Trail Tales 60

Today’s stories include cursed stories, near death experiences, whistles in the forest, haunted babies and dead uncles. 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: @nationalparkafterdarkTwitter/X: @npadpodcastTikTok: @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! BetterHelp: National Park After Dark is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off. Lume Deodorant: Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with@lumedeodorant and get 15% off with promo code NPAD at LumeDeodorant.com! #lumepodLumen.me: Head to lumen.me/NPAD for 15% off your purchase. Skylight Frame: Get $20 off a Skylight Frame at SkylightFrame.com/PARKFor a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes 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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• 0:27Speaker 01

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• 1:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. This is our Trail Tales episode, if you're not familiar. Today, we tell stories from listeners of all different things, mostly outdoor-related, but all interesting stories. And we have a lot of them today.

• 1:31Danielle LaRock?

  All right. I'm gonna go first.

• 1:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 1:35Danielle LaRock?

  I'm taking charge today.

• 1:39Danielle LaRock?

  I'm taking charge today. All right. My first story is titled, "I Should Never Tell This Story Out Loud Again."

• 1:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, here we are. She or they, or I don't know who wrote this in, but they're not telling it aloud. You are, so.

• 1:53Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, so it doesn't count.

• 1:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:55Danielle LaRock?

  Hello Cassie and Danielle. I am a little afraid to tell this story again because the last time I did, something bad happened to me the next day. For that reason, I wish to remain anonymous to help ward off some of the bad juju.

• 2:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Sending us the bad juju.

• 2:09Danielle LaRock?

  I just wanted to get it out of the way is why I wanted to go first.

• 2:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 2:13Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Buckle up chicas because this is a long one. It all started with me recalling to my sister-in-law, Mindy, and my partner, Tom, the frightening encounter I had with a strange being out in California. Mindy had come down to hang out a few days before a planned family hiking and kayaking trip. Her first night there, we were all sharing our wildest stories. And so I shared the story of the strange being I had encountered in California and the horrible emotional stain it had left on me. The next day at work, literally the day before a much-needed vacation, hashtag vet med life lol, I was sitting crisscross applesauce on my high-top bar-style chair at

• 2:54Danielle LaRock?

  my desk. And when I got up to see my next patient, I stood up too quickly and my foot that had fallen asleep misjudged the distance to the ground, causing my ankle to roll and sprain, and I heard a loud snap. I had just broken my left fifth metatarsal, aka footbone. It was not a coincidence. I spent my quote-unquote vacation in pain and having to relearn how to navigate my entire life on crutches. Cue the embarrassing memory of me sitting on one of those sexy old lady shower chairs, looking like a fat angry Sphinx while my partner bathed me. Definitely knocked me down a few pegs and I struggled with depression during my recovery. I vowed never to speak that story out loud ever again. So why am I sharing it now? Mainly

• 3:39Danielle LaRock?

  as a warning, but also I am typing this time, not speaking, so maybe nothing bad will happen? Fingers crossed. So now you're putting it on me.

• 3:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Now you spoke it out loud, so we'll see. Let's see how the next 24 hours goes for you.

• 3:54Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I'm a little worried now. And I don't even know what this is about. It all started in like I'm getting out of myself.

• 4:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Actually, we're not reading this one next.

• 4:04Danielle LaRock?

  Actually, I need to find another one. It all started in undergrad when I was hired to do research on a lizard species in Carrizo Plain National Monument in California during summer break. I was thrown together with seven other biologists in a remote ranch two and a half hours from the closest town. No TV, no cell reception, and internet that never worked. Picture the real world, but with young scientists set at an old ranch and way less drama. One day, halfway through my time there, I spotted something behind the gated entrance to the ranch as we were driving in. In broad daylight, I saw this being that was a mixture of creatures. Body parts of different animals strewn together, resulting in a disgusting mess. And with the blink of an eye, it was gone.

• 4:49Danielle LaRock?

  I looked around, but no one else seemed to have noticed it, except for our boss Ross, who was driving. Ross asked me what I saw, and at first I played it off like, uh, some weird shadow. Must have been the hot day playing with me, because I didn't want people to call me weird or crazy. He said, "No, what did you see? Because I just saw it too." After giving a description, the remainder of people in our group started paying attention to our conversation. Ross, with a concerned face, said to me, "I know what it was. He's a skinwalker that has been following me around for a while now, and I guess he just found me here." He went on to tell me how he came across this skinwalker in Arizona, and how he accidentally helped someone find and fix a curse that the skinwalker had placed on them.

• 5:32Danielle LaRock?

  And since then, the skinwalker taunted and chased Ross wherever he went. Now, being from the Midwest, I had never heard of skinwalkers growing up, but sure enough, the legend's description fits exactly what I saw. That day, we had so many things happen. Like on the back porch, right after someone just walked across it to go inside, when they returned less than 10 seconds later, they found a dead squirrel that was actively bleeding out with no predator in sight. Keep in mind, this is an open plain with no bushes or shrubs around the house and no birds flying over at the time. We started hearing odd banging in different parts of the house with no one doing any activity, sounds that we had not heard in the six weeks prior that we were there.

• 6:14Danielle LaRock?

  You would feel or see someone watching you out of the corner of your eye, but you would turn and no one would be there. Things of that nature. We could all also feel a heavy daunting presence. Even people who were not typically sensitive to supernatural things felt it. We all got so spooked and decided to sleep together in the main living room of the old ranch that evening. I am particularly sensitive to emotions and spirits, always have been since I was little. And that night, as I drifted into those first hazy moments of sleep, I suddenly snapped into an extremely vivid dream that was so real, I didn't know it was a dream until later on. In that dream, I was in the same spot on the sofa, surrounded by my seven colleagues, all in the same positions that we had actually fallen asleep in.

• 6:58Danielle LaRock?

  The skinwalker appeared in human form in the corner of the room around 15 feet away, staring me dead in the eyes. He had on a yellow native-designed poncho and the skull of an animal covering his face. And at first, the only part of his face I could see were his eyes through the sockets of the skull. Until, until

• 7:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  There's more.

• 7:19Danielle LaRock?

  He smiled and I could see his wide horrible grin with black teeth.

• 7:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Black teeth.

• 7:26Danielle LaRock?

  This is very detailed. In a split second, he zipped across the room to directly beside me, all the while laughing maniacally. He leaned in and touched my rib cage, causing a severe stabbing pain. It felt like a knife to the chest. In that touch, I felt and saw so much darkness, evil, and pain within milliseconds. I woke up screaming, clutching my side as my colleagues scrambled to turn on the lights. I was struggling to catch my breath as my lungs were on fire. And when I lifted my shirt, on my side was a giant red mark that still ached. But honestly, the emotional pain from the visions he gave me hurts so much more. The pain he has caused in the world is unimaginable.

• 8:09Danielle LaRock?

