Trail Tales 83

Today’s stories include snubbing trail magic, spider inflicted injuries, railroad watchers and unexplained orbs. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers! For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to the week’s partners! Hollow Socks: For a limited time Hollow Socks is having a Buy 2, Get 2 Free Sale. Head to Hollowsocks.com today to check it out. #Hollow SockspodNutrafol: Get $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you use promo code NPAD. Ka'Chava: Go to https://kachava.com and use code NPAD for 15% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 1:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Cassie.

• 1:23Danielle LaRock?

  And I'm Danielle. And we've got stories for you.

• 1:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  We do, like always, on Thursdays.

• 1:28Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, we didn't make them up. You did. Well, hopefully, you didn't make them up. Hopefully, they're true.

• 1:35Danielle LaRock?

  But who are we to say?

• 1:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  These are all stories that may or not be true.

• 1:39Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know. Sometimes I think we've gotten like two or three that were, I don't know what the correct term is, like fanfiction or something. You know what fanfiction is?

• 1:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:50Danielle LaRock?

  I'm not sure if I know. It's like a made-up story about a story.

• 1:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:55Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, right. So I think we've gotten a couple of those. And thank you for your creativity. But we're interested in the real-life stuff. Please.

• 2:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Yeah, we want to read real trail tales, not made-up ones. But really, how would we know? If it was written really well, how would we know?

• 2:14Danielle LaRock?

  I know. We're putting a lot of trust into our audience, but...

• 2:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Honestly, I don't care that much. As long as it's interesting.

• 2:22Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, I care. I think I care. I do care. Okay, great. Well, uh, do you want to read the first true story today? Or should I?

• 2:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  I would love to.

• 2:34Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 2:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Mine is titled, "Not Today, Nature's Dave." "Hey Cassie and Danielle, my name is Lana, rhymes with llama. Thank you." "Full disclosure, I'm a big fan of horror, hiking, and true crime. So after trying tons of podcasts, I can confidently say no one's voice, vibe, or banter won me over like yours. Side note, I give a new podcast 10 seconds to impress me."

• 2:58Danielle LaRock?

  That's quite the honor. Yeah. Give us 10 seconds or less. We'll impress you, you know?

• 3:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 3:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's what we're known for.

• 3:09Danielle LaRock?

  That's what we're known for.

• 3:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've got a story from the Appalachian Trail that's equal parts true nature moment and paranoid city girl energy. Many years ago, I was hiking a section of the AT near Wintergreen, Virginia, back when I wasn't really a hiker yet, just someone who bought hiking boots and thought, "Yeah, I can do this." So I'm wandering along the trail when suddenly I spot a couple bottles of water. They're labeled in Sharpie, "AT hikers, this is Wintergreen Tap Water, help yourselves, Nature's Dave." Now, listen, I didn't know what trail magic was. I didn't know who Nature's Dave was. All I saw was unattended mystery water in the woods, handwritten note, and Dave?

• 3:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ah, yes, classic serial killer bait. Heard this episode before. I had myself fully convinced that if I grabbed the jug, a net would drop from the trees. Several forest ninjas would leap from the bushes to drag me into the woods, or I'd be chloroformed and dragged to a forest cabin lit by one of those creepy lights I saw blinking in the distance. Did I mention it was dusk? Spoiler alert, I didn't take the water. Instead, I sped to my car, whispering to myself, "Not today, Nature's Dave. Not today."

• 4:27Danielle LaRock?

  I love how her mind is going to booby traps and like rogue people in the woods that will abduct her. My first thought is poison.

• 4:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, me too. I would be like, I mean, it does seem like trail magic to me. Like winter green water, have some. I left it here for you on the trail, but I would definitely not drink it in fear that they would poison me and then someone would jump out of the woods and get me.

• 4:53Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, so you're comboing it. Yeah.

• 4:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, for sure. Because why poison me if you're not also kidnapping me?

• 5:00Danielle LaRock?

  Well, there is that. I don't know. I don't know. I think of all the time, you know, those stories that come up every once in a while of people who throw poisoned or tainted treats or meatballs into dog parks just to poison pets.

• 5:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 5:16Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's fucked up.

• 5:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  So it's like that for people?

• 5:19Danielle LaRock?

  That's my, that's where my mind went with that.

• 5:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  That is fucked up. I hope everyone who's ever done that is having a really bad day.

• 5:26Danielle LaRock?

  I hope they're done.

• 5:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  I do.

• 5:28Danielle LaRock?

  But.

• 5:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  They can't have a day.

• 5:31Danielle LaRock?

  I hope they have no more days.

• 5:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, going back to the story. Of course, now I know what trail magic is and Nature's Dave was probably just a kind-hearted, possibly pants optional forest angel looking out for hikers. Anyways, thanks for making a space where we can admit our brain does weird things when we're alone in the woods, even if those things are wildly extra. P S, I'm officially an avid hiker. My husband and I even honeymooned at Glacier National Park. Life changing. 10 out of 10 recommend. I've also converted him into a full-on NPAD fan and now I tell absolutely everyone about the podcast, especially the episodes reminding us why picking up hitchhikers isn't always the best idea, which is hilarious considering we listened to one of those episodes

• 6:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  literally right after we gave a ride to a stranger danger couple at String Lake Trailhead at Jenny Lake. Whoops. Enjoy the view, watching my back and forever checking the nets above me, Lana.

• 6:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, Nature's Dave probably has a heart of gold and you were just like, it's gotta be dangerous and I don't trust it.

• 6:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Self-preservation.

• 6:43Danielle LaRock?

  Right, absolutely. I don't fault you for that because even knowing if I was to come across that, even with that knowledge of this is likely trail magic in my mind, I still don't know if I would take it. So.

• 6:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's just not worth the risk.

• 6:56Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 6:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Unless you know the Nature's Dave and you're like, oh, I know that guy. He's super nice.

• 7:00Danielle LaRock?

  But then you're never, you don't know if somebody else has tampered with it.

• 7:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hmm.

• 7:06Danielle LaRock?

  Nature's Dave aside, you know?

• 7:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Valid point.

• 7:11Danielle LaRock?

  So you just trust no one, as my dad would say. It's really worked out for me. Um, okay. My first story is titled, "The Unexplained Orb." "Hello from Indiana. I've been listening to the podcast for a few years now and have always enjoyed hearing your trail tales as well as others. After almost 10 years since this happened to me, I'm finally ready to share my own crazy experience. I will go by Kay and will use fake names for the people involved since this is something my husband does not like to discuss openly. Enjoy. Thank you for going against your husband's wishes."

• 7:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Does he know you wrote this?

• 7:48Danielle LaRock?

