Latest / The Path Went Chilly / Paul Whipkey Pt. One

Transcript

Paul Whipkey Pt. One · The Path Went Chilly

0:30
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Path went Chili.
0:32
Speaker 2: I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I'm Ashley. Let's dive right
0:36
Speaker 2: into this week's case.
0:39
Speaker 3: July tenth, nineteen fifty eight, Monterey County, California. Twenty six
0:44
Speaker 3: year old First Lieutenant Paul Whipkey leaves Fort Ord, the
0:48
Speaker 3: Army base where he stationed, but he fails to return
0:52
Speaker 3: and is declared a deserter. Thirty days later, five weeks
0:56
Speaker 3: after you went missing, Whipkey's abandoned car is discovered nearly
1:00
Speaker 3: five hundred miles away in a remote section of Death Valley.
1:04
Speaker 3: Since Whipkey's body cannot be found, the Army believes he
1:07
Speaker 3: suffered a mental breakdown and wandered into the desert and died. However,
1:11
Speaker 3: Whitpkey's family discovers troubling discrepancies to make them believe the
1:16
Speaker 3: Army staged his disappearance, possibly because he was recruited for
1:19
Speaker 3: a secret mission. In nineteen eighty two, the Army officially
1:23
Speaker 3: changes Whipkey's status from deserter to die in the line
1:26
Speaker 3: of duty, but he's never found and the full truth
1:29
Speaker 3: about what actually happened to him remains unknown.
1:32
Speaker 1: After that, the Path went Chiley. Today, we've got a
1:36
Speaker 1: very strange military mystery to cover, the nineteen fifty eight
1:40
Speaker 1: disappearance of Paul Whipkey. This case was once featured on
1:44
Speaker 1: Unsolved Mysteries, which did its fair share of stories about
1:47
Speaker 1: servicemen who died or went missing under seemingly suspicious circumstances,
1:51
Speaker 1: and the victim's families were certain that the military was
1:54
Speaker 1: involved and orchestrated some sort of cover up. Well, quite frankly,
1:58
Speaker 1: I feel that some of these segments had an overly
2:00
Speaker 1: conspiratle tone, and that Unsolved Mysteries had a tendency to
2:04
Speaker 1: exaggerate certain details to make the cases seem more mysterious
2:08
Speaker 1: than they really were. However, the disappearance of Paul Whipkey,
2:11
Speaker 1: a first lieutenant serving in the United States Army, is
2:14
Speaker 1: a pretty bizarre story, and I think there are enough
2:17
Speaker 1: odd details to suggest that the military knew a lot
2:20
Speaker 1: more than they were letting on at the time he vanished.
2:23
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Whipkey was stationed at Fort Orton, California, before he
2:27
Speaker 1: left the base one day and went absent without leave.
2:30
Speaker 1: When Whipkey's abandoned car was discovered in Death Valley over
2:33
Speaker 1: one month later, the Army believed that he simply wandered
2:37
Speaker 1: out into the desert and died, but there is compelling
2:39
Speaker 1: evidence to suggest that someone else may have planted the
2:42
Speaker 1: car there. Whipkey's family has always clung to two potential theories.
2:47
Speaker 1: The Army either recruited Whipkey for a top secret mission
2:50
Speaker 1: where they staged his disappearance to cover up their culpability
2:54
Speaker 1: in assigning him to work on Operation plumb Bob, a
2:57
Speaker 1: series of atomic tests which may have caused a severe
2:59
Speaker 1: nos get an impact on Whipkey's physical and mental health.
3:03
Speaker 1: So we're going to explore all different possibilities in today's episode.
3:07
Speaker 2: Well, I'm already in. This is a very fascinating case.
3:11
Speaker 2: You don't hear a lot about cover ups where you go.
3:14
Speaker 2: I actually believe there's some truth to this, especially with
3:18
Speaker 2: you know, when you talk about the military and things
3:20
Speaker 2: like that. When I hope you guys are going to
3:22
Speaker 2: give me some evidence to show that one of those
3:24
Speaker 2: two possibilities is possible where the Army actually could be
3:28
Speaker 2: accountable in both scenarios. What I find really interesting here, though,
3:33
Speaker 2: is that they do change the classification for him from
3:36
Speaker 2: a wall or deserter to died in align a duty.
3:40
Speaker 2: I think there's something to be said about that that,
3:43
Speaker 2: you know, a family would think of. My loved one
3:45
Speaker 2: is classified as a wall that they just abandoned their
3:48
Speaker 2: position in the military, which is one of the most degrading,
3:53
Speaker 2: horrible things you could do, is to desert your posts.
3:56
Speaker 2: And somehow in nineteen eighty two they change it to
4:00
Speaker 2: died in the line of duty. So do you know
4:02
Speaker 2: more about that why they changed the classification.
4:05
Speaker 1: Well, that's one of the most frustrating things about this case,
4:07
Speaker 1: as we're going to talk about, because it was kind
4:09
Speaker 1: of a bittersweet feeling for the family because their loved
4:12
Speaker 1: one is no longer recognized as a deserter. But at
4:14
Speaker 1: the same time they changed to him dying the line
4:17
Speaker 1: of duty, but they don't explain why, or produce his
4:19
Speaker 1: body or share any details about how he supposed Lee died.
4:23
Speaker 1: And if you just drove off and wandered off into
4:25
Speaker 1: the desert, that's technically not dying in the life of duty.
4:29
Speaker 1: So that gives off the impression that the military knew
4:31
Speaker 1: a lot more about what happened to them, but unfortunately
4:34
Speaker 1: kept his family in the dark.
4:36
Speaker 2: To me, it almost feels like that they know something
4:40
Speaker 2: and they changed it to appease the family because they
4:43
Speaker 2: didn't want further investigation. Where at least if we change
4:46
Speaker 2: it from this, you know, horrible mark on his record,
4:50
Speaker 2: maybe there is some solace there in the family. We'll
4:52
Speaker 2: move forward.
4:54
Speaker 3: This reminds me of the plot of the show on
4:57
Speaker 3: Paramount plus Linus of the current season, where she's recruiting
5:02
Speaker 3: a new Lioness, which is somebody to go out and
5:03
Speaker 3: work in the field, and she ends up recruiting somebody
5:06
Speaker 3: who's in active duty in I can't remember Iraq at
5:09
Speaker 3: that moment, and she's flying helicopters and they basically have
5:13
Speaker 3: to get her a dishonorable discharge, like a fake one,
5:17
Speaker 3: so that she can come in believably and work and
5:20
Speaker 3: then infiltrate this gang in Mexico because they're somehow orchestrating
5:28
Speaker 3: these attacks on America like they had kidnapped a senator.
