Deep Dive
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This episode of Against the Odds contains depictions of violence. Please be advised. In the soft light of dawn, William Eddy peers at his companions lying next to the dying campfire. He's searching for any signs of stirring, but all he sees is their breath fogging the cold air as they sleep. There's a hush over the pine forest, with drifts of snow piled halfway up the trunks of the trees.
Satisfied that everyone's still asleep, Eddie creeps toward Luis and Salvador, his group's two Miwok Indian guides. He's especially quiet as he passes William Foster, who always sleeps clutching his rifle. For the past three weeks, Eddie and other members of the Donner Party have trudged through the Sierra Nevada mountains on makeshift snowshoes.
They're heading to a fort on the other side of the mountains, where they hope to get supplies. Then they'll come back for the 70 men, women, and children who are snowed in, dozens of miles behind them. If they don't return soon, many will surely die of starvation. The members of the rescue party are desperately hungry too. Their supplies are long gone, and five of their comrades have perished from cold and hunger along the way.
Now, just ten remain. The trail they're trying to follow is buried under several feet of snow. Eddie fears they're wandering in circles. Luis and Salvador were born in these parts and should know the way, but even they are so malnourished that they're as disoriented as everyone else. The hunger has been so intense that the rescue party had to make a gruesome decision: to eat their fallen comrades for food.
William Foster insists this is their only choice, eat or die. But Eddie's been wracked with guilt. He ate human flesh only when he felt he couldn't take another step. But not everyone in the rescue party shares Eddie's guilty conscience. In fact, some seem to be developing a taste for human flesh, which is why Eddie feels he has to warn Luis and Salvador. Eddie reaches the far side of the camp,
He kneels down and shakes the two guides awake. Luis opens his eyes and starts to speak, but Eddie slaps a hand over his mouth. Then he raises a finger to his lips for silence. Luis nods that he understands. Eddie leans closer and whispers, You have to leave. They're plotting to kill you.
Eddie explains that last night, Foster approached him and a few others with a plan. Murder Luis and Salvador and butcher them for food. As far as Foster's concerned, the Indian guides are subhuman, and therefore...
Eddie protested and said he would not tolerate murder. Foster reluctantly agreed to drop the matter, but Eddie doesn't trust him. That's why he's warning Luis and Salvador. Luis, who speaks better English, tries to thank Eddie, but Eddie waves them off with an urgent whisper. You must go now.
Without another word, the guides rise and creep away into the forest. Eddie watches them go with a heavy heart. Luis is limping from severe frostbite on his feet, and Eddie worries their pace is too slow. He glances over at Foster, who is still asleep. Eddie prays he stays that way long enough for Luis and Salvador to get far, far away.
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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. From Wondery, I'm Mike Corey, and this is Against the Odds. In the winter of 1846 and 47, a group of settlers known as the Donner Party found themselves stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Trapped by a series of massive snowstorms, they quickly ran out of food.
and began to die. In mid-December, the settlers sent out a rescue party which would attempt to cross the Sierras west to Fort Sutter, then bring back supplies and help. But the rescuers soon ran into trouble too. It would take every ounce of strength they had to march 90 hard miles and escape the mountains alive.
and even more courage and determination to return to the settlers' desolate camps and try to save them. This is Episode 3, Consumed. William Eddy trudges along a narrow, ice-crusted path through a grove of pine trees. His feet are wrapped in blood-stained strips of fabric torn from an old blanket. His rickety snowshoes have long since disintegrated.
The other six surviving members of the relief party trail behind him, including William Foster, who's muttering darkly. "If we starve, it's your fault," Eddie tries to control his anger. Foster has been picking fights ever since he woke up three days ago to find Luis and Salvador missing.
Eddie doesn't see why Foster can't let it go. After all, thanks to Eddie, they've eaten well the past two days without having to consume human flesh. We won't starve. What about that deer I killed? It barely weighed 50 pounds and it's gone now anyways. Those Indians could have fed us for days. Eddie ignores Foster and walks on, trying to keep a fragile peace.
