What They Didn't Know

Information
"What They Didn't Know" is the opening number of the podcast, in which Brett Ryback and the citizens of Whitetail are recounting the night that Jacob Wells went missing and died and the subsequent search efforts for him. "What They Didn't Know" is not featured in the soundtrack album.

Featured Characters

 * Brett Ryback
 * Bobby Andersen
 * Irene O'Connor
 * Neil Porter
 * Kathy Wells
 * Peregrine Wells
 * Jacob Wells (mentioned)

Lyrics
BRETT:

But what she didn’t know was…

BOBBY:

Whenever there was alcohol around, Jacob always hit it pretty hard

BRETT, SPOKEN:

That’s Bobby Andersen, one of Jacob’s best friends. They both brought flasks to prom.

BOBBY:

It’s not like he was an alcoholic, but once the drinking started, he’d always take it a bit too far…

BRETT, SPOKEN:

Jacob wasn’t known for causing trouble, but he’d been sneaking hits of liquor all night in the hotel ballroom where senior prom was held…

IRENE:

You’ve got all the kids, the noise, they’re packed into this room,

You know, it’s crazy, all the screaming, you just have to assume things are normal...

Unless you notice something really wrong

BRETT, SPOKEN:

That’s Irene O'Connor,

Substitute teacher at Whitetail High, chaperone on the night when... something went really wrong.

Around 11 o’clock, the room thinned out, she figured kids were going home,

BRETT:

But what she didn’t know was…

HIGH SCHOOLERS, IN BACKGROUND:

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…

BOBBY, SPOKEN:

I had to get Jacob from the bathroom-- he’d been in there for a while just zoning out... He said he was fine, just needed a break from the crowd. So we grabbed our stuff and left for the shack…

HIGH SCHOOLER #1, SPOKEN:

HIGH SCHOOLER #2, SPOKEN:

The shack.

HIGH SCHOOLER #3, SPOKEN:

The shack.

HIGH SCHOOLER #4, SPOKEN:

Everybody goes to the shack.

BRETT, SPOKEN.

The shack, an abandoned ranger station, deep in the national forest.

The site of the unofficial after-party to the Whitetail senior prom.

IRENE:

Did you know this? Did anyone tell you this? Our own vice principal knew that kids

Would leave his event to go and drink and smoke in the middle of the woods—

Well, isn’t that great?!

BRETT, SPOKEN:

So, Jacob and Bobby were on their way to the afterparty at the shack.

They both had planned to meet their dates for a night in the Whitetail forest.

BRETT:

The last place Jacob Wells was seen, a speck amongst a million trees...

BRETT, SPOKEN:

The shack is at least a mile and a half

Past where the forest starts,

There’s no real trail, it’s dark, it’s dense, it’s easy to get lost...

They light a bonfire, they dance and drink, they sing some songs and no one blinks

When Jacob decides to turn around

And walk back home alone...

BRETT:

‘Cuz what they didn’t know was…

HIGH SCHOOLERS, IN BACKGROUND:

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…

BOBBY:

What happened out there when I let him walk back?

When I let him walk back alone?

When he found out his date wasn’t coming to the shack, he said he’d rather go home…

PORTER:

It’s guesswork, it’s messy, it’s hard

And you can’t predict how people will behave

These kids should’ve known not to play in the dark

If you stray from the trail you are bound to get lost in the maze

BRETT, SPOKEN:

That’s sheriff Neil Porter.

He was new on the job when the call came in about a missing teenage boy.

Jacob’s mother, Kathy Wells, was on the other end of the line.

KATHY:

I told the police what I knew, and I prayed it wasn’t too late

You want to do more, but what can you do except wait... And wait, and wait…

BRETT:

A mother's hope laid at their hands

The sheriff's team prepared their plans...

BRETT, SPOKEN:

At the time, all anyone knew was that Jacob never made it home after he left the shack. Ordinarily the sheriff’s department would have sent search parties out into the woods immediately. But it had been snowing non-stop since 3 am the night of the prom.

Here's sheriff Porter again.

PORTER:

We couldn’t send out parties until the storm cleared. Too dangerous.

Lost a lot of time right off the bat.

BRETT, SPOKEN:

Finally, 48 hours after Jacob was last seen, four search teams, made up of county officials and Whitetail residents, were assigned to scan an initial 3-mile radius.

The forest is vast and varied, any footprints were erased by a foot of snow

PORTER:

We tried to think like Jacob thought; drunk, upset, and alone,

Where would he go?

BRETT, SPOKEN:

Peregrine wanted to join the search,

They insisted she stay back

But her brother was missing out in the woods, it killed her not to act…

PEREGRINE:

While they were out there I went searching through his room searching for clues wall to wall

I wanted to scream ‘cuz there was nothing I could do

And then we got Bobby’s call…

BOBBY, SPOKEN:​

It was the second day. We were all really tired, it was getting dark, but then I felt something under my shoe, I don’t know why I even noticed it. I looked down and saw this cufflink. I was pretty certain it was Jacob’s. They were vintage, from his grandpa... I called Peregrine and Kathy right away, and they confirmed it. All of a sudden we felt like we could be close...

BOBBY:

I knew Jacob had been drinking

Who knows where he stumbled

But now we at least had a sign

I thought he might be under a drift or trapped by a rock

At least he could still be alive

BRETT, SPOKEN:

Finding the cufflink fueled another arduous day of searching. That afternoon, someone spotted a deep indent in a thick patch of lingering snow. They dug it out, only to find a dead deer.

PORTER:

You could feel morale declining

BRETT, SPOKEN:

They were desperate for another clue, beneath some ridge or fallen pine

PORTER:

We did all we could do

PORTER (IN UNISON):

But we only knew what we knew...

BRETT (IN UNISON):

But they only knew what they knew...

HIGH SCHOOLERS (OVERLAPPING):

Oh, oh, oh…

BOBBY (OVERLAPPING):

I knew Jacob had been drinking, I was distracted,

I thought he could find his way...

I figured that his phone must’ve died, or else he passed out, I should have made him stay...

I should have made him stay...

I would have made him stay…

PORTER (OVERLAPPING):

It’s guesswork, it’s messy, it’s hard

And you can’t predict how people will behave

We were only off by a few hundred yards

If I knew he was hurt, if there weren’t those delays...

If the snow hadn’t come, if the woods didn’t make such a maze... So many things that went wrong, and in so many ways…

KATHY (OVERLAPPING):

I knew how those boys could get, I had seen them I wanted to give him space

He was a good kid, I gave him his freedom,

But he needed me that day...

Yes, he needed me that day... He needed me that day...

Oh that day…

BOBBY & KATHY & PORTER:

If only I had known that...