5:32
Speaker 3: Find it really interesting that we're going to get to
5:34
Speaker 3: explore this a little bit deeper, and we're also really
5:38
Speaker 3: lucky to have Ashley on this case because her father
5:40
Speaker 3: was a marine and Ashley spent time as a professor
5:44
Speaker 3: at the Citadel, so she's military adjacent and she's one
5:48
Speaker 3: of the best people when it comes to opinions on institutions,
5:52
Speaker 3: So I'm really excited to hear your takes Ash.
5:55
Speaker 2: Thanks Jules. Yeah, I'll tell you what men and women
5:57
Speaker 2: and who serve our country. They are my hero. My
6:00
Speaker 2: dad is a marine. He obviously retired after Vietnam, but
6:05
Speaker 2: once marine, always a marine, and he's literally my hero,
6:09
Speaker 2: and so are all the men and women who serve
6:10
Speaker 2: our country. I do get frustrated with the institution of
6:14
Speaker 2: the military, like you mentioned, but I think that's all institutions.
6:17
Speaker 2: So I can't wait to hear more about what happens
6:20
Speaker 2: to Paul and these missions that they could have sent
6:23
Speaker 2: him on, because in my gut, I'm feeling like the
6:26
Speaker 2: Army feels some accountability or that classification just would not
6:29
Speaker 2: have changed.
6:33
Speaker 3: Our story begins in California in nineteen fifty eight. Our
6:37
Speaker 3: central figure is twenty six year old Paul Whipkey, who
6:40
Speaker 3: originally hails from Murriesville, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school,
6:45
Speaker 3: Whikey went on to earn a civil engineering degree at
6:48
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania State University and was an honors graduate in the
6:51
Speaker 3: Reserve Officers Training Corps, where he received his Army commission
6:55
Speaker 3: as an officer. After completing basic training in nineteen fifty four,
7:00
Speaker 3: Whipkey began aviation school and eventually earned his Army's pilot wings.
7:05
Speaker 3: In July nineteen fifty six. He would be posted at
7:07
Speaker 3: Fort Ord, located in California's Monterey County, and achieved the
7:12
Speaker 3: rank of first lieutenant. After nearly two years there, he
7:15
Speaker 3: was assigned the duties of company commander. On the afternoon
7:19
Speaker 3: of July tenth, Whickey left Fort Ord in his nineteen
7:22
Speaker 3: fifty six red and white Chevrolet. He told his friends
7:26
Speaker 3: that he was planning to get a drink in the
7:27
Speaker 3: town of Monterey, which was located less than a mile
7:30
Speaker 3: away from the base. However, Whipkey never returned to the base,
7:34
Speaker 3: and when he failed to surface by morning, he was
7:37
Speaker 3: declared absent without leave aka a WALL. After thirty days past,
7:42
Speaker 3: Whipkey had still not turned up, so the Army officially
7:45
Speaker 3: declared him a deserter, But the case would take a
7:47
Speaker 3: bizarre turn only one week later. On August seventeenth, over
7:52
Speaker 3: a month after he originally went missing, Whipkey's abandoned Chevrolet
7:56
Speaker 3: was discovered by a fishing game warden in a remote
7:59
Speaker 3: section of Death Valley. The desolate location is nearly five
8:02
Speaker 3: hundred miles east from Fort Ord, forty two miles from
8:06
Speaker 3: the nearest town, and fifteen miles from the main road.
8:09
Speaker 3: The Keys were still in the ignition and a suitcase
8:12
Speaker 3: containing some of whip Key's personal belongings and his military
8:15
Speaker 3: dog tags was found inside the vehicle. Well, there are
8:19
Speaker 3: no obvious signs of a struggle or foul play. Whippi
8:22
Speaker 3: himself was nowhere to be found.
8:24
Speaker 2: This is really interesting because he's dedicated his career to
8:28
Speaker 2: the army and he's even become a pilot. That's such
8:32
Speaker 2: an amazing opportunity in the military, and he's really achieving
8:38
Speaker 2: these ranks very fast. It seems like they put a
8:41
Speaker 2: lot of responsibility in with him and that they trust him,
8:45
Speaker 2: and they're using him as a leader in his position
8:49
Speaker 2: and in his station, and so it's odd, it's odd behavior.
8:53
Speaker 2: This is not some enlisted kid who comes in. This
8:56
Speaker 2: is someone who's making a career out of the military,
8:58
Speaker 2: and so for him to quote a wall, it really
9:02
Speaker 2: is a fascinating scenario because he has such heavy steak
9:07
Speaker 2: in the military. He has a clout and position and
9:11
Speaker 2: so for him to go all the way through to
9:13
Speaker 2: become a pilot and then just to abandon the military
9:16
Speaker 2: does seem quite odd. Of course, when mental health is
9:19
Speaker 2: to play, that can always be something that doesn't quote
9:23
Speaker 2: make sense or doesn't really follow the normal script of
9:25
Speaker 2: how people behave. But this is the fifties, and so
9:29
Speaker 2: at the time, how much would we have known and
9:32
Speaker 2: how many signs would you have picked up on if
9:34
Speaker 2: he was in fact struggling with mental health. So I'll
9:37
Speaker 2: be interested to hear more about that, but very odd,
9:40
Speaker 2: given again that he has worked so diligently to achieve
9:44
Speaker 2: so much in the military, and it goes to do
9:46
Speaker 2: what a lot of military men and women do. They
9:50
Speaker 2: go off to have a drink and hang out with
9:52
Speaker 2: friends when they're not at their posts.
9:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to go into more detail about this
9:57
Speaker 1: later on, but it sounds like by all accounts, Whipkey
10:00
Speaker 1: did have a stellar service record, but he got involved
10:03
Speaker 1: in a particular operation which did cause a change in
10:06
Speaker 1: his behavior, and if he was having mental health struggles,
10:09
Speaker 1: this could have been the source of it. But overall,
10:12
Speaker 1: it sounds like it would have been bury out of
10:13
Speaker 1: character for him to just desert his post and then
10:16
Speaker 1: just drive away, and the fact that his vehicle was
10:18
Speaker 1: found five hundred miles away from the base in pretty
10:21
Speaker 1: much the hottest climate in the United States is particularly unusual.
