The Donner Party, Part 2

The Morbid Curiosity Podcast

Hallie Lloyd

Cryptid, Serialkiller, Science, Disease, Medicine, Scary, Skeleton, Historyofmedicine, Social Sciences, Ghost, History, Medical, Anthropology, Monsters, Archeology, Murder, Creepy, Skeptic, Paranormal, Prison

4.8 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2020

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Donner Party travelled by covered wagon in 1846 toward California, but became marooned in the snows of Sierra Mountains. In the second part of this episode, we discuss the first half of their winter ordeal, including the struggle to survive and a desperate attempt to strike out in search of help.

TW: Cannibalism

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode contains discussions of racism, starvation, cannibalism, violence, and death, in some cases involving children.
0:10.0	If this isn't something you want to hear about, this may be a good episode to skip.
0:15.4	I also recommend listening to Part 1 before moving on to Part two, as some previous details will factor in some
0:22.8	of the decisions made in part two. There will also be a part three, as I can't cover the whole
0:28.8	story in just two parts. Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.
0:49.3	Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped hundreds of
0:56.1	people throughout the ages. I am one of those people. My name is Halley, and this is the Morbid
1:03.7	Curiosity podcast.
1:47.6	Thank you. The In part one of this episode, we covered the westward journey of the Donner slash Reed Party,
1:55.2	who were traveling in 1846 by wagon train from Springfield, Illinois, towards Sacramento, California,
1:57.7	which at the time was a Mexican province.
2:01.8	The emigrants, as they were called, joined up with another caravan,
2:07.7	but separated in western Wyoming because they wanted to take a shortcut known as the Hastings cut off. This route, which was actually untested, took them through the Wasatch Mountains,
2:13.8	where they had to blaze their own trail through the mountainous woods. They then crossed the
2:19.2	Great Salt Lake Desert, where most of their cattle, horses and oxen, died of dehydration or ran off.
2:26.7	After this, they made their way through a treeless, swampy area toward the Humboldt River, where they
2:32.8	finally joined back up with the proven California
2:35.6	Trail. Soon, they entered the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was now the
2:42.7	end of October. Much of the party had made it to Truckee Meadows, including Patrick and Peggy
2:48.7	Breen and their seven children, William and Eleanor Eddy and their two
2:52.8	children, Franklin and Elizabeth Graves and their six children, plus one grown and married daughter,
2:58.8	and her husband, Sarah and Jay Fosdick, Lewis and Philippine Kesseberg, and their two children,
	...

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