Scary Horror Stories

Dry Boot on the Kiosk: He Came Back Missing Five Days Later

A single dry, double-knotted Salomon boot sat upright on a rain-soaked kiosk ledge while the concrete around it was soaked from a 0.75-inch storm-an ordinary sign that didn't belong to the canyon or to panic. That boot led searchers across roughly 200 square miles of canyon terrain and left one haunting unanswered question: why was a prepared, experienced field technician found five days later alive yet missing the explanation that boot seemed to deny?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine Wednesday phone call at 9:14 p.m. to a Saturday morning volunteer finding the boot, through a multi-day search-and-rescue across Rimstone Canyon that ends with a survivor found 4.5 miles from the trailhead and puzzling details that refuse closure. How did a man who knew the land and carried working gear end up separated from a dry, carefully tied boot?

Person: Bruce Wells
Date: June 12-18, 2019
Location: Rimstone Canyon, Mesa County
Status: Found alive after six days
Equipment: Salomon X Ultra 3 men's size 10.5 boot; daypack with two full water bottles and a working GPS

- Boot discovered by volunteer Karen Andrews at 7:52 a.m. sitting upright on the kiosk ledge.
- Rainfall measured 0.75 inches at 11:40 p.m. the previous night while the boot remained dry.
- Bruce Wells was 28 years old and had worked five years as a hydrological technician.
- Search area covered roughly 200 square miles with over 40 search-and-rescue personnel involved.
- Bruce was found alive in a wash 4.5 miles from the kiosk; a daypack was found wedged in a canyon crack with two full water bottles and a functioning GPS.

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The Boot on the Rock: How Cynthia Vanished for Two Hours

A single hiking boot, laces tied and standing upright on a flat rock forty yards from the trail, was found sixty yards uphill from where Cynthia Jones was later located - and no one saw it placed there. Cynthia, a careful fifty-four-year-old hiker with a broken fibula, was missing for nearly two days in the Brinnock Range; how did she end up thirty feet below the trail with no memory of placing that boot?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of recorded movements and physical evidence from trail registers, infrared counters, and the search that followed, and we ask how a competent hiker could vanish from familiar terrain for hours without a clear explanation. What happened in the hours between her trailhead signature and when she was found?

Person: Cynthia Jones
Date: May 7, 2019
Location: Fetter Creek, Brinnock Range
Status: Case closed May 22, 2019
Coordinator: Ryan Thompson

- Cynthia signed the Fetter Creek trailhead register at 12:50 PM with destination “Morrow Flat, six miles out.”
- A passive infrared counter recorded an outbound pass at 1:57 PM and never recorded her return.
- Cynthia was found roughly one third of a mile past the fork, thirty feet below the trail in a drainage bank.
- A hiking boot belonging to Cynthia was upright on a flat rock twenty feet above the trail and sixty yards uphill from where she was found.
- The Harwick County Search and Rescue team closed the case on May 22, 2019, with Ryan Thompson noting “all primary anomalies resolved to the required standard.”

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© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

She Signed Out Twice - Found Alive Where Trails Vanish

Cold and precise: a woman signed the Brauer Lake trail register twice the morning she vanished, a dry gas-station receipt was found inside a boot pulled from a fast spring river, and search dogs tracked cleanly for 4.5 miles before the trail stopped on an open alpine flat - so how did she end up alive on the Fennick River thirty-one miles away? This episode brings the unnerving facts together and leaves one question: what route did she take where no trail, no footprints, and no map explain her movement?

In this episode, we go through the documented timeline, the search actions, and the field evidence exactly as recorded, and we follow the unanswered question of Linda Roberts's plan and the mountain's response that confounded searchers.

Person: Linda Roberts
Date: April 9-14, 2019
Location: Brauer Lake trailhead; Fenner Flat; Fennick River; Stanton Mills
Status: Found alive

- At 06:47 on April 9, 2019, Linda signed the Brauer Lake trail register listing Brauer Lake and a 6:00 PM return time.
- At 08:51 on April 9, 2019, exterior gas station footage showed Linda at the Stanton Mills gas station buying water, a granola bar, and three disposable rain ponchos.
- At 09:31 on April 9, 2019, Linda re-signed the same register; handwriting later confirmed as hers, with no destination listed and 44 minutes after the earlier entry.
- Tracking dogs Corvis (bloodhound) and Pike (Belgian Malinois) followed a clean trail north from the 09:31 register for 4.5 miles and then stopped at the center/north edge of Fenner Flat after circling for about 11 minutes.
- At 04:50 on April 14, 2019, Dale Brooks pulled a laced hiking boot from the Fennick River with a completely dry folded gas station receipt tucked in the inner heel.

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© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

Boots on the Boulder, No Frost - How She Vanished Below

Cold precision: two hiking boots, heels aligned, toes pointing north, laces tucked, placed on a chest-high boulder after a white frost glazed every surface at 12°F - and the woman who owned them was missing for thirty-six hours. Why were the boots immaculate and frostless while Lauren Whitfield lay four hundred meters below with a core temperature of 89°F?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning Valerie O'Connor discovered the boots to the search-and-rescue findings that contradict every expected explanation. What choices did Lauren make that night, and where did the trail - and the scent - simply end?

Person: Lauren Whitfield
Date: March 14th (discovery at 8:40 AM); disappearance began March 12th (expected return by 4 PM)
Location: Gray Tooth, Kantner Highlands; body found 400 meters below and east of the boulder
Status: Missing person found non-responsive with core temperature 89°F
Search commander: Shannon Gallagher

- Boots placed side by side on a chest-high boulder, heels aligned, toes pointing north, laces tucked inside.
- Surrounding rock was glazed with frost formed shortly after 2:00 AM at 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lauren Whitfield had been missing for nearly thirty-six hours when the boots were found.
- Lauren was found lying in a hollow of scree 400 meters below and east of the boulder, wearing a base layer and wool socks.
- Before leaving, Lauren left an intact camp nine miles in with tent standing, sleeping bag used, trekking poles lashed outside, and food canister unopened.

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© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.

He Walked In Whole, Came Out A Broken Stranger at Dusk

A seasoned hunter’s untouched breakfast sat on his truck hood for five and a half hours in eighteen-degree cold while ravens normally strip food in under an hour - and no bird had touched it. An experienced tracker’s dogs followed Craig Vogel’s scent 300-400 yards into Kellum National Forest and then stopped as if the trail vanished; what happened to him in those trees?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of facts gathered on the morning of February 9, 2014, from the scene at the Schulte camp clearing through the first days of search and rescue, and we follow the odd details that broke the case open: the missing harness, the abandoned pack, the single latex glove - how do all these pieces fit together?

Person: Craig Vogel
Date: February 9, 2014
Location: Kellum National Forest
Status: Missing then found injured and disoriented
Investigator: Sarah Weaver

- Breakfast left on truck hood: two biscuits, scrambled eggs, Styrofoam cup of coffee, untouched for 5.5 hours in 18°F.
- Hunting experience: Craig Vogel had hunted Kellum National Forest for 30 years and held an 18-year permanent hunting license.
- Dog tracks: One search dogs followed scent 300 and 400 yards into the woods before the trail stopped; both dogs went cold.
- Safety gear: Blaze-orange vest folded on passenger seat and safety harness hanging unbuckled from climbing stick on Stand One.
- Items at base of tree: Craig’s pack left in snow contained compass, lunch, hand warmer, and knife; a single left-hand latex glove was found on the platform.

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© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.