253: John was lost in the woods

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Technology is making it more and more difficult to get lost. Right now, I’m here in my home in Florida. I could pull out my phone, type in any random address in, say, Washington state – the other end of the country. Roughly 3,000 miles away. And within a few seconds, I would have turn by turn audio directions that would enable me to drive directly to that address. I know, GPS isn’t always perfect, but it’s really an amazing example of technology. And usually it works so smoothly that we just take it for granted. But what if you’re on foot, and your phone’s battery dies? Now you have nothing to tell you which direction to go, and you have no way to contact anyone for help. That’s what happened to John. John told this story on the podcast about 7 years ago in one of the very early episodes. He was hiking in an area that he was not familiar with. And a hike in the deep woods that was only supposed to be a few hours turned into days. Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/253 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Visit [www.functionhealth.com/WHATWAS](http://www.functionhealth.com/WHATWAS) or use gift code WHATWAS25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Visit [AuraFrames.com](http://AuraFrames.com) and use promo code WHATWAS at checkout to get $45 off. If you’re 21 or older, get 25% OFF your first order + free shipping @IndaCloud with code [WHATWAS] at https://inda.shop/[WHATWAS]! #indacloudpod Go to [ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS](http://ThriveMarket.com/WHATWAS) to get 30% off your first order, plus a FREE $60 gift just for signing up. Go to [Quince.com/whatwas](http://Quince.com/whatwas) for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [**WHATWAS**] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Try Mint Mobile for 3 months, for just 15 bucks a month - [MintMobile.com/WHAT](https://MintMobile.com/WHAT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Technology is making it more and more difficult to get lost.
0:12.0	Right now, I'm here in my home in Florida.
0:15.5	I could pull out my phone, type in any random address in, say, Washington State, the other end of the country,
0:23.0	roughly 3,000 miles away.
0:26.3	And within a few seconds, I would have turn-by-turn audio directions
0:31.5	that would enable me to drive directly to that address.
0:36.3	I know GPS isn't always perfect, but it's really an amazing example of technology.
0:42.9	And usually it works so smoothly that we just take it for granted.
0:48.9	But what if you're on foot and your phone's battery dies?
0:54.1	Now you have nothing to tell you which direction to go and you have no way to contact anyone
0:59.7	for help.
1:01.6	That's what happened to John.
1:05.3	John told this story on the podcast about seven years ago in one of the very early episodes.
1:12.1	He was hiking in an area that he was not familiar with.
1:16.7	And a hike in the deep woods that was only supposed to be a few hours turned into days.
1:33.3	Real people in unreal situations.
1:39.5	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me.
1:41.9	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
1:45.6	And then I had to tell him, it was me.
1:48.4	There was just blood everywhere.
1:52.7	They're shouting, they're screaming, they're being hit by bullets, they're hitting the ground.
1:55.8	And in that moment, I literally thought, this is how I die.
	...

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