  Likely not. "Back in 2016, me and my husband, who I was just dating at the time, I'll call Caleb, were hanging out with two friends, Jared and Steve. It was the middle of November and all four of us decided to drive out to a place in the hills by the Ohio River that was nicknamed Devil's Mountain. It would have been my first time going there, but the guys had visited before. It is known for spooky trails and a beautiful view when visiting during the day. It was wet and cold from rain earlier in the day, but we thought, why not visit this spooky ass place for fun? With nothing better to do, Jared and Steve got in their car and me and Caleb followed behind in our own. This was about a 20 to 25 minute drive from our place, so along the way, we listened to Caleb's playlist

• 8:33Danielle LaRock?

  of 90s and early 2000s rock." I can still vividly remember Alice in Chains playing in the background as I checked my makeup in the flip down mirror. Devil's Mountain is located right outside of the city limits and down a single lane country highway with nothing but woods surrounding it. Not even a few minutes after entering the country highway, there was a sudden light appearing behind us. I angled my mirror to see what was coming when all of a sudden I see a huge, round orb-like light heading straight towards us. The speed and size of this thing was nothing like I had ever seen before. It took up most of the road behind us. Then almost as quickly as it approached, it made a sudden turn into the woods and kept going, soon disappearing into the dense night.

• 9:18Danielle LaRock?

  Me and Caleb turned to look at each other and I finally managed to say, "Please tell me you just saw that." He responded by saying, "Yeah." I immediately started freaking out and rambling like crazy. I was in disbelief but felt better knowing that he saw it too in his rearview mirror. He let me ramble for a few more seconds before telling me to stop and to not talk about it anymore.

• 9:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  He's like, "Shh, stop it."

• 9:41Danielle LaRock?

  I need a few, I need more than a few seconds to unpack something.

• 9:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  We just almost got abducted by aliens.

• 9:48Danielle LaRock?

  We need to have a sit down about this.

• 9:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 9:51Danielle LaRock?

  It's like, "Shh, shh, shh." It's like, "Are you in on this? What's happening?" I got the sense he was scared of what we had just witnessed. Not long after, we arrived at Devil's Mountain. Before we got out, we decided not to say anything to his friends. But when we all joined up, I noticed Jared and Steve acting strange. Before we left, they were so excited to come, but once we arrived, their attitudes had completely changed. They were immediately trying to come up with excuses not to go up there. Not even a few steps up the hill, Steve and Jared decided it was best to just turn around and leave. They didn't even come back to our place. Me and Caleb have discussed what we saw that night a few times, but still cannot explain exactly what happened.

• 10:34Danielle LaRock?

  Of course, me being very curious and with a love of the unexplained and spooky, my first thought was aliens. He somewhat agrees, but I think he doesn't like thinking about what would have happened if that huge orb reached us. The best way I can describe it is to imagine a flashlight. Now think about that light, times 10, traveling directly at you in one smooth motion. I've had other experiences in the past with the supernatural, but this was something otherworldly. Maybe I'll share a few of those down the road if you would like to hear more. So enjoy the view, but check your rear view mirror for the unknown K.

• 11:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Plot twist, your two friends were in on the alien abduction and that's why they were acting weird after.

• 11:14Danielle LaRock?

  Like as a prank or with?

• 11:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, with the aliens.

• 11:18Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, like co-conspirators?

• 11:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes, because why would they not say anything and just like, oh, we gotta go like because they plot twist and they were in on it.

• 11:28Danielle LaRock?

  Well, that's why communication is key. People need to communicate with each other. Talk about what you just witnessed and unpack it together because if you're all just really afraid of whatever just happened, but you're not discussing it, nothing's ever going to get accomplished. So I am an advocate for open discussions on the possibility of potentially just seeing an alien or a spacecraft. It reminds me a lot of Betty and Barney Hill, like this scenario.

• 11:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 11:54Danielle LaRock?

  With the car and the dark road and the light and all of that.

• 12:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe you did get abducted and you just don't remember.

• 12:03Danielle LaRock?

  Well, they didn't say anything about lost time or

• 12:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's true.

• 12:06Danielle LaRock?

  Anything else like that. But yeah, best to just leave it alone. Give it space, not go after it because Travis Walton, not to, not to abductee shame, but he wanted to go investigate it. Remember they saw a light in the woods, him and his logger friends, and he got out of the truck and approached it.

• 12:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  And then he got abducted, but then plot twist, the entire world didn't believe him.

• 12:31Danielle LaRock?

  But he's always maintained that that actually happened to him. And if you want to learn more, you can go back three years in our catalog and

• 12:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  And find it.

• 12:41Danielle LaRock?

  And find that episode that we talked about it at length. I think I titled it, I always remember the titles, but not the episode number. Uh, where was Walton is what I titled it. Great. Well, I also believe it was probably aliens because I'm not too sure what else I think that is. Aside from the government, but that's a boring answer.

• 13:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Why would the government be following them?

• 13:04Danielle LaRock?

  Why would they?

• 13:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Why would the government be following you?

• 13:10Danielle LaRock?

  Why does the government do a lot of things? I'm not sure, but it's a different podcast.

• 13:21Danielle LaRock?

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• 14:06Danielle LaRock?

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• 14:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, my next story is titled "The Railroad Watcher." Hi ladies, my name is Ashley, and I absolutely adore the podcast and your friendship. I recently became an outsider and I'm kicking myself for not joining sooner. I would love your input on this bizarre story I'm about to tell you. Welcome to the outsider community. We're very happy to have you. Thank you for the love. Full disclosure, this story isn't mine. It belongs to my husband, and for most of his life, he never told anyone. When we started dating over 10 years ago, he shared it with me for the first time, and it's one of life's mysteries that just eats away in the back of your mind. Looking back, it shakes him. He didn't feel afraid when it happened, but now as an adult, he realizes how strange it really was and how lucky he might have been.

• 15:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  My husband, Tom, grew up in a rural part of Northeast Ohio. It was the early mid 1990s. The area was quiet, wooded and spaced out with long stretches of railroad tracks cutting behind neighborhoods. He was an only child then. His dad worked long hours and his mother wasn't very involved, so he spent a lot of time outside. He had a best friend down the street, Kevin, and the two of them were almost always together. Their favorite place to play was near the tracks as one does in the 90s. So true. So many train tracks I played on in the 90s.

• 16:02Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know about playing, but senior pictures, best backdrop there is.

• 16:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Uh, the nostalgia. I actually, not that I almost got hit by a train, but kind of, sort of. I remember I was playing on a plane, a train track and I was a kid and I heard the train coming, but for some reason I was just playing. You know how there's all those, the rocks that are underneath?

• 16:25Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 16:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  The track. I was just sitting in the middle of the track, just like playing with the rocks and like stacking them on the side and, and kind of throwing them and stuff. And I hear a train, but for, I'm not paying attention and I just hear my dad's yelling at me like, get up, get over here, get off the track. And I like look up and I see him yelling at me and then I look and I see the train coming right at me. I was like, oh.

• 16:49Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, right. My life's in danger.

• 16:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, right. I should get up. And it wasn't close to me, it wasn't like close to me or anything. It wasn't a close call, but I got, I, I think we were getting ice cream.

• 17:00Danielle LaRock?

  Uh, and, uh. Well, I would hope it wasn't a close call because your dad was just yelling at you and not physically removing you from the tracks.

