Morbid - The Mysterious & Cursed Turnbull Canyon

Episode Date: March 14, 2021

Alaina brings us across the country tonight to Turnbull Canyon in California. We’ve got a medley of things here: Plane crashes, murders, cult activity and more. Hold onto your butts, it’s about to... get wild in here. Forgotten Tales Video on the plane crash The Girl Who Wouldn't Die by Erika Hayasaki As always, thank you to our sponsors: Hellofresh: Go to HelloFresh dot com slash morbid12 and use code morbid12 for twelve free meals, including free shipping! Simplisafe: Go to SIMPLISAFE.com/morbid today to customize your system and get a free security camera. Stamps.com: Just go to Stamps.com, click on the Microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in MORBID. Upstart: Find out how Upstart can lower your monthly payments today when you go to UPSTART.com/MORBID. Hunt a Killer: Right now, you can go to HuntAKiller.com/​MORBID​ and use ​MORBID​, for 20% off your first box. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You've heard me talk about how convenient HelloFresh's contact-free delivery is forever, but it's especially helpful this past year. Haven't signed up yet. Right now, you can get 12 free meals, including free shipping when you go to Hellofresh.com slash morbid 12. Use code Morbid 12. Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash.
Starting point is 00:00:16 And this is morbid as fuck. It's morbid. Hello, we're back. Hope you enjoyed our little sit-down with Terry Carnation. Yes, because that was wonderful and magical for us. He is probably one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life, also one of the funniest, and that was just an overall amazing experience. It really was.
Starting point is 00:00:57 I would recommend every. So dark air with Terry Carnation is going to be coming out April 1st, but if you, you know, if you love Rain Wilson and you love Terry Carnation, I think we've also, we've, like, we've advertised for radio rental on this podcast before. Yeah, for sure. But we just want to put it out there again, because. I think like it's just one of those podcasts that is just such a good listen. It's so funny.
Starting point is 00:01:21 Yeah. Like this is not an ad. We're not being paid for this. This is literally just like I really like radio rental. Like we do that sometimes. We just want to tell you about stuff we're listening to. No, and I think you guys would like it too. Radio rental I think is up everyone's alley.
Starting point is 00:01:34 And it's like true stories told by the people that, you know, experience them. And I think Terry Carnation is like a cool cryptkeeper kind of. I love him so much. Kind of thing in there. So if you guys are like looking for something to listen. to go listen to radio rental because it's fun. It is. And again, not an ad. I'm just saying. But today we are going to go in a weird direction. Where are we headed? We're going to head to California. Always weird. Because I don't think we have any other business. So I think we can just
Starting point is 00:02:04 like pop right into this, right? Yeah, let's get it. There's no business in there. I don't think so. No more business. It's Saturday. It's sad. Let's just everybody chill out. It's cool. Yeah. Take it easy. Fuck it. Let's get right into this. Let's let's get chill like California. Let's get blazed. I love where you took it. I'm like, let's lay down and take a nap. Well, we are at my apartment. We are, that's true.
Starting point is 00:02:26 So we're going to go to a little place called Turnbull Canyon in California. Never have I ever heard of that. It is between Whittier and Hacienda Heights, and it's in Whittier, California. All right. I didn't even know there was a Whittier, California. I didn't either, because we are East Coast ladies, so this is all new stuff for me. me. I've never even been to California. Isn't that so fucked? I have. It's really cool. I want to go back. Yeah. I mean, I want to do a show there. I want to know as well there. Hopefully, you know,
Starting point is 00:02:54 someday we will. Hello, California. We want to come to you. Yeah, we do. As with the rest of the cities that we had to reschedule. We just want to go anywhere. We really do. I think everybody does. We're almost there, guys. Hey-o. Finish line. We're almost there. So everybody just hang on tight. We're all going to hang on this together. But use hand sanitizer after you hold on tight. Yeah, like hang on tight, Like, but not. Virtually. With gloves on. I know.
Starting point is 00:03:20 All right. So let's talk about Turnbull Canyon. Now, this has murder. Murder. Attempted murder. Ghosts. Cults. Oh, shit.
Starting point is 00:03:33 A gravity hill. A hanging tree. What's a gravity hill? A plane crash. It has all kinds of stuff. This is like, you know you there. You know that I love me. a weird-ass place that I love me.
Starting point is 00:03:50 You know that I love me. I love you. I think everybody should love themselves. I was just going to say everybody should love themselves. I do love me. Good. But I also love me a like crazy-ass place that has like big feet UFO, like weird shit that goes down it, like a Bennington triangle, Bridgewater Triangle.
Starting point is 00:04:09 Or like that underwater place that, or the underground place that you did before. Yes. Mary King's clothes. That took me a second to remember that. Mary King's clothes is really cool. That one was one of my favorites. And you know the Irish Vanishing Triangle? Yeah. That's a crazy one. So yeah, I love these places. This is one of those places that just like it was cursed right from the get-go. And things have been on a downhill slide ever since. Is it like another place to add to our list of places to visit? Yes. This is definitely but no, no. You take it back? You know what I take it back? No. I love that how you were just like
Starting point is 00:04:43 hell yeah and then you were like actually not at all no no it's but you know it because it's you know places like the bennington triangle i'm like yeah yeah like take me there i want to see a big foot like for sure we don't want to deal with what's here this is like dangerous like this is like murders happen here still so like still i'm good all right i'm gonna shut up yeah i'm good here uh so this place is called turnbull canyon it was named after a guy called robert turnbull and the guy who it's named after was murdered. So it started off. Like you said. With murder and mayhem right off the bat. Right. So Robert Turnbull was a Scottish immigrant. So like, yeah, Scotland. He moved to the area in 1873. And he had come to America to find fortune. And he did. Okay. It did really well.
Starting point is 00:05:32 And I think in Scotland he was like a rancher, a shepherd, like that kind of thing. But he was really looking to get into real estate. Because it was starting to boom over here and he was like, California. I'm going. for an IA. So he immediately looked into getting into the real estate game. The problem was he also liked to hit the sauce a bit. Same. And when he hit the sauce, it was early, often. Not same. And in great quantities. Not same. So quite a bit. He would also get into fist fights with literally anyone around him when he was hitting said sauce. It's not a desirable quality. So soon he was kind of known as that Scottish guy who was saucy and aggressive.
