0:02

[Music]

0:10

thank you

0:18

[Music]

0:35

foreign

0:44

s of people have mysteriously vanished in America's Wilderness join us as we

0:50

dive into the deep end of the unexplainable and try to piece together what happened you are listening to

0:57

locations unknown [Music]

1:06

foreign [Music]

1:30

what's up everybody and welcome back to another episode of locations unknown I'm

1:35

your co-host Joe erato and with me as always is a man who taught me how to love a woman and how to scold a child

1:41

Mike Vander Bogard oh Builder I knew you would get that one that one right away

1:47

uh well thank Joe and thank you once again to all of our loyal listeners for tuning in uh just a couple of

1:54

announcements before we get going on this very interesting episode we have planned so first I'd just like to give a

2:01

shout out to our new patreon supporters so we have Brett Ashley uh tyranny honeyborne Catherine Youngs

2:08

and Sydney Wasserman so Tierney honeyborne pretty cool name that is a cool name so thank you so much for

2:15

supporting the show thank all of you guys I don't think we can quite announce it just yet but we've got some big news

2:21

about the podcast probably yeah let's wait yeah I think we could announce it but let's wait let's make them it's it's

2:27

uh one of the bigger things that's happened yeah and it'll be happening relatively quickly here a couple months

2:34

yep so we're very excited and we will share that with you guys soon maybe

2:39

we'll share with the patreon supporters first oh 100 we'll tell them right away yeah I'll be doing a patreon episode

2:44

tonight no well let's let's do a quick recording we can talk about it okay cool so yes we are we are so if you want to

2:50

know the news early sign up for patreon patreon um you can also uh call and leave a

2:56

voicemail if you love us hate us uh we're out at the bar had a few too many drinks and want to try and get on

3:03

the next episode just call 208-391-6913 and just remember anything

3:08

that you leave in the voicemail we may use on the air so just yep be you know

3:13

be mindful of what you're saying the last one was fun yeah I still got to pull some clips and just give it a

3:18

little taste to people yeah uh and if you are you want to support the show you can join uh our patreon page you can

3:27

also join YouTube memberships we have premium subscriptions on Apple uh they all more or less give the same thing

3:33

it's um additional patreon only episodes free swag you know we released these

3:40

episodes first on patreon so um check that out you can also support

3:45

us by buying stuff from our various stores on Facebook or the website and what else am I forgetting anything I

3:52

think our hat should be coming soon okay good supply chain yeah supply chain like they couldn't produce it and the only

3:58

ones available were kind of crappy quality so I didn't want to yeah order more of the bad ones so that that's all

4:05

I have Joe that's always for me all right everybody let's gear up and get out to explore locations unknown

4:13

[Music]

4:24

foreign for thousands of years a mountain in

4:31

Zimbabwe has struck fear in the hearts of the local inhabitants visitors to the mountain have reported

4:37

sudden bouts of confusion or disorientation strange lights that would follow them and magnetic interference

4:43

that causes compasses and electronics to malfunction join us this week as we travel to Africa

4:50

to investigate the stories of Mount niangani

4:57

foreign

5:05

[Music]

5:20

[Music]

5:25

so we are in Africa which I love Africa I'll talk a little bit about it but we're going to mount niangani and we

5:33

looked that up and practiced it and I got it wrong several times after practicing it uh full disclosure the

5:39

only word we practiced yeah and that is in the nianga national park

5:45

and it is in Zimbabwe it's 182 square miles so that's slightly smaller than Zion National Park uh for reference down

5:52

the smaller end of U.S national parks of the big ones you you would think of uh

5:58

so as we said it's in Zimbabwe in Africa it was established in 1926 so we're

6:03

gonna do some uh just some habitation history of the area so Stone Age artifacts those are stone age that

6:09

started around 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 3300 BC and you know

6:15

what's crazy with all the stuff that's coming out where they're like re-aging stuff yeah you know what I learned they

6:21

can't car they can't date rock at all so we actually have no idea how old rock is

6:26

yeah don't they uh typically look for organic matter that's surrounding the Rocks exactly date that yeah but yeah

6:33

the whole idea is if someone dug up a bunch of rock and brought it somewhere else like we just don't know yeah I I

6:40

did read that yeah the only way to really carbon date artifacts they find is by you know looking at the

6:45

surrounding material yeah so interesting though it is interesting but it's making me question everything about archeology

6:51

because you know yeah I was not questioning anything about archeology and now my mind is blown I just I love

6:57

when new discoveries are made and you know things change you know it's it's great that we're constantly improving

7:04

what we think we know yeah I love it all right so those Stone Age artifacts and the forms of tools and small scenes of

7:10

rock art and summon gravings are scattered throughout the entire Eastern Highlands including nianga but the most

7:17

profound and complex rock art is found at Diana's vow and painted by

7:22

hunter-gatherers in the late Stone Age uh in the Iron Age that's 1200 BC to 550

7:28

BC ruins attributed to the middle easterners from East Africa around the

7:33

11th or 12th century BC can be found throughout the park additionally rough Terraces from 200 to 800 A.D complex

7:42

enclosures from 1600 A.D and Terrace complexes from 1500 to 1780 can also be

7:48

found in the park so a very rich history of human habitation in this area of Africa going back thousands of years

7:55

yeah it's like the Cradle of life I think um who it was uh Neil deGrasse Tyson said it perfectly is if it really

8:01

is you'd expect the most diversity there and it really is true when you look at Africa is like they have the smartest

8:06

people some of the not smartest people the tallest people the smallest people yeah it's very very diverse and I think

8:12

people just think of them as Africans yeah but it's incredibly diverse it's such a huge con continent it's because

8:19

people have been there the longest and one of the most unexplored places on the planet the Sahara Desert where they

8:26

might have found Atlantis have you seen this I've read about it uh we'll have to

8:32

do another whole episode we need to because it's incredibly we did an episode on Atlantis yeah and it's I

8:37

remember like back then with that data I won't go on a too big of a tangent I promise you're looking at me

8:42

um where I said like oh it looked like it might have been off the Azores and that was a really popular opinion yeah this one like matches Plato's

8:49

description of a city like almost to a t yeah except for the actual relative size

