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How do you survive when faced with impossible

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odds? That's the question that each season

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of Wondery podcast against the odds

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asks. Hosts Mike Corey and Cassie

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de Peckel put

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you in the shoes of real people who looked

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deaf in the eyes and lived to tell the tale.

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These stories are filled with the unshakable human

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drive to survive and the inspiring bravery

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of the heroes who helped. The newest

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season of Against The Odds, takes you to

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the largest kidnapping for ransom in

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American history, where school bus

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carrying twenty six children and their driver

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was hijacked by three masked gunmen,

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an isolated road on the outskirts of

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Chochila, California. The bus

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and its passengers disappeared seemingly without

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a trace. Local law enforcement,

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the feds, and the media mounted an

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enormous manhunt, but the trail

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quickly ran

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dry. With no rescue in sight,

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An unlikely pair of heroes emerged.

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We're about to play you a clip from the Chowchilla school

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bus kidnapping from against the odds. While

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you're listening, follow against the odds wherever

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you get your podcast. Hey, Prime members.

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You can listen to against the odds ad free

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on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon

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Music app today. A listener

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note. This episode contains adult

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language. Ed

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Ray steers his school bus

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down a lonely road that runs between

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long rows of almond trees.

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He squints as he adjusts his vise

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serve to block the blazing afternoon

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sun. It's July fifteenth

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nineteen seventy six. Ed

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is driving kids home from Dairyland

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Elementary School in Chochila,

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California. Summer school

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isn't set To Ed,

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that doesn't qualify as real

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school as far as he's concerned.

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Summer school is more like babysitting.

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He glances in the rearview mirror.

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There are a couple dozen kids he still needs

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to drop off, and all of them are

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hyped from a field trip they took to

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a local pool. Ed shakes

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his head and smiles. He likes

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the kids on his route. And he

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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 that, he

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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 bare

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ill hey, like nobody's business. He

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could never imagine leaving

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Chowchilla. It's a farming

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town in California's San Joaquin

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Valley, about a hundred miles east of

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San Jose. Ed's lived

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around here his entire life The

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population is around five thousand,

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and that suit's edge is fine. He

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likes the slow pace of living. Having

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plenty of land to work and the god

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fearing country folk that call Chowchilla

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home. He hangs a

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right onto a new twenty one

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past another endless almond orchard.

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As the road opens up in front of him,

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he spots a white dog Dodge Van parked

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in the middle of the road with its door

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open. That's peculiar.

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Ed rarely sees other cars on

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the road when he hits his part of the route.

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The 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 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 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 strides

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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 pointed straight at Ed

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stops the bus. The mass

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come in walks towards the driver's side

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window and most 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 match 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

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the lever and the door of the bus

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flips open, agonizing seconds

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pass, but the man doesn't

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bore the bus It just stands

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there. Ed looks at the van

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and sees two more men emerge from

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it. They have nylon stockings

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on their heads. They're armed.

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And they're heading straight for his bus.

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Ed feels his pulse accelerate as

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he tries to imagine what these men

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have in store for him and

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for the children who's charge. From

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Wondery, I'm Mike Cory, and

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this is against the odds.

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Chalkilah is a quiet farm town

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in California's San Joaquin

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Valley. But on July fifteenth,

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nineteen seventy six, the town

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became embroiled in a crisis that

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captured the world's attention. A

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school bus carrying twenty six children

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and their driver was was hijacked

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by three masked gunmen on an isolated

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road on the outskirts of town.

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The bus and his passengers did appear

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without a trace. Within

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hours, the vanished school bus

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was headline news. The

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press mob the town and the story

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spread like wildfire. With

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twenty seven victims, it was the

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biggest kidnapping in American history,

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but no one knew who taken

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the children or why.

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This is our two part series

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Chowchilla school bus kidnapping.

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And this this is episode Wondery,

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vanished.

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Hey, Prime members. You can listen to

6:17

against the ads ad free on Amazon

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Music. Download the Amazon Music

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app today.