That Doesn't Happen Every Day: Recent Episodes
Dean Petersen
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Unlike Buchenwald, which is nestled in the woods fairly far from everything else, the concentration camp near my apartment was within a thousand feet of grocery stores and a major soccer stadium. On this episode, I investigate rumors about an Italian town on the Adriatic, and I get way more than I'd anticipated.
Always Remember Your Name (Book)
Always Remember Your Name (Documentary)
The Trieste Model
Liberators: America's Witnesses to the Holocaust
La Risiera Di San Sabba
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What happens when you love hunting ghosts, but you're also a skeptic? What happens when you finally do see a ghost, or at least you think you might have, but again, you're a skeptic? What would it take for you to believe your own eyes?
We hear some of Jake Warga's scary stories and try to find out why he's still not convinced.
Here's a link to Jake's story about the haunted summer camp featured on This American Life.
Please check out some of Jake's other work here.
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In 1854, violence broke out in what today is a corn field in Eastern Wyoming. A dead cow, a new West Point Lieutenant, a drunken translator, and an entire village of Lakota Sioux came together in the greatest defeat of US Soldiers to a native force west of the Mississippi to that date. Today we visit the site of the battle and learn about the odd and unusual elements that kicked off years of violence in this part of the American West.
Left or Right, Jaeger Held & CJ Young in front of Fort Laramie's Officers' Quarters "Old Bedlam." Photo Courtesy of CJ Young.
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Have you ever wanted to quit you job and just go someplace where you can listen to the waves crashing on a tropical beach? On this episode we hear the story of two cousins and what happened to them when they did.
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Salt Lake City's Avenues District is the oldest neighborhood in one of the oldest cities in The Mountain West. From polygamists, to golf promotors, a house that was used as the set of a horror movie, to a rumored rental of Ted Bundy, this old neighborhood played host to some of the strangest and most quirky stories in SLC. On this episode we hear Cevan LeSieur, author of two books about the avenues, tell us some of the more interesting stories from this small neighborhood with a big history.
PHOTO: This is Governor William Spry's home shortly after it was moved to I street. Photographer's name wasn't given.
Buy Cevan's Books:
Images of America
The Avenues of Salt Lake City
Sources:
A Bit about The LDS Church in Denmark
Otto Branning the Chili King
More about The Grabeteria
The Death of Mrs Moormeister and some more on that
Jeremy Pugh's Article about Mrs Moormeister's Murder "Utah's Black Dahlia"
A Bit About Joe Hill The Executed Labor Activist
Bomb Found at Governor Spry's Residence
Bomb Meant for Governor Spry Explodes in a Boxcar
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From Mark Twain to Saddam Hussein, Curt Cobain to John Wayne, Presidents, Dictators, Outlaws, and Artists have kept pets and on this episode we talk about some of the weirder ones.
Sources:
The Presidential Pet Museum Drunkard and Satan Presidential Cow
Jefferson's Ram killed a little boy Tiger cubs The Coolidge Pets
Presidential Alligators? The Yuki Johnson Duets The Carter Elephant
Reagan’s fish The Prince's Fish Biden’s dog Major
Biden's Dog Commander Hemingway Hunter S Thompson
Hitler and Blondie Stalin and HIs Bear Mao’s cricket Hitchcock dogs
Kubrick Cats Cobain Cats Sid Vicious Billy Joe’s Dog Escobar
USMC Dogs Mayor Max III
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Do you remember a house that you were warned to stay away from? On this episode we explore the truths of a legend that turned one unfortunate woman into a "witch" in the minds of her neighbors at the mouth of Parley's Canyon in Utah.
Please check out Jennifer Jones' Blog: The Dead History
If you'd like to visit Parley's Hollow Nature Park here's their website: https://www.slc.gov/parks/parks-division/parleys-historic-nature-park/
Sources:
Deseret News Article: https://www.deseret.com/1992/7/31/18997457/sugar-house-memories-br/
Susan Dudler's Death Certificate https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2018/166/105839865_f9631c0a-8883-4570-9215-2f3b4a02af39.jpeg
Susan Dudler's Obituary https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2013/56/105839865_136190971385.jpg
Amelia's Overdose: https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2013/56/105860220_136191426427.jpg
Joseph Dudler's Obituary https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?date=1897&keyword=dudler®ion=us-ut
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In 1972 Mike Shay hitchhiked from Texas To Berkley, CA. He shares the odd, funny, and frightening things that happened to him on his trip and what he learned about being an American.