8:55

which they argue again it's someone who's Pro this but said okay they got the scale wrong yeah but literally

9:01

everything else is right well the fascinating thing I took from that is that I had no idea that Sahara which is

9:07

massive is so unexplored yeah um and they they basically said it's because of the infrastructure in place

9:12

it's just it it's not able to support large if you're watching stream get here like you need Lanes you need like

9:21

supplies for days basically convoys kind of like a military Convoy with food and fuel and yeah and that doesn't sound

9:27

hard except when you look at the countries that you're in yeah and the corruption and the things there's just not the infrastructure is not in place

9:34

to support a massive archaeological yes you know Expedition yep but I'm hoping

9:40

in the you know in the future that maybe some billionaire will take this up as his cause in life and explore the Sahara

9:46

because yes I think there's a lot of history there it used to be a rainforest yeah so there's probably tons of ruins

9:52

there so cool anyway okay that I'm already excited we're gonna do it we gotta do the show next with all the

9:59

information that's coming out so uh interesting facts about Zimbabwe Zimbabwe's former president Robert

10:05

Gabriel Mugabe is one of the oldest and also the longest serving leaders of the

10:11

non-royal country in the world he has served as the leader of Zimbabwe for the past 36 years he served as Prime

10:17

Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then assumed office as the president of Zimbabwe on the 22nd of December 1987

10:25

and resigned from the office on November 21st 2017. he was born on February 21st

10:33

1924. so yeah he had to run a long run yeah he

10:39

he wasn't dethroned like a lot of the leaders in Africa uh Zimbabwe abandoned

10:45

its currency and is currently using others this happened after a massive inflation that hit the country in 2008.

10:51

the country abandoned its currency and has been using the US dollar the South African Rand and the Botswana Pula since

10:59

April 12 2009 allowing currencies such as the US Dollar South African Rand and

11:04

Botswana Pula for use locally in Zimbabwe has helped reduce the inflation below 10 per year and um I was telling

11:10

Mike before the show I have a trillion Zimbabwe dollars yeah you can buy them

11:16

on eBay for like 15 bucks I got like a pack of 10. so I have like 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars that's how bad their

11:22

inflation got yeah uh the name of the country uh was derived from fortified trading uh from

11:28

the Fortified trading Hub Great Zimbabwe which was built in medieval times and was used by people of the Shona tribe

11:36

the people of this tribe constitute about 70 percent of the country's current population

11:42

now in terms of the land areas Zimbabwe is three times the size of England we

11:47

have all heard about mermaids and most of us believe that they are a myth and just characters in children's animations

11:53

and stories but in Zimbabwe there is a strong belief that mermaids exist in fact these mythical mythical creatures

12:00

are often blamed for Unfortunate Events such as kidnapping torture and murder not the kind of mermaids I remember yeah

12:07

not a Little Mermaid yeah yeah but very interesting I did not yeah it's not the

12:12

mermaid just wondering what it's like to run on the land yeah apparently they're kidnapping torturing and murdering people I wonder how they do that

12:19

I like how they come out of the sea maybe they have to give up their voice who knows uh one of the largest

12:25

waterfalls in the world Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River it is

12:30

wider than a kilometer and has a height of more than 100 meters the noise of Victoria Falls can be heard from a

12:37

distance of 40 kilometers that's crazy yeah I've seen videos of it yeah it

12:42

looks it's so cool yeah uh 76 76 percent of the country's rural households live

12:48

on less than 1.25 per day that's wild yeah I remember seeing a lot of that

12:53

when I was up in uh Tanzania yeah that's not too far where's well not too far

13:00

Africa distance but that could be like Texas to Wisconsin who knows I'd have to

13:07

do a comparison yeah uh customs and beliefs so Zimbabwean culture is full of traditions and

13:13

Customs that are extremely detailed just like most European colonies Zimbabwe people are Christian apart from

13:20

Christianity is the most practiced religion which

13:25

involves worshiping ancestor as well as spiritual in intercessions The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe used to

13:33

print money to fund the currency countries budget deficit before early 2009 which led to the hyperinflation we

13:40

saw the Reserve Bank print a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note I didn't

13:45

know they made a hundred trillion yeah I'm cheap I got the Poor People's just the trillion dollars which currently

13:51

holds a record for the note with the highest number of zeros in recorded history yeah I gotta find this app it's

13:58

not a record you want yeah I'll post pictures of it I can dig it I like had it at my desk and when we moved I don't know where it went yeah

14:04

uh let's go into the climate so the weather and the climate of nianga is

14:09

compared to that of Zimbabwe in general Zimbabwe enjoys a temperate climate uh the central highveld Plateau has a

14:16

temperature up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius lower lying Parks

14:21

such as Huang and zambe Zambezi National Park are warmer year-round Mana pools

14:32

sorry buddy matu Sedona and Gunner Gunner zaho are even lower get hot and

14:39

with temperatures soaring up to 95 degrees or 35 degrees Celsius I want to I'm gonna do just this one I won't waste

14:45

too much time because there's a lot of words that I'm gonna get wrong yeah I'm gonna say gunnery

14:52

let's go with Gunner's owl going to Red Joe gonor a Joe and they're probably

14:57

wrong too yeah uh during the wet season from November

15:03

to March rains usually fall in the afternoon and I bless the rains in Africa the dry season from April to

15:09

October is colder nights and mornings can be as cold as 5 degrees Celsius or 41 degrees Fahrenheit but daytime

15:15

temperatures are still Pleasant and sunny now in November this month is very

15:20

unpredictable and it might start raining some afternoons temperatures between you know 64 degrees Fahrenheit 18 Celsius in

15:27

the morning and 90 in the afternoon and 32 degrees Celsius in uh in the afternoon uh parks in the central

15:33

highveld Plateau will be colder and parks of the lower altitude will be considerably warmer

15:39

so December January February March these are the wettest months characterized by torrential downpours in the afternoon

15:45

nights and mornings are warm around 64 degrees Fahrenheit or 18 degrees Celsius afternoons 86 Fahrenheit 30 degrees

15:52

Celsius and extremely humid uh making it feel much hotter the dry season spans

15:58

from April to October so April and May uh this is the end of the summer temperatures are relatively cool

