after all thier suffering, ths sad thing is that most people only connect with their cannabalism. why not learn how they managed to overcome the odds and suffering. those that survived? not many of us today could do half as much if lost in snow in the wilderness
Thanks for sharing this. I had a chance to visit all three cabin sites and the Alder Creek site years ago when I was living in Reno studying at UNR. Such a wonderful preservation of that event. Glad to know that we are pretty accurate with the locations of the sites now.
wow, people are so critical. granted the gent is not sir david attenburough but he does know firsthand the findings. if you dont like his delivery, watch something else.
He's obviously a scholarly sort, with a ton of information in his head. He is making sure what he is saying is accurate, concise, and thorough. Like a professor dispensing info to students.
Some people freeze up when the camera comes on. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Some people have a talent for interviews, some really struggle. Similar to ice skating. They simply need to get a cheerful grad student to do these interviews.
God dammit...why won't anyone talk about Jakob Wolfinger, murdered while attempting to cache his goods at the Humbolt sink...neglected by history...I demand justice!
They didn't put the bones in the cabins and burn them a year later, the rescuers that found Keesburg did that. The rescuers came upon the dead bodies lying about in various stages of dress and decomposition, placed them in the remains of the cabins and ordered them fired (burned) they then went to Alder Creek and found George Donner wrapped in a sheet and buried him somewhere around there. This was in McClashions book
I love the stories of the first western-bound pioneers of the early 1800's. Of what little there is available on the web or in movies/TV, the best source and the best in the way of storytelling of the Donner tragedy that I've found so far is the book "Desperate Passage" by Ethan Rarick. The movie sucked, don't waste your time on it.
I just watched the “trail of tragedy” video where he assisted with an excavation of the area back in 1994. He still has that stutter and his umm, uhh habit back then but not nearly bad as it is here...
Omg this guy's IMPOSSIBLE to listen to lol "Umm, um, um, um, um, um, um, A fellah by the name of C.F. McLashen, um, um, um, um, UM, UMMM, became very interested in the history of the-uh Donner party, he brought a number of-um back to the-um Donner Lake camp and, uh, uh, a couple of them to the Alder Creek camp, and-um, um, um um, a little bit of what we would now call archaeological excavation, again recognise this was 1879, he UM and the survivors, um, um, um, dug into the uh remains of the um, um, um, um..." 🤣
I visited the Alder Creek site around 1999. At the time, the bark shell of a very large pine was standing. All the other trees were smaller. Was the area logged sometime in the 1900s?
The 1830 coin is probably the best evidence but it should be noted that the Mormon Batallion's ranks may have included several young men who were recent English immigrants.
Change playback speed to 1.5, then he talks at Normal Speed. Can’t help you with his “Umm” use. You would die from alcohol poisoning if you tried to make this video into a drinking game with having to take a shot every time he mutters “umm”
They seen snow in September when they were 400 miles before the Sierra mountains silly. Anyway, research more. The real question is why did Jim Bridger not get convicted for misleading their party, which directly lead to the starvation and inadvertently subsequent cannibalism...?
I accept that he knows his subject, but he is clearly recalling information 'from the top of his head' as they say. But it sounds as though some better preparation would avoid so many losing the will to live. lolThe story and historical events ARE certainly very sad and disturbing and should not be lost in all this. As for Hastings, he's lucky he wasn't hunted down and tied up along the trail upside down, to reflect what he did to survivors and victims.
Not to leave evidence of cannibilism, the bones of human and or animal could have been tossed in the river. If no human bones found, not even a head belonging to man or beast. Unless the wild animals got to what was left of the flesh on the bones and carried them off to their dens or into the forest and ate it there. Just because it's a short didn't mean it was going to be better. god, they learned fast what death was.
The Mormons, after coming back from a war, stumbled upon the camps, and put everyone in a cabin, then burned it to the ground. That's why later on, the forensics couldn't find any bones.
General Kearney’s Mormon Battalion said they were instructed to dig a pit in one of the cabins and place the bones. Then the cabin was set fire, essentially cremating them. Then the pit was filled in. They probably didn’t find the right cabin site. Even if survivors came back, they may not be able to locate the exact spot of the cabin because they were there when the snow was extremely deep. The cabins had been built against trees, and the tree probably burned with the cabin. Hey, the video is still playing, and the guy said the Reed Cabin was probably under the fruit inspection station on highway 80.