Starting point is 00:06:12 Like, he would just get into bar fights all the time. He was always drunk. People around him said that, like, they literally never saw him sober. So he was just really, like, he was living that life. I bet if he was your uncle, though, he would have been the funnest uncle. He would be the hilarious Scottish uncle. He would. That would be the drunk Scottish uncle.
Starting point is 00:06:31 That's what we all need one of those. We all have one, I feel. Well, around 1875, Temple Workman Bank was the huge bank in the area and it was having some serious issues. The men who owned it were kind of like, uh, like shitty at their jobs. And it just started getting chaotic very quick. They did not know how to manage money. And eventually the state's economy went tanking. Oh, no. And the bank couldn't handle it. So they just closed. Oh, leaving the people in the town shit out of luck with the money they had put in the bank. They just took their,
Starting point is 00:07:05 closed it up. That's not allowed, I feel. So now the town, they were like, we got to figure out how to get this money back. So the town put together an advisory committee and they filled this advisory committee. They had the people lead it that were the bank's largest creditors. Okay. And this was kind of like just to take care of this, figure out how to get the people their money back. Well, Robert Turnbull found himself on this committee because although he was a saucy fighter, he was also doing pretty okay in the real estate game and he was one of the bank's biggest accounts. All right. So he was on there to try to figure this out. He was probably drunk, which is awesome. Good for him. He's, at least he's like functioning. He's really getting things done. He is. Which I appreciate. And while on this committee,
Starting point is 00:07:49 though, he also got the opportunity to see investments in land ahead of time and also purchase land for cheap because he was on this committee. They're trying to figure all this out. They're looking at different places to try to like build things and like get the economy going again. So this is when the canyon came up for sale. Okay. the place around the canyon and in the canyon. And he purchased the canyon immediately for like nothing. So he really got like jumped on that. He was an honest to goodness mogul.
Starting point is 00:08:19 I love it. And he figured in this canyon it was a really nice area that I think there was like nice fresh water like a stream running through it. So he figured he was going to go back to his roots. He was going to raise sheep there and sell the wool as like a side business. So he was like side hustling. And it was just really pretty. So he was like, I want that. Yeah, it's like a two-for-one deal.
Starting point is 00:08:39 I want that canyon. It's serene and I can make some money. So he bought it for a song and at this time it was still not named after him. So it didn't become named after him. Because he was still alive. Because at first I was like, oh, that's fun that he bought that canyon that was like, Turnbull Canyon. Like he just named it after himself.
Starting point is 00:08:55 That would have been awesome. But no. No, have him. So in 1885, two Quakers named Akia Pickering and Jonathan Bailey, according to the Quaker campus, which is a very, it was an informative article about. this cool um they came and they offered roberts some cash money money for the canyon they were like this i love you so this is this is so cash money money this is a this is a great canyon you have here love it and they were like we would love to settle here and shit so they were like we love this area
Starting point is 00:09:25 so they bought a ton of the land around the canyon and then they were like we'd really like that canyon as well because we have all the land around it no and it's right in the middle of our land and it also has that nice stream in the middle where we can like use it for supplies and shit. And he was like, that's my stream. Mullen Robert was like, yeah, you know, like he wasn't a dick about it. He was just like, I just really love this canyon. And I don't want to sell it.
Starting point is 00:09:47 And they were like, okay. So for a couple years, they kept trying to ask him to sell it. Like everybody was, it seems everything I read said that like nobody was like being a nasty, nasty about it. They were just like, hey, ready yet? Ready to sell that yet? And he was like, no. And they were like, okay, we'll come back.
Starting point is 00:10:03 You were like, have some oatmeal. Yeah. I was like, yeah, totally. Have some Quaker oatmeal. So in 1887, they offered him $30,000, which was a lot back then. I mean, it's a lot now, but it's a lot. It's like a down payment on a condo. Today.
Starting point is 00:10:21 I was going to say, today. And he was like, okay. Like as soon as they gave him that, he was like, already. So he was psyched. He was like, all right, cool, take the canyon. It's yours. He's like, I'll buy six others. Yeah, he was like, I don't care.
Starting point is 00:10:34 That's a lot of money. Cool. So a few months later, he's living on his. his own somewhere else. And it was in January of 1888, only a few months after he sold it. Robert was drinking, doing what he does best. Drinking and fighting. That's what he was doing. He was in a pub. He got into like a bar brawl. Nothing new. Just lit like a Tuesday. Sure. And he got thrown out onto the street and he was on his way home and he fell off of his horse apparently. Which is no good. That's probably something he hadn't done before.
Starting point is 00:11:03 Yeah. And apparently the police found him. office horse and they arrested his ass for public drunkenness. Not an RUI? Not an RUI riding under the influence. HUI, horsing under the influxing. So the police arrested him for public drunkenness. They threw him in the drunk tank. He didn't remember anything about the evening, but he remembers going home.
Starting point is 00:11:29 Or he remembered going home. And he realized out on his way home that he was not feeling great. And he was like, oh, maybe it's just because I was really drunk. but then he was like, I feel like I got hurt. So he suddenly realized that he was severely beaten. Like, he doesn't remember the beating, but he remembers being, like, he was severely beaten. Imagine. So he was bloody and bruised and swollen when he arrived home, according to his housekeeper.
Starting point is 00:11:54 What? And he slept for more than a day and then woke up. He probably had like a very intense concussion. And she reported that he was acting very strange. And he put on a weird mismatched outfit, which was not. He was always very, like, put together. And then took one of her hats and put it on his head. He probably had, like, a traumatic brain injury.
Starting point is 00:12:14 He 100% had a traumatic brain injury. Like he fell off a horse and then was beaten. Well, and so he left the house. He was like, goodbye, Mary. And he just left. And she was like, that's my hat. Okay. So they didn't have cell phones.
Starting point is 00:12:26 So she was like, I guess I'll see you, hopefully. She didn't text him. Give me my hat back. Good luck with your cranium. And I want my pink hat back. She just screamed that at him. And she didn't hear from him for like a day. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:39 And then the following day, a couple of children discovered his dead body floating in the L.A. River. Oh, no. So it was clear that he had either fell off the Macy Bridge into the L.A. River or he had been thrown. Which like either is not too. No, neither one is good. Because the medical examiner said that he died from a blood clot that came from a severe head injury that killed him. Yeah. And it was labeled a homicide.
