Best Cassie De Pecol Podcasts (2025)

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An Exclusive Excerpt From Our New Book | 1 30:11

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21h ago30:11

30:11

We’ve got a new book! How to Survive Against the Odds: Tales & Tips for Animal Attacks and Natural Disasters is out today from Wondery and HarperCollins. Go inside life-or-death situations where everyday people survived nature’s most extreme scenarios—and learn how you can, too, with expert insights and survival tips. In this episode, we’re sharing…

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Wondery Presents: How to Survive Against the Odds 6:02

2d ago6:02

6:02

Inspired by Wondery’s hit podcast Against the Odds—learn how to survive whatever nature can throw at you through gut-twisting true stories of survival on the brink How to Survive Against the Odds places you at the center of fifteen real life-or-death scenarios. Each story explores the physiological responses of the human body under unbearable condi…

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Mount St. Helens | Still Alive | 4 43:47

8d ago43:47

43:47

Rescue helicopters finally reach the campers, Sue and Bruce, as well as other stranded survivors like TV reporter David Crockett and logger Jim Scymanky. But with nightfall approaching, Sue worries that rescuers won’t be able to find her injured friends, Dan Balch and Brian Thomas, in time. With the roads onto the mountain impassible, blocked by tr…

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Mount St. Helens | Blast Zone | 3 42:11

15d ago42:11

42:11

The survivors of the Mount St. Helens eruption find themselves in an alien world, with toppled trees, mudslides, and thick, hot ash covering everything. Unsure when or if rescue is coming, campers Sue Ruff and Bruce Nelson must make a difficult decision: whether to stay with their injured friends, or leave them behind, in order to get help faster. …

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Mount St. Helens | Hell on Earth | 2 41:36

22d ago41:36

41:36

When Mount St. Helens erupts, Sue Ruff and her boyfriend Bruce Nelson are camping with four friends about 14 miles north of the volcano. They were told this was well out of range of any eruption, but soon they find themselves caught in a searing-hot cloud of ash and debris, fighting for their lives. Pre-order your copy of the new Against the Odds b…

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Mount St. Helens | Awakening | 1 43:55

29d ago43:55

43:55

In March 1980, after 120 years of dormancy, the volcano Mount St. Helens in Washington State begins showing signs of life. Scientists warn that a major eruption is coming, but they’re unable to completely block off access to the mountain. Some locals, like lodge owner Harry Truman, refuse to leave. And on May 18, when the volcano finally explodes, …

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Family Shipwrecked in Alaska | Keg Point | 4 38:36

1M ago38:36

38:36

It's March 10, 1979—24 days since their sailboat sank and 15 days since Elmo and Randy arrived at a remote cabin, trapped, powerless to save Cindy and Jena, and consumed by guilt and grief. Once they regain their strength and the snow begins to melt, they discover an old skiff on the beach. At last, Elmo and Randy set out to find the girls, and the…

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Family Shipwrecked in Alaska | The Cabin | 3 43:51

1M ago43:51

43:51

Elmo and his son Randy leave the girls behind, paddling ahead in their Sport-Yak to find help—but trouble continues to follow. Though they eventually reach the cabin, the CB radio doesn’t work, and as their frostbitten feet thaw, they can barely stand. Helpless, they spend days struggling to recover while miles away, Cindy and Jena remain alone on …

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Family Shipwrecked in Alaska | The Raft | 2 40:44

2M ago40:44

40:44

After a powerful storm destroys their sailboat and leaves them stranded on a remote Alaskan island, Elmo Wortman and his children build a raft, determined to reach a friend’s cabin 25 miles north. Elmo expects southeastern winds to carry them there in a day or two, but the journey is far harsher than he imagined. After several grueling days inching…

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Family Shipwrecked in Alaska | Home | 1 47:16

2M ago47:16

47:16

It’s February 13, 1979. Elmo Wortman and his three children are sailing home to Alaska across the frigid North Pacific after a routine orthodontist visit in Canada. But this time, they get caught in a freak storm—80-mile-per-hour winds and towering 20-foot swells rip their homemade sailboat apart, leaving them stranded on a remote island in the dea…

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Fallen on Mount Whitney | 1 46:41

2M ago46:41

46:41

In April of 1982, Jean Muenchrath and her boyfriend had nearly completed a 230-mile cross-country ski trip through California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. On the final day of their journey, they planned to hike the highest peak in the lower 48 states: Mount Whitney. But on the summit, the pair was engulfed in a blizzard and lightning storm. On this s…

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ENCORE: Rock Climbers Abducted | Breaking Free | 4 44:05

2M ago44:05

44:05

When the Americans finally act out and decide to fight for their lives, they’re left alone in an inhospitable mountain rage full of rebel militants and a trigger happy army. Far more than just a rescue mission, the climbers have to cross miles of treacherous terrain in the black of night with hopes that they won’t be mistaken for an insurgent milit…

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ENCORE: Rock Climbers Abducted | Fight or Flight | 3 41:51

