Vineyard Misadventure: Long Crawl Out

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0:56It's around noon, on Tuesday the 16th of May 2017. In northwest America, Maryhill Winery perches in dusty, ochre-colored hills overlooking the mighty Columbia River, which marks the border between Washington State and Oregon. Acres of orchards and vineyards encircle the winery, the luscious ranks of leafy green plants bright as emeralds against the parched and rugged landscape. On the terrace of the bistro and tasting room, visitors soak up the sunshine and sip the local produce as they gaze out at the panoramic views. Below them, the grapevines and fruit trees sprawl outwards towards a rocky cliffside, where the land suddenly falls away towards the river below.

1:43And here, caught in the crags at the top of the precipice, is a mobile phone. At first glance, there is no sign of its owner. But then, a hoarse, pained shout echoes of the rock face. About 50 feet below, 18-year-old Noah Messenger lies stranded on a steep, scree-laden slope. His body is battered, his legs leaden and unresponsive. He can barely move. Pain scintillates along his synapses as he takes a deep breath and bellows another desperate call for help. The sound reverberates across the landscape, but there is no answer. I was just yelling, listening, yelling, listening, and then as the hours drug on, it got less and less hopeful.

2:36Despite being so close to the winery, nobody can hear Noah's shouts. Help is torturously near at hand, but remains just out of his reach. And as time passes, a niggling sense of unease builds into a dread-inducing certainty. No one is trying to find him. And if rescue isn't going to come to him, he will have to go to it. But stranded, injured, and unable to move his legs, that looks like an impossible task. There's no way that people have been looking for me and haven't heard me screaming at the top of my lungs. By this time, it's setting into me This is potentially a life and death situation Not just potentially, this is likely a life and death situation

3:31Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision Could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

3:52In this episode, we meet Noah Messenger. In 2017, the 18-year-old vineyard employee is just like many other young adults, making the most of his newfound independence and looking forward to a bright future. But then, one single misstep changes everything. A simple twist of fate with devastating consequences. I consciously knew it was going to be bad. I was like, okay, this is definitely breaking bones. I felt my back just, like, snap first. It was just intense alarm. I could just feel the immediate snap. Instantly semi-paralyzed and caught on a rocky escarpment with no phone, no food, and no water, all his hopes of survival rest on his colleagues coming to look for him.

4:39But as the hours slip by with no sign of rescue, it becomes increasingly clear that Noah's only remaining option is to try to drag himself to safety, one slow, painful inch at a time. I was accepting of the fact that I was going to die. It was an inevitability. I was pretty much just going through the motions of trying to do something instead of just laying there and dying. At that point, it seemed to me I expected death. I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is Real Survival Stories.

5:39It's just after 5pm on Monday the 15th of May 2017 near the Oregon-Washington state border. Nestled against a backdrop of scrub-covered hills, the prestigious Mary Hill Winery occupies a prime spot with sweeping views of the Columbia River and surrounding vineyards. With guests dotted around the winery's bar and open terrace, last orders are being taken before the staff can begin closing down to head home for the night. But out in the grounds, 18-year-old Noah Messenger has just finished his shift. With summer approaching, his responsibilities and work patterns have recently changed, and he's switched from working in the cellars to doing landscaping and other outdoor jobs.

6:23Though he now finishes a little earlier than many of his colleagues, Noah can't leave yet. He is carpooling with his housemates, who also work at the winery, and they won't be done for another hour. Whilst he waits, Noah decides to go for a quick walk to the nearby cliffs. There's this excellent viewpoint. You have to just go through the orchards and it's overlooking like some orchards down on the bottom of the cliffs and then the Columbia River, which is a huge river. Yeah, it's a canyon and it's just a beautiful area. So that's where I decided to go just kind of kill some time. Before setting off, Noah informs one of his colleagues about his plan.

7:04I went into the winery and I told one of the co-workers that I was carpooling with that I would be down on the orchards and I potentially might fall asleep, so make sure to yell if they don't see me by the cars when they leave. I have a very clear memory of that. He took his earphone out, he listened, he seemingly understood, he nodded and went back to work. After that, Noah heads into the orchards, making for the familiar lookout spot on the cliffs. Though he's only worked at the winery for a matter of months, he's taken to it quickly. With some money in his pocket, Noah is enjoying a degree of freedom and independence for the first time in his life.