16:04

typically around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning and 82 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon that's 10 Celsius 28

16:09

Celsius and the nighttime temperatures start to drop by May the rain is almost gone so

16:14

June July August be sure to pack warm winter clothes when you go because morning game drives in open Vehicles

16:20

will be cold and that is what you will be doing because it's awesome yeah uh the average morning temperature is 6

16:26

degrees Celsius or 43 Fahrenheit afternoons will be more pleasant like in the 70s

16:32

September and October heat gradually builds in the peaks in October uh the first rains can be in Fall by late

16:38

October bringing relief from the dry conditions and that will get in the 90s remember they're below the equator they're different yeah summer and

16:45

opposite of uh you know us in the northern yeah that'd be sort of weird to have your winter in our summer yeah

16:51

because I don't live there so the terrain it is located within the breathtakingly Scenic force of the

16:58

nianga national park in the Eastern Highlands in southern Africa it's perpetually missed covered Peak gives it

17:04

an imposing and mysterious appearance the landscape is dominated by Rolling Hills studded with huge smoothly rounded

17:11

Granite whale back outcrops which Tower over steep gorges and wide valleys the

17:16

Pung Wei and Hyundai rivers run in The Valleys below this escarpment and the

17:22

matarazzi falls and Zimbabwe's highest waterfall drops 162 meters into 760 762

17:29

meters into the Honda Valley most of its terrain consists of rolling

17:34

downland sometimes lightly wooded lying at altitudes between 1 1800 and 2500

17:40

meters which is 6 500 to 7 500 feet the mountain vegetation is largely

17:46

composed of Heath land around the summit plateau and Evergreen Force along the wetter Eastern slopes and grassland to

17:53

the wet western side so what types of dangers will we expect

17:59

now animals so these are just some of the animals present obviously there's thousands of them in Africa Buffalo and

18:05

lion that stray into the area occasionally from Mozambique lowlands I didn't know Buffalo were in Africa well

18:12

like water buffalo yeah I just I just oh okay yeah I know yeah you've seen those I keep thinking of like our Great Plains

18:18

Buffalo and I'm like I don't know what's right they could be well probably someone will

18:23

I I don't know what half of these are but kudu uh that's an animal in Africa read Buck I

18:32

think a lot of these are like like like a clip Springer you could look it up I think it's kind of like an antelope type

18:37

creature see I think I have sharing pulled up on the stream I do kudu and Reed Buck are also kind of like I just

18:44

want to see what a clip Springer is oh wow that is adorable yeah look at that thing it's like a it's like a tiny

18:51

little deer it's a deer but huh you know how tiny it is kudu has those crazy

18:58

straight antlers if you look one of those up who do they're huge that thing is adorable I want one are you sharing

19:04

the screen yeah I am okay look at all oh that guy doesn't he's something's wrong with that guy they're tiny they're tiny

19:11

they have like a alpaca face with a deer head and like

19:16

pointy antlers but they're like kind kind of tiny kudu let's look up a kudu oh I've seen

19:23

these yeah yeah I've seen those on Safari those are cool yeah they're big at Reed Buck I think is just like a oh

19:30

yeah these are huge look at this yeah wow all right let's look we're already in it looks like a read book

19:36

I I'm assuming that's like a deer yeah yeah okay like it looks like a pronghorn yeah a little bit obviously not but

19:44

that's oh that's look at the stripes on that that's so cool the layers on the horns yeah that's really neat all right

19:51

sorry everybody uh they have leopards hyenas uh blue duker I'm gonna look up

19:57

that one and samango Monkeys blue dewicker I think this is like a little rodent type thing I looked it up

20:04

oh yeah it looks like an anteater nose on a tiny rodent body

20:09

cool a lot of a lot of strange animals yeah it's very diverse yes cradle of Life uh

20:17

malaria malaria is a disease caused by a parasite mosquito spread the parasite uh

20:23

to people when they bite them malaria symptoms usually appear within seven to Thirty days but can take up to one year

20:28

to develop symptoms may include high fevers shaking chills flu-like illness without treatment malaria can cause

20:34

severe illness and death the CDC recommends that Travelers going to Zimbabwe take prescription medication to

20:40

prevent malaria depending on the medicine you take you'll need to start the medicine multiple days before your trip as well as during and after your

20:47

trip and that medication makes you feel sick I actually opted out of it when I went to Tanzania oh really because the

20:52

area we are going to um didn't have malaria mosquitoes and I

20:58

don't know how they know that yeah but I trusted them and I didn't get it so that's but apparently the the medication

21:03

can make you feel just as sick as malariah does yeah which is not great when you're saying yeah exactly and

21:09

that's it's obviously not as bad but it's like the same symptoms so I was like ah I'll take I'll take I took all

21:15

the other vaccines so I think I took like six out of ten yeah um because they have a whole gamut for Africa and then

21:22

you go to your region they're like all right you really only need these ones yeah there's no point in taking it if it's not a problem in that region yeah

21:29

so uh the CDC recommends that Travelers going to Zimbabwe take prescriptions I already read that part typhoid fever I

21:35

did take that one typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever are similar diseases caused by bacteria Salmonella typhy

21:42

bacteria cause typhoid fever Salmonella pepperia bacteria causes paratyphoid

21:47

fever people infected with these bacteria can spread them to others this typically happens when an infected

21:52

person uses a bathroom and does not wash your hands the bacteria can stay on their hands and contaminate everything

21:58

that the person touches including food and drinks and they have uh like the

22:03

Middle Eastern bathrooms yeah where it's just a hole in the floor and maybe a hose on the wall if you're lucky to wash

22:08

it down if you miss the hole so something like typhoid fever could probably be eradicated with just better

22:14

yeah just yeah infrastructure cleanliness but you know that's not their main concern a lot of their main

22:20

concern is survival yeah you know they're burning you know manure and stuff to cook their food indoors

22:26

sometimes so you know typhoid is not a huge concern no um I remember even eating the food there

22:32

I I felt more comfortable because of the vaccinations but they'll have just meat hanging in a window and flies all over

22:38

it and that's your food and yeah you're hoping they cooked it well in something like typhoid is easily avoided by

