Podcasts · Society & Culture · History

Against The Odds

Audible

296 episodes · in order

Humans are resilient. In our toughest moments, we will fight, we will struggle, and we will triumph...often against the odds.

More about the show

In this immersive series, host-adventurers Mike Corey and Cassie De Pecol will share thrilling stories of survival. From the daring rescue of a soccer team trapped in an underwater cave in Thailand, to a woman taken hostage by Somali pirates, these stories made headlines around the world. AGAINST THE ODDS will make you feel as though you’re living these experiences with our heroes as they push themselves to their limits.

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Against The Odds ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.

Episodes page 4 of 6

  1. Johnstown Flood | Fire on the Water | 4

    · 48 min · S36 E4

    After the flood leaves many Johnstown residents trapped by debris and fighting for their lives, several oil slicks from leaking industrial equipment catch fire, igniting a deadly inferno. Sixteen-year-old Victor Heiser…

  2. Johnstown Flood | Prepare for the Worst | 5

    · 35 min · S36 E5

    National Park Ranger Doug Bosley’s existence hinges on a few dangerous seconds in the life of his great-great grandfather, William Pickerill. On May 31, 1889, Pickerill worked as a telegraph operator down the valley…

  3. Buried Alive | Taken | 1

    · 42 min · S37 E1

    It’s December, 1968, and 20-year-old Emory University student Barbara Mackle is taken at gunpoint from the Atlanta motel room she’s sharing with her mother. Her two kidnappers drug her and then drive her to a remote…

  4. Buried Alive | The Box | 2

    · 43 min · S37 E2

    Drugged and sick with flu, Barbara Mackle begs her kidnappers not to bury her underground. But soon she’s sealed inside a cramped wooden box, and can hear dirt being shoveled onto the lid. Meanwhile, a mysterious…

  5. Buried Alive | The Drop | 3

    · 44 min · S37 E3

    Barbara’s father, Robert Mackle, has gathered $500,000 in 20-dollar bills into a suitcase. Then, following the kidnappers’ instructions, he goes by himself to the drop site – an abandoned causeway in Miami. But when he…

  6. Buried Alive | The Chase | 4

    · 44 min · S37 E4

    It’s been days since Barbara Mackle has been buried alive in the cold Georgia clay. She has no idea how long the battery that keeps fresh air circulating into her wooden capsule will last. She's beginning to despair…

  7. Buried Alive | The Elusive Gary Krist | 5

    · 35 min · S37 E5

    Atlanta-based journalist Steve Fennessy began researching Gary Steven Krist’s past for an article he was writing for Atlanta Magazine back in 2006. The assignment took him on a deep dive into Krist’s life, from his…

  8. BONUS: When Animals Attack with Tooth & Claw | 6

    · 45 min · S37 E6

    On this special episode of Against the Odds, wildlife biologist and host of the podcast Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks, Wes Larson, joins Mike Corey to share some of the wildest animal encounters he’s…

  9. Encore: Meltdown at Fukushima | Triple Disaster | 1

    · 47 min · S38 E1

    In March 2011, one of the largest earthquakes in history struck eastern Japan, followed by a massive tsunami. This one-two punch then caused a third disaster—a total loss of power at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power…

  10. Encore: Meltdown at Fukushima | Pressure | 2

    · 42 min · S38 E2

    Crippled by a tsunami of unprecedented scale, one of the reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in danger of melting down. To save it, workers must do the unthinkable: Vent radioactive steam into…

  11. Encore: Meltdown at Fukushima | Collapse | 3

    · 45 min · S38 E3 · Explicit

    Now contending with multiple damaged reactors, engineers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant hatch a series of increasingly desperate plans to prevent a total meltdown. But several explosions and the loss of vital…

  12. Encore: Meltdown at Fukushima | The Devil's Chain Reaction | 4

    · 45 min · S38 E4 · Explicit

    After a week of unrelenting disasters—and with Tokyo itself now under threat—the managers of the Fukushima nuclear power plant are forced to evacuate all but the most essential staff. But with the help of an elite…

  13. Voyage to the North Pole | Arctic Dreams | 1

    · 45 min · S39 E1

    In July 1879, 33 men set sail aboard USS Jeannette on a two-year mission to become the first humans to reach the North Pole. Though many other expeditions have failed, Captain George De Long is confident that a warm…

  14. Voyage to the North Pole | Icebound | 2

    · 44 min · S39 E2

    It’s September 1879 and the crew of USS Jeannette encounters pack ice that’s thicker than they expected, due to unseasonably cold weather. Captain George De Long is at a loss for how to push through it until the ship’s…

