71 DAYS: The Desert, The Man, The MYTH? | The Ricky Megee story — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:00Nothing. No water, no shoes, no in in
3. 0:03the in the middle of the desert. He was
4. 0:06only days away from death.
5. 0:08After camping next to a windmill, I
6. 0:10actually thought everything was going to
7. 0:11be okay. January 2006. The kind of place
8. 0:14most people never see. Red dirt,
9. 0:17scorching skies, no cell towers, no
10. 0:19towns, just 1,000 km of silence. A man
11. 0:23named Ricky McGee disappears into it.
12. 0:25For 71 days, no one hears from him. No
13. 0:29phone calls, no sightings, not a single
14. 0:32trace until he's found half dead,
15. 0:36starved, sunburned skin hanging off
16. 0:38bone. He says he survived by drinking
17. 0:41muddy damn water and eating frogs,
18. 0:43lizards, and leeches. A story of
19. 0:45abduction and being left for dead in the
20. 0:47blistering, unforgiving Tanomite desert
21. 0:50by a gang of criminals. Sounds
22. 0:52impossible. Unbelievable. Even skeptics
23. 0:55over the years have pointed out
24. 0:57inconsistencies in Ricky McGee's
25. 0:58extraordinary tale of survival. But why
26. 1:02would he lie? Today we ask, is Ricky
27. 1:05McGee's story a miracle of survival or a
28. 1:09myth built on
29. 1:10[Music]
30. 1:16lies? Good day. Welcome, or welcome back
31. 1:19to Shadow Matter, where I take a look at
32. 1:21a darker side of our world with a focus
33. 1:23on stories and cases from Australia and
34. 1:25New Zealand here every second Sunday.
35. 1:28Now, if you're into listening to
36. 1:29interestingly morbid stories while doing
37. 1:31a road trip, consider listening to my
38. 1:34podcast. Check it out. It's called, wait
39. 1:36for it, Shadow
40. 1:39Matter. Yeah, just search it up on
41. 1:41Spotify. All right, now that the
42. 1:43shameless plugs are out of the way,
43. 1:45let's get into it. Ricky McGee wasn't
44. 1:47famous. He wasn't a hiker. He wasn't
45. 1:50Beer Grills. Just a guy with a job offer
46. 1:53in Port Headland, a mining town out
47. 1:55west. On January the 23rd, 2006, McGee
48. 1:58left Queensland, driving his Mitsubishi
49. 2:00Challenger across the country. He was
50. 2:02last seen near the Northern Territory,
51. 2:04Western Australian border. After that,
52. 2:07nothing. McGee would later claim he
53. 2:09picked up a hitchhiker, that the
54. 2:11hitchhiker drunked him, that he woke up
55. 2:13buried alive. three strangers standing
56. 2:16over him. No police reports, no
57. 2:19witnesses, no footprints, just his word.
58. 2:23In other versions of the story, the car
59. 2:25simply broke down. Inconsistencies began
60. 2:28stacking up early and they never really
61. 2:31stopped. So, who was Ricky McGee? Well,
62. 2:35he was born in 1970 or 71 in Gibsland,
63. 2:38Victoria. McGee described his early
64. 2:40childhood as happy. However, his life
65. 2:42took a tragic turn when his family
66. 2:44relocated to Melbourne, where his father
67. 2:46later died by, and I hate using this
68. 2:49word. I really do, but I have to play by
69. 2:51their rules. Unaliving
70. 2:53himself. Yeah, I know. I don't like it
71. 2:56either. Save your comments. All right. I
72. 2:58didn't make the rules. I'm just playing
73. 2:59the game. Anyway, so our mate Ricky has
74. 3:01a pretty bad start from there. McGee's
75. 3:03professional life was eclectic. He held
76. 3:06various jobs including working as a
77. 3:08carpet salesman, prawn fisherman,
78. 3:09nightclub dorman, electrician, and
79. 3:12eventually as a baiff. These roles
80. 3:14suggested he possessed a range of
81. 3:16practical skills and adaptability.
82. 3:18McGee's life also included legal issues.
