A Living Psychological Nightmare

0:01 Hello bizarre story, friends. You've tuned into the bizarre AF where we talk about the strange, the absurd, the unknown, and things that are bizarre AF. I'm Kevin, I'm gonna be your host for today's episode. And as always, we ask that you keep an open mind, keep a skeptical ear, but keep listening to the facts as we take you on our newest journey. True story, A living psychological nightmare.

1:01 Dory friends, welcome to another exciting episode of the Bizarre AF. And as always, I would like to welcome my cohost Tess with the most Tess. Always, Alicia. How are you doing, Alicia? You care. You really care. That's how we bring in the live studio audience. Yeah, I am. I'm doing great. Yeah. I'm excited about this episode. I'm excited for summer. I, you know, I know. On this episode we're going to be going on a flight. So I have my today. I have my my Hawaiian like travel, travel. Outfit romper and I'm feeling tropical. I'm feeling, you know, Yeah, get me 10, get me, get me a pina colada.

1:54 I will settle for an amazing orange. Mimosa Yeah. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. But I'm excited for you'll find out we're not going to a beach today. Man, I thought that if I dressed for the occasion, so you know, they say like dress for the job you want, not the job you have. That's what I'm doing here. Well, we can only wish that they would have been going somewhere warm. Yeah, So oh, no, this is in fact, you know, we always talk about, oh, that that's a living nightmare or you would say something and go, you go, we go. That is a living nightmare.

2:34 Oh yeah. No, no, no, no. What we're gonna talk about today is like the ultimate psychological living, true story nightmare. Oh my God, is it going to make us question whether or not we want to get on a flight again? Because the other Maybe we've done an episode in the past. Uh huh. We have. That did make me think. HM I don't know, dude. We could do, we could do stories about boats. Yes, cars. We did one on that. That's submersible. Yeah. Titanic, yes. That's true. Of course I would never. I'd already told you I'd never do that.

3:15 But right, I don't know. We we have to be in cars, we have to be on boats and we have to be on planes. We have to. Live our life. You have to live our life. And so you just hope, yeah upon beyond hope that what I'm gonna talk to you about today just never ever happens. Cal, buckle up and buckle up. You should have brought my sweatshirt. Maybe instead of instead of my wrong 2 layers. So we're gonna talk about something that happened back in the early 70s. OK. And when I start talking about it, you you may have may remember some things about this other one. Were you born? I was born in 1987.

4:00 OK, so this will be a brand new story for. You. Great. Great. I'm here. I'm looking for it. So in 72 there was a rugby, is this rugby team? Oh yeah. It's actually called Old Christians Club and the part of the rugby union and in a rugby is not. I mean it's a US thing, but it's really like European and Spanish and you know. Really as American? Yeah, world, I guess. Everywhere else, Yeah. And real quickly, for those of you who do not really understand what rugby is, imagine our American football in shorts and a shorts tee shirt. Yeah, really no padding.

4:45 I actually no padding, no helmets. No. I mean it is equally if not actually more aggressive and you have no protection have. You ever played? These guys? Are these men Are men? They're men's. Men they like how like their legs are like ohh my tree trunks good sore love love it. That's probably why they wear shorts like look at my legs. Well, they pants don't fit over there. Yeah, right. Quads. I've not ever played. I'm not. I have, yeah, I was. I broke my hand playing rugby, I believe. It yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's a lot. It's it's a lot and you know it. It's a lot of fun and it's an aggressive sport, but one of the first things that you're taught when you're playing rugby is how to safely tackle.

5:31 So because there are no padding, there is no padding. You can't. You have to really be, you have to know what you're doing when you're tackling and stuff. So there's a lot of time spent on safe safety and knowing how to fall and stuff like that. And I get the sense that these, these teams are very tight. They're real as far as relationships and they're brothers, right? Yes, that's how they. Yeah. And sisters. Very close. Yeah. You have to be very close. Yeah. I mean, it's like any sport, but I think that there's a different kind of camaraderie. It seems like there is, yes. And so this team, they're very, very good, very, very bonded and they were going to go to a match, but they had to fly like a good old long distance and like Santiago, like South America, okay and so.

6:33 They're going, by the way, this team, they're young. They're like early 20s. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't really see like 50 year old rugby players. Right, right. Yeah. These guys are young, limber, muscley, energetic. Yeah, yeah, they've got it right, Okay. So the young young young people okay there's A and this is a flight. It's flight flight 571 and the idea is they're gonna go to their their match and there's 40, the total of 45 passengers 40. 5OK45 Yep. And so the plan was to fly over the Andes, which is Indies, which is Andes, I think. Is what it is.

7:16 The mountains, they're like, they're like Rocky Mountains. They're like massive, massive mountains. And then you get over them and then it's like beach and ocean. Right, right. Yeah, so they were going to play an exhibition game in Chile. Oh, okay. It was a low pressure game. It was like wasn't really part of any seasonal match. It was more of just kind of like an exhibition game. And they're hey, while we're in Chile, let's have a little AK. Yes, let's have some fun. Yeah. So they chartered this US Air Force military plane, which I guess was quite common in Uruguay at the at the time. And so it was going to be a very straightforward 4 hour flight. So on October 13th, 72, it's Monticello to Sandia Santiago and because they had bad weather, they were going to make a stop in in Mendoza because you're not supposed to fly over the Andes in the afternoon because of the way the winds work and it just makes it really, really treacherous. Oh God, yeah.

8:31 And because of some laws and other kind of crap, these U.S. military, they, these flights, these planes, they couldn't stay in Argentine on Argentinian soil for more than 24 hours like it was some. Weird law. Weird law or agreement or whatever. Sure. Like if you have like a if you have a military flight landed there for over 24 hours, we think you're going to try to take over our Yeah, yeah, who knows? That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And so they didn't make a flight that day so they were get they were so they're totally going to be F so everything was like rushed, rushed, rushed, rushed and so but the pilots say OK we need to be really cautious because there is really bad weather. So kind of they knew kind of somewhat what to expect. And so they're like OK, we're going to have to go way, way South to Managua I think is what it's pronounced and then over this pass over to Charrico and then up to to Santiago. So if you're if you're watching on video, it's like you go north and you travel way, way, way, way South and then you go West over the mountains and then you go up, up, up, up, up, up, up up to your destination.

