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Speaker 1: Appo Cha Production.

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Speaker 2: Hi. Welcome to Silent Secrets, a bedtime podcast for curious minds.

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Speaker 2: I'm jay, I'm glad you're here. This is your time

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Speaker 2: to let go of today, to settle in and slow down,

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Speaker 2: and let curiosity gently carry you towards sleep. In each episode,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to share a true story of the unexplained,

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Speaker 2: not to alarm you, but to quiet your mind, to

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Speaker 2: remind you that the world is full of wonder and

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Speaker 2: some things we'll never truly understand. So take a deep breath,

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Speaker 2: feel your body sink into comfort, let the weight of

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Speaker 2: the day drift away as we begin tonight's story. Tonight,

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Speaker 2: let's travel back nearly fifty years to a quiet town

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Speaker 2: in California's Central Valley and to one of the strangest

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Speaker 2: mysteries in American history. It's a story about friendship, a

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Speaker 2: simple trip to watch a basketball game, and a drive

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Speaker 2: that ended on a lonely mountain road. This is the

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Speaker 2: mystery of the Yuba County five. Yuba City in the

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventies was a small, familiar place, rows of tidy

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Speaker 2: houses and orchards stretching beyond the edge of town. People

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Speaker 2: knew their neighbors afternoons were unhurried, evenings were quiet. Among

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Speaker 2: the residents were five friends, young men who shared a

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Speaker 2: love of sport, laughter, and routine. Ted thirty two, tall

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Speaker 2: and gentle, known for his easy smile, Jack thirty, who

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Speaker 2: had once served in the military and was proud of

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Speaker 2: his new car, a turquoise Mercury Montego, Bill twenty nine,

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Speaker 2: who enjoyed listening to the radio and spending time with

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Speaker 2: his friends, Jack the youngest at twenty four, who still

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Speaker 2: had a boyish enthusiasm about him, and Gary twenty five,

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Speaker 2: who lived with his parents and was adjusting to life

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Speaker 2: after serving in the army. Together, the five formed a

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Speaker 2: close circle. They looked out for each other. They played

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Speaker 2: basketball for a local team, the Gateway Gators, which competed

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Speaker 2: in tournaments organized by the Special Olympics. On Friday evening,

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Speaker 2: the twenty fourth of February nineteen seventy eight, the men

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Speaker 2: prepared for a night out. Their team had a big

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Speaker 2: game the next day, one they'd all been looking forward to,

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Speaker 2: but first they wanted to watch another match, a college

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Speaker 2: game in Chico, about an hour's drive away. The air

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Speaker 2: was crisp that night. The Central Valley winters could be chilly,

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Speaker 2: but the roads were clear. Jack drove as he usually

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Speaker 2: did his car. The mercury gleamed un of the street lights.

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Speaker 2: They set off full of energy. The game UC Davis

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Speaker 2: versus Chico State was lively. Chico won, and by all accounts,

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Speaker 2: the five friends enjoyed every moment. After the final buzzer,

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Speaker 2: they made one last stop at a convenience store. They

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Speaker 2: bought candy bars, soft drinks, pies, and milk. The clerk

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Speaker 2: remembered them clearly laughing together as they left. It was

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Speaker 2: just after ten pm. From there the story becomes a puzzle.

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Speaker 2: Instead of heading south towards Yuba City, turned east, climbing

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Speaker 2: into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Why no one knows. The

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Speaker 2: road was narrow, winding and in winter, often treacherous, but

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Speaker 2: the men drove on into the cold and dark. Hours later,

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Speaker 2: the car was found abandoned high in the National Forest,

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Speaker 2: far away from where it should have been. Snow surrounded it.

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Speaker 2: The tires had spun caught in drifts, but the car

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Speaker 2: itself was unharmed. It still had fuelled in the tank.

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Speaker 2: Inside were candy wrappers and food from the convenience store,

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Speaker 2: but the five friends were gone. When the men failed

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Speaker 2: to return home, their family grew worried. The next day,

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Speaker 2: the gators were to play their tournament, and none of

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Speaker 2: them would have missed it willingly. Authorities began searching. Police,

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Speaker 2: forest rangers, volunteers, helicopters flew over the snowy ridges. Officers

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Speaker 2: checked cabins, barns, and streams. The car gave them a

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Speaker 2: starting point, but beyond that there were no footprints, no trails,

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Speaker 2: no sign of where the fire had gone. The mountains

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Speaker 2: kept their silence. Days turned into weeks. The families waited

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Speaker 2: by their phones, hoping for news. Parents describe their sons

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Speaker 2: to reporters, their quirks, their routines, the things they loved.