7:45It's something he values highly. After growing up with nine siblings in what he describes as an extremely conservative Christian household, where he was homeschooled. There's definitely positive aspects to homeschooling. You can work at your own pace. There's potential for even greater learning in a shorter period. For me, my family did it through strictly religious reasons, which I found extremely frustrating, especially throughout my teenage years. There wasn't a lot that I can look back on and be like, that was something that I did that was a nice escape throughout that time. There was fun days, perhaps, fun times with friends, but it was a difficult time for me growing up in that environment.

8:27I never saw eye to eye with family, so I was kind of always a little bit ostracized. His relations with his stepfather were particularly strained. He increasingly took control and just kind of delved us into a very ultra extreme conservative household. Was very, very comfortable with physical punishment. He was very inclined to make me tough, to put it simply. And I've been very comfortable with discomfort throughout my life or grown to be very comfortable with discomfort. for just through exposure.

9:10Desperate to gain his independence, at the age of just 17, Noah took the plunge and moved out, cutting ties with most of his family. I very much was itching to be an adult throughout my childhood and teenage years. I literally pat at myself and just put it in my car and left. I mean, not the best for me, but I've grown a lot from it, and I think it shaped me a lot as a person in a lot of positive ways. Less than a year after moving out, Noah has made the most of his newfound freedom by securing a job at the winery and building a thriving social life. Life was fun at that point. I was able to finally live freely in a way that I had never been able to experience throughout, essentially, my life before.

10:01I was just a 17 and 18-year-old enjoying myself finally living a little bit more freely than I'd ever been able to.

10:13It's around 5.30 p.m. Upon reaching the edge of the cliffs, Noah scrambles down a narrow path, leading to a small ledge three or four feet below. Here, he pauses to take in the stunning view. The cliffs fall away sharply towards a steep slope covered in shale and scree. At its base lie various vineyards and orchards, and on the other side of them, the serpentine splendor of the Columbia River, winking in the sunlight. There's this cool little outlay that you could just like sit and look over the cliff. And I'd grown up climbing trees, being very comfortable with danger, I suppose. And it was unwise of me.

10:55Obviously, looking back, it's like it's not like I'm making an excuse for being so close to the cliffside, but more of a clear picture of the mindset that might have led up to that. After a few minutes, Noah reaches into his pockets. and checks his phone. Though there's no signal out here, it indicates he still has half an hour before he needs to be back for the carpool. Plenty of time for a little more exploring. He scans the crags ahead, his eyes lighting on another vantage point he hasn't yet investigated. Slipping his phone back into his shorts, Noah sets out across a narrow, shale-strewn path, the loose rocks crunching beneath his feet.

11:37In the skies above, a hawk screeches Confident in his abilities, he picks his way along the sloping path Eyes fixed firmly on the way ahead And then, his foot lands just a fraction too close to the edge It's a tiny movement in the wrong direction But it has enormous consequences My foot just slipped And it was a simple list of slips, nothing dramatic or anything, but I was in a dumb spot and I slipped and my foot fell backwards and it was like everything went into slow motion. There was nothing I could do. I knew I was falling.

12:22Insurance isn't one size fits all. And shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years. With the Name Your Price tool, you tell them what you want to pay, and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy. Or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises.

12:55Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law hello greg jenner here i'm the host of you're dead to me the bbc comedy show that takes history seriously every episode i pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian and we have a lovely funny fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.

13:37And that's with Kyle Smith-Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist, discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Paris. So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Bye.

14:00In a split second, Noah is in free fall, grasping desperately at the empty air as he hurtles towards the ground. Seconds later, his tailbone smashes into the rock of the cliff face, the impact instantly catapulting him backwards into a second, longer fall. I consciously knew it was going to be bad. I was like, okay, this is definitely breaking bones. but I was able to tuck my head in and kind of like let myself somewhat relax. I knew not to like tense up so I kind of tucked my head in and relaxed and I think that may have saved my life because if my head would have slapped back it almost certainly would have killed me.

