01;00;02;28 - 01;00;28;10
Speaker 1
You're listening to Where the Trail Ends podcast, chronicling my ongoing journey to find the truth about my missing friend and an explanation for the apparent evidence of UFOs they left behind. After years spent traveling the country, researching the UFO phenomenon, and interviewing experts and eyewitnesses, I was left with even more questions and decided to share my story and research with the public in the hopes that someone, somewhere, can provide the answers.

01;00;28;10 - 01;00;45;08
Speaker 1
I've been so desperately looking for.

01;00;45;11 - 01;01;00;28
Speaker 2
Disclaimer. In April of 2020, the U.S. government released three declassified videos of unexplained aerial phenomena taken by Navy personnel. In 2004 and 2015.

01;01;01;01 - 01;01;12;21
Unknown
So I'm asking Sky. Not going against going anywhere, but when I ask.

01;01;12;24 - 01;01;43;21
Speaker 2
Despite the unprecedented government disclosure acknowledging the existence of UFOs, much of society continues to dismiss those who have experienced and even recorded similar events. As a result, some of the names in this podcast have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

01;01;43;23 - 01;02;09;24
Speaker 1
I need your help. In 2018, two months after good friend of mine went missing, I discovered what I now believe to be evidence of UFOs that they left behind. Though I'd been a skeptic all my life, I had no choice but to take the phenomenon seriously. As I sought to find the truth about my friend's disappearance and an explanation for the evidence that was left in their wake.

01;02;09;27 - 01;02;34;27
Speaker 1
After several years spent researching UFOs, examining hundreds of hours of footage, and interviewing dozens of experts and eyewitnesses, I was left with even more questions and had run out of places to go looking for answers. Ironically, it was the government's disclosures that made me realize the time had come to tell my story through this podcast and ask for the public's help.

01;02;34;29 - 01;02;46;23
Speaker 1
Please, if you have any information or experiences related to any of the phenomenon mentioned in this podcast, email Where the Trail Ends podcast at gmail.com.

01;02;46;25 - 01;02;56;18
Speaker 1
Thank you.

01;02;56;20 - 01;03;17;07
Speaker 1
My friend Owen disappeared from his Springfield, Massachusetts home in the fall of 2018. He was last seen by a neighbor arriving home one night after work. Hours later, another neighbor would hear his car driving off in a hurry in the middle of the night.

01;03;17;10 - 01;03;37;00
Speaker 1
Several days later, when family members went to his home to check on him, they discovered the front door open and his cell phone and wallet left behind. They saw no evidence to suggest that Owen had packed for been planning a trip, and called the police.

01;03;37;02 - 01;04;06;12
Speaker 1
Two weeks later, his car would be discovered abandoned in a trailhead parking lot near Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest, with its windows, doors and sunroof open, adding to the mystery. Police quickly determined that had only been parked there for 24 hours or less. Authorities searched the area where his car was found, and friends and family continued the search for weeks, but they found no further clues or information about Owen's disappearance.

01;04;06;15 - 01;04;16;26
Speaker 1
I now believe it's because they were looking in the wrong place.

01;04;16;28 - 01;04;45;22
Speaker 1
I met Owen in 2011 when I was working at a small startup, and they took their employees for this day long guided hike and canoe trip and Owen was one of our tour guides. He had this amazing, gentle way about. I mean, you could tell that he loved being outdoors and was a true student of nature. As we hiked, he would point out all the edible plants and show us the animal tracks and tell us which animals made them.

01;04;45;24 - 01;05;08;21
Speaker 1
And he had this amazing way of just getting us all really excited about being outside that day. And then a couple of years later, in 2013, I was planning my brother's bachelor party and I knew that he wanted to go camping. So I tracked down Owen, and I hired him as our guide for that trip. And we had a great time.

01;05;08;21 - 01;05;30;00
Speaker 1
He was once again, you know, the consummate guy, just, knowledgeable, informative and patient. Considering we're all a little bit hung over that trip. And I remember at the end of the trip, he and I were talking, and he gave me this list of hikes to try in the in the weeks after that trip, I did one of those hikes, and then a couple weeks later I did another one.

01;05;30;00 - 01;06;00;04
Speaker 1
And I really just just developed this love of hiking and camping, thanks largely to Owen. And then, you know, it would be another four years before I would see Owen again. and it was the winter of 2017, and we just randomly crossed paths in this bar in upstate New York. By that time, you know, I've been hiking and camping on a number of times and was really like, pretty hardcore into it.

01;06;00;06 - 01;06;25;26
Speaker 1
And I thanked him for fostering my love of the outdoors. And I remember buying a beer just, just just to say thank you. And we just started talking about, you know, all the places that he'd hiked and the places that I started hiking. And then we decided that we would try to hike this trail up in New Hampshire, the black Angel trail in the White Mountains, and ended up exchanging our info and, you know, making a promise that that we'd get together as soon as we could.

