Morbid - Episode 99: The Schoolbus Kidnapping of 1976

Episode Date: November 4, 2019

Guys, this Alaina "Mini" Morbid is a doozy. How did we never know about this harrowing tale of 26 children and their heroic bus driver who survived over 24 hours of terror while being buried alive? Seriously, this one if intense but it has a happy ending that will leave you satisfied....at least somewhat satisfied.  Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/19/us/rewind-chowchilla-school-bus-kidnapping/index.html https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/hero-bus-driver-ed-ray-saved-kidnapped-children-1976-dies-91-article-1.1081059 https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-the-1976-chowchilla-bus-kidnapping-20190709-htmlstory.html https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.138.1.14?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed& See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's ANGI, ordered download the app today. Hey weirdos, my name is Ash. And I'm Elena, and this is a mini-mobb. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, more bed. Mini, more bed, mini, more bed, mini, more bed. It's so little! So little tiny small! I can't even see it! You can't see it, how are you gonna read it?

I can see it. Oh, just kidding! This is what she's telling me folks. She's telling me that it's a real money. It really is! We'll find out. Guys, I promise it's an actual mini. I swear mainly because I'm tired this week and this case just happens to be a mini. Is it the little tiny smell?

It's little tiny smell. Oh, I made a really gross mouth. And I was just then that you're going to die when you edit out later. Cool. Hurry. Thanks. What did everyone do for Halloween? Yeah, I hope you guys all had a spooky,

ookie, spectacular Halloween. Um, on the Facebook page, people have been posting photos of all their Halloween costumes and you guys fucking kill it. I'm just saying whoever dressed up as old Greg, you won everything because that's been my favorite video since when did I even find that? It's true. she found that way young I think I was probably like nine or 10 and me and my best friend Allison at the time you

still literally watch it over and over again yell about it to each other do you love me do you love what you learn to love me and you know what's? The guy who plays old Greg. So Ash used to tell me about this all the time and I was like, yeah, okay. And she never thought it was funny, everybody. Well, I never watched it. Oh, you didn't watch it? Yeah, I never watched it. I was always just like, yeah, I've seen like, like, I know what it is. I've seen like the screenshot of it, but she never.

She never laughed at my impersonations of old Greg. I didn't. And then Mama loves the great British Bake Off. And by Mama, she means herself and not me. Except Ash watches it literally every time I put it on. So I have no choice. She can pretend, but she loves it. But I really love it.

Yeah, you get it. I love baking shows of all kinds and cooking shows. So that's just who I am as a person. But the great British Bake Off is so soothing and so wonderful. And the guy who hosts it, what's his fucking name? Old Greg. His name is not Old Greg, but the comedian slash actor, slash whatever he is. He's one of the hosts now, and he's the guy who is Old Greg. And when he mentioned it on an episode,

I was like, whoa, Ash, it's Old Greg hosting. So our world's collided. I just want to know. I want to know why he hasn't said anything on the baking show about it. He did, that's what I just said. Oh, he said it on the show. Yeah, on the show, you said I used to play a

Merman named Old Greg. I loved that. And somebody was like, that's cool. And then somebody else was like, you have a drunk Bailey's from a shoe. And now I've watched it and it's hilarious. So now I'm in. I do watercolors.

So you know what? Good job, Old Greg. Mother Licka. Good job, person who dressed up as old Greg. You killed it. I made my whole year. So yeah, everybody, honestly, everybody did an amazing job. There were a bunch of like beetle juices. There were a lot of Adams family. There was just so many good ones. So you guys killed it per use. This year, I just brought my kids out because it was actually kind of warm outside, which

was kind of nice. And down the street from us, there's this house that in front of it, it has this like weird, like almost like a mausoleum looking thing that sits on the sidewalk. It's very creepy. Yeah, you walk by like the door to the mausoleum kind of thing. And it's always spooky. It's always been this spooky thing. And then on Halloween, the owner of the house is brilliant and they open it up and they put a

fog machine in there and lights and they make it like a little haunted mausoleum that everybody can go into and the owners and they're dressed up like spooking you out. That's so cool. So we went by. Now my kids are three and a half years old. We go buy it and I'm like, oh yeah, it's fine. Let's just scoop by it because I didn't want them to get freaked out. And as we're going by, one of my kids was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, mom, wait a second. I want to go in the cave. And I was like, what? I was like, well, it's a little spooky in there. Are you sure? And she was like, I want to go in the cave. We went to like six more houses. So what she said, the entire time, the entire time she's getting free candy.

And she's like, but I'd like to go in the cave. I don't want to trick her tree anymore. And I was like, okay, it's spooky. And she goes, I love spooky mama. And I was like, I'm done. And then I landed into a puddle on the floor and died. I have done it right. And then she became resurrected.

Yes. And then I took my three and a half year old into this mausoleum room and she loved it. The other one, not so much. She gave me to try, but then she was like, no, no. And she had John pick her up. But one of them was into it. I straight up fell asleep at 730 on Halloween because it was the day after our live show and I hit a mother fucking wall from all the adrenaline. But don't worry, I woke up like an hour later and watched Texas Chainsaw by myself. I love that for you. It was so soothing. We actually, because that's one of my favorite parts of Halloween,

is that every single horror movie ever is on. Yes. And you can just flick through the channels and just hit all kinds of them. So I go through and Beetlejuice is on. So I'm like, oh, hell yeah. So I go to Beetlejuice and John's like, yeah, I've never seen this movie. I've never seen Beetlejuice the whole way through. I've only seen bits and pieces.

