Not Today

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a series of hearings and prosecutions in colonial Massachusetts, where 20 people were executed and over 200 accused of practicing witchcraft. The accusations made by a group of young girls, fueled by religious fervor, social tensions, and political instability, led to a widespread panic. The events left a lasting impact on American history, serving as a cautionary tale about the consequences of fear-based justice.Check out our new Halloween merch design here! ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

In October of 2009 Jordan Nicurity survived a terrifying fall off a cliff that left him with a shattered pelvis while on a solo trip to Hornby Island in British Colombia. Jordan spent 4 days in the wilderness and had to claw his way back to safety, and save his own life.Check Out Magic Mind! You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code NOTTODAY20 at checkout You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/nottoday20

Some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived. They often show behaviors, such as phobias or preferences, that are unusual within the context of their particular family and can't be explained by any current life events, and in many cases, the child’s statements correspond accurately to the life and death of a deceased individual.This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self.

In 2011, Michelina Lewandowska was attacked by her ex-fiancé, Marcin Kasprzak, who bound her with tape and buried her alive in a cardboard box. Left for dead in a shallow grave, she managed to escape and survive against all odds. This episode recounts the key moments of her remarkable fight for survival and the justice that was ultimately served.Merch Shop Link ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

The whale ship Essex, set sail from Nantucket in 1819 on a whaling expedition. In 1820, the ship was struck by a large sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean, causing it to sink. The crew, stranded thousands of miles from land, were left to drift in small whaleboats with limited supplies. After weeks at sea, the survivors faced starvation, dehydration, and extreme hardship. Some resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. The factual timeline of the Essex voyage, the whale attack, and the grim aftermath connects directly to the creation of the novel Moby Dick. Check out our new merch shop! ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

We're going to be discussing a wide range of events that are seemingly impossible to survive, and yet there were survivors. From a terrifying parachuting accident, to a parasite living in a young girls brain for 10 years, to meteorite crashing into a home, and more!

After Marc Schiller's narrow escape from the Sun Gym Gang, their criminal ambitions only grew darker. In Part 2 we'll dive into the gang's escalation after Schiller fled Miami, as Daniel Lugo, Adrian Doorbal, and their accomplices set their sights on new targets. Their next victim, Frank Griga and his girlfriend Krisztina Furton, would not be as fortunate. The gang’s violent schemes intensified, leading to murder, dismemberment, and ultimately their capture.Merch Shop Link ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

The Sun Gym Gang, a notorious group of Miami bodybuilders, made headlines in the 1990s for a string of violent crimes that shocked the nation. Led by Daniel Lugo and Adrian Doorbal, the gang’s ambitions went far beyond their obsession with fitness, spiraling into a terrifying series of kidnappings, torture, extortion, and murder. Merch Shop Link ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

On New Years Eve 1989, 11-year-old Collier Landry was awoken out of his sleep by the sound of a scream and two loud thuds. The next morning he discovered that his mother had disappeared, and his father claimed that she had gone on "a little vacation." Collier knew his father had murdered his mother, but he needed the police to believe him. At the age of 12 Collier became the star witness in the his mother's murder case, and with his testimony was able to put his father away for life. Check out our new merch shop! --> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

Around the 1920s young women and girls were elated to land a high paying job at US Radium Company. Their task would be to paint radium based paint on watch faces to make them glow in the dark. However through this, the girls were unknowingly exposing themselves to lethal amounts of radiation. As their health deteriorated, they faced a relentless battle against a powerful company that refused to take responsibility.Check out our new merch shop! ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

In this episode we'll be reading an epic tale submitted by our listeners who almost lost their lives while cave diving in Florida! Check out our merch shop!! ---> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

In November of 1991, 44 year old David Whittlesey took on a solo rafting trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. After his raft capsized, David was left alone, hundreds of miles away from civilization without any supplies and was forced to survive for 7 days. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self! Check out our new merch shop!! --> https://www.teepublic.com/stores/not-today?ref_id=35928

Lead guitarist for The Beatles, George Harrison, was almost the second band mate to have been assassinated, because like John Lennon, George Harrison also experienced a crazed fan who almost took his life. On December 30th 1999, George Harrison and his wife Olivia were woken up to the crashing sound of glass breaking. George would soon find out that a man had broken into his home and would proceed to stab him 40 times before police and paramedics arrived. Check out Magic Mind! You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code NOTTODAY at checkout. You can claim it at: https://magicmind.com/nottoday

Ivan Milat, infamously known as the Backpacker Murderer, lured, tortured, and brutally murdered seven backpackers between 1989 and 1993 in the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales, Australia. Three years after his encounter with Ivan Milat, backpacker Paul Onions, provided the crucial information that took down Australia's most notorious serial killer.