Starting point is 00:13:06 And it was never solved. But do we really think it was a homicide? Well, here's the thing. It would be a homicide. Whoever beat him caused that clot, meaning that's a homicide. He died of the clot. He did not die of drowning. All right.
Starting point is 00:13:19 So he died. And then he either must have had a blood clot in like aneurysm as he was walking and fell. Yeah. Which still would be attributed to the person that caused that injury. Right. Or somebody threw him off the side of the bridge. Either way, somebody murdered him. Dang.
Starting point is 00:13:34 And we don't know who. so it was never solved well those quakers those two quakers who we sold the land to they named it turnbull canyon after him like in honor of him because he was so nice when he sold the land and they were like wow that's sad i love that so they did that but that was probably their first mistake huh certainly was so before robert came and all that chaotic energy happened there was more chaotic energy in this before he even came maybe it rubbed off on yeah this canyon was already full of it so Way, way back. Native Americans knew of this land. And they called this place, and I apologize, if I say this wrong, Hutakna, Hutakana, that's what it is. And it translates, like, roughly to
Starting point is 00:14:19 the dark place or the evil place. Awesome. And they used to say that the sun wouldn't touch this valley, like this canyon. And Native Americans wouldn't go there and considered it like cursed, but like kind of sacred ground. Okay. But they wouldn't step foot in there. They were terrified of this place because it was pitch black when the sun would go down. Oh, that's so scary. So early Spanish explorers came in and forced these same Native Americans to live in this canyon that they had named the dark place and were so terrified of. Well, that's fucked. And they were forced to convert to Christianity. And if they refused, they were slaughtered in the canyon. Jesus. So the ghosts, people say that the ghosts of these angry Native Americans are still walking among the canyon, angry, upset, and not settled.
Starting point is 00:15:03 Or probably terrified that they just had to be there. Exactly. And hikers say that they'll feel people watching them on the hike. And it doesn't feel like someone's watching them. It feels like many. Many, like the same kind of experiences over and over. People say that they feel like a crowd of people is watching them. Ugh.
Starting point is 00:15:20 Yeah. And some people will say that they will hear like almost like rain stick sounds. Oh, okay. Like not quite a drumming, but like smacking together two sticks kind of thing. And they hear it like faintly in the distance. in the canyon. Yeah. So there's that. So already, right from the gecko, the Native Americans, they always know. Well, that's the thing. It's like the Bridgewater Triangle. They knew. It's like they always know. So they knew and they were like, don't go in there. And then
Starting point is 00:15:49 Pet Settlers came in and were like, you go in there. And then it starts a whole, here's the thing. Settlers were not settlers. Native Americans were the one who like knew where to go. They're the ones that were like, settle here, not there. Listen to them. Yeah. They know the land better than, like, Come on, guys. So it just started, it kicked off some real chaotic energy in there. So let's talk about, we're just going to go through all the different things that are occurring in this. So cults. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:16:15 I love it. There were some real scary cults happening there. And some say that they're still there. So the first sightings of this really started during like the Great Depression in the 1930s. People would see men and women in black robes gathering in the canyon. No. And it was said that because this was the Great Depression, obviously, unbelievable financial upheaval for everybody. So this was a time when all around the United States especially, people were giving up their children to orphanages and for adoption because they couldn't feed them. And they were hoping by giving them up, the children would be fed, basically.
Starting point is 00:16:54 Yeah, it's a real bummer. That ruins me. So this was happening around here, obviously. The orphanages were overflowing with kids. And this cult is said, the legend says, that this cult was adopting some of these children or kidnapping them from the orphanages to sacrifice in the canyon. What the fuck. And a cult paraphernalia and evidence of animal sacrificing was found in there. And there's even a story of a witness, an unnamed witness, which I found in like several things. But again, this is legend.
Starting point is 00:17:26 Legend. There's nothing concrete to hang on to here. but it's a story that's interesting and that it's definitely told around those areas. Listen, fuckers, we're gathered around the campfire right now. We are gathered. So, Rast your Mallow and listen up. So this unnamed witness said that they were near the canyon one night.
Starting point is 00:17:45 And they saw, they heard all this commotion, so they went over to look. And they saw what appeared to be around a 12-year-old boy attached to a cross where these robed figures were chanting around him and like doing weird shit. And then they inverted. the cross with him on it and proceeded to beat the hell out of him until he was completely covered
Starting point is 00:18:05 in blood. Oh my goodness. He was then thrown in a sack and driven away. What the fuck. And people say that they have seen hooded figures on the trail even today. And at night, people will see bonfires burning in the canyon. So is that ghosts or is that a cult that's been around for so long? Yeah. People don't know. And then people say that they hear the ghosts of children like crying or laughing on the trails are like just all kinds of weird shit. No, ghost children are not for me. Yeah, it's, it's not a good thing. And I guess there was also like, you know, rumors that after it wasn't really working to like adopt these children from these orphanages, they were like kidnapping kids and also just taking runaway kids, like hitchhiking kids, anything they could find. That's like a cult
Starting point is 00:18:50 MO. Isn't that terrifying? That's so scary. So that's just a scary little like, ah. Aside. So another thing that is a big legend among this thing, this. This area is that there was a mental health facility that was around the canyon. And it's, you don't know if it's like totally for sure, true? No, I don't know if it's totally for sure, but it's something that it's told in many, many, many different places. So, and it's one of those things that I think is just like a legend that people like to cling onto, but it's one worth telling just because there's a little bit of like truth to it.
Starting point is 00:19:22 Yeah, I feel. So where there's smoke, there's fire. Yeah, and it's like, you got to tell these things. You know, you got to keep the legends going. You got to keep it going. Pass it down. So they say that it probably was around the 1940s that it burned down. And of course, there's been a ton of wildfires in California.
