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

Transcript

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

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share two stories about people who
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Speaker 1: found themselves in truly just hopeless situations, and in both
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Speaker 1: of these stories, the main character makes a very unexpected
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Speaker 1: decision that completely changes their lives for better or for worse.
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Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
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Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format,
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Speaker 1: we do, and we upload two, three, even four times
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Speaker 1: let's get into today's stories. One night in late August
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Speaker 1: of fifteen fifty seven, a Frenchman in his thirties named
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Speaker 1: Martin Gare was laying in a bed in a makeshift
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Speaker 1: military hospital in Saint Quentin, France, writhing around in pain.
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Speaker 1: So a few weeks earlier, Martin had fought in this
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Speaker 1: massive battle between the French and Spanish armies, and it
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Speaker 1: had been this just horrible, bloody, violent battle, and during it,
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Speaker 1: Martin had been wounded very severely.
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Speaker 2: In fact, he had lost his leg.
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Speaker 1: Now, this injury was obviously just devastating and very painful,
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Speaker 1: but Martin also knew he was just lucky to be
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Speaker 1: alive here. The doctors who had treated him at one
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Speaker 1: point had seemed certain that he was going to die,
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Speaker 1: So Martin and his doctors were all very surprised when
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Speaker 1: he didn't die and he pulled through and survived. And
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Speaker 1: Martin knew that a lot of his comrades who'd already
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Speaker 1: left Saint And by this point and moved on with
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Speaker 1: the army or gone back home, they very likely thought
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Speaker 1: that he had died, given how bad it looked. But
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Speaker 1: he was alive and and a lot of pain, and
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Speaker 1: really more than that, he was just like sort of devastated.
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Speaker 1: I mean, he was incredibly lonely. You know, all of
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Speaker 1: his army mats had basically left the hospital or just
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Speaker 1: moved on with their careers, or they'd gone home, and
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Speaker 1: he was still here, you know, unable to leave the hospital.
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Speaker 1: And he has this injury too, like he he hasn't
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Speaker 1: really gotten used to life without the use of his
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Speaker 1: leg and so his whole world has come crashing down.
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Speaker 2: He's sort of by himself, you know.
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Speaker 1: All he has is the few army doctors who periodically
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Speaker 1: come over and check on him. But beyond those people,
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Speaker 1: he was just isolated and sort of trapped with these
2:42
Speaker 1: awful thoughts in his head twenty four to seven. And
2:44
Speaker 1: eventually these spiraling thoughts became really like the worst thing
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Speaker 1: he was dealing with, Like they surpassed the actual physical
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Speaker 1: pain he was dealing with. It was just this incredible
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Speaker 1: depression that had set in so Martin. He had grown
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Speaker 1: up in this small rural village in southern France called
3:01
Speaker 1: Artie God and he had gotten married at a very
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Speaker 1: young age to a woman named Bertrand, and they had
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Speaker 1: loved each other very much, and they had.
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Speaker 2: A son together.
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Speaker 1: However, Martin had sort of completely messed up his life
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Speaker 1: when he stole some grain from his father and had
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Speaker 1: to literally flee town. Stealing, especially from a family member
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Speaker 1: at the time, was not only criminal, but really quite shameful,
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Speaker 1: and Martin had been so afraid of what people would
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Speaker 1: say and what they would think of him that he
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Speaker 1: decided not to face them at all, and he just
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Speaker 1: left Artie God leaving behind Bertrand and his son and
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Speaker 1: his whole life. Now, initially after he had sort of
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Speaker 1: run away, he had considered going back and just saying
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Speaker 1: he was sorry and accepting whatever punishment he'd be given,
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Speaker 1: but he was always too scared to do it, and
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Speaker 1: so he just didn't. And then before long he got
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Speaker 1: caught up in this war, and then years had passed by.
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Speaker 1: It's like he's basically just gone. He's been removed from
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Speaker 1: Burtin and his son's life, like he's just out of
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Speaker 1: their lives. He's left them, and now you know, he's
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Speaker 1: had his leg blown off, and in his mind, you know,
4:08
Speaker 1: in this depressed state he was in now, you know,
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Speaker 1: he had never really stopped thinking about his former life.
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Speaker 1: He missed his wife terribly, but he's thinking to himself,
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Speaker 1: I'm not the person she married. I'm a different person.
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Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a degraded, like bad person, Like she
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Speaker 1: wouldn't even.
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Speaker 2: Want to be with me at this point.
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Speaker 1: And then beyond Bertrand and his son, like and how
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Speaker 1: they would look at him, he also was thinking that
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Speaker 1: like he was this this thief, this this shameful person
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Speaker 1: that the rest of the village would not welcome back.