3M ago41:51

41:51

Days without food or water start to weaken the young climbers as their captors push them further into the mountains and further from civilization. But their captors are starting to lose steam too. On a cold dark evening the Americans are left alone with only one of their kidnappers and it dawns on them: there won’t be many more moments where they m…

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ENCORE: Rock Climbers Abducted | Hostage Situation | 2 44:53

3M ago44:53

44:53

After being kidnapped by rebel militants in a remote region of Kyrgyzstan, four American rock climbers are forced at gunpoint toward the Uzbekistan border. But their captors are being trailed by the Kygyz army. Soon, the unwitting climbers find themselves in the middle of a firefight of epic proportions and they have to hide to stay alive. As night…

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ENCORE: Rock Climbers Abducted | Welcome to Paradise | 1 44:37

3M ago44:37

44:37

In August of the year 2000, four American rock climbers set out to explore the majesty of the Pamir Alai Mountain range in Kyrgyzstan. But only a week into their expedition, they’re taken captive by rebel militants. The group is forced to hike through brutal terrain under the cover of night to avoid detection by the Kyrgyz army. With little to no f…

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ENCORE: Stranded in Joshua Tree | 1 44:49

3M ago44:49

44:49

On May 22, 2018, Claire Nelson set out on what she thought would be a four-hour hike in Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park. An experienced hiker, Claire packed plenty of water and followed an established trail in a park visited by millions of people each year. But after taking a wrong turn, she slipped off a boulder and shattered her p…

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Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | Togo’s Descendants | 4 36:00

4M ago36:00

36:00

In honor of the 100-year anniversary of the Nome Serum Run, Maine musher Jonathan Nathaniel Hayes is recreating the run. And he’s doing it with a team descended directly from Leonhard Seppala’s original dogs. Today, Hayes joins host Mike Corey to talk about the inspiration and preparations to travel hundreds of frozen miles across Alaska. Hayes is …

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Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | The Final Miles | 3 41:39

4M ago41:39

41:39

With a blizzard gaining force, the Mayor of Nome decides the safest choice is to halt the relay, rather than risk losing lives and the serum itself. But the storm makes it hard to spread the news of the Mayor’s order. Musher Gunnar Kaasen and his unlikely lead dog Balto decide to push ahead, battling whiteout conditions and 80-mile-an-hour gusts in…

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Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | The Ice Factory | 2 43:08

4M ago43:08

43:08

The diphtheria outbreak in Nome is spreading fast as a relay of dogsled teams races across Alaska, carrying the only available medicine. Leonard Seppala knows that if he and his lead dog Togo take a shortcut across the frozen Norton Sound, they can shave off precious time and make it to Nome faster. But Seppala also knows he risks getting blown out…

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Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | Outbreak | 1 43:50

4M ago43:50

43:50

It’s the winter of 1925 and in the remote town of Nome, Alaska, children are dying from a diphtheria outbreak that’s spreading fast. But in the dead of winter, the town is nearly impossible to reach and its supply of medicine is dwindling. The only option is to send the medicine by dogsled, in a relay led by one of Alaska’s best mushers, Leonhard S…

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Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | The Bonds Forged by Wapiti 402 | 4 35:08

4M ago35:08

35:08

In 1984, Carol Shaben was just 22-years-old when her father, politician Larry Shaben, narrowly survived the Wapiti 402 crash. Nearly 30 years later, she chronicled the crash and the unlikely friendships it forged in her book, Into the Abyss. Today, Carol joins host Cassie De Pecol to discuss how the experience shaped the lives of the four survivors…

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Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Search and Rescue | 3 38:28

5M ago38:28

38:28

As the freezing night drags on, the four survivors of a plane crash in the remote Canadian wilderness are running out of things to burn. As hypothermia sets in and their injuries worsen, their spirits begin to falter. Meanwhile, rescuers battle brutal weather conditions in a desperate race to find them before it’s too late. See Privacy Policy at ht…

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Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Stranded | 2 44:26

5M ago44:26

44:26

The survivors of a plane crash in the remote Canadian wilderness free themselves from the wreckage and must rely on the only uninjured passenger among them—a prisoner who was being escorted to face charges—to survive the frigid conditions. Meanwhile, rescue teams scramble to locate the downed plane, but their search is hampered by the dense cloud c…

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Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Ice | 1 34:38

5M ago34:38

34:38

On an icy October night in 1984, a young, overworked pilot took off from Edmonton, Alberta, in a small commuter plane with nine passengers aboard, including a politician, a cop and his prisoner. Battling thick cloud cover and the accumulation of ice on the aircraft, the pilot misjudged his descent. Moments later, the plane collided with a hillside …

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Nine Days in the Desert | Return to the Marabout | 4 35:22

5M ago35:22

35:22

In his Netflix sports docuseries Losers, director Mickey Duzyj explores how people respond to failure in a culture where “winning is everything” – and how failure can sometimes lead to greater success. It’s not surprising then that Duzyj tackles Mauro Prosperi’s survival story, and the ripple effects his journey had on Mauro and his loved ones. Tod…