1
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:16,040
Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClean smith, where

2
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,520
Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories

3
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make

4
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,279
Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In last week's episode, How

5
00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 1: the Wind Does Scream, we ventured into the mysterious wilds

6
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: of the Nahanni Valley in Canada's Northwest Territories, which in

7
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,400
Speaker 1: the early twentieth century was the scene of a number

8
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:43,760
Speaker 1: of strange and unsettling deaths. Roughly twenty years after the

9
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,159
Speaker 1: death of the McCloud Brothers, whose story we explored in

10
00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,920
Speaker 1: the episode, news broke again from out of the Northwest

11
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,480
Speaker 1: Territories of yet another beguiling mystery that was striking fear

12
00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,280
Speaker 1: into the hearts of any who had reason to find

13
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 1: themselves in the area at the time. It is known

14
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,360
Speaker 1: today as the story of the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

15
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,759
Speaker 1: The man was first said to have been sighted sometime

16
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,880
Speaker 1: in the afternoon of August twenty first, nineteen twenty seven,

17
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,960
Speaker 1: at the Ross River Trading Post, located at the junction

18
00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,840
Speaker 1: of the Ross and Peley Rivers in southern Yukon, appearing

19
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:35,000
Speaker 1: as if from nowhere, wearing the standard coarsely material trappers garb,

20
00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,039
Speaker 1: and carrying only a backpack and a hunting rifle. He

21
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,200
Speaker 1: promptly set up camp on the outskirts of the rudimentary settlement.

22
00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,000
Speaker 1: The following day, having not said a word to anyone,

23
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,360
Speaker 1: the man, who was five ft ten with thick brown

24
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:57,440
Speaker 1: hair and piercing icy green eyes, stepped into the posts.

25
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 1: Taylor and Drury Trading store in sight trapper Otto Poulson

26
00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: and store clerk Roy Buttle had been deep in conversation

27
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,600
Speaker 1: when the sudden appearance of the man caught them off guard.

28
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,040
Speaker 1: The man, they later said, had an undeniable presence, hard

29
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 1: and resolute, and those eyes when they looked at you,

30
00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,400
Speaker 1: as Poulson later said, made you feel as though ice

31
00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:31,120
Speaker 1: water had just been poured down your back. Saying nothing,

32
00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,440
Speaker 1: the man walked up to the counter and handed a

33
00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,200
Speaker 1: note to Buttle, on which was written a short list

34
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,720
Speaker 1: of items, including tea and bacon, and six boxes of

35
00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:48,480
Speaker 1: kidney pills, amongst other things. Unable to stand the awkward

36
00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,800
Speaker 1: silence any more, Buttle asked the man cheerily where he

37
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:59,760
Speaker 1: was from, to which he replied simply nowhere. After bagging

38
00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,919
Speaker 1: up the items as quickly as he could. Buttle then

39
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,440
Speaker 1: asked the man for forty nine dollars, at which he

40
00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,920
Speaker 1: then pulled out two enormous wads of cash from his

41
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,880
Speaker 1: pockets somewhere in the region of six thousand dollars, pulled

42
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,320
Speaker 1: out a fifty dollar note and placed it on the counter.

43
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,400
Speaker 1: Just then, two seven year old First Nation boys ran

44
00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,480
Speaker 1: into the store, brandishing a nickel, which they'd likely found

45
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,920
Speaker 1: in the dirt outside. The stranger watched as they dashed

46
00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,560
Speaker 1: excitedly over to the sweet counter. Buttle called out for

47
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,280
Speaker 1: him to take his change. The man slowly turned back,

48
00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,240
Speaker 1: pointed a finger at the coins on the counter, and

49
00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,240
Speaker 1: then pointed to the two young boys, and with that

50
00:03:51,000 --> 00:04:01,480
Speaker 1: he took his things and left. In a community as

51
00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:06,640
Speaker 1: small as Ross Rivers, word inevitably spread about the unsettling

52
00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:10,560
Speaker 1: Lona who'd set up camp in their mists with piles

53
00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:15,560
Speaker 1: of cash in his pockets. A few days later, local

54
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,960
Speaker 1: Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal Clawed Tid, who'd been away

55
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: on patrol duty, arrived back to find his community deeply

56
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,039
Speaker 1: troubled by the man's arrival, and vowed to speak to

57
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,039
Speaker 1: him to find out what he was doing there and

58
00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,159
Speaker 1: just how he'd come into so much money that afternoon

59
00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,720
Speaker 1: he headed out to the man's camp to do just that,

60
00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:48,360
Speaker 1: only to find it was deserted. Over the next few years,

61
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,360
Speaker 1: there was only one recorded sighting of the man, from

62
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,039
Speaker 1: when he stayed a few days in fras Of Falls,

63
00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 1: about a hundred and thirty miles northwest of Ross River.

