The Dirtbag Diaries · Duct Tape Then Beer

Tales of Terror Vol. 15

October 25, 2024·34 min·2 clips

Four teenagers sheltering from Alaskan wind in a glacial kettle looked up to find six wolves silently watching them from the rim — and had only ice axes to defend themselves.

1. The Dirtbag Diaries presents its annual Tales of Terror episode, a collection of three first-person horror stories from outdoor adventurers. 2. Host Fitz Cajal opens the episode with a personal anecdote: on an anniversary mountain bike ride with his partner Becca, he spotted what appeared to be a motionless man in the woods 100 feet away, which turned out to be a scarecrow made from a hooded rain jacket draped over a tree with branches inserted into the arms. 3. The episode's core premise is that wilderness encounters with the unexplained are a recurring part of outdoor life — and that the annual Tales of Terror format creates a space for those stories. 4. Emma Palmer, the first storyteller, describes a solo walk on an unfamiliar trail at a waterfall in Ithaca, New York during a college visit, where she ended up at a crumbling stone wall overlooking a gorge with no way to reach the main trail. 5. At that isolated overlook, Palmer felt an overwhelming presence — described as a 'figure, tall and looming' approaching from behind despite no sound of footsteps and her back being to the gorge — that held her physically in place. 6. The presence lowered itself to her ear and spoke two syllables before releasing her; she runs up the hill, into the car, and tells her mother to drive, without explaining what happened because she feared telling the story might allow it to follow them. 7. Evan Phillips, the second storyteller, describes a 1993 trip to Mount Monarch in Alaska's Talkeetna Mountains with three friends he met in a behavioral treatment program — their first serious mountain climb as a group. 8. While sheltering from 20-30 mph winds in a glacial kettle depression near the summit, Phillips and his friends noticed six wolves silently watching them from the rim approximately 150 feet above, appearing one by one over roughly 30 seconds. 9. Phillips draws a direct comparison to two other near-death experiences in his life — being swept away in a river crossing and being caught in an avalanche — framing this wolf encounter as carrying a similar 'this is out of my control' terror. 10. The wolves held their position for approximately one minute before each silently disappearing one by one; Phillips speculates they had likely been tracking the group all day and chose not to engage. 11. Jeremy Allen, the third and final storyteller, describes a solo ski tour near Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades around the year 2000, in an area where there had been no foot or ski traffic for weeks. 12. While touring through mature forest with his head down, Allen looked up to find himself surrounded by an extensive installation: hanging silverware, sticks of varying sizes, moss tied with twine, ragged dolls, and large bones he describes as potentially femur-sized across many trees. 13. Allen estimates the scene would have taken a group of people a very long time to set up, and the installation appeared to have been in place for some time, which he found particularly disturbing given the remoteness of the location. 14. He immediately removed his ski skins and left, feeling watched throughout his exit from the area; he speculates the site may have been a pagan ritual space. 15. Two to three years after Allen's ritual site discovery, his geologist partner Genie and a park colleague were on a multi-day landform mapping trip in the Upper Baker Lake drainage when they found two human-scale graves with stick-and-rock headstones on a remote sandbar. 16. Both Genie and her colleague reported feeling watched throughout the trip; on their return through the same area, two additional open graves — without headstones, just holes — had been dug next to the original pair. 17. Allen emphasizes that Genie is a science-minded, practical person not prone to superstition, and describes her as 'completely beside herself' when recounting the discovery. 18. The episode's tone is conversational and campfire-style, with each account narrated in the first person; the production relies on atmospheric music from artists including Kyangle, Field, Square Wave, Trove, and Aiden Baker rather than sound design recreations. 19. Listeners who enjoy first-person wilderness horror stories and unexplained encounter accounts told without resolution will find this episode genuinely unsettling. 20. Listeners seeking outdoor adventure stories with clear explanations or practical takeaways, or those who dislike supernatural content, may not enjoy this episode.

As heard by us

Remote rides, wind-scoured peaks, and bad cell service turn outdoor adventure into slow-burn unease.

Tales of Terror Vol. 15 takes the Dirtbag Diaries' annual outdoor-scare format into familiar backcountry terrain, where the mood can turn fast.

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Why you'd press play

You want a mountain-bike story that starts sunny and ends with your shoulders up.

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