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Speaker 1: So in his mind he really felt not just isolated
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Speaker 1: in this hospital, you know, with no army mats nearby,
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Speaker 1: you know, stuck because of this injury, but he's also thinking,
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Speaker 1: I don't even have a place in the world, like
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Speaker 1: I have nothing.
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Speaker 2: My life is ruined.
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Speaker 1: And so as Martin lay in the hospital bed, you know,
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Speaker 1: having these horrible thoughts and feeling all this physical pain
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Speaker 1: in his leg, you know, just having this horrible time,
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Speaker 1: he found mind wandering to somebody else in his life
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Speaker 1: that had been very important to him, his friend Arnault.
5:06
Speaker 1: He just wished if there was one person that he
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Speaker 1: could talk to right now, it would be him.
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Speaker 2: So Arnault was.
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Speaker 1: A fellow soldier, and before this really horrible battle where
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Speaker 1: Martin lost his leg, the two had been great friends
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Speaker 1: and they bonded because they had a lot in common.
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Speaker 2: They were both from small towns in.
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Speaker 1: The south of France, and they even looked the same,
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Speaker 1: like they could pass his brothers. So they'd gotten really
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Speaker 1: close and they talked about their lives and they shared
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Speaker 1: a lot with one another. But like everyone else in
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Speaker 1: the military that Martin had been friendly with or just
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Speaker 1: worked with, Arnault had moved on. He was no longer here.
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Speaker 1: He had gone somewhere else, you know, wherever the army
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Speaker 1: sent him. And so Arnault was just yet another person
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Speaker 1: in his life who he wished he could spend.
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Speaker 2: More time with, but knew he wouldn't.
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Speaker 1: And so Martin's recovery would take a very long time.
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Speaker 1: He was stuck in a hospital, basically bedridden with these
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Speaker 1: horrible thoughts and this awful pain for weeks and then
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Speaker 1: months and then years passed by, and Martin still was
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Speaker 1: just a shell of himself, and so he actually was
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Speaker 1: moved to hospice care. However, after getting to hospice, Martin
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Speaker 1: actually didn't die. Like typically hospice care is for people
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Speaker 1: that are at the end of life and that no
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Speaker 1: longer is it about trying to save them, It's about
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Speaker 1: keeping them comfortable until they pass away. But for Martin,
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Speaker 1: he didn't die. He actually got better. And one afternoon
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Speaker 1: in early September of fifteen sixty, so now about three
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Speaker 1: years or so after he had lost his leg, Martin
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Speaker 1: sat on a bench outside of the hospice that he
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Speaker 1: had been staying in since the war had ended. Now
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Speaker 1: where he was located was actually just you know, a
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Speaker 1: few miles from his hometown, Artie God. But despite the
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Speaker 1: now close proximity to you know, his former life, if
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Speaker 1: you will, to Martin, it felt like, you know, Artiegau
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Speaker 1: could have been a million miles away. It couldn't have
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Speaker 1: felt further away for him. So after Martin sort of
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Speaker 1: miraculously he inside of hospice care and he was outfitted
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Speaker 1: with a wooden prosthetic leg and was told that he
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Speaker 1: could now leave and go about his life. Well, it
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Speaker 1: was good on the one hand, he got to go,
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Speaker 1: you know, back into reality, but he still had a
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Speaker 1: lot of health problems as a result of his injuries.
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Speaker 1: And you know, given this this treacherous stretch of time
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Speaker 1: where he had just been like stuck in bed having
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Speaker 1: these horrible thoughts, he had completely convinced himself that truly
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Speaker 1: he was like a shell of the man he used
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Speaker 1: to be, and that nobody from his previous life would
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Speaker 1: want him, not his wife, not his son, not anybody
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Speaker 1: like he was.
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Speaker 2: He was nothing now.
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Speaker 1: And so even though Martin was like better, at this
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Speaker 1: point in his mind, he sort of had resigned himself
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Speaker 1: to simply wasting away and dying all alone. He just
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Speaker 1: figured even though the doctors say I'm better. That's the
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Speaker 1: path I'm on and I'm not going to change it.
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Speaker 2: But now, as Martin sat outside on this.
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Speaker 1: Bench, he heard a voice, and when he looked over
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Speaker 1: at the road in front of the hospice where he
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Speaker 1: heard this voice, he saw there was a man that
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Speaker 1: he had never met before who was clearly walking towards
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Speaker 1: him like that was the person speaking to him.
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Speaker 2: As the man approached.
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Speaker 1: Martin, he asked him, are you Martin Gare And when
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Speaker 1: Martin slowly nodded saying yes, I am, this man's face
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Speaker 1: lit up and he explained that he'd been looking all
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Speaker 1: over for him. He said he'd been sent here on
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Speaker 1: behalf of Martin's family back in Artiga, and he wanted
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Speaker 1: to bring Martin back to them. When Martin heard this,
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Speaker 1: he couldn't believe it. I mean, he really was so
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Speaker 1: convinced that he was just destined for a life of
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Speaker 1: shame and agony until he died. And now to hear
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Speaker 1: that his family wants him back, they're looking for him,
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Speaker 1: like this was incredible.