10:27
Speaker 1: Investigators attempted to attrack Whipkey's movements after he left ford
10:30
Speaker 1: Or on July to tenth. It turned out that later
10:33
Speaker 1: that same day, Whipkey had apparently driven over three hundred
10:36
Speaker 1: miles to Mojave, as his signature was on the guest
10:39
Speaker 1: registry of a local establishment called White's Motel. A receipt
10:43
Speaker 1: was found in Whipkey's car which showed that he purchased
10:45
Speaker 1: fourteen gallons of gasoline in Mojave on July the eleventh,
10:49
Speaker 1: and the spot where the Chevrolet was abandoned was approximately
10:52
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty five miles from this location. The
10:55
Speaker 1: Army concluded that Whipke likely suffered some sort of mental
10:58
Speaker 1: breakdown pause due to the added stress of becoming a
11:02
Speaker 1: company commander, and this prompted him to drive nearly five
11:05
Speaker 1: hundred miles to an isolated area and Death Valley. He
11:09
Speaker 1: subsequently watered out into the desert and succumbed to the
11:11
Speaker 1: extreme heat, which could reach temperatures of up to one
11:14
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty degrees fahrenheit in July. The army believed
11:18
Speaker 1: that the shifting sands of the desert would make it
11:21
Speaker 1: nearly impossible to recover Whipkey's body, but oddly they never
11:25
Speaker 1: even made an attempt to search for his body until
11:27
Speaker 1: nine months after his car was found. This was just
11:30
Speaker 1: one of the many reasons that Whipkey's family became suspicious
11:34
Speaker 1: about the official cover story.
11:36
Speaker 2: So I'm wondering if their excuse was that a desert
11:39
Speaker 2: so vast that there's so many spaces that a body
11:44
Speaker 2: could go that he could have again like they said,
11:47
Speaker 2: you know, fall down and the sand covers him and
11:50
Speaker 2: things like that. Did they claim that it was just
11:52
Speaker 2: too big of an unknown place to search, like I
11:57
Speaker 2: just don't have a pinpointed area to search enough until
12:01
Speaker 2: that car's found and then they say, oh, now we
12:04
Speaker 2: can search for his body. Do you know what extent
12:08
Speaker 2: they actually went out and had publicity that they have
12:11
Speaker 2: a soldier who's a.
12:12
Speaker 1: Wall I'm trying to remember I researched this case. When
12:16
Speaker 1: I did it on the trail went cold, and I
12:18
Speaker 1: don't recall seeing many newspaper articles in newspapers dot com.
12:23
Speaker 1: But let me just double check that. I'm just curious
12:26
Speaker 1: to see no looking back on it. It really didn't
12:30
Speaker 1: get any publicity at all, and this case was completely
12:32
Speaker 1: unknown until about the nineteen eighties, which is when Whippy's
12:35
Speaker 1: family started lobbying to get his status change from deserter
12:39
Speaker 1: to died in the line of duty and they took
12:42
Speaker 1: his story to the press. But prior to that, his
12:44
Speaker 1: disappearance didn't get any publicity at all.
12:48
Speaker 3: Paul's older brother, Carl Whipkey, a veteran who'd served in
12:51
Speaker 3: the army during World War Two and covered a number
12:54
Speaker 3: of troubling discrepancies. Carl immediately became troubled when he attempted
12:59
Speaker 3: to call his at Fort ord on July twelfth, two
13:02
Speaker 3: days after he originally went missing. Karl learned that a
13:06
Speaker 3: pair of soldiers had collected all of Paul's personal belongings
13:09
Speaker 3: from miss Barracks the previous day, right after he was
13:12
Speaker 3: declared a wall Even though Paul would not officially be
13:15
Speaker 3: declared a deserter for thirty more days, his belongings were
13:19
Speaker 3: subsequently packed into eleven wooden crates and sent to his family.
13:23
Speaker 3: According to Karl, this was against army regulations, as a
13:27
Speaker 3: soldier's next of kin or legal representative are supposed to
13:30
Speaker 3: be notified before their belongings are packed up. When Paul's
13:34
Speaker 3: car was discovered one month later, Carl only learned about
13:38
Speaker 3: it by accident. He had made an unofficial call to
13:41
Speaker 3: an enlisted man at Fort Ord, who subsequently phoned him
13:44
Speaker 3: a half hour later. The soldier told Karl that Paul's
13:47
Speaker 3: vehicle had been discovered in Death Valley, but asked Karl
13:51
Speaker 3: not to tell anyone where he'd heard this because it
13:53
Speaker 3: was classified information. There were more odd details about the
13:57
Speaker 3: circumstances of how Paul's car was found. Four weeks after
14:01
Speaker 3: he originally went missing, a rancher reported seeing a red
14:04
Speaker 3: and white Chevrolet driving through Death Valley, about twelve miles
14:08
Speaker 3: from the spot that it was eventually discovered. However, he
14:12
Speaker 3: claimed that the driver was dressed in a military uniform,
14:15
Speaker 3: but Paul had been dressed in civilian clothing when he
14:17
Speaker 3: left board Or. In addition, a pile of cigarette butts
14:21
Speaker 3: was found outside the car in the desert, even though
14:23
Speaker 3: Paul did not smoke.
14:26
Speaker 2: Very interesting, you would think that the moment a soldier
14:29
Speaker 2: went a wall, the military would start contacting people they
14:33
Speaker 2: knew to say, do you know where they are? This
14:35
Speaker 2: is serious. Your son is missing, Your brother is missing.
14:40
Speaker 2: He's abandon his post or we believe he has, and
14:43
Speaker 2: see if he's been in contact with anybody. It is
14:46
Speaker 2: also odd that you have people who have packed up
14:49
Speaker 2: all of his belongings so quickly, just two days, right
14:53
Speaker 2: after he went missing, everything's packed up. What if he
14:57
Speaker 2: came back and had been in a car accident or
15:00
Speaker 2: you know, they found him in a hospital somewhere, then
15:03
Speaker 2: why was all this stuff packed up?
15:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, it's not like this was a soldier
15:07
Speaker 1: with a history of discipline problems who was known for
15:10
Speaker 1: like going a wall and escaping off base, like this
15:13
Speaker 1: was very out of character for Paul, Like he had
15:15
Speaker 1: a stellar service record. So it's just very suspicious that
15:18
Speaker 1: they would think, well, he didn't come back after two days,
15:20
Speaker 1: let's clear out his barracks because there's no way he's
15:23
Speaker 1: ever coming back. Even though there's so many logical reasons
15:26
Speaker 1: for why he might have disappeared.
15:29
Speaker 3: The family was really fortunate that Karl had served time
15:31
Speaker 3: in the military as well and knew who to call
15:34
Speaker 3: and look questions to ask to get this kind of information,
15:37
Speaker 3: because if he didn't, like what state would the case
15:41
Speaker 3: have been in, the family wouldn't have really had anything
15:43
Speaker 3: to lobby for at that point because they just wouldn't
15:46
Speaker 3: have had the information to move forward.