NOTE: I do not condone hitchhiking, but I think this is a good story.
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Putting the same amount of energy and passion that most artists reserve for marble or metal, Catherine Morris sculpts what she sees in her mind's eye into sand. If that wasn't hard enough, she lives thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. To find out how this Wyomingite who'd never even taken an art class got so good at sculpting sand in one of America's windiest states, check out this episode.
Visit Catherine's Facebook Page
See a video of Catherine Sculpting the fish from this episode
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In the early 1960's when it was believed that "only crazy people saw UFO's," psychologist Leo Sprinkle began to interview alleged UFO witnesses, but when he started to share his findings, many of his fellow scientists proved to be anything but inquiring or open minded. Find out what happened to a man who tried to use what he had learned about examining the world around him to get answers that many people still weren't ready for.
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What's it like living 30 minutes from a nuclear missile site? What's it like working in one? On this episode we explore working 60 feet underground waiting for Armageddon along with the dark humor and odd conditions that coincide with being able to turn keys and send nuclear firepower over the north pole in thirty minutes or less.
Visit the Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility
Why Dominoes Stopped "Thirty Minutes or Less"
NOTE: This episode's photo was taken at a missile alert facility in South Dakota not Wyoming and features Missileer Tony Gatlin who does not appear on this episode.
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While Laramie, Wyoming doesn't seem like a hot spot for ska or punk, a handful of Wyomingites came together in the 90's to form a blistering, crisp ensemble of fast and hard ska that rivaled what was being played by bands from much bigger places. Here is the story of Charlie Pathetic...
Please check out their website
You can also listen to their album here
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The story of a blue figure rumored to haunt The Kane Cemetery and surrounding area in Northern Wyoming seems harmless enough until you really start to look into local history and a tragedy from the last century.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please text or call 988 or call 911.
Casper Daily Tribune Article about the tragedy
Follow up coverage from The Tribune
Recent Article About The Blue Lady by Wendy Corr
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Over the decades 16 human skeletons have been found near Badwater Creek in Wyoming. Some were murdered and some we're not sure what happened. From homesteaders, to soldiers, to one who apparently came back to haunt a local family's root cellar, you're going to like this one!
Jackie Dorothy's Original Article About The Wailing Skeleton
Jackie Dorothy's Podcast
Salt Lake Herald Article About The 12 Skeletons in The Aspen Grove
The Battle of Crazy Woman Creek
The Bates Battle
"Today in Wyoming's History" (A Blogger's Visit To The Bates Battle)
Looking for a Christmas Gift? Please consider buying The Burqa Cave a Wyoming-based novel written by podcaster Dean Petersen
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You usually don't think of the arts when you think of marines, or marines when you think of artists. However, in this episode we interview a beret-wearing artist and former recon marine who went on to teach people how to print their photographs onto gold and ask if there is any crossover between the artistic and the militaristic.
Check out Barrie's Art at Merglennstudios.com
Marines Passing Out Underwater at Marine Recon School
More about recon marines
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What do you do when the people in charge of stopping crimes try to get you to commit them? In 1940's Cheyenne, Wyoming, police approached African American Business Owner, Lola West, and told her she needed to change what she was selling at her boarding house and cafe and give them some of the profits. What followed was a story of corruption, extortion, race, and one woman who fought against what she knew was wrong even at risk to her business and herself.
Check out 100 Things To Do In Cheyenne Before You Die by Andi Jaspersen
Andi's Article About Lola West
Charged With Taking BribesWhy "Fines" Weren't Placed In TreasurySentencing of Defendants
Defendants Made Trustees
Returned From State Prison Farm
More About African Americans Working as Porters on Trains
African American Waiters
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From the skeleton of a teenaged girl, to a castle, to a railway shooting, I take you to all the odd little places in my own town where rumors have abounded and try to get to the bottom of them. Enjoy!