But then Foster spots some bloody footprints just off the trail. Eddie cringes. Luis had frostbitten feet, which had been bleeding for weeks, and now they may have betrayed the two guides' location. Foster loads his flintlock rifle. "I'm gonna get him." But Eddie steps in front of him. "No, I won't let you." Foster levels the rifle at Eddie. "Well, then we'll have three bodies to eat tonight."
Eddie trembles. He wants to stop Foster, but then he thinks of his wife and children waiting for him to save them. So when Foster steps around him, Eddie doesn't move. He watches helplessly as Foster sets off into the trees, following the bloody footprints. A few minutes later, two rifle blasts shatter the morning silence. Foster soon returns. That was a mercy killing.
They'd already collapsed. Come on, somebody help me fetch the bodies. Eddie suspects that Foster's lying. The two guides probably could have survived. And Eddie burns with shame that he didn't do anything to save them.
William Eddy stumbles forward as fast as he can, his eyes glued to the most welcome sight he's ever seen: footprints in newly fallen snow. Lots of them. Civilization must be close. Despite his hunger, Eddy refused to eat the murdered Miwok guides. Instead, he stuffed himself with grass he dug up from beneath the snow.
The lack of any real food has left him dizzy, but the sight of footprints has re-energized him. He's staggering ahead of his few surviving comrades, five women plus Foster. Eddie bursts into a clearing and finds himself surrounded by dozens of grass and bark huts. He's just stumbled into a Miwok village. One by one, Miwok men, women, and children emerge from the huts, staring at him.
Eddie can only imagine how starved and dirty he looks. Then he feels a flash of guilt, remembering the brutal end of Luis and Salvador, who were Miwok themselves.
When the rest of Eddie's group arrives, a Miwok man shouts to the other villagers. Eddie can't understand him and for a moment, he's worried. But then, another Miwok man drapes a thick fur around Eddie's shoulders, and a woman hands him a wooden bowl of acorn porridge. "Oh, thank you, thank you." Eddie can't decide what's better, the warmth coursing down his throat or the rich, nutty taste of the porridge.
It spills down his hands as he greedily licks every drop. His comrades get their own fur cloaks and porridge. When they've slurped it down, the Miwok leaders guide the settlers into one of the huts where they can sleep. As he snuggles beneath a fur with his belly full, Eddie thanks God that his wandering took him here.
Then he thinks about his plan. He'll nurse himself back to health and then march to the nearest fort. There, he'll round up all the supplies he can and go back to rescue his family. For the first time in weeks, his plan feels possible. James Reed clears his throat on stage at a lecture hall in San Francisco. Nearly a hundred people have gathered to hear him.
Normally, he doesn't mind public speaking. But tonight, he has a painful task. He has to paint a compelling picture of his family, trapped somewhere in or near the Sierras. And he has to convince the people in front of him to help rescue them. But what he's about to talk about is agonizing. It's now February 3rd, 1847. He hasn't seen his wife or children in four months.
It's dumb luck that Reed isn't trapped with them. He was banished from the group for stabbing and killing a fellow settler in an argument. Traveling on horseback, faster than the wagon train, Reed made it back to civilization three months ago and tried to mount a rescue party. But the Mexican-American war had broken out.
and every able-bodied man had volunteered for the army. Reed could only find one man to help him and they were forced to turn back before they could make it over the mountains. Now with the war winding down in Northern California, Reed hopes he can persuade more men to join him. A bigger, better equipped rescue party would have a much better chance of reaching the stranded settlers.
On stage, he describes winter in the Sierras and how desolate things must be for everyone. The cold, the hunger, the despair. He describes his wife Margaret, her headaches and her poor health. She must be near death now. And then there's his stepdaughter, Virginia.
She's tougher than any ten men that I know, but she's only 13 years old. She deserves a shot at life. Tears flood Reed's eyes. He tries to keep talking, but finally breaks down and weeps. He's never been so ashamed. The crowd must think that he's a fool. How could they expect him to lead a wilderness expedition if he can't even control his emotions?