• 17:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. He's like, come here. All right. Do your thing. But yeah, train tracks nineties was the thing. They knew it was off limits, but that made it all the more exciting. One day while they were out in the woods, something joined them. Tom described it as a man, but not really, more like the shape of a man. Believe me, whenever I tried to talk him through the description, he makes it known it was not human. It looked like it was covered head to toe in a white morph suit. Its body didn't move like a person and its face had only the faint suggestion of features, just smooth, pale skin where eyes and a mouth should have been. You know, this reminds me of Voldemort.

• 17:51Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, good comparison. Okay.

• 17:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think Voldemort is with you in the woods.

• 17:57Danielle LaRock?

  I was for the last 20 seconds, trying to think of what a morph suit is. And I know it's not the same as hazmat suit, but that's where my mind is.

• 18:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's what you're picturing. So I'm picturing Voldemort in a hazmat suit.

• 18:09Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. I like the direction of Voldemort. It feels more appropriate to what they're trying to describe.

• 18:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes. It never spoke. It never chased them. It would just stand nearby watching. Whenever a train came, it would run into the woods. And once the train passed, it would return. They never saw it walk in or out, though. It would simply just be there. For a while, the boys didn't question it. It never scared them. My husband said they started to think of it as a strange kind of friend. What? Who thinks of a faceless man in the woods as a friend? Voldemort, my friend?

• 18:45Danielle LaRock?

  Voldemort, my pal. Yeah, I don't know. Seems like a very on point little boy thing, line of thinking though.

• 18:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  For sure. They're like, this is just my monster in the woods that we play with sometimes.

• 19:00Danielle LaRock?

  And he's fine. He doesn't ever say anything.

• 19:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  He's great.

• 19:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  No one else ever saw it and they didn't talk about it with other kids. It felt like their own secret. And that was all until Kevin told his father. Tom still isn't sure what happened next, other than Kevin's dad not taking it lightly. And then suddenly Kevin and his family were gone. They moved without warning, no goodbyes. And after that, the figure never came back. It was as if it had only ever been there for the two of them. Tom doesn't pretend to know what it was. He's certain it wasn't human. He sometimes wonders if Kevin's dad knew more than he let on or had ties to something bigger. It scares him now, remembering how close they let it be.

• 19:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  How alone they were and how no one else ever saw it. I did some research on my own. Wow, the cryptid rabbit hole is intense. And I had no clue there were so many creatures with these same similarities, not counting Slenderman. The Dover Demon, New England, the Grafted Monster, West Virginia, and No Face Charlie, Pennsylvania, just to name a few. Maybe all of these creatures are the same and follow railroad tracks? Would love to know your opinion. I wish there was some clear explanation so I don't constantly have these intrusive thoughts of what the heck this thing was. Thank you for all you do. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. Not everything that watches you has a face. Ashley.

• 20:27Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Ashley, thank you for that riveting tale.

• 20:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Visual.

• 20:37Danielle LaRock?

  I don't.

• 20:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  What do you think?

• 20:38Danielle LaRock?

  Exactly. No, first of all, I can't even picture it. I'm still on the hazmat thing. I can't let it go. So it feels like I'm imagining just a person in a suit being creepy and just watching. But if they're adamant that it wasn't a human. Is there something also about picking up and moving with no explanation or warning feels like this is a serious thing? Or was it just, I hate to say it. Was it just a coincidence that they moved around the same time that Kevin told his dad?

• 21:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Believe in those, Danielle.

• 21:13Danielle LaRock?

  I know. I almost didn't even say it, but I have to ask. Cause moving is hard. You don't just do it. You don't just willy nilly move.

• 21:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Out of nowhere and no one knew you were gonna move. You just one day are gone.

• 21:26Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, but okay, and I'm playing devil's advocate here, which I usually don't, but let's just say for the sake of this story, the kids are 10 years old. I have no idea, but it's how it feels like a 10 year old, 10 to 12 year old timeframe. Do you really think that if I had a 10 year old child, ah, well, okay, I'm going to take all that back. I was like, would they even tell their kid the inner workings of their decision making for their family and moving? And all the things that were happening as adults, like I don't know if I would have been given a heads up. If we were moving.

• 21:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  I would hope that your parents would tell you you were moving.

• 22:02Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Well, that's why I'm sad I took it back.

• 22:07Danielle LaRock?

  Instead of like one day they throw a suitcase at you.

• 22:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. For me, I don't know, it feels like, I don't know, for me, I moving away from the cryptid side because maybe, but just because the family did move and the dad seemed to, at first I thought that this was going to go in the direction that the dad took it really seriously because he thought it was a man watching them.

• 22:27Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 22:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  But then it kind of shifted to that they just up and moved into that feels like culty or like someone was, someone was watching his kid and wanted him to know that he knew where they were.

• 22:42Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, good point.

• 22:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe they're in witness protection or something now.

• 22:46Danielle LaRock?

  Because.

• 22:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'd be so curious if you know where Kevin and his family moved to.

• 22:50Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 22:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  But don't say it.

• 22:51Danielle LaRock?

  No, just.

• 22:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  In public, just in case.

• 22:52Danielle LaRock?

  Privately tell us somehow.

• 22:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Just in case it's, they are in witness protection.

• 22:59Danielle LaRock?

  It's like write in and we'll tell everyone about it.

• 23:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Um, yeah.

• 23:02Danielle LaRock?

  No, I think that's a good point because if it was, this father was concerned about a potential creepy guy watching children on the train tracks. Wouldn't you think he would tell other parents?

• 23:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  And the authorities.

• 23:16Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, and that, yeah.

• 23:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, but he just took it seriously and then moved his whole family away. And then it was never seen again.

• 23:24Danielle LaRock?

  I do have to circle back to the no face thing though.

• 23:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Voldemort is only after Harry Potter.

• 23:30Danielle LaRock?

  So maybe it was just after Kevin. Oh, because he never saw it again, right?

• 23:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 23:35Danielle LaRock?

  So maybe it was attached to Kevin in some weird way.

• 23:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Kevin right into us, your side.

• 23:40Danielle LaRock?

  Kevin, we're begging you.

• 23:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Where are you? Kevin or whatever your new name is.

• 23:46Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 23:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Right.

• 23:48Danielle LaRock?

  If this story sounds familiar, we're speaking directly to you.

• 23:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 23:57Speaker 05

  Last Christmas, Al bought me a record player and since then I've gotten really into collecting records, but I also wanted the whole setup to look beautiful in our home. So when I saw the Jocuna vinyl media unit from Article, I knew exactly where it was going. And when it arrived, I was really impressed with the quality. And it's one of those pieces that's just as functional as it is nice to look at. That's really what Article does so well. They make it easy to create a stylish home with high-quality furniture at a really great price. Their collection includes everything from sofas and sectionals to dining tables, chairs, bedroom furniture, storage, outdoor pieces, and decor with a lot of mid-century modern coastal and Scandi-inspired designs. And everything is curated to work

• 24:39Speaker 05

  together, so you can mix and match pieces without feeling like you need to be an interior designer to make your home feel cohesive. If you do want some help, Article even offers free interior design services and their customer care team is available seven days a week. They also offer fast, affordable shipping across the US and Canada, professional assembly options, and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, so you can feel confident ordering furniture online. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com/NPAD and the discount will automatically be applied at checkout. That's article.com/NPAD for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more.

