Welcome back swamp folk, once again we are crossing into international waters to bring

you the darkest wilderness content available. More specifically we are taking a trip down

under to Wilson's Promontory National Park in Victoria, Australia, where we will learn

about the mystery that is Patrick Hildebrand. Don't worry, we aren't messing with any

of those giant spiders today, at least none that we know about. But the case is unsolved,

so you never know. Now most of you have probably never heard the name Patrick Hildebrand,

and that's completely fine as I have not either before looking into this case. But just

know if you like puzzles, you'll love this episode. But before we dive into this case

and the strange details around it, let me tell you about Wilson's Promontory. Any national

park in Australia will be beautiful, but this one in particular has a fascinating rich

history. We can spend 20 minutes alone on it, but I'll stick with the summary. The indigenous

Kuri people occupied this land at least 6,500 years ago before the first Europeans arrived,

and it's considered to be home of the Bratua Long Clan spiritual ancestor Lu Ern. Even today,

this area remains highly significant to their descendants. The first Europeans didn't come along

until 1798 and four parts of the 19th century, the Promontory was used for seal hunting and

shore-based wailing. This carried devastating consequence for local wildlife, so in the 1880s

and 1890s, a public campaign was waged to turn these areas into a national park which was made

official in 1898. Before the first road was completed in the 1930s, the Promontory was only

accessible by boat and during World War II, they closed it to the public entirely to use the park

as a commando training ground. In 2005, a fire started by the staff got out of control and burned

13% of the park. However, it was deemed necessary to evacuate campers. This incident was nothing

compared to 2009, when a lightning strike near sealer's cove started a fire that burned 62,000 acres.

...