I'm sorry but I guess the culture is differnet because I wouldn't want to go there it seems very sad, cursed, and very scary. I mean seriously.... it's like they are celebrated. I guess that's a part of culture. To me this is something that I wouldn't be proud to talk about. This is a sick and sad story. They should have held Hastings responsible in my opinion.
What is bad is that many people leave out some of the sick things that happened before they ever resorted to cannibalism and sick sorry things after . 1. Leaving an elderly man , Mr Hardcoop , by a stream to die because he was old and slowing them down . 2. The greedy murder of Mr Wolfinger in order to steal his possessions. One killer was later seen carrying the gun that belonged to the victim . 3. Severe spousal abuse . 4. More murder ( that one seemed justified ) and banishing the killer who just happened to be the one to find help and when found he it was part of the rescue party to help those that sent him off to die . 5. Greed and refusal to help those , children included , that lost everything including family and could not care for themselves due to age or illness . 6. Conspiring to kill and eat the two Native American guides sent to help rescue the survivors . 7. Eating humans when several dead animals lay preserved by the snow and hard freezes . 8. Planning on which person to kill and eat next because they assumed they would die anyway .... Not all the great heroes they were painted .
I agree 1000% why Hastings was never brought up on some kind of charge is behind me, but not the other hand James Reed ran into a traveler that came from that heading East. He told him NOT to go that he would never get his wagons through. Both of these idiots needed a beat down. Poor Donner family that one journey nearly wiped out the entire family.
Bottom line, at the time of this video he could find not direct evidence of cannibalism, only bone fragments that were human, he hopes that DNA might shed light on this. The site that was claimed to have toss all the human remains into a cabin and have it burned: to what I recall in this video he basically said he did not find evidence of such a place, the rock that has the placard on it is claimed to have been where the cabin was, showed no evidence of.... Aww hell don't make me watch it again.. someone correct this mess please lol. I can still hear the "umms and uh's" in my head. I don't know if I would have noticed it near as much if I had not read the comments during the video. .. good luck to ye.
its such a shame when you have an educated person you would like to listen to but is such a bad speaker ....if he's a teaching professor could u imagine sitting thru even a 60 min class....quad espresso to even have a hope of staying awake....uhh...umm...uhm...huh huh...um...
Revised Description: Err umm umm err this err umm is err u uh uh a discussion err amm ur um um um relating to um um um the err am um um er actual um um er am urm er urm ur ur am err events that er arr um um am urm that er um the Donner par um um ty um and the err ur um um events er um um er urm er u uh that lead to the err um um urm uh er um ah urm er disaster. Holy F**k! Get someone who can talk to tell this tale. Jeez. Imagine having him tell you about his latest vacation? This must be borderline speech disorder in effect.
Haha i just noticed all the other comments after commenting myself- could have err um um urm err saved err myself um um a a a a lot of er er um um urm ah time!
I guess I have more patience. I lasted twelve minutes and forty four seconds. However, I lost track ummm of, ahh (hey look it's snowing!) umm hmm (darn it I broke a nail) ......................... hmm ahhh whatever he was saying.
Why interview a person who can’t complete the smallest of sentences without this um, err, ahm riddling through constantly. And I erm, ah, bet ah, uhm, er, you he’s a ah, uhm, ahh, an expert on ah, erm, uh, the ahhhm, er, ah , subject.
This video is completely un-watchable! Someone needs to post a new one, but using a different narrator who knows how to relax in front of a camera and doesn't use "utter" words every other second.. SHEESH !
Based on my experience in graduate school, people with graduate degrees can range from utterly incompetent to pretty clever, just like any "uneducated" person with intellectual curiosity and a library card - except that some of the latter can be *extraordinarily* clever (e.g., Abraham Lincoln), having never been savagely beaten into submission by the cult of Academia. It's a shame NPR with its cringeworthy credential worship can't figure this out.
Ya put ya right umm in you put ya left umm out ya put ya right umm and then you shake it all about, ya do the hokey pokey then ya turn ya umm around, That's what it's all about!
