Avsnitt
-
In the summer of 1902, escaped convict Harry Tracy sparked one of the largest manhunts in Pacific Northwest history after breaking out of the Oregon State Penitentiary in a violent escape. Moving through Oregon and Washington, he hijacked boats, took hostages, and repeatedly slipped through law enforcement after a series of deadly gunfights. For weeks he stayed ahead of posses until he was finally cornered at a farm near Creston, Washington. Wounded and surrounded in a wheat field, Tracy chose to end his own life rather than be captured, closing the chapter on the last desperate run of a notorious outlaw.
Episode Sources:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/10/19/the-american-west-the-bloody-adventures-of-harry-tracy/
https://museumnwco.org/harry-tracy-the-most-underrated-outlaw-by-far/
https://www.historylink.org/File/5385
https://wheatlife.org/manhunt/
https://myedmondsnews.com/2024/10/history-outlaw-harry-tracy-and-his-local-connections/
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/harry-tracy/
https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/ccca/the-true-story-of-harry-tracy-super-outlaw/
https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/pdf/outlaw-harry-tracy3.pdf
https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/pdf/outlaw-harry-tracy.pdf
https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/321
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Tracy
http://www.oregonpioneers.com/bios/HarryTracy_1890s.pdf
-
What happened to DeOrr Kunz Jr.?
In July of 2015, a two-year-old boy vanished from Timber Creek Campground outside Leadore, Idaho and was never seen again.
Search crews combed the Idaho wilderness for days. Helicopters circled overhead. Dogs searched the forest. Volunteers moved through creek beds, ravines, and abandoned mine shafts deep inside the mountains.
But investigators found nothing.
No footprints.
No clothing.
No evidence explaining how a child disappeared without leaving behind a single confirmed trace.
And as investigators began interviewing the four adults who had been at the campground that afternoon, the story surrounding DeOrr’s disappearance only became more complicated.
This week on Mysterious Pacific Northwest, we’re covering one of Idaho’s most haunting unsolved mysteries.
The Disappearance of DeOrr Kunz Jr. is available now wherever you listen to podcasts.
Sources:
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/investigations/7-investigates/deorr-kunz-jr-disappearance-remains-unsolved-10-years/277-a07ca934-32fb-4f1d-b499-8b9235afb115https://www.kivitv.com/news/ten-years-after-he-vanished-from-a-remote-campsite-the-question-remains-where-is-deorr-kunz-jr
https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/little-man-lost/he-vanished-from-a-camping-trip-without-a-trace-what-happened-to-baby-deorr-kunz/289-524426881
https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2025/07/10/what-happend-to-deorr-kunz-ten-years-and-no-answers/
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/deorr-kunz
https://charleyproject.org/case/deorr-jay-kunz-jr
https://amp.idahostatesman.com/news/article232504452.html
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/deorr-kunzs-father-speaks-nearly-192913917.html
https://people.com/crime/people-magazine-investigates-deorr-kunz-vanished-woods/
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2016/01/former-kunz-p-i/
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2025/07/ten-years-after-he-vanished-from-a-remote-campsite-the-question-remains-where-is-deorr-kunz-jr/
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2015/08/kunz-family-investigator-everything-points-to-an-abduction/
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/deorr-kunz-jr-missing-five-years-later/277-f8f45c3f-ff20-4db8-aebf-30150f8b9d88
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/search-for-deorr-kunz-jr-continues-near-leadore/277-584652677
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/08/cadaver-dogs-hit-on-area-near-where-deorr-kunz-jr-went-missing-search-to-resume-monday/
https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/deorr-kunz-jr-case-still-open-active/article_71c4a6d8-53e9-11ee-a7d6-9fbb89a53db4.html
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/deorr-jay-kunz-jr
-
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
For the final episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re taking a step back.
After following the trail through its stories, its people, and everything it carried with it, this episode is a reflection—on the series, the history, and what stayed with us after spending so much time on that road.
It’s also a look back on two years of the show, how our storytelling has evolved, and what comes next.