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Speaker 2: This was unbelievable.
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Speaker 1: I mean, he really assumed he would never go home again,
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Speaker 1: and now here was this guy saying come with me,
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Speaker 1: let's go home. However, before Martin could ask any follow
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Speaker 1: up questions, of which he had many, like about his
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Speaker 1: family and what they asked about him, that kind of thing,
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Speaker 1: the man told Martin that actually he had been sent
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Speaker 1: here to get Martin and he was going to bring
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Speaker 1: him home, but first they needed to stop at the
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Speaker 1: courthouse in a city called Toulouse. Martin looked at him, like,
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Speaker 1: what do you mean, and the man explained the reason
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Speaker 1: behind it, and Martin simply couldn't believe what he was
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Speaker 1: being told. A few days later, on the morning of
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Speaker 1: September twelfth, Martin climbed out of a wagon in front
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Speaker 1: of the courthouse in Toulouse, a city about forty miles
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Speaker 1: away from Artigap and Martin he felt butterflies in his
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Speaker 1: stomach as he used his cane to climb the court
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Speaker 1: steps to get up.
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Speaker 2: To the front doors.
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Speaker 1: And then when he got up there, he took a
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Speaker 1: deep breath, threw open the double doors, and stepped inside.
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Speaker 1: And the instant he did, the first thing he saw
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Speaker 1: is the entire courthouse was filled with people, and they
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Speaker 1: all turned to look at him, and everyone's speaking with
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Speaker 1: these hushed voices like oh, my goodness, I can't believe it.
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Speaker 1: And that's when Martin realized he had just walked directly
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Speaker 1: in to the middle of a trial. And so Martin,
9:56
Speaker 1: for a second, he just stood there, staring back at
9:58
Speaker 1: all these people who were turned to look at him,
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Speaker 1: and he realized that he recognized many of their faces.
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Speaker 1: He saw some of his friends. He saw his uncle Pierre,
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Speaker 1: and some of his sisters. He saw his wife, Bertrande,
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Speaker 1: as well as a boy sitting next to her who
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Speaker 1: must have been his son. And all of these people
10:19
Speaker 1: there looking at Martin with just looks of absolute shock
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Speaker 1: on their faces, like they were completely stunned to see him,
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Speaker 1: and they're all looking at his wooden leg and.
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Speaker 2: They're looking back at him.
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Speaker 1: It was like they couldn't believe he had just walked
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Speaker 1: in here. However, before Martin could really, you know, fully
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Speaker 1: appreciate the emotional moment he was having here, you know,
10:39
Speaker 1: seeing his loved ones after over a decade, he first
10:43
Speaker 1: looked towards the front of the courthouse, and as soon
10:46
Speaker 1: as Martin saw what was up there, he knew that
10:50
Speaker 1: what that man had told him who came up to
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Speaker 1: him on the bench in front of the hospice was true,
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Speaker 1: and Martin had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
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Speaker 1: It would turn out Martin was wrong to believe that
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Speaker 1: his wife and the town of Artigas would never accept
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Speaker 1: him back, that he was worthless and should never return,
11:12
Speaker 1: because his wife, Bertrand and the town of Artigau actually
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Speaker 1: did welcome him back, or so they thought. Because when
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Speaker 1: Martin walked into that courthouse.
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Speaker 2: And looked towards the front of the room.
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Speaker 1: What he saw was his long lost body, Arnault, from
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Speaker 1: the war, and Arnault was on trial. Arnault did not
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Speaker 1: just look like he could be Martin's brother, He looked
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Speaker 1: exactly like Martin. And since Arnault really had been very
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Speaker 1: disliked in his own hometown for being a con artist,
11:47
Speaker 1: he wanted a fresh start in a new place after
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Speaker 1: he left the army so years earlier. While Martin was
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Speaker 1: lying in a makeshift army hospital so badly injured that
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Speaker 1: doctors were telling him he was almost certainly going to die.
12:00
Speaker 1: While that was happening, his best bud, Arnault, was using
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Speaker 1: their likeness and his knowledge of Martin's life from all
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Speaker 1: the times that Martin had confided in his friend to
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Speaker 1: literally steal Martin's life. Arnault had waltzed into Artigas and
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Speaker 1: told everyone there that he was Martin Gare, and the
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Speaker 1: entire town not only believed him, they celebrated his return.
12:27
Speaker 1: Arnault was actually so convincing that even Bertrand had believed
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Speaker 1: Arnault was her husband, and she had gone on to
12:35
Speaker 1: have two additional children with him, believing this was Martin. However,
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Speaker 1: one person, Martin's uncle, Pierre, he just didn't buy it.
