Chowchilla bus kidnapping stories of survival | Forensic Files

it was July 15 1976. 26 children were on their way home from summer school when three masked
gunmen hijacked their school bus the buses had the windows down the Hot Summer Breeze the kids were laughing and
singing and then this man came up with a stocking over his head with a gun and said open the door
the first man came on the bus and he had a gun Ed Ray said what's going on and he said shut up and move to
the back Ed Ray the bus driver had no choice but to comply with the gunman's orders and then another man came on the
bus and he had a sawed-off double barrel shotgun the shotgun filled me with Terror
26 school children and their bus driver have vanished anguished parents President Ford hundreds of searching
police are asking the question where are the children just outside Chowchilla California the
three masked men began driving the Dairyland elementary school bus down the road their destination completely
unknown Larry Park was only six years old when he was kidnapped I was wondering how it
was going to feel to die I was too scared to move Jody Huffington was 10. it's a hard
thing to explain because I'd never been around guns you only seen bad guys in the movies with stockings on you know so
I knew it wasn't good Jennifer Brown was nine eventually the bus went off the road
down into a dry riverbed and into this big Grove of bamboo that were taller actually than the bus
and then as I looked out one of the side windows I saw that there was another van
that was parked there the kidnappers herded the stunned children from the school bus into two vins the Vans had
been converted into makeshift jail cells where no one can see in or out they sped
off with the children inside and I felt like I was an animal going to the slaughterhouse
and we drove what seemed like for hours upon hours upon hours and a few of my um little friends that
are five and six I came over and started laying on me and crying and I told them
be brave because everything's gonna be all right the Vans eventually began to slow down lurching from side to side on
rough terrain the kidnappers then forced everyone down into a hole in the ground
the hole led to an old truck trailer buried underground the kidnappers had left jugs of water cereal a loaf of
bread and some peanut butter in the wheel wells they had cut holes in them for toilets we could hear fans
some sort of ventilation the kidnappers then covered the opening with a manhole cover
I know it just went dark and you just hear the material getting throwed on us we were being buried alive
they'd been in the trailer for almost 12 hours and the conditions began to deteriorate
[Music] we had eaten the food the fans on the ventilator stopped we thought if we're gonna die we're
gonna die trying to get out of here the children's stacked mattresses as high as
they could go and began standing on each other's shoulders they took turns pushing up on the manhole cover
I'm giving it everything I got and all the kids are cheering me on you know come on Mike you can do it you can do it
then all of a sudden they said it moved it moved then suddenly this Ray of sunlight
it's Rave sunlight came down into the opening it was catching the Dust and the dust particles looked like a
bunch of shooting stars there was this airflow that came out of the van [Music] and I knew we were free
I need a minute it was approximately 8 pm on July 16th they had been in the hole for nearly 16
hours I'll just screw saw conveyor belts excavators it looked like the Flintstones and all
these men with hard hats came to us and looked at us like who are you the kidnappers had buried them in a rock
quarry a hundred miles away from Chowchilla after all of the children spoke to the
police they were put on a Greyhound bus and sent home to Chowchilla where they were reunited with their families
scene was like a mob [Applause] mobs I don't know I've never been a movie star before her nine-year-old
Jennifer Brown the experience has allowed her to still see the world with compassion why do you suppose that they
would do something like that they didn't have enough love foreign

It is believed to be the largest kidnapping in US history. Twenty-six children and their bus driver are abducted at gunpoint and buried alive in a trailer truck. Hear their miraculous stories of survival.

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Brief Summary

The 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping recounts the children's harrowing experience and their eventual rescue after 16 hours underground.

Key points

The Hijacking. In July 1976, 26 children were hijacked on their way home from summer school.
Buried Alive. The children were buried in an underground truck trailer for nearly 12 hours.
The Escape. After 16 hours, the children managed to escape from their captors.
Reunion with Families. The children were reunited with their families after their harrowing ordeal.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I felt like I was an animal going to the slaughterhouse.

Describing the fear during the kidnapping

2:15WatchMar 21, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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