National Park After Dark

National Park After Dark

Hosted by two friends who share a passion for the wilderness and a fascination with what can go wrong there, each week hosts Danielle and Cassie explore the darker side of our National Parks and explore these treasured places in a whole new way - because behind the iconic arches and towering trees lie layered histories, grisly encounters, extraordinary stories of survival, tragic ends and so much more. But it isn’t always chills and thrills. By sharing inspiring tales and their desire for protecting our planet’s wild places, they hope the show will inspire listeners to lace up their own hiking boots and take a walk into the wild to create meaningful adventures of their own.

Episodes

313: People Are Food, Too. Kakadu National Park.

July 28, 2025 • 69 mins
Val Plumwood was an Australian philosopher, environmental activist and crocodile attack survivor. During a 1985 trip to Kakadu National park, Val was attacked repeatedly by a crocodile but miraculously survived. The experience completely reshaped her life and her perspective of her role within it.

Sources:

Book: The Eye of the Crocodile 

Documentaries: Kakadu: Land of the Crocodile 

Articles...
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The Mother of Science Fiction: Inventing Frankenstein

July 21, 2025 • 54 mins
This week NPAD is on vacation, but as a special treat, we wanted to share an episode of our other podcast, Watch Her Cook, with you. This episode has a few surprising NPAD tie ins, and we are so excited to share it with you all. We will be back to our regularly scheduled National Parks programing next week! - Cassie and Danielle

What began as a vivid dream on a stormy night during the “Year Without a Summer,” after a ...
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312: NPAD X Generation Why

July 17, 2025 • 52 mins
In today’s exciting crossover episode we are joined by Aaron Habel from the Generation Why Podcast. We recap four of our most memorable NPAD true crime and mysterious disappearance cases, provide some updates and discuss what makes them so intriguing.  Aaron also brings us a story we have never covered that remains one of the most puzzling cases to ever come out of Yosemite.

Listen and follow Generation Why wherever y...
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311: The Great Flood of 1889. Johnstown Flood National Memorial.

July 14, 2025 • 66 mins
Editors Note and Content Warning: This episode was recorded in June before the devastating floods that took place in Texas on July 4th. Listeners should be aware that this episode includes descriptions of mass death, including children. Please take care while listening. Our hearts are with the families and communities affected by the floods. For more information about how to help the survivors and families impacted by the Tex...
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    310: Our Quarterly Tooth & Claw Collab

    July 7, 2025 • 112 mins
    Come for the animal stories, stay for the giggles. T&C and NPAD are reunited for another collab episode!

    Listen to Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks here, snag some fun merch here, and keep an eye on their upcoming trips here!

    For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.co...
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    309: Trail Tales 73

    July 3, 2025 • 74 mins
    Today’s stories include small town legends, embarrassing young canoodling, haunted cheese factories, Hidebehinds and visits from the great beyond. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details...
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    308: The Couple Who Lived and Died for Lions. Meru National Park.

    June 30, 2025 • 86 mins
    George and Joy Adamson lived for lions. After raising a cub they named Elsa and telling the world about it, they were catapulted into the center of conservation and controversy. Their methods were questioned, but their love for the wild was not. While they were both murdered, their legacy remains alive in Africa and beyond.

    Grab some Merch!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram...
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    307: Our Weird and Wonderful World with Dylan Thuros Co-Founder of Atlas Obscura

    June 23, 2025 • 58 mins
    Atlas Obscura began as a website and global community to catalog and celebrate the world's unusual and obscure places, stories and foods. Since 2009, it has expanded to include six books, group adventures around the world, a Youtube Series and a podcast! Today, we have the immense pleasure of speaking with Dylan Thuras, co-founder of Atlas Obscura to talk all things weird and wonderful.

    Atlas Obscura Podcast: Listen H...
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    306: Trail Tales 72

    June 19, 2025 • 49 mins
    Today’s stories include debunking aliens, an outdoorsy Maya Rudolph, Hot Springs love, spooky family lore and horny birds. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!

    WE HAVE NEW MERCH!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel det...
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    305: Stonewall National Monument’s Uprising. Ft. LGBTQ Outdoors.