Thank you for being here with us through this series.Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #historypodcast #pnwhistory #oregontrail #pnwpodcast #twoyears #podcastcommunity
Book list:
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey — Rinker Buck
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476756474
The Oregon Trail: An American Saga — David Dary
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806136485
The Indifferent Stars Above — Daniel James Brown (Donner Party, essential)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061348112
Across the Great Divide — Laton McCartney
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743249563
Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier — Ray Allen Billington
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826319812
Frontier Regulars: The U.S. Army and the Indian — Robert M. Utley
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0252068828
Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters (1840–1849) — Kenneth L. Holmes
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0803272701
Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey — Lillian Schlissel
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805211769
Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 — Mary Ann & Willis Boatman
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874222388
-
For the final episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we step back from the trail itself and look at what was left behind.
Not just the miles traveled—but the lives changed along the way. The families who made it, the ones who didn’t, and the places that grew from a journey that was never as simple as it’s often remembered.
This episode reflects on the road west—what it required, what it cost, and what still remains.
Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #pnwhistory #historypodcast #americanhistory #westwardexpansion #pnwpodcastBook list:
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey — Rinker Buck
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476756474
The Oregon Trail: An American Saga — David Dary
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806136485
The Indifferent Stars Above — Daniel James Brown (Donner Party, essential)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061348112
Across the Great Divide — Laton McCartney
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743249563
Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier — Ray Allen Billington
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826319812
Frontier Regulars: The U.S. Army and the Indian — Robert M. Utley
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0252068828
Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters (1840–1849) — Kenneth L. Holmes
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0803272701
Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey — Lillian Schlissel
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805211769
Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 — Mary Ann & Willis Boatman
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0874222388
-
The journey beyond the trail with the Denny Party—families who didn’t stop in Oregon, but continued north in search of something more.
From a difficult landing at Alki Point to the first uncertain days of settlement across Elliott Bay, this episode explores what it meant to arrive… and realize the journey wasn’t over.
This is the story of early Seattle—its beginnings, its challenges, and the people who chose to stay.
Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #pnwhistory #seattlehistory #dennyparty #oregontrail #historypodcast #pacificnorthwest #americanhistorySources:
https://www.historylink.org/file/426
https://www.historylink.org/file/1009
https://www.historylink.org/file/212
https://www.historylink.org/file/790
https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/denny-party
https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/seattle-history
https://www.nps.gov/articles/denny-party.htm
https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/seattle-washington
https://www.britannica.com/place/Seattle-Washington
https://www.duwamishtribe.org/history
https://suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-us/history/
https://www.washingtonhistory.org/research/collections/
https://www.historylink.org/file/2952
https://www.historylink.org/file/410
https://www.historylink.org/file/401
https://www.seattlepi.com/local/seattle-history/article/Seattle-history-Denny-Party-Alki-Point-1851-12521850.php
https://www.pacificnwmag.com/the-denny-party-and-the-founding-of-seattle/ -
For this episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re looking at a version of the trail many of us remember a little differently.
Before the research, before the real stories—for a lot of us, it started with The Oregon Trail. Decisions, supplies, river crossings… and the message we all remember.
This episode looks at what the game got right, what it left out, and how that version compares to the reality behind it.
Now streaming on all major podcast apps.#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #historypodcast #pnwhistory #nostalgia #edutainment #pnwpodcast
Sources:
https://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/oregon-trail/https://www.oregontrail.com/history/
https://www.mnhs.org/education/resources/the-oregon-trail-game
https://www.pbs.org/video/oregon-trail-game-history/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-oregon-trail-game-became-classroom-staple-180962833/
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/14/15291674/oregon-trail-game-history-education-minnesota
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Oregon-Trail-computer-game
https://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/history-of-the-game.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/science/03trail.html
https://www.gamehistory.org/oregon-trail/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71204/brief-history-oregon-trail-game
https://www.wired.com/2014/07/oregon-trail/
-
For this episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we follow one of the most infamous stories of the overland journey—the Donner Party.
What began as a hopeful crossing turned into a fight for survival in the Sierra Nevada, where early snow, starvation, and impossible choices reshaped every life in the camp.