But then, to his surprise, he hears a clink from the foot of the stage. He wipes his eyes and sees a grizzled mountain man dropping three silver dollars into a jar for donations. After that, people line up to donate. Several volunteer on the spot to join him.
Reed is overwhelmed. By the end of the meeting, he's raised $800, more money than most men earn in a year. Now he can buy enough horses and food to mount a proper rescue mission. He just hopes there are people still left to rescue. William Eddy shields his eyes, blocking the sun.
His back aches as he adjusts the 75-pound sack of food and blankets on his shoulder. The ongoing snowfall proved too deep for his rescue party's horses, so last week they left them behind with one party member and struggled on. As Eddie squints in the sun, the landscape suddenly looks familiar. It's the lake camp. He can hardly believe it.
It's February 18th, two months since he first left here to search for help. In those two months, Eddie nursed himself back to health, then rounded up as many men and supplies as he could to mount this rescue attempt. Several men gave up and quit along the way, saying the weather was still too bad or the snow was too deep. But six brave men stuck with Eddie, and now here they are, back at the camp. Except...
Eddie sees no sign of life, nothing but unbroken snow and pine trees. His heart pounds as he steps forward. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" He hears faint digging. Ten yards away, a woman's head pops up from the snow like a prairie dog. Her hair hangs limp and greasy, and her face looks skeletal. Eddie stares. He can't recognize her. "Are you men from California?"
Or do you come from heaven? The voice is familiar to Eddie. It's Lavina Murphy, a young widow. She was part of the group that helped make the snowshoes. It's me, William Eddie. We're here to rescue you. Other heads pop up through the snow. Most of them Eddie can barely recognize. He can't believe how much these people have deteriorated in two months. Some are little more than skin and bone.
He hurries forward to pull them out of their snowed-in tents and cabins. Despite the tired, gaunt faces, there's much rejoicing. Some, like little Virginia Reed, even hug and kiss Eddie. He feels how bony their arms are on his shoulders. Eddie pulls aside one man to ask about his family. "Where's Eleanor? And my children?"
The man drops his eyes. "Your son is fine. We took him in. What about my wife and daughter?" "They died a few days after you left." Eddie's heart sinks. For two months now, with every step forward, he's been dreaming of rescuing his wife and his little girl. But they've been dead nearly the whole time. He feels utterly hollowed out.
After a long moment, Eddie realizes that everyone is staring at him. He swallows hard and, awful as it is, he pulls himself together. "Thank you for saving my son. May I see him?" The man disappears back down a hole in the snow to fetch three-year-old Jimmy. At first, the boy blinks and stares at Eddie, as if unsure who he is.
Then, Eddie scoops him up, and he clings to his father. It eases the ache in Eddie's heart, but only a little. By the looks of him, Jimmy might not be strong enough to make the trek out of the mountains. At last, Eddie tears himself away. "Be brave, Jimmy.
I'll be back soon. Then he turns to the rescue party. I'm going to check the creek camp. The settlers are divided into two camps, here at the lake and another at a creek six miles away. Eddie trudges there now through thick, heavy snow. When he arrives, his first stop is to see George Donner.
When he reaches Donner's shelter, he first sees George's wife, Tamsin. She's chipping away at some ice, clearing a makeshift staircase that leads down into the snow-covered tent. He calls out, and she lowers the hatchet. "I thought we'd never see you again. I promised you I'd return. How's George?" Her face falls. "Come and see for yourself." When Eddie enters the shelter,
It reeks of soiled bodies. George lies on a crude bed, his right arm puffed and red. He barely opens his eyes when Eddie says hello. Eddie is hit by another wave of sorrow. He's too late to rescue George. He's far too weak to travel. Eddie says his goodbyes, then pulls Tamsin back outside and explains his plan. They can't take everyone out.