    June 16, 2025 • 87 mins

    Today we are joined by the Founder of LGBTQ Outdoors, Justin Yoder, as we tell the story of Marsha P. Johnson and the Stonewall Uprising.  In the early hours of June 28, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn ignited a rebellion that would change history. The Stonewall Uprising became the catalyst to a nationwide LGBTQ rights movement.  At the heart of this moment was Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans activist, drag que...
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    304: America’s Oldest Ghost Tour. Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park.

    June 9, 2025 • 62 mins
    In the 1970s Shirley Dougherty moved to Harpers Ferry West Virginia and started experiencing strange occurrences. And she wasn’t alone. Residents were quick to tell her their experiences with the paranormal, and she eventually complied them into a book - a text that became the foundation of what she claims to be America’s’ oldest ghost tour. Today, Danielle brings us on our own through one of the country’s most spooky location...
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    303: Trail Tales 71

    June 5, 2025 • 50 mins
    Today’s stories include women in STEM, chirping mountain lions, cabin guardians, simultaneous hauntings, family lore and dead dad signs. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:

    Instag...
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    302: The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. White Mountain National Forest.

    June 2, 2025 • 68 mins
    In the fall of 1961, a couple driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains encountered something no one could explain. What followed would become the first widely reported alien abduction case in American history — and the blueprint for every abduction story that came after.

    WE HAVE NEW MERCH!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    Sources:
    • The Abduction ...
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    301: No More Stolen Sisters. Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month.

    May 26, 2025 • 75 mins
    In the summer of 2021, the world was captivated by the story of Gabby Petito, a young woman who went missing and was later found murdered in Wyoming. While her story is heartbreaking, the widespread media coverage concerning her case revealed something equally disturbing - the disproportionate attention to cases of missing young, conventionally attractive white women, compared to cases involving missing people of color, partic...
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    300: Trail Tales 70

    May 22, 2025 • 55 mins
    Today’s stories include life saving coolers, Fyre festival honeymoons, ripples in the space/time continuum, laughing lights, weird guys in the woods and a wilderness medicine origin story. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on...
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    299: Revenge of the Tiger. Bikin National Park.

    May 19, 2025 • 82 mins
    In the winter of 1997, a man-eating tiger terrorized a remote village in the Russian Far East. This wasn’t a defensive attack — the tiger was hunting specific humans, with eerie patience and purpose. What followed is one of the most chilling wildlife stories ever documented.

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    Sources:
    • The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Surv...
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    298: Robbery Gone Wrong. Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

    May 12, 2025 • 66 mins
    On October 11th, 1923, deep in Tunnel 13 high in the Siskiyou mountains of Oregon, four men were killed in a train robbery gone wrong. The trio responsible, the DeAutremont brothers, had planned the crime and dreamed of stealing their way to a life of riches but made a series of fatal mistakes that would haunt them forever. What has gone down in Pacific Northwest history as “the last great American train robbery” is also recog...
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    297: Trail Tales 69

    May 8, 2025 • 52 mins
    Today’s stories include lighting strikes, protective birbs, family lore, finding yourself, poor planning and a strangely large amount of pet psychics. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:
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    296: The Deadliest Avalanche in U.S. History. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

    May 5, 2025 • 66 mins
    In 1910, two trains became stranded in Washington’s Cascade Mountains during a record-breaking snowstorm. After six harrowing nights, a massive avalanche swept them off the mountainside — the deadliest avalanche in U.S. history. More than a century later, one question still lingers: could the disaster have been prevented?

    Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on Instagram

    Sources:
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    295: The Killing of K’iid K'yaas. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.

    April 28, 2025 • 80 mins
    In 1997, a lifelong Canadian logger had reached the end of his rope. For years Grant Hadwin attempted to sound the alarm to the dangers of the logging industry, but his attempts to speak for the trees repeatedly fell on deaf ears. Ultimately, he did something almost unforgivable, he cut down K’iid K'yaas - a sacred, protected and beloved Sitka Spruce. His hopes of using the act to garner attention to the evils of logging backf...
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