100 Things To Do In Cheyenne Before You Die - Andi Jaspersen
Haunted Cheyenne - Jill Pope
The Slaying of CC Bernard
The Execution of Paul "Perry" Carroll
Tom Horn's Execution & The Julian Gallows
Keith Bellair's Shooting
Keith Bellair's Escape
Knights of Pythias and Skeletons?
Skeletons Found at Odd Fellows 1
Skeletons Found at Odd Fellows 2
Cheyenne's Forgotten Castle
Bones Tell Story of Woman's Life
Visit Villa Montezuma
PHOTO: Joseph Stimson, Dare Castle, 1908.
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How did someone who grew up in a Wyoming town better known for railroad workers and the world's largest outdoor rodeo become an Oscar-winning filmmaker? We find out about Dan Junge's journey from The Magic City of the Plains to the podium at the academy awards.
Please check out Dan's films:
Chiefs
Saving Face
Being Evel
Fight Church
A Lego Brickumentary
To learn more about Dan and his many other films please visit his website.
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In 1862, a man was caught robbing so many graves in Salt Lake City, Utah that he was banished to a small island in The Great Salt Lake before disappearing entirely.
Jennifer Jones of The Dead History Blog shares this story involving grave robbing, reassurances to families of the victims by Brigham Young, and a possible tattoo or branding the culprit was supposedly given.
Please visit Jennifer's blog The Dead History.
You can download John Devitry-Smith's extensive paper on the subject here.
The Beating of Governor John Dawson's story is here.
If you want to visit the island where the grave robber was sent, please follow all the rules and safety precautions shared here and here by The Utah DNR.
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What happens when a biker, ultralight enthusiast, and scuba diver overcomes his wild past and opens a drive through known as "The Home of The Roadkill Burger" in Pinedale, Wyoming? AKA "The King Cone"
Learn how Tommy Harkness kept his lights on for years despite joking about how his burgers were made from animals scraped off of Wyoming's endless highways as well as hear his thoughts on life, Desert Storm, and even God.
- Visit Dave's Last Stand that is now in the same building where The King Cone used to be. (Sorry, it is not roadkill themed)
- Read about the 511 App regarding roadkill collection
- Visit Pinedale, Wyoming
Photo by Mark Junge
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In 2021, Cheyenne, Wyoming honored a local teenager who helped his community in a very, very Wyoming Way.
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In the late 1980's, Carmen Singleton tried out for her tiny high school's football team in Hulett, Wyoming -just 10 miles away from Devils Tower. She describes what it was like going to her first day of practice including how some people made bets about how soon she would quit the team after being tackled and teased by the team. She describes what four years of football did for her and how attitudes started to change as people saw the fourteen year old girl continue to suit up and represent The Red Devils.
Visit Hulett, Wyoming
Visit Devils Tower
The Wind is My Witness by Mark Junge
In 1987, a town known more for refinery workers and antelope herds saw a Hollywood production company arrive to make a horror movie in it old penitentiary. After finding out that the 300 real inmates the filmmakers were planning on using were not going to be available, railroad workers, accountants, and roughnecks showed up to be in Renny Harlin's film Prison about the ghost of a wrongfully executed prisoner seeking revenge.
To learn how you can go on a tour of Wyoming's Frontier Prison click here.
Photo Courtsey of John Bramley
In 1988, Anne Arden McDonald took her portrait in Wyoming's Gas Chamber in the old Penitentiary in Rawlins, WY (see episode's icon). We ask her about the picture, why she took it, how she took it and how the scary old prison inspired the other photos she took there.