12:45
Speaker 1: He thought this guy was a fake. He thought he
12:46
Speaker 1: was an impostor, and he took him to court for fraud.
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Speaker 1: And that trial was why the man had tracked Martin
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Speaker 1: down at the hospice and brought him to Toulouse to
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Speaker 1: help prove to everyone there that look, Arnault's an impos
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Speaker 1: because here's the real Martin. And of course it worked,
13:03
Speaker 1: because when Martin stepped into that courtroom and his own
13:06
Speaker 1: family laid eyes on him, the actual Martin Gare, they
13:10
Speaker 1: realized right away that Arnault truly was a fake. Arnault
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Speaker 1: was ultimately sentenced to death and hanged in front of
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Speaker 1: Martin's house in Artiga while the entire village watched. As
13:22
Speaker 1: for Bertrand, Martin's wife, she was horrified to learn that
13:26
Speaker 1: she had not recognized her own husband and.
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Speaker 2: That she had had two kids with a stranger.
13:32
Speaker 1: She begged Martin to forgive her, but he never did.
13:42
Speaker 1: When you were refreshing your space, choosing a paint color
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14:28
Speaker 1: in November of nineteen forty, an eighty four year old
14:31
Speaker 1: prospector named Erwin Robertson hiked down a snowy ridge in
14:34
Speaker 1: the Alaskan Wilderness. He was pushing the sled that was
14:38
Speaker 1: full of supplies and animal first, and it was pretty hard.
14:40
Speaker 1: I mean, as he was pushing this thing along, he
14:43
Speaker 1: was working so hard that he was breathing really heavy,
14:45
Speaker 1: and even though it was really cold outside, he could
14:48
Speaker 1: feel himself sweating underneath his clothes, like he was going
14:51
Speaker 1: to be covered in sweat.
14:52
Speaker 2: Now Erwin knew.
14:53
Speaker 1: That what he was doing was risky. I mean, after all,
14:56
Speaker 1: he certainly was not as young as he used to be,
14:58
Speaker 1: and he don't want to get heard out here or
15:01
Speaker 1: you know, totally exhaust yourself out here.
15:03
Speaker 2: I mean, this is the wild.
15:05
Speaker 1: But Irwin was not about to slow down because he
15:08
Speaker 1: could just not wait to get home. So Irwin had
15:11
Speaker 1: come to this area about forty years earlier as part
15:14
Speaker 1: of the Big Alaskan gold Rush, and so, like basically
15:18
Speaker 1: every other prospector, he spent every summer and every fall
15:22
Speaker 1: at a cabin up in the mountains, predominantly hunting and mining.
15:25
Speaker 1: But his real home, you know, where he really considered
15:28
Speaker 1: where he lived, was in the pioneer town of Eagle, Alaska,
15:32
Speaker 1: where he lived during the winter and the spring, and
15:35
Speaker 1: that is where Erwin was headed this morning. He had
15:38
Speaker 1: just wrapped up a very successful fall season up in
15:40
Speaker 1: the mountains, and he'd actually intended on staying in the
15:44
Speaker 1: cabin up in the mountains a bit longer.
15:46
Speaker 2: But a few days ago the.
15:48
Speaker 1: Temperature had suddenly dropped, and Irwin did not have the
15:51
Speaker 1: supplies to wade out a winter storm up in that cabin,
15:54
Speaker 1: so he had packed up his things, told the handful
15:57
Speaker 1: of other prospectors in the area where he was going.
16:00
Speaker 2: He's set out for Eagle.
16:01
Speaker 1: Now, this was a one hundred mile trek to get
16:04
Speaker 1: to his home and Eagle, and it was through some
16:07
Speaker 1: very rough terrain. And also he's in Alaska, so this
16:10
Speaker 1: is like a very rough area to be navigating. But
16:14
Speaker 1: Irwin had made the trip at least once a year
16:16
Speaker 1: for the past four decades, so he knew what he
16:19
Speaker 1: was doing. So despite really exerting himself here pushing the sled,
16:23
Speaker 1: he kept up as hard of a pace as he
16:25
Speaker 1: could manage for the next couple of hours, and then
16:28
Speaker 1: finally around midday, he allowed himself to slow down and
16:32
Speaker 1: just take a quick break. However, after stopping and reaching
16:35
Speaker 1: into his parka and pulling out his canteen to take
16:37
Speaker 1: a sip of water. As he's sipping the canteen, something
16:42
Speaker 1: catches his attention out of the corner of his eye,
16:44
Speaker 1: and even though all he saw was just like a
16:45
Speaker 1: flash of movement out in the trees, he knew immediately
16:49
Speaker 1: what it was. So during this trek so far, there
16:53
Speaker 1: was this pack of wolves that was following him.
