Podcasts · Society & Culture · History

Against The Odds

Audible

297 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.

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Episodes page 6 of 6

  1. FAN FAVORITE: Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping | Vanished | 1

    · 42 min · S66 E1

    In the summer of 1976, three masked gunmen hijack a school bus full of children in rural Chowchilla, California. The twenty-six kids and their bus driver are driven to a quarry and buried alive. Back in town, no one…

  2. FAN FAVORITE: Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping | Buried Alive | 2

    · 41 min · S66 E2

    The kidnapped children and their bus driver are trapped underground in the back of a moving truck, and they’re running out of food and water. They decide the only way out is to dig their way to the surface. Meanwhile,…

  3. Madre de Dios: Stranded in the Amazon | Delayed Honeymoon | 1

    · 44 min · S67 E1

    In 1973, American newlyweds Fitz and Holly FitzGerald travel to Peru, hoping to ride a riverboat down the wild Madre de Dios River on their way to Bolivia — and ultimately, the Amazon. But from the start, nothing goes…

  4. Madre de Dios: Stranded in the Amazon | Dead End | 2

    · 48 min · S67 E2

    Fitz and Holly FitzGerald set out on their handmade raft, the Pink Palace, drifting down the Madre de Dios under sparkling sunlight. But when night falls, everything changes. After a tense encounter at the border, a…

  5. Madre de Dios: Stranded in the Amazon | Still Waters | 3

    · 48 min · S67 E3

    More than a week into their ordeal, Fitz and Holly FitzGerald are trapped deep in a jungle swamp. Jaguars scream in the night, insects ravage their skin, and starvation is taking hold. With no way out by raft, they’re…

  6. Schoolchildren's Blizzard | No Warning | 1

    · 40 min · S68 E1

    In the 1800s millions of people moved to the American midwest, drawn by promises of cheap, fertile land. But they were caught unprepared in January 1888, when a cold front swept down from Canada and caused a brutal…

  7. Schoolchildren's Blizzard | Into the Swirling White | 2

    · 41 min · S68 E2

    On January 12th, 1888, residents of the Dakota Territory and Nebraska woke to an unseasonably warm day. Farmers took advantage of the mild weather to tend to chores and children headed off to school in light jackets.…

  8. Schoolchildren's Blizzard | Exposed | 3

    · 34 min · S68 E3

    As the blizzard raged, its winds blew up to 60 miles per hour. Those caught out in the storm faced white-out conditions. With few landmarks on the flat prairie, even residents who knew the area well found themselves…

  9. Schoolchildren's Blizzard | The Frozen Remains | 4

    · 42 min · S68 E4

    By the morning of January 13th, 1888, the blizzard had passed, and a frantic search for survivors began. Farmer Johann Albrecht looked for his missing son, and Wilhelm Woebbecke hunted for his foster daughter Lena.…

  10. Schoolchildren's Blizzard | Not Forgotten | 5

    · 37 min · S68 E5

    Early settlers to the Midwest were accustomed to harsh winters, but the blizzard that hit the Great Plains on January 12th, 1888 caught thousands of pioneer families off guard. The storm was especially brutal for…

  11. FAN FAVORITE: Alaska Bear Attack | In Defense of Life and Property | 1

    · 47 min · S69 E1

    The residents of Haines, Alaska are used to living alongside bears. The region surrounding their small town has one of the densest bear populations in the world. But as climate change curtails the bears’ natural food…

  12. FAN FAVORITE: Alaska Bear Attack | Three Long Hours | 2

    · 48 min · S69 E2

    After Bart Pieciul is mauled by a bear in the Alaska wilderness, his friends have to use all of their outdoor knowledge to keep him alive. The three men are stranded in the mountains for hours, waiting for a Coast…

  13. In Their Own Words: Chris Lemons – Deep Sea Diving Crisis | 1

    · 38 min · S70 E1

    In 2012, Chris Lemons had a bright future ahead, with a fiancee and a good job fixing oil infrastructure on the ocean floor. One night in September, he went to work on a pipe about 300 feet beneath the North Sea. But,…

  14. Lightning Strike on Half Dome | The Storm | 1

    · 39 min · S71 E1

    On the evening of July 27, 1985, a group of friends decided to ignore gathering storm clouds and warnings as they climbed to the top of Yosemite’s famous Half Dome. Climbers Adrian Esteban and Tom Rice reached the…

  15. Lightning Strike on Half Dome | Survive the Night | 2

    · 50 min · S71 E2

    As the hikers slowly regain consciousness, they realize the worst has happened: they’ve been struck by lightning. By chance, a pair of EMTs finds their way to the summit in time to help. But they soon realize that if…