Click Here to See More of Anne's Photos from The Prison
Click Here to See Anne's Website and More of Her Work
Click Here to Visit Wyoming's Frontier Prison's Website
From the early 1900's until the early 1980's Wyoming's only maximum security prison was just half a dozen blocks away from downtown. The site of murders, arson, many executions, and even a lynching, Mark Setright walks us through the creepy old building on Walnut Street and describes the brutal and surreal events that happened within its walls. From an escape of almost 30 inmates that lead to locals shooting at prisoners trying to steal clothing from their clothes lines, a prison riot that lead one of Wyoming's governors to listen to the inmates demands, and an escape tunnel that had explosive results, Mark talks about the old pen and its impact on this tiny town along Interstate 80.
Visit The Old Pen
Listen to paranormal stories from the old pen Teenage Tours of an Old PrisonLorenzo Paseo's attack on Harry FeatherstoneThe Lynching of Frank Wigfall by Robin Everett
Building a Gallows for Joseph Seng
The 1955 Prison Riot
The Prison Tunnel
Andrew Pixley & His Eyes
The Murder of Orville Ventilng (Come Visit The Pen!)
In tiny Wheatland, Wyoming, Herschel "Tricky" Riggle had a successful rodeo act involving a three legged horse and knife throwing. However, Wheatland's idyllic main street was rocked by violence in 1953 when Riggle shot two people to death in the town's small café. We hear what happened and how some people still believe Governor Milward Simpson's reaction to the event had an impact on his 1958 attempt at re-election.
Drawn to the Archives - And A Crime by Robin Everett (Story about Riggle)
Milward Simpson & The Death Penalty by Robbin Everett
In 1958, Charles Starkweather was captured near Douglas, Wyoming after killing eleven people. We learn about the police chase through Douglas that lead to his capture as well as give a new look at the involvement or possible abduction of his former girlfriend, Carol Ann Fugate.
The Killing Spree that Transfixed a Nation by Lesley Wischmann
Starkweather by Harry N Maclean
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Caril Fugate on A Current Affair
Watch the trailer for BadlandsListen to Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen #CharlesStarkweather #CarilAnnFugate #StarkweatherKillings #Starkweathermurders #Murder #TrueCrime #DouglasWyoming #LincolnNebraska #Badlands #TerrenceMalick #SissySpacek #MartinSheen
Douglas, Wyoming was home to a massive Prisoner of War Camp during World War Two. When the war ended the camp was closed leaving behind only a hospital and an old officers' club where it's rumored some people never left.
How Can I Visit The Old Officers' Club?
Haunted Cheyenne
Stumbling on Skeletons
A Trail of Human Skeletons
Odd Fellows Have Skeletons In Their Closets
In 1943 several thousand Prisoners of War from Germany and Italy were taken across the US to the tiny farming and ranching town of Douglas, Wyoming. This episode shares oral histories from people who remembered the camp and what they learned about the people held inside.
Click here to see how you can arrange a visit to the remaining Officers' Club.
WorldWarTwo #POWs #Wyoming #CampDouglas
In 2017, Dallin Cooper left Riverton, Wyoming to live in China. While there, he ate strange things, slept on hard beds, and upon returning home, had an explanation about why so many toilets in Yellowstone get broken.
35 Chinese Translation Fails
When East Meets West, Toilet Seats Take a Beating - Mike Koshmrl
As Asian Tourism Soars, the Mystery of Broken Toilet Seats Has Been Solved - Tom Howard
What Diseases Can You Get From Sitting on a Toilet? - Dan Brennan MD
Why Do Chinese People Love Taking Photos with Western Tourists?
Book Dallin to Speak
Buy Dallin's Book
Dallin's Podcast
Dallin's YouTube
In June of 1942, Japanese forces invaded two small Islands that are part of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. We listen to two men who were there when the invasion started and one who fought to take it back.
Please check out:
The Battle of Attu
Even More About The Battle
Aleut Evacuation & Internment during World war II
Joseph Sasser's Full Interview
Charles House's Full Interview
Nurses' Camps
Attu Boy (Nick Golodoff's Story)
Last Letters From Attu (Etta Jones' Story)
In 1980, George C Scott (Patton) stared in a horror movie about a haunted house called The Changeling. Even though the film was set in Seattle, it was based on a story written by Russel Hunter who claimed to have paranormal experiences in his home near Cheesman Park in Denver, CO in 1969. (See Photo)
We talk with Katie Rudolph at the Denver Public Library about her research into Hunter's story and compare it with the movie while trying to see if there is any truth to his strange and freighting story.