64
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,680
Speaker 1: He gave his name to the owner of the cabin

65
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 1: he rented as Albert Johnson, and is said to have

66
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,920
Speaker 1: spent most of his time there lying alone in his bunk,

67
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:16,120
Speaker 1: staring up at the ceiling. In his absence, people began

68
00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,200
Speaker 1: to talk. Any One who lived or trapped in Yukon

69
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,520
Speaker 1: or Northwest territories, where the man was mostly thought to rome,

70
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,960
Speaker 1: was worn to stay clear of him, while some claimed

71
00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,400
Speaker 1: that he had a nasty habit of stealing gold teeth

72
00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:39,160
Speaker 1: from the mouths of men dead or alive. In spring

73
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,760
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, the so called Johnson was alleged to have

74
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,320
Speaker 1: shown up in fought Reliance, close by to the camp

75
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,720
Speaker 1: of two trappers, Emile Bode and yan Olsen. A few

76
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,160
Speaker 1: months later, three miles south of the Thelon River, he

77
00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,120
Speaker 1: is said to have arrived at a cabin belonging to

78
00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,960
Speaker 1: one Steve Bradley, a man he knew to be a

79
00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:09,560
Speaker 1: friend of Bode and Olsen's. According to Bradley, Johnson claimed

80
00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,720
Speaker 1: to have some important business to settle with the two

81
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:17,040
Speaker 1: trappers and asked Bradley if he knew where they were.

82
00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,479
Speaker 1: Thinking nothing of it at the time, Bradley informed him

83
00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,640
Speaker 1: that they were camping out in Granite Falls, about sixty

84
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 1: five miles away. Johnson thanked him for the information and

85
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:42,040
Speaker 1: then disappeared once again. Now a word from our sponsor

86
00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,040
Speaker 1: Better Help. It can be tough to train your brain

87
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,880
Speaker 1: to stay in problem solving mode when faced with a

88
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,280
Speaker 1: challenge in life, but when you learn how to find

89
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,040
Speaker 1: your own solutions, there's no better feeling. A therapist can

90
00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,080
Speaker 1: help you become a better problem solver, making it easy

91
00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,359
Speaker 1: to accomplish your goals, no matter how big or small.

92
00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:05,040
Speaker 1: Better Help is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so

93
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,640
Speaker 1: they make it easy and free to change therapists if needed.

94
00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:13,400
Speaker 1: It's more affordable than traditional offline therapy, and financial aid

95
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 1: is available. Better Help wants you to start living a

96
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,040
Speaker 1: happier life today. Just fill out a brief survey and

97
00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,040
Speaker 1: get matched with a therapist today, and you can switch

98
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,480
Speaker 1: therapists anytime if you so wish. When you want to

99
00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,400
Speaker 1: be a better problem solver, therapy can get you there.

100
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,520
Speaker 1: Visit better help dot com. Slash unexplained one zero today

101
00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,160
Speaker 1: to get ten percent off your first month. That's better

102
00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:49,120
Speaker 1: help dot com. Slash unexplained one zero during a brief

103
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,559
Speaker 1: stop in Fort McPherson on the banks of the Peel

104
00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 1: River in the Northwest Territories in July nineteen thirty one.