Starting point is 00:19:39 And actually lately, and recently there has been wildfires in Turnbull Canyon. Oh, shit. So it's not unlikely. This place was a mental health facility. It was during the time when lobotomies and electroshock therapy, things were not great in these places at those points. So you know there was a ton of abuse, a ton of. a ton of, you know, misery and just horror. So it burned down in the 1940s,
Starting point is 00:20:05 and the burnt remains of the foundation are said to be at the end of a dirt road that's closed to the public. That would be so spooky. People on YouTube, I've seen YouTube videos where people have gone to these places, there is a burnt out foundation of some building. Oh, mean, hello.
Starting point is 00:20:19 So in the 1960s, it said that a group of teenagers were hanging out here because this is like a place where people like to go. Of course. They've actually had to run. reinforce the gate to this place, which I will mention in a minute, because people were going there so often, and there is, like, partially private property back there, so don't go looking for it. But in the 1960s, these teens were hanging out in this, like, foundation.
Starting point is 00:20:44 And the foundation has, like, some walls to it. It's, like, a burnt-out building. Yeah. And one of them was, like, oh, shit, I think I found the, like, the room that they probably did the electroshock therapy in. It had, like, burned instruments and shit. Oh, that's so spooky. He touched an area of it.
Starting point is 00:20:59 Why? And his friend said that he immediately was electrocuted. Still? And they said like gruesome electrocution and died. And what's crazy is that 20 years before this, they had shut the electricity off to that place. Yeah. There was no electricity. That doesn't make any sense.
Starting point is 00:21:17 So it's just a really creepy thing. That's nuts. Now leading to this area, like I said, there's a gate. This gate is called Hell's Gate. Not Heaven's Gate. And it's strange and mysterious and like this big iron gate that leads to the remains of this mental health facility. And people will say like, this is the entrance to hell. Sounds like it.
Starting point is 00:21:38 You go in there and you can hear screams of kids and like just weird shit. It's just like you don't want to go there. No. And it's hard to find too. There's a reason. It's like one of those really hard to find places. So the next thing I'll talk about really quickly is called the hanging tree. And if you go on YouTube, you can also see like videos of people.
Starting point is 00:21:55 finding this tree. No. It's said that a man, a man, a man. I know. It's said, a man. It said, I was about to roast you. I got really into the storytelling moment for a second. A man. It said a man. No. It said that a man hung himself in a tree in the canyon. That's sad. And people say that they will randomly see a man hanging from a tree. They'll freak out. And then as soon as they look again, it's gone. What the fuck? And people also say that they have seen ghosts of children hanging in the trees. Uh-uh. Like they'll be walking down a trail and they'll suddenly look to their right and there's like
Starting point is 00:22:33 six trees with kids hanging from them and then they'll look again and they're gone. No. That shit's not right. That part of the sixth sense when they're in the school and he looks up the stairway and they're like, what are you looking at? And he's just staring and then it fucking flashes to this entire goddamn family hanging from gallows. That fucked me up.
Starting point is 00:22:53 You saw the six cents too early, didn't you? I saw it way too early. I saw it too early. And it left too much of impression. That one scene, I was like, no, no. Because there was a kid in there, too. Oh, yeah. Two kids and, like, a parents hanging from Dallas.
Starting point is 00:23:06 Isn't it like a little girl in like a bonnet? It's horrific. Yeah, it's fucked. And that's what I picture. Somebody looking to the right and that's what they see. And then it's gone. Oh, uh, uh. So don't do it, guys.
Starting point is 00:23:15 Don't do it. No. So that's weird. Now let's get to a really solid thing that you can find newspaper article. goes on that is reported that is really fucked up. Let's get to a true crime. A real true crime. This is where we're going to get to the real shit.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Okay. So I gave you all like, ooh, spooky spookies. And now we're going to get like, oh. Oh, too real for me. So let's talk about a plane crash that happened in this canyon. Okay, dokey. So this plane crash is wild. It's just wild the way it happened.
Starting point is 00:23:44 It's wild the lead up to it. And it's gnarly. So April 18th, 1952 was wild. when this plane crash happened. It was kind of forgotten in history a little bit. Good. Weirdly enough. Like, it's one of those things that if you look up certain sources about Turnbull Canyon,
Starting point is 00:24:03 they'll be like, oh, yeah, and this plane crashed happened. And then they'll say, and the source they'll be like, and you can't find anything relating to this, no articles. You can. Like, it's just harder to find because history has kind of like scrubbed it a little bit. That's a little weird. But it is real. Like there's news reports about it.
Starting point is 00:24:21 there's real people involved. There's a reason they don't want us to know about it. It is weird. It's definitely a weird thing. Weird. And actually most people in the area have said they grew up hearing this, but thinking it was a legend, like a myth. And it's not like you said. But then they find out it's real and not like, oh, it's just strange.
Starting point is 00:24:39 Yeah. So April 16, 1952, flight 416 West was carrying 26 passengers and three crew members. many of the sources claim you'll see out there if you look this up that there was a large amount of children on this plight there wasn't it was a very normal why do people feel the need to add like horrific detail to a horrific event you know why they want to with this particular one because they want to keep that cult thing going where like they i've seen things that are like oh the legends say that the canyon is still thirsting for the blood of the innocent so people have added on that like the canyon forced this plane full
Starting point is 00:25:17 kids to crash into it so they could like sacrifice it. That's a lot. It's just a very normal flight manifest. It's like there were kids, but also adults. No, not an absurd amount of children or anything. So either way, it was going from New York City where it left LaGuardia Airport at 6.09 p.m. Initially, Captain John D. Treyer was the pilot, and it stopped in Chicago and then stopped again in Kansas City. And it was here that Captain Lewis Powell joined, and so did another pilot named Charles Waldron.
Starting point is 00:25:54 And so they also, on this stop, picked up one other crew member, and it was a 29-year-old woman named Harriet Parmali, who was a flight attendant, but she was off-duty at the time. Okay. They were just picking her up because she was literally just getting on board to hitch a ride back to California. Oh, that's awful. And she was in Kansas City, Michigan, visiting her family and attending her uncle's funeral. Oh, wow. And her uncle had died in like a weird scenario where he owned like a sporting good store. And there was a gas leak and it just exploded with him and one other customer in the store.
Starting point is 00:26:28 Whoa. Yeah, it's just like a real, you can look that up to it. I think his name was like Claude. But it's a very strange. That's weird nuts. So she was attending that uncle's funeral. Just getting on here just to hop back to California. Right.