This episode traces the full story—from the decision to take the Hastings Cutoff to the winter that held them in the mountains, told through firsthand accounts and historical record.Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #donnerparty #oregontrail #pnwhistory #historypodcast #westwardexpansion #americanhistory #truehistory
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/donner-history/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/donner-primary-sources/
https://www.nps.gov/places/donner-memorial-state-park.htm
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-donner-party.htm
https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/donner-party
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Donner-Party
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/donner_party/
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-donnerparty/
https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/96
https://www.truckeehistory.org/donner-party
https://www.sierranevadageotourism.org/entries/donner-party/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/donner-reed-diary/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/donner-breen-diary/
https://www.library.ucdavis.edu/special-collections/donner-party/
https://digitalcollections.library.unlv.edu/donner-party
-
For the next episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we follow the story of the Whitman Mission—a place many emigrants passed through at the end of the trail, and where rising tension, disease, and cultural misunderstanding came to a breaking point in 1847.
This episode looks beyond a single version of the story, tracing what led to that moment and what followed—through firsthand accounts, historical context, and the realities of a region already deeply lived in.Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #pnwhistory #oregontrail #historypodcast #americanhistory #nativehistory #pnwpodcast
Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/whmi/learn/historyculture/index.htmhttps://www.nps.gov/articles/whitman-mission.htm
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/whitman_massacre/
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/cayuse_war/
https://www.historylink.org/file/5296
https://www.historylink.org/file/5297
https://www.britannica.com/event/Whitman-Massacre
https://www.loc.gov/item/2006679053/
https://www.loc.gov/collections/oregon-trail-miscellany/articles-and-essays/whitman-mission/
https://www.whitman.edu/whitman-mission-history
https://www.nps.gov/whmi/learn/historyculture/cayuse.htm
https://www.nps.gov/whmi/learn/historyculture/measles.htm
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/whitman-massacre/
https://www.wsna.org/whitman-mission-history
https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/whitman-massacre
https://www.historylink.org/File/5192
-
This episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re tracing the trail through the homelands of the sovereign nations who lived along its length—Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Chinookan peoples, and many more.
This episode honors their history, their endurance, and the world emigrants entered long before the trail had a name.
Sovereign Lands: The Native Peoples of the Oregon Trail, is out now everywhere you listen to Podcasts!#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #pnwhistory #historypodcast #indigenoushistory #nativehistory #oregonhistory #pnwpodcast
Sources:
https://www.oregontrailcenter.org/indianshttps://historicoregoncity.org/2019/04/02/disrupting-the-natives/
https://pacificu.libguides.com/c.php?g=1050460&p=7794169
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/death-on-trails.htm
https://pacificu.libguides.com/c.php?g=1050460&p=7636236
https://www.historylink.org/file/10365
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/war-on-the-oregon-california-trails.htm
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_trail/
https://www.human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/History/State_and_Local_History/Oregons_History%3A_People_of_the_Northwest_in_the_Land_of_Eden/01%3A_Chapters/1.04%3A_Native_Americans_in_the_Land_of_Eden-_An_Elegy_of_Early_Statehood
https://oregontrail101.com/native.html
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/indians-emigrants/
https://ndnhistoryresearch.com/2023/12/14/integrating-tribal-perspectives-into-an-oregon-trail-history/
https://www.obbg.org/blog/2023/08/the-oregon-trail-and-indigenous-people-heritage/
https://ctuir.org/about/brief-history-of-ctuir/
https://www.oregontrailcenter.org/indians
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_trail/
https://www.oregontrail101.com/native.html
https://www.historyonthenet.com/american-old-west-in-depth
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/narratives/this-land-oregon/the-first-peoples/the-first-peoples/
https://online.ucpress.edu/ch/article/99/3/53/189887/Retracing-The-Oregon-Trail
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/war-on-the-oregon-california-trails.htm
https://www.ndnhistoryresearch.com/2023/12/14/integrating-tribal-perspectives-into-an-oregon-trail-history/
https://www.eugenecascadescoast.org/blog/post/native-peoples/
https://www.history.com/articles/oregon-trail
-
For this of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re following the women who walked the trail long before it became history. The women who delivered children between river crossings, drove wagons when tragedy struck, held families together through sickness, storms, loss, and miles of dust. Their stories, woven through diaries and memories, shaped the trail just as deeply as any wagon wheel.