• 25:25Danielle LaRock?

  My second story is titled "Mount Auburn Family Connection." Hey there. I've been a listener of the podcast for a while and decided to write in after your recent episode on garden cemeteries and especially Mount Auburn Cemetery. It surprised me to hear it come up because a family member of mine was a large part of the establishment of said Mount Auburn. His name was Henry A.S. Dearborn, and as a president of the Massachusetts Horticulture Society, he worked closely with Alexander Wadworth on the design. He also established an experimental garden within the cemetery cultivating seeds from around the world. My family has always been very focused on horticulture and the outdoors, and on the property of the family home where I grew up, we had many trees that were so old, I wonder

• 26:09Danielle LaRock?

  now if some of them have had their origins within the establishment of the cemetery. Who knows where the seeds and saplings they started from in the 1800s actually came from after all. My father went into landscaping as a career and before I knew much about any of this family history, I actually considered pursuing landscape design as a vocation at one point as well. It's nice to hear about a place that's always been special to my family getting some notice. I met author Caitlin Doughty when she did a book signing at the Boston Public Library once and was equally a shock to hear her talk about Mount Auburn. Caitlin Doughty, we've talked about her before here and there, but she is like, she's my celeb crush for sure.

• 26:51Danielle LaRock?

  She's so cool. Like I, she's someone I really admire, I think. Yeah. Um, or I know. And I think the next time I'm feeling creative, I want to, you know, one of those like those prayer candles that you can get with pictures of like, uh, like, Jesus? No.

• 27:22Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, but no.

• 27:26Danielle LaRock?

  Um, I was thinking, yes, that's like the OG design. Jesus is the OG prayer candle man, but. But you want to replace Jesus with? With Caitlin Doughty. Yes.

• 27:40Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Thanks for connecting the dots. It's a bit like hearing your favorite author or podcast bring up your grandmother's chicken soup recipe. The second reason I decided to write in is because the career field I did fall into is museum work. I work for an aviation museum and over the weekend, we got a cool donation with a national park connection. We received a pair of aviation goggles that were originally a gift to another pilot from Captain William Winkapaw, who was known as the first flying Santa. Are there many flying Santas? The first flying Santa? Other than the OG Santa, who does fly? By nature.

• 28:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  So curious.

• 28:20Danielle LaRock?

  Winkapaw started a tradition that is now nearly 100 years old of flying between the lighthouses of New England to drop off Christmas packages for the lightkeepers and their families, including what is now the Boston Harbor Islands recreational area. There's even a nonprofit called Friends of Flying Santa, which keeps the tradition going today. It was his way of thanking the lightkeepers for helping him to navigate in the air all year round. At that time, aviation was a risky proposition, especially in poor weather conditions. I've attached a photo of the goggles. Anyway, thanks for the podcast, L.

• 28:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  What? That's so cool. I didn't even know that happened in New England. This is our home.

• 28:59Danielle LaRock?

  No one has one time told me about a flying Santa.

• 29:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Breathe the word.

• 29:06Danielle LaRock?

  A flying Santa that goes to the lighthouses of New England? You're kidding me.

• 29:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so cool.

• 29:10Danielle LaRock?

  I just remember seeing on, um, as a kid, watching the weather and on like around Christmas or Christmas Eve, and they'll like track Santa or whatever.

• 29:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah.

• 29:22Danielle LaRock?

  Or was it the weather channel? I don't know. It's the news, you know? And they're like, oh, he's in Chicago making his way.

• 29:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I remember they would do it based on like the time zones, too. They'd be like, heading this way next and.

• 29:35Danielle LaRock?

  Wow, we should look into this. That's really cool.

• 29:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it's kind of inspiring. So I'm working, spoiler alert, I'm working on a Christmas episode and maybe that will have to make an appearance in it.

• 29:46Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, cool. I'm excited. Well, going back to the first half of your, um, of your submission, thank you for writing in and, um, calling out a family connection. It's always really cool to hear when people comment or email in about personal connections that they have to either story locations or the people within the stories. You know, we've heard it all from like, I used to work with Timothy Treadwell's cousin, or, you know, I grew up in that house that you talked about, or, you know, I knew this person, they were my cousin, you know, whatever. It's just, it's really cool to hear people's connections. You never know who's listening out there. So if you do have any sort of personal connections like that, we would love to, to hear them.

• 30:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and we were at the Auburn Cemetery very recently.

• 30:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yes. Yep. I got to show Cassie, we were going to another, we were going to a Two Girls One Ghost show.

• 30:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 30:41Danielle LaRock?

  In Boston to go support Sabrina and Corinne. And before we had a couple of hours to kill. So we decided to stroll around Mount Auburn and it's just so beautiful there, like truly. And I know it's very well funded, so the upkeep is immaculate. But it's cool.

• 30:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's very clearly well taken.

• 31:01Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, once you know the history and how it all began and stuff, it just, it gives it another dimension. So.

• 31:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  For sure. All right. Well, my next story is titled Spider Woman. I'll start off by joining the praise of this amazing podcast that I have listened to since episode one. Wow.

• 31:19Danielle LaRock?

  God bless.

• 31:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you.

• 31:20Danielle LaRock?

  You need a prayer candle. Thank you.

• 31:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Of our faces.

• 31:26Danielle LaRock?

  Of our faces.

• 31:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Is that a new merch item?

• 31:32Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it is. I don't know how we're gonna mass produce that, but it would be so, that would be really cool. Yeah, not, I mean, that feels like we're full of ourselves. We're not. We just think it would be fun to have people worship us.

• 31:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Exactly.

• 31:54Danielle LaRock?

  So if somebody knows, so speaking of connections and stuff, like if you can mass produce a candle with our faces on it.

• 32:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Our faces.

• 32:03Danielle LaRock?

  Reach out. You know where to find us. Info at NPADpodcast.com.

• 32:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Millions are gonna be sold.

• 32:13Danielle LaRock?

  Or if you just wanna send one to, like create it and send one to us as a joke, that would also be fine. I would accept that.

• 32:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  I would accept that gift.

• 32:22Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, thank you.

• 32:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Every single episode topic you have chosen has been interesting and well written. You have kept me company on many road trips and workdays out in the forest. This will be my first time writing a trail tale, but I love to listen to all the funny, scary and adventurous things that other listeners share. My name is Meredith and I'm writing about the time I got bit by a black widow spider. I grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where I frequently went hiking and camping. This instilled a love of the outdoors that many of us at NPAD share. I decided to pursue this love for my career, which has led to so many story worthy experiences. As an environmental science major at California State University Sacramento, I had to choose a related internship to get class credits.

• 33:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I decided to work at my local wildlife rescue where I would primarily be rehabilitating baby deer, also known as fawns. I would help to capture injured fawns, provide treatment, and care for them until they were ready to be released back into the wild. What a fun internship. Yeah. I want to save baby deers, fawns. The wildlife rescue was located in rural Sierra Nevada foothills town called Georgetown, California. It's located about 3,000 feet in elevation and is part of the historical motherlode region where the gold rush occurred. There's lots of wildlife, including deer, raccoons, hawks, owls, bobcats, mountain lions, and bears. One of my primary responsibilities was feeding the fawns.