105
00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:01,120
Speaker 1: After once again unsettling the locals with his stern and

106
00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,640
Speaker 1: solitary manner, the man was warned by local mounte Edgar

107
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,640
Speaker 1: Millan that he would need to buy a license if

108
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:13,600
Speaker 1: he wanted to continue trapping in the area. Johnson moved

109
00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 1: on at the end of the month, having likely ignored

110
00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:24,080
Speaker 1: Millan's request. A summer slipped inexorably from autumn then to winter,

111
00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,440
Speaker 1: with all about then covered in ice and snow. It

112
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,599
Speaker 1: was sometime in December when four young gwitch in trappers

113
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,360
Speaker 1: turned up at the Canadian Mounted Police post on the

114
00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,559
Speaker 1: Arctic Red River, about thirty five miles east of Fort

115
00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:45,240
Speaker 1: McPherson to complain about a strange white man who'd been

116
00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:50,559
Speaker 1: throwing away their baked and sabotaging their traps. They believed

117
00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:57,040
Speaker 1: the man's name was Albert Johnson. Two Mounties, Alfred King

118
00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,440
Speaker 1: and Joseph Bernard, were quickly dispatched from a Clavic, the

119
00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:05,480
Speaker 1: largest settlement in the region, about sixty miles to the north,

120
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:11,680
Speaker 1: to investigate. The following morning, on December twenty eighth, about

121
00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,400
Speaker 1: fifteen miles up the Rat River, they came across a

122
00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:20,240
Speaker 1: strange looking cabin covered in snow and sunk a good

123
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,719
Speaker 1: few feet into the ground. It appeared to be more

124
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,800
Speaker 1: like the abode of some strange woodland creature rather than

125
00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:33,240
Speaker 1: that of a grown human. Nonetheless, smelling coffee and bacon

126
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,480
Speaker 1: cooking from inside, it seemed reasonable to assume they'd found

127
00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:43,000
Speaker 1: who they were looking for. King approached the cabin on

128
00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,960
Speaker 1: his own and knocked on the door, but whoever was

129
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:52,640
Speaker 1: inside simply ignored him. Realizing the man had no interest

130
00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,240
Speaker 1: in playing ball, the officers had no choice but to

131
00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:00,520
Speaker 1: return to a Clavic to get a search warrant, and so,

132
00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:05,000
Speaker 1: after making the arduous one hundred and fifty mile round trip,

133
00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,160
Speaker 1: they returned a few days later, accompanied by another two

134
00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:14,480
Speaker 1: officers for back up. Once again, King knocked on the

135
00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:18,000
Speaker 1: door only this time he made it clear that if

136
00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 1: the man didn't come out of his own accord, he

137
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,959
Speaker 1: would be forced to break down his door and drag

138
00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:29,160
Speaker 1: him out. A short silence ensued as Officer Bernard and

139
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,920
Speaker 1: his two colleagues watched on from about thirty yards away,

140
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,800
Speaker 1: when all of a sudden, a shot rang out from

141
00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,080
Speaker 1: inside the cabin and King fell to the floor, clutching

142
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:46,199
Speaker 1: his chest. Bernard and the two other officers immediately opened

143
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,600
Speaker 1: fire on the cabin, but as shards of wood went

144
00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,800
Speaker 1: flying and the smoke eventually settled, all of it was

145
00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:57,520
Speaker 1: to no avail when another volley of bullets came straight

146
00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:02,480
Speaker 1: back at them from inside it. Realizing the cabin had

147
00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:07,319
Speaker 1: been expertly made with this exact scenario in mind, complete

148
00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,040
Speaker 1: with shooting holes dotted all around it, the Mountees were

149
00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:16,560
Speaker 1: forced to retreat. Having returned to a clavic constable, King

150
00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:19,120
Speaker 1: was treated for his wounds while the head of the

151
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 1: Mounted Police for the region, Inspector Alexander Eames, pondered over

152
00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:29,000
Speaker 1: the best course of action. In the end, he decided

153
00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,959
Speaker 1: to go himself to the cabin, accompanied by four officers,

154
00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:39,000
Speaker 1: three trappers, and twenty pounds of dynamite. On January the ninth,

155
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,480
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two. As Eames and its men approached the cabin,

156
00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:49,520
Speaker 1: its door was kicked open, suddenly, revealing Albert Johnson standing

157
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,800
Speaker 1: in the doorway with two revolvers in his hands, and

158
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:59,520
Speaker 1: then he opened fire. For the next few hours, Johnson

159
00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 1: single handedly fought off the eight men until some time

160
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,880
Speaker 1: after three am, when Eames instructed two of them to

