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The wildly popular, themed podcast,

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chameleon is back with a new season

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called wild, boys. In

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2003 and international news story

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broke when to half starved and boys

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known as the bush boys, turned

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up in small Town. Claiming

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to be raised in the British Columbia Wilderness.

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This was their first ever

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contact with Society. They've

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never seen TV gone to school

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or register for IDs. There

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was just one problem. Not

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one word the boy said was true. Nearly

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twenty years later award winning comedian

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and journalists Sam Mullins uncovers

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the bizarre true story of the strangers

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who turned his hometown upside down

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it's. psychological drama you can't mess

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with never before heard interviews and audio

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from the boys and their family Check

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out this clip here.

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The boy couldn't have known it, but they showed up

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in the right place at the right time

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because in a sense this only

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could have happened and Vernon because it's like.

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We didn't even have the infrastructure

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in place for an interesting

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thing to happen. You

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need to know about my hometown. Hernan

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is located in the Okanagan a

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region in the interior of British Columbia

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sort of halfway between Vancouver

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in Calgary historically,

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it's been middle class place by the whole

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region has sort of been transformed

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into transformed outdoor playground for the wealthy

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The Okanagan is known for its wineries,

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golf courses, mountain ski resorts,

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it's lakes and the mythological

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beast, the Ogre Pogo, who lives in

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of said lakes, allegedly. The

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Crown Jewel of Vernon, and in my opinion

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the whole Okanagan is chemical

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lake. The appellate

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is home to Cal Beach and it's the

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beach in town filled with beaches

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and, right across the street from the beach is

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be hallowed towel general

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store. six or that

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folks here version Then. sediment letter if,

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I could do still the vibe of cows or down

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into a single transaction it would be

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teenager in bathing suits

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buying slushy and then came.

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With wet five dollar bill and

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then when the cashier's back is turned they steal

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and later that can replace.

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and in the summer of two thousand and three strange

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things were strange foot at

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cows store

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Learning. Is a white town,

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it's conservative town to

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hockey town, there's lots of churches,

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there's lots of retired folks,

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there's winter carnival parade

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every year and the city

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has never. Once held gay pride parade

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more, so than other places there's this underlying

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assumption that every one more

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less feels the same way

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that you do culturally politically

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Just feels really homogenous

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which is why when these The boys

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showed up in town people

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with double take their kind

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of odd wild children

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appear in. Our community are always together.

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You never ever apart are

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always together. Extremely very

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skinny, look like an alien. I

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a I

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remember thinking That

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was really odd.

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But

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It wasn't just what they were wearing or what

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they were doing necessarily. was

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more like an energy or an aura

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thing. You could. Look at these two in

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context and be like, wait, what?

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They were ranked. in the fabric,

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a glitch in the matrix, no

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one knew what to make of that. Like

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when the boys would come by cows or everyday,

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woman who work there at the time told me that the

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boys would use the pay phone sometimes.

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But she wasn't sure if they were using

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it or just playing with

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that. You know like however.

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you pursue This is Lin, who managed

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to produce stand at the store and two thousand

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and three. And while

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the rest of Vernon's teens were buying are

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stealing five cents, candies or slices,

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these boys were only ever interested

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in buying one sang at the store

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fruit. The

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only ever fruit.

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And. Another thing was their relationship

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wasn't obvious at a glance: the

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older boy seem like he held some kind of

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power over the younger ones, which

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raised of these other questions: I. Did,

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he kidnapped the younger one, was

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he forcing him not to eat is

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that why the younger one is so? skinny

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or they lovers criminals on they

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run

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Yeah, I had no idea

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what was going on with those two.

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In general the boys were keeping an extremely

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low profile for months the,

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summer was receding and the knights were getting

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colder. and this story

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might have ended hear the boys

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would have just disappeared or moved on to

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some other town if not

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for tammy mcdougall rider

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Hello. The find

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out how. After

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my dog is a. genuinely

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can imagine how this would have unfolded

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is tammy didn't get involved And

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getting involved is kind of time, his

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whole thing.

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This the type of person that isn't gonna sit back

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and, oh, someone else to take care of it, and

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you know, I just am that person that will.

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The care of it in two thousand three Tammy

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was in her early thirties and she

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just moved to Vernon with her husband and

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three children.

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Full time mom, I was just raising

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three kids, just running up and

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down Silver Star Mountain. For hockey is.

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early mornings and late eighties

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and my husband's i think

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it the time was probably working on the town a lot

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One day Tammy was walking through downtown

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Vernon with her kids when she saw the boys

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for the first time I had my kids in the car

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and remember driving by the library

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and. on i just remember

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it was kind of slow motion remember seeing

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them glad them just didn't help financially

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stare like holy smokes what's up

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with these guys to say looked so different and

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a little lamb

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The one to slick, so if

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he was just so amazing.

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It it and it was scary. It was so

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And then just what they were

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wearing. It just seems sort of. the.

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I

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I don't want to say called like

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that. It just seemed weird. It just wasn't normal.

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But I'm like everyone else in town. Tammy

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is in the person to just mentally

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note it or forget about it.

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Where other people sit back, Hemi

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activates to

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I see if

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can find them to help them. Be sure to

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listen, And subscribe to chameleon,

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Wild Boys, on Apple podcasts

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or wherever you, listen.