  15. Voyage to the North Pole | Crushed | 3

    · 44 min · S39 E3

    Trapped in polar pack ice, the crew of USS Jeannette settle in for a long, dark winter. As the temperature drops and the ice floes press against her sides, the ship risks suffering grave damage. Morale drops, as the…

  16. Voyage to the North Pole | The Skeleton Pack | 4

    · 47 min · S39 E4

    It’s June 1881, and USS Jeannette has been crushed between ice floes and sunk to the bottom of the Arctic Sea. The crew now find themselves stranded on the ice, a thousand miles from Siberia, the nearest inhabited…

  17. Voyage to the North Pole | Siberia | 5

    · 49 min · S39 E5

    After months of trekking across the polar ice, the crew of USS Jeannette finally reach open water. Now, they must endure a harrowing ocean crossing in three small, leaky boats to reach Siberia, where they hope to make…

  18. Voyage to the North Pole | Finding USS Jeannette | 6

    · 37 min · S39 E6

    When author and historian Hampton Sides was deep into researching another polar expedition, he stumbled upon the tragic journey of USS Jeannette. He couldn’t believe Captain De Long’s voyage wasn’t common knowledge.…

  19. Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Mountain Madness | 1

    · 47 min · S40 E1

    In May 1996, two expert mountaineers and their clients set off to climb the world’s tallest peak — Mount Everest. Many of the clients have no high altitude experience and have paid upwards of $65,000 to be guided up…

  20. Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Top of the World | 2

    · 44 min · S40 E2

    As the climbers make their final push for the summit, time is of the essence. They must make it to the top before 2 p.m. to ensure they get back to camp before dark. But due to delays, most of them don’t reach the…

  21. Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Descent Into Darkness | 3

    · 40 min · S40 E3

    As the climbers descend from the summit, it becomes a race against time to get back to camp before dark. But a severe blizzard slows their progress to a crawl, and altitude sickness starts to take hold. Some climbers…

  22. Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Frozen | 4

    · 51 min · S40 E4

    After a severe blizzard engulfs Mount Everest on May 10th, fifteen people are left stranded on the mountain, unable to find their way back to camp, or too weak to even try. In the early hours of May 11th, rescue…

  23. Everest '96: Trapped in the Death Zone | Big Business | 5

    · 36 min · S40 E5

    When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summited Mount Everest in 1953, high-altitude climbing was only done by the most elite mountaineers. But that changed in the early 1990s, when veteran climbers began leading…

  24. In Their Own Words: Bitten by a Rattlesnake | 1

    · 39 min · S41 E1

    On a warm day in April 2017, Outside Magazine writer Kyle Dickman was hiking near Yosemite National Park with his family and infant son. But in an instant, the idyllic day turned south. Kyle felt a quick whap above his…

  25. Piper Alpha: Oil Rig Disaster | The Leak | 1

    · 43 min · S42 E1

    On July 6th, 1988, workers clock in to a typical night shift aboard Piper Alpha, the world’s largest offshore oil rig, in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. Then, around 10 p.m., a series of mistakes leads to a…

  26. Piper Alpha: Oil Rig Disaster | Inferno | 2

    · 39 min · S42 E2

    After an explosion rocks the Piper Alpha oil rig, a huge, smoky fire begins to spread, taking down the rig’s power supply and communications equipment. Workers hurry to their evacuation stations, and a state-of-the-art…

  27. Piper Alpha: Oil Rig Disaster | Explosions | 3

    · 42 min · S42 E3

    As the fire continues to rage on Piper Alpha, rescuers in small motorboats race to get workers off the burning oil rig. Diver Ed Punchard has his men climb down a rope to safety, while electrician Bob Ballantyne tries…

  28. Piper Alpha: Oil Rig Disaster | Collapse | 4

    · 46 min · S42 E4

    At 10:52pm, Piper Alpha is hit by the biggest explosion yet. Soon, the rig begins to break apart and tumble into the ocean, dooming the men still trapped inside. Meanwhile, rescuers like Z-boat commander James McNeill…

  29. Piper Alpha: Oil Rig Disaster | A Survivor Remembers | 5

    · 36 min · S42 E5

    Diver Ed Punchard loved his job and the people on Piper Alpha, even if it meant working on a noisy rig for weeks at a time, far out in the North Sea. Being part of a dive team meant everyone trained hard and relied on…

  30. Encore: USS Indianapolis: Disaster at Sea I Abandon Ship | 1

    · 44 min · S43 E1

    In the final weeks of World War II, the Navy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the middle of the Philippine Sea. The nine hundred survivors found themselves stranded in the…

