Episode 46
The Five Men Who Walked Into the Dark
The documented facts
- On February 24, 1978, five men from Yuba County, California, Gary Mathias (25), Jack Madruga (30), Bill Sterling (29), Jack Huett (24), and Ted Weiher (32), vanished after attending a college basketball game at Chico State and stopping at a convenience store.
- On February 28, Madruga's turquoise-and-white 1969 Mercury Montego was found abandoned on a dirt road near Rogers Cow Camp in the Plumas National Forest, about 4,500 feet up and far off their route home. It was in good working order with a quarter tank of gas, unlocked, the keys missing, and maps in the glove compartment.
- A local man who spent that same night in his own car a short distance away saw and heard people around his car, called out for help twice, and they went silent and turned off their flashlights. Investigators suspected foul play.
- In June 1978, Ted Weiher was found dead inside a USFS trailer about 19 miles from the car, apparently starved despite ample food and heating supplies, his shoes missing. Mathias's own shoes were found in the trailer. The others were found as remains in the woods. Gary Mathias was never found.
The Draugr does not invent. He documents.
Episode 46 case file
The facts
- On February 24, 1978, five men from Yuba County, California, Gary Mathias (25), Jack Madruga (30), Bill Sterling (29), Jack Huett (24), and Ted Weiher (32), vanished after attending a college basketball game at Chico State and stopping at a convenience store.
- On February 28, Madruga's turquoise-and-white 1969 Mercury Montego was found abandoned on a dirt road near Rogers Cow Camp in the Plumas National Forest, about 4,500 feet up and far off their route home. It was in good working order with a quarter tank of gas, unlocked, the keys missing, and maps in the glove compartment.
- A local man who spent that same night in his own car a short distance away saw and heard people around his car, called out for help twice, and they went silent and turned off their flashlights. Investigators suspected foul play.
- In June 1978, Ted Weiher was found dead inside a USFS trailer about 19 miles from the car, apparently starved despite ample food and heating supplies, his shoes missing. Mathias's own shoes were found in the trailer. The others were found as remains in the woods. Gary Mathias was never found.
The evidence
- On February 28, Madruga's turquoise-and-white 1969 Mercury Montego was found abandoned on a dirt road near Rogers Cow Camp in the Plumas National Forest, about 4,500 feet up and far off their route home. It was in good working order with a quarter tank of gas, unlocked, the keys missing, and maps in the glove compartment.
- A local man who spent that same night in his own car a short distance away saw and heard people around his car, called out for help twice, and they went silent and turned off their flashlights. Investigators suspected foul play.
- In June 1978, Ted Weiher was found dead inside a USFS trailer about 19 miles from the car, apparently starved despite ample food and heating supplies, his shoes missing. Mathias's own shoes were found in the trailer. The others were found as remains in the woods. Gary Mathias was never found.
Sources
- Sources are being gathered for this file. The facts above are documented.
The words, as I spoke them.
Transcript
Five men drove up my mountain in February nineteen seventy eight. None ever drove back down.
A basketball game in Chico, California. Snacks at a corner store. Then they turned off the road home, nineteen miles the wrong way, into my pines.
Days later, rangers found the Mercury in my snow. The engine ran. The keys were gone. Five men do not leave a working car... unless I ask them to.
A local man spent that night in his car nearby. He heard figures move in the dark. He called out twice. They went silent. And put out their lights.
Nineteen miles north, Ted was found in a trailer full of food he never touched. His shoes gone. And by the door... Gary's shoes. Gary was never found.
His shoes by the door. His body nowhere. Forty eight years, and Gary never came home. Stitch this if you would drive that mountain road tonight. Follow for a new true nightmare every day. Sleep with the lights on, if you can.
Dramatized for the telling. The facts above are documented; the narration is the Draugr’s retelling of them.
Wear the nightmare
The Dreaded wear the mark.
Enter the shop