22:44

getting the vaccine yes or did that one um you know just using kind of just

22:49

hygiene practices that here in the United States are pretty common but it's hard there there's not a lot of running

22:55

water and infrastructure that's all I can tell you I was in areas that were better than a lot of the places we went

23:00

to a couple places a couple villages to meet with people just to experience it you know go and all people are awesome

23:06

all the people are awesome they're so nice they love they love spending time with us

23:11

um but yeah you can tell that it just they need a a little Revolution there of

23:17

infrastructure and yeah the sad thing is there's so many of these you know

23:22

afflictions that they suffer through are easily fixed with just its mismanagement

23:28

it's just yeah I met a couple I met a couple people there who are there on business at one of the hotels yeah

23:34

um like safari stuff Hotel chain uh local like people who own it locally yeah that have to deal with the

23:40

regulatory environment and they said it's corruption keeps them from growing yeah it's really unfortunate there is a

23:47

there was a charity I was looking at um that does for malaria something as

23:52

simple as providing mosquito Nets oh yeah to like they saved like millions of people's lives just by giving yeah and

23:59

there's this charity I was looking into um I was trying to find some Charities to donate to that are around hiking and

24:06

things you know nature and put them on the website to promote them and one of them was this charity that just buys

24:12

mosquito Nets and gives them to the real rural areas in Africa and it's a

24:17

mosquito net costs like a couple dollars and at their bulk it probably isn't even that much and it can it prevents so many

24:24

Malaria deaths by just putting up mosquito Nets at night yeah it's crazy yeah yeah because during the day they

24:29

don't have the issue yeah it's usually it seems like it's a nighttime like while you're sleeping thing so we went to the rainforest one day where the risk

24:37

was a little higher yeah and the guide literally said we're going during the day you're fine yeah you say if you're at night the risk is high interesting so

24:45

um yellow fever is a serious disease caused by the yellow fever virus most people infected with yellow fever virus

24:51

do not get sick or and have only mild symptoms people who do get sick will start having symptoms fever chills

24:56

headache backache muscle aches three to six days after they're infected about 12 percent of people who have

25:02

symptoms go on to develop serious illness jaundice bleeding shock organ failure and sometimes death

25:08

get the yellow fever vaccine take steps to prevent mosquito bites so I did get that one too yeah that was a big one

25:13

other health concerns include Dengue fever hemorrhatic fever these are just a

25:19

couple more serious illnesses that you can possibly catch so the U.S Department of State lists Zimbabwe is a level two

25:26

of four x exercise increased caution due to Crime so they just have an uh an

25:32

issue with opportunistic crimes such as pickpocketing theft smashing car windows with intent to Steel that's very common

25:39

violent crimes such as assault carjacking home invasion also does occur criminals often Target foreigners and

25:45

residents suspected of having large sums of cash so that you that's in a lot of places I mean go to any sadly even in

25:53

most of our major I was going to say yes the south side of Chicago you'll probably have a worse time than in

25:59

Zimbabwe uh General difficulty in hiking Mount niangani I almost said me and Johnny

26:07

um I'd say uh so I'll read about that Peak and then I'll talk a little bit about when I did Kilimanjaro so the peak can

26:14

be reached in about one to three hours by anyone of average fitness this Ascent brings a hiker to an altitude about 7

26:21

200 feet or 2200 meters and the remainder is mostly walking across the gentler gradients of the summit Plateau

26:28

the hazards here are produced by bewildering fast weather changes that can switch from sunny skies to thick fog

26:34

and under these conditions several fatalities have occurred due to hikers losing their way falling down Ravines uh

26:42

and these are uh there are three ascents that follow paths the main axis of the

26:48

mountain is a tourist path from the West this ascends along the edge of the upper

27:00

I'm gonna put this one in just because I want to hear translate say it

27:07

yeah so uh nyamazwa River and Crosses onto

27:13

the main Plateau north of the summit from there head south across Plateau to the summit so funny sidebar here is the

27:21

other case I was thinking about doing um that a patreon supporter recommended

27:26

I think we will do this case it's these two Dutch women that went missing in Peru and I was oh I've read about them

27:33

yeah and I was reading the story the case and just like this one there are so

27:39

many names that we would pronounce perfect improperly excellent I actually look at all the phone calls I didn't do

27:46

it because I didn't feel like trying to figure out all these words but then I picked this case yeah

27:52

that's okay um some of the phone calls we got as a result make it all worth it yes because

27:57

we're not intentionally bad at it it's just we're midwesterners yeah so we know like Cherokee names yeah like Menominee

28:06

yeah we'll go Toe to Toe with anybody with Wisconsin names yeah they're tough

28:11

we have to play those recordings yeah remember we challenge people on Facebook yeah we never we never did the recording

28:17

your mom called I know we never played it we never did an episode I should repost that and challenge people again

28:22

because I tried getting Charlie bears as I because he's like the midwestern dude

28:28

yeah um we should repost and now that we have a bigger following go on Facebook and look at all the names and call us and read them off and we'll plan they'll

28:34

be fun all right uh the second path that runs up the mountain Club of the Zimbabwe Hut this path follows the east

28:40

side of the northern Ridge before joining the tourist path on the main plateau a third path runs from the nian zengu

28:49

southwest of the mountain on the old road of the punggwei river uh Causeway

28:54

also known as the Pung Wei drift it branches from

28:59

Trail in a sense to the base of Tucker's gap which has views of the montane

29:05

rainforest in the southeast of the mountain on a few days when the cloud and the cloud does not cover the gap

29:11

so the mountain can be ascended using the following routes which do not have paths or markings I think that's key for

29:17

when the fog settles in if you're on a path that has no it like as as we keep saying there is no infrastructure when

29:23

you go to our national parks there's Maps there's signs there's everything you get what you get when you go to Africa and this park actually is one of

29:30

the more developed national parks and the government actually is taking steps to

29:36

make it seem more and more familiar to like what a U.S citizen would feel

29:42

familiar with like having Rangers or things there well having some paved paths and

29:47

um some infrastructure in the park um okay so yeah the Northeast ridges

29:52

um I'm gonna skip some of these names just because yeah they it doesn't matter Northeast ridges uh don't have paths or

29:58

markings uh and then the via the little nayangani the route um doesn't either so the above are all

