Mysterious Pacific Northwest

A disease that once killed millions across the world quietly arrived in Seattle in 1907… hidden aboard ships traveling north from San Francisco.

When the first victims fell ill, doctors realized the unthinkable had happened — bubonic plague had reached the city. Panic spread through the waterfront as health officials raced to understand how it arrived and how far it had spread.

The answer lurked in the shadows of the doc...

Nearly fifty years after sixteen-year-old Pauline Elizabeth Brazeau was brutally murdered outside Calgary, modern DNA technology finally gave investigators the answer they had been searching for. In this episode, we trace Pauline’s life from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to her final night in Calgary, examine the decades-long investigation, and explore how forensic genetic genealogy transformed a cold case into a solved homicide. Al...

In 1875, the steamship Pacific disappeared off Cape Flattery with hundreds of passengers aboard. Only two survived. For nearly 150 years, the wreck remained hidden beneath the Pacific Ocean until one diver spent thirty years searching for it. This is the story of one of the greatest maritime mysteries in Pacific Northwest history—and why the greatest treasure wasn’t the gold, but the people history almost forgot.

Episode...

This week, we’re stepping inside Mind of a Serial Killer: The Experience for one of our most unique episodes yet.

We had the opportunity to sit down with LaKendra Tookes, host of the exhibition, to talk about the experience, the artifacts, the stories behind the displays, and what visitors can expect when they walk through one of the most talked-about true crime exhibits in the country.

We also dive into several ...

In the summer of 1902, escaped convict Harry Tracy sparked one of the largest manhunts in Pacific Northwest history after breaking out of the Oregon State Penitentiary in a violent escape. Moving through Oregon and Washington, he hijacked boats, took hostages, and repeatedly slipped through law enforcement after a series of deadly gunfights. For weeks he stayed ahead of posses until he was finally cornered at a farm near Creston, W...

What happened to DeOrr Kunz Jr.?

In July of 2015, a two-year-old boy vanished from Timber Creek Campground outside Leadore, Idaho and was never seen again.

Search crews combed the Idaho wilderness for days. Helicopters circled overhead. Dogs searched the forest. Volunteers moved through creek beds, ravines, and abandoned mine shafts deep inside the mountains.

But investigators found nothing.

No footprints.

No clothing.

No evidence explai...

For the final episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re taking a step back.

After following the trail through its stories, its people, and everything it carried with it, this episode is a reflection—on the series, the history, and what stayed with us after spending so much time on that road.

It’s also a look back on two years of the show, how our storytelling has evolved, and what comes next.

Thank you for b...

For the final episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we step back from the trail itself and look at what was left behind.

Not just the miles traveled—but the lives changed along the way. The families who made it, the ones who didn’t, and the places that grew from a journey that was never as simple as it’s often remembered.

This episode reflects on the road west—what it required, what it cost, and what st...

The journey beyond the trail with the Denny Party—families who didn’t stop in Oregon, but continued north in search of something more.
From a difficult landing at Alki Point to the first uncertain days of settlement across Elliott Bay, this episode explores what it meant to arrive… and realize the journey wasn’t over.
This is the story of early Seattle—its beginnings, its challenges, and the peo...

For this episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re looking at a version of the trail many of us remember a little differently.

Before the research, before the real stories—for a lot of us, it started with The Oregon Trail. Decisions, supplies, river crossings… and the message we all remember.

This episode looks at what the game got right, what it left out, and how that version compares to the reality behi...

For this episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we follow one of the most infamous stories of the overland journey—the Donner Party.

What began as a hopeful crossing turned into a fight for survival in the Sierra Nevada, where early snow, starvation, and impossible choices reshaped every life in the camp.

This episode traces the full story—from the decision to take the Hastings Cutoff to the winter that held them in...

For the next episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we follow the story of the Whitman Mission—a place many emigrants passed through at the end of the trail, and where rising tension, disease, and cultural misunderstanding came to a breaking point in 1847.

This episode looks beyond a single version of the story, tracing what led to that moment and what followed—through firsthand accounts, historical context, a...

This episode of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re tracing the trail through the homelands of the sovereign nations who lived along its length—Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Chinookan peoples, and many more.

This episode honors their history, their endurance, and the world emigrants entered long before the trail had a name.

Sovereign Lands: The Na...

For this of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re following the women who walked the trail long before it became history. The women who delivered children between river crossings, drove wagons when tragedy struck, held families together through sickness, storms, loss, and miles of dust. Their stories, woven through diaries and memories, shaped the trail just as deeply as any wagon wheel.

Women of the Oregon Trail: The Hands...

We’re launching a brand new Oregon Trail series—digging into the real stories behind the wagon ruts, the dangerous shortcuts, the lost parties, and the moments where hope and survival collided on the road west.
Our first episode drops this week, starting with the Meek Cutoff, often called Oregon’s “other Donner Party.” A massive wagon train. A promised shortcut. A deadly desert passage. And a winter...

For our next episode on The Long Road to Oregon, we’re digging into one of the harshest realities emigrants faced on the trail: cholera.

The sudden sickness that moved through camps without warning, took lives in hours, and left miles of quiet graves along the roadside. This chapter follows the real stories, the medical truth, and the families who tried to outrun a disease they didn’t understand.

A hard piece of Oreg...

For Episode 1 of The Long Road to Oregon, we’re going back to 1843 to follow the first great wagon train west. This is the story of the families who gathered on the edge of Missouri, joined their wagons, and carved the earliest deep ruts toward Oregon. The beginning of the trail as we know it.

Episode 1: The Great Migration of 1843 is out now everywhere you stream podcasts!

#thelongroadtooregon #oregontrail #pnwpodcast #hi...

We’re starting something new.

As we reach two years of Mysterious Pacific Northwest, we’re taking a moment to look back—at where this show began, the stories we’ve told, and how much it’s grown.

And from there, we’re stepping into something that’s been a long time coming.

The Long Road to Oregon is a series rooted in a story that feels familiar to so many of us—but the deeper w...