
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Speaker 1: and we're going to be enjoying our downtime in the meantime.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's long overdue, to be honest.
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Speaker 1: I think so. So until next episode, stay pre Recordedly Wicked.
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Speaker 2: Big A B A B A B A B