Episode 28: Jeremy Sage & Keith Waggoner

Jeremy Sage: This guy was ready to fight a war. This guy was prepared to hunt down a dinosaur. And I'm just like, we are leaving now.

Josh Caldwell: Hello, my atypical daydreamers. Welcome to the show. My first guest is Jeremy Sage. He's a video producer, cameraman, and previously a reporter for local news. Now, I've been bugging Jeremy for a while to be on my show, and he finally gave in and delivered a thrilling tale that reminds us to be careful what you go looking for.

Jeremy Sage: I had moved back from LA to Indiana. I moved to southern Indiana and was working for a small news station that covered seven counties throughout northern Kentucky and southern Indiana. And we kind of just did everything. We did car crashes, we did fires, we did what was going on politically, we did arts, music, what was going on with the kids. I savored stories where I had to go far away because then I would be out of my comfort zone in a good way, sort of discovering things and getting clues from people here and there. This is an area that doesn't really get a lot of coverage from the news, so people are not necessarily used to it. It was kind of like being a minor celebrity, because I would walk into a dollar store and I'd hear someone go like, that's him.

At some point I found out, and only in Indiana is this actually interesting, that the tallest waterfall was located in Hanover, Indiana, which was nearby, a very small town. It's not a very famous waterfall. And I would ask people around me, have you been to this place called Fremont Falls? And they're like, no, what's Fremont Falls? Never heard of it. And I was like, okay, this is a story then.

My idea was, as the leaves change and the weather is still nice, I would try to find out on a map where this was and then go with a cameraman and head in there as a reporter and try to discover this waterfall. I kind of had a general idea of where this was. I couldn't tell if it was on private property or not, but I pinpointed around where it might be. So me and the cameraman went out there in our news car and drove all the way over along the river's edge and found a spot that I had found on Google Maps that I thought would be the best entry point into the woods. The idea was just going to be a fun piece about me acting like a sort of junior sleuth finding something scientific and real. So we parked at a spot and I looked around and there were no signs about no trespassing or anything like that.

Jeremy Sage: So we went in there and I shot a little intro, like, here I am at the supposed entryway into the mysterious woods. So we walked in there, shot a couple things, walked through the woods and got to a fenced area with an old fence. And I was like, ooh, there's a clue here, there's a clue there. We had fun getting some shots of me appearing out of bushes. And we started to get towards what was going uphill, the elevation. I was like, okay, we must be near there now.

We walked about 30 to 40 minutes in. At a certain point, I was like, okay, I think we're going to do a scene here. Just get me looking around. And I started to say things like, waterfall, where are you? This would all be done in editing later on. This would all sound great. So I just said all kinds of crazy stuff. And I don't know where I am at this point.

And the cameraman is this young guy and he's just going along with me. And I just hear this really deep voice sort of yell out, get the hell out of here.

I was kind of frozen. I couldn't see anyone. And this is a deep, kind of a deep woodsy area. I looked at the cameraman. He kind of looked a little perplexed. And I probably looked scared. And I just said, hey, maybe we should get out of here. Maybe this is not the day to shoot this. But I didn't know what that voice was. And we had shot so much footage. And we had been waiting for a nice day to appear because it had been so rainy and cold.

So I was like, man, we gotta do something with this footage before we get out of here. I don't know who that was. So we started to head a little bit back towards the news car. And I said, okay, well, we just gotta do one more thing. I gotta be able to finish this later. So just get some footage of me just turning to the camera from looking into the distance and saying, today's not the day or something like that. So he got his shot and I kind of turned my back to the camera.

Jeremy Sage: And before I could turn back around, I hear the footsteps. What did I tell you?

This guy walks out head to toe with hunting gear and it was all bows, arrows, everything you could think of besides guns. This guy was ready to fight a war. This guy was prepared to hunt down a dinosaur in his bow and arrow gear and camouflage.

Here's a little backstory. I don't know much about hunting. What he was doing that day was taking what was at the time archery season, and he had rented out the property, this giant swath of land, for him to spend that exact day doing some deer hunting. And apparently everything we touched and everywhere we went got our scent on everything, which kind of ruins the possibility of animals coming in there that he can then hunt. And I tell you, I just didn't know about it.