Starting point is 00:26:42 And it's like, oh, if it was just not this plate. That's so crazy that somebody dies in like a freak plane accident on their way home from a funeral. It's insane. So they did have a little layover when they landed because they wanted, they had to fix something that was leaking. Yeah. So April 18th at 138 a.m. It took off again. And it stopped again, very briefly, in Wichita, Kansas to get more fuel.
Starting point is 00:27:07 And then it was going to be on its way to California. Now, there was a big thunderstorm at one point. and it had to stop again in Amarillo, Texas to wait, wait out the storm. This is like when the universe is like, I'm like, this is the wildest. Like, what? Hey, hey, no. No, this is not okay. Now, according to Forgotten Tales, the crash of Flight 416 West, they did like a really
Starting point is 00:27:33 good job going into all the details of this. It's like a video. We'll try to post it. The fuck was that. My phone slipped into the crack of it. But did you hear that noise? Yes, and my heart just ran over to the other side of the room. It's no longer in my body.
Starting point is 00:27:48 I don't know how I'm talking anymore because I'm not a living breathing. Did you hear the phone like drop? Yeah, I did. Because it sounded like somebody like hit the back of the couch. And I am just a little bit on inch. Oh, I know. Sorry. I'm going to need a moment.
Starting point is 00:28:03 Oh, shit. That scared me. It's dark in here. Fuck. The woods are there. Okay. Spooky. Let me breathe.
Starting point is 00:28:11 It was like such a cinematic moment. Oh, fuck. It's like when you're like, like, we're gathered around the campfire. My, my heart is like, do, do, do, do, do. I know, that scared the shit out of me. Okay. So like I said, I'm going to post that video. The Forgotten Tales, The Crash of Flight 416 West.
Starting point is 00:28:28 I'll post that in the show notes so you can watch it. Cool, cool. They had apparently been traveling from New York at this point for 27 hours. Yikes. Not supposed to take that long. Captain Treyer at this point, he was the original pilot. He decided at this stop he was going to get off the plane. The pilot?
Starting point is 00:28:45 He was going to leave. One of the three, four pilots on board. Okay. But he was the original one, so he's handed it over to his co-pilot. Why? There isn't any explanation as to why he left this plane at this point because this was an unexpected stop. They weren't supposed to stop in Amarillo, Texas. That's weird.
Starting point is 00:29:02 He didn't live there, so there's really nothing else about that. Was he a clairvoyant man? Maybe he just needed a break after 27 hours. He was like, I'm tapping up. Well, you know what? I'm proud of him because I think he listened to the universe and was like, I don't think we're supposed to go there. Always listen to your gut, to your gut, whatever it's saying. So this was at like 614 p.m. that he was like goodbye. Now at 9.04 p.m., everything finally cleared up. The thunderstorm went away. Nothing was leaking anymore. They had fuel. So they took off again for California. At this point, it was Captain Lewis Powell that took over the lead position in the cockpit because that Captain Treyer had left.
Starting point is 00:29:41 So he was very respected, very skilled pilot. He had tons and tons and tons of flight hours under his belt. This was not like, oh, oh, like a brand new. Not that like any pilot is going to be like, oh, no, but this wasn't like even a rookie. This wasn't one with any less flight hours than one you would definitely want flying your plane. But he had suffered a very severe heart attack a month earlier. And his doctor had recommended that the airlines not allow him to fly for a while because they were worried about a cardiac event happening. Right.
Starting point is 00:30:15 They were like, we can't be sure that that won't happen. It's totally responsible to not listen to your doctor in that scenario. Well, the airlines didn't listen either and they let him fly. That's fucked up. So that's not good. Now, the plane then landed in Phoenix, Arizona at 12.30 a.m. And this is when three adults and a little baby disembarked. I don't know if this was a planned stop, but it was a quick one.
Starting point is 00:30:37 They just, they let these people off. Is this like a private plane? No. That's weird. But it was way back when, so I'm sure things were much different. But they took back off at 1.43 a.m. to finally go to their destination. For real. They were set to land in Burbank when they got to 6,000 feet and were heading into the area,
Starting point is 00:30:58 suddenly a thick, spooky fog blanketed the entire place and it dropped to 50 degrees. Now, that kind of weather. is not ideal for anything, but especially the specific landing instruments in this particular plane. The 50 degrees was not going to be a good thing, and they couldn't see shit. Oh, no. So they had to divert to LAX. Now, air traffic controls, they were, you know, they were speaking with the flight the whole time. They were trying to tell them where to go, telling them what altitude they should be at.
Starting point is 00:31:31 Yeah. And at 3.23 a.m., they gave them the clearance to land at Los Angeles International Airport. Now, 3.33 a.m., the fog was all the way in the Turnbull Canyon. And it was very hard to see the actual canyon through it. Now, people in the area said they were woken out of a dead sleep at around 3.30 a.m. Because the plane was so low and so loud. They said they felt like a plane literally flew directly over their house. That's so scary.
Starting point is 00:32:01 Which planes scare the shit out of me. Yeah, you're not a plane. Low planes, fuck that. Like if I woke up to that, I have had so many horrible dreams about watching a plane crash. Not being in a plane crash,
Starting point is 00:32:16 I've had those two. But I have this weird, reoccurring nightmare of watching a plane crash. Yeah. And like not being able to do anything about it. And it's like a very stressful dream. Dream interpreters. Remember when that happened to my mom?
Starting point is 00:32:28 Can you tell me? I do remember that. Maybe that's fine. Maybe it's like secondary like. Wow, that's weird. Yeah, that did happen.
Starting point is 00:32:34 She, like, actually, like, witnessed a plane crash and small plane crash. In a parking lot while she was at work. I remember when that happened. And she saw, like, the inside. Yeah. And that's, maybe that's why she's so fucked up. I mean, I don't know. It was before that.
Starting point is 00:32:50 That was pretty, that was gnarly, though. That'll fuck you up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's the thing. I've had this weird, like, reoccurring dreams. So dream interpreters out there, can you tell me what that means? Am I stressed? I think.