They don't have enough food, and the snow-covered mountain pass is too dangerous for the smallest children and weakest adults. So they're taking only the strongest first, those who have the best chance of survival. Then they'll come back later and do what they can for the rest. "Tamson, you should come now. You look as strong as anyone." "I'm not abandoning George. Think about your children. They'll need their mother." "No, they're not leaving either."
Eddie tries to talk some sense into her. She finally agrees to let her two stepdaughters go, but won't budge on her three daughters. Or herself. As Eddie waits for the stepdaughters to pack up, Tamsin grabs his arm. Please hurry. We have no food left. What have you been eating? Boiled bones and rawhide mostly. A mouse here and there, but that's all gone now.
We're leaving what we can. There'll be a cup of flour, two biscuits, and a few pieces of beef jerky for everyone here. Bless you, but that won't buy us much time. If you're not back soon, we'll have to resort to drastic measures. Eddie shudders. He knows all too well what drastic measures means.
When Tamsin's stepdaughters are ready, Eddie begins to lead them back toward the lake camp. After a few hundred yards, he turns and takes one last look back at the Donner's camp and makes a silent vow that he'll return as quickly as he can.
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Virginia Reed trudges through the snow, her three siblings trailing behind her. The four Reed children, along with their mother and 20 others, were chosen to make the first trek through the mountains to safety. But now, just a few miles into the trip, the children are struggling, especially nine-year-old Patty and three-year-old Tommy. They keep sinking into the snow, almost to their waist,
and they're shivering badly. Virginia tries to encourage them. "Tommy, keep your eyes up! And Patty, lift your knees! That a girl!" Her five-year-old brother, James Jr., is actually doing well, but Patty soon stumbles again, and Tommy is falling behind. Virginia would carry him if only she had more strength. The rescuers soon halt the group, and one member of the relief team approaches Virginia's mother, Margaret.
These two children are endangering the whole party. They're too slow. We have to send them back. Virginia is aghast. She pulls Tommy and Patty behind her. Her mother looks shocked too. If you send them back, I'm going with them. William Eddy steps forward. I know this is agonizing, but we need to get as many people as possible to safety.
I'm not allowing you to leave. We'll send a guide back with Tommy and Patty. You can't do this! Margaret, listen. Do you think that I wanted to leave my son back there? No. But we have at least ten days of hard marching to reach Fort Sutter, and I knew that he couldn't keep up. It was for everyone's good, including his. Those of us strong enough to make it to Fort Sutter owe it to those who are too weak.
We have to be the first ones to go, so we can get our strength back and return with more supplies. Virginia sees her mother's lips trembling.
But she finally nods, then covers her face with her hands. In a daze, Virginia lets go of Tommy and Patty's hands. A burly guide scoops Tommy up and pushes Patty along. Before they go, nine-year-old Patty calls to Virginia and their mother. If I never see you again, do the best you can. Virginia's eyes sting with tears, but she nods and tries to force a smile.
She watches them through the pines as long as she can until they dip down below a hill. After they disappear, Virginia feels gutted. The one thing driving her forward has been protecting her little siblings. Now she's lost two of them and wonders if she'll ever see them again. Virginia's mother still has her face buried in her hands. She can't bear to watch her children go.
Virginia looks over at little James Jr. and sees him staring at her, wondering what to do next. She takes his hand, tugs at her mother's sleeve, and together they continue on. Virginia Reed leans against a pine tree, gasping for air.
The past five days of walking have been the hardest struggle of her life. By now, they're past the highest peaks of the mountains, but it's still tough going. Her footsteps in the snow look like they were made by a drunk person, veering side to side. She glances back at her mother, who's staggering as well. Virginia turns back to help her, but then she hears something from ahead.
Father! Virginia!
Her strength falters and she slips, but her father's close enough to catch her in his arms. Virginia looks up into his smiling, bearded face. "What are you doing here?" "I said I'd come to save you, didn't I? What's our motto? Persevere, good girl."
Is your mother here? Or your siblings? Tommy and Patty had to go back, but James and Mother... Mother! Virginia points back to her mother and sees her collapsed in the snow. Virginia's father hurries over and scoops her up.