Who are both of you? Who are both of these people that are in my house right now? I was far out of my house. Luckily, because I was like, oh no, this could change our relationship. If we watch this and he's like, this is dumb, I'm gonna be like, what's happening now? And we watched it and John was like,

all right, that's sick movie. Thank you, love you. I have bits and pieces I've seen have been good pieces. You loved it. And now I have to get him to watch the Adams family and Adams family values, because he never saw those either. Unpopular opinion, I don't love the original's family and Adam's family values because he never saw those either. Unpopular opinion, I don't love the original Adam's family

values is way better. I like Adam's family values. I think that's non-popular opinion. I like the original one. Yeah, me too. But the Adam's family values is superior. I like when she's like, Wednesdays at the age where she only has one thing on her mind.

And the mom is like, please. And Wednesdays at the age where she only has one thing on her mind. And the mom is like, boys. And Wednesday's like homicide because I feel as though that was you as a child. It's 100%. I think I related so hard to Wednesday. I'm saying that when I was little. I love that for you. But enough about all my spooky childhood shit. This is a mini episode.

So we've actually done more talking than we normally do. Let's shut the fuck up. Let's shut the fuck up and get to the case, shall we? We shalleth. All right, let me preface this. I debated whether to preface this story with it having a happy ending or not. I'm going to have time. I'm going to preface it with it has a happy ending because it kind of needs to be preface that way. I know I needed to hear that. And I have a lot of quotes from the people involved in it so it kind of gives that away.

It's like seven o'clock in the morning. Are you going to really fuck me up? I mean, it's not gruesome. It's more just slightly disturbing. But it has a happy ending. I have to do seven blow dries later, so don't be fucking up my day. I'm gonna fuck up your... No, I'm gonna make it okay at the end. Okay. So this was from July 15th, 1976. Oh, vintage. Very vintage. And actually, I am going to bring up the person who suggested this case right now because they suggested it to me like literally yesterday and when they did I just happened to

like peek at it and I was like I'll take a look at it real quick because I take a look at the cases you give me that I don't know. And this person's name was Thomas. So thank you Thomas. I'm not going to say your last name because I don't know if you want me to. But I looked this up and when I looked it up, I was like, oh, this is perfect for many and I have to do it now because I was just so fascinated by it. You're like three or other many out the way. I literally did. And I couldn't believe I'd never heard of this.

Well, tell me what happened. It took place in Chao Chila, California. and it's known as the School Bus Kidnapping of 1976. Oh. So, the day before the final day of summer school at Dairyland Elementary School, 26 children raging an age from five to 14 were on a bus to be brought back to their homes. The bus was driven by Edward Ray. He was known as Ed, but his name was Frank Edward Ray. He was previously a farmer, but he later became a bus driver.

The kids absolutely loved him, and he was just one of those bus drivers that we all remember that we loved. You know, those like, they were just nice sweet. They clearly loved kids. They cared about you. Like the total opposite of the bus driver that you remember that like hated kids and was the worst bus driver ever.

I never had a bad bus driver. Really, I know. It's not everybody had like that warm fuzzy bus driver and then that like demons. Oh wait, wait, wait, wait. I had a bus driver one time and I was little and I forgot to get off at my stop and then he kept going and I was like, no, no, no, like you're supposed to stop there. And he was like, well, you missed it.

And I was like, I'm five. Oh my God. Yeah. So you did have a terrible posture. I did. I think he just resurrected a memory. Yeah, I was going to say that was a deeply buried memory that was a deep cut. So Ed was great. Like an Ed was legitimately great. We love Ed. Now, according to a CNN report on the case, the kids all loved this summer school so much as well that they all signed a petition that day to have it last two more weeks. Shut up, that's so cute.

Isn't that adorable? I would never have signed that petition. You know, but apparently it was all, that like they have all these interviews with these kids now because again, this has a happy ending. And they all talk about how it was so much fun. They loved it. It was almost like a summer camp,

kind of thing. So these were all just happy kids who were going home after a fun day at summer school. ["Fundate Summer School"] While driving to our rural road, rural is so hard to say. Truly. A rural road. Ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh,

the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural,

the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, the rural, rural, the rural, the rural, rural, rural, the rural, rural, the rural, the rural, rural, the rural, rural, rural, the rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, rural, had to maneuver around it to get by and as they went by, Ed, being the kind man he was, noticed the hood was up as in the van. So he stopped briefly and just called out the window, does anyone need any help? Because he thought this person had broken down. Don't ever offer help. Yeah, don't ever offer help. What, what? I think I, I said this at the live show to somebody.

I don't remember who, but like my main, like affirmation that I use in life is never help anyone. Yeah. It's just what just never help anyone. I just want to do it. Um, so as soon as he offered the help, three men with pantyhose over their heads jumped on the bus with guns. What?

Sawed off shotguns. What? Pointed at this kind man in a bus full of essentially babies. What? Yeah. And I use the term men very loosely here. Let's say be creatures. Because what man or human jumps on a bus full of children

with a kindle-y older bus driver with a sawdoth shotgun. Not any man's. I'm tired of... No. This case made me say I was so angry by the end of it at these guys. Look at your kids. And they're all live and like literally fuck all of you. Because like these guys are disgusting. I just wanna know what the whole point of this thing is. Oh, it's ridiculous. They're really, this is the worst part. Oh, there's hardly a point to this.

Keep going. There is, but it's a stupid point. The men were 24-year-old Fred Woods, 24-year-old James Schoenfelds, and his younger brother, 22-year-old Richard Schoenfeld. I was expecting them to not be 22 and 24. Right. That's wild. It's because I... It's frustrating. All three of these guys had come from rich families,

and Fred had a trust fund of like over $100 million waiting for him. So Fred, what the fuck you be doing? So what are you doing? So you may be wondering why the fuck they did this? Well, I'll tell you in a bit. They demanded Ed to go to the back of the bus and they screamed at the kids to shut up and follow orders. Of course the kids are freaking out and Ed was just trying to calm them all down. One of the survivors Jennifer Brown hid as an adult. Said in an interview, quote, Edward kept

telling his kids just be quiet sit down do what they say Edward was speaking in a harsh tone and that normally was not Edward that that normally was not the Edward that we knew and loved So poor Ed is trying to be like guys like sit the fuck down You know me like trying really when he's like getting he's trying to be like a little more firm would them to make them listen because he knows if they don't listen We're fucked. This could get really bad, really fast. I have one of those lumps, I'm gonna start crying. Oh, while I was reading it, there was a couple of times I was like, oh no, what if I cry on the podcast for the first time?