161
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,840
Speaker 1: blow his cabin to smithereens. A few minutes later, Eames

162
00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,760
Speaker 1: watched from the darkness as a huge explosion ripped off

163
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:22,560
Speaker 1: the cabin roof, believing the man, if he'd survived at all,

164
00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:27,120
Speaker 1: would be seriously wounded. Eames and the others then advanced

165
00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,280
Speaker 1: on the cabin, only to be pegged back once more

166
00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:34,320
Speaker 1: by gunfire. By the time they were able to get

167
00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:46,560
Speaker 1: close to the cabin again, Johnson had disappeared. It was

168
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,160
Speaker 1: sometime in January when a trapper named Clark Croft working

169
00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:55,720
Speaker 1: an area by the Thelon River, discovered two bodies frozen

170
00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,559
Speaker 1: in the snow. The bodies were later identified as trappers

171
00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:05,000
Speaker 1: Emile Bode and Yan Olsen, the two men whom Albert

172
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:09,160
Speaker 1: Johnson had been looking for back in July nineteen thirty

173
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:14,440
Speaker 1: on account of having some unfinished business with them. By

174
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,839
Speaker 1: this time, Johnson had vanished again, but now he was

175
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,640
Speaker 1: a fugitive from the law, wanted for the attempted murder

176
00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,439
Speaker 1: of a Mountie. After weeks spent searching for him, a

177
00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,160
Speaker 1: four man team, which included Corporal Edgar Millan, who'd ordered

178
00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,840
Speaker 1: Johnson a few years before to buy a trapping license,

179
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,400
Speaker 1: eventually tracked him down to the banks of a creek

180
00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,520
Speaker 1: close to the Northwest Territories and Yukon border. When they

181
00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,720
Speaker 1: heard a man coughing from just inside the tree line

182
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:51,520
Speaker 1: next to the creek, Millan and his team shot blindly

183
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:56,160
Speaker 1: into the trees for twenty minutes solid, until finally a

184
00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,960
Speaker 1: pained cry was followed by the sound of something heavy

185
00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:05,040
Speaker 1: crashing down into the bush. After waiting the best part

186
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,000
Speaker 1: of an hour to make sure the man was fully incapacitated,

187
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,760
Speaker 1: Corporal Millan decided finally to head into the trees and

188
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,480
Speaker 1: to pull him out. He had not made it five

189
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,320
Speaker 1: meters when a gun shot suddenly rang out from the

190
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:24,640
Speaker 1: trees in front of him. Then Millan spun around and

191
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: fell onto the snow as the others watched on in horror.

192
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,520
Speaker 1: While two of the men returned fire. A third managed

193
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,920
Speaker 1: to pull Millan to safety, only to find that he

194
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:41,960
Speaker 1: was already dead. When the team then tried to find Johnson,

195
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:48,120
Speaker 1: he was long gone. One night in early February, in

196
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,800
Speaker 1: a cabin by a creek just twelve miles east of Yukon,

197
00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,000
Speaker 1: George Case, who'd crossed paths a few times with the

198
00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,560
Speaker 1: enigmatic Johnson, was just preparing a pot of tea when

199
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,800
Speaker 1: there was a knock at the door. Kase opened it,

200
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,880
Speaker 1: startled to find his old companion, Albert Johnson, standing in

201
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,080
Speaker 1: the freezing cold outside, looking a little more tired and

202
00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,120
Speaker 1: thinner than he'd remembered. Having heard all the reports about

203
00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,480
Speaker 1: him on the news, Kase thought it perhaps best to

204
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:33,320
Speaker 1: invite the man in, as George Case later recalled, according

205
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,280
Speaker 1: to one colorful account of the story written by Thomas Kelly,

206
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:41,320
Speaker 1: the night Johnson turned up at his door, the pair

207
00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,400
Speaker 1: of them shared some food, after which Kase played some

208
00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:51,080
Speaker 1: harmonica as Johnson sang a haunting, melancholic song with what

209
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,360
Speaker 1: Kase described as one of the finest baritone voices he'd

210
00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,240
Speaker 1: ever heard, and later he asked the impenetrable Johnson if

211
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,680
Speaker 1: all the rumors about him were true. Did he really

212
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,840
Speaker 1: kill men for their gold teeth, to which Johnson replied,

213
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,720
Speaker 1: with a little sparkle in those icy green eyes of his,

214
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,720
Speaker 1: that Case would have to work that one out for himself.