01;06;25;28 - 01;06;45;28
Speaker 1
And that took us about six months. but we finally did end up making plans and meeting up for a weekend. And I remember I got to Owen's house the night before so we could get an early start the next day, but, I beat him home and he texted me saying, hey, is buddy next door? I had a spare key.

01;06;46;00 - 01;07;04;24
Speaker 1
So I went over and met the neighbor and going, and I just ended up hanging out and talking for hours that night. I just remember he just went into, like, his love of foraging and, and he made a promise that the next day he'd find, these fiddleheads for me to try, because I'd never tried fiddleheads. And so.

01;07;04;24 - 01;07;25;04
Speaker 1
And so the next morning, got up early, headed up to the mountains, set up our campground, and and had a great day of hiking. he did find fiddleheads, and he did make them for dinner, and they weren't bad. Then we just sat around the fire, talking for hours.

01;07;25;06 - 01;07;56;07
Speaker 1
At one point I got up to use the bathroom, and when I got back, he had gotten up and he, you know, was standing about 15ft away, kind of overlooking this, this pond that we'd camp near. And, you know, as I got closer, you know, there was a couple moments of silence and then he just kind of matter of factly just said, so I've been seeing these strange lights in the sky on my hikes recently.

01;07;56;09 - 01;08;37;08
Speaker 1
I remember I didn't say anything at first, and then I just kind of blurted out, oh, you mean like the Northern Lights? And he didn't say anything, and he just kind of turned around, and I remember the blank expression he had on his face, and I knew that he wasn't talking about the Northern lights. So then he proceeded to tell me about these two incidents that he had, in the months prior to our trip, on each occasion, you'd be out hiking and he would get this feeling of being watched, and then a few moments later would see this orb appear out of nowhere and would see it move around for a little bit before

01;08;37;08 - 01;08;39;29
Speaker 1
disappearing.

01;08;40;01 - 01;09;01;27
Speaker 1
And he said the first time it happened, it only lasted a few seconds, and then the second time was longer. It's like 15 seconds, and then it would split into two orbs before disappearing. I remember just taking a moment to just kind of process everything because, you know, it was weird for kind of a loner to hear it coming out of his mouth.

01;09;02;00 - 01;09;20;28
Speaker 1
Then I kind of, I remember asking like, did, did you just see something? Is that why you're bringing this up? And he said, no, he hadn't that evening. But, you know, just felt that I was someone that that he could trust with this, with this information. I remember at the time, like, I, you know, UFOs weren't even on my radar.

01;09;21;01 - 01;09;41;01
Speaker 1
I said, you know, I think you did see something real, but I don't really kind of believe in UFOs. And, you know, I need to either experience something myself or we need some kind of compelling proof. And he understood. And we just kind of left it at that and went back to hanging out.

01;09;41;03 - 01;09;59;14
Speaker 1
And, you know, stayed up a little, a little longer to talk and, you know, got up the next day as if nothing had happened and just did a small hike. I remember on the way back to Owens house, we made plans to do another hike as soon as you could. In this time. We wanted to do, it was a canoe trip in Maine.

01;09;59;14 - 01;10;19;12
Speaker 1
We wanted to do some backwoods canoeing and camping. And then we got to his house, and I got in my car, and he was standing on his steps. And as I drove off, we waved and. And that was the last time I saw on.

01;10;19;14 - 01;10;39;15
Speaker 1
We emailed back and forth for a couple of weeks, making plans, getting our gear list for this camping trip, and kind of figuring out where exactly we'd go. and then I just happened to twist my ankle on a hike, and that was it. And that was I was laid up for, for a couple of months because it was a pretty bad sprain.

01;10;39;17 - 01;10;53;21
Speaker 1
And, we kind of lost touch. I can't help but think that if we hadn't. Maybe Owen would still be here.

01;10;53;23 - 01;11;28;17
Speaker 1
I think for most people, what happened to Owen comes down to the night he was last seen. And what happened when his car was heard driving off in the middle of the night? Was it. Was it Owen who was driving off voluntarily or. Or was he somehow being taken somewhere by force? When his family checked his home, after not hearing from for a few days, they found a cell phone and wallet were still inside, and there was no evidence to suggest that he'd been planning a hike or trip, and maybe even more importantly, his outdoor gear at all of his equipment was still neatly stored.

01;11;28;19 - 01;11;42;21
Speaker 1
So all of this would suggest some sort of an unplanned departure. But his door was found unlocked and there was no sign of forced entry or missing items. So it wasn't a robbery.

01;11;42;24 - 01;11;58;24
Speaker 1
There was also no evidence of struggle, and Owen's neighbors hadn't heard any unusual sounds or voices coming from his house. So what then would compel over to leave, other than maybe by now for gunpoint?