15:48
Speaker 2: So odd that they'd be told, hey, don't share this information,
15:51
Speaker 2: it's classified. When something's so important as his car being found,
15:56
Speaker 2: it's his family, don't they have a right to know, Hey,
15:59
Speaker 2: you're a while brother. We discovered his car and we
16:02
Speaker 2: don't know where he is. That seems like something that
16:04
Speaker 2: the family should be aware of. That's his well being.
16:09
Speaker 1: So prior to his disappearance, Paul had stopped communicating with
16:12
Speaker 1: his family, and Carl would learn a potential reason for
16:15
Speaker 1: this when Karl received Paul's personal blongings from ford Ord.
16:19
Speaker 1: They mistakenly included a list of Paul's assignments, which revealed
16:23
Speaker 1: that he had been assigned a temporary duty at Camp
16:25
Speaker 1: Desert Rock in Nevada from July into October of nineteen
16:29
Speaker 1: fifty seven. This was a camp for servicemen who participated
16:33
Speaker 1: in nuclear weapons testing, and this particular series of tests
16:36
Speaker 1: was known as Operation Plumbbob. During this time period, a
16:40
Speaker 1: total of twenty nine explosions, all of but two of
16:43
Speaker 1: which were nuclear wound up being set off. Paul's duties
16:47
Speaker 1: included flying an observation plane and relaying radio messages to
16:51
Speaker 1: and from ground troops advancing on ground zero. His list
16:55
Speaker 1: of assignments showed that he had logged thirteen hours of
16:57
Speaker 1: flying time and witness to total of five atomic tess
17:00
Speaker 1: the largest of which was a forty four kiloton blast.
17:04
Speaker 1: Carl Whipkey would later speak to his brother's commanding officer,
17:07
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lewis, who said he noticed a number
17:10
Speaker 1: of troubling changes with Paul following his assignment at Camp
17:13
Speaker 1: Desert Rock, which may have stemmed from exposure to radioactive fallout.
17:18
Speaker 1: Upon returning to Fort Ord, Paul noticed that some unusual
17:21
Speaker 1: blotches started appearing on his skin, as well as black
17:24
Speaker 1: moles on his body and warts on his hands. He
17:28
Speaker 1: started suffering from constant colds and losing weight, and things
17:32
Speaker 1: reached the point where Paul needed to have all of
17:34
Speaker 1: his teeth removed before he was fitted with dentures. Lieutenant
17:38
Speaker 1: Colonel Lewis also said that Paul's personality changed as he
17:41
Speaker 1: became more nervous and withdrawn and had trouble delegating authority
17:45
Speaker 1: in his new role as company commander. Much like Carl,
17:49
Speaker 1: Lewis was also troubled by the circumstances of Paul's disappearance,
17:52
Speaker 1: but claimed that when he attempted to make further inquiries,
17:55
Speaker 1: he was always advised to drop the matter because the
17:58
Speaker 1: case was closed.
18:00
Speaker 2: Because this was the fifties, I guarantee you medical care
18:03
Speaker 2: was lacking when it came to what you did when
18:06
Speaker 2: soldiers were exposed to these kinds of radioactive levels, knowing
18:10
Speaker 2: the impact on the body would have been less than
18:13
Speaker 2: we have now. And so when you start seeing poor
18:16
Speaker 2: Paul literally physically fall apart, he has to have all
18:20
Speaker 2: of his teeth removed, he's losing weight. It's clear that
18:24
Speaker 2: radiation poisoning or something has occurred, and other military members
18:30
Speaker 2: are concerned. Remember his brother, Carl served in the military,
18:34
Speaker 2: and he's talking to his brother's commanding officer saying something's wrong,
18:39
Speaker 2: and that commanding officer standing up for Paul, saying, right,
18:43
Speaker 2: there's a reason why he's a leader. There's a reason
18:46
Speaker 2: he's been put in charge of these other soldiers, and
18:50
Speaker 2: yet he's failing to delegate. He's failing to behave the
18:53
Speaker 2: way we all know he behaves, and so he's going
18:58
Speaker 2: to bat for Paul and saying, he' all got to
19:00
Speaker 2: explain to me what happened, and no one wants to
19:02
Speaker 2: talk to, even the commanding officer. So there's a big
19:05
Speaker 2: problem there. This is his subordinate that he's checking on.
19:09
Speaker 2: He has a family member who's inquiring, but he himself
19:12
Speaker 2: is inquiring and he still can't get information. It's very,
19:15
Speaker 2: very suspicious.
19:17
Speaker 3: This is so upsetting. Like listening to the list of
19:20
Speaker 3: his side effects, I can't imagine how his brain was
19:23
Speaker 3: impacted by the nuclear fallout. And to have all of
19:27
Speaker 3: your teeth basically fall apart, I don't know if they
19:29
Speaker 3: rotted or disintegrated. What happened to is the rest of
19:32
Speaker 3: his skeletal structure, Like were his bones falling apart? As well?
19:37
Speaker 3: To be trapped inside a body that is failing you
19:39
Speaker 3: at the age that he is, the impact would be catastrophic.
19:43
Speaker 3: I can't even imagine. And it would be so difficult
19:46
Speaker 3: if you weren't able to express your emotions or to
19:49
Speaker 3: be able to talk about what you did with your
19:51
Speaker 3: family because the information was classified. Like my heart breaks
19:55
Speaker 3: for him having to experience that.
19:57
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, because this is another case where Karl was
20:00
Speaker 1: lucky because he wasn't supposed to note that his brother
20:03
Speaker 1: participated an Operation plumb Bob, and he only found out
20:06
Speaker 1: because they accidentally sent a list of Paul's assignments in
20:10
Speaker 1: his belongings, but otherwise, because it was top secret, Paul
20:13
Speaker 1: never told anyone from his family about it, and they
20:15
Speaker 1: never would have learned if Carl had not received that sheet.
20:19
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that costed some awful thoughts to go
20:21
Speaker 1: in his head because this is the fifties and nuclear
20:24
Speaker 1: testing has only been around for just over a decade
20:26
Speaker 1: or so, and they just probably do not understand or
20:29
Speaker 1: they don't care about the negative physical and mental effects
20:32
Speaker 1: hes could have on the soldiers who are involved, who
20:35
Speaker 1: don't have adequate protection, And this would eventually skyrocket into
20:40
Speaker 1: a scandal with a massive lawsuit from all the people
20:42
Speaker 1: who were forced to participate in Operation plumb Bob and
20:45
Speaker 1: did not get protection and started suffering from health issues.