The Robertson family began their journey around the world in January of 1971. However after 18 months at sea, the 43-foot schooner was attacked by three killer whales and went down within minutes. The family then had to survive in a damaged life raft and dinghy in the middle of the pacific ocean for almost two months before finally being rescued.

On January 15, 1919, a storage tank collapsed releasing two million gallons of molasses on the North End of Boston. The thick liquid poured out like a tsunami wave, reaching speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, destroying everything in its path. The molasses flooded streets, crushed buildings, derailed trains and ultimately killed 21 people and injured 150 more.

In 2019, 39-year-old Rob Parkes answered the door for police who played him a recording of two voices bargaining over the price of his death. One of the voices on the tape was his ex-wife Victoria Breeden. Parkes didnt know it at the time but Victoria had approached 6 different men about the hit on Rob falsely claiming rob was a violent, abusive, drug dealing, gang leading, pedophile who needed to be killed.

In 1941 31-year-old John Capes was the only passenger on board the HMS Perseus to survive after the submarine struck a mine and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Throughout the course of the World War II, the British navy lost 79 submarines – and from those there were only 4 escapes. One of which was that of John Capes. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give onlinetherapy a try at betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self!

While on a trip retrieving animal traps in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Ken Hildebrand was crushed under his quad on a remote hillside in hungry coyote territory.

Dr. Christopher Duntsch began working at Baylor Plano hospital in Dallas Texas in 2011, however over the next few years he would be bounced from hospital to hospital after he was responsible for maiming and killing the majority of his patients. Despite doctors, patients, families, and lawyers making complaints about him to the Texas State Medical Board, nothing was done and for years and he was allowed to continue ruining people's lives.

Lets talk about some terrifying underwater survival stories about sharks, orca whales, and giant squid!

In 1997, 39 members of a religious sect were found dead by suicide inside a San Diego mansion. Leaders Marshall “Herf” Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles promised that an extraterrestrial spacecraft would take them all to the heaven, or as they called it, “The Next Level”.

While climbing the Piz Badile Mountain in the Swiss Alps in 2003, Jeremy Colenso and Rachel Kelsey were caught in a terrifying electrical storm. They did their best to climb down however after hours, the climb became too dangerous and the couple was stranded on a ledge 3,000 meters up.

Japan AirLines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight causing the pilots to lose all control. The crash of Flight 123 is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.

From 1971 to 1983, serial killer Robert Hansen murdered at least 17 women in Anchorage, AK. Hansen kidnapped and assaulted women before flying them to remote areas in the Alaskan wilderness in his private plane where he hunted them down with a rifle. Hansen’s terrifying murder spree would have continued, had it not been for Cindy Paulson. To read The Institution by Helen Fields head to: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-institution-helen-fields?variant=41088092733474

In this episode we'll be discussing some of the worst theme park accidents of all time.

Three minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928 the St. Francis Dam collapsed, sending over 12 billion gallons of water and debris rushing down the Santa Clara River Valley from San Francisquito Canyon to the Pacific Ocean, 54 miles away. In five and a half hours more than 400 peoples lives were claimed as they were swept away in the dark and murky waters. It is considered to have been one of the worst American civil engineering disasters of the 20th century and the third-greatest loss of life in California history.

A car accident left retired couple, Tom and Linda Bosworth, stranded in the New Mexico wilderness. To survive they faced a grueling hike through heat and hostile environment back to safety before they died of dehydration. This episode is sponsored by by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self.

From 1346 to 1352, the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death claimed one-third of the European human population, with mortality rates as high as 70% to 80%. Let's talk about the people who lived through that horrific time!

In this episode we'll be discussing a man who made the wrong decision near a lion, a close call with a golf course alligator, and a woman who was ambushed by a cougar while mountain biking!

17-year-old Josh Long and his best friend, 15-year-old Troy Driscoll, decided they wanted to go shark fishing one Sunday afternoon in 2005. The two planned to spend a few hours in the ocean off the coast of South Carolina in a small row boat, however things got bad very quickly when their small boat got caught in a very strong rip tide that pulled them out to sea in a matter of minutes. The teenage boys would have to spend the next 6 days stranded in the middle of the ocean, with no food, water, or a way out.

Dave Kroupa was casually dating Liz Golyar and Cari Farver in 2012 near Omaha, Nebraska Despite maintaining to both women that he wasn't looking for a serious relationship, their story ended up turning into a twisted tale of stalking, arson and murder.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self.

On November 15th 2004, police discovered the deceased, Peter Porco, lying in a pool of blood at the base of his stairs and his wife, Joan Porco, in their bedroom clinging to life after they were viciously attacked with an ax. When police asked Joan if she knew who did this to her, she shook her head yes, and when they asked her if her son Christopher Porco had done this, she nodded yes again. However when Joan woke up in the hospital weeks later she had no memory of the attack and swore that her son was innocent.