14:44The sky above Noah spirals as he plummets earthwards, powerless to stop what's coming. He slams into the ground with a sickening, bone-splintering crash. I felt my back just, like, snap first. I was on so much adrenaline, I wouldn't have called it pain, but it was just, like, intense alarm. I could just feel the, you know, immediate snap. Dazed, Noah gasps for breath, heart banging against his ribcage, his senses reeling from the force of the collision. Slowly, the initial shock of impact fades, and he starts to process his surroundings. He has landed about 50 feet below his starting point, partway down the steep, rocky slope at the base of the cliffs.

15:35One wrong move, and he could end up sliding all the way to the orchards and vineyards at the bottom. But there is a much greater concern. Noah can't move his legs. He stares down towards them, taking in their awkward, unnatural angles. My legs were all like to the side. I didn't feel like they were there and it was shocking. So immediately I kind of had this like burst of adrenaline and I was like trying to move my legs into a more straight position because that was like alarming to me, seeing them like that. Driven by shock and adrenaline, Noah struggles into a semi-seated position so he can reach towards his legs, pain radiating through his body.

16:18I've dealt with so much pain throughout my life. You know, the pain wasn't making me unable to function in the same way it may for other people. Noah grimaces as he maneuvers his legs. He is relieved to find that even though he cannot move them independently, he can at least still vaguely feel his hands upon them. After straightening them out as much as possible He sinks backwards, exhausted by the effort It's obvious he has sustained some major injuries in the fall Although he has no way of knowing exactly how severe they are at this stage Trying to move anywhere would be folly Immediately after, I mean I knew not to try to move I knew not to try to do anything other than just wait for help I reminded myself that I told that co-worker that I would be down on the cliffside.

17:14So I was like, okay, we're good. They're not going to go home without me. They know I'm down here. He's going to mention it. I made sure to tell him that. So all I have to do is wait here for maybe half an hour or so, and they'll be coming down here to look for me. Confident that help is near at hand, Noah waits, watching the color of the sky change as sunset approaches. There is nothing else he can do. Despite the relative proximity of the winery, he's still too far away for anyone to hear him shouting. Plus, at some point during his fall, his phone fell out of his pocket, meaning he has absolutely no way of contacting help.

17:55I do look back on the time and wonder if I would have just searched around for the phone. That would have been probably so much better than my situation that I ended up in. because you can still make an emergency call on a phone that doesn't have service. I wish in hindsight that I would have just spent that initial effort maybe crawling around the top of the cliff looking for where my phone would have landed. For now, all Noah can do is wait for his co-workers to find him. It was scary, yes, but it wasn't like writhing in pain or anything like that. Although I knew the situation was horrible, I was comfortable with the fact that my co-workers would be there soon.

18:36I was safe. I wasn't afraid for my life at that point or anything like that. You know, I was like, okay, I'm going to be found. I just need to wait for someone to pass by.

18:50Occasionally, he yells out, hoping to attract the attention of anyone searching the nearby cliffs. The rest of the time, he waits, straining his ears for any indication of footsteps or voices. The half-hour mark comes and goes, and there is no sign of rescue. As time passes, Noah's yells become more urgent, and dread grows in his gut. Maybe an hour and a half or so later, I realized, okay, they're not looking for me. They had to have gone home by now. They must have assumed I got a ride or something like that. If they were looking for me in that general area, they would have heard me or I would have heard them.

19:32It's a sickening realization. With the sky beginning to grow dark, Noah resolves to take matters into his own hands. Carefully, he shuffles onto his stomach, eyes fixed on the steep, scree-covered slope leading towards the top of the cliffs. I mean, I was in a probably delirious state of mind, that's probably why, but I attempted to try to crawl up that slope to try to get to the top of the cliff, because I was like, okay, maybe if I can get to the top of the cliff, and if I'm there, I'll be much more likely to be heard and found by people maybe potentially in that orchard looking for me.

20:14Gritting his teeth, Noah starts hauling himself up the slope, using his hands and forearms to pull his body weight forwards. His legs drag behind him, and shards of broken rock dig into his skin. He gains a foot or two of ground and then another. For a few moments it seems his plan might just work. But then, as he crawls, his limp legs suddenly slip beneath him and he loses control. I start rolling down the hill and that was honestly probably the scariest point of the whole ordeal. I was actively falling with no control of my fall because I had no control of my legs and my legs were just flipping out ahead of me and I'm trying to grab at the rocks to stable myself.