30:06

walks or scrambles without rock climbing involved however caution is advised especially in unmarked routes as the

30:12

weather may change very rapidly Cloud descent comes in visibility of less than 160 feet this may well be the cause of a

30:20

number of the disappearances on the mountain such as that two teenage Children of the minister of France

30:25

Finance Finance Minister of Finance now that is no explanation for me saying

30:31

that but I'm not going to say the other names and that ticking deppy

30:36

Messiah there we go so I'm going to get right into the myth surrounding the

30:41

mountain um this is a I had never even heard of this place before I found the stories

30:47

about this mountain um you know we were familiar with stories about like Mount Shasta and

30:53

California in Crater Lake um but this mountain is terrifying I

30:59

don't think I'd want to go hiking on it ever uh I totally would yeah so there is a

31:05

long-held belief by the local um manika people that a vindictive

31:11

spiritual presence resides on Mount niangani in Zimbabwe local folklore says

31:17

the mountain is a sacred Place Long feared by its people and should be only should only be approached with caution

31:23

several fatalities have occurred on the mountain when visitors have lost their way and fallen down ravines

31:30

especially when mysterious fog appears out of nowhere hikers have disappeared Without a Trace over many decades the

31:37

weather is said to have a malevolent mind of its own on the mountain with gusts of wind striking at the most

31:43

inopportune times there are there are also numerous numerous reports of visitors becoming

31:50

dazed confused for no apparent reason with even experienced hikers familiar

31:56

with the area at times becoming hopelessly lost as well as sudden bouts of profound dizziness or nausea that

32:03

pass as abruptly as they came on other various weirdness

32:08

um such as unidentifiable sounds strange lights animals that seem to watch and

32:14

follow hikers around as well as trees that are twisted into the Visage of human faces and talk or whisper or

32:22

streams that suddenly turn to blood red so terrifying

32:30

um oh yeah look at that this is a plateau Mountain yeah like that's not a there's no peak it's

32:36

there's just a high part of a plateau yeah um so it is also said that compasses and

32:43

electrical equipment will sometimes go Haywire or break down entirely and that sometimes photos taken here

32:50

will not develop properly locals say uh when you come across a

32:56

strange colorful snake a smolderingly a smoldering clay pot with no fire or a

33:02

brick of gold it's best to pretend you have not seen anything and move on for this reason visitors to the mountain are

33:08

encouraged to see permission from Elders living around the area before venturing onto it although some State this is an

33:16

excuse for payments to be made for so-called Spirit protection dubious individuals who claim they have

33:22

Supernatural powers uh but like Mount Shasta or Crater Lake in the United States Mount niangani

33:28

seems to be a place of mystery that can catch um the unprepared visitor Elders at local

33:35

Villages say visitors should not wear red clothing when visiting Mount niangani as this is said to greatly

33:41

upset the spirits for the same reason locals also advise hikers that they should refrain from relieving themselves

33:47

on the mountain avoid profanity and abstain from any sort of sexual activity

33:52

even the areas surrounding the mountain is saturated with spooky uh tails from

33:59

magical locations to strange Beasts for instance two dams that were under construction in an area called Osborne

34:05

in gokui were reportedly plagued with setbacks and troubles due to what the

34:10

locals claimed was a work of mermaids angered by the desecration of the river

34:15

in addition it's just the guy who did it's like it was clearly mermaids yes instead of shoddy construction work yeah

34:22

in addition numerous freak construction accidents equipment malfunctions and

34:28

foul weather dogging the workers at every turn there were purportedly some construction workers who went missing

34:33

Without a Trace never to be found things got so tense with the deeply frightened Crews many of whom said they

34:40

had seen the creatures themselves that a large portion of the workers refused to go back to work until tribal

34:46

Elders came in to perform special rituals to appease the rampaging mermaids so jeez a pretty wild folklore

34:55

about this mountain and there's also a very long history of

35:01

people disappearing uh without a trace on this mountain so I'm gonna go through some of the the

35:08

disappearances and at the end we actually have um a case of somebody who went missing

35:15

and then was found and you got to hear his his tale of what happened it's it's

35:21

bizarre so our first uh story starts back in the 1980s so in the 1980s a

35:27

senior government official went missing on the mountain while out on an Excursion with two companions

35:33

the group was missing for a total of four days during which time search operations were unable to find any trace

35:39

of them during this time the group later claimed that they had wandered aimlessly in a

35:44

confused State and that they did not feel tired dehydrated or hungry at all the entire time they also reported that

35:51

they had seen Searchers looking for them but that they themselves had seemed to be invisible neither seen nor heard when

35:59

they called out to The Rescuers it is said uh it is said that it was

36:05

only when tribal leaders in the area made a desperate blood sacrifice to the Mountain Spirits that the the missing

36:11

official and his companions were miraculously found again and although they had been gone for four days they

36:18

themselves believed they had only been gone a few hours it was claimed at at the time that they

36:23

had been stuck in a sort of intermediary realm between realities held thereby the spirits of the mountain

36:30

so they had been appeased imprisoned in a kind of state of suspension or limbo limbo called

36:37

chimadisa by the natives so that's bizarre yeah they're in a suspended

36:44

reality for four days yeah um this is a very short short case but Joe kind of touched on this in 1981 the

36:51

daughters of to academi uh Messiah went missing the the two young daughters

36:57

they were two young daughters of the former Zimbabwe government official they disappeared on the mountain in 1981

37:05

despite a huge search using ground teams and helicopters they were never found in 1986 Robert eckhurst uh

37:14

he was an eight-year-old visitor on a school trip a trip vanished on the mountain he wandered off from the rest

37:19

of the group on a school field trip and was never seen again Robert's teacher was reported to be so

37:27

upset that he had lost a child under his care that he ended up committing suicide the following year so sad story

37:34

um this is a much more recent disappearance and I apparently this was actually kind of a

37:40

big International story that I don't ever remember hearing about but on January 4th of 2014

37:49

31 his wife and another couple tried to climb Mount niangani uh

38:01

uh but when they uh got halfway up the woman and the other man gave up while uh

38:06

Mr Dada went on by himself so um Dada is a Zimbabwe resident of Asian

38:15

uh origin Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Caroline Caroline

38:22

moyo said more than 60 people including Rangers and relatives of the missing

38:27

tourists were involved in the search the helicopter that was dispatched to assist the search was forced to land after high