20:49
Speaker 1: And it is just a shame that Paul suffered through
20:51
Speaker 1: all this, but he never really got to receive justice
20:53
Speaker 1: because he went missing and was no longer around when
20:56
Speaker 1: this lawsuit became a big story.
21:00
Speaker 3: UIs had been stationed with Whipkey at count Desert Rock
21:02
Speaker 3: in nineteen fifty seven and recalled an incident where he
21:06
Speaker 3: saw two men dressed in civilian clothing speaking to Whipkey
21:09
Speaker 3: and another officer on the airfield. For security reasons, Lewis
21:13
Speaker 3: decided to approach the two men and asked to see
21:16
Speaker 3: their identification, and they produced ID cards which showed they
21:19
Speaker 3: were Army intelligence agents. Lewis said that over the course
21:23
Speaker 3: of the next few weeks he would frequently see these
21:26
Speaker 3: same two men return to the airfield. They conversed with
21:29
Speaker 3: Whikey two or three times per week, and Whikey always
21:32
Speaker 3: appeared to be nervous and uptight afterwards. Whenever Lewis asked
21:36
Speaker 3: Whitkey if there was anything wrong, Whipkey always assured him
21:40
Speaker 3: that everything was fine, but never discussed his conversations with
21:43
Speaker 3: the two men. Louis would later express his beliefs that
21:47
Speaker 3: these men had been affiliated with the CIA. During this
21:51
Speaker 3: time period, the CIA would often recruit servicemen to assist
21:54
Speaker 3: them on classified, top secret assignments, and Lewis felt that
21:58
Speaker 3: Wikey's excellent service record would have made him a promising
22:01
Speaker 3: candidate for them. Lewis's story prompted Carl Whitkey to remember
22:05
Speaker 3: our conversation he had with his brother in January of
22:08
Speaker 3: nineteen fifty eight, where Paul told Carl that he was
22:11
Speaker 3: going on assignment in which he would quote make a
22:14
Speaker 3: name for himself. But before Paul could share any more details,
22:18
Speaker 3: he told Carl that there were some officers near his desk,
22:22
Speaker 3: so he couldn't say anything else, and this was the
22:24
Speaker 3: only time Carl ever heard about this subject before Paul disappeared.
22:29
Speaker 3: This caused Carl to theorize that his brother might have
22:31
Speaker 3: been recruited into some sort of joint Army CIA program.
22:35
Speaker 3: If so, it provided a possible explanation for Paul's decision
22:39
Speaker 3: to stop at White's motel in Mojave. Edward's Air Force
22:43
Speaker 3: base was located nearby, so perhaps Paul met up with
22:45
Speaker 3: the CIA contacts at the motel, who subsequently flew him
22:49
Speaker 3: out of the country on some sort of secret mission.
22:52
Speaker 3: They also may have held on to Paul's Chevrolet until,
22:55
Speaker 3: for unknown reasons, they decided to abandon it in Death
22:58
Speaker 3: Valley and fabricated cover story about Paul wandering out into
23:02
Speaker 3: the desert.
23:04
Speaker 2: Is it possible that he needed to disappear that whatever
23:08
Speaker 2: assignment he had gone on. I know that sounds crazy,
23:11
Speaker 2: but that something like witness protection or changing his identity,
23:15
Speaker 2: that something that severe was needed for whatever operation he
23:19
Speaker 2: was doing.
23:20
Speaker 1: That is a possibility that it could have been something
23:22
Speaker 1: where we really need you to serve your country, but
23:24
Speaker 1: in order to protect your identity and protect the assignment,
23:27
Speaker 1: we have to make it look like you went a
23:29
Speaker 1: wall and disappeared and will abandon your car in the desert.
23:32
Speaker 1: And I know Jules was talking about the show Linus
23:35
Speaker 1: having a similar plot line, So does this kind of
23:37
Speaker 1: sound something like that where they practically destroy someone's reputation
23:42
Speaker 1: to make it look like they're a deserter, but they
23:43
Speaker 1: think it's for the greater good because their assignment is
23:46
Speaker 1: so important.
23:48
Speaker 3: In that show, the CIA was like, well, if she
23:50
Speaker 3: lives through this assignment, she can come and work for us.
23:53
Speaker 3: But yeah, they said, basically, her reputation with the army
23:56
Speaker 3: will be destroyed forever, but.
23:58
Speaker 1: If she's successful, then he can work with the CIA.
24:01
Speaker 1: So it could be the same thing with Paul, where
24:02
Speaker 1: it's like it's destroying his Army career, but if he's
24:05
Speaker 1: successful on this mission, he's got a permanent job with
24:07
Speaker 1: the CIA. It also turned out that there was a
24:10
Speaker 1: bizarre side story involving a twenty five year old first
24:13
Speaker 1: lieutenant from four Door named Charles Guests, who was also
24:17
Speaker 1: a pilot in one of Whipkey's closest friends. They had
24:20
Speaker 1: both been stationed together at Camp Desert Rock, but while there,
24:23
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Lewis claimed he saw Guests get interviewed on
24:26
Speaker 1: at least one occasion by the same two men who
24:29
Speaker 1: frequently converse with Whipkey. On the morning of July to
24:32
Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen fifty eight, just twelve days after Whipkey
24:36
Speaker 1: originally went missing, Guest took off from Bishop, California in
24:40
Speaker 1: an L nineteen reconnaissance plane in order to perform a
24:43
Speaker 1: topographic survey for the Army. He was supposed to land
24:46
Speaker 1: in Winnemucca, Nevada, but the plane never arrived and an
24:49
Speaker 1: extensive search failed to turn up any trace of them. However,
24:53
Speaker 1: in September of nineteen fifty nine, a pair of deer
24:56
Speaker 1: hunters spotted wreckage from a crashed plane on the west
24:59
Speaker 1: slope of wh Mountain in Inyo National Forest, located about
25:03
Speaker 1: thirty five miles northeast of Bishop Skeletal remains, which were
25:07
Speaker 1: identified as belonging to guests were found nearby. On the surface,
25:11
Speaker 1: this seemed like a tragic accident, but there was one problem.
25:15
Speaker 1: The plane's wreckage apparently had a different serial number than
25:18
Speaker 1: the plane guests had taken off. In the fact that
25:22
Speaker 1: Guess and Whipkey had both been involved in atomic testing
25:25
Speaker 1: at Camp Desert Rock and happened to go missing less
25:27
Speaker 1: than two weeks apart led to speculation that there might
25:31
Speaker 1: be a connection between the two cases.