9:52 They had to do that because of weather. You still have to fly over the Andes, but they just had to go take a really weird long path okay. So they get down to their turning point and guess what time of the day it is? Afternoon. Of course, cuz because it takes so fucking long for them, Yeah, yeah. So they hit this really bad turbulence, and at one point they actually hit an air pocket, made them drop 2000 feet in like in an instant, like that's how bad things were getting. No, that's a big drop. Yeah, and so. And they're completely covered in clouds. Like no one can see anything.

10:34 Sure. Yeah. No visibility, no visibility. And then at a moment the clouds open up and for a quick second they see the mountains like huge Rocky Mountains that they are flying through. No. And from that moment it was about 3 seconds later. The right wing hits the side of the mountain and shears it off, and then pops the back of the plane open. And so the last three rows are just sucked right out of the plane. Oh my gosh. And so now, miraculously, this plane is now like heading. So it like, hit the mountain.

11:20 Yes, it kind of went up and now it's going down the other side of the mountain. Oh my God, the front half fuselage of. The plane right? Right. Because the last the last three rows are gone and so it hits belly 1st and then that impact caused the left wing to break off. Great. And so now you have this wingless fuselage sliding down a mountain at 200 miles an. It's like a bobsled. Yes. No. OK, how scary would that? Be OK, Like, like like we're talking about this right now, right? You and I are talking about this. This is terrifying.

12:02 This is probably happening in the matter a matter of seconds, so. You don't really. It's almost like. A blessing that you don't really know what's gonna happen. Yeah, because it's happening so quickly, you can't brace yourself for it. Wings popping, plants splitting half sliding down a mountain. Left wing pops off like. Ah, yeah, you're going down. You're Bob sledding. You're sledding down a mountain and you did not ask for it. No. Wasn't. No. Wasn't part of the agenda. Oh my God. So it travels about 2000 feet from the top of the Ridge to this abrupt stopping point. It like hits some rocks and just like stops. And this captain, the captain Marcialo, there's a guy named Roberto Casina and then Crustovo. Subpoeno and Casina and subpoena were both happen to be both medical students.

13:03 Also, OK, so the team's captain? Yep. Yeah. So they, they don't have much training, but like, they're the ones that have some training, Yes. So they kind of jump up into action. And of course there's people just dying. They're screaming and in pain and dying and. So. So they it stops. Yeah, they immediately jump into action and are like, yes, how can we help? Yeah, of course. Like 1B? Yeah. I that would. I would be like in shock. I would probably be there thinking let's just yeah, I just, yeah, like you're like what? What? Where? Am I what is going on?

13:44 Yeah, yeah, like trying to get your bearings. They jump up right away and say, how can we? What can we do? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna? Do that's who you want on a flight, right? What they said One of the guys, one of them is, was in shock. He just lights up a cigarette and he says we're we're dead. Sliding up, we're fucking dead. We're. Just one of the people, one of the passengers, yeah, he's just so. So he just lights up a cigarette and it's like we're dying, we're done. We're dead. He's a realist. Yeah, shock. So there's other people. They're all reacting different ways. Some people can get out of the plane pacing back and forth this well. They said this one guy kind of lost his mind.

14:25 He was, like, pacing back and forth. He's like, I'm the president of this country. Nothing bad's gonna happen to me. I am invulnerable. I mean, just like losing. His shit. He has like a break. Yeah, mental breaking, right? Which let's be let's be honest. We would all want, like, that's a realist. That's someone who's like really seeing it. I almost, I would say, like people who are like reacting normally. You're not really thinking in a real no. Well, no. Like. That guy is like, prepare for that. Fuck no. That guy's more like probably based in reality, like saying I'm president of the United States. Like this fucking crazy ass shit happens. So I can say whatever the fuck I want, right? I mean because everyone behaves. Differently, right.

15:06 Yes. Yeah, Another man starts running toward the airplane. The like, he gets out and he's like running like away, like toward the other half of the airplane, which is on the other side of the mountain. Yeah, he just disappears over the snow drift and never seen from again. Oh, so, you know, you know how you hear like fight, freeze or flight or whatever that, yeah, that, like that reaction. Oh, you took flight? Yeah, yeah, and disappeared. I wonder if he had like some kind of concussion or something from the highly probable. Yeah, like he probably like his His brain was fucked up from the of course, it's like a. You know you're experiencing this. It's extreme.

15:52 You're you do not know how to react to that kind of trauma. And then on top of it, he probably had some kind of brain injury and was acting like a rabid dog or something. Exactly. Fucking ran. Holy shit. And then you're you're sitting there. If it were me, I'd be like sitting in my seat thinking. Holy shit, what is going on? Where am. I what is happening? I can't unbutton unbuckle, like, even if I've gotten into like a little like a minor Fender Bender my brain. Yeah, it's like. I can't think of like, yeah, I can't think of like, OK, like, especially that a traumatic event, you can't really think through things properly. Like for me, I'm thinking, wait, what?

16:35 What number am I supposed to call? Where's my cell phone? You know, just just like it's like, you're like. 20 seconds behind time, like you're slogging through it. But yeah, people like to think about smoking a cigarette if there's any. If there is ever a time to smoke a cigarette, my friends, yeah, right after. It is right after you have been on a flight. Oh my God. And you've to bogging down. And this is only the beginning. Oh my God, it's just the very beginning of our nightmare. Right. So one of the players names Nuendo, Innuendo, nuendo. He had multiple skull fractures and his head is starting to swell and swell so much that they can't even recognize them. So they're confident he's dying.