Starting point is 00:33:01 Do I have control issues? Yes. Well, that's not. in a question. I was literally just going to say it probably has something to do with your control issues. And can you tell Ash to relay it to me because I'm not on social media right now? You know how many people have been tweeting at me like, show this to Elena? I love that. Thanks guys. I love that too, but I'm like, I'm going to come back on. I just like, honestly, I recommend it to everybody. Just taking a little break from like the constant
Starting point is 00:33:25 scrolling and just constant like news and stuff. It's been kind of nice to not be aware of anything. And I think I was like too busy. I was doing the busy scroll a lot. And that was getting to me because I'd be like doing a puzzle with like my daughters and randomly just like scroll. And I'm like, what am I doing? Like pay attention to what you're with your kid. Yeah. So it's been nice.
Starting point is 00:33:46 I just recommend it. You're like anybody saying mom like regardless. Thank you so much. You're welcome. But it just like feels nice to be more present, I think. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
Starting point is 00:33:53 So I recommend it to anybody. You're like a free bird now. Yeah. Give it a few weeks and it's nice. It's a nice feeling. And I'm going to be so excited when I come back. I'm going to be like, guys, what happens? You know what's?
Starting point is 00:34:02 not a nice feeling what hearing a plane go by your window no it's not and also quick little mention i really wanted to say a hamilton quote and be like what did i miss oh my god i couldn't let that go so yeah everybody woke up at 3 30 and they were like there's a fucking plane right there just scraping the roof of my house what is going on right now i'm picturing like the windows in my bedroom and just seeing a plane like fly by them the window shaking and they said it felt like it was like whoosh like right over and they but of course when that happened happens, what are you going to do? Didn't you say it was at 3 a.m.?
Starting point is 00:34:36 Yeah, like 3.30 a.m. You're not going to wake up and be like, I must call someone. You're going to be like, that was weird. And then you're going to go back to sleep. You're probably going to think that you were like dreaming. Exactly. So it was around this time also, around 3.30 a.m. That they lost contact with the flight, with the flight.
Starting point is 00:34:53 Shit, what is it called? Everybody. Air control. Air traffic control. Yeah, that's what it's called. They lost contact with them. It's a major job. The radar lost them.
Starting point is 00:35:04 The radio went dead. So now they don't know where they are. This shit freaks me out like nothing else. Yeah, I don't like that. So residents in the area also said they heard what they described as a bomb going off shortly after that. Phenomenal. But again, what are you going to do? It's just like one of those things that you're like, did I hear that?
Starting point is 00:35:26 Like how many times do you hear something weird outside in the middle of the night that you're like, what was that? I feel like, I mean, I live near the woods, so like, I'll hear like gunshots and shit sometimes. And I'm like, it's probably just people hunting. Well, and you're like, it's either hunting, is it in fireworks. Yeah, it could be anything. You just, you're automatically going to convince yourself like, I don't know what that was. I'm just going to sleep. Doesn't involve me, you know, the bystander effect.
Starting point is 00:35:48 Well, exactly. So the crash wasn't discovered until after 10 a.m. the next day. Because the fog also took a while to clear. And it was only then that the black smoke rising from the crash site in the case. canyon could be spotted by farmers in the area. And that's when it was reported. That's really scary. Now what happened was the landing gear was down because they were trying to initially land in
Starting point is 00:36:17 Burbank and they had put the landing gear down. They had gone down to 6,000 feet. They were getting ready to go while the landing gear was still down. And they had drifted to 980 feet. So that's really low. That's super low. And one wheel had, and they were in the canyon and he couldn't see. He didn't know that he was in there.
Starting point is 00:36:36 So one wheel. caught the side of the canyon and the second wheel hit the other side and then it spun the plane out of control. As it lurched to the side, the wing caught the side of the hill and it went nose down into the earth and exploded on impact. Oh my God. So people said that they, when they looked out at the rising smoke, they could see in the canyon in the hills like a dark gash where the wing had cut across the canyon, which to me, doesn't that just give you like the willies? Like that's This is like, oh, because it feels like it's like a laceration in the earth. It's so ominous.
Starting point is 00:37:12 Like somebody took a knife and cut the earth. You know, that's just, oh. I hate it. An investigator on scene said, quote, everybody on board died on impact or in the inferno that followed. I wish he just ended at died on impact. You don't need to know that. But the reports said that Captain Powell must have thought he was approaching Los Angeles International Airport because his landing gear should have been back up.
Starting point is 00:37:36 They said if they weren't down there, if they weren't down when he was in that canyon, the landing here, that wouldn't have happened. That there is a chance that he would have made it through, but he was still very low in that canyon. Yeah. He was actually like something like, he was 10 or 20 feet below what they had told him he could go, his lowest point. What did? I wonder why he went that low. Nobody knows why he went that low. So reports suggested immediately that heart failure may have been what happened.
Starting point is 00:38:05 Okay. which he did just have a heart attack a month ago. But an investigation later showed that it was just bad decision making. Yeah. Unfortunately. He went way below that altitude clearance and they think that he was trying to see under the fog line. I mean, that does make sense. To try to see, but he wasn't realizing that he was in a canyon.
Starting point is 00:38:25 Right. And that if he wasn't in a canyon, maybe he would have been okay. But it just was like a bad, a poor decision. And then also just a lot of other factors coming together to really shit on this. All the elements are against you. But apparently he had invested, and this is crazy. Apparently, like, a couple years or three years before this crash, this pilot had actually invented this navigation tool that would aid people in seeing in conditions like this.
Starting point is 00:38:52 But when he brought it to the airline and the aeronautics commission, they just ignored it. What? And they said if he had been able to, like, go through with this and make it a, like, mass marketed thing, it probably, it might have helped. It might have helped him see where he was going. And there's this like, I think in that video that we'll post, you'll be able to see it. They posted a photo of his wife and his two sons. And they are holding the plans, like the schematics of the invention that he had.
Starting point is 00:39:22 And it's like, oh my God. And what irony. Yeah, that's crazy. And the airline that ran his airline was Robin Airlines. And after this, they grounded all their planes with overfirm. 40 violations. So they were also not doing their due diligence at all. So this is just like a bunch. It feels like a cursed flight. It does. Which ended in a cursed place. That scares me a lot. The photos of this are like truly horrific. Did you look at them? Yeah. I mean, yeah, like the crash site
Starting point is 00:39:53 photos that come up. I'm surprised you looked at that. Well, it's, I know, because I'm like definitely afraid of flying. Yeah. It doesn't help. I'll tell you that much. Yeah. But it's said that the passenger's bodies, some of them were literally embedded into the hillside because of how hard it hit that hillside. And there's a photo where you can see a passenger thrown across the hillside still strapped into their seat. Thank you so much for that visual. It's really messed up. So this place, I mean, that event alone would curse any place. Would be a perfect recipe for haunting. Right. For sure. That's nuts. Now there's also something weird right around the corner from Turnbull Canyon that could also be affecting this.