  16. WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | An Act of War | 1

    · 47 min · S72 E1

    It’s the Depression and twenty-three-year-old-Dorothy Still is desperate for a job. She joins the US Navy as a nurse, and by 1941, she’s given a dream posting at an American base in the Philippines. Dorothy lives in a…

  17. WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | Captured | 2

    · 42 min · S72 E2

    After Japan invades the Philippines, the twelve Navy nurses find themselves imprisoned at a military hospital turned P.O.W. camp. They make the best of it, continuing to tend to their patients, confident that the…

  18. WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | The Devil You Know | 3

    · 50 min · S72 E3

    Desperate to get away from the sadistic commandant in charge of their P.O.W. camp, the twelve Navy nurses, who call themselves the Twelve Anchors, agree to transfer to a new camp. It’s called Los Baños and it’s located…

  19. WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | A Taste of Freedom | 4

    · 46 min · S72 E4

    Conditions at the Los Baños camp are deteriorating. More and more prisoners have been transferred there, leading to overcrowding, and rations have been cut to under 1,000 calories per day. Prisoners are resorting to…

  20. WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | A Risky Plan | 5

    · 47 min · S72 E5

    The rations at the Los Baños P.O.W. camp are now down to just 400 calories per day. Every day, the nurses tend to patients who die from starvation. They don’t know how much longer they can hold on. Unbeknownst to them,…

  21. WWII Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | The "Battling Belles" of Bataan | 6

    · 37 min · S72 E6

    The capture of American nurses in the Philippines is often described as an “untold story” of WWII; Dr. Elizabeth Norman set out to change that. She conducted extensive interviews with 20 of the 77 nurses who were…

  22. In Their Own Words: Slipped Off a Glacier | 1

    · 48 min · S73 E1

    In July of 2025, climate reporter Alec Luhn was in his element hiking around a glacier in Norway’s Folgefonna National Park. But when Alec slipped off a boulder and broke his leg, he found himself unable to move and…

  23. Coast Guard Rescue on Alaska's High Seas | Black Line | 1

    · 47 min · S74 E1

    On January 30, 1998, five fishermen finally hit the jackpot in a fishing bank known as Fairweather Ground off the southeastern coast of Alaska. They were aboard a wooden ship called the La Conte, which had seen better…

  24. Coast Guard Rescue on Alaska's High Seas | Rogue Wave | 2

    · 44 min · S74 E2

    Forced to abandon the La Conte, the five fishermen — Bob Doyle, Mark Morley, Mike DeCapua, Giggy Mork and David Hanlon — find themselves at the mercy of towering waves and galeforce winds as they float in the frigid…

  25. Coast Guard Rescue on Alaska's High Seas | Hanging On | 3

    · 49 min · S74 E3

    With two helicopter teams exhausted and out of fuel after hours of failed attempts, the Coast Guard was forced to send out a third and final team to try to pluck the stranded fishermen from the icy waters. With no…

  26. Coast Guard Rescue on Alaska's High Seas | A Pilot Remembers | 4

    · 36 min · S74 E4

    When Coast Guard pilot Steve Torpey got called into work on a Friday night back in January, 1998, he had no idea he was heading into the most challenging flight of his career. At that point, two Coast Guard helicopters…

  27. FAN FAVORITE: Crash in a Volcano | Into the Crater | 1

    · 43 min · S75 E1

    In November 1992, a Hollywood camera crew soars above Hawaii’s Kīlauea, one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, to capture footage for a major feature film. But suddenly their helicopter’s engine cuts out, and…

  28. FAN FAVORITE: Crash in a Volcano | Climbing Out | 2

    · 43 min · S75 E2

    Rescue workers search for the camera crew trapped inside Kilauea’s Pu’u O’o crater, but they’re forced to abandon their efforts when an incoming storm makes conditions too hazardous. Cameramen Chris Duddy and Mike…

  29. Nightmare in Tornado Alley | Storm Watch | 1

    · 48 min · S76 E1

    On May 20, 2013, residents of Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, awoke to a severe weather watch. But no one was overly concerned. Tornadoes are a fact of life in the Midwest, especially in Moore, which had already…

  30. Nightmare in Tornado Alley | It's Here | 2

    · 46 min · S76 E2

    As a massive mile-wide tornado approaches the town of Moore, Oklahoma, meteorologist Gary England warns viewers to take shelter wherever they can. For principal Amy Simpson and the students and faculty of Plaza Towers…

  31. Nightmare in Tornado Alley | What Remains | 3

    · 51 min · S76 E3

    When the tornado finally passes, survivors crawl from the wreckage to find their town in ruins. A shaken Gary England and his team at KWTV report on the destruction. First responders claw through mountains of rubble…

  32. Nightmare in Tornado Alley | The Aftermath With Journalist Holly Bailey | 4

    · 37 min · S76 E4

    Journalist Holly Bailey returned to Moore, Oklahoma on May 21st, 2013, the day after an EF5 tornado ripped through the city. As a child, she attended school in Moore, but now, the place looked unrecognizable, with cars…