Women of the Oregon Trail: The Hands That Carried the West is out nowhere everywhere you stream Podcasts!#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #pnwpodcast #historypodcast #pnwhistory #oregonhistory #womenofthetrail #americanhistory
Sources:
The Oregon Trail Was Filled with Hardship and Surprises, these 16 Facts Prove It - History CollectionMatilda and Elizabeth Sager, the Oregon Trail (U.S. National Park Service)
Portland Center Stage | Portland Center Stage
https://www.nps.gov/oreg/learn/historyculture/womenonthetrail.htm
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/women_in_oregon_history/
https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/women.htm
https://www.loc.gov/item/2007664658/
https://www.fwhistory.com/portfolio/women-on-the-oregon-trail/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4308423
https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/owh/id/47577
https://www.octa-trails.org/women-of-the-trail
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Oregon_Trail:_Women_on_the_Trail
https://www.historynet.com/oregon-trail/
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6dj8fx6
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/abigail-scott-duniway/#.XxpfcyhKiUk
https://www.sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/duniway
https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/sager.htm
-
We’re launching a brand new Oregon Trail series—digging into the real stories behind the wagon ruts, the dangerous shortcuts, the lost parties, and the moments where hope and survival collided on the road west.
Our first episode drops this week, starting with the Meek Cutoff, often called Oregon’s “other Donner Party.” A massive wagon train. A promised shortcut. A deadly desert passage. And a winter that nearly broke them long before the Willamette Valley came into view.
Step into the trail with us. The Oregon Trail wasn’t just a road… it was a gamble—one many never returned from.
#oregontrail #pnwpodcast #historypodcast #spookypodcast #truehistory #meekcutoff #oregonsdonnerparty #pacificnorthwest #graveyardofthepacific #podcastseries #historynerds #westwardexpansion #pnwhistory #americanhistory #storytellingpodcastSources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meek_Cutoff
https://www.oregonpioneers.com/CooleyDiary.htm
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Meek_Cutoff
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/king-burial-and-a-letter/
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295993096/the-meek-cutoff/
https://www.historylink.org/File/10727
https://oregonoverland.com/4-new.pdf
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/en%3AOregon_Historical_Quarterly/Volume_35/Route_of_Meek_Cut-Off%2C_1845
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnmpg
https://historicoregoncity.org/2019/04/02/free-emigrant-road-1853/
https://oregontic.com/oregon-historical-markers/cutoff-fever/
https://www.oregonpioneers.com/CooleyDiary.htm
https://www.oregonoverland.com/4-new.pdf
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/en%3AOregon_Historical_Quarterly/Volume_35/Route_of_Meek_Cut-Off%2C_1845
https://thatoregonlife.com/2023/06/meek-cutoff-oregon-trail-1845/
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Meek_Cutoff -
For our next episode on The Long Road to Oregon, we’re digging into one of the harshest realities emigrants faced on the trail: cholera.
The sudden sickness that moved through camps without warning, took lives in hours, and left miles of quiet graves along the roadside. This chapter follows the real stories, the medical truth, and the families who tried to outrun a disease they didn’t understand.
A hard piece of Oregon Trail history — but one that shaped every wagon that followed.
The long road to Oregon: The blue death, Cholera on the Oregon Trail is out now
Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cholera-a-trail-epidemic.htmhttps://www.cdc.gov/cholera/index.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706430/
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_trail_health/#.Vt2U9_krKUk
https://www.nps.gov/oreg/learn/historyculture/disease.htm
https://history.nebraska.gov/blog/cholera-platte-1849/
https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cholera-on-the-kansas-frontier/16825
https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/one/odrsettl.htm
https://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbtn.wr0693100/?st=gallery
https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/ttp/id/52318
https://oregonpioneers.com/ortrail.htm
https://www.historynet.com/cholera-and-the-oregon-trail/
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/oregon-trail-disease.htm
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20613800
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/resources/essay_trail_health.html
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/cholera/
https://www.octa-trails.org/cholera_on_the_trail
-
For Episode 1 of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re going back to 1843 to follow the first great wagon train west. This is the story of the families who gathered on the edge of Missouri, joined their wagons, and carved the earliest deep ruts toward Oregon. The beginning of the trail as we know it.