Oh God. So that means I'm definitely gonna cry. Yeah, you might cry. The youngest baby on the bus was a little girl named Monica, and she was only five years. No. And there's three men with sought-after shotguns yelling at them. Now, apparently, like I said, the kidnappers were wearing pantyhose over their heads, but they wore them so that the legs dangled down like next to their heads.

Which is stupid. So like, like, bunny years. So Monica asked one of them if he was the Easter bunny. And here I go, sobbing. I mean, that when I heard that this little five year old is like, are you the Easter Bunny? And this guy has like a sawdust shotgun in her face. And she's like, are you the Easter Bunny?

Oh my God. Like this poor little baby. Oh my God. She's like, what the fuck is Easter? She's like, what are you? And then we're sort of, oh, so one of the men was pointing the shotgun at these children. Well, so one of the men was pointing the shotgun at these children while another one drove the bus.

He drove the bus through straight through a bamboo field and all of these kids and the bus were jolting around. They said they're being thrown around the bus. Like, it was really aggressive and awful. When it finally came to a stop in the bamboo field, there was another van waiting for them. No. The men pulled the bus up to the back of that van and forced half the kids in there and the other half with Ed the driver into the white van that they

initially used. The vans were outfitted with wood paneling and blacked out windows. They had made the kids jump from the bus to the van so they wouldn't leave any footprints. So this was a very planned. Wow. Yeah. Now, one of the survivors, Larry Park, who is amazing, I'll tell you why later, told CBS News, quote,

as a six-year-old, Oh my God. He's a six-year-old. The only way that I can describe this darkness in the van is that it was trying to get me. Like these poor kids are in pitch black in these vans. Oh my god. And they're all crammed in there.

The kidnapper drove these kids into vans, blacked out vans in a hundred degree weather. They were a hundred degrees in those vans. Oh my god. Wanna know how long they drove them for? Like hours. 11 hours. 11 hours.

11 hours straight with no water, no bathroom breaks. So these poor children are not drinking water. They're all screaming and crying. Some of them are as young as five years old. They're probably getting dehydrated. They're peeing. They're like nowhere to go to the bathroom. Some of them are vomiting.

Like there's, and they're stuck in these tiny little vans. Oh my God. And yeah. And poor Ed is in one of the vans with one of them just trying to keep them all like, I'm probably like, what the fuck is happening in the other van? And he's sitting there thinking,

I don't know what's gonna happen and I'm having to tell these kids everything's gonna be all right and I don't know that everything's gonna be all right. And if you're sitting in that position you're like, everything is surely not going to be all right. Like he's responsible for these 26 babies and he's instead of like just cowering

and being like, I don't know what's going to happen in crying himself, which I probably went. Yeah. He's like stepping up and being like, I need to be, I might die, but I need to pretend that I'm not scared of that. Right. Kids like that. This guy's amazing.

Like we love it. So as this is happening, parents are obviously freaking out because they're very young children are nowhere to be found after supposedly getting on a bus at school. Well, this is like all day at this point. I love an hour. And they are all calling the police.

And then they all started helping the police look for the bus because that was the first thing. They were like, we got to find this, where could this bus have gone? Right. It's a huge fucking school bus. I'm probably like, uh, Ed? Yeah, and I think that's probably people are like, what the fuck?

Like, where'd it go? The FBI was called in to help. It was Mayhem. And finally, they found the bus via an air search because it was so well-hit and in the bamboo field. Wow. That they just found, so the parents just found this abandoned school bus. And they found tire tracks moving away from the school bus,

but again, no footprints. So it was clear, and the police said, it's clear that somebody has pulled another vehicle up to this bus and driven away. Oh my God. Can you imagine being a parent? No. I can't imagine any of my childs being on that bus

and just seeing like they've been kidnapped off the bus. Right. Like, how do you wrap your brain around that? I don't even. I, ugh. So children are screaming, crying. Like I said, like vomiting. It was a nightmare situation.

The older kids as well as Ed, the driver, were just trying to console them. Even the older kids were stepping up, just trying to like, these kids are amazing, and the spous drivers amazing, because these older kids were like, there was some that were like, the oldest one was 14, his name was Michael.

And he like stepped right up and just became an adult for these kids. Like, you know, in meanwhile, these are children, 14 years old, you're a child, you're having to be an adult for these little kids trying to be like, it's okay. They said that Ed was trying to keep them calm by singing them songs like Boogie Nights, Lovell keep us together.

And if you're happy and you know it clap your... Oh my God. Well, they're in the bed. I'd be like, I'm not happy and I know it. Well, I guess they change the words too if you're sad and you know it clap your hands. Oh my God. So sad, isn't this just like... And it literally everyone in the van is know it, clap your hands. Oh my God. So sad. Isn't this just like sad and you know it? And it literally everyone in the van is like clap, clap.

Like what? After almost 12 hours in that van, they were driven off the road and were again thrown all around the van because they were like off-roading at this point. Then they stopped the van. So first the kidnappers reached in the van and took

Ed out and shut the door. No. So these kids said they just saw the van door open, Ed be dragged out in the door. Shed, die. No. Oh, good. Then the kids said they would open the door and just grab the nearest kid to the door, take them out of the van and shut the door. So they were doing this one at a time. So they would do it again and again and again to every kid. So these kids all had no idea what was happening. As far as they knew, they were being taken out one by one and killed. Right. I mean, that's what it looks like. Right. One takes out. You don't hear anything. You don't see anything. Next one gets taken out. Like, I'd be like, yeah, they're taking them out and shooting them in the woods and leaving them for dead.