17:22 Yeah. So they put him in the coldest part of the plane to try to help reduce the swelling, keep his body slow and. But they're also athletes, so they know about this kind of stuff as well. On top of that, yeah. So they're great. So they're doing what they can. Yeah, pilot get on impact. Oh wow. Copilot was still alive and they said he kept saying no, we passed Carrico, we passed Carrico, we passed Carrico. How did we hit a mountain? How did we hit a mountain? Because Creco was the part where, after they had flown over the mountains, they were going to go back up north. And so they should have been like on the flat lands toward the beach or toward the ocean.

18:07 So they would. So in his mind, they'd already flown over the mountains. They were supposed to take their right hand turn and go back up north to their destination. So he's he's saying, no, we passed Crico, we passed Crico. How did we hit a mountain? Because they should have been over the mountains, right? And so this statement is going to be interpreted by the passengers and some decisions that they're going to make based on that statement are going to be wrong because that's in their mind, the captain or the copilot is telling them where they should be, right? So they have all their decision making now has to come from that. They don't know anything else.

18:48 But once again, like we're talking about it, perhaps the copilot had his fucking head. Scrambled slightly like could be too. Upon impact or trauma or it's like trying to make sense of the situation. So he is saying we already passed through it. Well, it was inclement weather. Like, yeah, the whole time this flight was like fucked. They're trying to get around weather and they clearly didn't, right. And they And so now they're thinking, OK, well, if that's where we are, we're gonna be rescued in a few hours. Because we are. We are. If you look on a map, you'll see that there's like, civilization. Very. Close to it, Yeah. Yeah. So they're like, OK, so they think they're so they're clear in the mountains, so they think they're right on the base. They're gonna be rescued.

19:33 Soon, right. Right. Right. And of course, you would listen to the yeah copilot. So 33 people survived that initial crash of the 45. Yeah, that's pretty fucking shocking. That's a lot. That's more like mom. More than half, yeah. That's more than half. Like more than half survived you had. The whole back of the plane, Yeah. Both wings, yeah. And you sliding down a mountain. Then he's bogging down the fucking mountain. Holy shit nuts. So the team captain starts giving everyone tasks to keep them moving and motivated. God bless. Him and a Pretty soon darkness falls. And so they have to be crowded into this small little area in the plane that's wide open, by the way, because the front, it's just the front fuselage, they're trying to stay warm.

20:20 And so remember, these are young boys from Uruguay. They're used to warm beaches. They don't spend time in the mountains, They don't go to the mountains. They don't experience snow, no. These are warm, weathered bodies, people, right. And you grew up here, right? So you understand, like cold. Personally, I grew up in, you know, Southern, like California and Arizona. So yeah. When warm weather When my when I at first started to, like, experience cold weather, I didn't know how to dress for it. I didn't know about layering exactly like it sounds. It sounds so silly. But you you don't even have the clothes for it, right?

21:01 Like, you don't. You don't know how you're supposed to, oh, cover your head, all of the heat. We're not. Planning on staying on top of a 40,000 foot mountain? We were going to the beach in Chile, yes, to play rugby, right? So in about 7 days, no back up. So by the morning, five more people died just as a result of their injuries. So are they still stay like at the? They're still in the fuselage, okay. Yeah, they're still having around this front in fuselage, right? So now there's 28 people left. Another day passes. So now we're on 2 days, 3 days. And it's a Sunday, and there's two planes flying over looking for them. Oh my God.

21:49 They don't see him. I mean, they're little microscopic ants on the side of a big white snowy mountain that has rocks protruding. They can't see them, right? And it's not like, like, you know, we're sitting here like saying, oh, maybe they should find flares or like, try to light a fire, you know, Yeah, but it's cold. Like how and. They're in a metal plane like and that guy who was smoking a fucking cigarette is like, fuck you, I need to find some more tobacco. So then one of the players notices that Nundo wasn't dead. The one that had the brain, the big bad brain, they noticed he wasn't dead. This is like 2 days later. And so they pulled him into the plane with everyone else so they can start taking care of him because they figured he's dead.

22:35 Yeah, No. Seven days later, they're still seven days. On the side of this mountain, now he's able to walk. Nando is. Communicate. Talk. Walk. Well, I mean, OK, you know, what's working in his favor is his age and the fact that he's an athlete, like his body's in condition, right? But also if you have swelling, what's the first thing you're told? You know you have to compress also put some cold like cold and heat and stuff like that, but that cold did him. Wonders. It did wonders. Yes.

23:18 He's he was alone. Like, do we have any biscuits or something? Amazing. He was alone. And yet like they're like, oh, it's been how many days? 7. They're like, oh, he's not dead. Let's just go and check on him. Oh he's still not dead. Okay. Let's grab him. Oh. I'm kind of hungry. Like crazy. Like, what the fuck? Like your brain was so swollen a minute ago we couldn't recognize you. Dead man walking. Crazy. So they're able to generate water by melting snow on some black aluminum parts that they had found from the plane. Oh. Yeah, So, and they did have some candy bars, some crackers, wine and some snacks.

23:58 And so they're just obviously trying to ration. Small little squares of chocolate or a cracker. And then they would maybe take a little cap of, you know, red wine and, you know, they're really just trying to ration, right. But very soon they were out of food and they were going to starve to death, and one of them said they were. They started eating toothpaste and at one point it was almost like a treat to them. Of course, by tasting that sweet, sweet toothpaste you know, they get, someone gets a little cap of it and you know, it was like it was a treat, right?

24:39 So they find this little they find a small radio and they're able to hear a chili radio station and news and hear the. Because it's been 7 / a week at this point. That's. People are looking for them, they hear the news saying we are looking for these people so they can hear them on the radio, which is a blessing and a curse. Busing and a curse because you're listening to it, you like oh. Here. Right here. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, cool. Like, like what? You. It's like you have to adopt. Not to bring Star Trek up again, but you have to like you have to adopt that Star Trek thought process where it's like nobody's come gonna come to save you, right. So you need to figure. Out. Figure it out. How to how to make it easy to one, you have to figure out how to how to save yourself. And then two, you know you just have to figure you like you can't put anything.

