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This episode is brought to you by BonCharge. Visit BonCharge.com using promo code Miracle to show your support.

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As we got closer, we could see that there was a body in the puddle next to the van. Everything was submerged except for her face. And for me, it was like, oh, my God, please don't be dead. Please don't be dead.

C

This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.

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And I'm Holly Worthington. Sometimes the news and social media can feel pretty dark.

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And true crime can leave you afraid to even crawl into bed. But we're here to prove that there are more miracles than murders.

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In these special Miracles in the News episodes, we dig through the headlines for

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you because miracles still happen. And God is still good.

A

Welcome back to Miracles in the News. Okay, we've all heard of quicksand. I'm sure. I know when I was a kid, I thought quicksand was like the scariest thing in the entire world.

C

Yeah, like a clip in the Princess Bride where he's stuck in the quicksand.

A

Yes.

C

And I swear it made me think that quicksand was everywhere. I was always convinced I was gonna fall right in.

A

I thought that too. And when I was a kid, like our brothers Mark and Andrew and I would go out in the sandbox and we would create all these little quicksand pits. And there were quite a few of those little army men toys that met their demise in those muddy graves.

C

I think I dug up those army men years later, probably. I was like,

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yeah, but as an adult, I haven't really felt like quicksand was a threat to me.

C

Not as big as you thought?

A

Definitely not. Until I heard about a story in the news recently. And it starts in June. 68 year old Katherine Wasner is driving her van along a remote road. It's like kind of this muddy trail in the woods of northern Minnesota when all of a sudden her van gets stuck. She's completely alone. She's surrounded by nothing but trees and nature for miles. And it's not like she can flag anyone down and get help because there's no one around. So she walks to the other side of the van to see if there's any way she can get the van unstuck. And suddenly she starts sinking.

C

Oh, my gosh.

B

Her van got stuck on the trail, so she got out and fell into the mud that she said was like quicksand. This all happened east of Park Rapids.

C

Wow. Wait, okay, so there's just like a mud quicksand puddle right next to her van.

A

Yeah. It looks like just an ordinary mud puddle, but it's actually about two feet deep. And when she falls into it, the mud underneath just sucks Catherine into it and holds her in place. And the more she, she struggles to get out of it, it actually becomes tighter. The mud just like grips her and will not let her go.

C

So like, how much of her body is in the mud?

A

Yeah, everything except her face. And I'm talking even like most of her face, but like her nose and cheeks and mouth, eyes were out, but

C

I mean, that would be so freaking stuck. That would be so scary, right?

A

So Catherine has no choice but to just stay as still as possible for hours and hours because even the smallest movement could cause her to sink further and, and submerge her face. And meanwhile, back home, her family realizes that something has to be wrong. So Catherine was last seen driving near Akeley, Minnesota. But when she doesn't return home, authorities issue an endangered missing person alert, especially because she has medical conditions. But searchers have no idea where she's gone. And no one knows that Catherine is about a hundred miles away.

B

Wow.

C

In the mud.

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In the mud.

C

So why is she even out there?

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You know, the articles didn't really say. I wondered the same thing. And I don't know if she just. She's maybe just looking for a beautiful place to go for a drive, or maybe she's confused and has taken a wrong turn. I'm not really sure. But time passes, the sun starts to go down. She ends up spending the night out in the middle of the woods. So still stuck in the mud. And then another day goes by, and another day. For three days, she waits. Three days under the hot June sun, three nights alone in the woods. And the only part of her body above the mud, her face becomes badly sunburned, she's dehydrated, and she's just completely unable to escape.

C

It'd be pure torture. Like, we have a game at my house called the Misery Index and it like ranks things one to a hundred on how awful they would be to go through. Oh gosh, like one's like a stub toe 50's like maybe like a car accident or something. Number 100 is being buried alive in that game. In that game, it actually is the highest ranked torture that you could possibly go through.

A

Crazy.

C

Yeah. So I'm sure this was awful.

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I'm sure like I, it would be such a nightmare. And meanwhile, two lifelong friends from North Dakota are getting ready for a day of riding their UTVs. Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravelin had Done this for years. Together they have their routine. They normally ride separate machines. They usually stay on familiar trails. They usually drive fast. But on this day, none of that happens.

B

They say they almost always use the same trail, but not on Saturday. I have never mapped that trail in my life, ever. We changed everything. How we do everything for some reason.

C

Interesting.

A

Yeah. So instead of riding separately, Adam decides to ride with Mike. Instead of staying on trails they know well, they decide to explore somewhere new. And instead of passing by an unfamiliar trail that they never go down, they turn onto it. In fact, they actually drive past it first, and then they turn around and. And go back. Mike later said that they had driven past this trail for years and had never once thought about going down it. And this isn't exactly an inviting trail either. It's muddy. It's covered with potholes. There's even a fallen tree blocking part of it. It's the kind of road most people would probably just turn around and avoid. But these two men keep going. And then they see a van way back in the woods. And Mike immediately knows something isn't right. As they get closer to investigate, Adam notices something sticking out of a mud puddle. At first, he can't tell what he's looking at. Then he realizes it's a human face right there in the mud. I can't even imagine what that moment was like.