  33. In Their Own Words: Andrew Cotton — Wipeout at Nazaré | 1

    · 38 min · S77 E1

    Professional big wave surfer Andrew Cotton — “Cotty” — discovered he had a knack for riding waves that most other surfers wouldn’t dream of tackling. His journey took him around the globe, from California to Hawaii,…

  34. FAN FAVORITE: Fire at Sea: Cruise Ship Rescue | The Blaze | 1

    · 42 min · S78 E1

    In October of 1980, the luxury cruise ship Prinsendam set sail from Vancouver with more than 300 passengers aboard, many of whom were elderly. But just after midnight on the cruise’s fourth day, in the Gulf of Alaska,…

  35. FAN FAVORITE: Fire at Sea: Cruise Ship Rescue | Dead in the Water | 2

    · 39 min · S78 E2

    As crew members aboard Prinsendam work to contain the fire, passengers shiver on the decks in the cold night air. The mood is mostly festive; everyone expects that the fire will be extinguished soon. But when the blaze…

  36. FAN FAVORITE: Fire at Sea: Cruise Ship Rescue | Adrift | 3

    · 44 min · S78 E3

    With the fire aboard Prinsendam now burning out of control, the captain gives the order to abandon ship. Passengers, some dressed only in pajamas and nightgowns, scramble into wooden lifeboats, which are lowered into…

  37. FAN FAVORITE: Fire at Sea: Cruise Ship Rescue | The Last Lifeboat | 4

    · 43 min · S78 E4

    Rescue workers begin the painstakingly slow process of airlifting cruise ship evacuees one by one from their lifeboats. But a typhoon has turned the Gulf of Alaska into a raging sea, and as they await rescue, many of…

  38. In Their Own Words: 9-11: A Survivor Remembers | 1

    · 36 min · S79 E1

    Sujo John and his wife Mary emigrated from India to the U.S. in February, 2001. Both found work at the World Trade Center – one in the North Tower, one in the South Tower. Life was good for the young couple; they had…

  39. The Great Northern Railroad Avalanche | Snowed In | 1

    · 47 min · S80 E1

    On February 22, 1910, passengers board the Seattle Express train in Spokane, Washington. They include a pair of lawyers, a new widow, and a paper salesman. They are due to arrive in Seattle the next morning after…

  40. The Great Northern Railroad Avalanche | Buried Deep | 2

    · 44 min · S80 E2

    Superintendent James O’Neill races to clear the tracks of snow so the train stuck in the Cascade Mountains can escape before an avalanche hits. But the snow is relentless, coming down ferociously. And O’Neill faces one…

  41. The Great Northern Railroad Avalanche | A Roaring Cascade | 3

    · 49 min · S80 E3

    It’s been a week since the train was stranded. Finally, railroad employees agree to escort the passengers on foot nine miles down the tracks to another rail stop less impacted by the snow. But the night before they’re…

  42. The Great Northern Railroad Avalanche | Stranded on a Train | 4

    · 37 min · S80 E4

    In the early hours of March 1st, 1910, an avalanche roared down onto passengers stranded on the Seattle Express, smashing the cars into the ravine below. Photographs from the scene showed a mess of upside down rail…

  43. Listen Now: Audible True Crime – Ghost Story

    · 9:18 · Trailer

    Audible True Crime is a dedicated podcast feed where we bring you the best podcasts in true crime, with episodes dropping every single week. Just in time for spooky season, we’re releasing a show called Ghost Story, a…

  44. Hugh Glass: The Real Life Revenant | Death Watch | 1

    · 45 min · S81 E1

    On August 23, 1823, a fur trapper named Hugh Glass was attacked and brutally mauled by a grizzly bear in present-day South Dakota. Glass’s fellow trappers were sure his wounds were fatal. But Glass refused to die. His…

  45. Listen Now— Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe

    · 6:58 · Trailer

    A Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury attorney. A handsome disbarred lawyer with a dark past. And an elaborate scheme that leads to murder. Vanessa Motta gives up a career of fake car crashes for real ones.…

  46. Hugh Glass: The Real Life Revenant | Vengeance | 2

    · 47 min · S81 E2

    Hugh Glass wakes to find he’s been left for dead in the wilderness. With winter fast approaching, Glass will have to rely on his cunning and sheer will if he’s going to make it across 350 miles of wilderness to safety,…

  47. Hugh Glass: The Real Life Revenant | An Interview With Novelist Michael Punke | 3

    · 33 min · S81 E3

    Author Michael Punke read the few facts known about Hugh Glass and wrote The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, based on Glass’s ordeal. Director Alejandro Iñárritu adapted Punke’s novel into the Academy Award-winning 2015…

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