16:55
Speaker 2: He knew they were following him.
16:57
Speaker 1: But again, this is a man who who lived in
17:00
Speaker 1: the wilds of Alaska, and so he was not unaccustomed
17:03
Speaker 1: to running into packs of wolves. He knew they were
17:06
Speaker 1: quite dangerous, especially for a guy who's alone in the
17:08
Speaker 1: woods right now, but he wasn't that concerned. However, He's thinking, Okay,
17:14
Speaker 1: they're right over there. I'm gonna take a very quick break.
17:17
Speaker 1: He capped his canteen, put it back in his parka,
17:19
Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep on moving here.
17:22
Speaker 1: A few hours later, Irwin was a good ways further
17:25
Speaker 1: down the ridge, but.
17:26
Speaker 2: He was starting to get cold.
17:28
Speaker 1: In fact, ice had formed on his beard and on
17:30
Speaker 1: his eyelashes, so the temperature had dropped much faster than
17:34
Speaker 1: he had expected, and he was starting to get worried
17:37
Speaker 1: because he knew it was only going to get much
17:39
Speaker 1: worse after the sun went down. And remember, he's been
17:42
Speaker 1: exerting himself this whole time. He's been sweating under his clothes,
17:45
Speaker 1: so he's wet under his clothes, and now the temperature's dropping,
17:48
Speaker 1: so he's like getting really really cold, and so he
17:51
Speaker 1: decided that it was in his best interest to actually
17:54
Speaker 1: just stop right now and build a fire and just
17:56
Speaker 1: make sure he was warm. And so Irwin he continued
17:59
Speaker 1: pushing his you know, keeping his eyes peeled for a
18:02
Speaker 1: good spot.
18:02
Speaker 2: To actually stop and make camp.
18:04
Speaker 1: But as he's moving along, he hears something that causes
18:08
Speaker 1: him to just stop. It wasn't the sound of wolves.
18:11
Speaker 1: It was the sound of trickling water. And much like
18:14
Speaker 1: the wolves, water was quite dangerous out in the wilds
18:18
Speaker 1: of Alaska, but in many ways, water, especially in a
18:22
Speaker 1: very cold environment like this, was like the most lethal
18:26
Speaker 1: to people because getting fully wet in these temperatures basically
18:30
Speaker 1: guaranteed he would freeze to death. So Irwin moved very
18:34
Speaker 1: cautiously forward because again, all he can do is is
18:37
Speaker 1: hear the trickling water. He doesn't know where it is,
18:40
Speaker 1: and he's thinking, I better be careful. I don't accidentally
18:43
Speaker 1: like step into a creek or something and get wet here.
18:46
Speaker 1: You know, he's already wet from sweating underneath his clothes.
18:49
Speaker 1: He can't afford to get more wet, and so he's
18:51
Speaker 1: moving carefully and cautiously, and then he rounds a bend
18:55
Speaker 1: and he actually sees the source of the sound. It
18:58
Speaker 1: was a creak that it basically completely frozen over, with
19:01
Speaker 1: the exception of a little bit of water that was
19:03
Speaker 1: sort of leaking out and sort of spilling out over
19:06
Speaker 1: the ice itself. And over time, like this water that
19:09
Speaker 1: was making the sound and leaking out, it was sort
19:11
Speaker 1: of freezing in layers on the surface of this creek.
19:14
Speaker 1: And so it was kind of like this, you know,
19:16
Speaker 1: moundy block of ice that was sitting on top of
19:19
Speaker 1: this creek, but you could clearly see water sort of
19:21
Speaker 1: trickling its way through it. And so when Irwin saw this,
19:24
Speaker 1: he realized that, you know, as long as he was
19:26
Speaker 1: very careful to avoid stepping on the frozen creek itself,
19:30
Speaker 1: that this area would actually make a great.
19:32
Speaker 2: Spot to spend the night.
19:34
Speaker 1: He could refill his canteen from the little spout of
19:37
Speaker 1: water coming out of the creek. Plus there were a
19:40
Speaker 1: bunch of dead trees nearby, which were perfect for firewood.
19:42
Speaker 1: And this was good news because by this point Irwin
19:45
Speaker 1: was so cold he was shivering. So he parked his
19:48
Speaker 1: sled and then began gathering up some firewood. But as
19:51
Speaker 1: he was going around doing this, he spotted a few
19:54
Speaker 1: of those wolves who had not stopped following him, not
19:58
Speaker 1: very far away from him. They were sort of lingering
20:00
Speaker 1: in the trees, clearly watching him, and for the first time,
20:03
Speaker 1: Irwin started to feel pretty anxious about these wolves.
20:07
Speaker 2: You know, the fact that.