  I can't put it into words because it's downright disgusting and disturbing. He wanted me to know that he could touch me and he could hurt me, just like the others. When I explained what he looked like, one of my colleagues, Alan, went wide-eyed. The week prior, Alan had woken up in the middle of the night and saw a fuzzy outline of a man wearing yellow, standing in the men's bedroom. His brain had rationalized that it was one of the guys coming from the shower in the middle of the night in his yellow towel. When he said this, the other guys in the group all said they had never showered past 10pm and no one had a yellow towel that slept in that room. Alan had seen the skinwalker too, without even realizing it. And poor Ross had been terrorized by him for the past few years of his life.

• 8:51Danielle LaRock?

  To this day, it is still one of the most evil spirits I have ever encountered and I can still point to the exact spot that he touched me on my side. I felt like it left a permanent stain on my soul and as quickly as his ominous presence came, it left. And the next day, the ranch felt normal again. So when I told my sister-in-law and my partner this story after keeping it to myself for years, the next day I break my foot, it was not a coincidence. I have another trail tale where I almost died in the desert that same summer and my experience with the skinwalker still beats that story as one of the worst things to have ever happened to me. So enjoy the view, my friends, but take my advice and don't ever fuck with a skinwalker. They are pure evil. Anonymous.

• 9:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow. That just gave me chills.

• 9:37Danielle LaRock?

  I got a

• 9:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't like that. I feel like we have to cleanse now. Like, we need like a sage.

• 9:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, like I feel like I need to like shake something off of me, you know, like,

• 9:48Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know. I just feel like that was really,

• 9:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Now you just

• 9:51Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know why I chose that.

• 9:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Who also need to cleanse.

• 9:55Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, sorry, everybody. Wow. I actually do apologize. I was messed up, anonymous.

• 10:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's the end of Trail Tales for today. See you next week.

• 10:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Right. Well, I don't want to say that this is an uplifting one because it's definitely not.

• 10:13Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, wait, sorry. There's a PS.

• 10:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no.

• 10:16Danielle LaRock?

  It's not bad. It's actually nice. So let's, yeah, uplift things here. PS, to the amazing humans I spent that summer with, if you're listening to this, I will always treasure the memories we created together and though life has scattered us across the country, I still consider y'all some of my dearest friends.

• 10:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  That is nice.

• 10:33Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, there we are.

• 10:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like a little sorry for traumatizing everyone again.

• 10:44Speaker 04

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• 11:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  All right. My story is titled "Near Death Experience/Survival." Hey there, ladies. As most do, I will say how much I love listening to your voices and enjoy laughing and crying to your stories. You have fueled my love for nature, camping, and hiking, and even more. I'm writing to tell you, even though you both already certainly know this, and hopefully give advice to all your listeners about how your animal-loving heart should never change, but you should always put yourself first. This is a hard story to write. It happened in August of 2021, and I'm still working through the lasting fear of some of these moments. I'm going to give a trigger warning. This involves a near-death experience by an animal. Back in August of 2021, my husband was away with

• 11:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  the military and me, and my two dogs decided to grab life by the balls and move to a remote Caribbean island for a few months. I had a fantastic time and was living on this island for most of three months when this event occurred. I happened to live at the top of a huge hill. No mountains in the Caribbean, but a hill, if you will, and had the ability to run the hills each morning with my dogs. On this day, I was doing our usual route and running a close-by hill from my house, when I heard a dog crying out in panic. My two dogs started to react as well, and we followed the sound to an abandoned farmhouse. It had a huge farm gate over the driveway, but I said, "Fuck it," and ducked under the fence with my dogs and trenched forward to find this pup a need. Side note, there are

• 12:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  loose dogs on this island that are called "satu's" as they are just wild dogs. I happened upon the scene, and it was a medium-sized dog, standing in a 50-gallon barrel, drowning. This poor dog was gassed And couldn't escape while holding my dog's leashes. I tried to push the barrel over, but it was filled with water and wouldn't move. I didn't think and I reached down into the barrel, grabbing the dog. That's when I felt it. Pain searing into my body, but my brain wasn't able to compute where it was coming from. I thought it was my arm. It made the most sense. It was the closest thing to this dog, but no, the dog had latched on, locked jawed onto my neck. I panicked and was drug under the water with it briefly before grabbing it by its underarms and yanking it out of the water and holding it so it didn't

• 13:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  rip my throat out with its weight. All I could think was, why? Is this how I'm going to die? Who would find me? How would my husband and parents find out I died? Will my dogs be okay? And get away? The flashes were awful. By all that is badass. My 50 pound dog jumped onto this dog's legs and got it off of me. Just as I stopped and released my neck, I turned to see another dog coming up from the hill and my 80 pound dog squaring off, haunches up to defend and protect us. The rest is a blur, but I lost my shoes in the attack and slowly walked off the farm property with my phone in hand and loyal dogs by my side. I managed to call for help and by every miracle and grace there is, my main blood vessels in both sides of my neck

• 14:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  were missed by centimeters. I was on a remote island and had no hospital avail- available to me unless I got airlifted, which they hardly ever do because of limited availability, which meant I had to be stitched up in a tent by one of the few doctors on the island while a nurse held me down in place with no numbing agents to help. That is like, I mean, so scary. That's traumatizing. And yes, both of my incredible dogs were perfectly fine while only missing some fur and got a lot of good food and snuggles following this event. The moral of the story is I would have still done everything I could have to save that dog, but wish I had literally not stuck my neck out. You watch those animal rescue videos online and think all will go well,

• 14:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  but the reality is that it could not. While I always want animals to be saved, I want to remind everyone, an animal in distress does not know you are trying to save it. Always walk with your phone, seek out therapy after traumas, put your own safety above all, and understand that you survived for a reason. Mary Kate.

• 15:06Danielle LaRock?

  Wow.

• 15:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so scary.

• 15:08Danielle LaRock?

  And that could happen to so many of us. I mean, we would do the same thing. You don't stop and think of

• 15:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  You see that? The first thing you're gonna react, especially you see a dog and in a dire situation like that and Yeah.

• 15:24Danielle LaRock?

  But I just like the perfect storm of just being so remote and then the limited access to healthcare and emergency services and all that and then Yeah.

• 15:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  And then of course to this dog, I mean, they're terrified, they're dying and they, I assume this dog just was like, oh my God, something to grab me or it's something to grab on to finally as I'm drowning in this bucket, but

• 15:51Danielle LaRock?

  Well, that's, I mean, people warn of that with other humans. If you're trying to rescue someone who's actively drowning.

• 15:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 16:00Danielle LaRock?

  They're gonna clam clamor on to you.

• 16:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it's like a survival instinct.

• 16:04Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And just they're in a panic and freaking out and, um, I mean, not to bring up Titanic again, but

• 16:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  There's always a reason to bring up Titanic.

• 16:15Danielle LaRock?

  And that happens in that movie. You can see it. Right. Okay.

• 16:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Leo drowns.