21:03It was the first time I had felt that lack of control from my body and my body working against me. Noah cries out as he tumbles down the slope, his vision blurring into a kaleidoscope of shapes and colors. He claws at the ground, grasping for anything to arrest his fall. Suddenly, his hands close around a large rock, and his momentum is brought to a jarring halt. Clinging to the rock, he tries to calm his racing heart, fear cascading through his veins. As soon as that happened, that scared me, and I started yelling like crazy, and I was like, you know, yelling for help, when I was scared. I was yelling for like another 15 to 30 minutes.

21:52At that point, it was like really starting to get dark. And I was like, okay, I mean, it's definitive now. I'm at least going to be out here through the night. And I calmed myself down. I was like, okay, you just got to wait till the morning. Already, the temperature is dropping fast. Noah's attempts to pull himself up the cliff have had the unintended consequence of dragging his shorts off. In his injured state, He finds it impossible to pull them back on. Now, clad only in a t-shirt, he's in for a long, cold night. And the forecast is for rain.

22:30In the gloom, he scans the slope and spots a large bush about 15 or 20 feet away. It's not much, but it should at least give him a modicum of shelter. Cautiously, Noah drags himself towards the bush. He struggles to crawl beneath it and settles instead for curling into a ball besides it, attempting to conserve as much body heat as possible. As the last vestiges of light fade, it isn't long before the rain arrives. Noah's one consolation is the prospect of being rescued tomorrow when surely his housemates and colleagues will realize something is wrong and come looking for him. The first night wasn't as scary as you might think.

23:15I was still sure. I was still reminding myself. I'm sure, you know, I'm doing okay right now. Obviously, I'm not in a good condition, but I'm doing okay. And they're definitely going to find me tomorrow morning. I was just like, okay, just got to, you know, tough it out through the night. Keep reminding yourself everything's going to be fine. So, yeah, the first night, a lot on my mind. You know, there's a lot I was thinking about, but it wasn't like I was hopeless by any means or even preparing for the idea of death. It was like, okay, this is just a horrible experience I'm having currently that I will be out of as soon as they find me.

23:56Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC comedy show that takes history seriously. Every episode, I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian, and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. and in this new series we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey and that's with Kyle Smith-Bino joining us and then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist, discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch we'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott so if that sounds like your sort of thing listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcasts thank you, bye

24:41It's early morning the following day. Curled up besides the bush, Noah watches as the first rays of light pierce the sky, which thankfully is now free of rain clouds. Unsurprisingly, sleep has proved impossible. At some point in the long dark hours, Noah lost all feeling in his legs, though this could just be the effect of the cold night air. Now his only priority is to make himself as visible as possible to any rescue party He shuffles away from the bush to a more exposed spot Where I felt like they would be able to see me And I was able to be heard And I just, you know, started yelling Yeah, I was just yelling, listening, yelling, listening And then as the hours drug on, it got less and less hopeful that was actually dawning on me that nobody was actually trying to find me.

25:40It's several hours later, around noon. Hoarse with screaming, Noah can't deny the grim truth any longer. If anyone were out there looking for him, they would have found him by now. By this time, it's setting into me. This is potentially a life and death situation. Not just potentially, this is likely a life and death situation. And that made me so angry. That was the most angry I had been through the whole experience because I was depending on that co-worker that I had told. I was reminding myself throughout the night, throughout the morning and throughout, you know, the entire ordeal that I told him specifically where I'd be.

26:20It's completely unfair to have any of that put on him. But during this time, I hated. He was what I was depending on. and I was like, I'm going to die now because you didn't, you know, take me seriously. Noah's anger bubbles over and his lungs strain as he screams with fury and desperation, the cries reverberating off the cliff face. But still nobody comes. Eventually the rage is replaced by sheer exhaustion and resignation.

26:55Now, early afternoon, it's nearly 24 hours since Noah's catastrophic fall. If nobody has come to look for him so far, the chances are they're not going to. And that leaves only two choices. He can either lie here and wait for the inevitable end, or he can try to save himself. Crawling back up the cliffs is obviously out of the question. But further down the slope, on the opposite side of the orchard, there is a small glimmer of hope. In the near distance, a train track runs parallel to the river. Noah estimates it's about 200 yards away. In his current condition, that seems brutally far. In another cruel twist, construction crews have been working on the tracks all day.