20:07
Speaker 1: They were now even closer than the last time he
20:10
Speaker 1: saw them suggested that, you know, one they're still following him,
20:13
Speaker 1: but two they're getting braver, they're getting closer. But Erwin's thinking, like,
20:18
Speaker 1: I can't just continue on here, you know, as much
20:21
Speaker 1: as it makes sense to get away from the wolves.
20:24
Speaker 1: I'm beat physically, and I'm soaked. My clothes are wet,
20:27
Speaker 1: Like I'm getting so cold. I'm going to die of
20:29
Speaker 1: hypothermia if I'm not careful. I got to start this fire.
20:32
Speaker 1: I have to make campier.
20:33
Speaker 2: I just have to.
20:34
Speaker 1: About twenty minutes later, Irwin had gathered up all the
20:37
Speaker 1: wood that he would need and he piled it all
20:39
Speaker 1: next to his sled, and then he got ready to
20:41
Speaker 1: start his fire. And in this kind of very cold environment,
20:45
Speaker 1: actually starting the fire, the process of igniting the fire
20:49
Speaker 1: was a potentially very dangerous process because in order to
20:53
Speaker 1: light the match. To light the fire, Irwin would have
20:56
Speaker 1: to take off his mittens and expose his hands to
20:59
Speaker 1: the freezing cold.
21:01
Speaker 2: But Irwin had to do it.
21:02
Speaker 1: So he reached down and he bit one of his
21:04
Speaker 1: mittens and pulled it off with his teeth, and then
21:07
Speaker 1: with that hand, he reached into his parka and he
21:09
Speaker 1: pulled out his fire kit, which contained these thin scraps
21:12
Speaker 1: of tinder that he would use as fire starting material.
21:15
Speaker 1: Then he grabbed a match and he struck it to
21:18
Speaker 1: light it, but it didn't catch like the head of
21:21
Speaker 1: the match did not catch on fire, and so Erwin
21:23
Speaker 1: tried again, striking the match once more, but it didn't light.
21:27
Speaker 1: And again he just kept trying over and over, and
21:29
Speaker 1: eventually he just snapped the match in half.
21:32
Speaker 2: Now Erwin didn't panic because he knew that, you know.
21:34
Speaker 1: In extreme cold, some matches light better than others and
21:38
Speaker 1: some don't even light at all, and he had seen
21:40
Speaker 1: this happen before, so he wasn't panicking. Instead, he pulled
21:43
Speaker 1: off his other mitton to make sure he had max
21:45
Speaker 1: dexterity here, and he took out the other match and
21:49
Speaker 1: he held the thing he was striking it against, and
21:51
Speaker 1: he struck the second match, thinking this one will light,
21:55
Speaker 1: but it didn't, and he tried again and again, and
21:57
Speaker 1: he's starting to get a little panicked when finally he
22:00
Speaker 1: strikes the match and this one does catch. But by
22:04
Speaker 1: this point he's now had his naked hands exposed to
22:07
Speaker 1: the unbelievably cold temperatures for over a minute, and his
22:11
Speaker 1: hands were like starting to seize up from the cold.
22:14
Speaker 1: They were shaking, in fact, so badly from the cold
22:17
Speaker 1: that even though he's got this light, his hands shook
22:20
Speaker 1: so much that by the time he transferred it to
22:22
Speaker 1: the tinder, the shaking caused it to extinguish. It was out,
22:26
Speaker 1: And at this point Irwin did start to panic because
22:29
Speaker 1: his hands are in so much pain and they're so
22:32
Speaker 1: stiff from the cold that he was afraid that even
22:34
Speaker 1: if he put his mittens back on his hands, they
22:37
Speaker 1: wouldn't warm up fast enough for him to then remove
22:40
Speaker 1: his mitten and tried this whole fire thing again. He
22:42
Speaker 1: really needed the fire in order to warm his hands,
22:45
Speaker 1: but obviously he needs his hands to make the fire,
22:48
Speaker 1: and so he's got a problem here.
22:50
Speaker 2: So Irwin, who was not.
22:51
Speaker 1: One to give up easily, he just gritted his teeth
22:54
Speaker 1: and with his you know, failing hands. He just reached
22:57
Speaker 1: down and you know, fumbled and grabbed a third match, thinking,
23:00
Speaker 1: I gotta light this one. I gotta start this fire
23:02
Speaker 1: to warm my hands up, to warm my whole body up.
23:05
Speaker 2: I gotta do this. And so he's got this third match.