25:26 Like just assume nobody is going to find you. That's right, if you're listening now, smoke that cigarette and be prepared. Be prepared. Always be prepared. So now they're totally out of food. Oh my God. What is around them? Airplanes. Metal, snow and rocks. They're in the top of the mountains. Not even like there was vegetation, right? There's nothing like, yeah, you don't have like Moss even to like click or whatever. Like there's nothing. Oh, so they've got to figure out. We've got to get out of here and it's all young. Like young guys. The thing that's kind of surprising to me is that they're not like, OK, how do we get down and out? It's break. It's kind of surprising that they don't try to find a way. And so they're desperate.

26:11 They're trying to find anything and. There. I mean, they're they try to tear the airplane seats apart to see if maybe there's like, straw to eat, to eat, yeah. They try to eat, actually, the leather thinking, oh, it's an animal product that totally makes them sick because you know how processed leather is, right? Chemicals. Right. Yeah, they process it with all these. Yeah, that's totally made them sick. They had no options. The only choice left was to eat the dead. Oh my God, One, you never want to be in a situation where you have to do that, but are you curious as to what they taste like?

27:02 I sort of. I totally have like curiosity will kill me. It would, yeah. It would take this situation for me to do it, but if you are so desperate and it also like it seems like there's something going on with them psychologically like they are. It's like this helplessness that they have, like they are going through everything that they have in their place and it's like it's almost like they don't have the confidence to try to leave this, the crash site they because it's psychological. If you were to be what they were and to look at the view, yeah. From where they were, it was like there was nothing to be seen anywhere except monstrous mountains, so they felt like they couldn't leave like if they did, right?

27:54 Like they would just die trying to get over these mountains because there was, so they were forever as far as they could see. But you also think they're malnourished, Their brains aren't functioning properly, right? They're probably cold as fuck, right? Because they don't have layers on. So it's like none of this, none of none of this thought process that's that's occurring is happening like with a sane and cogent mind. Their minds are fucked, really. Like they are they. Their minds are they're malnourished. They're not 100%. They can't think things through. That's right. So it makes sense that they would make these these calls and considerations. The people broached the idea with the team captain about eating the dead, and the captain says absolutely not, this is not an option. They are our brothers not not doing it. We're not doing it.

28:49 Yeah, of course. Because we gotta figure something else out. Thank God, he said that because you lose your humanity quicker. So now it's day 10 on the side of this mountain. And they and as they did every day, they would turn on the radio and they would hear that the rescue, you know, was going, going, going. But today, they say the rescue has been suspended. Oh, oh, so they they this whole time they've been listening to the. To the rescue, which is fucking with their heads like, Oh no, they're gonna find us. They're gonna find us, like, just take another nap, like, just. Now day 10, they hear suspended.

29:31 We can't. We're stopping the search, yeah, cuz that's a lot of manpower. So now they think there's no longer no one's looking for survivors because. How could these people survive in the top of these and these mountains in the cold for 10 days? That's what they're They're like. That's just not, yeah, plausible. And so the rescuers, they're thinking, okay, we're going to go get the bodies in February and March when the snow starts to melt and it'll be easier to find. So it's going to be a recovery mission, Yeah. So now these guys are desperate, and as you said, they truly are, in their minds, dead men walking, right?

30:16 Yeah. They've got to save themself, they've got to figure out something. But they are starving. It's not like they could take a journey. They're starving. Is that cigarette guy still alive? Yes, eat cigarettes. Are you talking about I? Think they tried eating tobacco stuff too, but that was making him sick. Yeah, it does meet, yeah. So they literally starving to death. There is no other choice but to eat. The dead have no other choice. Wow. So they start talking about this from a religious perspective. Keeping in mind these guys are very, very religious. They're raising a very religious.

30:57 Like, yeah. And so then they start comparing it to taking communion. And they would say things like, if I were to die, what would I want my body to be used for? To be remained frozen on the side of the mountain, or to help my brothers live and survive. And so now those that are living, they're all saying to the others, okay if I die. Please use my body any way that you can to get out of here.

31:39 That's now. That's what they're saying to each other after they're having, now they're having this conversation. Here's my body. Here's my body. So I'm giving you permission. I mean, that is very that's that's communion for sure. OK, Like, can we just talk about the layers of fucked up? That is holy shit. Fucked up. But also honestly, like, they weren't going to leave them out in any other way. Like now it's like, OK, we have to. Circle of life. And I hate to say it like that, but I mean, it's like it's life. Giving life, yeah. Sustaining life. That's. I mean, that's hardcore like and it's. Cool situation. But, but, but to be completely honest, I mean I would probably like I I would hope that I would say the same thing.

32:26 Yeah, so three boys get the job. Of harvesting the meat. Oh my God. These three boys are cousins to each other. They're these three are related and they're on the. And the reason they do this just to save the emotional burden of people knowing exactly who they are eating. So they're like, we will do it. No one will know. Who you're consuming and they had to improvise tools, so they did happen to find an axe they would use screwdrivers made knives out of pieces of window plastic from the plane, so initially they would remove sections from the back and lay it on the fuselage to let it dry in the sun. And then it would be consumed.

33:31 Oh my God. And even though the search was actually called off, obviously the families were not giving up. Sure, yeah, yeah, these are our loved ones. Exactly. You would hope. You would hope you'd have a family who would say the same thing. Yeah. So these families are consulting psychics and mediums and anybody they can think of that could potentially help them locate their loved ones when Yeah, like that's that's the fucked up thing about you know psychics is like you know you have some of these people I mean fucked up but also you know they serve a purpose like do I believe that some of them are are you know, actually say yes. Yes, I've.