83. 3:21He served time in jail following
84. 3:22involvement in a fight in Perth and for
85. 3:24drugrelated offenses. In 2006, at the
86. 3:27age of 35, McGee was living in
87. 3:29Queensland. He accepted a job offer in
88. 3:31Port Headland, Western Australia, which
89. 3:33required a long drive across the
90. 3:35country. In January 2006, Ricky McGee
91. 3:38was on route to a new job in Port
92. 3:40Headland, Western Australia. However,
93. 3:42specific details about the company that
94. 3:44employed him at the time are not
95. 3:47publicly available. Yeah, couldn't find
96. 3:49much about it. However, the mining
97. 3:51industry in Port Headland is dominated
98. 3:52by major companies such as BHP and Rio
99. 3:55Tinto along with various contractors and
100. 3:57service providers. So given McGee's
101. 4:00diverse work history, including roles as
102. 4:02a carpet salesman, prawn fisherman, blah
103. 4:04blah blah, etc., etc., it's plausible
104. 4:06that he was hired for a position related
105. 4:09to one of those, the mining or
106. 4:11construction sectors. While driving
107. 4:13along the Bontine Highway on route to
108. 4:15take up his position with the unknown
109. 4:17company, McGee claimed he stopped to
110. 4:20assist individuals whose vehicle had
111. 4:22broken down. This is the first story,
112. 4:24right? In one version, he described
113. 4:26picking up a lone Aboriginal hitchhiker
114. 4:28between the towns of, and beg my pardon,
115. 4:31Kelkaringi and Halls Creek. He believed
116. 4:34the hitchhiker drugged his drink,
117. 4:36leading to him blacking out and later
118. 4:37waking up in a shallow grave with dingo
119. 4:41scratching at the plastic covering him.
120. 4:43In his 2010 autobiography, McGee
121. 4:45recounted a different version, stating
122. 4:47he stopped to help out three men who had
123. 4:49run out of petrol. He offered to give
124. 4:51one of them a lift to a petrol station.
125. 4:53During the journey, he accepted a drink
126. 4:55from the passenger, after which he began
127. 4:57feeling dazed and confused.
128. 5:00All right. All right. All right. He
129. 5:03later speculated that he might have been
130. 5:05stabbed with a drugged syringe during a
131. 5:07struggle. Upon regaining consciousness,
132. 5:09he found himself covered in black
133. 5:11plastic with dingoes attempting to dig
134. 5:13him out. So, the hole in the ground and
135. 5:15the plastic covering in the dingo's
136. 5:17part, that hasn't changed. But the
137. 5:20initial part of how he was stranded does
138. 5:22is this a trauma effect on the brain.
139. 5:24Was he so dehydrated that he had partial
140. 5:27memory loss? You know, being dehydrated
141. 5:29can do weird things to the mind. But he
142. 5:31did tell a third version of this story,
143. 5:34too. And we'll get into that a bit later
144. 5:36in the video, so stick around. According
145. 5:39to McGee, he walked for nearly 10 days
146. 5:41through the blistering desert. No map,
147. 5:44no compass, no shoes for part of it.
148. 5:47Temperatures topped 40° C by day,
149. 5:49freezing at night. At one point, he says
150. 5:52he lay down in the dirt, ready to die.
151. 5:54But something made him keep going. He
152. 5:56found an old cattle watering dam, and
153. 5:59that's where he made his stand. A broken
154. 6:01feed trough became a coffin-shaped
155. 6:03shelter. He built a crude roof from
156. 6:05sticks and branches. He had water. He
157. 6:08had shade. But food, that's where it
158. 6:11gets primal. Frogs, grasshoppers,
159. 6:14lizards, leeches. He caught what he
160. 6:16could. sundried it, ate it raw. It was
161. 6:19barely enough for him to stay alive. He
162. 6:20claims he lost over 60 kilos. He said,
163. 6:23quote, "I ate leeches out of the dam,
164. 6:25frogs, grasshoppers, and grilled
165. 6:27lizards." End quote. He often sundried
166. 6:30frogs on a wire so that they would keep.
167. 6:32These minimal rations kept him alive,
168. 6:34but frail. He lost over half his body
169. 6:36weight, around 57 kilos, from roughly
170. 6:39105 kilos to 48 kilos during that
171. 6:42period. to survive an abscess tooth. He
172. 6:44says he used his car key to pry it out.