• 33:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  When they were first captured, we would feed them a formula mixture to help replace what their mothers would have provided. When they got older, we would transition them to a dry diet of leaves, fruits, and alfalfa. To gather leaves, I would spend hours at a time wandering through the forest with a five gallon bucket and a good podcast. Sometimes I would get a little worried about encountering a bear or mountain lion, but most of the time I had my boss's two cattle dogs running around nearby. Side note, there was a fatal mountain lion encounter in 2024 in the exact same area I would gather leaves at. This story is thankfully not about that animal, however, it is about an arachnid. One day, I was wandering around the woods in my long pants and ankle-high boots.

• 34:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  The area I was in had a particularly high amount of dead wood and brush on the ground. I gathered a few buckets of leaves and fed them to the fawns before leaving. When I got back home, I started to feel a slight stinging sensation on my lower right leg. I didn't mention it to anyone because I figured it was just the start of a new poison oak rash. I am very prone to getting poison oak, so I almost always had a rash while I worked there. The next morning, the stinging was not something I could ignore. I pulled up my pant leg and my suspicions were confirmed when I saw a classic poison oak rash, more so I thought. This rash had a very interesting mark in the center that looked like two tiny red pinpricks. I told my boyfriend about how all the pain seemed to be coming from that little mark.

• 35:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  With how many times I've had poison oak, I knew it was not supposed to hurt this bad. As the day progressed, the rash turned into hundreds of small blisters, and the area on my lower leg started to become a discolored red/purple. Every time I stood up, I could feel the blood rushing to my leg, and the pain would start to flow through my body like venom through my veins. Still trying to convince myself that it was going to heal itself, I went to school the next day. My whole leg was cramping and achy. If I took a step on that leg, I would feel a jolt of pain go up my entire spine. I decided the only way to get around campus was to use crutches. When I went to walk out of one of my classes, my professor stopped me to ask what was wrong.

• 36:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  I said I didn't know and showed him my leg, which had been distracting me during the whole class. At this point, I had already been suspicious of a bug bite because of the strange red marks at the center of my rash. My professor immediately told me to go look up black widow bites. The pictures and descriptions of the symptoms were exactly what I was experiencing, so I scheduled the doctor's appointment for the next day. On day three, the symptoms were just as bad, if not worse, than the previous day. My whole back and lower body started to cramp, and I tried to avoid standing up because of the pain. I was also feeling systemic symptoms like fever, headache, and nausea. Luckily, I was able to get to the doctor in the morning. Although the doctor had never seen a black widow bite,

• 36:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  they believed my theory after looking at the articles I showed them. They prescribed me antibiotics and pain-relieve medications that helped to clear up the infection in a few days. The last part of the story happened when I got home from the doctor's office. When I parked my car and reached back inside to grab my purse, I saw a spider scurry beneath my driver's seat. I freaked out and ran inside to have my boyfriend catch the spider. Turns out, it was a large female black widow spider, who almost certainly was the one who bit me. I felt almost proud that my self-diagnosis was correct, but also very disturbed that my spider had been in my car. My theory was that it crawled into my pant leg while I was out gathering leaves, and then bit me when I sat down in my car because it was afraid of getting crushed.

• 37:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  I ended up researching and learning a lot about black widows because of this experience, and I have surprisingly gained more respect for them. I used to be terrified of all spiders, but now I know that most of them do not bite people unless they are provoked. Sometimes I find myself thinking about what would have happened in the olden days before modern medicine. Would I have had to chop off my leg? Would it have spread through my whole body and killed me? It makes me grateful for being an alive, fully intact human being. And who knows, maybe I have a little Spider-Man powers in me now. Enjoy the view, but check your pant legs, Meredith.

• 38:03Danielle LaRock?

  Wow, Meredith, what a trooper first of all, to go to school and continue your life after you were bit by a venomous spider.

• 38:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like no biggie.

• 38:12Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And I know you weren't really sure, but you had your suspicions and it feels like your gut was right on point immediately. The thing about black widow spiders is it is in that category of things that I thought were going to be a massive problem when I was young, like as an adult.

• 38:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  I feel like they were, they were taught a lot. Like we learned a lot about them that we had to watch out for them.

• 38:34Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 38:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  And maybe it's because they're in New England and there's not much else here.

• 38:39Danielle LaRock?

  Are they?

• 38:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's venomous. I believe so. Not many, but I believe that they are here.

• 38:44Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, kind of like rattlesnakes we have. I think one species of rattlesnake. Yeah, it's in the category of, um, along with, so black widows, quicksand, the sun.

• 38:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Catching on fire.

• 38:55Danielle LaRock?

  The catching on fire, the sun exploding.

• 38:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Um, I was not afraid of that.

• 39:00Danielle LaRock?

  Bermuda Triangle.

• 39:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hmm, Bermuda Triangle. Yeah, it was up there for sure.

• 39:05Danielle LaRock?

  Those were the things that I felt were going to be an imminent problem.

• 39:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I really expected catch on fire more often in my life.

• 39:13Danielle LaRock?

  Hasn't even happened one time. Have you gone on fire actually?

• 39:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:16Danielle LaRock?

  Before I say that.

• 39:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Um, no.

• 39:19Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, me neither.

• 39:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like I've had little sparks from fires like fall on my jacket or something, but I've never actually been physically on fire.

• 39:26Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Well, you never know.

• 39:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Stop, tap and roll is is still important though. I do think you should know that.

• 39:31Danielle LaRock?

  No, like I understand why that was taught for sure, just because you need that information to help yourself in a situation that does happen quite often to people.

• 39:44Danielle LaRock?

  But everything else, like, I don't know, just the black widow spider, I just always thought, I'm gonna encounter one, and when I do, it's gonna bite me and I will die.

• 39:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, yeah, I remember thinking, whenever you see a spider, you're like, oh, is it a black widow?

• 39:58Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, immediately check, there's what, 5,000 species of spiders? You're just like,

• 40:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  I was like, is it a black widow?

• 40:05Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I couldn't name-

• 40:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  If it's a black spider, we're like, it's a black widow.

• 40:08Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, check, check for, what is it, the red, um, it's like a little, why can I never think of this descriptor? Hourglass.

• 40:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, on their, it's on their back, I think.

• 40:20Danielle LaRock?

  Or I thought it was on their abdomen.

• 40:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, maybe.

• 40:23Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know, either way, it was, in the third grade, it was a hot topic, for sure.

• 40:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Terrified.

• 40:31Danielle LaRock?

  Uh, well, I'm glad you're okay and you didn't have to amputate or anything like that.

• 40:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 40:40Speaker 06

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• 41:13Danielle LaRock?

  My, uh, next story also has to do with this spider. Is it a black widow? I am unsure, um, but it is titled, "The Beach Spider."

• 41:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh.

• 41:22Danielle LaRock?

