Episode description
In 1976 in the tiny town of Chowchilla, three men kidnapped 26 kids (aged 5-14) and their busdriver. They piled them into blacked-out vans, drove for 12 hours to the middle of nowhere, then forced them to climb down a ladder into a hole in the ground before locking them inside. As the older kids tried to comfort the younger ones, they suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of dirt being poured on top of them. They were being buried alive. BUT! As Rosie always says, arrogant male criminals are idiots, so things don't exactly go to plan for the kidnappers...
Story starts at approx 23:07
We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:
CBS 48 Hours documentary episode: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-survivor-i-felt-like-i-was-an-animal-going-to-the-slaughterhouse/
A collection of the nutso photos Rosie mentioned: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-frederick-woods-rare-photos-from-one-of-the-largest-kidnappings-in-u-s-history/
Trusty old Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Chowchilla_kidnapping
My Favourite Murder podcast ep about it: https://podcasts.apple.com/gh/podcast/233-free-range-children/id1074507850?i=1000486606773
News article about Frederick Woods' 2019 parole hearing: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7550463/Chowchilla-kidnapper-67-parole-40-years-abducted-26-kids-buried-alive.html
RECCOS!
Class Action Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqg48h_uKYM
(Watch in Australia on BINGE)
My Octopus Teacher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s0LTDhqe5A
(Watch in Australia on Netflix)
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