34:13 I've experienced something like that. But the majority of them are charlatans. At what price? Like what price is comfort to a family and you know sometimes they're providing quite a bit of comfort to people like because all intents and purposes yeah you want to try to find nobody's helping all these flights and stuff. Like you still believe that you're and I think that we're all connected that you you have a feeling if somebody's alive or dead. I've experienced that and and you know, you just innately know and these people are they're like I know, I know that you know my loved ones still alive. I'm gonna try to do anything. You're throwing everything at the wall to see what's gonna stick. Course, of course you're doing that. Like just like they were doing anything to survive, People are gonna do anything they can think of to to help them. Desperate, desperate, one of the families started hiring helicopters and small planes to fly over the area that they assume.

35:13 Believe they were in, yeah. Just kind of based on the information that they had because this is based in this is like back in the day like the technology isn't nearly 70s exactly. It's not like today we could say, OK, well, we. Had we know exactly, yeah. Blah blah blah yeah. Satellite blah blah blah yeah. OK, so now they have a source of food, right? They have a source of water and how to make water and some level of shelter. With the fuselage. And so now they're starting to get a routine, and I hate to say the word and feeling more comfortable, but comparatively speaking from day one to now, I mean they've they've they.

36:00 Understand. Yes, they understand what to kind of what to do, what the weather's like, exactly. You know what What to expect. Everyone probably has a job. So. There's a group that's being formed that they call the expeditionaries in this, in this group of guys, and they're forming this group and they call them the expeditionaries. And so the idea, the purpose of these guys was to see if they could find a trail or to figure out and could try to get a better view of the surrounding area. And so they would fashion snowshoes out of materials from the plane. They would make try to make some sunglasses to protect their eyes. I mean, they were very, very resourceful. Oh yeah, they find nothing of use, but they're getting desperate because they are running out of food again. Oh no.

36:57 And so one night they go to sleep and they hear this like rumbling, and it's just getting louder and louder. Suddenly they are buried in snow from an avalanche. You were not kidding. It just continues to get worse. Worse, so the this avalanche occurred because the fuselage opening was faced uphill, so like when the avalanche came down. It's not like it went over the fuselage and they had an air pocket. No, no, no, no. The snow went right into the plane. My God.

37:40 And buried them in this plane and they're sleeping. So now they're entombed, yeah. In snow, in a plane, on a mountain. So when it stopped those that weren't covered, they start. Digging themselves out and they got it to a point where they could uncover their face so they could breathe. Then comes a second avalanche. Shut up. These people cannot win. If you want to go okay if I'm going to try to be like, not devil's advocate in this situation, but these motherfuckers are not leaving the crash site.

38:27 They are not trying to get out like they are not trying to better themselves. They're assuming that somebody's going to save them. And like you have to try to. You have to want to save yourself first. It's like RuPaul's quote, like, you know, if you don't love yourself, how the hell is anyone else going to love you? Like? But it's like if you want to save your like if you want to save yourself you. Have to do something. You can't expect someone else to be your save? No, no. It's been over 10 days and they're still not fucking learning it. Like, like if I were a religious person like they are, I would be like, maybe God's trying to tell me something, you know? Yeah.

39:08 Get people. No, No. Yeah. Leave. Leave the fucking crash site. 2 avalanches. Well, I tried. I tried telling you guys like I sent one avalanche, You didn't fucking listen, sent a second avalanche. You're still like you're still uncertain as to whether or not you should leave the area that you've been in. They're entombed like this for three days. Shut up are. Like, could you imagine sitting like that with your just being able to breathe for three days? My husband's not even gonna be able to listen to this episode. I know. Really. No, he won't be able to listen to. It is is that his like? His like fear. His fear is like. Being claustrophobic, I cannot imagine.

39:48 Eight men die, of course they do. Only eight, though. Including the captain. So now there's 19 maybe. It was worth it. Maybe. Maybe the captain was steering everyone fucking wrong. I. Don't know. So now there's nineteen who were crammed into that space that really could fit 4 comfortably. Oh my gosh. The silver lining is that they now had a new supply of food. Yeah, I mean, for them, that's exactly what they're thinking about.

40:36 This is going to have to end. They're saying, oh, yeah, yeah, No, no, no, no. This will allow us to stay here for another fucking month, right? Like like. At some point you have to try to leave. No one's going to save you. More people are dying. Like, how insane is that? We started with OK45 passengers on this flight. OK, And and then 20. OK, let's see, 28 people survived, right. The plane truck crash then you know we keep on going down keep on going down and like in in the amount of people now we have 19 people dot or or like are left yes. And we're down to 90. Maybe we need to fucking do something different. Maybe we need to leave this area. Expeditionaries need to get on it.

41:17 Expeditionaries need to get on it. Grab an arm. Take that like a fucking granola bar. Yeah, an arm and a bar. An arm as a bar. An arm bar. You know, start. Start making that trek down. Yep, do something. The issue now too is now they know who they are eating. Before they didn't. Now they will have to know who they're eating. Well, guess what? Fucking sucks to suck. You guys should have tried before like. It's just a whole new level of psychological terror. Yes, yeah, yeah, layers on this is this onion keeps on on peeling. And so, as the days go on, they start coughing. It's sputtering and realizing we are running out of oxygen because keep in mind, they're still entombed. Oh my God.

42:15 They're eating these people while entombed. They're like, they're like entombed and they're like. Nom nom. Here's John Nom nom nom. Yes. That's why I'm saying a whole new level of psychological terror and and they're clearly not like yes, so these people I just feel like their. Priorities are just a little off. That's easy for us to say this, by the way, right now. Make that clear they But they've had like traumatic encounter after traumatic encounter and it's just like layered on top of each other. Yes, your brain is fucked. Yes, period. When you're running out of oxygen and you're running out of oxygen. So they finally, finally dig their way out.

42:56 Which I'm not sure why they didn't do that days ago, but nonetheless, they finally dig their ways out. Their way out. Helplessness. But now, obviously, they've been eating much more than just backs. They've been having to eat everything. And so some are saying we've we've just, we're savages now, We've lost all humanity. We're just beasts. This is just us. Just. Beasts and others disagree, and they said no, no, no, no, no. This is all about humanity, and it's just the pure essence of themself. And again, they're starting to worry about what? What's gonna happen when we run out of food? It's gonna happen again, by the way. That will happen again. They've been starving.

43:39 It is a very long time. We're on day 3636 / a month. We are now on day 36, and who knows if they're actually like, recalling what this is like. They probably don't know how much time's passed, You know, like the passage of time. And who? It probably seems like it's been forever since they've been there, of course. Who in normal civilizations going? Oh, yeah, Those guys are still alive. No one. Never. Never. I would never. They're gone. They're dead. They're gone. Yeah. So 17th of November now, Oh my God, the expedition areas, they start to follow this little thing down the mountain.

44:27 And they find a trail and they find some clothes and some boots and some food because they've discovered the front end of the fuselage. Oh, sorry, the back end. Now they're at the back end of the fuselage and. They find a battery Okay. But the battery is huge. They can't carry it back up to the where the radio is. That's at the front of the plane. Thank God, it's. Too big.

45:09 So they got a need to bring the radio down to the battery. Yeah. So they've spent so much time. Trying to take something out of the cockpit to rig something up to communicate. I mean, they're spending all kinds of time, like I have a battery, we have some parts or some radio, but none of them know none. Of them know what they're doing, Yeah. They spend 8 more days trying to figure out how to make the radio work. Oh my God. And it was impossible. I mean, they're not in the right. They're not right. They don't know what they're doing. There's the clear they need parts that they don't have.

45:51 They waste 2 weeks 2. Weeks. Weeks. Oh my God, these people are infuriating. So they they find more insulation from the the plane to help them keep warm right from the tail. So they decide we're going to build a better sleeping space. So they now. Oh yeah, so the continuous search, they're actually finding some luggage and things now. Yeah, they find a camera. So they start to document. Shut up.

46:31 This stuff Do we have pictures? There's pictures, I'm not gonna show them here, but I will put links in the show for people to go look. Because if you're watching, I don't want you to force you to see it. You just you need to just go look yourself. So warning for warning, yeah, on the imagery. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not fortunately, it's blurry and black and white, so you don't really see the necessarily see gore and body parts. But it's not clean snow. Let me put it like that.

47:12 Ooh, OK, OK, I'm. I'm looking while you're telling the. Story OK, so they they decide they got us, decide who is the strongest among them now to go get some help. I mean they finally deduced that they've got, they've got to do something. They can't keep just trying to survive on the side of this mountain. So they roll the dice, they start preparing and they figure out the guys that are going to be the the strongest and going to be able to do this, and so they give them the most food, right?

47:54 Which they? Give him the most clothes to keep them warm. They give them as much of these these beds that they tried to make so that they could just keep them as strong as possible during their. Trip to go get help. Fuck dude. I'm looking at the pictures. They look emaciated. Wow. They were using parts of the dead's forearms to create better insulation for their feet.

48:35 To help. My gosh. Warm, I mean. When I say they were being resourceful, I mean they were doing every possible thing they could think of. Things that you wouldn't even think of this is, but you do. Think yes, that you do think of when you're in that situation. My God so. They packed them up as much as they could. They actually gave them ten days worth of food and supplies. Spare clothing, lots of melted water and they said on your way, you are our last hope. Yeah, hopefully you guys come. You've got to come back and you've got to come back. Save us. Save us. We are now on day 61. What?

49:18 We were just like day 34. It's December 12th and they head out December. Take them 61 days to finally go. We have no choice. We. Have to go on a trek regardless of where it takes us. We have to leave 61 days later. Kevin. This is infuriating. 61 They head out. They know it's W to Chile, so that's where they have to go. Thank God they know what Choi West is. Now the pilot said over and over that they passed Rico Corrico and they looked on a map. They had a map and based on what the pilot said, the valley should just be over that mountain. That big mountain right there, it should be on the other side. So we just got to get over that mountain. Oh no.

50:18 Little did they know they had not reached that city. That is not where they were. They were actually still in Arjun Frickin. Tina. Shut up. Wow. Wow. It takes them three days to get over that mountain that they said they needed to get over to get to the valley. Three days to get up that mountain. 3 days. And the guys from camp could see them. Oh, they could see them. Making the see them making the check up the mountain, yeah. So they go to sleep, wake up next day, see him going up the mountain, go to sleep, wake up next day, see him still climbing up the mountain. They get to the top. They finally get to the top. Finally get to the top and what the fuck do they see? Oh my God, Tell me.

51:11 More mountains as far as the eye could see. Could you imagine? No, I can't. I cannot. And you're expecting to see something and all you see is more. Mountains you are, you have, you don't have very much like your brain is fucked at this point for a multitude of reasons. Multitude of reasons, but then you look up and you're like, holy shit what? This is not we're we're. What we thought we're If we thought we were effed before now we're effed. Now we're really after if it wasn't the flight crashing. Flight if it wasn't eating the bodies, if it wasn't, the avalanche if it wasn't the 2nd.

51:57 Avalanche. If it wasn't being buried alive, if it was, if it wasn't our stupidity at like 2. Weeks trying to make a Weedio work, yeah. It's just a one thing after another, can we also say? Never mind. So I'm sorry. And there's two of them. There's not three of them. There's these. There's two guys. OK. I misspoke earlier. Yeah. They are now on day eight of the Trek. Oh my God. So those guys back at camp, it's eight days later. They've got power to the radio. So they're waiting to hear on the radio, Hey, we found survivors. That's what they're hoping to hear. Eight days later, they still don't hear it, but the two guys find a river. Now, if you know anything about survival, you know that if you find a river.

52:49 You follow that downstream because that will lead you ultimately to something. Yes. People always live off of rivers and like, yeah. Yeah, yes, whether it's. So I I could imagine. I mean I got kind of goosebumps when I read it. I'm like because if I saw the river that would be my in 60. Excuse me now what is it? We are on day 71 or something. I finally find a river. I would be like. It would be like. Keep winning $1,000,000. Yeah, absolutely. So they follow the river and they actually get to the snow line. So now there's actually grass and they see cattle.

53:32 Oh my God. And so then they start following the cattle, cuz where there's cattle there are people. And it starts to get warm and their food supply starts to go bad. Hello, yeah. So now they're starting to get sick from the food because it's spoiling. And by flesh, Yeah, by food. Yeah, I. Kept wanting to just use the word food, but we need to remember what it is. Yes, it's flesh. It's human flesh.

54:12 And so they're getting diarrhea they because they're still. Can hardly walk. It is now day nine. They are on their last leg. I mean literally. Literally just like and someone else we're. Out. Like. Yeah, exactly. Literally literal last leg. And one of them says I see someone hallucination. No, it was a man on a horse. Shut up. We are now on day 69. And they're yelling to this man, but he can't hear them because the river is so wide and so fast and so loud. He can't hear them.

54:56 This is a nightmare. Living psychological nightmare. Oh my God. And finally, by some miracle the the guy on the horse look, they can see him. Looking at them and they're yelling and they're waving and they're like, how? But he can't hear. Yeah, And the one word they hear from the guy is manana. And he leaves tomorrow. So they're like, what does that mean? Like what? Like, why aren't you helping me? Like, what's tomorrow? Like, what? Do you what what's happening?

55:39 So now we're on days 7070. Day 70 Oh my God. So that's sleep, diarrhea, dying. Try to sleep, they stay in the place. By the river. They stay right where they are. Smart. It was actually smart. OK, OK. Because. That's the first person to ever see them, so they knew someone had seen them, so they don't want to leave. The man comes back with his two sons. That was on the river, on the horse. And they wave. They wave them back up to the river. They took motion back to where it was narrower. And the man throws over this, excuse me, throws over this piece of paper that was wrapped in a rock so we could get the piece of paper over the river so that they could write oh on the notes, yes.

56:36 And so they did and they threw it back and it says. We come from a plane that crashed in the mountains. We have been walking for 10 days. No food. Come get us. Oh my God. So now the guy on the other side of the river understands now how serious it is. He didn't know who they were before. They've been struggling, crazy people. Crazy people, Yeah. If I would have seen them, like looking at those pictures, if I would have seen them, I would have thought these are fucking like schizophrenic. Crazy people. I don't.

57:16 Yeah, Stay away. Yeah. But now? Now he understands, yeah. So he actually had brought back bread, and he threw the bread across the river. So now they have some bread. Nearest help was 10 hours away. So they leave, right? Pretty soon. We are now on day 72. Oh my God. The military guards arrive, but all the press gets wind of it. So all the press is coming soon.

57:57 I mean, this is everyone is. So they're like, wait, stop, stop. Second, you're telling me. That the men we were looking for 72 days ago, two of them have been found. This was the biggest story. Of course it was, yeah. Ever. Yeah. So it's the story of survival. They. Swarm everyone swarms. Just absolute crazy. And all the press wants to know was how did you possibly survive for 72 days Days. How did what did you eat? How did you survive? These two guys will not answer them. Yes, and they didn't think it was appropriate, right? It wasn't appropriate. It's not appropriate.

58:38 Yeah, You know what the answer is. Let's be honest. You know what the answer is. Yes. You have an idea? You have an idea what the answer had to be, but they're not just trying to give support to their friends at this point. The guys on the mountain, they heard on the radio that they were found. So that's hope. Hope, yeah. Hope. Hope. The first hope you've had in over 70 days. Yes, over two months. 2 1/2 months. Oh my God. So now they know they made it. So they want to get back to the plane to show them, you know, cuz that's where they're gonna get directed to us, this plane. And so the two guys that were that found the people that helped.

59:34 Yeah, get on a plane. Oh my God, they're. Directing, right? Could you? Would you want to get on a plane? To save my friends, I probably would make myself, yes. But at the same time, you're like, if I crash again, Like, like I've had one piece of hope in the past two fucking months. Yes, you're telling me to get back on a. Plane last thing I want to do. Is get cleaned, Lay in a bed and eat a fucking cheeseburger. I don't want to get back on that plane. But you're know your friends. You're like, you know what they've gone through. You you you you would do it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, the pilots keep saying you guys are crazy. This is not your lost. Your lost. This is your You don't know you don't. Know what you're doing? Yeah.

1:00:16 And they're like you better effing. Listen to us. We know what we're talking about. We know where to go, yeah, we just did it. Well, the guys back on the mountain, really, They go. Oh shit. We've got to clean this place up. They're going to come here and see this. We we've got to. We can't leave it like this, right? Right. We have like, fingers and bones. There's shit all over the place. Meat drying on the plane. There's like blood everywhere, You know, they're they're slaughter area. I mean, could you OK. No, no. So they're like we've got it was like a living graveyard like we've got to do something. Yeah, we have to.

1:00:59 Let's tidy up, do. Tidy up well the copies. You can't. It's snow. It's not like you're going to be able to bury all of it's not possible. But they did the best that they could. But the stench can't hide the stench, no. All the blood and all the just blood on snow, like anything on snow, just shows up straight away. So they do the best they can. Finally, the helicopters arrive. But guess what? They could only fit six people. So they go down, they quickly pick up six and they leave. So who do you choose to be the six, right. You would have to choose the people who need to leave the most quickest, yeah.