• 16:22Danielle LaRock?

  No, he doesn't try and pull Rose down though. He saves Rose from someone who is actively pulling her down.

• 16:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  I guess he doesn't drown. He freezes to death.

• 16:29Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 16:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Spoiler. No one has seen it.

• 16:33Danielle LaRock?

  Spoilers ahead.

• 16:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  This is a trauma I've never gotten past. There was room on that door.

• 16:37Danielle LaRock?

  It wasn't even a door. I don't know if there was room. I think they would have both died. It's a hot take, but I, it had to happen that way, I guess.

• 16:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. How else would she have known that he loved her?

• 16:49Danielle LaRock?

  What do you mean?

• 16:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's the ultimate sacrifice for love.

• 16:53Danielle LaRock?

  Dying?

• 16:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  To freeze and die in an ocean.

• 16:56Danielle LaRock?

  Right. Yeah. It doesn't happen enough, honestly.

• 17:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  More men need to step up to the save their women.

• 17:06Danielle LaRock?

  Profound acts of love? That's what I want to hear. That not dying, that's, that was

• 17:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  We don't have to go that far.

• 17:15Danielle LaRock?

  Too much.

• 17:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's a little far.

• 17:16Danielle LaRock?

  But profound acts of love stories? I would love to hear that.

• 17:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 17:21Danielle LaRock?

  So, somebody write in about that. Okay, anyway, my next story.

• 17:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Seems like a whole drama opening up.

• 17:29Danielle LaRock?

  My second story is titled spooky. Hello, hello fellow adventurers. I was told about your podcast by my wife's daughter, Kiana. I have since listened to every episode and thoroughly enjoyed every one. I listened to your spooky trail tales today, and while it's not on a trail, I hope you enjoy hearing of my experience because I still can't explain it. I live in Clamath Falls, Oregon. Crater Lake is practically my backyard. Quick backslash side story. When I was in fifth grade, our teacher had a palm reader come to class and she looked at each of our palms. I patiently waited for mine to be read. Finally, it was my turn. She gently grabs my hands and turns them over as she exclaims, well, that's odd. I start panicking.

• 18:14Danielle LaRock?

  She points to my lifelines. Yeah, it's like, okay, you're in, what did I just say? Fifth grade?

• 18:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 18:20Danielle LaRock?

  Is that what it said?

• 18:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no.

• 18:23Danielle LaRock?

  Fifth grade, like you don't say, oh, no, to a fifth grader while you're reading their palms.

• 18:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Reading their lifeline.

• 18:30Danielle LaRock?

  Right. Okay, where, okay, yeah, well, that's odd. I start panicking. She points to my lifelines and shows me that both of them don't connect to the other side. She explains that it either means I'll die young, or I have a decision that shifts my life drastically. She stopped reading everyone's palms after mine.

• 18:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  That is. Okay, one of those are two very different things to say to someone. You're going to die young, or you're gonna have a big decision that will change your life. We all have decisions in our life that change the course of our life. But like, those are two very contrasting things to...

• 19:06Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 19:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, I guess we'll find out.

• 19:08Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, we'll see what, where this is going.

• 19:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 19:11Danielle LaRock?

  They're clearly writing a story, so they didn't die young, hopefully. I don't even know what year this takes place, maybe they'll tell us. Okay, fast forward to me being about 16. We lived right by a cemetery, and I'll be fully honest here, I'm a giant chicken. But my sister is a photographer and wanted to take photos in said cemetery. We had a friend taking photos with us. After a while, I got bored taking pictures, so I started reading the headstones. I went through about 50 until I landed on one that made me freeze in my tracks. The name read Tanya D. S. I can't remember the last name exactly. Born February 25th, 1890, died June of 1914. At the time, my name was Tanya D. Snook.

• 19:55Danielle LaRock?

  I was born February 25th, 1990. My sister and my friend came up, read the stone, and froze too. It was getting dark and it was getting crazy creepy in the cemetery. My sister went to take a photo of the headstone and her camera died. We went back the next day and I couldn't find it. And still to this day, I am now 34 years old, I cannot find this headstone. We have searched every time we've gone there. I would have thought I was crazy if I didn't have witnesses. I was convinced that at 24, I would die. Between the palm reader and the headstone, I thought they were omens. As you can tell, I didn't die. I transitioned at 24, so Tanya is no longer living. So in a sense, it was all true.

• 20:38Danielle LaRock?

  Hope you enjoyed reading what has perplexed my brain for almost 20 years. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. Tevin D. Snook.

• 20:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ah, that is a way better conclusion than what we were guessing.

• 20:50Danielle LaRock?

  Yes.

• 20:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  For like, something bad's gonna happen. And no, that is, that is so telling. I feel like that is exactly what she was saying. It was like, kind of like a death of a different person and...

• 21:02Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 21:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  A new life.

• 21:04Danielle LaRock?

  And a drastic change, and that's really...

• 21:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Change and...

• 21:06Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 21:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ah, that was way happier than I thought that was gonna be.

• 21:11Danielle LaRock?

  We started one way, we ended up another, loved it.

• 21:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you. Breath of fresh air. Amazing.

• 21:21Danielle LaRock?

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• 22:05Danielle LaRock?

  go to mintmobile.com/NPAD. That's mintmobile.com/NPAD. Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month at mintmobile.com/NPAD. Limited time offer. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month, $90 for six-month, or $180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50GB may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability, speed, and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com.

• 22:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  My next story is titled, "That Time My Baby Got Haunted." No, not babies, too.

• 22:48Danielle LaRock?

  Not the children.

• 22:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not the children. Babies being haunted is extra creepy also. There's just something about it. Like haunted babies, not a baby being haunted.

• 22:59Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, but that...

• 23:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  What? We'll see if your baby's creepy. Okay. That's your story. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. My whole family loves NPAD and it's our main source of entertainment on road trips. As Albertans, we especially love the CanCon episodes, Canadian content. And honestly, I think we all have learned more about geography and history than we ever learned in school. I know the podcast has helped my oldest win geography trivia in her social studies class. We even became outsiders as a family Christmas gift a couple of years ago. Oh, I love that we're helping with trivia. Someone who has historically been very bad at trivia. I love that other people are thriving. We love the Trail Tales episodes and I'm always trying to think if I have one to share.

• 23:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  As a kid, my family spent all of our vacations doing camping trips in B.C. and Alberta and most of them in national or provincial parks. And now that I have my own family, we like to get out and adventure too. And one day it hit me that I do have a story. One of the weirdest experiences of my life took place just inside a provincial park. My story takes place at Big Island Cove Resort, which is just inside Meadow Lake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan and is on the shore of Lac de Isles. My family has always pronounced this as Lac Des Isles, but that's probably not the correct French pronunciation. Well, that's how I said it too. So I appreciate you. That was a journey. That whole thing. That entire thing. I apologize.