Margaret begins weeping. Virginia's father looks like he might cry too. Virginia walks over and wraps her arms around them both. "Father, promise you'll never leave us again." "I'm afraid that's a promise I can't keep. I have to return to camp to help the others."
Reed explains that he's leading a second relief party back to the camps. They're better equipped than the first relief party, with two dozen horses carrying hundreds of pounds of food. But Virginia begs him not to go. After not seeing her father for months, she can't bear to let him out of her sight.
She clutches his coat, weeping and pleading with him. Reed says he has a duty to go, but he makes another vow. I won't leave without Tommy and Patty. As long as I have strength to walk, I promise to get them out of that godforsaken camp. Virginia nods and reluctantly lets go of his coat.
Then it's time for the two groups to part ways. As Virginia's father leaves, he calls out to her. "Look after your mother and your brother for me. I'm counting on you. I will. I promise." But as she watches her father's relief party disappear into the snow-covered pine trees, she wonders if she has enough strength left to make good on that promise.
James Reed's eyes go wide at the scene before him. There's a dead body in the snow, its torso cut open, and its organs inside are missing. The limbs are missing meat from the bones too. He looks more closely at the corpse's face and winces when he recognizes the man as one of his family's hired hands.
It's March 1st, just two days since Reed parted ways with his wife, his daughter Virginia, and little James Jr. on the trail. With strong, experienced mountain men in Reed's relief party, they made good time down the eastern slopes of the Sierras. And now they've arrived here at the lake camp.
But Reed was not prepared for the gruesome scene they found. Even after resorting to cannibalism, the few survivors staggering around the camp look like walking skeletons. Most are so delirious with hunger that they barely seem to notice the rescuers.
The stench of death and decay is overpowering. Reed tries to ignore a sinking feeling as he searches for his other two children, Tommy and Patty. With a surge of relief, he finds Patty half asleep on the roof of a snow-covered cabin. When he wakes her, she throws her arms around him, pressing her frozen cheek against his neck. He finds Tommy playing with some sticks in the nearby woods.
As Reed approaches, Tommy cowers, staring up at Reed's sunburned face and ice-encrusted beard. His eyes are blank with terror, like a cornered wild animal. Tommy, it's me, your father. Come here. At the sound of Reed's voice, Tommy blinks and bursts into tears. Reed scoops him up and holds him in a tight embrace. He's dreamed about this moment for so long.
After tending to his children, Reed goes from shelter to shelter looking for more survivors. He finds several, but most are too weak to do more than nod hello. One of the survivors is Louis Keseberg who tried to have Reed hanged way back in the desert when Reed killed a man in self-defense.
Reed finds Keseberg in a snow-covered lean-to shelter against the side of a cabin. His foot is injured, and he can't stand. Reed still hasn't forgiven Keseberg, but he kneels down and tries to be the bigger man. "Lewis, let me help you." To Reed's shock, Keseberg spits at him. "I don't need help from the likes of you."
Reed barely manages to choke down his anger, but he reminds himself of his mission to save people. So even as Kesseberg tries to resist, Reed strips his soiled clothes and cleans them up with a rag. Afterward, Reed trudges to the Creek Camp, six miles away, to check on the Donner family. Things there are even more ghastly.
The first thing Reed sees is Jacob Donner's five children, the oldest not even ten. They're sitting on a log, eating a human heart, their faces smeared with blood. Reed is aghast. Worst of all, the body lying nearby, the one they're feasting on, is their late father. Reed coaxes the children away from the body with hunks of dried pork and apples from his pack.
Then goes to George and Tamsin Donner's teepee-shaped tent, dreading what he might find. Inside, Tamsin is sweeping the dirt floor with a pine bough. George lies on a makeshift cot near the small central fire pit. His injured hand has turned almost black with infection. He's too weak even to lift his head when Reed tries to greet him.