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Speaker 2: Ted's mother said he never went anywhere without telling her first.

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Speaker 2: Jack's family said he never left home without his coat.

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Speaker 2: Gary's parents spoke of his gentle nature, how he enjoyed

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Speaker 2: playing records in his room. As March came, and then April,

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Speaker 2: then May, the case grew colder. Snow still blanketed the

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Speaker 2: high country. The car sat where it had been left,

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Speaker 2: lonely among the pines. The families faced each day with

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Speaker 2: unanswered questions. Had the men been lost, were they hiding

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Speaker 2: or had someone harmed them. It was not until early June,

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Speaker 2: when the snow began to melt the mystery deepened. A

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Speaker 2: group of motorcyclists exploring forest trails came upon a service

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Speaker 2: trailer used by forestry workers. It was nearly twenty miles

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Speaker 2: from where the Mercury had been abandoned. Inside, they found

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Speaker 2: signs that at least some of the missing men had

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Speaker 2: made it there. Clothing, blankets, and a few personal items

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Speaker 2: were discovered. The trailer had supplies, food, fuel, and bedding,

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Speaker 2: but it appeared that it had not been fully used. Nearby,

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Speaker 2: in different parts of the forest, searchers eventually found the

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Speaker 2: remains the four of the friends, Ted, Bill, the two jacks,

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Speaker 2: but Gary was never located. Only a pair of shoes

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Speaker 2: believed to be his were found near the trailer. The

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Speaker 2: discovery answered one question the men had made it into

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Speaker 2: the mountains, but they opened up many more. Why had

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Speaker 2: they left the car when it still had fuel and

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Speaker 2: could have been rocked free. Why had they walked so

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Speaker 2: far through heavy snow without proper clothing. Why when they

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Speaker 2: reached the trailer had they not used all the supplies

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Speaker 2: stored there? And where even now is Gary. Over the years,

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Speaker 2: many theories have been suggested. Some believed the group became disoriented,

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Speaker 2: taking a wrong turn after leaving Chico and simply driving

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Speaker 2: too far into the night. Others wondered if someone misled

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Speaker 2: them or frightened them into going up that road. There

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Speaker 2: are even ideas that the friends stumbled upon something they

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Speaker 2: weren't meant to see that no evidence has ever been found.

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Speaker 2: Gary's disappearance also adds to the puzzle. Did he set

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Speaker 2: off to search of help and vanish in the forest,

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Speaker 2: or did something else happen to him? Entirely for Yuba City,

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Speaker 2: this mystery was a wound that never quite healed. These

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Speaker 2: were young men who had been beloved sons, brothers, teammates,

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Speaker 2: and friends. Their families kept photos framed on mens, reminders

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Speaker 2: of lives interrupted by an unanswerable question. Even today, locals

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Speaker 2: remember the story. When we think about the Yuber County five.

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Speaker 2: It's easy to focus on the puzzle, the car and

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Speaker 2: the snow, the trailer and the forest, the theories that

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Speaker 2: swirl around, But perhaps it's also important to remember the

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Speaker 2: human details. Five friends who loved basketball, who laughed and

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Speaker 2: shared snacks after a game, who looked forward to their

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Speaker 2: own match the next day. They were above all companions,

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Speaker 2: and maybe that's why their story still echoes, Because we

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Speaker 2: can all imagine piling into a car with our closest friends,

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Speaker 2: not knowing it would be the last drive we ever

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Speaker 2: took together. And so the Sierra Nevada Mountains keep their secret.

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Speaker 2: A car, the road, the snow, and the five men

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Speaker 2: who vanished into them. Only four returned, and even then

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Speaker 2: only partly. The fifth was never seen again. What happened

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Speaker 2: on that February night remains unsolved, the story without an ending.

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Speaker 2: Some mysteries are like footsteps in the snow. They fade

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Speaker 2: with time, but they never disappear completely. Thank you for

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Speaker 2: listening to silent secrets. I hope tonight's story has given

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Speaker 2: your mind something soft to wander through as you drift

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Speaker 2: towards rest. But the quieter the night wrap around you now,

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Speaker 2: and know that mysteries will still be here tomorrow. Close

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Speaker 2: your eyes, breathe deeply, and let's sleep take over until

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Speaker 2: we share another secret next time.

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Speaker 1: Good night, school, screams us Name us