• 24:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  I apologize. I'm so sorry. So sorry. This resort was owned by some distant family members in the 90s and became a place where my mom's family held several reunion type vacations when I was a kid. My family is huge and loud and very fun. Big Island Cove managed to carve out a special place in our hearts because of all the fond memories there. Think making the five hour drive in a caravan of all your cousins and switching kids and vehicles to make the drive more exciting, searching for shells on a little white sand beach, playing in the beautiful lake, big family meals, and one of the funniest straight out of the movie scene moments happening one night when all of the adults were in the owner's residence playing cards and having drinks. Someone noticed the dogs outside the patio door waiting like very good boys to

• 25:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  be let back inside. The doors opened, the dogs bolted inside, running laps around the dining room and all the people in it. Within seconds, everyone realized the dogs had just freshly been sprayed by a skunk. Chaos ensued. I believe there was even vomiting. I had been here a few times as a kid, but realized when I was there as an adult that maybe, just maybe, my childhood brain had highly romanticized this place. The drive is very long, very flat, very boring, and not even all the roads are paved on the main route to get there. I've been to Big Island Cove twice as an adult. The first time was immediately after my honeymoon in 2007. My husband and I literally got off the plane from Mexico and drove five hours through the night with our printed off map quest pages.

• 25:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, MapQuest.

• 25:59Danielle LaRock?

  I remember those days.

• 26:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  In the dark to get there. Although I will admit, the drive that night was spectacular because we watched a thunderstorm roll across the prairies in front of us for hours. The second time is when my story happened. My mom's side of the family had decided to have a reunion weekend at Big Island Cove to celebrate some milestone anniversaries that were happening in the family that year. So, we all booked our cabins and made our way there. It was the year 2017, and I know this for sure because all 60-plus family members that were there received matching T-shirts, which have the year printed on it. And yes, we all wore these shirts with pride, wandering the resort all weekend, confusing other guests. At this time, my kids were really little and adorable.

• 26:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Our youngest, Jonas, was just over a year old, and our girls, Isla and Flora, would have been about five and three. At the resort, my husband Lance, our kids and I ended up sharing a cabin with my parents. Now, you might hear the word resort and cabin and be thinking luxury. Think again, the cabins are very rustic, but they did have solid walls, bedrooms, a kitchen and plumbing. My parents had one bedroom, Lance and I had the other bedroom with Jonas in a cot beside our bed, and our girls were on the pullout couch in the main room. The kids were having so much fun that weekend, even though Jonas was teething. I don't know if you know this about teething toddlers, but they're cranky. And after supper the night of the big celebration, Jonas turned the crank all the way up to 11:00.

• 27:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Lance and I accepted defeat, left the party and took our kids back to our cabin to put them to bed. We got the girls, put to bed, no problem, then turned our focus to Jonas. He wasn't settling and was having lots of teething pain, so we gave him the prescribed amount of baby Tylenol. Then, we all got ready for bed and laid down. Jonas's cot was right next to Lance's side of the bed, and I was next to the window, which was closed, because it wasn't really all that late and the party was still raging a few cabins away. Shortly after, we had all laid down and everything was quiet in the cabin, loud, crystal-clear, hauntingly beautiful humming filled our room. Eyes flew open and Lance and I shot a handout at each other and I whisper yelled,

• 28:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Lance, check Jonas. And he whisper yelled back, I am not looking over there. You check on him. I did not. This is one of those moments that could have lasted 10 seconds or three minutes. I don't know. But we laid in bed staring at the ceiling, holding hands and listening to this humming that seemed to be emanating from where Jonas was and filling the room. When the humming was over, we mustered up the courage and peeked over the edge of the bed together to ensure he was okay. And he was. He was at last peaceful, fast asleep. With his hands resting on Jonas's tummy, Lance and I looked at each other like, what the fuck just happened? And went through the list of possibilities. I knew for sure it wasn't me. And I knew it wasn't Lance, because

• 28:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  aside from him being scared as I was, he just didn't, he just doesn't have a beautiful woman's singing voice. It also made no sense that it could have actually been Jonas doing this, as it was not a toddler's voice that we heard. It wasn't coming in the window because the window was closed and too high up for anything outside of it to reach it. It wasn't coming from the party, because we could still hear the muffled sounds of that party. My parents weren't in the cabin. The girls were fast asleep in another room. And alas, it was not our phones. They were on the nightstand and turned off because there was no service or wifi available and no reason to set an alarm for the morning. And remember, these are rustic cabins. No Bluetooth or wireless

• 29:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  or anything like that. So what does this mean? What was it? Who was it? Was our baby just possessed? Did a ghost gently and lovingly hum him to sleep? Or maybe it was just tired of listening to a cranky, teething baby and took pity on us? The next morning, we may have handled Jonas a little cautiously and suspiciously at first, but after a while, we felt assured he was 100% himself. He's nine now and has never had that happen again. But he does love a good spooky story and is a huge NPAD fan. His favorite shirt is his NPAD t-shirt. Amazing. I have never been able to explain this experience or place this melody that was hummed. But thinking back on it now, it definitely had a lullaby sound. And as freaky as the experience was,

• 30:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  I have to admit that the humming was really beautiful. Well, that's my trail tale. I might write another in the future, but for now, take care of yourselves and we look forward to many, many, many more episodes. Jenna.

• 30:33Danielle LaRock?

  Well, there's only one explanation in my mind.

• 30:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  What's that?

• 30:38Danielle LaRock?

  She listed it, that something was beautifully and lovingly rocking her baby to sleep.

• 30:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And at the beginning of this, I was wondering if your baby was going to be creepy and Jonas is not creepy. So that was a nice.

• 30:51Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, Jonas, you're, you're good.

• 30:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, you're cool.

• 30:53Danielle LaRock?

  Sorry for passing judgment too early on you.

• 30:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think, I do think it was some ghost was probably, I don't know. I think of like ghosts in their past life and maybe it was the mom that you met that, or a grandmother. It feels like very grandmother-y vibes of like, oh my, like my kid's overwhelmed with their kid. Let me step in and take over and go to bed. Like, that's kind of the vibe that I got there. Like someone coming in and helping.

• 31:21Danielle LaRock?

  This reminds me a little bit, a little bit. Um, it's much creepier of, um, so I don't, I don't know if I like can say her name or not. Our, our friend, I don't know. This is hard to make up stuff. Our friend Tina that we used to work with, who used to like exploring abandoning abandoned places.

• 31:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes, Tina.

• 31:45Danielle LaRock?

  Tina, yes, we know her well. Um, she sent me a video that she took in one of these abandoned, I, she was in a morgue. And she had a bunch of recordings, but essentially so her and her boyfriend at the time would go alone and split up. And she was by herself and she was using her phone as a flashlight and she was also actively recording. And you could tell she was using it as a flashlight. She was just kind of like scanning around. It was just like a lot of empty cupboards and I don't know, it looked like a storage room. And, um, and then she like, it just cuts. It's not filming anything, but I guess when she reviewed it, she sent it to me because she's like, this is crazy and you would enjoy it.