23:08
Speaker 1: He's barely able to hold it, and it took all
23:10
Speaker 1: his focus just not to drop it. But finally he
23:13
Speaker 1: managed to scrape it against the side of this match book,
23:16
Speaker 1: and to his relief, it did catch. And so immediately Irwin,
23:20
Speaker 1: very carefully, you know, kind of sheltered this little flame
23:23
Speaker 1: and he carried it over to the tinder and he
23:25
Speaker 1: put the flame on the tinder, but nothing happened. Erwin
23:30
Speaker 1: waited for the bundle to catch fire, but it just
23:32
Speaker 1: it didn't, and then the flame, the match just burned out.
23:37
Speaker 2: And for a long moment, Irwin.
23:38
Speaker 1: Just stared at this scene in front of him in confusion.
23:42
Speaker 1: He didn't understand because he knew that this time he
23:45
Speaker 1: had done it all right. He had lit the match,
23:47
Speaker 1: he put it on the tinder. He had done this
23:49
Speaker 1: so many times before, but it's just not working. But
23:52
Speaker 1: then he looked more closely at the tinder, and his
23:55
Speaker 1: heart just sank because he knew that the situation he
23:58
Speaker 1: was in was truly catastrophic. Several days later, there were
24:12
Speaker 1: some people living in Eagle, Alaska who noticed that Irwin
24:16
Speaker 1: was not in Eagle. He had not arrived, and it
24:19
Speaker 1: didn't make any sense because he had told people when
24:21
Speaker 1: he would be there, and you know, there was no
24:23
Speaker 1: reason he would be late unless something happened. And so
24:26
Speaker 1: these folks were just concerned enough that they went to authorities.
24:30
Speaker 1: And by November nineteenth, which is almost exactly a week
24:33
Speaker 1: after Erwin had struggled to light that fire, the US
24:36
Speaker 1: Marshall's Office was out in force looking for Erwin. And
24:40
Speaker 1: so on November nineteenth, a deputy from the US Marshal's
24:44
Speaker 1: Office who was out in the wilderness, you know, a
24:46
Speaker 1: part of the search. He and his team came through
24:48
Speaker 1: these trees and he saw this clearing up ahead, and
24:51
Speaker 1: he noticed there.
24:52
Speaker 2: Was something in the middle of it.
24:53
Speaker 1: It was a sled that was surrounded by supplies.
24:56
Speaker 2: And it was set up on the bank of a
24:58
Speaker 2: frozen creek.
24:59
Speaker 1: And immediately the deputy thought like this could be Erwin's sled,
25:03
Speaker 1: he could be nearby, and so he and his men
25:06
Speaker 1: they rush down to this sled and they look around
25:09
Speaker 1: and they see there's like a rifle propped up against
25:11
Speaker 1: a tree, and there's this stack of unused firewood, and
25:15
Speaker 1: there's there's all this tinder and a bunch of matches
25:17
Speaker 1: that are strewn about on the ground that also don't
25:20
Speaker 1: appear to have been used. But beyond these supplies and
25:23
Speaker 1: these things they're seeing, there was nothing else, like Erwin
25:27
Speaker 1: was not here. However, the longer the deputy stood there
25:30
Speaker 1: just looking around, the more he realized what actually must
25:34
Speaker 1: have happened to Erwin, because after sort of doing an
25:37
Speaker 1: initial scan, he realized there was something else in this
25:40
Speaker 1: clearing that he hadn't noticed at first.
25:43
Speaker 2: Wolf tracks.
25:46
Speaker 1: The deputy told his men that, you know, very likely
25:48
Speaker 1: Irwin has been killed and carried off by wolves here.
25:51
Speaker 1: So follow these tracks and see if we can recover
25:54
Speaker 1: Erwin's body. And so the search parties set out to
25:57
Speaker 1: go look. However, pretty quickly they realized that, you know,
26:00
Speaker 1: as they're following these tracks, that something just seemed off here.
26:04
Speaker 1: You know, it seemed obvious given that Irwin had not
26:06
Speaker 1: shown up yet he's been found, as stuff's all here,
26:09
Speaker 1: he's not here, and there's these tracks here, it seemed
26:11
Speaker 1: obvious that he must have been killed by wolves, but
26:15
Speaker 1: they don't see any blood anywhere, Like, wouldn't he have
26:17
Speaker 1: been attacked by his stuff and there'd be signs of
26:20
Speaker 1: an attack and then he's been like dragged off. There
26:22
Speaker 1: should be a trail of blood or something, you know,
26:25
Speaker 1: any any indication that a struggle happened, But no, it
26:28
Speaker 1: was just tracks, nothing else. And so eventually, as the
26:31
Speaker 1: deputy and his men are just following these tracks sort
26:34
Speaker 1: of farther and farther away from the sled and what
26:36
Speaker 1: they had found near the creek, they stopped and they're like,
26:39
Speaker 1: hold on a minute, like something doesn't that up here,
26:41
Speaker 1: Let's go back and take another look at the actual
26:44
Speaker 1: site where the sled was, because again there's there's no
26:46
Speaker 1: evidence of an actual wolf attack.