C

Be crazy.

A

Yeah, crazy. And their first thought is they think they've found a body. Hey, guys, Gotta interrupt real quick to talk to you about our red light face masks from Boncharge.

C

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A

So easy.

C

No recovery. Just consistency.

A

Yeah. And that's the thing, is I am not great about sticking to a skincare routine, but this is one that I've been able to stick with because you only have to do it, like, times a week, and you can do it anywhere, anytime, like you said, Emily. And even my husband has been stealing my red light face mask.

C

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A

That's B O N C-H-A-E dot com. You'll also get free shipping and a 12 month warranty. So go now, get this exclusive offer. That's boncharge.com with promo code miracle to get 15% off. Their first thought is they think they found a body.

B

We started walking towards the body and for me it was like, oh my God, please don't be dead. Please don't be dead. All you could see was just her face sticking out of the water. Her ears were submerged. Everything was submerged except for her face. Her eyes were open.

A

Oh my gosh.

C

That would be shocking.

A

Shocking. I have to say, when I first found this story, somebody had created this AI image of this mud puddle with this base in it. And I thought it was real at first and it was so disturbing looking. But that's probably what it really looked like.

C

I mean I have a clear picture in my head. Yeah. So, so scary.

A

Yeah. But then something even more shocking happens.

B

When we walked up, we, we thought she was dead. We thought it was just a body. And then she whispered help me and it scared the crap out of me.

C

Oh my gosh. I'm trying to like put myself in these guys shoes and think what I would do and like I'm sure they're going to do something but I imagine there had to have been a moment where they just were frozen in time. Yeah. What am I seeing here? Yeah.

A

It'd be like something out of a horror movie, honestly.

C

I know.

A

But Mike has actually spent thousands of hours training as a US Deputy Marshal and it doesn't take long before these two men jump into action. They immediately start digging her out, but the mud has a suction like grip on her whole body and it ends up taking about an hour and a half for these men to finally pull Catherine from the mud. That's how stuck she was.

C

Wow.

A

So they then call 911 and here's the 911 dispatcher summarizing the situation on the call.

C

Came across a van stuck in the mud in a female party laying in the water next to it. She's waiting alert, but said she's been there for a couple of days. Crazy.

A

I'm sure she wondered if that would be her final resting place at some points.

C

Yeah, it be so hard.

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So hard.

B

She watched the sun come up and go down while she was in that puddle and she said it was like quicksand and she couldn't get out.

A

Catherine was even trapped through the previous night's storm.

B

She's lying in the water and you know, watching it rain and probably just hoping that the water level doesn't rise and surpass her breathing. She's a resilient woman, super strong. To be able to endure what she did for three days is absolutely amazing.

C

I can't imagine that moment where it's. You're already stuck in mud and you can't move, and the water levels are rising. Oh, you don't know if you're gonna be able to breathe at any second. Like, to make matters worse, she had

A

to felt so panicked and to not be able to even move, this poor woman. Yeah, she definitely has to be a strong woman. So eventually, paramedics arrive, and they rush Catherine to the hospital. And despite everything she's endured, she's expected to make a full recovery. And she's so grateful to be alive. I mean, Katherine could have easily died in those woods, but God had other plans for her. And Adam and Mike were literally the angels who saved her life.

C

Wow. I mean, it's not like there's probably a lot of research about what happens to your body when you're stuck in mud for three days.

A

No, I'm sure not.

C

But it is amazing that she walked away from this alive.

A

Absolutely. And so here's the part that really sticks with me. No pun intended. In the interviews I watched, Adam kept replaying all the little decisions that day that led to them finding Catherine. And I agree with him that it had to be God.

C

Call it the miracle in the mud.

B

We changed how we do everything for some reason. And it had to be God. It had to be.

C

Isn't that how miracles so often happen? Like, something small, unexpected changes your path and leads you to where God wants you to be? Like, yeah, we hear all the time.

A

I think many of us have had experiences where a wrong turn became the right turn, you know, or you. You have a delay that leads you to the right place at the right time. And one thing is for sure, in this story, if Adam and Mike had spent that day exactly the way they always did, Katherine Wasner probably would never have been found. Yeah.

C

And this. So what's so powerful about stories like this is that if you allow God to use you, you can be the reason that someone else's story continues.

A

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us today. As always, subscribe and leave us a review and make sure to share this story with your friends and family. And we'll leave you with a few words from the heroes in this story. Adam and Mike.

B

We've heard that word hero a lot lately. And we ain't heroes. We're just two guys. But I have no doubt the hand of God was there guiding us.

C

Amen.

A

There you go. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact us atthemiracle Miraclefiles.com or find us on social media. We release new episodes each Monday.

C

Yes, so don't forget Miracle Mondays. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.

A

Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.