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Invisibilia

The Weatherman

Invisibilia

NPR

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Social Sciences, Science

4.622.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Invisibilia, we explore our relationship with uncertainty through the eyes of a chief meteorologist. We wonder: what do you do when you don't know what to do? And how do we handle it when that question has no answer?

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everybody, before we get started, we have a quick favorite ask, which is that if you like

0:05.6

invisibilia, please help us to spread the word about the show. One way you can do that is to go

0:11.2

to Apple Podcasts and rate and review us. Another way is tele-friend. Seriously, it makes a really

0:18.1

big difference to us and we would really appreciate it. Okay, on with the show. Gary Nessner spent most

0:24.8

of his career as an FBI hostage negotiator. In fact, for a while he was the hostage negotiator. He

0:30.6

was at Waco and the DC sniper attacks. So I'm going to ask you about this specific incident.

0:36.4

But that's not what we wanted to talk to him about. We're talking about the Sparryville case again?

0:41.6

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Sparryville, Virginia. Or just outside really. A man had kidnapped his ex and

0:48.8

their young son and he was holding them hostage on the second floor of an empty farmhouse. Gary's job

0:56.2

was to engage the guy, Charlie Leif, somehow win his trust and diffuse the situation. And at times

1:03.6

he felt like he was getting somewhere. I knew he was someone who had a lot of issues, a lot of

1:10.0

behavioral problems, but this is part of me that also liked him. We talked about having sons

1:16.5

the same age. We talked about camping. You know, we formed a little bit of a relationship.

1:22.4

As much of a relationship as you could have when Gary was standing at the bottom of the stairs,

1:26.7

hollering up to Charlie, a SWAT team of armed FBI agents behind him. At one point, Gary caught a

1:33.4

glimpse of the woman being held hostage, Charlie's ex. Her name was Cheryl. She looked extraordinarily

1:39.1

frid and frailed and very scared of the situation. Wouldn't even make eye contact with me.

1:49.0

And then shortly after son up, Charlie started to get very angry.

1:53.3

You know, I couldn't see him, but I was almost sensing nearly a foaming at the mouth frenzy. It was

1:58.6

that bad. He was cursing out, Cheryl, calling her names, telling her she was a horrible wife and

2:03.8

mother. And then he called out to little Charlie and said, come sit in daddy's lap.

2:10.2

And I could hear the little pitter-patter of feet. This little Charlie apparently complied.

...

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