So as they were pulled from the van, one man asked their name, the other asked their age, and the third asked their address. They also took a little piece of clothing from each of them. So the oldest boy named Michael Marshall, the one that was 14, he said that the kids were just clinging to him in the van that he was in, like all the younger kids, they were just clung to him. And he was just trying to be there for them. 14 years old. He said finally, it was just he and the youngest, the girl named Monica, who was five years old in the van. And she was just clinging to him for dear life. The

kidnapper came and he went to grab Monica, but Michael said he couldn't bear to hand him her over to him. No. Because again, he had no idea what was happening. And so he said he pushed her behind him and went ahead of her like a brave fucking man at 14 years old, like a brave ass adult. And poor Monica's just like sitting in the van alone. Well, and he said to CBS News quote, I had to take her hands from mine and rip

and tear them apart, say it would be okay and go with them and leave her. That was so hard. God. So this 14 year old, like, understands like, I need to know why this is happening. Well, what happened was the kidnappers months before the kidnapping had buried a moving van in a ditch in the California rock and gravel quarry. Why? They had each child and Ed climbed down a ladder into this van that they had buried.

In the van they had put mattresses, water, peanut butter, bread, and cereal enough for one meal. Not enough for anymore. Stocked on one side and holes cut into boxes for makeshift toilets. They put all 26 kids and ed in this little moving van that was buried under the earth in a rock quarry. Then they took up the ladder and told them all, we'll be back for you.

And then we shut the top. No. Yep. Before leaving, the kidnappers put a manhole cover on the entrance that they put the kids in, like on top. This is my absolute worst nightmare. Yeah. And then they put two truck batteries over that manhole

so they couldn't move the cover. And then you're like, you're just sitting there like, are they gonna fucking come back? Yeah. And then they buried the top of the van. They were buried under like between six and 12 feet of of earth. Nope. Yeah. And they could they said they could all hear dirt and gravel being thrown on top of the van. So they were literally in my mind. I'd be like, this is like, this is how we're going to doubt. Oh, they all

said that. They said, we all sat there and were like, we are being buried alive. Like, we're buried alive. And some of them were like, as soon as I got down there, I was like, this is our coffin. This is our giant coffin that they're putting us in. Why is this happening? Yeah. I'll get to it. Yeah. Yeah. One survivor, Kareho Labandera, was 10 at the time. And she said, quote, there were times we all thought we were dying. I promised God if I survived this, I would be the best little girl. I'd be the best little girl my whole entire life. Oh my God. That part I got, I just got like a little lump. Because thinking about this 10 year old being like, I won't ever do anything bad again.

Like, please just get me out of here. They were in this hole for 12 hours together. Okay. They said it was awful. I mean, the bathrooms were literally holes cut in two boxes. There's 26 kids. So these are just holes filling up with everything. So the whole place is smelling of urine and feces and kids are vomiting because one there in about a billion degree

was there. They have a heat stroke. They apparently have heat stroke. They're also just hysterical. So of course, so this whole place is filled with urine feces. I've never put in my children on a bus. Oh, I never was anyways.

I already told Ed, John, I was like, no, they're never going on a bus. I already told Ed, they're never going on the bus like my kids aren't because I don't I don't know any it's just not happening. I don't trust anybody. I know there are beautiful bus drivers like Ed, many of most of them are wonderful, amazing, I'm not trying to chance it, but I don't know you. And I don't, I can't I know this story. I'm

just like, I think I'll drive my kid everywhere't I can't I know this story I'm just like mm I think I'll drive my kid everywhere while they're wrapped in plastic wrap pretty I meant to say bubble wrap not plastic wrap that's fuck I'm just gonna dexter up my kids and drive the places it'll be awesome it'll be fine did it's true it's like you can't I don't trust anybody kids it's awful um so the kids were crying for their parents. Like Ed said, there was a lot of crying for mama, like which just destroys my mind. Why are you doing this to me right now?

Because there is a good, yeah, can we get to it? Like Michael, Michael the brave, the 14 year old, I want to like, he should legally change his name to that. He said that it would just be quiet, like dead silent in there all of a sudden, and then one kid would start crying and the whole place would erupt into like, it was just a fucking nightmare.

They all ate the food and then the fit, because again, this was like, you know, they're going on what? Almost 24 hours of, it was 24 hours of just insanity. So all the food was gone because it was only enough for one meal. And then they had put a ventilation, like a makeshift ventilation system in there, because they would have just suffocated right away. Right. And obviously these guys are looking

to keep them alive for some period of time because they... Is this what all this stuff is? I'll just have to do with like ransom or something. Yes. Okay. And the ventilation system they put in were just have to do like ransom or something. Yes. Okay. And the ventilation system they put in were just fans that were like put into this thing and they the batteries all died. So the ventilation system failed. So now they're all literally suffocation heatstroke just all of this.

And then the roof began to literally cave in under the weight. It was starting to bow in. And like they could hear the creaking, like pieces of dirt were falling in. So all the kids were like, oh, we're going to die here after being literally buried alive. So Jennifer, the survivor that I mentioned earlier, told CBS News that once this started happening, they were in full panic mode thinking this is it. Then she says, quote, we thought and they said the older kids and ed, if we're going to die, we're going to die trying to get out of here. Yeah. So this is when Ed and Michael and a couple

of other of the other bigger boys took the mattresses, they stacked them all up under the hold of their place and they attempted to move the cover, but it wouldn't budge because it was, you know. So Michael said the kids were all cheering him on. Like they were all literally like, come on, Michael, you can do it, but like it started turning into this like, I just got full budge. Right. I still get chills. Um, at last after like were, I mean, Ed and Michael, to these other kids were moved, they

were trying for, they said like hours, they were trying to get this thing going. They got it. They were sweating, they're like dying of heat stroke, and all of a sudden another kid looks and says, it's moving, I see it moving. Oh my god, I'm gonna cry right now. Right.