Starting point is 00:40:33 Yeah. It's a cemetery that was turned into a park. They didn't. Yep. So Founders Memorial Park is about a little less than a mile away from Turnbull Canyon entrance. They're really close. And apparently, this was once three different cemeteries, Whittier Cemetery, Mount Olive Cemetery, and Broadway Cemetery, and is now Founders Memorial Park.
Starting point is 00:40:56 So in the Great Depression era, they had gone, these cemeteries had kind of gotten, like, dilapidated and went into disrepair. And they were kind of neglected and basically abandoned. Nice. So in 1968, the city of Whittier was like, Welp, let's make a park. Why would you make a park there? Well, so they were like, okay, we'll remove the gravestones.
Starting point is 00:41:16 They said they were going to like relocate the bodies. But they did, and they did erect two statues in this park that list the 2,380 body people who were once buried in these cemeteries. Hey. But most people. Don't think those bodies were ever moved. And some people in the area who were around the area at that time said, we never saw any kind of like project of moving those bodies.
Starting point is 00:41:42 Yeah. So people think they are just, that they just removed the gravestones and made a park. That's fucked. People say fogs sometimes will only sit in that park and nowhere else. That is so scary. And then animals die there a lot. Oh, my God. It's a pet cemetery.
Starting point is 00:42:00 Isn't that strange? Yeah, that's real weird. So then there's Gravity Hill in turn, both. Yeah, what is that? So Gravity Hills are found in a lot of places. Like, we've mentioned a few of them in some of the weird places that we've mentioned. There basically is one where your car will travel uphill without using the gas. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:42:17 It's like an optical illusion kind of thing in like a weird, trippy situation. But they have one here. And there's one that apparently people also, when they're going up the hill, like without the gas and you're freaking out. Right. That you'll also hear knocking sounds on your car and kids laughing or crying when it happens. No. Yeah. I'm all good for that.
Starting point is 00:42:37 So I don't want to do that. So now let's end on the murders. Oh. Because there are recent murders in this place. Recent? October 12th, 2002. Bitch what? This is horrific.
Starting point is 00:42:51 17-year-old Gloria Linda Gaxiola was shot in the head on Trumbull Canyon Road. sorry. Her body was then dragged four miles in a car, like next to a car in Haseeda, to Haseanda Heights, where her body was found in the road. Now, five years went by and no one knew what happened. Who did this? Nothing. And then a witness came forward five years later and said, Abraham Akuna, Matthew Garcia, and Victor Mung killed her. Why? She was friends with them. She had apparently known about or witnessed a robbery. that they had committed, and they were scared she was going to rat on them, and they were career criminals. They had a lot of strikes against them, so they were going to get life in prison if they went to jail.
Starting point is 00:43:38 So they planned to take her out of the equation, and this is how they decided to do it. Luckily, they were arrested in 2008, and Hmong was sentenced to 85 years in prison, Garcia to 80 years, and Akuna to 55. Good. Still not enough for doing that. But 17 years old. Right. And she was, like, beautiful.
Starting point is 00:43:58 That's awful. caught in the head in the car and then pushed out of the car and dragged four miles. That's insane. Because apparently her foot was caught in the seatbelt. Are you kidding me? Yeah. And they just pushed her into the middle of the road. So then Tuesday, August 4th, 2009, this one is like, get ready.
Starting point is 00:44:21 Christina Martinez. This isn't a murder. This isn't an attempted murder. This is a survival tale. Well, I love that. She was 20 years old, Christina Martinez. She was a mother of a one-year-old boy. She miraculously survived after being left for dead in the Turnbull Canyon.
Starting point is 00:44:37 She was at a party that night, and she was with her boyfriend at the time and some acquaintances. Now, these acquaintances were Vincent, Edward, and Jose, who was known as Mike. According to this article I read, that's really amazing, definitely go read it. I'll link it. It was called The Girl Who Wouldn't Die. and it was on the week, and it's by Erica Hayasaki, she was taken for a ride home with these three acquaintances, and her boyfriend was going to be staying back at the party. And she knew these guys.
Starting point is 00:45:09 She had hung out with them before. So it wasn't anything crazy. It wasn't weird. These weren't like random dudes. She was like, I trust them. I'm going to go home. And apparently at one point, they were like going to stop at a beach and just kind of like hang out on the beach and like smoke weed.
Starting point is 00:45:24 Like they were like, let's do that. I feel like that's pretty typical. It's California. She was like, yeah, like, I'm down. So she was like, cool. Like, we'll do that and then I'll go home. So then they start driving. And it was one of those situations where all of a sudden they're going in a weird direction.
Starting point is 00:45:37 She's like, this is not the beach. And she starts asking questions. And she's like, where are you going? And they're just ignoring her. And eventually the driver, who was Mike, said to one of the others, tie her hands. Yeah. And she was like, what the fuck? So she looks next to her and whichever, whichever,
Starting point is 00:45:56 one of those dudes was next to her, had rope. And she was like, what the fuck? What are you doing? And it, like, held her down and tied her wrists. So apparently, the only thing that they can look back on with this to, like, be a, and I'll get into the whole thing in a second, but, because she at the time was like, what the fuck is going on? Like, what's happening? Apparently, she had recently had, like, a little disagreement with her boyfriend, and these men were, like, witness to it. And it was like, this word of this disagreement in front of these people got back to the father of her child. And he had heard through,
Starting point is 00:46:29 it was like a group, kind of a game of telephone. And he got the idea that Mike, this guy, Mike, who's in the car, driving the car, had actually like beaten Christine. So he was gonna,
Starting point is 00:46:42 he was pissed and he was like, I'm gonna like kill this guy. Like, are you getting me? That's nice that he was like, yeah. So again, television style came all the way back,
Starting point is 00:46:50 back to Mike. And he thought Christine had put a hit on him. Oh, like this all came out that like, like he had thought Christine had told on like told people this made up a story asking him to hurt him so this was all just bad communication and just bullshit right so this was just revenge like mike was like i'm going to take you out now so apparently after she was tied up they took her they were taking her into the canyon in the car in the pitch black in the middle of the night so then they
Starting point is 00:47:19 took a syringe two syringes excuse me and stabbed her in the neck with what and And they stabbed her up to five times, injecting something into her neck each time that they put it into her neck. I'm sorry, how many times did you say they? Five times. What the fuck? And they think that what they did was, they think it was insulin that they shot into her neck. That will make you violently sick. What?