I just moved there from Los Angeles after being there for 12 years. I didn't know a lot about archery season. And this is why it's scary because I didn't tell anyone where we went. I didn't know who this guy was. I don't know if he's a nice person. He didn't come off as nice. And of course he was mad and for pretty good reason. And then the cameraman is like, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir. And I'm just like, we are leaving now. And he's just like, what is your name? Who do you work for? Are you here for the fossils? So ironically, I'm out here hunting for a waterfall, he's out there hunting deer, and he thinks we're trying to locate some kind of fossils, which also exists in the area to a large degree.

Jeremy Sage: He's walking along and we start walking back towards the car. Again, this is a 30 to 45 minute walk. And he walks us out the entire woods, just ranting. We walk all the way to the car. He's just like, never come back here. Basically trying to teach us a lesson about what we were doing. And I was just happy to get away from this man. Happy to get into the car and take off.

We didn't do anything with that footage. Later on, it ended up in a good situation because I waited until the following spring and actually did even more research and found out where the actual waterfall was. It's on private property. The person who lives on that property is well aware of it. I interviewed them. We went out and shot a nice comical version of me hunting for this waterfall with some science facts in there. And we did release the video. Many people enjoyed it. But that was four months later.

I haven't been in many situations where I just kind of felt out of my element. I think of that moment when stressful situations arise. And I kept my calm then and I keep my calm now. But bottom line is, if you're in the woods in the middle of the country, just maybe do a little research on what season it is for hunting. And maybe wear proper gear. I was wearing like a brown jacket.

Josh Caldwell: Hey, Josh here. I love making this podcast and I'd love to make it my full-time gig. Besides telling the stories, I'm basically a one-man band and that takes time. If you're enjoying the podcast, please consider becoming a patron. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you're supporting a truly independent podcast. Find the Patreon link in the show notes. And thanks.

My next guest today is Keith Waggoner. He's a musician, songwriter, and this is his second appearance on the podcast. Keith continues his tour saga with a story about calling into a radio show and potentially spreading a nationwide rumor.

Keith Waggoner: This time we were traveling to LA for some shows. It was when Love Line was on with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew. So we were listening to Live 105, which is like the local radio station there driving out of town and Love Line's on. And we had a bunch of different random magazines and stuff in the van for the road. And I was looking at Vice Magazine.

And it was before I was familiar with Vice and sort of the satirical nature of Vice a lot of times. So I'm reading this article about this new disease, like an STD, and they have pictures of it and it's like gnarly. It's got like all this rash with all these like, it looks like herpes on steroids. And it's got like some scientific name and all of this and I'm reading through it and I'm like, this is crazy. I was like, have you guys seen this? Like, this shit scares me. So I was like, I'm gonna call in to Love Line.

They pick up, I tell them my story and they're like, okay, we're gonna put you on the show. So I turn the radio down and I'm on. Dr. Drew's like, hey, this is Keith calling from Oakland, what do you got? And I said, well, hey, I'm reading this magazine and I just read about this new STD that I was kind of freaked out by and I was wondering if you knew anything about it. And it's called such and such, like the scientific name they had in the magazine. And he's like, no, I haven't heard about that. You say you saw it in the magazine? I'm like, yeah, I'm looking at the magazine right now. I saw this when I was reading it. And he's like, are you sure this isn't something that you're struggling with, Keith? Like the very typical Dr. Drew line and tone. I'm like, no man, I'm telling you, I'm reading this magazine and they're talking about this thing and it looks like herpes but it's really painful and da da da da da. And he's like, no, we're gonna have to look more into that.

And this is when FM radio was still really big. And afterward, later on, I figured out what Vice was. And I think I can't remember what the name of the issue was, but it was like fake in Spanish or something. And I discovered that later. So all of the articles were bullshit.

Keith Waggoner: So I effectively spread a national rumor over Love Line as Keith from Oakland.

Josh Caldwell: I want to thank Jeremy and Keith for sharing their experiences. Be sure to check out Jeremy's video about Indiana Fireflies and make sure to check out Keith's bands, Amateurs and Earthquake Don't Give a Fuck. Links in the show notes. This podcast was created and produced by me, Josh Caldwell. Music by Visual Aid, my side music project. General support and copywriting by Miranda Caldwell. If you like the show, please follow, subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you'd like to financially support the show, check out my Patreon page. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories. Thank you for listening, and I hope you come back next week.