So they were all able to collectively push the cover out of the way. Once it was moved, the kidnappers had made a wooden box that was placed around the entrance. So it didn't go directly into the earth. You know what I mean? Like there was a wooden box over the hole. So, I had Michael squeeze through the hole to get into that box and try to see what they were working with outside of the box. Right. So when he got up there, he realized that outside of the box was just earth. It was just dirt.

So he had to dig. So he and Ed, he, they just dug and dug and dug for another hour or so until they reached sunlight. And then when they saw sunlight, all the kids are freaking out. Sunlights pouring into the place. They're all like, holy shit, we're gonna get out of here. But then all of a sudden, all the kids are like,

one, where are we? And two, what if they're waiting up there? Right. Because all of a sudden, they're like, we don't fucking know what they, we have no idea what's happening. We don't know if they've been sitting outside of this thing the whole time,

just watching us try to escape. Like, we don't know. But they were like, what else do the whole time just watching us try to escape like we don't know But they were like what else do you have to do? A lot of years. Yeah, so one by one they hoisted each other up out of the hole. Luckily the kidnappers were not outside there The kidnappers where were they? They were all taking a nap Where yeah, they were taking a nap at home They had tried to call the police department to demand ransom of $5 million for these children's lives, but the lines were jammed

because the kids' families and the media were calling nonstop. So they could have, like a trust fund. Yeah. So they couldn't get through to the police station to demand the ransom. So they were like, you know what, we're real tired. Let's just go to sleep.

Oh my god. Let's take a fucking nap while these kids die beneath the earth. We buried children alive. But let's take go to sleep. Oh my God. Let's take a fucking nap while these kids die beneath the earth. We buried children alive. But let's take a nice nap. It was tiring work. Yeah, we buried children in a kindly old bus driver alive in the earth,

but we are so much of a sociopath that we can lay our head down on the fucking pillow and go to sleep. What I need to know is how did three people this evil meet each other? I have no idea. How does the world bring that much evil together? That it drives me nuts.

And what kills me is while they're all fucking sleeping, their quote unquote victims are just pushing through, just committing acts of bad assery, getting the fuck out of that thing against all odds. This isn't a straight up movie. It really is. And it's like, I love the idea of them just snoozing away, thinking they've buried these fucking babies in the earth.

And the babies are like, these are like, and these babies in this older guy are like, fuck off. And I love that they were like, we are not dying, just sitting passively and you're waiting for them. We are gonna die getting out of here.

If you can die. Like, yeah, babies. So once they escaped out of the hole, they saw a man in the rock quarry. He was apparently, because this was a rock quarry, so it's a working place. People are working on machines and stuff. And the man looks over and sees them all coming out of here.

He's 26 children coming out of the fucking world. Well, you know what he says? He looks at them and he goes, the world's been looking for you. Oh, right. Oh, look. I've got you, my damn world. It's like, when I read that, I was like, holy shit. Oh, my God.

I just had chills for five whole minutes. Yeah, what the fuck the world's been looking for you? Oh, because the world had been looking for that. I was just these are. I was waiting for you to be like, he was gonna say like the world is ending. Like this is Satan's undead army. Like that's what the fuck I would think.

You see all these kids climbing out of the earth? Probably just covered in like all kinds of things. I'd be like this is Satan's work. Yeah. This is the out of the earth? Probably just covered in like all kinds of things. I'd be like, this is Satan's work. Yeah. This is the work of the devil. Something bad's a foot. And I would run. Run.

But this man turns around and says the most movie, Worthy line, I have ever heard in just a while. This whole, it's been looking for you. This whole shit is a movie and they're like, yeah, can you bring me back to the civilization of the world, sir? Please help me. I have ever heard in just this whole it's been looking for you. This whole shit is a movie and they're like, yeah Can you bring me back to the civilization of the world? They were more than a hundred miles from Chauchilla. Well, then hundred miles. They were driven away from where they were The police came obviously

That's what they do in Ed lead all these these and Ed had led all these kids out, like through to safety. Oh my God. Did he get like the biggest heroism award? Oh yeah, just wait. Heroism, I said. Heroism? Correct. Close.

So the police had to take them the only place that was like safe for all of them to go, which was the local jail. Oh, I like that. They weren't putting like cells in there. They were putting these things like these rooms. But I guess the kids, when they pulled up, they were all like, like these rooms, but I guess the kids when they pulled up They were all like we're going to jail like why are we going to jail?

They were all photograph they were checked by doctors. They had interviews. You kept saying like the survivors and I was like Does somebody die? No, that's why I didn't want to like give too much away. That's why I want to say No, they were all relatively unharmed. There was some heat stroke, there's obviously shock and trauma, but physically they were all relatively already. Oh my god, I hope this kid, when he gets caught, I hope his trust fund paid for their therapy. Seriously. Well, they were all given soda and apples at the police station. Oh my god, stop it. That is so pure. And then they were freed to go with their families, which all of them said, like, I think the guy I'm Larry Park, who I mentioned,

he said that he literally just like, his mom picked him up in her arms and she, and he said, I just said, hi mom, and put my head on her shoulder and fell asleep. Cause he was six. Like he was six. He's this little sick. He's just like, hi, man. I just keep picturing your kids.

Oh, that's all I can picture. Oh, I, I, I, I don't even know what I would do. No, to these people when they got caught, I, I would go to jail. Oh, I would 100%. I would just start ripping them apart with my teeth. I could not The thought of it is unfathomable. Yeah, I would to articulate any kind of thought when it has to like putting myself in the situation and None are coming. I would turn into a creature and just rip them to show. Yes I would literally turn into my true form and I would just I would fall upon Satan after Satan's work and just be like, yo,

sir, a new Joel hell give me the power. Give me the power. I would call upon the power of men. I was literally going to say that after you said, whatever you were saying, corners craft style. So hit me up with how these mother fuckers get caught. So unfortunately, none of the kids could say a lot about what they looked like because they were hanging on the Easter Bunny. Except they look like the Easter Bunny. But a team went back to the quarry to search the buried van for clues and they figured out that the only person who would have access via a key to this rock quarry was Fred Woods who was the son of the owner of the rock quarry. Fucking straight up idiot. Fucking idiot.

Thank God you're an idiot. Of course, he became the chief suspect. And once they put it together the other pieces, they were led to the other two fucking fools. Ed was also able to give one of their license plate numbers under hypnosis. Shit. They put him under hypnosis

and he read aloud their license plate. I don't wanna know what I would him under hypnosis and he read aloud their license plate. I don't want to know what I would remember under hypnosis. So here's Ed just helping even in like a subconscious state. It's just a big old help. Ed. Ed. So he's a hero here. Here I am.

Two years before this kidnapping, Fred and his, Fred Woods and his two friends, James and Richard, show and fells the three kidnappers. You should have felt they had been arrested for Grand Theft Auto. So they were already had arrest warrants on them. You're rich. Why are you stealing things? That's what kills and that's what nobody truly understands about this. They were three rich fuckers. Right. They're fucking bored. Investigators served and executed a search warrant at Fred's father's mansion, and they found one of the guns used in the kidnappings so they were able to tie him.

They also found a literal document labeled plan that detailed literal thing, along with a ransom note. Apparently they have been meticulously planning this for over a year. I believe it. I mean, that was so... Yeah.

It was well worth it. I was gonna say, I hate to say, well orchestrated, but it was. And I mean, months before they were caught, this whole thing happened. That's when they started burying this van. So they were already like, getting the cell together. To put that whole place together. And they, and actually they were able to gather witnesses that said they had noticed people digging in there like months earlier, but they didn't know why.

So Richard Schoenfeld was the one who turned himself in. And as we'll see, Richard seemed, he's the youngest one of the kidnappers. He seems to be the one that was along for the ride. And he shows the most remorse. He turned himself in. So he's somewhat of a human. He acknowledges that it's horrific in that like he's he acknowledges it. I'm not saying he's a good person. I'm just saying he's the only one out of the three that seems to have a true. We have full remorse and and to truly grip what he did and what he did to these kids for the rest of their lives.

Yeah, I just like. And what we'll see is later one of these kids actually like went and met him and like talked to him. Yeah. Um, so James and Fred left fled California. So Richard turned himself in. Oh, really? James and Fred fled California.

Fred went to Vancouver and was caught by the Royal Canadian Mountain Police because they're awesome. Jack and Royal Canadian Mountain Police. I want to be a royal. The police put the, the police put the three of them and, and James was also caught, I think just like somewhere outside of California. They put the three of them in a video lineup and told them to say phrases that the kids said they used during the kidnapping.

Oh, God. And the children were all able to identify them. They were like, it was that motherfucker, that motherfucker? Yeah, that other motherfucker. They literally had them say things like, shut up and sit down, get to the back of the bus, listen to what I say. Like all these things that the kids were like, yeah, they said all this. And then they had the kids come in and they all recognize them,

which it's like more badassery because like, we would be able to do that. Yeah. All three pled guilty to 27 counts of kidnapping for ransom and robbery. They were all charged with eight counts of bodily harm as well, but they're fused to plead to it because all of them said that was going to carry a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, so none of them would plead guilty to it.

Even though they were guilty as fuck. Well, the kids all testified at their trials, right? So they were like bad asses again. February 17, 1978, all three were charged with mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole. Because if you sat here and told me they got like 25 years, I would lose my noodle. Well, unfortunately.

What? Their lawyers appealed the charges of bodily harm because they said, although traumatic, real bodily harm as definition by law did not occur. Eat my shorts. Like, are you fucking kidding me? Oh my god, yes. This is what I just thought. How do you, oh, defense lawyers?

How do, like, the defense lawyers are you defending these guys? Of these people? What? How do you let your head on the pillow? The ones that defended these guys, should be ashamed of themselves. How do you put your head on the pillow?

I don't know how you go to sleep at night, defending someone like this. When you know they're straight up guilty. That end, it's like bodily harm. I don't give a shit of physically, they're all like together. They are ruined. You are brain is in your body. Well, and as I read a ton about these kids later in adulthood,

they were- How do you function? Fucked. They were fucked. I mean, most of them had phobias well into life of like the dark, the claustrophobia. Yeah. They wouldn't let their humans alone. They'll have kids, a lot of them have kids now

and they won't let their kids anywhere. Like they're like, I am the most overprotective parent ever and it's like affecting like. I'd be like, well, let me tell you about the time I was buried alive, child. Yeah. Well, and so the sentences were gotten rid of and they were sentenced again to life with the possibility of parole.

Okay. I mean, I'm still pissed, but as long as it's life, well, did they get let out a fucking parole? Richard, who was the one who turned himself in the one I said seems to have the most remarks for it. He was granted parole in June 2012. Why? 36 years after the crimes. Three years after that, his brother James was paroled.

Are you fucking kidding me? Fred is still in prison. Fred seems to be the ringleader. He was always labeled as the ringleader. And the sheriff actually, at the time, said that James and Richard were just two kind Fred seems to be the ringleader. Yeah. He was always labeled as the ringleader. And the sheriff actually, at the time, said that James and Richard were just two dumbasses that just did stupid shit.