Starting point is 00:47:45 And they were literally five times, they were stabbing her in the neck with a syringe and injecting her with shit. Like that is. That's fucked. And she said she immediately got hot and nauseous. and was like, she couldn't understand where she was. It was like terrible. And according to the Whittier Daily News, she said, quote, she felt a quote, rush of heat and then choking and coughing and struggling to breathe as she became nauseous.
Starting point is 00:48:08 Oh, my gosh. They then dragged her out of the car and into the canyon to an embankment and threw her to the ground, severely beat her in the head and ribs. Mike then took a rock and beat her in the head until she lost consciousness. She said she gained consciousness slowly while she was being carried by them all. And then she felt herself being hurled off a 20-foot cliff. Dude, this is like Mary Vincent. Yes.
Starting point is 00:48:36 She then sat up on her knees somehow when she landed. She said she just like rolled over and got on her knees and she could barely understand what was happening. Mike followed her down into the cliff. And he became behind her and then slashed her throat deeply several times. quote, using a back and forth motion. Oh, my God. So he was sawing her throat. All the while, she testified against them, by the way.
Starting point is 00:49:03 What a badass. She testified that he was saying the whole time, just let it happen. Just let it happen. No, fuck you. She sustained a four-inch laceration across her neck and numerous abrasions and head contusions, they said. Oh, my Lord. She managed to say something like pleading or like, she was saying something like, I'm bleeding
Starting point is 00:49:21 or something, like when they were walking. back up the cliff. Yeah. And one of them noticed and said she's still talking. So one of the other ones came down and stabbed her twice, two times more in the neck. Oh, my. She waited for them to get in the car and squeal away. She climbed out of the canyon.
Starting point is 00:49:41 And before she did this, she took her shirt off and tied it around her neck to stop the bleeding. So she's like disoriented from being injected with insulin. She's got no shoes. Slashed in the throat how many times? stabbed in the throat how many times and now she ties a shirt around her neck and is climbing up a canyon and she was beaten in the head with a rock and like punched and kicked something could this woman a medal she made her way to 90 year old woman arline boatwright's home arline was probably like what the hell she shows up on her door with the shirt tied around her neck like bleeding profusely her head is gaping open
Starting point is 00:50:14 and she's like uh and she called 911 and got help and she survived wow what a bad bitch At the trial. Hell yeah. I wonder how stupid he felt when he realized that she hadn't actually done that. Oh, yeah. So Vincent Edward and Jose were found guilty of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. Received a 39-year sentence.
Starting point is 00:50:40 It's not very long. No, it's not very long. But you know how we feel about attempted murder. Exactly. So that one's crazy. Wow. And then March 3, 2011, the Whittier Daily News said that in our United States, said that an unidentified woman was found dead in the canyon.
Starting point is 00:50:55 She had been there for at least a week. Her left arm was cut off. She looked like she had been, she had some trauma to her head. She was barefoot and wearing just like dark clothing and that's it. She was discovered by someone just looking into the canyon. You think you're going out for a nice day? Yeah, just giving a little gaze into the canyon and you see that.
Starting point is 00:51:16 Oh, my. It was determined that she was murdered in place there. And later, it was just, determined that she had died of a gunshot wounded head. That's terrifying. After about a month, she was finally identified through dental records as Claudia Tukutzen, who was 41 years old. During this search, by the way, they found another, a human arm that they don't think was hers. Oh.
Starting point is 00:51:38 In the canyon. Already then. So in February 2017, after like six years of not knowing who did this to her, her boyfriend, And Francisco Nila Rojas was charged with her murder and dumping her body. Wow. He had fled the country five days after the murder, but was extradited back to face charges. She had been murdered on February 18, 2011. He had stolen money from her bank accounts before and after the murder.
Starting point is 00:52:09 What a shit statement. He also, they had a Ford Explorer, and when they looked into it, because they both owned it. Yeah. When they were able to search it, it had her. blood in it. Oh, wow. And the car's passenger floor had bleach on it. Oh, so he clearly tried to get away with it. He had also bought a gun on February 12th, which was only a few days before the murder. Dude, really? And the same gun was tested, and the bullets were consistent with the ones that she was shot with. And on the 28th of February 2017, he was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison
Starting point is 00:52:41 for first degree murder. Wow. Now, several burning bodies have also been discovered on Turnbull Canyon Road. and in the canyon itself. Yep. Several? Yeah. Throughout the years. And in a 2002 interview with the, I think it was the Whittier Daily News, you love them. They're great.
Starting point is 00:53:01 An official from the Los Angeles County Fire Station, he said that Turnbull Canyon Road was a seven-mile stretch and had a reputation as, quote, a good place to execute people, dump bodies off and for stolen cars. Yikes. And that's Turnbull County. Canyon in California. I guess it is, huh? Wow. Wee, wow, wow. Wow. Wow. That is so much. Yeah. So that is a lot. The most one would say. Don't go there. The fuck. It's Drew. What is that? Oh, my goodness. You just scared the shit out of us. This is the second time we've jumped during this. All right, well, I guess that's a good time to end it. Drew's home with the groceries. Gotta go. Hope you keep it weird.
Starting point is 00:53:49 Oh, thank you for sitting around our campfire and being scared shitless with us. Wow. Keep listening. Yeah. We hope you keep listening. We hope you. Keep it weird. But not so weird that you go to this canyon and everything happens to you there.
Starting point is 00:54:04 And not so weird that you live in my apartment and get scared at like the drop of a hat, I think. Or foam. Oh, fuck. My heart.

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