  31. Encore: USS Indianapolis: Disaster at Sea I Troubled Waters | 2

    · 43 min · S43 E2

    The nine hundred men who survived the torpedo attack on the U.S.S. Indianapolis are either drifting in the sea, fighting strong currents and swells, or clinging to rafts. They’re at the mercy of the ocean, hundreds of…

  32. Encore: USS Indianapolis: Disaster at Sea I Holding On | 3

    · 42 min · S43 E3

    It’s been two days since U.S.S. Indianapolis sank, and the number of survivors is dwindling. They’re being picked off by sharks, and driven insane by sleep deprivation, dehydration, and saltwater poisoning. As they…

  33. Encore: USS Indianapolis: Disaster at Sea I Rescued | 4

    · 44 min · S43 E4

    By sheer chance, an American bomber pilot on a routine test flight has spotted the survivors of U.S.S. Indianapolis, who have been floating in the middle of the Philippine Sea for over three days. But rescuing them…

  34. Encore: K2 - The Savage Mountain | Summit Fever | 1

    · 40 min · S44 E1

    In the summer of 2008, mountaineers from eight different countries gather at the foot of the world’s second tallest mountain, K2. All of them have a single goal: reach the summit. But to do that they will need to…

  35. Encore: K2 - The Savage Mountain I The Death Zone | 2

    · 43 min · S44 E2

    An international group of climbers are close to summiting one of the world’s tallest, and most dangerous, mountains. Their goal was to reach the peak by mid-afternoon and get down before dark when temperatures drop to…

  36. Encore: K2 - The Savage Mountain I The Final Descent | 3

    · 49 min · S44 E3

    Unforeseen conditions have put the world's strongest climbers to the test as they battle their way down the mountain. Before it’s over, the savage mountain will bring on more avalanches and below-zero temperatures.…

  37. Whakaari: Eruption on White Island | A Perfect Day | 1

    · 39 min · S45 E1

    On December 9, 2019, 47 tourists and guides set off to visit New Zealand’s most active volcano — Whakaari / White Island — located 30 miles off the country’s north coast. Visitors are amazed as they hike up to the edge…

  38. Whakaari: Eruption on White Island | Hell on Earth | 2

    · 38 min · S45 E2

    As a wave of burning steam, ash and debris rolls down toward the shore, 47 tourists and guides sprint for cover, but there is no avoiding the blast. Meanwhile, a boat full of tourists that just left White Island…

  39. Whakaari: Eruption on White Island | A Long Way Home | 3

    · 46 min · S45 E3

    Aboard the Phoenix, the boat carrying many of the survivors back to the mainland, passengers tend to the wounded, who are suffering now from shock in the wake of their terrible burns. Back on White Island, Mark Law and…

  40. Whakaari: Eruption on White Island | Dad and Daughter Remember | 4

    · 33 min · S45 E4

    On December 9, 2019, Pastor Geoff Hopkins and his 22-year-old daughter, Lillani, visited Whakaari/White Island to celebrate Geoff’s 50th birthday—a long-held dream. But as their boat began its return to the mainland,…

  41. Nine Days in the Desert I The Race | 1

    · 44 min · S46 E1

    It’s April 14, 1994, and an Italian policeman and ultramarathoner named Mauro Prosperi is running the world’s most challenging footrace: the Marathon des Sables, across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. But when a…

  42. Nine Days in the Desert I Delirium | 2

    · 41 min · S46 E2

    Mauro Prosperi wakes up alone and lost in the middle of the Sahara Desert. He’s forced to drink his own urine, and tries and fails to attract the attention of a rescue plane by burning his belongings. Finally, he takes…

  43. Nine Days in the Desert I The Finish Line | 3

    · 43 min · S46 E3

    Mauro Prosperi has lost count of how many days he’s been lost. In despair, he attempts to take his own life. But when he wakes up still alive, he decides he has to keep going – even if that means climbing over a…

  44. Nine Days in the Desert | Return to the Marabout | 4

    · 35 min · S46 E4

    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…

  45. Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Ice | 1

    · 35 min · S47 E1

    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…

  46. Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Stranded | 2

    · 44 min · S47 E2

    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…

  47. Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | Search and Rescue | 3

    · 38 min · S47 E3

    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.…

  48. Crashed in the Canadian Wilderness | The Bonds Forged by Wapiti 402 | 4

    · 35 min · S47 E4

    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…

  49. Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | Outbreak | 1

    · 44 min · S48 E1

    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…

  50. Nome Serum Run: Race Against Death | The Ice Factory | 2

    · 43 min · S48 E2

    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…

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.