25:34
Speaker 2: That whole scenario doesn't even sound plausible, but you would
25:37
Speaker 2: have this young military man take off to do a
25:42
Speaker 2: geographical assessment and then he just crashes. And when you
25:48
Speaker 2: have this crash discovered, it's a different plane than the
25:51
Speaker 2: one he took off in the serial number is completely different.
25:55
Speaker 2: And when you go back, he's exposed to these same
25:58
Speaker 2: two men who say they're from the CIA and they're
26:02
Speaker 2: here to interview these soldiers, and both men go missing
26:07
Speaker 2: and or end up deceased shortly after. Definitely raises the
26:11
Speaker 2: hair on your neck and makes you say, what happened?
26:14
Speaker 2: Who were these men? What were these kids involved? And
26:17
Speaker 2: they were just young soldiers at the time, and did
26:20
Speaker 2: it lead to death or are these cover ups because
26:23
Speaker 2: these two men proved to be soldiers that could handle
26:26
Speaker 2: a bigger operation. It's very, very, very bizarre, and coincidence
26:31
Speaker 2: is possible, but it also does open up this door
26:34
Speaker 2: to say, hey, it sounds crazy, but could both men
26:38
Speaker 2: be involved in a disappearance or death?
26:41
Speaker 1: And the weird thing about Guess is that there's very
26:43
Speaker 1: little information about his death other than a brief mention
26:46
Speaker 1: on the Unsolved Mystery segment. But I'd be very curious
26:49
Speaker 1: to find out how they identify these remains because this
26:52
Speaker 1: is the nineteen fifties and they wouldn't have done DNA testing.
26:55
Speaker 1: It's not clear if they found his teeth and identified
26:58
Speaker 1: them by a dental records. So theoretically, if they wanted
27:01
Speaker 1: to fake his death, they could just like say, hey,
27:03
Speaker 1: he crashed into this forest and died in a plane
27:06
Speaker 1: crash and we found these remains. But if they wanted
27:09
Speaker 1: to stage it, they could just toss out some parts
27:11
Speaker 1: with a different serial number in order to fake the
27:13
Speaker 1: whole thing.
27:14
Speaker 3: It seems like a lot of effort to go to
27:16
Speaker 3: to like plant somebody else's remains and try to fake
27:20
Speaker 3: his death like that when he'd been missing for so
27:22
Speaker 3: many years and the chances of them actually recovering the
27:25
Speaker 3: plane seemed like they were slim to none. It just
27:28
Speaker 3: seems like there is a possibility that maybe there was
27:31
Speaker 3: an oversight and it was like was it a completely
27:34
Speaker 3: different type of plane or was it just that the
27:37
Speaker 3: serial numbers were different? Like could they have got the
27:40
Speaker 3: serial numbers on the plane that he took off in wrong.
27:43
Speaker 1: That's what I'm thinking as well, is that I don't
27:46
Speaker 1: see any indication that it was a completely different plane,
27:48
Speaker 1: So it could just be some sort of clerical era
27:50
Speaker 1: where they just wrote down the wrong serial numbers when
27:53
Speaker 1: he toocked off, and then then when they found the
27:54
Speaker 1: wreckage they just saw a different number and assumed it
27:57
Speaker 1: wasn't the same plane. But yeah, it seems like if
28:01
Speaker 1: they just wanted him to disappear, they wouldn't even bother
28:03
Speaker 1: planting the remains or something like that. They would just say, oh,
28:06
Speaker 1: he crashed and was never found. And it doesn't sound
28:08
Speaker 1: like Charles's guests had like the same service record as
28:12
Speaker 1: Paul Whikey where it would be worth faking his death
28:15
Speaker 1: in order to send him on some sort of secret mission.
28:18
Speaker 3: And just to confirm, this is around the flight path
28:21
Speaker 3: that he was on originally when he disappeared. Look where
28:24
Speaker 3: he was found it was.
28:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think if he was heading to Winnemuck
28:27
Speaker 1: in Nevada, he would have flown over this area.
28:30
Speaker 3: If he was in like a completely different state or
28:32
Speaker 3: found somewhere totally different, then I would believe that it
28:35
Speaker 3: could have been some secret mission on a different plane.
28:38
Speaker 3: But because it's the same flight path, I'm more inclined
28:40
Speaker 3: to think it's a clerical error. For the next two decades,
28:44
Speaker 3: Karl Whike would fight diligently to uncover the truth about
28:48
Speaker 3: what happened to his brother. In June nineteen seventy seven,
28:51
Speaker 3: Carl sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI,
28:55
Speaker 3: asking them to turn over all information they had about
28:58
Speaker 3: Paul's disappearance. The following year, the FBI answered Carl and
29:03
Speaker 3: informed him that they had destroyed fourteen boxes containing field
29:07
Speaker 3: files about the case six months after they received his request.
29:11
Speaker 3: In spite of this, Carl still managed to accumulate nearly
29:14
Speaker 3: three thousand pages of government documents, affidavits, and transcripts which
29:18
Speaker 3: were related to his brother. He noticed some more odd discrepancies,
29:23
Speaker 3: such as the fact that the list of Paul's assignments
29:25
Speaker 3: from the Army made no mention of his three month
29:28
Speaker 3: stint at Camp Desert Rock. Karl also uncovered one document
29:33
Speaker 3: which stated that his brother had once used the alias
29:35
Speaker 3: Paul B. Whipper, though no additional explanation was provided. One
29:40
Speaker 3: of Carl's goals was to change Paul's official status with
29:43
Speaker 3: the Army so that he could no longer be classified
29:45
Speaker 3: as a deserter. Carl's persistence finally paid off in April
29:49
Speaker 3: of nineteen eighty two, when he successfully lobbied the Army
29:53
Speaker 3: Board of Correction to Military Records to undertake a new
29:56
Speaker 3: review of his brother's case. The board held a three
29:59
Speaker 3: year hearing and concluded there was no evidence to support
30:02
Speaker 3: Paul's status as a deserter. Their final report stated that
30:06
Speaker 3: his unauthorized absence was excused as unavoidable and that his
30:10
Speaker 3: death was incurred in the line of duty, not due
30:13
Speaker 3: to his own misconduct. As a result, Paul's status was
30:17
Speaker 3: officially changed. She died in the line of duty, and
30:20
Speaker 3: the Army Adjudged General's Office issued a certificate of honorable
30:23
Speaker 3: service in his name.
