On July 15, 1976, a school bus carrying 26 children and their beloved driver, Ed Ray, left Chowchilla, California, after a hot day at summer school and never made it home.
Blocked by a mysterious white van, the bus was hijacked by armed, masked men and driven into a hidden slough, where the victims were transferred into dark, soundproofed vans. Over the next 16 hours, they would endure an ordeal that left lasting scars: being buried alive.
In this episode, we speak to Fox News Senior Correspondent Claudia Cowan, host of Nightmare in Chowchilla, to unpack the chilling ransom plot and its surprising perpetrators.
You can listen to the podcast Nightmare in Chowchilla: The School Bus Kidnapping here.
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CREDITS
Guest: Claudia Cowan
Host: Claire Murphy
Senior Producer: Tahli Blackman
Group Executive Producer: Ilaria Brophy
Audio Engineer: Tina Matalov
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We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