173. 6:47He even drank his own urine when the dam
174. 6:49ran dry. It's either the most brutal
175. 6:51survival story ever told in Australia or
176. 6:54one of the most elaborate lies. April
177. 6:57the 5th, 2006. After 71 days missing,
178. 7:00Ricky McGee is found by cattle station
179. 7:02workers just lying by the dam near
180. 7:05death. He was found lying under his
181. 7:07humpy a dam, a walking skeleton,
182. 7:09sunburnt, starving, and dehydrated. The
183. 7:12station manager, quote, "He looked like
184. 7:15something from a horror movie, just skin
185. 7:17and bones." End quote. They flew him to
186. 7:19Royal Darwin Hospital. He weighed just
187. 7:2245 kilos. Doctors were stunned, but
188. 7:25somehow he was alive. Was it possible?
189. 7:27Mark Clifford, the station manager,
190. 7:29later said that finding McGee alive in
191. 7:32quote, "one of the most isolated places
192. 7:34in Australia end quote was astonishing."
193. 7:37Northern Territory police did a full
194. 7:39investigation. No drugs in his system,
195. 7:41no sign of assault, no stolen car, and
196. 7:45no proof of kidnapping either. McGee
197. 7:47spent about 6 days recovering in Darwin.
198. 7:49Northern Territory police interviewed
199. 7:51him, but ultimately found no evidence to
200. 7:54support or suggest any criminal
201. 7:56offenses, noting that McGee had clearly
202. 7:59quote spent a considerable amount of
203. 8:01time in this area at various dams and
204. 8:03water holes surviving off the bush end
205. 8:06quote. During the interviews, as stated
206. 8:07before, McGee recounted varying accounts
207. 8:10of how he became stranded. In some
208. 8:12versions, he claimed his car broke down.
209. 8:14In others, he stated he was drugged
210. 8:16after giving a lift to a stranger. He
211. 8:18described waking up in a shallow grave
212. 8:20covered in black plastic with dingoes
213. 8:23attempting to dig him out. But they did
214. 8:25find something. Clear evidence McGee had
215. 8:27lived rough near the dam. Discarded
216. 8:30bones, fire pits, the humpy shelter, a
217. 8:32body-shaped trench under a feed trough.
218. 8:35A man had definitely survived out there.
219. 8:38But why? So, let's break down the
220. 8:41theories. All right, so car breakdown.
221. 8:44This is the simplest version. McGee's
222. 8:46car broke down. He got panicked. He got
223. 8:48lost. He survived. Now, if you ever find
224. 8:50yourself traversing the Australian
225. 8:52outback and you get into a similar
226. 8:54situation, please do not leave your car
227. 8:56if you are stranded. Cars are much
228. 8:58easier to spot from the air during
229. 9:00searches. I've even heard of people
230. 9:02burning tires because black smoke will
231. 9:04attract more attention. So, let's go
232. 9:06deeper into this car breakdown story.
233. 9:07Ricky McGee's initial explanation for a
234. 9:0971-day ordeal in the Australian outback
235. 9:12was that his car had broken down upon
236. 9:14his rescue on April the 5th, 2006 by
237. 9:17workers from the Burandu Cattle station.
238. 9:20Tripping up on myself. McGee recounted
239. 9:22that he had been traveling along the
240. 9:23Buntin Highway near the border between
241. 9:25the Northern Territory and Western
242. 9:26Australia when his vehicle failed on
243. 9:29January the 23rd. This account was
244. 9:31corroborated by Mark Clifford, the
245. 9:32station manager, who stated, quote, "He
246. 9:35told the BKS he had been traveling on
247. 9:36the Buntin Highway." End quote. But the
248. 9:39police could not find his car. So
249. 9:42obviously in this version he wanders
250. 9:44off, gets lost, and ends up on a cattle
251. 9:46station after roughing it for over 71
252. 9:49days until he's rescued. The next
253. 9:52theory, drugging and kidnapping,
254. 9:54stopping to help some people that were
255. 9:55pretended to be broken down on the side
256. 9:57of the road and let one of them in my
257. 9:59car and ended up getting mugged and left
258. 10:00for dead. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be
259. 10:02nice. What was their motivation? What
260. 10:04was it just to get their kicks to bash?