1:01:45 So now those guys had to stay there. Another night. Oh my God. But OK. But at least you could. I could be. You know they're coming back. You know that they're coming back. You know that. They know where you are. Yeah, yeah, you know that you're not gonna have to like. That would that would be the end is insight that would give you yeah. Abilities to do do to that another night? Yeah, for sure. OK, so they they go back, they pick up the rest. And the the pilots later said when they arrived they were scared to see all of the blood and these crazy people, how they looked, they had, they look crazy.

1:02:39 In those pictures for 2 1/2 months, Yeah, I mean can you a Matt? No unrecognizable, no savages like they're savaged. They have been sat. They have been savage because they had to be. It is people who are up against everything. They they have not been able like, you know, things that we're used to a normal society. They have not had any of those comforts. You know, these people are, you know, dressing, you know, with dead people's outfits, you know, like they don't. Nothing fits them very well. They've probably lost like. Oh my God, so much weight. I mean, they look emaciated, gaunt, and so.

1:03:21 God, crazy. Oh God, yeah. Yeah. The last thing when you're eating human beings, the last thing you're gonna think about is how does my hair look? Right, exactly. You're not going to be thinking about. How you're fit? Very well, yeah. Yeah. I don't like this fit. Oh, gosh. Does like, like, is my hair out of place? No, that's not what you're thinking of. You're thinking of where like hopefully I'm not going to get sick again from eating my friend. I can't even. Yeah, I cannot. I cannot. So we have a total of 16 survivors, 29 perished 16. That's still unfathomable. It's it's unfathomable.

1:04:04 I mean, I think about it and would you want to be a part of the 16 or would you want to be the first like 3 or the back three rows that just died straight away? All right. That is a good question. So November 22nd, No, sorry, November 1st, no, sorry, November 22nd, that first group was taken. November 23rd was when the second group was taken. So 72 days after that crash they had ultimately gotten all survivors. 72 day nightmare 72 day psychological nightmare and and was it was did that guy did the guy who had the cigarette was he one of the survivors? Who knows.

1:04:59 I do know they have their names, but when I was reading about the people, the way people were reacting after the crash, I don't know that I got the name of the guy who was smoking the cigarettes. So I'm not entirely sure Okay, but I will have links in our show that talks about show the flight path. Show some of the links to the pictures that you were looking at a moment ago, the names of the survivors and there's actually. They wouldn't talk about it for the longest, longest time, but you can imagine, like, why I don't You don't need to. I don't need to talk about it, yeah. Like I don't need, but they don't really need to relive it. Relive it. They very actually, finally, very recently, the three of the survivors talked about it.

1:05:48 There's such a stigma attached to people who eat other people. Rightly so, right? Yeah, but at the same time, like, it's so like, it's so rich for us to sit here and be like you ate your friends like. And that's what happened, because the all the newspapers would do was say. Oh, they survived like cannibals. Yeah, survivors eat their buddies and just eat their teammates, which Oh my God. Like like the your your whole life is just not just like significantly changed, It has. But like you will. You're never going to be the same person. You will like to even live a normal quote. UN quote normal life is, I mean.

1:06:37 Three of the So, as of this very day, fifteen of those 16 survivors are still alive. Oh my God. And a few of them have gone on to extremely successful careers and just like obscure things, you know, I don't know, like a business, finance or either whatever, right. So they. And I I can only attribute it to probably love and support of their family. But they didn't, like lose their shit. Like they continued to live and survive and grow and remain human. Yeah, still having your humanity. That's the word I.

1:07:22 What I also wonder is like if you've had such a traumatic experience. Like, I know traumatic experiences tend to make people want to to be better, to be better and to try more. But if you have a situation like that where you're up against everything, you've somehow come out the other end, it's like what? What do I have to lose at this point? Like I wonder if that thought process has also played a role in success or or the the very opposite, you know, not being successful or not try. You know, I I don't know. The other thing that helped them, and I'm kind of close with this, is that, you know, people were just totally hung up on the cannibalism. I mean, that was the IT wasn't the fact that they survived for 72 days on a mountain.

1:08:15 It wasn't like all of the resourcefulness and and things that they did. It wasn't anything about that. It was about that they ate humans. That's all it was about, which is terrible and. Eventually the Pope. Remember, they're very religious, very Catholic, yeah. The Pope intervened and spoke up and said Christ gave his body in communion. So they did the right thing. Stop judging them. The Pope said this. Wow. Wow. So I would imagine as someone if I was. That religious.

1:09:00 And your Pope said that to the the population, the Catholic population about you. Wouldn't you think that would just be such a weight lifted off of your shoulders? Yes, it would be huge. I think even if you weren't Catholic, but especially if you're Catholic, having someone say you did what you had to do, stop giving them shit like. Right, here's why. And here is exactly why you're you're Jesus. You're Christ, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. That's Kevin. Was that nuts? But nonstop, I, I it doesn't end.

1:09:41 And and you had kind of hinted at that to me, that it didn't end. And I was like, yeah, OK, whatever. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Wow. All all I could hope is that I would, you know, be able to, that any of us would be able to handle it with the grace that they did. Because I agreed. Hopefully none of us have to experience anything like that in our in our life. I would never wish that upon a single person. Never. Never. Yeah, wow. I feel like I need like a serotonin or dopamine. Holy shit, I. Know it was hardcore, but thanks for listening and thank you, Oh my gosh, thank you for the story. How fast?

1:10:24 I have never heard of it. Yeah, all. Right. Good. I'm glad. All right, well, as always, you guys, thank you for listening. Don't forget you can access all of our stuff on our website. 11 minutes. Excuse me, I can't really say that. Oh my God, my brain just went off on a tangent. Yeah, The bizarre. af.com. You can see our videos on Spotify. You can see us on YouTube, and if you're streaming on podcasts, audio, We got all of the list, All of that. You can actually, on our anchor website. You can leave us a voicemail if you. Wanna comment on something we can play you on air? Talk about you. Yeah. And give us a little comment or like the podcast or like us on all the social medias.

1:11:08 Yeah, yeah, we have fun. We do. All right. Thanks everyone for listening. Thank you. Bye.