• 32:30Danielle LaRock?

  You can hear very briefly and very. faintly, someone going hmm hmm hmm, like a little hum like that.

• 32:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, oh, that's creepy.

• 32:39Danielle LaRock?

  And I still have it because I thought it was so interesting.

• 32:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 32:44Danielle LaRock?

  But it was just like a very, and she said, it's not her, and she said she didn't hear it in real time. She only heard it when listening back on, and she was reviewing it to see if she had caught any visual phenomenon. So she was surprised, yeah, when she heard it, but it was a hum, it was a hmm hmm hmm. Little hum.

• 33:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  I imagine that was like maybe the autopsy tech when they're working just to like alone like hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm. You know, like they're just like working.

• 33:13Danielle LaRock?

  Brilliant. Yes.

• 33:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  I mean, who else would be humming? It's not the dead people.

• 33:18Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I don't know. I didn't even really think about it, honestly. But that makes a lot of sense.

• 33:32Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, my last story is titled A Horrible Impression of an Owl.

• 33:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, okay.

• 33:38Danielle LaRock?

  Hi, guys. I became a huge fan of your podcast over the past six months. About a year ago, my girlfriend got me into it, and as I have been having a lot of late night trips from my hometown to college, your podcast has become one of my go-to spooky comfort listens. My love for hiking originated with my dad as a sort of bonding experience between us. We would pack snacks and water, dress up in our favorite hiking gear, and go on a bike ride or hike through our local parks. Now, as I'm getting older, I like to seek out more hiking locations for me and my friends. One of these locations was close to my Pennsylvania home. Dead Man's Hollow was set to be the perfect location for my friends and I to have a ghost hunting hiking experience.

• 34:18Danielle LaRock?

  We left after I got off of work and drove two hours to the small park tucked behind an even smaller neighborhood. We all got out of the car and turned on our flashlights and made our way through the entrance. When I researched the park, I discovered that there were old decrepit buildings at the bottom of a very steep valley that we would climb down. What I thought would be a quick venture into the woods to find the buildings became an hour and a half hike weaving back and forth through the paths going down the valley. Always well for the first hour, with only a few direction-based mishaps, we felt fairly confident in our ability to continue down the valley. That was until I heard something that still strikes fear in me to this day. As we came up to a turn in the path, I heard one of my friends in front of me say, "Shh."

• 35:01Danielle LaRock?

  A comment which I dispelled as a joke from our friend who had previously joked that he was holding in a fart and his stomach hurt. That friend and I laughed it over, but we were quickly silenced by my second friend, who then snapped, "No, seriously, shut the fuck up and listen." I quieted down and stared off into the abyss that was the valley. Sure enough, all three of us heard a whistle coming from the bottom of the valley. The sound we heard was something indescribable. Even growing up in the country where bird chirps and whistles were as common as seeing grass, I had never heard a sound like that. The hooting we heard sounded so unique in a way that I can only describe as someone or something doing a cheap impression of an owl.

• 35:43Danielle LaRock?

  We all stood there silently, staring down at the edge of the valley. We could hear the whistling get closer and then further off, like whatever it was, was messing with us. For a moment, the noises ceased and we all looked at each other and began to strategize our next move. Of course, the friend that heard it first was the most shaken up and refused to believe that it was any sort of harmless animal. However, as we hadn't even reached the buildings yet, my other friend and I tried to convince him that it was nothing. I told him and myself that it was no more than a bird with a messed up beak. But then I looked at my other friend, someone who I had known since preschool as a confident, not easily shaken brute of a man.

• 36:25Danielle LaRock?

  I saw fear in his eyes as he showed me the word he had typed out on his phone out of fear of saying it aloud. "Wendigo." This made our other friend turn around and wish to go back to the car, but we persisted and tried our best to convince him that it was nothing more than a scary thought. Finally, we convinced him enough to continue on and we heard the whistles follow us around the turn, almost becoming worse of an impression. As we walked further down the path, we heard steps behind. Leaves and twigs breaking and our scared friend aiming his flashlight off into the woods that lined the path, only to be stopped by our other friend who uttered, "I know, I heard it too. Don't give it any attention. I'm right behind you and we're okay."

• 37:09Danielle LaRock?

  Eventually, we made it down to the valley and came across a bridge and a few other landmarks. However, it was getting late, it was starting to rain, and the buildings were most likely still further into the valley, so we decided to turn back and come exploring again during the day. As we walked back towards the path up the valley, we rediscovered a sign that mentioned something about bird habitat. But now, there was the word "scary" written in red spray paint that was not present when we first noticed the sign.

• 37:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, this feels like a person, not a wendigo now.

• 37:43Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Quickly, we gathered our things and began our hike back up the cliff. The three of us ran back up the path, hearing crunching behind us and all around us. We tired ourselves out now sprinting up the steep paths. Cut to another hour later, we made it out of the park and found ourselves joking around as we saw the light at the edge of the woods, joking that soon turned to terror as we saw headlights and cigarettes next to our car. At first, we decided to cut our flashlights and wait them out as we feared they were park rangers coming to tell us that we shouldn't be in the park after dark. But we soon realized that we had to move as the headlights turned around, revealing itself

• 38:23Danielle LaRock?

  to be a tow truck. We ran out of the woods as it drove away and we found our car sitting safely in the parking lot. As for the cigarettes, they were two people who had decided to go hiking after dark but had gotten lost, and to make matters worse for them, the tow truck was actually AAA there to jumpstart her vehicle, which had died during their walk. The five of us stood there discussing our experiences of the night and what all had happened. Soon, we all turned around to the sound of an old man across the street, who is now standing in his yard, pointing to us and asking what was going on. I walked over to explain that we were wondering if the park was open after dark, or if we Should just leave, to which he responded, what?

• 39:06Danielle LaRock?

  I took this as an invitation to speak louder so he could hear me. So I took another step to get closer to him and he screamed, you stay where you're at. When I say I have never felt so much real fear from someone, I mean it. Based on the houses and the trailers that we passed on our way to the park, I was sure that this was it, that this old man was ready to aim a 12 gauge directly at me without warning. I, being the diplomatic person I am, raised my hands above my head and backed away, reassuring him that we would leave. My friends and I gathered ourselves and drove the two hour trip back to my house to settle down for the night. To this day, I have no idea what that haunting whistling sound was, who had spray painted the sign, or if that old man had any ill intentions when speaking to us.

• 39:51Danielle LaRock?

  All I know is that we were lucky to receive no more than some scratches from thorn bushes that evening, and that the next time we visited the park, we would be hiking during the day. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. It's not just other hikers out there, even if they sound like that's all they may be. Jake.

