Stolen Hearts: What To Listen To Next: This Is Actually Happening

Hey listeners, thank you for listening to Stolen Hearts, we really hope you enjoyed it.

If you did, we have another podcast we think you should check out. It's called This Is

Actually Happening. Hosted by Whit Misteldine, This Is Actually Happening is a podcast from

Wondery that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the

people who lived them. From a man who was attacked by a grizzly bear to a woman who

survived a notorious serial killer, you're here at their intimate first-person accounts

of what happened and how they overcame remarkable circumstances. These are riveting stories that

will stick with you long after you listen, exploring the question, what happens when

everything changes? I'm about to play a clip from This Is Actually Happening. While you're

listening, follow This Is Actually Happening wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Prime

members, you can listen, ad-free, on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.

So that morning I got on my truck, threw my backpack on. I started to make the ride into

the mountains down this old dirt road and I got down to where the Outfitters campus

set up. Normally there's this older gentleman sitting there with his binoculars, the little

book, and while he wasn't there this time, so it was very unusual. Didn't really think

much of it, so I kept on going. From where the Outfitters camp is to further down the

trail, it was all washed out. There was really no trail. You kind of had to eyeball it. Got

back onto the main trail again and was riding my bike up this steep part of the trail, up

a mountain a little bit. There's this rock here. It had grass and moss and a little

spruce tree on it. It was like the perfect place to camp. My plan was to go into the

very back bolt, which is about another two to three kilometers from there into the back.

I was just going 10 feet at a time, really looking because I wanted to see the sheep

before the sheep saw me. I got 200 yards, 300 yards, and I spotted the sheep. And then

I went to reposition. I took my binoculars down and I repositioned. As I brought my

binoculars down, I saw a little brown thing run in front of me, 10 feet away. Right away

I knew what it was. I knew it was a cub. I then reached down into my backpack, which

was, I had leaned against the frame of my bicycle to grab my bear spray. As I was reaching

in, I heard a branch break behind me over my right shoulder. And there was mama. She

was about four feet away. Her left front paw was stretched right out. I could see her claws.

I could see her eyes, the white corners of her eyes. Her mouth was open. She was in a

full charge. I only had a split second to react. So I took a step to my left and I grabbed

my bicycle and I just dropped it in front of her. Her head went through the frame of

the bicycle. Left paw got caught in the back wheel and her front paw was caught in the

front wheel and she was tossing, shaking her head around. I grabbed my pack. I can remember

she shook that bike off and she came right for me and I smashed my pack right in her

nose and her face. She grabbed it, started violently shaking it. And then she let go

and I picked the pack up and I smashed it over her head and just pushing her back with

the pack. She grabbed my right hand through the frame of the pack, her jaws clamped right

through, teeth went right through my hand and into the pack. I kind of hurt. She let

go and then I was smashing her with the other side and then she just kind of started to

back up, turn and walk away. I started to back up, holding my pack. I was trying to get

my gun off of the back of my pack. I was watching her and trying to get my gun off. I took

my eyes off her for a second to unclip one of the clips that was holding my gun and as

I lift my head back up, she had turned around. She was coming back towards me. I threw the

pack at her in her face and then I decided to go run up the mountain side. So I probably

got a good hundred feet or so up the hillside. I found a tree, grabbed it, kind of jumped

off the higher end of the hill, got onto the tree. I was climbing up the tree and I can

just hear her coming behind me, huffing, huff, huff. She was fast. I was climbing up the

tree and I had my left leg up pretty high. I was pushing myself up with my left leg and

my right leg was hanging low. She stood up on her hind end and she wrapped her two front

legs around my right leg, holding it down to her and then I just remember her guiding

my leg into her mouth. Just looking down, holding on to the tree going, this is going

to hurt. Her teeth sunken right behind my knee. I could see her teeth, canines on either

side of my kneecap. She crouched right behind my leg and just grabbed a hold and I remember

looking down going, why is this not hurting? And then she just yanked with her head straight

down and just plucked me out of the tree like nothing.

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.