26:48
Speaker 2: There's just evidence of wolves.
26:50
Speaker 1: And so they turn around and they follow the wolf
26:52
Speaker 1: tracks back to where the sled is, and they start
26:55
Speaker 1: looking around more closely for you know, maybe there is
26:57
Speaker 1: some sign.
26:58
Speaker 2: Of a wolf attack that they met.
27:00
Speaker 1: And they're looking around and they eventually spot what appeared
27:03
Speaker 1: to be Irwin's tracks, and they began following these thinking that,
27:07
Speaker 1: you know, maybe Irwin had become hypothermic and confused and
27:12
Speaker 1: wandered off into the woods, and either he died out
27:15
Speaker 1: there or had been attacked out there by wolves. But
27:18
Speaker 1: you know, let's follow these and this is bound to lead.
27:21
Speaker 2: Us to wherever Irwin went.
27:22
Speaker 1: But the footprints they only led away from the sled
27:25
Speaker 1: like a few feet before doubling back and stopping right
27:29
Speaker 1: at the edge of this frozen creek.
27:31
Speaker 2: And so for a minute, the deputies.
27:33
Speaker 1: Looking down like trying to make sense of how these
27:36
Speaker 1: tracks just stop right here, like did they miss something
27:39
Speaker 1: like where did Irwin go? But then the deputy just
27:42
Speaker 1: literally looked at the creek towards the center of this
27:46
Speaker 1: frozen creek, which to that point he hadn't really been
27:48
Speaker 1: focusing on. It was like all the things on the land.
27:51
Speaker 1: Now he's looking at the creek itself, and suddenly he
27:55
Speaker 1: knew what happened to Irwin. So a week earlier, on
27:59
Speaker 1: the night that when he's trying to start this fire,
28:01
Speaker 1: he's desperate, he's becoming hypothermic, the wolves are nearby. He
28:05
Speaker 1: finally strikes that third match. He gets it to light,
28:07
Speaker 1: but the tinder won't light because the tender was wet.
28:11
Speaker 1: We can assume the reason it was wet is because
28:13
Speaker 1: he kept his fire kit inside of his parka and
28:16
Speaker 1: he was working so hard with that sled. He was
28:18
Speaker 1: sweating so much that he's sweat on the tinder and
28:21
Speaker 1: he soaked it. And so now he does.
28:23
Speaker 2: Not have a way to start a fire.
28:25
Speaker 1: He cannot make fire without fire. He is going to
28:29
Speaker 1: freeze to death. There's no two ways about it. He
28:31
Speaker 1: is a veteran of the Alaskan wilderness. He knows he's doomed.
28:36
Speaker 1: And worse than that is, he knows the wolves are
28:39
Speaker 1: getting closer and closer. And so no longer was it
28:42
Speaker 1: about like, oh, what do I have to do to
28:43
Speaker 1: survive this thing? No, it became how.
28:47
Speaker 2: Do I want to die?
28:49
Speaker 1: And as he listened to the wolves howl not too
28:51
Speaker 1: far away, he thought to himself, I certainly don't want
28:55
Speaker 1: to die by being eaten alive, and so he made
28:59
Speaker 1: a choice. A week later, the deputy from the US
29:03
Speaker 1: Marshall's office was standing by the creek trying to figure
29:05
Speaker 1: out what happened to Erwin, and he looks out and
29:08
Speaker 1: he realizes there is a lump in the middle of
29:11
Speaker 1: the ice, right in the center of the creek. That
29:13
Speaker 1: he had not recognized at first as anything significant, but
29:17
Speaker 1: now he was looking more closely, and he realized it
29:21
Speaker 1: was Irwin. In an effort to avoid being eaten by wolves,
29:25
Speaker 1: Irwin had at some point walked into the middle of
29:28
Speaker 1: the creek laid down on his back right in that
29:31
Speaker 1: break in the creek. With that, a little bit of
29:32
Speaker 1: water was trickling out. That he had filled up his
29:34
Speaker 1: canteen right there, and he had just laid there, and
29:37
Speaker 1: the water kept spilling out onto him and gradually froze
29:41
Speaker 1: in layers over his whole body, essentially freezing himself into
29:46
Speaker 1: this cocoon in the creek, and so eventually he had
29:49
Speaker 1: frozen to death inside of the creek, but the ice
29:53
Speaker 1: had kept the wolves away. Thank you so much for
30:01
Speaker 1: watching today's episode. Let me know what you thought of
30:03
Speaker 1: it in the comments below. And remember, we have a
30:06
Speaker 1: whole playlist of places you can't go episodes ready for
30:10
Speaker 1: you to binge right now, So go ahead and click
30:12
Speaker 1: here and give them a watch.
30:14
Speaker 2: All right, until next time, see you