30:25
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if at the time they looked at records
30:28
Speaker 2: that showed his physical health declining, and they had reports
30:32
Speaker 2: where even his commander and things like that were saying, listen,
30:36
Speaker 2: his mental health is fading. He's not commanding the same,
30:39
Speaker 2: he's not responding the same. His personality has shifted. Remember
30:43
Speaker 2: they said he was much more kind of inward and
30:45
Speaker 2: anxious and couldn't really lead.
30:48
Speaker 1: The way he had.
30:49
Speaker 2: And so if they know he was in this radiation
30:53
Speaker 2: testing and they know it's having these physical effects, Remember
30:56
Speaker 2: they're reviewing this case in the eighties now when they
31:00
Speaker 2: occurred in the fifties, And so I'm wondering if that
31:02
Speaker 2: change in knowledge and what they knew at the time,
31:06
Speaker 2: looking at the totality of the event, if that's why
31:09
Speaker 2: they changed it. Not that we had anything to do
31:11
Speaker 2: with it, but that obviously he was struggling so significantly
31:15
Speaker 2: that he had to have all of his teeth removed
31:18
Speaker 2: because they were all falling out, and he was losing weight,
31:21
Speaker 2: and he had sores on his skin and moles growing
31:24
Speaker 2: on his skin that were unexplainable. Clearly, we affected this
31:29
Speaker 2: man significantly. He paid for his service with his life,
31:34
Speaker 2: the livelihood that he had and so I'm wondering if
31:37
Speaker 2: that alone would allow them to change the classification. Even
31:41
Speaker 2: if they think Paul quote voluntarily left, they would say, hey, well,
31:47
Speaker 2: because what we put him through probably led to that.
31:51
Speaker 2: Were they really covering their bases there and saying our
31:55
Speaker 2: exposure and what we put him through would have resulted
31:59
Speaker 2: in this for many of people. And therefore in the
32:01
Speaker 2: eighties they say enough's enough. He didn't desert the military.
32:05
Speaker 2: He clearly gave so much that we're going to change
32:08
Speaker 2: his classification.
32:10
Speaker 3: That was exactly my thoughts too.
32:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, would definitely make sense because obviously in the nineteen
32:15
Speaker 1: eighties there was a much better understanding of nuclear testing
32:19
Speaker 1: and atomic radiation and the after effects of it than
32:22
Speaker 1: there was in the fifties, because that was the era
32:24
Speaker 1: where they were still releasing duck and cover videos where
32:27
Speaker 1: they would try to tell people that if you're in
32:28
Speaker 1: a nuclear exposion, just duck under a desk somewhere and
32:31
Speaker 1: you'll be fine, which is obviously not true. So they
32:34
Speaker 1: were looking at these reports now with more advanced eyes
32:38
Speaker 1: and thinking, wow, we really kind of screwed this guy
32:40
Speaker 1: over by putting him in this testing without a new protection,
32:43
Speaker 1: and they don't want to flat out admit that, but
32:45
Speaker 1: it's kind of the interesting wording the way that they
32:48
Speaker 1: said that his absence was unavoidable and his death was
32:52
Speaker 1: incurred in the line of duty, not to his own misconduct,
32:55
Speaker 1: So it's almost like an admission without actually admitting that
32:58
Speaker 1: our nuclear testing cat changes in Paul's behavior and could
33:02
Speaker 1: have led to him driving out into the middle of
33:04
Speaker 1: nowhere and dying. So technically will say that he died
33:08
Speaker 1: in the line of duty without actually admitting it. So,
33:10
Speaker 1: like we said, it is kind of a bittersweet victory
33:12
Speaker 1: for the family because Paul is no longer classified as
33:15
Speaker 1: a deserter, but they still don't exactly have conclusive answers
33:19
Speaker 1: about what actually happened to him and why he's still missing. However,
33:25
Speaker 1: even though the board concluded that Whipley likely died the
33:27
Speaker 1: day after he disappeared from ford Ord, they still never
33:31
Speaker 1: provided any official explanation about what actually happened to him.
33:35
Speaker 1: While their official reporting knowledge that Whipkey had been assigned
33:37
Speaker 1: to Camp Desert Rock in nineteen fifty seven, they denied
33:41
Speaker 1: he was ever involved in atomic testing, even though this
33:44
Speaker 1: duty had been specified on the list of assignments which
33:47
Speaker 1: were accidentally shipped to Whipkey's family with his personal belongings.
33:51
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lewis had testified on Whipkey's behalf at
33:55
Speaker 1: the three day hearing, but claimed that he ran into
33:57
Speaker 1: some issues. A short time later an audit from the IRS,
34:02
Speaker 1: Lewis also received a phone call from a man identifying
34:05
Speaker 1: himself as an agent from the Department of Defense, who
34:08
Speaker 1: asked a number of questions about the Whipkey case, But
34:11
Speaker 1: when Lewis contacted the DoD later on, they maintained that
34:14
Speaker 1: none of their agents had ever phoned him, so Lewis
34:17
Speaker 1: never found out who the caller really was. This story
34:20
Speaker 1: would be featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, which
34:23
Speaker 1: aired in April of nineteen ninety one and featured interviews
34:26
Speaker 1: with Lewis and Carl Whipkey. Carl hoped that someone who
34:29
Speaker 1: had been stationed with Paul at Fort Ord might remember
34:32
Speaker 1: something and come forward with new information, but this never
34:35
Speaker 1: took place, so after more than sixty four years, Paul
34:38
Speaker 1: Whipkey is still a missing person, and his disappearance continues
34:42
Speaker 1: to remain shrouded in mystery. So I guess you could
34:45
Speaker 1: say the path wait Chili.
34:48
Speaker 2: I think what we said earlier that this is just bittersweet. Yes,
34:51
Speaker 2: it's changed from a wall which is a disgrace to you,
34:56
Speaker 2: missing the line of duty or the acknowledging the significance
35:00
Speaker 2: service that Paul gave to the military. But when you
35:03
Speaker 2: start looking at this idea that you know you changed it,
35:07
Speaker 2: but we still have no explanation for what happened. They
35:10
Speaker 2: never recovered a body. Where is he? It really does
35:14
Speaker 2: leave those open ended questions, just like a missing child
35:17
Speaker 2: would do, or a missing family member under any other circumstances.