  Hello, you lovely people, and PAD is about the only podcast I make sure I listen to every week. I appreciate your dedication to the stories and to the planet, and I hope the podcast continues for however long it is a positive element in your life. Anyway, here's my tale.

• 41:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you. That's really nice.

• 41:39Danielle LaRock?

  It's very sweet. Wanderlust strikes me hardest in May. In two thousand and eighteen, I planned a long and winding road trip from Missouri to California and back with a variety of scenic stops and roadside attractions. I persuaded my sister to come, saying we would only camp out in my Mercury Mountain year a couple of times and that I had customized it with removable window coverings. She is one of the few people that such a trip would be tolerable. Being the laid back person she is, I had planned out everything I wanted to do and she was happy to go with the flow. We saw breathtaking nature scenes and kitschy tourist traps, and they both were equally enjoyed. I could write a short novel of all we got to see and do, but I'll cut to the chase and set the scene of the unfortunate mishap that occurred.

• 42:23Danielle LaRock?

  I love little things that you stop at on your road trips and stuff. I think everyone has a different taste in that, but I actually really enjoy being along for the ride for yours. The largest in the world stops.

• 42:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's fun. It's like it's silly and no stress fun.

• 42:41Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. The largest, uh, we did see the largest purple spoon in the world this year.

• 42:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  That was really exciting.

• 42:50Danielle LaRock?

  Outside of Glacier, and it was so exciting because it was unexpected.

• 42:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was. We drove by and we're like, wait a second. And it said right there, the largest.

• 42:58Danielle LaRock?

  Purple.

• 42:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Spoon. Vermont has the tallest filing cabinet and the world's largest zipper.

• 43:06Danielle LaRock?

  Have you seen either yet?

• 43:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  The cabinet, but not the zipper. But I'll get there.

• 43:11Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 43:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's, I'll get.

• 43:12Danielle LaRock?

  Twenty twenty six is.

• 43:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's a stone. It's a stone zipper. Yeah, I'll probably have to wait till the spring when it's not covered in snow anymore.

• 43:20Danielle LaRock?

  I, it like bled into, I remember kind of like, I don't know, it was like a half hour from where Ian and I used to live, but was the world's largest egg.

• 43:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  I remember when you guys sent me the picture of you there and it was the best.

• 43:34Danielle LaRock?

  Like Ian, like wait. Stop everything. We have to go there.

• 43:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  An emergency.

• 43:40Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. We had finished a visit with our aunt residing in San Francisco and we set out early heading north. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and winding up the coast, we quickly came to one of my roadside stops, Black Sands Beach. The walk down to the beach was a bit of a trek, steep stairs and sand. We weren't dressed for a hike, but we didn't plan on staying on the beach long, just long enough to gather a bit of sand in a bottle as I had been doing at each beach we visited. I squatted down to scoop some of the sand when I saw my sister jolt from the corner of my eye. "Look out!" she shouts as I see a black shape of a large spider coming in my direction. Now, common sense says spiders don't really hang out on the beach,

• 44:23Danielle LaRock?

  let alone one of tarantula size and girth. But common sense is a fleeting thing when you're vulnerable and surprised. I quickly tried to backpedal and stand at the same time, difficult in the soft sand. And something is wrong. My back flares in pain, I cry out and slowly lower myself onto the beach. Now, one thing about me, if I could exist without being perceived, I would. I hate attention and do everything in my power to avoid being looked at. So when I say I laid in that cold, black sand and screamed from pain I had never experienced, half of the pain was knowing there were other people not far away that might, God forbid, notice me.

• 45:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh no.

• 45:07Danielle LaRock?

  My sister laughed nervously and brought my attention to the fact, carefully stepping on the plastic spider she had thrown and burying it out of sight. One thing about my sister, she will take any opportunity to scare me senseless. Once she realized I wasn't playing it up to get back at her, she planted herself beside me while I had a panic attack. When the hyperventilating slowed down and I attempted standing a few times before resigning myself to the reality that I could not stand on my own, let alone be able to hike back up the steep steps. I called my mom, who is a classic worrywart, and explained the situation to her, asking for advice, because what little girl doesn't want some reassurance from her mom?

• 45:47Danielle LaRock?

  Surprisingly, she was very calm and said, "Well, I suppose you should call 911 and ask them." So we did, and they said they'd come pick me up. So we waited. And while we waited, my sister scrolled through Reddit relating funny posts, and then wondered if they would send a boat or a helicopter, or come to us on foot. They came the same way we did, and my heart sank, knowing that they were about to carry me up that cliff. Let me tell you, not much is as humbling as being the reason several grown men are huffing and puffing from the exertion of hauling your dead weight up a giant hill. Again, made worse by my uncontrollable screaming at intervals from my seated position, like I was on some bizarre royalty litter.

• 46:30Danielle LaRock?

  Bless those emergency response men, they reassured me that they had dealt with far worse, and understood that I was in terrible pain. They transported me to the nearest hospital, my sister following. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of confiding to the ER doctor that I had a panic attack following the injury. From that point on, he dismissed me, pressed around my back, said it felt fine, and told me to stand up and leave as soon as I was able. I was shocked, telling him that if I was able to do that, I would have done so at the beach. He said I already had a muscle relaxer, the most he could do was give me a Valium. He left to fetch that, and I looked at my sister with fire in my eyes. "I'm gonna stand up before that guy comes back. This is not a panic attack."

• 47:13Danielle LaRock?

  A few screams and a lot of tender wiggling later, I was upright, still in pain, but resolute I'm not staying any longer. He returned with the Valium and was only mildly surprised to see me standing. I took it and we left. My sister went to bring the car to me, and I went into the subway next door to get us food. I was able to very slowly and tenderly shuffle along, but it was about this time that the Valium kicked in, and I must have been quite a sight, because the workers kept asking me if I was okay. I gestured vaguely out their window, saying my sister was coming. This seemed to worry them more since she had just parked out of sight. But eventually, we were on the long road home. I was so disappointed that the trip had taken this turn. Yellowstone was one of our future stops we had never seen before.

• 47:58Danielle LaRock?

  We did return in 2019 with a lot more of our family to see Yellowstone. But I was so injured, it often took me 10 minutes just to wiggle out of my seat at our stops. That said, we still saw more beautiful scenery and were so grateful we got to experience so much of the diverse country. A lengthy health journey later, I find I had a bulging disc and I feel vindicated whenever I think of that jaded ER doctor. My sister still sends me pictures of spiders and even gifted me a taxidermy tarantula one birthday. We laugh about the absurdity of it all and still take road trips together. Enjoy the view, but watch out for beach spiders. Bethany.

• 48:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bethany. So funny.

• 48:40Danielle LaRock?

  That is such a sister.

• 48:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Still writing that.

• 48:44Danielle LaRock?

  I would never let that go, for sure. Um, I'm glad you can laugh about it now, but I feel your pain with like disc and back slash neck injury type of things. They're so debilitating and so frustrating. And I've also been there with doctors who do not believe you, which is difficult to deal with and adds another layer of frustration when you're experiencing a medical issue. So, um, it's a memorable time, though. You'll never forget that.