38:34

winds dada's friends came from as far as Australia South Africa Botswana and the

38:39

United Kingdom to assist the park rangers police and soldiers in locating him

38:44

the local Indian Community and a helicopter were hired to assist in the search according to park officials he was

38:52

spotted by other hikers who were on their way down while walking along the stream on the mountain and he was never

38:58

seen again they talked to him and he indicated that he was all right and that would be the last time anyone saw him so

39:04

very recent case um we haven't even more recent incident on the mountain

39:11

from 2020 so uh April 10th 2020

39:18

shingari matsuira I'm sure you got that perfect yeah 35

39:24

age left home with his eight-year-old twin sons and his seven-year-old nephew they

39:32

had gone to mount niangani to recover some lost cattle the boys had accompanied their father but lost their

39:37

way after Heavy Rain suddenly hit the mountain in the morning the father made it back to the village and his wife

39:44

informed the other villagers that her sons and their cousin had not returned home a search party was dispatched to

39:51

comb Mountain the villagers managed to find the group uh and the boys

39:57

uh were all unconscious and suffering from hypothermia they were ferried to a local hospital

40:03

but one of the sons was pronounced dead on in Mission while his twin brother

40:08

died at around 6 A.M on April 10th that's really sad

40:14

um Zimbabwe Park and Wildlife Management Authority public relations officer said we have not been able to physically go

40:20

to the area and talk to the family to find out what really transpired but findings show that the father and

40:26

his sons went to look for their cattle in the national park but while they were on the mountain the weather changed and they lost their way

40:32

he goes on to say is unfortunate the villagers sometimes Drive their cattle into the national park and they wander up the mountain we

40:40

always discourage this not only because it can lead to such incidents where we lose human life but also can spread

40:47

diseases so after the incident on the mountain um

40:52

officials said while we were on the mountain there was a hail storm and we tried to go oh no this is the father so

40:58

after the instant the father made a comment he said while we were on the mountain there was a hail storm and we

41:04

tried to go down but we couldn't go far because it suddenly became Misty and we could not see anything so we waited for

41:10

the Mist to clear so that we could go back home we cannot move until the next morning but by then the children could

41:16

not walk due to the cold so I had to go and look for help leaving them there since I could not carry them on my own

41:23

so another sad story I think when we get into theories this will play into kind

41:28

of one of the more down-to-earth theories we've got a lot of deep end theories for this yeah see I'm I'm just

41:34

like I've been like rotating around this mountain yeah and there's got to be something unique

41:40

to it because it doesn't look too intense yeah at all like they said

41:46

one to two hours I mean here's the parking lot you can see most of the trail going up here now when you get up

41:53

here it kind of Blends in you have this giant Plateau but I'm not seeing major

41:59

crevasses I'm not seeing anything that would say this dangerous more like oops I walked all the way over here yeah and

42:05

I need to go back that way yeah I mean when we get into theories I think well yeah I'm not seeing it so I'm

42:12

very curious I think a lot of it has to do with weather but it it has to be yeah because on a clear day you're not

42:19

getting lost on here so one of the more famous incidents on this mountain actually happened in November of 2014

42:25

and the gentleman that went missing actually was found alive his name was Thomas gaze uh gaisford

42:32

he was a second year human science student who chose to come to Zimbabwe after

42:38

winning the Wallace Watson award which encourages and assists students to undertake Expeditions or travels of a

42:45

challenging nature in a mountainous or remote areas oh yeah the WWA you just no I'm just kidding no no no

42:52

I'm just kidding so he decided to climb to the summit of Mount niangani as part

42:58

of the awards objective to gain a greater ability and self-conf confidence in handling physical and mental

43:03

adversity and a better appreciation of other cultures and the ways of life now

43:08

I'm going to stop you right there yeah he picked a mountain that takes an hour to Summit oh a one to three

43:16

oh okay if he's a desk jockey sure but it's for like hiking that is nothing yeah I mean

43:22

I think he probably was already in the area okay so all right all right I you know

43:29

what I'm gonna back up I should not poop on people you said one to three but I mean if you read about the history of

43:35

them okay no I'm I'm backing up that was a mean comment and sure enough he went missing he won an award he won an award

43:41

I just like if if I won an award for doing something super challenging it would be like Kilimanjaro which took

43:48

four or six days you're supposed to do in 12 and a guy died while I was on the

43:53

summit yeah that was challenging well maybe he already had done kilman Jones or maybe this is his first time mountain

43:58

climbing so I'm gonna I'm gonna withdraw my criticism because that was mean he won an award he deserves it so I'm sorry

44:05

I I as I was saying I was like nah this is going to cut it out a jerk we'll cut it not leave it I'm not joking when I

44:11

say that I know I'm not cutting it you're like you're look bad everyone's like me um so he encountered heavy fog on his

44:17

hike down from the summit around 3 P.M and then lost his way

44:23

um down the mountain and so we set up a camp and pitched his tent then the area

44:29

was hit with heavy rain and he tried to sleep while wild animals started wandering around his Camp Tom went on to

44:35

say I had heard lots of strange stories about the mountain but I never believed them I climbed to the summit of the

44:41

mountain it was very difficult but I ended up to um but I endured up to the top I was

44:47

caught in a Mist as soon as I reached there I started getting uncomfortable and scared after Heavy Rain started

44:52

falling the fog engulfed the whole place I was and surprisingly uh it was in the

45:00

afternoon around 3 P.M I cannot see anything I was confused I lost my way down pitch a tent I prayed and slept

45:06

there for 10 hours several scary snakes approached me I never Disturbed them they came in numbers but I Stood Still

45:13

various animals frequented the place and I could see shining red eyes of several animals staring at me my character was

45:20

tested I remained steadfast I woke up the following morning after the fog had cleared I climbed down before I

45:26

proceeded to leopard rock on foot gaysford said before he climbed up the mountain villagers in the surrounding

45:32

areas of nyanga had warned him against the idea since Zayed Dada had

45:38

disappeared after embarking on a similar hike concerned villagers had also advised him about other strange unusual