35:21
Speaker 2: Is he still alive? You know, did mental health cause
35:24
Speaker 2: him to wander off, but that he didn't know where
35:27
Speaker 2: he was or who he was, or you know, doesn't
35:30
Speaker 2: understand who is what his identity is at the time,
35:32
Speaker 2: or did he go on a CIA mission and had
35:37
Speaker 2: to change his name and go into witness protection. Your
35:39
Speaker 2: mind would wander so much that it would be devastating
35:44
Speaker 2: to say, what if he's still alive and he didn't
35:46
Speaker 2: call me. What if he missed our parents' funerals or
35:49
Speaker 2: birthdays or Christmas or the birth of my child and
35:53
Speaker 2: he's alive somewhere, and what if he's dead and alone
35:57
Speaker 2: and no one ever found him. So to me, this
36:00
Speaker 2: change of classification, it's incredible in the fact that he's
36:05
Speaker 2: no longer disgraced our military because he gave his life
36:08
Speaker 2: for his service. He fought to become a pilot, he
36:12
Speaker 2: fought to become a leader in his squadron, and things
36:14
Speaker 2: like that, and so you clearly know the military was
36:18
Speaker 2: important to him and he really did get exposed to
36:22
Speaker 2: things that why they denied it, I don't know why
36:25
Speaker 2: it wasn't in his records, I don't know. But everyone's
36:28
Speaker 2: aware that he served time with these nuclear testing sites
36:32
Speaker 2: and he paid for it with his physical health. So
36:35
Speaker 2: when you look at it, I want to know where
36:37
Speaker 2: he is. You want the family to have that body
36:40
Speaker 2: to lay at rest. You want them to be able
36:42
Speaker 2: to say, this is exactly what happened to him. We
36:45
Speaker 2: know for a fact, you know he's deceased or he's alive,
36:48
Speaker 2: And unfortunately they're just not going to get that. This
36:50
Speaker 2: was in the fifties, in the eighties they made significant progress,
36:54
Speaker 2: but we're talking about twenty twenty four now in a case,
36:57
Speaker 2: like Robin said, didn't receive a lot of attention. It's
37:00
Speaker 2: really frustrating as much as it's rewarding that they changed
37:03
Speaker 2: the status, it's frustrating.
37:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, And even though un saw mysteries generally would feature
37:08
Speaker 1: missing persons cases from so many decades earlier, I know
37:12
Speaker 1: that in nineteen ninety one there was still a chance
37:15
Speaker 1: that someone who knew Paul or have been serving with
37:17
Speaker 1: him might still be alive and could come forward with
37:20
Speaker 1: new information that offered insight into what happened to him.
37:23
Speaker 1: But that never happened, and I think the chances of
37:26
Speaker 1: anyone who knew Paul being still alive in twenty twenty
37:29
Speaker 1: four are very remote, So I don't know if his
37:32
Speaker 1: family will ever receive conclusive answers, But it is frustrating
37:36
Speaker 1: because there are signs that he could have had a
37:38
Speaker 1: mental breakdown and just drove out into Death Valley and
37:41
Speaker 1: wandered off and died of the severe heat. But he
37:45
Speaker 1: also checked into a motel when he left the base,
37:47
Speaker 1: so it seemed like he had some sort of purpose,
37:49
Speaker 1: that he had a reason for being there. And there's
37:52
Speaker 1: a good reason to think that the army knew an
37:54
Speaker 1: awful lot, knew a lot more than they were letting on,
37:58
Speaker 1: and just refused to share with Paul's family. And I
38:01
Speaker 1: remember Carl Whipkey's on Saw Mysteries interview. He said that
38:05
Speaker 1: I will if we find out that Paul Lot died
38:07
Speaker 1: in the line of duty while serving his country on
38:09
Speaker 1: some sort of secret mission. That's okay, Well, accept that
38:13
Speaker 1: we like the idea of knowing that Paul died a
38:15
Speaker 1: hero like helping his country, but to not know is
38:18
Speaker 1: just so frustrating. And even if they don't want to
38:21
Speaker 1: tell us the details, at least confirm if he's dead
38:23
Speaker 1: or alive. So this would be a good time to
38:25
Speaker 1: bring an end to part one. So join us next
38:28
Speaker 1: week as we present part two of our series about
38:30
Speaker 1: the disappearance of Paul Whipkey.
38:33
Speaker 4: Robin, do you want to tell us a little bit
38:34
Speaker 4: about the Trail Went Cold Patreon?
38:36
Speaker 1: Yes, The Trail Cold Patreon has been around for three
38:39
Speaker 1: years now, and we offer these standard bonus features like
38:43
Speaker 1: early ad free episodes, and I also send out stickers
38:46
Speaker 1: and sign thank you cards to anyone who signs up
38:49
Speaker 1: with us on Patreon if you join our five dollars
38:51
Speaker 1: tier Tier two. We also offer monthly bonus episodes in
38:56
Speaker 1: which I talk about cases which are not featured on
38:59
Speaker 1: The Trail Went Old's original feed, so they're exclusive to
39:02
Speaker 1: Patreon and if you join our highest tier, Tier three,
39:05
Speaker 1: the ten dollars tier. One of the features we offer
39:08
Speaker 1: is a audio commentary track over classic episodes of Unsawd Mysteries,
39:12
Speaker 1: where you can download an audio file and then boot
39:15
Speaker 1: up the original Unsolved Mysteries episode on Amazon Prime or
39:19
Speaker 1: YouTube and play it with my audio commentary playing in
39:22
Speaker 1: the background, where I just provide trivia and factoids about
39:25
Speaker 1: the cases featured in this episode. And incidentally, the very
39:29
Speaker 1: first episode that I did a commentary track over was
39:32
Speaker 1: the episode featuring this case. So if you want to
39:34
Speaker 1: download a commentary track in which I make more smart
39:37
Speaker 1: ass remarks about Jewel Kaylor, then be sure to join
39:40
Speaker 1: Tier three.
39:41
Speaker 4: So I want to let you know a little bit
39:43
Speaker 4: about the Jewels and Nashty patreons. So there's early ad
39:46
Speaker 4: free episodes of The Path Went Chili. We've got our
39:49
Speaker 4: Path Went Chili mini's, which are always over an hour,
39:52
Speaker 4: so they're not very mini, but they're just too short
39:54
Speaker 4: to turn into a series, and we're really enjoying doing those.
39:57
Speaker 4: So we hope you'll check out those patreons.
39:59
Speaker 3: We'll link them in the show notes.
40:01
Speaker 1: So I want to thank you all for listening, and
40:03
Speaker 1: any chance you have to share us on social media
40:05
Speaker 1: with a friend or to rate and review is greatly appreciated.
40:09
Speaker 1: You can email us at the Pathwentchili at gmail dot com.
40:12
Speaker 1: You can reach us on Twitter at the Pathwink. So
40:15
Speaker 1: until next time, be sure to bundle up because cold
40:17
Speaker 1: trails and chili pass call for warm clothing.
40:20
Speaker 3: Music by Paul Rich from the podcast Cold Callers Comedy