• 49:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Uh, to be told you're overreacting by a doctor, though.

• 49:19Danielle LaRock?

  Oh.

• 49:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  You're overreacting.

• 49:21Danielle LaRock?

  It's like, okay, um, can we like?

• 49:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm telling you I'm in pain. You've never met me before in my life.

• 49:27Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 49:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm telling you I'm in pain. I'm here looking for help.

• 49:31Danielle LaRock?

  I just paid however much to get transported here. I'm taking this time out. I don't even want to be noticed, let alone be in your care right now. So please just help me. Um, yeah, that's awful. But this story kind of has inspired me to ask for pranks gone wrong stories.

• 49:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, that would be a fun one.

• 49:53Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 49:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  That would be a fun one.

• 50:00Speaker 06

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• 50:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  I remember when I was a kid, I thought, this isn't really a prank gone wrong because nothing ever came of it. But I had seen on TV that people would saran wrap their toilets. So you would saran wrap your toilet. So that way, like, if a guy went to pee, it would bounce back up at them. But you do tight saran wrap. So you can't see that because it just looks like.

• 50:56Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 50:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  So I tried to do that at my house, like, many times. And it was very obvious there was saran wrap there. And I never.

• 51:05Danielle LaRock?

  It never worked.

• 51:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  It never worked.

• 51:07Danielle LaRock?

  Were you trying to prank your brother, or your dad, or?

• 51:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everyone.

• 51:11Danielle LaRock?

  Every, oh, no one was safe. Okay.

• 51:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  No one was safe. Yeah.

• 51:14Danielle LaRock?

  That's such a, no one ever do that to me, please. First of all, I would probably notice. And second of all, that's such a gross, like, then you just have piss everywhere.

• 51:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, over the floor. Yeah. It's not a good, it's not a good prank. But I did try it many times.

• 51:31Danielle LaRock?

  I don't, okay, I don't know if I really love, I just heard a debate, actually, on another podcast this week about prank families. And most specifically, like, if you are to be kind of taken into a prank family, like, if your significant other's family is super into pranks, and how you feel about that, and how you would deal with that. And

• 51:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't like it.

• 51:57Danielle LaRock?

  I don't either. The whole, the conversation was actually, would you rather be, I keep wanting to say adopted into, but taken in or absorbed into a turkey trot family, or a prank family?

• 52:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Turkey trot, for sure. Once a year.

• 52:13Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, yeah.

• 52:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Let's do it.

• 52:15Danielle LaRock?

  A 5K? Like, who cares?

• 52:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  A 5K, whatever. Great.

• 52:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, don't prank me. I don't make me live on edge that you're gonna do something. I always think of this video that, you know, online now there's a lot of prank couples.

• 52:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, my nightmare.

• 52:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Do pranks on each other. Well, I remember watching this one, and this was before everyone started staging everything. This was kinda in the early, the early days of prank couples. And I remember watching this one that horrifies me to this day. And it wa- actually, I remember two.

• 52:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 52:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'll tell the one that horrifies me, and then I'll tell the one that's really fucking funny.

• 52:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 52:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  So what to do and what not to do?

• 52:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, no, the other one is not what to do. It was wicked mean, but it was so funny.

• 53:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, okay.

• 53:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Um, so the first one was this guy, they did pranks on each other all the time. And his wife had just gotten him really good on another one, so he said he was gonna get her really good next. And so what he does is he leaves his iPad at home. And he has a friend texting, he changed the friend's name into like a girl's name in his phone, and had her start texting with like photos and messages talking about like all stuff showing that he was cheating. All stuff showing that he was actively cheating on her. And she read it, fully believed it.

• 53:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  And in this video, she gets so upset, she picks up something and she throws it at the TV, and she just falls on the ground and starts crying.

• 53:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh.

• 53:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  And you can just see it, and she is just so heartbroken. And she believes it a hundred percent, and then he comes running in laughing and like, ha, ha, ha, you believed it. It's a joke, look. And then like shows her the proof on his phone that it was a joke. But it was too late. You could see the damage was done, and she was just like, you just watched this girl's heartbreak.

• 54:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, that's.

• 54:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  In real time as a joke, and it wasn't funny at all. Um, and they smashed like, she smashed like a sixty inch, eighty inch screen TV, beautiful TV.

• 54:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  All of it was not funny and I just remember watching it and be like, oh my god.

• 54:32Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, that's not, and when you bring emotion into it like that, like your real relationship or dynamic or trust or anything like, that's way too far.

• 54:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and I just felt for her really bad in that moment too, because it was shortly after I had found out a relationship, this was many years ago, that I was in had cheated on me. So I knew exactly how she felt and I saw it. And I was like, oh my god, no. Like, I just, I saw and felt and my heart like broke with her. I was like, oh my god. Um, so it was awful and those kind of pranks are horrible. You should never prank your partner into thinking that you're cheating on them or.

• 55:08Danielle LaRock?

  I've never even heard of something like that, to be honest.

• 55:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's kind of common. It's kind of common. They come up in my feed often.

• 55:16Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 55:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Where, or they'll, or there's like a pretty common one that people have been doing recently where they text their partner as soon as they leave the house. They left, it's safe to come over now.

• 55:29Danielle LaRock?

  See, don't do that.

• 55:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  With like a winky face or something. And then they film them like stop their car, turn around and like run and pissed. That's like a really common one. I just, I hate those. I think that they're awful. But the one that's really, really funny.

• 55:42Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 55:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  And horrible. So horrible. They're so funny. Is this, another couple that plays pranks on each other all the time.

• 55:51Danielle LaRock?

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  This girl, she.

• 55:57Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, you're building this up so.

• 55:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  The diabolicalness of this, the funny is, so anyway, her husband has a routine where every day that he comes home from work, he goes to the bathroom and he takes a shit.

• 56:10Danielle LaRock?

  Why is that every person, every man I've ever met?

• 56:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Every man?

• 56:14Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 56:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, so she is counting on this routine and what she does is she pepper sprays the toilet paper roll and she waits and he goes in, says hi, kisses her, I hope you had a great day, gonna go do my thing, goes into the bathroom. A couple of seconds go by and you just start hearing him say, babe, babe, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. He's like, it's burning, it's burning. And she's like, oh my god, oh my god. She's like, you need ice, you need ice. And she's like playing along like she has no idea what's going on. She goes, she grabs ice to give it to him. He starts putting this ice all over his stuff. She had pepper sprayed the ice.

• 56:55Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 56:58Danielle LaRock?

  That's way too far.

• 57:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  She's like, he's like trying to do it. And he's like, oh, my God, what is happening? And he realizes that this is because she just like starts breaks down laughing. And he's like, get away from me. Like jumps in the shower and she's like trying to help him. He's like, get away from me. I don't trust you. And he's like jumps in the shower in the middle of it. And it's just.

• 57:28Danielle LaRock?

  That is evil.

• 57:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Funny. It was so evil and it was so funny.

• 57:35Danielle LaRock?

  Uh, yeah, I don't mess with harming me physically, like.

• 57:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, I would never want it done to me. But when she brought out the ice cubes and she had tampered with those, I was like, oh, my God.

