What to Carry, What to Burn

When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler loses the trail on a family hike, he has to survive in the Maine wilderness all alone. Sources for this episode include the documentary Finding Donn Fendler; the book Lost on a Mountain in Maine, by Donn Fendler, as told to Joseph B. Egan; “Fendler Remembered as a True American Hero,” by John Holyoke in the Bangor Daily News; “Fendler Boy Found Alive in Woods Eight Days After Becoming Lost,” in the New York Times; “70 Years Ago a Mountain in Maine Challenged a Boy’s Will to Survive,” by Nok-Noi Ricker, in the Bangor Daily News; and “Remembering Donn Fendler,” by John Thurlow, in Down East. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When honeymooners Holly and Fitz miss their boat ride out of a Peruvian village, they think they'll be stuck for weeks--until a stranger offers a bold alternative. Sources: Ruthless River by Holly Fitzgerald Holly Fitzgerald: Lost in the Jungle Again https://www.guernicamag.com/holly-fitzgerald-lost-jungle/ TEDx: What the Jungle Taught Me About Inner Strength https://www.ted.com/talks/holly_fitzgerald_what_the_jungle_taught_me_about_inner_strength Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21-year-old Violet Jessop goes to sea to support her family--and ends up caught in two major maritime disasters. (Spoilers below, in the source list.) Sources for this episode include the book Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop who Survived Both the Titanic and Brittanic Disasters, by Violet Jessop, introduced, edited, and annotated by John Maxtone Graham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1943, Jan Baalsrud and his friends sneak into northern Norway on a fishing boat to blow up a Nazi air base—but when the Nazis catch them first, Jan ends up barefoot in the snow on an arctic island, trapped and alone. Sources: We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance, by David Howarth Defiant Courage: Norway’s Longest WWII Escape, by Astrid Karlsen Scott and Dr. Tore Haug The Fugitive, published in The New York Times, by Robert Kolker Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman Irene by Sofia Jannok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU-np8zS4HQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Juliane Koepcke had an unusual childhood, helping her biologist parents with fieldwork in the Amazon. At seventeen, after surviving a two-mile free fall from a broken plane, she has to lean on everything she learned from her family to survive the jungle. Sources for this episode include the book When I Fell From the Sky by Juliane Koepcke, the film Wings of Hope by Werner Herzog, and the New York Times story “She Fell Nearly 2 Miles, and Walked Away,” by Franz Lidz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Navigator Valerian Albanov escapes an icebound ship--and ends up the reluctant leader of a desperate trek across the frozen sea. Sources for this book include the book In the Land of the White Death by Valerian Albanov, translated from Russian to English by Alison Anderson, and the book The Riddle of Navigator Albanov, by Mikhail Andreyevich Chvanov. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When shark fisherman José Salvador Alvarenga gets caught in a storm at sea, he thinks he'll be able to ride it out. But the motor breaks in his little boat, and he starts to drift across the Pacific... Sources for this episode include the book 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin (highly recommended!), as well as the Guardian article "Pacific Castaway Recounts his 13 Month Odyssey" by Leila Haddou and the Time article "A Castaway who Survived 14 Months at Sea is Being Sued for Cannibalism" by Tiare Dunlap. Other works mentioned are the book A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (also highly recommended!) and the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from which this episode gets its name. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Lucy Irvine stumbles on an ad in the back of a magazine—an eccentric writer is looking for a “wife” to join him on a tropical island—she thinks she’s found the adventure of a lifetime. But the survival you sign up for is not necessarily the survival you end up in… To learn more about this story, I recommend the book Castaway by Lucy Irvine. There are other sources, as listed in the episode, but I don’t recommend them! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s 1976, and a 20-something aspiring painter, Lauren Elder, is flying over California’s Sierra Mountains to pick up a cat named Ferocious. When the plane crashes, she’s faced with a decision: stay and wait for rescue, or cross a wilderness where—in her hallucinatory state—she can’t even tell what's real. Sources for this episode include the book And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder and Shirley Streshinsky, articles in Artforum and the LA Times by Maria Borges and Cecilia Rasmussen, LaurenElder.com, and the Women Eco-Artists Dialogue (weadartists.org). https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-may-07-me-then7-story.html https://www.artforum.com/events/lauren-elder-216640/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's bad enough that 19th-century sailor Bob Holding gets stranded on an island after a shipwreck—but to make it worse, his companions are entitled, incompetent, and straight up murderous. Plus, they're not as alone on the island as they think... Sources for this episode include the books The Wake of the Invercauld: Shipwrecked in the Subantarctic by Madelene Ferguson Allen and Island of the Lost by Joan Druett. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Francois Raynal and his buddy, Captain Musgrave, are looking for a rumored island full of silver when they end up stranded in the Southern Ocean, surrounded by thousands of belching sea lions. After surviving a year in the wilderness, they accept that the world won’t save them—so they develop an ingenious (and terrifying) plan to save themselves. Sources for this episode include the books Island of the Lost, by Joan Druett; The Wreck of the Grafton from the Private Journals of Thomas Musgrave, by Thomas Musgrave; and Wrecked on a Reef or 20 Months on the Auckland Islands, by Francois Raynal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ada Blackjack wants one thing: To make enough money to bring her son home from an orphanage. But good work is hard to find in 1920s Nome, Alaska, so when four strangers come to town, looking to hire someone for a secret yearlong expedition, Ada embarks on the trip—not knowing that she’ll be the only one of them to survive. Featuring guest Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When five explorers are abandoned on a frozen island, with ever-dwindling food and supplies, they try to arrange their own rescue by dogsledding across the frozen Arctic Ocean. Twenty-three-year-old seamstress Ada Blackjack is left completely alone--with no idea when, or if, she'll escape. Featuring guest Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A brand new podcast by Blair Braverman, launching May 12, 2026. See you soon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.