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How do you survive when faced

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with impossible odds? That's the

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question asked in each season of

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Wondery podcast against the odds.

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Hosts Mike Corey and Cassie de Peckel

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put you in the shoes of real people who

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looked death in the eyes and lived to tell

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the tale. These stories are filled with

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the unshakable human drive to survive

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and the inspiring bravery of the heroes

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who helped. The newest season of Against

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the Odds takes you to the largest kidnapping

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for ransom in American history, where

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a school bus carrying twenty six

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children and their driver was hijacked

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by three masks gunman on an isolated

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road on the outskirts of Chochila, California.

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The boss and its passengers disappeared seemingly

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without a trace. Local law enforcement, the

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feds and the media mounted an enormous

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manhunt, but the trail quickly ran

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dry. You're about to hear a clip from

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the Chowchilla school bus kidnapping. From

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against the odds. While you're

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listening, follow against the odds wherever

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you get your podcasts and hey, Prime

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members, you can listen to against the odds

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ad free on Amazon Music. Download

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the Amazon Music app today.

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A listener note, this episode contains

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adult language. Ed

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Rae, steers his school bus

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down a lonely road that runs between

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long rows of almond trees. He

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squints as he adjusts his visor

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to block the blazing afternoon sun.

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It's July fifteenth nineteen

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seventy six. Ed is driving

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kids home from Dairyland Elementary

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School in Chochila, California.

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Summer school is in session. To

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Ed, that doesn't qualify as

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real school as far as he's concerned.

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Summer school is more like baby

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city. He glances in

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the rearview mirror. There are a couple

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dozen kids he still needs to drop off.

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And all of them are hyped from a field

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trip they took to a local pool. Ed

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shakes his head and smiles. He

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likes the kids in his route. And

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he thinks, hey, like him. Ed

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is fifty four with a strong

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build a stern face and

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sandy receding hair. He's

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been driving this bus for about twenty

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years now. Before Nathalie

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grew corn and raised cattle.

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He didn't make it far in school

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and can't really read or write, but

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he's good with numbers and he can bail

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hay like nobody's business. He

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could never imagine leaving Chowchilla.

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It's a farming town in California's

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San Joaquin Valley, about hundred

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miles east of San Jose. Ed's

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lived around here his entire life

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The population is around five thousand,

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and that suits Ed just fine. He

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likes the slow pace of living. How having

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plenty of land to work and the god

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fearing country folk that call home.

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He hangs a right onto Avenue twenty

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one past a no other endless almond

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orchard. As

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the road opens up in front of him, he

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spots a white Dodge van parked in

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the middle of the road with its door open.

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That's peculiar. Ed

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rarely sees other cars on the road

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when he hits his part of the route. The

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van must have stalled out.

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He'd love to help them, but it's against school

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rules to stop once his route is And

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he knows the kids parents are expecting

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them home soon. Ed slows

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down and angles the bus to the side

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of the narrow road, preparing to inch

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the bus around the van. A

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man emerges from the passenger

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side of the van and strives

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towards the bus. He's wearing

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overalls and has a nylon stocking

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pulled over his head. In one

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hand, he's holding a tiny revolver.

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In the other, a shotgun. Both

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guns are straight at Ed.

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Ed stops the bus. The mass

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gun and walks towards the driver's side

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window and motions for Ed to open it.

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Ed's hands are shaking as he flips

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the latch and opens the window, the

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man in the mask. Steps forward.

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Would you open the door, please? Ed

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hesitates, but he knows he doesn't

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have a choice. He pulls the

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lever and the door of the bus flips open,

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agonizing seconds pass, but

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the man doesn't board the bus. It

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just stands there. Air. Ed looks

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at the van and sees two more men

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emerge from it. They have nylon

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stockings on their heads. There

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armed. And they're heading straight

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for his bus. Ed

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feels his pulse accelerate as he tries

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to imagine what these men have in store

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for him and for

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the children in his church. From

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Wondery I'm Mike Corey, and

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this is against the odds. Chowchilla

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is a quiet farming town in California's

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San Joaquin Valley, but on

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July fifteenth, nineteen seventy

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six, the town became embroiled

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in a crisis that captured the world

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to tension. A school bus

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carrying twenty six children and

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their driver was hijacked by three

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masked gunmen on an isolated road

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on the outskirts of town. The

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bus and its passengers disappeared

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without a trace. Within hours,

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the Vanish school bus was headline

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news, the press mob the

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town and the story spread like

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wildfire. With twenty seven

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victims, it was the biggest kidnapping

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in American history, but no

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one knew who had taken the children

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or why. This

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is our two part Sears Reese's Chowchilla

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school bus kidnapping. And

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this is episode vanished.

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Hey, Prime members. You can listen to

6:14

against the odds ad free on Amazon

6:16

Music. Download the Amazon Music

6:19

app today.