• 57:49Danielle LaRock?

  I there's a gen- an evil genius is born.

• 57:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Genius is among us. Yes.

• 57:56Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, no, the one that every time I see it and I don't follow them, but they always come up on my feed. It and this is the type of prank family. I'm like, I don't, this is not funny. Especially after the like, the hundredth time. And it's the couple. I'm sure you've seen them because I feel like they're everywhere. If you're a listener, sorry. But it's annoying. And I don't know how you guys function like this. They're a couple, probably about our age, maybe a little older. They have kids. But their whole thing to each other is they fill balloons with like shaving cream. And they hang them above like doorways or in closets or wherever this other person's gonna walk.

• 58:38Danielle LaRock?

  And they'll hide the person who fills it up and what places it will hide. And with the per- other person comes in, uh, you know, through the doorway or whatever, they'll shoot it with like a nerf gun or some type of gun. And then it'll fall and splat all over them, all over the floor, all over everything. And then they'll launch a confetti cannon at them. So confetti sticks to everything.

• 59:05Danielle LaRock?

  What the hell is that? I would be so

• 59:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  So funny.

• 59:09Danielle LaRock?

  So mad. It's not funny.

• 59:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  So funny, no?

• 59:15Danielle LaRock?

  The rage I would feel at that, you know, like the first or second time, whatever. But the

• 59:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like dumping water on them and then shooting flour at them. It's just

• 59:25Danielle LaRock?

  Now my hair is wet. Have to do my hair.

• 59:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  See, I

• 59:29Danielle LaRock?

  I have to clean.

• 59:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so funny.

• 59:31Danielle LaRock?

  Cassie, you think

• 59:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  I would never want it done to me. I would never think it was funny if it was being done to me. Ever.

• 59:38Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, this is what

• 59:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's so funny to watch.

• 59:41Danielle LaRock?

  This is what I think is the type of It's so, I hesitate to even say it out loud because I think you have to see it to and be in the right mood to think it's funny. But I love harmless, stupid, like, what the fuck is this? Pranks that aren't, like, they're just so ridiculous and stupid that it's funny.

• 1:00:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like what?

• 1:00:03Danielle LaRock?

  Have you seen the video of the, um, the, I don't know if it's a girl doing it to somebody, I don't know, whatever. But essentially, this girl goes to wash her face and her partner or whoever friend is, um, I think it was a guy, actually, who did it. He's filming her and she's like, what are you doing? Like, why are you filming me? Whatever. And she's going to wash her face and the guy is just losing his mind laughing. She's like, what is the problem? And he had taken her bar of soap that she had used to wash her face every night and took a potato and shaved it into the exact shape of her soap.

• 1:00:45Danielle LaRock?

  And he's just losing his mind. He's like, it's a potato. And she's like, what? Why would you do this? It's like, what is the point of that?

• 1:00:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's funny. See, that's a prank that I could handle myself. Like, that would be funny.

• 1:01:00Danielle LaRock?

  It's funny because it's so stupid. Like, that's

• 1:01:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:03Danielle LaRock?

  what I like. Or being scared, like, little jump scares are fine.

• 1:01:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Have you seen the one, we're on a tangent now, but have you seen the one where this girl is hiding under her boyfriend's bed? Or I think they live together, so she's hiding under their bed and he's going into the closet for something. And she has this recording of this really creepy, like, doll type thing being like, hello.

• 1:01:26Danielle LaRock?

  Hello.

• 1:01:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Turn around.

• 1:01:29Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, that one.

• 1:01:31Danielle LaRock?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:01:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  And he freaks out and runs screaming out of the room. I think that's funny, too.

• 1:01:35Danielle LaRock?

  I think it's, it's hard, though, because now in this day and age, I never know what's staged.

• 1:01:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's true. I have been doing, um, have you seen those trends that's online that's rage baiting? Where you rage bait your boyfriend?

• 1:01:50Danielle LaRock?

  In what way?

• 1:01:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  It'll be like, if, for example, one of them is like, hey, honey, what, what sport would you play if you were athletic?

• 1:01:59Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, yes.

• 1:02:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've been, I've been doing that to Al.

• 1:02:04Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, no.

• 1:02:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not filming it or anything, but I've been doing it to Al and he falls for it every time, every time.

• 1:02:11Danielle LaRock?

  Well, you gotta sprinkle it in. You can't do it too often because then they'll catch on.

• 1:02:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's not often. It's like, actually, I did it like three times in a week, one time, but now I've been sneakily doing it.

• 1:02:21Danielle LaRock?

  Pulling back.

• 1:02:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  But I remember one time I was sitting there and I was like, do you ever wish you were taller? He's six feet tall, by the way, or five eleven. He's tall. I'm five two. Um, I was like, do you ever wish you were taller?

• 1:02:34Danielle LaRock?

  Oh.

• 1:02:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  And he was like, what? And I was like, I don't know, like, you're not that tall. Like, my dad is six four. Do you ever wish you were tall? And he was like, what? And I was like, I was like, I, I mean, I love having a short king, but

• 1:02:48Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, no.

• 1:02:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Do you ever think about it?

• 1:02:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm not sure. I'm six feet tall. What are you talking? Just like full spiral. It was so funny. It was so funny.

• 1:03:01Danielle LaRock?

  Poor Al.

• 1:03:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:03Danielle LaRock?

  Cause you know, he could never do that. Like, if he even tried to rage bait you.

• 1:03:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'd cry immediately.

• 1:03:10Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, tears.

• 1:03:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Tears.

• 1:03:12Danielle LaRock?

  Backfired right in his face.

• 1:03:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it wouldn't go well. He'd have to apologize for weeks.

• 1:03:19Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he'd be in the doghouse.

• 1:03:23Danielle LaRock?

  Are where are we? Are we done?

• 1:03:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, well, we have two more.

• 1:03:27Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, right. Okay.

• 1:03:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  We have two more stories. If you are an outsider, come hang out with us. Mine is titled, The Things We Carried: Teachable Moments in Glacier.

• 1:03:38Danielle LaRock?

  And mine is titled, A Psycho Almost Stabbed Us After Our Hike.

• 1:03:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oof. Okay. Well.

• 1:03:45Danielle LaRock?

  So if you want to know more about that.

• 1:03:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hang out with us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions will both have these two bonus stories.

• 1:03:53Danielle LaRock?

  And for everyone else, we will see you next week. Please don't prank other people. But if you do, and it goes wrong, tell us about it. Oh, that's how we got here. Because I asked for, um, okay. Okay, yes. So, uh, have a great week. We will see you next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

• 1:04:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  But watch your back.

• 1:04:15Danielle LaRock?

  Bye.

• 1:04:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye.

• 1:04:17Danielle LaRock?

  Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale of your own you'd like to share, you can write to us at [email protected] or visit our website at NPADpodcast.com. Bonus trail tales and content are available to Patreon members and Apple subscribers. Follow the show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X at National Park After Dark. And if you prefer to watch our episodes, you can find us on YouTube at National Park After Dark. And as always, if you enjoy the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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