Episode 1: The Great Migration of 1843 is out now everywhere you stream podcasts!
#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #pnwpodcast #historypodcast #pnwhistory #oregonhistory #greatmigration1843
Sources:
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon_trail_overview/
https://www.nps.gov/oreg/learn/historyculture/the-great-migration-of-1843.htm
https://www.loc.gov/item/2007664658/
https://www.historynet.com/oregon-trail-history/
https://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/oregon.htm
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Oregon_Trail:_The_Great_Migration_of_1843
https://oregonpioneers.com/1843.htm
https://www.britannica.com/event/Oregon-Trail
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/or-oregontrail/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20613800
https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/owh/id/47577
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/oregon-trail-migration.htm
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65x2t5m
https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/journal-of-travel-1843/
https://www.octa-trails.org/oregon-trail-history
1843 - Year of the Great Migration | Savages & Scoundrels
-
We’re starting something new.
As we reach two years of Mysterious Pacific Northwest, we’re taking a moment to look back—at where this show began, the stories we’ve told, and how much it’s grown.
And from there, we’re stepping into something that’s been a long time coming.
The Long Road to Oregon is a series rooted in a story that feels familiar to so many of us—but the deeper we went, the more we realized how much of it we didn’t fully understand.
This first episode is the beginning of that journey.A reflection, a starting point, and the road ahead.
Now streaming on all major podcast apps.
#thelongroadtooregon #historypodcast #pnwhistory #oregontrail #pnwpodcast #podcastcommunity
-
On Christmas Eve 1945, a fire tore through the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. By morning, five children were missing. No remains were ever found. The explanations didn’t match the evidence. And the questions left behind have lingered for nearly eighty years.
This week, we’re diving into one of America’s most unsettling unsolved cases — the disappearance of the Sodder children, the investigation that failed them, and the clues that still don’t add up.
Now streaming wherever you listen to Podcasts#TheInfamousFiles #TrueCrimePodcast #UnsolvedMysteries #SodderChildren #PodcastEpisode #HistoryMystery #TrueCrimeCommunity #NewEpisode
Sources:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-children-who-went-up-in-smoke-172429802/https://vault.fbi.gov/sodder-children
https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/130
https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2014/12/the-sodder-children-mystery.html
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/24/1064215090/sodder-children-fire-christmas-eve
http://www.charleyproject.org/case/sodder-children
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/porchlightusa/sodder-children-disappearance-wv-1945-t14963.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268180178_Fire_Death_Investigation
https://www.historicmysteries.com/sodder-children/
https://truecrimereader.com/the-sodder-children-mystery/
https://www.newspapers.com/search/?query=sodder%20children
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?proxtext=Sodder+fire&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1&language=&ortext=&andtext=&phrasetext=&proxdistance=5&state=&date1=1945&date2=1955
https://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx
https://www.wvculture.org/history/archivesindex.aspx
-
In this episode, we ride deep into the gold-laden gulches of early Montana—where law was scarce, tempers were quick, and justice was often measured in rope. From the boomtown chaos of Bannack and Virginia City to the haunting hangings beneath Helena’s “Old Hangman’s Tree,” this story follows the rise of the Montana Vigilantes: citizens who took justice into their own hands amid robbery, murder, and fear. We’ll trace the six furious weeks in 1863–64 that saw Sheriff Henry Plummer accused and executed, the vigilantes’ spread into cattle country under Granville Stuart’s “Stranglers,” and the mysterious legacy of the code 3-7-77. Part history, part moral reckoning, this is a tale about how far communities will go to protect themselves—and how easily justice can tangle with vengeance when the law rides in too late.
Episode Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Vigilantes#:~:text=In%201884%2C%20ranchers%20in%20Central,Stuart%20in%20the%20Musselshell%20region.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/montana-vigilantes/
https://www.distinctlymontana.com/3-7-77-warning-or-whimsy
-
This week we head to Attu Island, one of the most remote and forgotten battlefields of World War II. A place of brutal fighting, heavy loss, and the ghost stories that followed.