Katie's Research: A Denver House That Inspired a Horror Film
Bill Betenson is Butch Cassidy's great nephew and says that his great grandmother insisted that Cassidy came back to visit his family in Utah in 1925, seventeen years after his supposed death in a Bolivian shootout. While myths of outlaws surviving their supposed deaths are common, Bill and his great grandmother share a very convincing story and DNA evidence also makes the time and place of Cassidy's death highly questionable. If you enjoy this episode, you might like this one about Butch Cassidy meeting with his lawyer in Piedmont, Wyoming before the Montpelier Idaho Robbery.
Butch Cassidy, My Brother by Lula Parker Betenson
Butch Cassidy: The Wyoming Years by Bill Betenson
Butch Cassidy was described as "cheery and affable" on wanted posters
DNA Testing of Cassidy and Sundance's alleged remains
More on DNA and Cassidy/Sundance
Lois Christiansen & Wendy Peterson still live within walking distance of the Ghost Town of Piedmont, Wyoming where Butch Cassidy met with his lawyer to help a friend facing a murder trial. In 1869, angry railroad workers forced dignitaries headed to the Golden Spike Ceremony in Utah off the tracks and held them there until they were paid. We ask our interviewees what it's like living and growing up in this remote spot so close to a ghost town that played a big part in Western History.
By Bill Betenson's Book Butch Cassidy: The Wyoming Years here
Bub Meeks' Robbery of The Guild Store in Fort Bridger
Letters from Douglas Preston to Butch Cassidy
Website to visit The Charcoal Kilns
In the early 1980's, my older brother, Mark Petersen, started volunteering at a radio station in a log cabin with grass growing on it's roof near North Pole, Alaska. Known as King Jesus North Pole (KJNP), it broadcast religious messages to native people in Alaska's interior and even into the Soviet Union. Mark tells us what it was like working at a station where he butchered his own meat and sent on-air messages to trappers and gold miners in Alaska's remote regions.
Photo of KJNP Courtesy of Carol M Highsmith
KJNP
Mark's YouTube Channel: Local Highlights
In 1993, Lisa Nicolle Hamilton's family moved into an old LDS church building built just after the American Civil War. She talks about what it was like growing up in the old building and how her family adapted the building into a home and the community's reaction to the church's new use.
Lisa's YouTube Channel
The Old Grantsville Church
Twinpectol (Lisa's brothers' band with the song about living in the Church)
Hey Kim and Katie (Lisa's relatives' podcast)
A strange tale involving Spanish explorers, Mormon pioneers, a spiritualist, possible former members of Butch Cassidy's gang, and a school teacher from Wyoming's Bridger Valley who barely made it out of the Uinta's with his life.
Note: This Episode's icon is a photo of a known mine near Park City, UT and is not of any lost mines.
Sources Cited:
-Footprints In The Wilderness: A history of The Lost Rhoades Mines
-Faded Footprints: The Lost Rhoades Gold Mines & Other Hidden Treasures of the Uinta's
-The Gold of Carre-Shinob
-The Dominguez & Escalante Expedition
-Territorial Evolution of Mexico
-Deseret News Article About Spanish Mission in Utah
-Mormon Gold Coinage
-Lee Davidson's 1989 Article about Amasa A Davidson's 1920 near-fatal hunt for the gold
-Deseret News Article About Two Men Arrested While Hunting Gold
In a lonely spot along the Wyoming/Utah Border in the Uinta Mountains is a place called "Suicide Park." On this episode I try to find out how it got its name.
Sources:
History of logging in Sweden
Video of man walking on logs in a river (starts about 6 mins 19 sec)
What and how much did lumberjacks eat?
The icon for this episode is a photo of logging from 1939 in Wisconsin courtesy of The National Archives.
Weird occurrences on a ranch in southwest Wyoming.