Fred, they said, was a true psychopath. Like he was a sociocally. I mean, clearly. Who are fucking devices this plan in their minds? Yeah, he's still a piece of shit to this day. Like, he's in his 70s or something. He's still a piece of shit. He breaks all kinds of rules in prison, which is why he's not getting parole.

Good. He's breaking those rules, Fred. Exactly. Because they always say an indicator of how you will be on the outside. How you are right now. If you can follow rules on the inside and he can't follow rules on the inside. He constantly gets caught with like porn and cell phones and his cell. He's trying to run his businesses from inside prison, and he's like actually doing it. What businesses? I guess he has businesses that are already in his name because he's a little rich bitch,

and they just got put in his name. So he's able to run some businesses from inside. What is the point? You're not getting the fucking money. It's the thing. He's still getting like richer in prison because I assume he thinks he's gonna get out at some point because he's such a fucking idiot. He's the thing. He's still getting like richer in person because I assume he thinks he's going to get out at some point, but because he's such a fucking idiot, he's never going to get out. So why did they do this? Why? Apparently, James and Fred were in debt from being dumbasses.

But you have a trust fund. But that trust fund wasn't going to kick in until he was like a certain age. So he couldn't have access to it yet. So he was like, oh, instead of working, I'll just kidnap a bunch of kids. In James. And again, I said, like, you know, Richard just seems like he was the younger brother, taken along for the ride. James told a parole board in 2015

when he was paroled, quote, we needed multiple victims to get multiple millions, and we picked children because children are precious. The state would be willing to pay ransom for them, and they don't fight back. They're vulnerable, and they will mind you. That is. Vemos fucked up sentence, ever. What? And it's like, I understand that they're saying like they paroled the two of them because they showed or more

So they've been good in prison. They're getting and I guess that was the first time in 2015 That was the first time that any of the three of them had given any motive They had no idea before this why they did this and so But what's bothering me is it's like okay, so in 2015 the students standing before a parable The board being like this is why we did it. And it's the most fucked up reason ever that children are vulnerable and precious and will mind you. Also, can you let me out? And you'll parole him?

I'd be like, what? Like, I understand you're looking at it like he's telling you the truth and he's giving you the insight. Yeah, but the truth is horrifying. But like, how do you know he doesn't still think this way? Right. Like, maybe he doesn't. I hope he doesn't still think this way? Right. Like maybe he doesn't. I hope he doesn't. I do believe in rehabilitation.

Yeah, not for everybody. But I do believe in rehabilitation. So God, I'm hoping these guys did come out of here and be like, I was 24 years old. I was 22. That's not who I am, like holy shit. But like, that's scary to me. It's holy shit, but like that's scary to me. It's so crazy because I'm thinking of like my friends,

like I am 23 years old, and I could, I, can you imagine some, like them thinking this way? No. Well in Larry Park, the one I've mentioned a few times the like six year old, who was like, I fell asleep on my mom. He met all three of these men, and he forgave them. Wow. You, that's the thing though, and he forgave them. Wow. That's the thing though, it's almost like you would have to

because if you don't, how do you go along with your life? I think that's what it was too. He said he was like laying a bed one night, and he was like, he said he looked up and was like, God, help me forgive them. Like I'm never going to be able to move on. I need to move past this. And so Richard in particular has been cited

as being the one that showed the most remorse. And there's a picture of Larry and Richard like smiling with each other. So wild. It's so bizarre, but you look at it and you're like, holy shit. I think it must help too. Like it's like meeting a monster.

It's like somebody taking their mask off. Exactly, yeah. It wasn't real. Like it was real, but like, but like, you can shrink them down to size instead of them being this like larger than life thing. Entity.

Because again, he was, they were all like, you know, five, six, seven, ten, 12, all that. Like, they were little, and these men were these big, scary monsters. Yeah. And in their mind, they're probably always been this big, scary monsters, and to meet them as adults're probably always been this big, scary monsters and to meet them as adults

and be like, oh, you're just a little watch. And I can look at you. Yeah, it's shrinking them down to like a size you can just flick them away at. All right, keep going. So the children after the whole like experience, the children were granted a trip to Disneyland with an ad.

Oh my God, amazing. And then I got to go and ed the California School Employees Association in Sacramento presented ed with the Association's citation for Outstanding Community Service, quote, particularly to 26 precious Chao Chela school children. The award was given by the governor and he got many more heroism awards after that. And then five weeks after the kidnapping, the entire town of Chao Chila created and celebrated

Ed Ray and children's day. Stuck with a huge celebration and parade where Ed and the kids were on float. Stop it. Stop it right now. There's like pictures of this and everything. I can't believe I've never heard of this case. These, it blew my mind. Like Thomas, thank you for bringing this information. You would think that this should be a well-known case.

A case you want. And then I just found out like these kids did have tons of issues. Of course they do. A woman named Dr. LaNor Terror, who is a San Francisco psychiatrist, actually wrote a book called Two Scared to Cry. She wrote about their trauma in this book. And she said, quote, in 1976, we didn't know much about childhood trauma, much less how to treat it.

Despite their varied backgrounds, every child-chillicid I interviewed suffered from PTSD symptoms for years after the kidnapping and burial alive. Oh yeah. Many of them were well into adulthood having to sleep with nightlights because the dark was just so much that like they were just traumatized by it. They suffered from constant nightmares, phobias, a lot of them had substance abuse and legal issues for a little while. But most of them turn their shit around. That's good. Recognized what was happening and what this was coming from and they were able to turn it around.

Their stories are like amazing to read now. But a lot of them would say they still have these nightmares where they will be buried alive. Or that like they're lined up and shot by these guys and stuff like they just have these nightmares where they will be buried alive or that like they're lined up and shot by these guys and stuff like they just have these awful nightmares. And a lot of the parents of these kids said that when they first came back it was years of them screaming in the middle of the night running in their bedroom in the middle of the night like thinking they were being chased. For a little while they didn't know who the kidnappers were. It took a little while to find. Right.