Was it truly haunted… or does history itself linger in places like this?
Listen now to: The Haunted Battlefield of Attu wherever you get your podcasts.
#MysteriousPacificNorthwest #Podcast #TrueHistory #WWIIHistory #AlaskaHistory #HauntedHistory #GhostStories #PacificNorthwest #HistoryPodcast
Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/battle-of-attu.htmhttps://www.nps.gov/aleu/planyourvisit/upload/Attu-Forgotten-Battle-Optimized-508.pdf
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/wartime-internment-native-alaskans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Attu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_Attu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attu_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Aleutian_Islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_World_War_II_National_Historic_Area
https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/Attu-Island-Lost-Village
https://apnews.com/article/adaef3a637eb88e41a676292a1d3cc90
-
Our newest episode takes you deep into Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue during the chaotic pipeline boom years — a place where women looked out for each other long before the city realized a serial predator was hunting in their streets.
This is the story told through their experiences, their warnings, and the city they tried to survive in — pieced together through survivor accounts, historical records, and the decades of work that finally brought the truth into the open.
Now streaming on all major podcast apps.#TrueCrimePodcast #PacificNorthwest #AlaskaHistory #RobertHansen #ButcherBaker #Anchorage #4thAvenue #TrueCrimeCommunity #NewEpisode #PodcastRelease #TrueCrimeStories
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hansenhttps://dps.alaska.gov/AST/PIO/PressReleases/Victim-of-Serial-Killer-Robert-Hansen-Identified-3
https://people.com/how-serial-killer-robert-hansen-was-caught-11793985
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313161952_A_psychobiography_of_Robert_Hansen_The_Butcher-_Baker
https://www.aetv.com/articles/alaska-serial-killer-robert-hansen
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/robert-hansen-dies-at-75-convicted-alaska-serial-killer/2014/08/22/cf2d2acc-2989-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/us/robert-hansen-alaska-serial-killer-dies-at-75.html
https://criminalminds.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Hansen
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/robert-hansen-serial-killer?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://chugachpics.tripod.com/hansen.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.adn.com/crime-justice/article/serial-killer-hansen-dead-world-better-without-him-trooper-says/2014/08/22/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Eklutna_Annie
-
Set against the storm-lashed backdrop of early 1900s Aberdeen, Washington, this narrative traces the rise and ruin of William “Billy” Gohl, a sailor-turned-union leader once branded the “Ghoul of Grays Harbor.” Once feared as a mass murderer blamed for dozens of waterfront deaths, Gohl’s story is reexamined through a century of mythmaking, corruption, and labor strife. Drawing on modern research that redeems his legacy, the essay reveals a man more scapegoat than killer — a fiery advocate for sailors’ rights who became the convenient villain of an unsafe, exploitative age. From the bustling mills of Grays Harbor to the haunted walls of Billy’s Bar & Grill, the story unfolds like a fog lifting over the Pacific, revealing not a monster, but a man — and a community learning to tell its own truth at last.
Episode Sources:
https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/gohl-billy.htm
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/164540860/william-gohl
https://www.graysharbortalk.com/2024/06/05/intrigue-at-billys-bar-grill-separating-truth-from-tall-tales-of-grays-harbors-billy-gohl/
https://www.nydailynews.com/2020/10/11/justice-story-the-ghoul-of-grays-harbor/
https://www.thedailyworld.com/news/theres-more-to-the-bill-gohl-story-than-you-know/
https://serialkillercalendar.com/BILLY-GOHL-THE-GHOUL-OF-GRAYS-HARBOR.php
https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-163-the-ghoul-of-grays-harbor/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Gohl
-
BONUS EPISODE !!
We’re going Inside the Mysterious Pacific Northwest for a special AMA episode—sharing more about us, the podcast, and some behind-the-scenes moments
From how we choose our stories to the moments that have genuinely unsettled us… nothing’s off limits
So grab your coffee, settle in, and come hang out with usListen now wherever you stream podcasts
#MysteriousPacificNorthwest #PodcastAMA #TrueCrimePodcast #PNW #Cryptids #Hauntings #PodcastCommunity
- Visa fler