45:45

things that took place in the past Tom said I tried to put that at the back of

45:50

my mind I never consulted traditional leaders before I embarked on my Expedition but I later realized that I

45:56

should have done I should have done that I'm happy to be alive there is more to experience I have learned a lot about

46:02

Zimbabwe and about myself good thing I took it back so yeah I think the most challenging

46:08

thing about this area is the weather and I actually before we get into theories I just have a couple quotes from people

46:14

that live his smart move is probably not continuing to walk yeah setting up camp

46:19

and just waiting it out yeah so um this first comment comes from an individual who's lived there they wrote

46:27

I lived there I lived there for two years in nianga and at the time

46:32

um at that time three small children disappeared it is a beautiful place but also scary special when weather suddenly

46:38

changed I did walk a short distance up the mountain but returned as there is a kind of power indeed Supernatural for us

46:45

I was alone and I suddenly felt uncomfortable also near the Montclair montclairan

46:51

Cottages people said that they were haunted uh the old Chiefs should write down their knowledge before it is gone

46:57

so interesting comment about the area

47:03

um here's an I'll just read one more um I was born and grew up in nianga uh

47:09

trout back area which lies in the nyange niangani mountain region The

47:16

Disappearance of people in the mountains is a mystery those who somehow survive and reunite with their families could

47:22

hardly remember any experience they go through During the period they went missing they tell absolutely nothing

47:27

like someone like someone coming off a trance it's an ancient Norm that has

47:33

been happening ever since I agree there are factors that might Aid in The Disappearance like weather and terrain

47:39

but at least bodies should be found when search parties engage in simple words my answer is there's

47:46

probably a mysterious and Supernatural force that causes all of this the traditional local Chiefs understand much

47:52

much things regarding these Mysteries they aided in a few that were found after missing at first I thought it was

47:59

all cult Syndicate but I later realized that truly there is something mysterious

48:04

about that place so every anyone that lives around there is fully on board the supernatural train

48:12

with this mountain it sounds like it so um I will jump

48:18

right into theories and we're going to start with deep end so we're starting

48:23

with the d-man start with the Deep End right on let's do it and then we'll move into what probably is really I love causing the disappearances so big fan of

48:30

the deep end obviously if you've been listening through the whole um episode

48:36

something Supernatural is going on if you know when you talk to a local so clearly

48:41

um the major theory of the locals is it's angry wandering Spirits dark magic and forbidding zones between Dimensions

48:49

trapping Souls so tribal Elders have long warned that it

48:54

is absolutely necessary to follow the rules of the mountain and to not anger the many roaming spirits that internally

49:01

guard it according to locals missing people are being held captive by the

49:06

spirits of the mountain and that if only they had followed the etiquette they would have been fine

49:13

they also claim that the only possibility of bringing these lost people back is through intense rituals

49:18

to ask these Spirits for forgiveness and they have urged Park officials to cooperate with enacting guidelines to

49:25

follow the proper sacred methods

49:30

and rituals claiming the spirits of the mountain calming the spirits of the mountain [Music]

49:37

going no that's it okay no I have one more off the deep end all right

49:44

um so this theory is that there is a Subterranean alien base under the

49:50

mountain and this is totally deep end this is even

49:56

I don't know if this is less believable than angry spirits but it's up there on that level so

50:03

according to revote remote viewing documentation released by the CIA

50:09

this is one of four Subterranean alien bases

50:14

um in 1973 a remote viewer verified these four bases [Laughter]

50:23

um so they didn't send to the government because they found it so ludicrous and

50:30

they dropped the subject but then in 1986 a completely different team of remote viewers verified the bases

50:36

without being told anything um so two separate teams remote viewing

50:42

like claim claim they've found the exact same location and I mean remote viewing is very I mean probably not really we're

50:48

in the Deep ends two separate groups of remote viewing sessions that found the same base same

50:55

location a one of four in the world one of four is under this mountain and this is according to I guess top secret

51:02

documentation released by the CIA that I was not able to find okay so

51:07

um well they did just kill Kennedy we found that's true in conclusion uh they theorize that it it's part of an ancient

51:14

network of bases of some sort that have no known function or its function will be turned on in the

51:21

future so so we've got I feel like we're coming to

51:27

fever pitch globally anyway maybe that will be so we've got you know Catalyst

51:32

paranormal that's your one deep end and Deepa number two is an alien base and they maybe they're snatching people when

51:38

they go hiking um bringing it back down to reality though this is what I think is really going on

51:45

okay so the distinct terrain of the mountain may actually be what's causing these disappearances

51:52

um this is a place of sharp spectacular weather changes and unusually thick Mist buildup which can endanger and confuse

51:59

hikers it can also conspire with the the tricky terrain

52:05

that features sharp drops craggy Rocky footing sudden steep gorges and trails that become quickly overgrown

52:11

and faint from the Relentless encroachment of the forest because of the constant rainfall all these factors

52:18

can spell trouble for even the most experienced hiker and the slightest mishap can leave someone stranded or

52:24

injured in foggy conditions unable to find their way out or Worse falling off a cliff and like Joe mentioned the

52:31

weather gets cold at night so that doesn't help uh the conditions here can be so

52:36

dangerous that there have been strong pushes for new safety rules that ampercautions for the many visitors that come to this

52:42

um pretty cool Mountain uh currently hikers wishing to explore the mountain are required to pay a five dollar an

52:48

hour fee to be accompanied by an experienced guide they must fully charge their cell phones before beginning their truck and they

52:55

must be equipped with a flashlight with fresh batteries for its part the government has been busy setting up new

53:01

cell phone and radio towers in the vicinity of the mountain and is regularly clearing and marking the main and safe

53:07

trails with plans to construct trails that are fully paved so oh wow the government I think knows there's enough

53:13

of a problem here and this obviously is a popular Mountain to hike yeah and I

53:18

think the weather I think this is just a unique location if you zoom out a little I don't know what would cause this kind

53:24

of weather but must just be the location in Africa where and you can see look at how green it is on this side in the

53:31

valley so it's probably coming up that Ridge yeah real quick and dumping a lot of the

53:37

moisture but then you get just the cloud cover on the top like if it was a pointed Mountain maybe it wouldn't be as