261. 10:06No, no. From we've we've done a bit of
262. 10:08checking into this ourselves and um we
263. 10:10found out that um it's out in the middle
264. 10:12of the territory. Car parts, passports,
265. 10:16people's ID that it's actually pretty
266. 10:18big business at the moment. So he was
267. 10:19targeted, drugged, buried, but there's
268. 10:22no evidence. None. Police couldn't find
269. 10:25anything. Three, a staged disappearance.
270. 10:28Perhaps he faked it to escape something.
271. 10:30Debt, legal trouble, or just for
272. 10:32attention. Now, I asked Chat GPT to dig
273. 10:35through court records, bankruptcy
274. 10:37databases, even international employment
275. 10:39archives. Nothing. Clean slate. No
276. 10:42smoking gun. So, maybe he really did get
277. 10:45lost. I mean, that's not a hard sale, is
278. 10:48it? So, why would you change the story?
279. 10:51The key factors: water, shade, protein,
280. 10:54mental toughness. True. Could McGee have
281. 10:57done it with zero training? Most say
282. 11:00unlikely, but not impossible. How long
283. 11:03can a human survive in the Australian
284. 11:05outback depends on several factors,
285. 11:07mainly access to water, shelter,
286. 11:09temperature regulation, and food. Here's
287. 11:12a breakdown of the main survival limits.
288. 11:14Without water, dehydration in extreme
289. 11:17desert heat, 40°, death can occur in as
290. 11:20little as 2 to 3 days without water. In
291. 11:23cooler conditions or with some shade and
292. 11:25minimal movement, survival may extend to
293. 11:285 to 7 days. But dehydration causes
294. 11:31confusion, weakness, and organ failure.
295. 11:33Without shelter, so exposure to the
296. 11:36elements, daytime temperatures can be
297. 11:38scorching, while nights can drop to
298. 11:40close to freezing in desert regions.
299. 11:43Without proper shelter or clothing,
300. 11:45hypothermia at night, and heat stroke
301. 11:47during the day can become real threats.
302. 11:50Even with water, exposure can kill
303. 11:53within 1 to two days in extreme heat or
304. 11:55cold. McGee claims he was wandering the
305. 11:58desert for 10 days initially before he
306. 12:00found or made a makeshift shelter at the
307. 12:02cattle station. A healthy adult can
308. 12:04survive 30 to 50 days without food if
309. 12:07well hydrated. 30 to 50
310. 12:09days. That
311. 12:12is that's a lot. In the outback though,
312. 12:15lack of food plus high exertion and
313. 12:17environmental stress usually make this
314. 12:19window much shorter. Weight loss, muscle
315. 12:22degradation, and weakened immunity set
316. 12:24in within 1 to two weeks. McGee survived
317. 12:2871 days by drinking water from dams and
318. 12:30puddles, eating frogs, leeches, insects,
319. 12:33and small reptiles, building makeshift
320. 12:35shelters, and avoiding the midday sun.
321. 12:37His case is extremely rare, and survival
322. 12:40that long requires access to
323. 12:43intermittent water, primitive bush
324. 12:45skills or instincts, a strong will to
325. 12:47live. Ricky McGee told his story to
326. 12:49anyone who would listen. He published a
327. 12:51memoir in 2009, toured talk shows, and
328. 12:54eventually vanished again. Moved to
329. 12:56Dubai, started a new life in
330. 12:58construction, left the outback and his
331. 13:00mystery behind. McGee quotes, I
332. 13:03shouldn't be alive, but I am. That's all
333. 13:05that matters. End quote. But the truth,
334. 13:09that still matters, too. So, is the
335. 13:11story of survival with Ricky McGee true?
336. 13:14The evidence says, yes, he was there. He
337. 13:17did survive. But how he got there, why
338. 13:20he stayed, why his story kept changing,
339. 13:24well, that stays buried like bones in
340. 13:27the desert. The outback is a place that
341. 13:29doesn't forgive liars or fools. Ricky
342. 13:32McGee came back from it, but the truth
343. 13:34might not have. This has been another
344. 13:36Shadow Matter Sunday. Subscribe for more
345. 13:39mysteries that refuse to stay dead, and
346. 13:42I'll see you here next time in the
347. 13:45shadows.
348. 13:50[Music]