Reed urges Tampson to take her daughters and return with Reed's rescue party. They have no choice but to come back for George later. He's too weak to travel, probably close to death. But Tampson refuses. No, George needs me, and he needs his daughters. We won't abandon him.
Reed sighs. Eddie warned him that Tamsin might be unwilling to leave her husband's side. Fine, but I'm leaving three of my men here at the camps to look after you. Reed says he'll return as soon as he can. The snow is starting to melt, and soon they'll be able to get carts and more pack animals through the mountains. In the meantime, everyone just needs to hold on.
As Reed turns to leave, he reflects on how relieved he is that his own family will be getting out safely. He knows Tamsin is a loving wife and mother, but her decision to stay and keep her children with her seems worse than foolish. It seems suicidal.
From inside her shelter at the Creek Camp, Tamsin Donner hears the crack of a rifle. She puts down the Bible she's reading to her three-year-old daughter and stands up. Stay here, Eliza. Mama will be right back. James Reed left yesterday with 17 settlers, leaving just a handful behind at the camps. He also left three of his men behind to collect firewood and hunt for more food.
Tamsin has seen the awful things that other families have been reduced to, including her nephews and nieces eating poor Jacob. So far, her family has avoided that fate, and she hopes the hunters have bagged some game to keep things that way. Reed's relief party left them with seven days worth of provisions, but she knows they might need more than that.
Tamsin climbs out of her shelter and spots two of the hunters huddled beneath a tree nearby. Charles Cady and Charles Stone. They're pointing at the third who's hurrying up a snowy slope into the woods, presumably in pursuit of game. Tamsin wonders what he shot. But before she calls out, she listens for a moment and realizes that Cady and Stone aren't talking about hunting. They're talking about her family.
They seem angry about being left to guard them. Stone admits he stayed only for the extra pay, but Katie says a few extra dollars isn't worth their lives. Look, let's leave. Clark's off tracking the bear he shot. We'll just say we're going to help, and then we'll sneak off.
Tamsin is shocked. They're planning to abandon her and her family. She marches up to confront them. How dare you entertain such notions? May God have pity on your soul! Stone at least mutters an apology. But Katie, a ruddy blonde man with thick lips, simply sneers. You'd do the same in our position.
No, I wouldn't. Twice now, I've refused to leave my husband. Then you're a fool who's not worth saving. Because of you, your kids are stuck here instead of being safe and warm somewhere. You call that being a good mother? The words sting, Tamsin. All day now, she's been second-guessing her decision not to send her children with James Reed. What if they die here?
But she suddenly realizes she might have a second chance. If you really are leaving, why don't you redeem yourself a little and take my children with you? Why would we do that? I'll pay you $300 each. Make it $500. Tamsin agrees to that amount, provided they also carry out some heirlooms as well. She wants to make sure her children have something of value to sell in case she doesn't make it out alive.
Tamsin then retreats to her shelter to get the money and pack up her children. She prays she can trust these men and that she's doing the right thing. But with George near death and Reed's men about to abandon her, she feels like this is her only choice.
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Virginia Reed bursts out of the front door of the ranch house, her eyes scanning the nearby fields.
She's staying at this ranch west of the Sierras, still recovering after her exhausting trek through the mountains. Today, March 10th, a ranch hand just brought news that some more settlers are arriving soon.
Mother! James! They're here!
She's never sprinted so fast in her life. She scoops up little Tommy and whirls him around. Patty hugs Virginia so hard it hurts. Her five-year-old brother James Jr. runs up to hug Patty too. A minute later, her mother comes out and embraces her father, who drops a large rucksack. He appears about to collapse. Then the whole family comes together, all six of them.
From inside her coat, Patty pulls out a pincushion and lock of hair. Their mother is confused. Whose are these? Virginia explains. They're from grandmother. Patty carried them this whole time. I told her it was okay. Her father starts laughing. It's more than okay. It's marvelous. Her mother begins to weep.