215
00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:22,880
Speaker 1: Then coughing heavily into a bandanna, perhaps aware that his

216
00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,000
Speaker 1: time on earth was steadily drawing to a close, the

217
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:32,600
Speaker 1: man became unusually talkative. By way of explanation for all

218
00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,480
Speaker 1: that had happened. He told Case that when he was

219
00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:40,000
Speaker 1: twenty and his mother only thirty eight, she had been killed.

220
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,000
Speaker 1: Johnson described her as a wealthy and beautiful woman whom

221
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,800
Speaker 1: he'd loved dearly. Without going into too much detail, he

222
00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,280
Speaker 1: said he'd exacted revenge on the person who'd killed her.

223
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,800
Speaker 1: After that with his mother gone, life had seemed completely pointless,

224
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,960
Speaker 1: and that he'd grown to disdain virtually anyone who was alive,

225
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,800
Speaker 1: since it wasn't fair to him that anyone else should

226
00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:09,720
Speaker 1: be allowed to live when she had had to die.

227
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:16,480
Speaker 1: Then Johnson finished his tea and went to bed. The

228
00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,040
Speaker 1: next morning, he asked Case if he needed any money,

229
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:24,320
Speaker 1: but Case claimed to have declined the offer. As Johnson

230
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,000
Speaker 1: left his cabin, he felt compelled to ask if the

231
00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,639
Speaker 1: man would be okay alone out there, to which he

232
00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,480
Speaker 1: replied that he was never alone, since he always had

233
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,800
Speaker 1: the spirit of his mother with him wherever he went.

234
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:50,719
Speaker 1: On February sixteenth, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police search party,

235
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 1: aided by a search plane, managed to track Johnson down

236
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,560
Speaker 1: near the banks of the Eagle River, about twelve miles

237
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,000
Speaker 1: to the west of the Northwest Territories and Yukon border.

238
00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:08,240
Speaker 1: A heavy gunfight ensued, during which Johnson seriously injured another

239
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,760
Speaker 1: two officers, but was eventually pushed back and cornered behind

240
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,639
Speaker 1: a boulder on the banks of the frozen river. With

241
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:21,280
Speaker 1: officers approaching on all sides and the search planes swooping

242
00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:26,600
Speaker 1: round overhead, the so called Albert Johnson had nowhere to go.

243
00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:33,240
Speaker 1: He died moments later in a hail of bullets. When

244
00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:37,000
Speaker 1: police were finally able to examine his body, they found

245
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,360
Speaker 1: he was carrying almost two thousand, five hundred dollars in cash,

246
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:46,480
Speaker 1: a compass, some hunting equipment, a dead squirrel and a

247
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,520
Speaker 1: dead bird, as well as a jar of pearls and

248
00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:56,840
Speaker 1: a jar of gold teeth. No identification was found or

249
00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:01,320
Speaker 1: papers of any kind, meaning his true entity has never

250
00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:06,160
Speaker 1: been established, with many suggesting that Albert Johnson had been

251
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,719
Speaker 1: a name that he made up for himself. Tests conducted

252
00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,439
Speaker 1: on the gold teeth revealed that they were most likely

253
00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:23,840
Speaker 1: to have been his own. If you enjoy Unexplained and

254
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:26,280
Speaker 1: would like to help supporters, you can now do so

255
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,280
Speaker 1: via Patreon. To receive access to add three episodes. Just

256
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,840
Speaker 1: go to patron dot com Forward Slash Unexplained Pod to

257
00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,440
Speaker 1: sign up. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories

258
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:40,840
Speaker 1: that have never before been covered on the show, is

259
00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,760
Speaker 1: now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon,

260
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,240
Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements

261
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,480
Speaker 1: of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me

262
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,159
Speaker 1: Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever

263
00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,760
Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in

264
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,960
Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts ideas regarding the stories you've heard

265
00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,639
Speaker 1: on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your

266
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,160
Speaker 1: own you'd like to share. You can reach us online

267
00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:12,160
Speaker 1: at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod

268
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,359
Speaker 1: and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast