Our two stories today are both about people who believed in something so strongly that it informed

every single choice they made. And unfortunately for them, those choices led them down very dangerous paths.

But before we get into today's two stories, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious

delivered in story format, and you've come to the right place because that's all we do,

and we upload two, three, even four times every week.

So, if that's of interest to you, the next time the follow button sneezes in public,

instead of, you know, politely saying, you know, bless you, just scream, shut up!

Okay, let's get into our first story called The Search for Ackercore. One afternoon in November of 1980,

28-year-old John Reed sat at a table on a hotel veranda in the tiny village of Barcellos, Brazil,

which was a two-day boat ride up a river

from the Amazon jungle's largest city of Manouse. And sitting across from John was the legendary

chief of the Uga Mangalula tribe, Tatunka Nara. Now, John had been in Barcelos for about 10 days now,

and in that time, he'd already spoken to Tatunka

many times. But still, it was like every conversation they had gave John this incredible sense of

awe. He really felt like his whole life had been leading up to this exact moment of being here in

Barcelos about to go on this grand adventure. So Barcellos and Tatunka were very far away from

where John had grown up. I mean, this was a very foreign place. John grew up in San Francisco,

California. But even growing up in those suburbs as a kid, he had always dreamed of coming here

and literally meeting Tatunka.

So it was like surreal he had really done this.

And if things from here on out went the way John hoped they would,

he might never have to even go back to America.

...