So much has happened since her grandmother's funeral on the prairie. Just thinking about it overwhelms her. And soon Virginia is crying herself. Crying and laughing all at once. William Eddy kneels in the melting mid-March snow, shaking the woman in front of him. "Lavina, Lavina, wake up!" The woman is Lavina Murphy.
The first face Eddie saw a month ago when he reached the camp the first time. Now she's sprawled face down, barely breathing and bone thin. Eddie keeps shaking her. There's no one else around, and he needs to know what happened to his son. "Lavina!" A few days ago, Eddie and James Reed reunited at a ranch near the Sierras. Reed agreed to return with Eddie one last time to help Eddie find his son.
Accompanying them is William Foster, the man who murdered Luis and Salvador, then butchered them for food. Eddie still despises Foster, but he also has a son at the camp, and Eddie agreed to join forces with him. An hour ago, approaching the camp, Eddie and Foster pushed ahead of the main party, too anxious to wait.
Levina Murphy is the first person they've found. And as Eddie shakes her, she stirs to life. William? Yes! I'm looking for my son Jimmy. Do you know where he is? Dead. The word lands like a sledgehammer.
Eddie has already lost his wife and daughter. The one thing driving him back to this godforsaken camp was the hope of seeing his son. If Lavina is right, now his beautiful little Jimmy is dead too. Foster kneels next to Murphy and asks about his son. Murphy reports that he's dead too.
When Foster demands to know what happened to them, Murphy gets agitated. It was Louis Keseberg. He claimed he was trying to keep the boys warm, then he smothered them with a blanket. He's a devil. Foster stands up. I've heard enough. I'm going to find that bastard. He and Eddie locate Keseberg in a dark corner of his lean-to, bandaging his injured foot. The stench is revolting.
Foster starts yelling immediately. "Where's my son?" Keseberg looks defiant. "Your boys are dead." "Where are they? I want to see them!" "You can't." "I ate them. They were the only food I had." Eddie has to support himself on the rough wall of the lean-to. Hearing his boy is dead was heartbreaking enough, but hearing this makes Eddie's legs give out.
Foster grows more furious. He steps toward Keseberg, his fists bald. Did you murder them? No, I did not. They starved to death. I'll kill you! Foster springs forward, but before he reaches Keseberg, Eddie snags Foster around the waist and wrestles him to the side.
Eddie wants to kill Keseberg too, but he convinces Foster that leaving him behind is punishment enough. Keseberg begins to howl, demanding to be taken back with the others. He tries to stand, but slips on his injured foot. Eddie watches him, recalling the terrible things Keseberg has done, beating his pregnant wife.
leaving the poor hardcoop to die walking in the desert, trying to hang James Reed without a trial. Then, Eddie turns away to leave Louis Kesseberg to his fate. Tampson Donner stops to rest on a small hill overlooking the lake camp.
It's taken her hours to walk the six miles from the creek camp. She doesn't know what day it is anymore, but figures it must be April, her fifth month trapped in the Sierras. And for the first time, the snow has melted enough to reveal bare ground. She can even see shoots of new plants poking up. She bends down to touch one.
How many times over the past five months has she longed to see a wildflower or even a blade of grass? It's almost surreal. Tamsin has made the trek to the lake camp before. On the last trip, she discovered that the would-be rescuers, Katie and Stone, had abandoned her children there and stolen their heirlooms.
Thankfully, when William Eddy returned a month ago, she could finally send her daughters off with someone trustworthy. Besides those few trips, Tamsin never left George's side. But now, George is dead. He slipped away quietly a few nights ago. Tamsin whispered a short prayer and kissed his cheek. And with everyone else at the creek camp dead too, Tamsin decided to move to the lake camp.
But if anything, this place is even grimmer. Spring should mean new life, but images of death are everywhere here. She sees the carcasses of oxen and mules, the ones the hungry settlers couldn't find all winter. Worse are the human remains, the bones smashed to get the marrow, the skulls bashed open for the brains.