Those, the time between then and when they were caught, they said was unbearable. They must have felt like years. Because they felt like they were going to come back and get them. Also, I feel like if I was a parent, I'd be like, no, you're not sleeping in your room tonight. Like, you're sleeping in my room forever. I was going to say, I'm pretty sure I would ruin

my kids even further, because I would be like, you're never leaving my side. Yeah, no, I'd be like, you're never. You don't have a room anymore, we're sharing. Yeah. And these poor, these poor parents were be like, you're never leaving my side. Yeah, no, I'd be like, you're never, you don't have a room anymore, we share. Yeah, and these poor parents were just like, after this hugely traumatizing experience that they lived there. Now they're living through the aftermath. Once again, with their kids, it's like holy shit.

Ed was hailed as a hero, like we said, like his whole life, he was going to be a hero. But he was super humble and like would never acknowledge that. I know he was. And like he's just adorable. His own kids said he just loved kids his whole life. Like they were like, he was an amazing father.

He's an amazing grandfather and an amazing great grandfather. Stop it. Because he had great grandchildren. Hell yeah. Thank goodness. Ed got to live to have great grandchildren. And they said he was just one of those guys who just kids were his world and he felt like he had a duty to protect kids. Yeah. And he said about that day, he was like all I knew was that I had to protect these kids. I had

to make them feel like everything was going to be okay, because even if they were dying that day, he was like, I wanted them to die thinking that everything was okay. And he was like, and I wanted to make sure these kids, his main goal, he was like, we weren't dying that day. My main goal was to get these kids back to their parents. And he did. And he did. And he moved a manhole cover with two truck batteries on it. He kept his shit together throughout this whole thing and like Maintained I would not be able to sing songs. I would be

bawling my eyes out in a ball. Don't touch me. I'm terribly and Ed lived to be 91 years old. Oh my god. That's amazing. Which it's like yes. Yes. Yes. Like I wanted that I was like don't tell me you live to be like 70. Like tell me he's got a long life. 91 years old, he passed away in May 2012. And according to an article in the New York Times, his entire life, those children were by his side. Oh my God. Yes. They all maintained like best friendships with him. Like they all talked him all the time. They visited him. They said a lot of those children that he saved

were there by his side when he passed away. And they had visited him consistently through his entire life. Like they were with him throughout it all. I love that. Family members said Ray collected newspaper clippings about the kidnapping, but like he wouldn't talk about it. He just like silently have this stuff. And he also bought the school bus from it for $500

because he said he didn't want it to go to scrap iron because he was like, I feel like this is an important thing. Wow, like we survived. Like I want this to stay. Wow. Where did he put it? His son said, quote, he parked it in the barn and he'd go out and started every once in a while. He kept it for many years, but then he ended up giving it to an old equipment museum in La Grande where it's still there for public viewing today. If I was him, I wouldn't want to go in it ever again. I guess what a lot of credit.

I guess what a prophecy is, he goes in there and he starts it just to make sure it's still working working I wouldn't and the van is there in the museum today in the grand and a lot of the kids came back after he passed away and they wrote messages to him on the outside of the bus Wow, and you can look at it online. They all wrote like ed you'll always be my hero and stuff like that like god I know I get I like choked. Yeah, I just got another lump. That came a rockin' in through. But that's the tale of the 1976 Chao Chila School Bus Kidnapping.

Thank you, Thomas, for sending that to us. Thomas, can't believe I'd never heard of that case before. I'm shocked. I'm ruined. But I can't believe I never heard of that case before. Yeah, it's one of those that you read it and you just think of all these, what these kids went through, but then you're like, thank goodness. I mean, from what I read, I didn't see any like stories of, you know,

them really going down into like a dark place forever. You know, most of them were able to, and a lot of them say like, I want people to know these kids grew up to have wonderful lives. Yeah, we didn't let these men take that from us. Some of them stumbled a bit of these race because I couldn't imagine living through that. I probably would have most of them came out of it and we're like, fuck that I'm gonna I'm gonna forgive them. I'm gonna move past this. I'm just even forgiving them as Yeah, wild and as far as what I read James and Richard have not been back to prison, they've not been in trouble again. I don't know like they're doing. I call them like Lizzy Borden. Oh yeah, I hope they get heckled with some

fucking nursery rhymes and shit. Fred, I don't know if he'll ever get out of prison. He better not be fucking rots in there because he sounds like a fucking asshole. He truly does. So yeah, so. So, yeah. So pointless. So pointless. It's so pointless. That's the part that kills me. Like I'm in debt. So pointless.

Everybody's in debt. Who's not in debt? Yeah, that's like the whole, that's a mirror in debt. See nobody's racing there. No one in this room, wait, wait. Nobody, nobody's just one way to hood. Nobody in this room is racing. Am I okay?

Wow. Well, thanks for that. You're welcome. Can't wait to live my life now again. Can't wait to hug my babies. I'm not bringing them to school with you anymore. I am. That's why I bring them.

I will forever not worry. Is that what kids to school? I renounce that. I renounce that. I renounce them going to school. I will send that. So yeah. Well, in the meantime, if you need to take a minute for yourself

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And we'll be cheering you. Yeah, new bonus episodes are coming out very soon. So be on the lookout for those petrownesses. So yeah, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you go to the store and you buy some nylons and you put them over your head And you're like why I look like these so running out bad

I should kid up some kids because that's really fucked up and guess what you already have a trust fund So why don't you stop being a fucking douche nozzle and just maybe wait until you trust fun hits and stop fucking kid Not be people and also how fucked up are you to dig the earth into the earth and put people in there and just like go fuck yourself red red and Poop those are your names. Bye. Those are your names. Bye. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love

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