Here are some other stories like this one:
The Lady of Arlington
Teenaged Tours of an Old Prison
When your soda loving Bison gets murdered and mutilated - yes this really is a true story
Across the Rocky Mountains Sheep Herders from places as diverse as Greece to Scotland and The Basque Region to Peru have left messages and drawings on Aspen Trees.
We talk with Dr. Alison Krögel about some of the 300 aspen carvings she has documented and the deeper meanings and connections she's found in them at times. Please check out her website The Aspen Archives to learn more and see pictures of some of them.
Do you want to advertise with That Doesn't Happen Every Day? Please send me and email: deanarthurpetersen@gmail.com
This episode's icon is courtesy of Mark Chapman.
We interview a new mortician about why she chose to do what she does, what it's really like working with decedents, and why we have morticians and funerals.
Despite their best efforts to remove all the bodies from a cemetery in Green River, Wyoming, remains of people and their graves continue to be found under and around The Sweetwater County Library. In addition to physical items, staff and visitors have also claimed to have frightening and unusual encounters there. We interview two people who've worked there about some the weird things they've seen and heard there.
If you visit The Sweetwater County Library, please be respectful and remember that it is first and foremost a library.
Please check out Micki Gilmore's book about the library Spirits in the Stacks: Tales from Sweetwater County's haunted libraryIf you'd like to advertise on this podcast please email me: deanarthurpetersen@gmail.com
Harold Slagowski started construction on what would become a local landmark over fifty years ago using a Skill saw. Today it remains independent and still going, selling thick hamburgers with handmade patties and thick milkshakes. We ask Harold what got it started and what kept it going.
Please eat at the Mountain View Drive Inn located at 551 WY-414, Mountain View, WY 82939.
Forbes article about how many businesses fail in the first few years.
In the late 1990's CJ Young's orange soda loving bison Ralphie was found mutilated. This is their story.
In the early 1970's, John Mionczynski went into Wyoming's Wind River Mountains to study Big Horn Sheep, but what happened to him one night opened his world to what else might be in the mountains.
More:
Where are Bigfoots Bones?
Do Primates Throw Things?
Numbers of Black Bears in Oregon
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science - Dr Jeff Meldrum
The Relict Hominoid Inquiry
Only about a decade before Neil Armstrong would walk on the moon, a posse was called in in Mountain View, Wyoming to hunt two "masked bandits" who robbed the Uinta County State Bank and then fled on horseback into the Uinta Mountains.
In the mid 1970’s, ranchers in Wyoming’s Bridger Valley suffered extensive cattle mutilations with little explanation of why or who was behind it. Former Uinta County Sheriff Leonard Hysell shares his memories of the mutilations as well as who he believes was behind it all.
Sources Sited:
Army: Nerve Agent Near Dead Utah sheep in ’68 – Jim Woolf. The Salt Lake Tribune 1998
Did Dugway Conduct Over 600 Radiation Tests? - Lee Davidson. The Deseret News 1994.
US Army Chemical Materials Activity - Staff. US Army Chemical Materials Agency 2012.
After going back to Rock Springs, Wyoming, Mark Pedri and his wife Kari moved into Mark's late grandfather's home and discovered a knife hidden in his bed. To learn more about this man who lived across the street from Mark for much of his life, he goes on a journey over 5,000 miles away from Wyoming to find out more about the things his grandfather never talked about.
Mark Pedri's film Dear Sirs will air on Wyoming PBS June 6th at 7pm. You can also watch it via PBS' live stream here at that time.
Please go to the Dir Sirs Webpage to learn more about screenings and other events.
If you enjoyed this episode you might also like a previous episode called Vietnam in Our Family Album.
What happens when the old house you are given to live in for the summer has mice in the walls, lights that come on in the attic, and gives you horrible, horrible nightmares.
Many thanks to Scott Leon Smith for his being on the show today. If you are looking for an actor or voice actor here is Scott's website Monster Vox Productions.
Scott's reading of The Burqa Cave written by Dean Petersen is available at this link on Audible.
If you would like a paper or e-copy of The Burqa Cave, please go to this link.
