Real Survival Stories

Jeff Brydon sets out on a hike across some of Chile’s most awe-inspiring scenery, within touching distance of several of the country’s magnificent volcanoes. But when he awakes to find the world smothered in a haze of ash, Jeff must scramble to evacuate. All signs of the trail have been eliminated. A twisting, terrifying journey ensues… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Arik Baker, a young Iowa farmer and survivor of a catastrophic grain-bin entrapment, tells his first-person ordeal. He describes climbing into a 48-foot bin, puncturing a rotten shelf, sinking into crushing corn and losing hope. The story covers desperate rescue tactics, a massive community effort, and how the ordeal reshaped his life and farming safety awareness.

Joel Hofmann, a charity worker living in the mountains of Myanmar, survived Typhoon Yagi and helped his neighbors. He recounts rising rains, losing power and cell service, and organizing risky rescues at a flooded school. He describes a perilous river crossing through debris and the community-led relief efforts that followed.

A tense true-crime opening recounts a cold-blooded beach murder tied to early Viking raiders. The story then shifts to how waterways, shipbuilding and navigation powered raids and exploration. Listeners hear about Viking society, trade, slavery and why seasonal raiding fit into wider economics. Archaeological finds and shifting medieval politics explain how Viking activity reshaped Europe.

A young British lifeguard travels to Spain and finds himself in mortal danger. In 1967, 28-year-old Guy Taplin arrives on the Costa del Sol seeking a fresh start. At first the days slip by in a happy haze. But when a fellow beachgoer gets caught in a riptide, Guy jumps in to help. Swept out to sea, his own chances of reaching safety are suddenly slim. And his strength is running out… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. Go to https://surfshark.com/survival or use code SURVIVAL at checkout to get 4 extra months of SurfsharkVPN! For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pete Takeda’s is a unique story - combining extreme locations, extraordinary natural phenomena… and espionage. In September 2005, Pete is leading a small party deep into the Himalayas. His plan is not just to summit the peak of Nanda Kot, but to find proof of plutonium-powered surveillance devices - rumoured to have been planted in the mountains by the CIA some 40 years earlier. But when the might of the mountain turns against Pete and his team, all their priorities shift. Buried alive beneath hundreds of tonnes of snow, cut off from any sort of help, they’ll face a series of lethal threats… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Morgan Segui, a former acrobat turned adventurer living in East Timor, survived a five-day jungle ordeal after a severe fall on Mount Manukoko. He recounts getting lost, a catastrophic fall, waking injured and facing death, and how a herd of goats revealed a cliff path that inspired his climb back to safety. He also describes local kindness that aided his rescue.

A TV news reporter gets trapped right in the middle of his own incendiary story. Rob Roth is following up on a small wildfire in the forested hills surrounding Oakland, California - a blaze which firefighters got under control the day before. With his wife due to give birth, Rob is hoping that today of all days he can get home on time. But this routine assignment veers wildly off script. When the winds suddenly change, Rob and his colleague will find themselves stuck - camera still rolling - in a reignited inferno… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. Go to https://surfshark.com/survival or use code SURVIVAL at checkout to get 4 extra months of SurfsharkVPN! For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John All, environmental scientist, professor and mountaineer who fell into a Himalayan crevasse. He recounts the hidden snow trap, the terrifying plunge and improvised one‑armed climbing across ice blocks. He describes the grueling chimney climb to daylight, the helicopter extraction, and how the ordeal reshaped his research and life.

Neil Parker, an experienced bushwalker who rebuilt his life through hiking, recounts a bone-crunching fall near Mount Nebo and the desperate crawl that followed. He speaks about choosing a risky route around a waterfall, losing phone signal and his PLB, facing venomous wildlife, and the long fight for rescue and recovery.