About this episode
Staying at This Cabin Was a Big Mistake In the mid-1960s, a financially struggling family from Ely, Nevada, was offered the use of a friend's ramshackle cabin in the Great Basin near Baker, Nevada. The isolated, one-room cabin lacked electricity and running water, with minimal furnishings like plywood-covered bed frames and a makeshift dining table. Despite its condition, the family—parents and four daughters—enjoyed their stays, cherishing the wilderness, a nearby creek they dammed for a pool, and a playful badger that raced their car. They hiked to an abandoned garnet mine, though the garnets were small and rough. In 1971, after staying with their grandparents, the daughters were excited to return to the cabin. During the drive, they teased their mother about Bigfoot, prompted by a National Enquirer article, unaware of her unease. Upon arrival, they found the back door violently torn off and the interior littered with leaves and mud, which they attributed to careless hunters. They cleaned up and stayed, but their mother remained anxious, staying awake all night by the fire. A sudden wind gust during a light snowfall heightened the tension, flapping a plastic sheet covering the doorless entry. The family left the next day and never returned. Years later, in 2020, the now-elderly mother, bedridden with dementia, revealed to her daughter a terrifying incident from a previous cabin visit with her husband, when they were alone. Something large and heavy circled the cabin at night, trying doors and windows, causing intense fear. They fled at dawn, seeing a tall, shadowy figure zigzag through the trees. The mother’s fear explained her anxiety during the 1971 trip, especially seeing the damaged cabin, yet she stayed to avoid disappointing her daughters. Years later, she and her husband found the cabin in worse condition, with both doors torn off and the heavy iron stove ripped out and discarded in a ditch, an act difficult to attribute to humans given the remote location and the stove’s weight. The family’s experiences left a lasting impression, blending fond memories with an unsettling mystery. Join my Supporters Club for $4.99 per month for exclusive stories: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/what-if-it-s-true-podcast--5445587/support