Photos Courtesy of James Campbell & The Library of Congress -No, it is not a photo of the actual house Scott talks about.
In 1881, confessed murderer George "Big Nose" Parrott was hanged by vigilantes after he tried to escape from jail in Rawlins, Wyoming. While that was the end of George, it wasn't the end of his remains. Some of them were given to a teenaged girl, some were hidden in a barrel to be discovered in 1950 when a store was being built in Rawlins, and some of them were used to make shoes believed to have been worn by Wyoming's third governor at his inauguration in 1893.
To find out more listen to this show and buy Dr. Mark E Miller's book Big Nose George His Troublesome Trail.
Also please check out the great articles written by Lori Van Pelt about key events and people from this story:
Big Nose George: A Grisly Frontier TaleLillian Heath: Wyoming's First Female Physician Packed a PistolJohn E Osborne and the Logjammed Politics of 1893If you'd like to see the shoes feel free to visit The Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.
You can read the 1913 article about Governor Osborne and Columbus' remains here.
Photo Courtesy of The Carbon County Museum
In 1968, my Dad, Owen Petersen, left the Bridger Valley of Wyoming for Vietnam where he served as a platoon leader in the 3rd Marine Division. After he came home, he put the photos he took into an album that collected dust with our other photos. In this interview we ask him about those pictures and what it was like to be boots on the ground in the war.
Veteran Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988
The varied sounds of bullets passing by:
Marine in Afghanistan
The Basinger
Jim Moretti was born in a tiny town in Southwest Wyoming in the late forties, but as his hometown became a ghost town, he stayed in the only hotel until the mid 1980s.
The icon for this episode is a picture of the actual Carter Hotel in the story.
In 1969 James Barret was in the passenger seat of a plane headed to Riverton, Wyoming when the pilot suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and couldn't fly the plane. This is James' story about what he did to survive.
Links to other plane crash stories:
Crash of Flight 409 near Laramie, WY
Bomber Mountain
Check out The Wyoming State Archives Oral History Collection here.
At 7:28 AM United Airlines Flight 409 crashed in the rugged Snowy Range of southern Wyoming on October 6th 1955. It was the worst civilian air disaster to that date in America killing all 66 people on board. Volunteer mountain climbers were called in from The University of Wyoming in Laramie to help recover the remains. Why exactly the plane crashed still remains debated and we explore some of the stories of the recovery teams and victims on this episode.
Please check out our other plane crash episode called Bomber Mountain.
Visit The American Heritage Center's Digital Collection about the crash.
Read Mel Duncan's digitized report.
See video of the crash site in 1955 here.
-List of the Victims the Crash of Flight 409-
Mrs Clifford B Ackerman
Thomas Ackerman
Robert Ainsley
Capt Charles R Anstadt
Mrs Dorthea Beck
Dwight H Benson
Herbert L Brawner
Mrs Grace Brown
Dale Brown
William H Burgin
Dr James A Bush
Airman 3/C Thomas Campbell
Mrs Helen Collins
Henry S Dean
Dr Lawrence J Devine
Endlehart
Mrs Inez C Evans
Keith F Finlay
Charles Gesas
Gerald Hadley
Mrs Edna F Hanks
Richard D Hawkins
Mrs Marian Kirk
J Lawrence Malnar
Myron Manwill
JE McGarr
Mrs JE McGarr
John B Merrill
Mrs John B Merrill
Lawrence Monk
Dale Elton Nelson
RB Nurre
Parker
AJ Plouff
Mrs C Poulakidas
Eugene Reynolds
Mrs Aceodene Schow
Mrs Betty Seare
Mrs Rhea Smuthwaite
Dr W Alan Stewart
Edward P Taylor
Mrs Darrel Tucker
Deborah Tucker
Mrs Georgie West
Earl West Jr
Staff Sgt Lewis Wood
Deloy A Montano
John P Rice
Joseph D Winsett
Alfredo G Mitotes
Charles L Missner
Ronald E Albright
Roger E Bechtold
Raymond Englehart
Richard D Cook
Daniel R Alexander
Arnold H Boggs
William R Ettleman
Russell L Kugler
Richard Lawhead
Paul C Noetzelmann
Wilbert N Witley
Herbert Willaims
In 2020 Libby Bushell was putting in a new sewer line on her property in Cheyenne, Wyoming when she got the shock of her life.