53:43

bad yeah but I like I'm with you on the weather

53:48

and I'm not seeing these drop-offs unless they're like going to here because they can't see and then stepping

53:53

off in the edges but this is such a large area I mean even right here from

53:58

satellite even here yeah it's tough to tell that's you know it looks like a scree field yeah so like these shadow

54:05

areas sure it's got to be wandering off getting lost and then they just don't have the resources to search that'd be my guess

54:12

because they said they're not even finding the bodies yeah and if we're staying in reality here

54:18

they just not have the resources to look well and there's a lot of predation with I mean there's a lot of animals as you

54:24

say I wonder if yeah they're just getting scooped up real fast so there isn't a chance to find a body but I I

54:32

think uh a movie should be made about this mountain that'd be like a horror movie yeah I think it would be pretty

54:37

good you could do another X-Files movie yeah about the bus underneath I think uh yeah zoom out and see if there's like

54:43

any ports of entry for the base as we can see or pick up from I don't know

54:48

from altitude it's probably flat because it's probably like just a hanger cover and like it it opens up you gotta think

54:55

bigger like this entire this entire thing maybe was an entry that went down on an angle

55:02

um but yeah either way I apologize for our

55:08

butchering of the names but I think the story itself is really interesting I'd never heard of this place before I'm

55:15

super interested no idea it existed um it that is right up there with any

55:21

paranormal stuff going on in the U.S no I agree Mount Shasta is kind of known in in Crater Lake or kind of known as

55:28

the this seems more mysterious because it's in an undeveloped part of the world yeah like there's less

55:34

um infrastructure there to explain it away so like when they start putting roads in

55:40

paths I wonder if a lot of it will just drop off yeah like you won't have as many disappearances or you'll have even more because more people are going to do

55:46

it well we'll see I think this will have to follow up on that one your theory you

55:51

think it's weather and training I think it's weather not aliens not aliens no I think it's weather and terrain

55:57

um now with the electromagnetic stuff and the interference that can happen do we know what type of like rock is there

56:04

is it like heavy iron content well they said granite uh does that I don't affect

56:10

I have no clue what's the plural for compasses Kampai Kampai probably not I

56:17

uh this is so far out of my wheelhouse I I don't even want to speculate

56:22

let's see can compass be thrown off by its surroundings well

56:28

there are areas where there are magnetic anomalies can granite be magnetic

56:33

it cannot but it can contain one or more of minerals that are magnetic and if present minerals would make up a

56:39

particular sample so so there so what you're saying is there could be a natural reasonable I'm wondering because

56:46

yeah if I go to Boundary Waters in certain areas there's so much iron if you're in certain areas your compass

56:51

doesn't work right it doesn't necessarily spin or go crazy but it doesn't point to True North because like

56:56

I always bring maps and Compasses along with the cell phone yeah and sometimes the compasses you know

57:02

15 minutes off in One Direction and not huge enough to get lost but enough it's

57:08

like okay that's not magnetic north that's getting interference from all the concentration of iron around here yeah

57:14

so I'm almost wondering if there's something similar there um that has that in there so could be

57:20

yeah I mean um we've talked about other episodes in the like the Alaska triangle and where there

57:27

could be some kind of disturbance in the Earth's magnetic field that causes you know people's compasses to malfunction

57:33

yeah um the vortices uh

57:38

um uh I always say visceral vortices but vertical or uh no

57:45

I thought it was it's another V word yeah well it'll come to me either way I

57:50

think uh yeah I think in this case weather is probably the biggest factor I think that's the best appearances

57:56

um whatever your height vortices vital I don't know whatever

58:02

whenever you're hiking in the mountains fog is generally not a good thing uh you

58:08

know not having visibility when you're up at altitude is is bad usually vile

58:13

vortices that's what it is but uh I was listening to you but I was just stuck to

58:19

figure it out um yeah I I think weather I think and from based on that one eyewitness where the guy didn't fully go

58:26

missing yeah um if stuff's happening that quick and you don't have if if it truly is a one

58:33

to three hour hike you're not going to be bringing overnight stuff if you get caught in that type of rain yeah uh wander off somewhere else and now it's

58:39

nightfall hypothermia all the things we always talk about concerning you'll die pretty dang quick yeah so that's my

58:47

guess is whether in weather occurrences they get lost they're soaking wet

58:52

now it's night time you know 30 degree drop in temperature yeah it doesn't explain why a lot of people that are

58:57

found have kind of their memories wiped of the disappearance it does because uh if

59:04

you're in a hypothermic State you are causes yeah Delirious

59:09

um you're making decisions while you're hearing sounds what's that other word when you're not thinking right Mike what

59:14

is it I I don't know what is it this one disoriented yes yes yes the first time

59:21

in the history of the podcast let's think about it yeah they'll get disorientated yeah

59:27

and not make it out alive yeah um no I I think weather I think it's all weather

59:33

and then you have a population of people who have a lot of cultural recognition with

59:40

more mysterious things so it's I mean they blame mermaids for murder and kidnapping so it doesn't it makes sense

59:45

that if people are going missing in the mountain there's some sort of aspect like that yeah so but yeah my votes

59:51

entirely on weather I've changed my mind I would like to hike this someday I I totally want I think it'd be cool if as

59:57

long as we're prepared for the weather yeah then then we can go there well uh

1:00:02

thanks again for tuning into our show we appreciate all of you for listening and sharing locations and known with your

1:00:07

friends and family be sure to like and follow us on Facebook Instagram Twitter and YouTube where you can find videos of

1:00:13

each episode so when you hear us talking about the cute little Dooku animal uh you can go see it on the video uh if you

1:00:20

would like to support the show monetarily as we said please visit our website or Facebook store to buy some cool swag

1:00:26

Additionally you can subscribe to our patreon account to our YouTube subscription account and our Apple

1:00:33

subscription account where you will also have access to special events and additional shows for paid customers only

1:00:39

lastly when you're enjoying the beauty of nature whether backpacking camping or simply taking a walk always remember to

1:00:47

leave no Trace thanks and we will see you all next time [Music]

1:01:08

[Music] thank you

1:01:16

foreign

1:01:23

[Music]