01;11;58;26 - 01;12;24;26
Speaker 1
Well, the thing is that Springfield, Massachusetts, where Owen lived, was still fighting the opioid epidemic and had a high crime rate. So local police suspect that it would had surprised armed thieves trying to steal his car and was carjacked as a result. And they continued their investigation accordingly. his family and friends offered a reward and then put up fliers and canvased Springfield of the surrounding towns.

01;12;24;26 - 01;12;30;29
Speaker 1
But but they didn't end up uncovering any new clues or information.

01;12;31;01 - 01;12;43;10
Speaker 1
And then two weeks later, his car would be found 90 miles away in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Parked at a trailhead with its windows and doors wide open.

01;12;43;13 - 01;13;06;26
Speaker 1
And the police immediately started searching the area where the car was found, and his family and friends were were given this brief glimmer of hope. It had rained the night before, which washed away any evidence given the car had been left with its windows and doors open. Police were quickly able to determine that the car had been only parked there within 24 hours of being discovered.

01;13;06;29 - 01;13;29;09
Speaker 1
So either Owen had gone AWOL for two weeks before showing up in southern Vermont, or it was someone else who left his car there. The condition of the car was found in the location's proximity to I-91, a drug trafficking highway. All seemed to confirm the police's suspicions that no one had interrupted thieves trying to steal his car, and was likely kidnaped and killed as a result.

01;13;29;11 - 01;14;03;26
Speaker 1
His car, then abandoned in Vermont sometime later, they ended up calling off the search and rescue teams. After about 48 hours. But Owen's friends and family continued searching the Green Mountains for for several months before finally giving up hope. And this is where most people believe the trail for Owen ends.

01;14;03;28 - 01;14;26;03
Speaker 1
I found out that Owen was missing about a month after he was last seen, which was about two weeks after his car was discovered abandoned. After we'd spent the previous year out of touch, I was really looking forward to reaching out to him, reconnecting and getting back on track with our plans to go camping up in Maine. And I shot him an email and didn't hear back for a week.

01;14;26;03 - 01;14;53;05
Speaker 1
And then I followed up with another email and then ended up calling him, and his mailbox was full and, you know, two weeks time had passed and I finally just called his neighbor and was like, hey, have you seen Owen? Is everything cool? And that's when I found out the news that not only had only been missing for a month, but that police suspected he was already dead.

01;14;53;07 - 01;15;17;02
Speaker 1
I was just floored. We'd only hung out a handful of times in 7 or 8 years. We'd known each other. But. But I was convinced that we would be friends for life. And I felt guilty for. For not getting in touch sooner and and falling out of touch in the first place and and not hanging out with Owen more when I had the chance.

01;15;17;04 - 01;15;41;02
Speaker 1
And then I found out the details, the circumstances. And I just entered this state of denial. I just didn't make any sense to. Owen. Owen was levelheaded and methodical and extremely cautious. I didn't really see how he would just let himself get involved in a situation like that. I mean, if he heard someone trying to break into his car, he'd just call the police.

01;15;41;03 - 01;16;02;09
Speaker 1
He would try to confront them. Owen was just non-confrontational and and would always kind of do the right thing or the safe thing. What had struck me as weird since I found out the details of his disappearance was where his car was discovered, abandoned, and it was a trailhead parking lot. I couldn't help but think that he could have gone there on his own.

01;16;02;12 - 01;16;21;09
Speaker 1
So then I started thinking that maybe police had got something wrong. Or. Or maybe they missed some clue or just just didn't care enough. Then I started thinking about other possible explanations. Just. Just not wanting to believe that he was gone. Maybe Owen had some sort of a psychotic episode, and something triggered him to have this mental break, and he just.

01;16;21;09 - 01;16;31;17
Speaker 1
He just drove off. Two weeks later, I ended up in the woods and just escaped into the wilderness, you know, never to be found.

01;16;31;19 - 01;16;55;09
Speaker 1
Then about a week and a half after finding out, I kind of just more or less accepted the police's explanation. You know, I knew that the city that he lived in had a particular history with drug related crime, and I just kind of resolved myself to the fact that that Owen was gone. And, it was a good to see him again.

01;16;55;11 - 01;17;19;08
Speaker 1
And then kind of a few days after I had made this realization, I was going through my phone, you know, just going through, old text messages from Owen, and I randomly checked voicemail, and I saw that I had this unplayed message from him and quickly realized that it was left about a week and a half before he was reported missing.

01;17;19;11 - 01;17;36;24
Speaker 1
And when I listened to it. It changed everything.

01;17;36;26 - 01;18;08;16
Speaker 1
Thank you for listening to episode one of the Where the Trail Ends podcast. Please help me by subscribing and sharing this podcast with others. If you have information about or have experienced any of the phenomenon mentioned in this podcast, please email Where the Trail Ends podcast at gmail.com. On the next episode of Where the Trail Ends, an overlooked voicemail leads me to a shocking discovery that starts me on my search for the truth about my missing friend and the apparent evidence of UFOs they left behind.