Please stay tuned if more info from The Laramie County Coroner becomes available.
The story of a murder at Fremont Canyon Bridge in Wyoming and one man's journey to visit the scene of the crime and tell the story of what happened and how it impacted Casper and Wyoming.
NOTE: This story contains accounts of suicide and sexual assault.
Buy your copy of Ron Franscell's book about the murder: The Darkest Night.
Ron's website: www.ronfranscell.com
Important links:
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
Parents of Murdered Children: www.pomc.org
In 2020 a light descended by Interstate 80 in southwest Wyoming. Olen House talks about what he saw and how people have related to the photos he took of it.
To get your own copy of Olen's book email him at: ojhouse53@yahoo.com
To learn more about sundogs visit this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog
What is it like living in a fire watch tower in the remote parts of the mountains? We talked with Samsara Duffey about her adventures living in watch towers for 26 seasons.
Photo courtesy of Samsara Duffey.
Learn how to use the fire finder at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8A2KZ4WDsc
What happens when your sixth grade teacher sees a UFO?
Thanks Ms E for being on the show.
A flooded funeral home...
A frightening photo...
Welcome back to That Doesn't Happen Every Day!
In 1939, Earl Durand went on a rampage across North Western Wyoming that came to a violent end when he tried to rob the bank in Powell.
Thanks to Jerred Metz for appearing on the show. Please check out his book "The Last Eleven Days of Earl Durand."
Thanks to Mark Junge for letting me use his recording of Tipton Cox.
What does it actually feel like to be bitten by a rattlesnake? One man describes being bitten by a rattlesnake very far from a hospital in the remoter parts of Wyoming.
We talk with someone who hiked to a remote ridge in Wyoming to learn more about the crash of B-17 Bomber during WWII.
If you'd like to see a museum display about the crash here is the website for the Jim Gatchell Museum in Buffalo, WY.
Photo courtesy of Sylvia Bruner.
If you knew something terrible had happened in a house, would you move into it?
We talk with a man who moved his business into a house in Downtown Cheyenne where a man was murdered and buried in the basement and what happened after that.
If you'd like to learn more about Alan Ross and his murder please watch the documentary, "Missing Allen."
If you'd like to visit the art gallery I featured in this show, please visit the website for Deselms Fine Art & Custom Framing.
If you'd like to learn more about the history of the Deselms Gallery and other spooky stuff in Cheyenne, please check out Jill Pope's "Haunted Cheyenne."
Aaron Blair worked as a corrections officer in Wyoming's only Maximum Security Prison for twenty years. He shares what it's like to be in the middle of a Prison Riot and some of the funny and tragic things that happened while he was there.
If you'd like to help corrections officers visit this link.
If you'd like to watch the documentary, Echoes from the Wyoming State Penitentiary: North Facility 1981-2001.
There are about 20 one room school houses still operating in Wyoming. We interview Gene Gagliano who left New York State to teach at an isolated one room schoolhouse at the foot of The Bighorn Mountains.
MORE INFO: The one room schoolhouse featured in the story was the Kearney School. The photo used for this story's icon was taken in 1908 inside the school and was lent to us courtesy of The Jim Gatchell Museum in Buffalo, WY. Thanks to Sylvia Bruner for her help.
Check out Gene's books here.
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In this episode we hear the story of a woman seen during a fishing trip whose unsettling presence and manner has scared hunters with guns and even made one woman go to the emergency room to check if she was hallucinating.
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What was your first job?
One of CJ Young's first jobs was to give tours in an abandoned penitentiary known for creepy happenings. He tells us about just a few of these experiences in this episode.
Here's the link to the penitentiary.
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Ever been to a famous person's house? Ever lived in one? In this episode we'll hear the stories of my family renting a house that belonged to a man who would one day become and American Icon.
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