The snow can no longer hide what people did. "Tamson!" Tamsin turns to see the beady-eyed Louis Keseberg. He's wrapped in a blanket and limping toward her. "You scared me! What happened to your foot?" "I injured it, but it's healing now. I've been eating better lately." "Is anyone else alive?" "Just me. And you, I guess."
Tamsin nods. She guesses so too. But why did God spare her? Perhaps he still wants her to found that girls school, though she long ago abandoned her books and supplies. But thinking about the future exhausts her, and the pain of all she's lost is still so raw. Before long, she breaks down weeping. To her surprise, the normally gruff Keseberg is sympathetic.
He even unwraps the blanket from his shoulders and covers her. "Come, you'll be okay. Rest in my cabin. I'll keep you warm." Tamsen nods and lets herself be led away. All she wants to do is lie down and go to sleep for a long, long time. 23-year-old Virginia Reed steps outside, locks the door to her home, then turns to look up and down her street.
A few days ago, a rare snowstorm hit here in San Jose, California. But it's finally melting and she can see grass again. Virginia is always glad to see the snow melt. But she's late meeting her parents for dinner. She crosses the porch and hurries down the steps toward the sidewalk. Miss Reed, a moment?
A young woman steps out from behind a tree. Virginia sees her pencil and notebook and is instantly on guard. It's a reporter. "Can I ask you a few questions, Miss Reed?" "About what?" "The 10th anniversary of the Donner Party is coming up and our readers want to know." "No! I've already said all I want to say. Leave us alone for God's sake!" The reporter keeps firing questions, so Virginia retreats up the porch stairs, unlocks her door, and then slams it shut.
Through the blinds, she can see the reporter lurking. In her experience, they're determined enough to stand there all day. She'll wait a bit, then slip out the back. In the kitchen, she realizes she's forgotten something. She pulls out a box of ginger snaps and shoves a half dozen cookies into each pocket of her coat. Ten years ago, she vowed to never again be caught without food. Not even if she's just crossing town.
It's a vow she's kept ever since and intends to keep her whole life. With her pockets full, Virginia relaxes. Then she tiptoes to the back door, opens it quietly, and makes her escape.
Of the 87 men, women, and children in the Donner Party, 41 lost their lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Many of the 46 survivors became recluses. Others, especially the children, would hate snow for the rest of their lives. A final relief party made it to the lake camp in April 1847. Louis Keseberg was the last person rescued.
Tamsin Donner had died not long before, and Keseberg confessed to eating her.
As newspaper accounts began to spread about the Donner Party, Keseberg became the story's villain, the murderous cannibal. But Keseberg denied killing Tamsen Donner or anyone else, and it was never proven that he committed murder. William Eddy ended up starting a new family in California. James Reed settled in San Jose, and just as he predicted to his friend Abraham Lincoln,
He thrived, making a fortune in real estate and gold speculation.
Reed's stepdaughter Virginia lived another 74 years after her rescue, dying at age 87 in 1921. And for every one of those 70 plus years, whenever she left the house, she always had cookies or candy in her pockets. The members of the Reed family were among the few survivors who never resorted to eating human flesh to survive.
Among those who did eat their comrades, most were too ashamed to ever talk about it. But a few did speak openly about eating their fallen friends and loved ones, and did so without shame. They said, "You have no idea what it was really like. I did what I had to do to survive, and you would have done the same."
In our next episode, I speak with ultra runners Bob Crowley and Tim Tweetmeyer. In 2020, the pair retraced the nearly 100-mile route that the rescue group took from Donner Camp through the Sierra Nevada mountains to search for help.
This is the final episode of our three-part series, The Donner Party. And a quick note about our scenes. These are dramatizations and may include details that are invented or embellished, but everything is based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about this event, we highly recommend the books The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallace and The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown.
I'm your host, Mike Corey. Sam Keen wrote this episode. Our editor is Steve Fennessy. Our audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Sound design is by Joe Richardson. Produced by Matt Almos, Emily Frost, and Alita Rozanski. Our managing producers are Tonja Thigpen and Matt Gant. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Stephanie Jens, and Marshall Louis for Wondery. One.
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