36-year-old Ted Porter decided to do a solo hike in Glacier National Park in 2013. After hitting poor conditions on the glacier he made the responsible decision to cut his journey short, but on his way down he cut some corners. What he thought would be an easy walk back turned into Ted sliding straight into a massive crack in the earth and falling forty feet down. Despite his excruciating injuries, Ted needed to get out of there or he would die alone in a crevasse.

In 1998, Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, starred in a reality competition series "Denpa Shonen: A Life of Prizes." He was cut off from outside world, stripped naked, and told he had to survive only off of only prizes he won from magazine sweepstakes. He would be able to leave the room once he won one million yen in prizes, which took him 335 days to complete.

In September of 1995, 13-year-old Jessyca Mullenburg was kidnapped by her father's neighbor, 38-year-old Steven Oliver. Oliver gained her father's trust by pretending to have a contact at a large publishing company and by helping Jessyca with her writing to get her published. But in reality, Steven Oliver had become obsessed with Jessyca and had a very sinister and thought out plan to take her away. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/nottoday and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode we'll be discussing some unbelievable freak accidents, including a man with a drill through his head, a girl who hung upside down from a power line, a paraglider who was never strapped in and more!

On September 8th 2010, after not showing up for her morning meeting at work, Marti Hill was found in a pool of blood on her basement floor by law enforcement. As Marti lay unconscious in the hospital, investigators tried to piece together what could've happened to a woman whom everyone loved.

In September of 1995, 18-year-old Bram Schafer was on a hunting trip with his friends and family. But when he decided to take off from the group, Bram found himself caught between a mama grizzly bear and her cub. After Bram's encounter with the bear, a massive storm rolled in on the mountain and he was left on his own to fend for himself.

In May of 2005 Will Slattery went on a dream vacation with his friends, Jimmy Simplicio and Many Sanchez, to parachute in Costa Rica. On their last parachuting trip, their plane was taken down by unexpected weather and turbulence. The three men had to jump out of the plane to save their lives, however they were all about to be split up and Will would find himself alone in the middle of the ocean. Go to TryMiracle.com/nottoday and use code NOTTODAY to try Miracle Made sheets, claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET, and get over 40% OFF!

When multiple women began being killed execution style in Laredo Texas, the community was terrified and police were at a loss. It wasn't until one woman escaped the killers grasp that justice was served.

This week we're diving into terrifying stories from the Let's Not Meet subreddit!

May 19th 1992 started out as a normal day for stay-at-home mother, Mary Jo Buttafuoco. But when her doorbell rang around 11:30 that morning, her whole life changed in a matter of seconds.

After Jung Myung-Seok was arrested for the first time he wanted revenge on those who got him caught. In part two we're going to talk about how JMS stayed in control and all the damage he caused along the way.

Jung Myung-Seok started the Jesus Morning Star church in the 1970s in South Korea. The movement was able to gain popularity very quickly, especially among university students in Seoul and has even expanded to other countries. However, the church has been called a “sex cult” in the media due to the numerous allegations of sexual assaults made towards their leader and founder.

On March 31st, 2008 Katie Piper had sulfuric acid thrown on her face, and in an instant her entire life changed.

We're going to be talking about a couple of survivors of near decapitation, a doctor who had to perform surgery on himself, a close encounter with a hippo and more! Check out our merch shop: https://nottodaypodcast.myshopify.com/For 15% off Uncommon Goods:https://www.uncommongoods.com/nottoday

April 20th 2022, started out as any other day for forensic scientist, Nicole Lenway Ford. But as Nicki was headed inside the familywise parenting center to pick up her son, a person dressed in all black ran up from behind her and shot her multiple times. As Nicki clung onto life in the hospital, police raced to figure out who wanted Nicki dead. CHECK OUT OUR MERCH!!! https://nottodaypodcast.myshopify.com/ For 15% off on Uncommon Goods: https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/nottoday

Serial killer Rodney Alcala was a photographer who lured women by offering to take their picture. His killing spree lasted from 1968 until 1979. During that time he was also a contestant on the daytime television show The Dating Game. For 15% off on Uncommon Goods, head to: https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/nottoday

On August 28th 2016, eyelash extension technician Olga Svik was begged by one of her clients, Viktoria Nasyrova, for an emergency appointment. As a thank you for seeing her last minute, Viktoria brought Olga a piece of cheesecake, however after eating it, Olga immediately felt ill and fell unconscious. Olga was rushed to the hospital, but when she came home she discovered that certain items had been stolen from her apartment. Olga would soon learn that she wasn't the only person to have an unpleasant encounter with Viktoria Nasyrova. For 15% off on Uncommon Goods, head to: https://www.uncommongoods.com/podcast/nottoday