• 40:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Interesting. I mean, that was such a recipe for something freaky to happen, you know, like just at night, you're hearing something, but you keep walking on. And I feel like there could have been a added element of already being freaked out that could have like heightened a lot of things. But then to meet someone who's also on edge, like it sounds like the old guy that was there was like maybe used to having some scary people in that area and was like, get away from me. Like, I don't trust you. So like, not to say what they saw in the woods wasn't there. Or heard in the woods, but the spray paint and stuff, not to say that wasn't something, but I feel like with the added at nighttime, you're already freaked out, kind of heightens that.

• 40:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  And then you meet someone who is also fearful. It's like something, something goes on there that you narrowly did not.

• 41:00Danielle LaRock?

  Escaped. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't, I don't mess with the whole, uh, at night abandoned buildings type of like, kind of even circling back to Tina.

• 41:12Danielle LaRock?

  Our, our good friend Tina. Um. I don't, it's just not for me. I don't like the thought of being in, I love old buildings, but especially in places where other people are probably hanging around and not doing the greatest of things. And it just seems really, instead of feeling spooky, it just feels dangerous to me in a very real way. And I, I just, anytime I hear of them or anybody else, uh, doing any explorations like that, which I know is a big thing and people really enjoy. Not only is it usually illegal, which I am a law abiding citizen, I feel like now, I just can't do it. I can't bring myself to do it.

• 41:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I, I think as a teenager, I probably would have, and I probably would have, I went into abandoned buildings, not for the creepy vibe, just to go places I wasn't allowed to be in. But, um, yeah, as an adult, just knowing, especially like in any type of city area where, where there's populations of people who don't have homes, you know, that, and drug problems that are going on and just things that could lead to dangerous situations. I just wouldn't.

• 42:29Danielle LaRock?

  Or in the woods where they want to be away from others.

• 42:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Where they're specifically leaving, like they're specifically being away from society. And then you're walking into this abandoned building in the woods where they thought they would be alone.

• 42:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 42:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Also, yeah, I don't mess with that stuff. I mean, I don't even go into you take me in spooky buildings. I don't, I don't go in them.

• 42:52Danielle LaRock?

  Not abandoned.

• 42:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not abandoned. But that's what I mean. Like the spooky buildings I go into are like the ones that you take me in.

• 43:00Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And I like to think they're nice. They're

• 43:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  A lot of times they're very nice. A lot of times they're very nice. They're filled with people. They feed me, house me.

• 43:11Danielle LaRock?

  There's beds.

• 43:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  There's beds, yeah. I have not been haunted yet. So that's always appreciated.

• 43:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  I have something in my eyeball right now.

• 43:28Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, I was like, do you have another story for me?

• 43:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  I do, but I have an eyelash on my eye and it's interrupting my ability to perform. Okay, my last episode is titled.

• 43:41Danielle LaRock?

  What?

• 43:43Danielle LaRock?

  Get it together.

• 43:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  What day is it? What time is it? Uh, it's the hot, it's about to be the holidays in a couple of days. My brain has turned to mush.

• 43:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  My next story.

• 43:55Danielle LaRock?

  Don't blame Thanksgiving on, on this or for this.

• 43:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  What else am I supposed to blame myself?

• 44:00Danielle LaRock?

  I'm not too sure. Maybe the moon?

• 44:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, is Mercury in retrograde because that could?

• 44:06Danielle LaRock?

  That is something else entirely, but I don't know, actually. Oh, I know what you could bring blame it on.

• 44:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  What?

• 44:15Danielle LaRock?

  Aunt Flo.

• 44:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Aunt Flo, yeah. I could definitely blame it on that. I've been struggling all day today.

• 44:22Danielle LaRock?

  Let's go for that. Okay, that fits.

• 44:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  There we go. And Mercury in retrograde. Anyway, my next story is titled, "I Flew on Lifeflight and Survived." "Hi Danielle and Cassie, let's get the pleasantries out of the way. My wife and I love the pod. We have been listening since 2021. This podcast helped me get through some tough times in my recent past, helped me find myself and helped my wife and me find our happy place outside camping. Now for the story. I am finishing listening to Trail Tales 58 as I type, and Cassie just asked for survival stories, so I asked my wife if I could write her story in and she said, go for it. Let me say, it is not a national park and it's not national park related, but I will bring it back to them on the backend, so bear with me.

• 45:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  This story does have some sensitive subject matter like an accident, drugs and mentions of domestic violence. My wife Erica was a wild child in her pre- wreck days, as we phrase it. She has told me several times that she doesn't think I would have liked pre- wreck Erica because she was an asshole. I didn't meet her till I was turning 26 and she was turning 22. Our love story started on Tinder, where all great love stories begin."

• 45:33Danielle LaRock?

  I mean.

• 45:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm engaged from a Tinder.

• 45:37Danielle LaRock?

  There you go. I was just gonna say.

• 45:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 45:39Danielle LaRock?

  Cassie and Alf forever.

• 45:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, via Tinder. Use our code NPAD to find your match.

• 45:45Danielle LaRock?

  Don't.

• 45:50Danielle LaRock?

  Save yourself. Don't do it. Not that I know. I couldn't. I'm just, yeah.

• 45:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Have you ever been on Tinder?

• 45:59Danielle LaRock?

  I think I downloaded it like, oh, this is the first time I lived in Colorado, like back in 2014, 15 timeframe. And I downloaded it and oh my God, yes.

• 46:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's all coming back.

• 46:16Danielle LaRock?

  Oh my God, I have goosebumps. Okay. Definitely don't use Tinder because we are, we're on two ends of the spectrum here. So you have this great love story. I had one of the worst relationships I've ever had. It was so short. It was, it was less than, it was far less than a year. I want to say it was around six months, but it's the same relationship that, remember during the Instagram, Instagram?

• 46:40Danielle LaRock?

  What the hell is going on? You're rubbing off on me.

• 46:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Myspace.

• 46:44Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 46:49Danielle LaRock?

  Our live stream that we did from the Mount Washington Hotel, our live stream is what I'm trying to say. Remember the story I told of the poltergeist kind of activity that threw the thing against the wall? When I was arguing with that boyfriend, that was that boyfriend. I met him on Tinder.

• 47:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, okay. I kind of had a feeling the second you said worst relationship, I already knew who you're.

• 47:06Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. So I, I didn't, I'm just like such a, I'm not meant for the apps, I feel like. And that was my only experience with them, but I just, I know they're kind of meant to, and correct me if I'm wrong, because you have more experience with this than me, I think, but like,

• 47:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 47:28Danielle LaRock?

  like playing the field more, like going on dates, like several dates and getting to know like a wider amount of people. Like I basically was like, oh, I matched with this person and there it is.

• 47:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, you would only talk to one person?

• 47:39Danielle LaRock?

  Yes.

• 47:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ah, such a noob.

• 47:41Danielle LaRock?

  Sorry. I apologize to.

• 47:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Tinder is not meant for monogamy at first. Like you download, you swipe right on anyone that you find attractive. Doesn't matter anything else. And then you narrow it down after that.

• 47:55Danielle LaRock?

  Well, not only was it just, I talked to one person, I deleted the app immediately after and moved in with him.

• 48:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh my God, you.

• 48:03Danielle LaRock?

  And took care of his two kids.

• 48:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  I feel like this girl, she is moving too fast for me.

• 48:09Danielle LaRock?

  Well, I'm the one who was like,

• 48:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm just kidding.

• 48:13Danielle LaRock?

  I definitely was like, realize my mistake. Oh, my God, yes, into it. Realized my mistake pretty much immediately. And then I was like, I don't know what to do because I'm literally like, have nowhere to go now. Yeah. And I moved in with him because I didn't have a lot of options at the time. And the person I was renting my room from, because I was renting a room in someone's home, and they were selling the house.

• 48:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, so you like, kind of had to get out quick.

• 48:41Danielle LaRock?

  So I had to get out quick and he was like, wouldn't you know it?

• 48:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hi, happen to have a house I can keep you in.

• 48:52Danielle LaRock?

  So I was like, oh, great. And so I, yeah, did that, whatever. And pretty immediately realized my misstep. And I didn't have any other option. So I literally was just like, hey, so I'm actually gonna move across the country in a couple of days. So I gotta go.

• 49:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  I gotta go.

• 49:14Danielle LaRock?

  And he's like, oh, really? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm like, no, it's gonna, it'll be fine.

• 49:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  We'll still be together.

• 49:20Danielle LaRock?

  We'll still be together, literally. I was like, okay, bye. As I was like, driving away, I'm like, I'm never gonna see you again. And, uh, yeah, and then like, so we broke up because I just physically left.

• 49:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, that, that happens.

• 49:37Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it does happen. I just didn't have the balls to be like, hey, this isn't working and I'm gonna go. There was also some concerns for like, my well being also, that like,

• 49:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it was just easier to just like, not get into it in person and to end it from afar.

• 49:53Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, because I was like, I need to like, not physically be here when that happens because I felt unsafe. But, um, yeah, so anyway, long winded way of saying.

• 50:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Just be careful on Tinder.

• 50:04Danielle LaRock?

  Is Tinder the best thing? Yeah, I don't know.

• 50:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Honestly, I have to advocate for dating apps because I think that they are in a time where

• 50:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  We're kind of shut off from a lot of the community and we're not like out as much and there's so much social media. It's ways to meet people that you wouldn't necessarily ever run into in the real world. And I think it opens up doors to meet a lot more people. I do think like with anything, especially as women, you have to be careful and like bad, like what happened to you can happen and does happen to women all the time. But there's also really good stuff that comes out of it and you just have to be really careful and

• 50:44Danielle LaRock?

  And there is something to be said. So when I was, again, I'll, I'll stop soon, but this is relevant. So when Ian passed away, I had the, like, he gave me the passwords, all the stuff, and vice versa. We just, yeah. So anyway, I was like going through all of his accounts to like shut everything down and, you know, bank accounts and this, that, whatever. And he had a, his old laptop and I was going through some of the pictures and stuff because he had a lot of pictures archived of us. And he, this is like an ancient Mac, like probably the first Mac that ever was to be. And so it was taking me so long to go through everything because it kept, it took forever to load. And I

• 51:27Danielle LaRock?

  was like, God, what is this? And I almost stopped because I'm like, I don't know. He had every picture from like high school on. I'm like, there's a line.

• 51:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't need to be watching.

• 51:37Danielle LaRock?

  I don't need to be seeing like a lot of this, but whatever. Like, we were both really open to each other. So I was like, who cares? So one of the, he had a screenshot of his Tinder profile from years before.

• 51:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh.

• 51:49Danielle LaRock?

  And it was so funny. So it wasn't Tinder or one that like had

• 51:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Or like Bumble or something.

• 51:59Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know what it, I can't really be sure, but there was like prompts. Does Tinder have prompts? And you answer them?

• 52:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hinge.

• 52:08Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 52:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hinge where it has prompts like it asks you a question like what's your ideal date or something? And then you like give a response.

• 52:14Danielle LaRock?

  It must have been that.

• 52:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 52:16Danielle LaRock?

  It must have been that. But anyways, I, it just gave me such a good laugh because I was reading it and it just spoke to his personality. Like I just could picture him. Like it was just the perfect profile for Ian and he just really marketed himself so well and so accurately. No, I don't. And I would, I mean, it is on that Mac somewhere.

• 52:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like it would take me a long time to get there.

• 52:44Danielle LaRock?

  It would take me, you know, five to nine business weeks to get to it, but it was just so funny. And it just like, there are people out there like, I just thought of, you know, this was him like trying to get out there and meet somebody and showcase who he was and like, how lucky it, I don't know. It just kind of brought me full circle of like how lucky I was to, even though I didn't meet him in that way.

• 53:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 53:11Danielle LaRock?

  You know, he's, there are people like him out there who are trying to find people. And you know, it doesn't mean that being on the apps is like a second rate way of trying to do that. Like it's just the way of the world now. And

• 53:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  It really is.

• 53:26Danielle LaRock?

  I just, I just thought it was just so funny and it just gave me like a smile and a really hard time because that was like pretty immediately after he passed away. And oh my God, there's just like good people out there. You know, that's all I'm trying to say.

• 53:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  And we'll say that Hinge is kind of like the app. I feel like that is for more serious, like people who are like more genuine and serious. Cause like Tinder, you, you can just put a couple of photos of yourself and not even write a profile. You know, Hinge, you actually have to go through and write things about yourself and add a bunch of different photos and like,

• 53:56Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 53:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  It feels a little bit more genuine when you're on Hinge versus some of the other ones. I've never been on Hinge because I was not looking for anything genuine, but.

• 54:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm just kidding.

• 54:13Danielle LaRock?

  It took me a second for that to land. The only time I've seen Hinge is when she, I can say her name. She doesn't care. Nataia. She was on it like years and years ago before she met her now husband and all that. And she showed me her profile and she's like, tell me if this is weird or it was kind of like a, is this weird or is this cool? Or is it funny? Right. Yeah. And she had a slow mo video of her sneezing. And it was so funny. It was so funny. Just like the way that it was like, there was like music in the background. That was kind of slow mo and it just like was kind of funny. And I'm like, keep it because this is your personality.

• 54:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  If they don't like.

• 54:55Danielle LaRock?

  You're gonna only attract the right people that you want in your life with something like that, you know? So she kept it and it was part of her Hinge profile. This like really weird video of her slow mo sneezing. Okay. Or you're in the middle of a story. I'm so sorry.

• 55:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, we're in the middle of a story. Thank you for taking us down memory lane with dating profiles. And I guess what sparked this is said, our love story started on Tinder. Where all great love stories begin. So this is a happy ending. Tinder story, which do exist. I can attest to that as well. Okay. When her accident happened, she had turned 20 about three weeks before. She was out at a bar with her friends using one of her fake IDs. It was about 2:00 AM. Everyone was calling it a night, but she decided to go to her friend's brother's apartment to continue to drink and to get high. As he was driving them, he decided that he wanted to light up a joint. She grabbed it from his hand and said, we are already drunk. We should wait to get high till we're at your

• 55:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  place. Well, he didn't like that very much and drove the car off of the highway that was in an underdeveloped area in Houston at the time. When he did that, the car rolled a few times, her seatbelt snapped and she went through the windshield. Once the dust settled, he got out of the car and called his dad. He told him everything that had happened, that he thought she, Erica, was dead and he didn't know how he was going to get to work the next day because his car was totaled and asked for his dad to come get him. Guy. His dad said, I will not come get you. You need to get off the phone and call 911 right now. They got off the phone and he called his friend who lived a few minutes away and he got him and they left. At this point, Erica is still lying on the side of the road.

• 56:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was estimated that about 10 minutes after the wreck, an off-duty police officer was driving home and took away that he normally does not take. He saw the wreck and pulled over to check it out, and that is when he saw Erica lying there covered in blood, barely breathing. He called it in and Erica was lifelighted to a trauma hospital in Houston. The hospital didn't know what her name was or her address because she had fake IDs and her real one was in her wallet, so they couldn't find a way to get ahold of her family. Her parents were getting worried because even though she was wild, it wasn't like her not to check in at some point of the day. They felt like something was wrong, so they called her friends and no one had heard from her since the night before. They started calling hospitals in Houston, which there are a lot of.

• 57:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  My wife has a massive peacock tattoo that goes from the top of her back down one of her butt cheeks to her calf, and that is how they were able to find out she was at a hospital. When her parents got there, they were told that she was in a coma with a brain injury as well as a lacerated liver, shattered ankle, broken hip, a few broken vertebrae, and cuts and bruises everywhere. The doctors told them that they would not know the extent of the brain injury till she woke up, and they didn't know how long that would take. Well, the guy she was with reported that Erica stole his car and he had no idea what had happened. The police quickly found out that he was lying because, one, his blood was in the car, and, two, his dad called the police the next day to tell them everything his son had told him.

• 58:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  His dad is the only reason why we knew the whole story because Erica doesn't remember anything. His dad had terminal cancer and told his son that he was not going out like that. He passed away two months after the accident. The guy was arrested but let out on bond. Later, to get arrested again because he skipped his hearing, disappeared, and got taken back in because he beat up his pregnant girlfriend. Well, Erica finally woke up after being in a coma for three months and the doctors were preparing her. Parents for the worst. When she woke up, she was eighty-three pounds. She was a hundred and twenty pounds before the wreck. She had to relearn how to be a human again. She had to learn how to walk, eat, dress herself, everything. I met her a few months after she got out of her inpatient therapy, which was a little over a year from her accident.

• 58:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  For the first two years of our relationship, she was still in outpatient therapy. She is now eleven years from her wreck. She got her driver's license back three years after it happened. She was bipolar before the accident. And with her brain injury, her brain rewired itself and she is not bipolar anymore. Besides her voice being a little monotone due to the scarring in her throat from the breathing tubes, a little Swiss cheese with her memories, there are some holes in it and her left side being a little slower. As she said, no one would know just how much she has survived. Ask anyone who knows her and they'll say she's one of the most positive, kindest, except when she's mad at me.

• 59:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Genuine people anyone will meet. She amazes me to this day after being with her for coming up to ten years and married for six and a half. Looping back around, no one ever thought she would be able to live a normal life ever again, but she is. When we got married, we always talked about visiting national parks. Well, a couple of years back, when I was in the middle of a career change and I was out of the job, we said, well, no better time than now. And we started what is now a three-year tradition of going on at least a week-long camping trip to a different national park in the southwest region where we currently live. When her old doctors, nurses and therapists sees the things she's doing now, they are amazed. The guy who left her to die is a convicted felon now.

• 1:00:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  She told him in her victim impact speech that she is making the most out of her life, but she has to live with the injuries he left her for the rest of her life. And the least he could have to do is register as a felon for the rest of his. He got five years in prison, but got out after two. I have attached a photo of us and our two dogs Aqua and Hazelnut on our camping trip and a photo of her with her. I flew in a Lifelight shirt she got when she woke up from the hospital. Cammy.

• 1:00:33Danielle LaRock?

  Wow, three months in a coma.

• 1:00:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:37Danielle LaRock?

  And eight, being eighty-three pounds is insane.

• 1:00:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  And that guy, like. Excuse my French, but what a piece of shit.

• 1:00:46Danielle LaRock?

  I know.

• 1:00:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  To leave someone, even if you know you're in the wrong, like even if you know you're drunk, you know, you're going to get in trouble to leave someone dying on the side of the road.

• 1:00:55Danielle LaRock?

  Without calling emergency services.

• 1:00:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Calling, not even anonymously being like, I just drove by this accident.

• 1:01:02Danielle LaRock?

  Like if you're going to flee, at least, you know, which is messed up on a lot of levels, but without even notifying emergency services first and then dipping out, like if that was your plan, that's the very least you could do. I mean.

• 1:01:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, his father was clearly a better man than he was because the fact that his father wasn't even there, but called nine one one to make sure his son actually did the right thing. It sounds like the next day was like, hey, did this call ever come in? My son called me last night and.

• 1:01:31Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I need to make sure that, yeah, it sounds like the dad was maybe a little aware of.

• 1:01:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  And being shady.

• 1:01:38Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, I hope he's having a really bad day and I hope you guys are having a nice day.

• 1:01:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Okay. Well, that's it for our regular scheduled, uh, ep- or episodes. Okay. We need to.

• 1:01:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's the holidays, I'm telling you.

• 1:01:55Danielle LaRock?

  You know what it was?

• 1:01:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  What?

• 1:01:56Danielle LaRock?

  It was that first story.

• 1:01:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh my God. It's already coming to.

• 1:02:00Danielle LaRock?

  It's, it was pretty immediate.

• 1:02:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:03Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Yeah. I feel like I need to do some sort of realignment cleansing thing here because what I was trying to say is that is the end of our regular stories. Um, we have two bonus stories for outsiders on both Apple subscription and, and Patreon and mine is titled, The Man on the Side of Half Dome.

• 1:02:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ooh, and mine is titled, I thought this was a two person cabin.

• 1:02:29Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Well, if you are an outsider on either subscription service, first of all, thank you. And second of all, we'll see you in a few seconds. Everyone else, we will see you next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

• 1:02:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  But watch your back.

• 1:02:42Danielle LaRock?

  Bye.

• 1:02:49Danielle LaRock?

  Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Join our Outsiders Only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content.

• 1:03:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For our exclusive discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates, and more, visit our website at NPADpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from wherever you listen to podcasts.

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