Dan Becker Podcast

On September 11, 2001, Brian Clark was working on the 84th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when a hijacked plane struck the building just below him. Hundreds of people were trapped above the impact zone. Only four made it out alive. Brian was one of them. What followed was an almost impossible escape. With smoke filling the stairwells, conflicting instructions about where to go, and no way of knowing if the building would survive, Brian made a series of split-second decisions that would ultimately save his life and the life of a complete stranger. But it's the extraordinary chain of events that led to his survival that makes his story so remarkable. Events Brian himself believes were far more than just coincidence.

Kelsey Vandermyde was born in a hand-built cabin deep in the Montana wilderness—far from civilization, with no electricity and very little contact with the outside world. Her dad was a doomsday prepper who believed the world was ending. He had three wives at one point and 20 children in the family. Kelsey grew up surrounded by fear, survival, isolation, and stories most people would have a hard time believing—including a SWAT raid at their remote property, coming face-to-face with a mountain lion at nine years old, and the fact that serial killer Israel Keyes stayed at their cabin after committing crimes. Kelsey also shares what it was like trying to enter public school after growing up isolated, the dark path her life took afterward, and how she eventually found hope, healing, and faith.

Paul Traub was asleep in his home when two teenagers broke in. After waking him, they told him he would not survive. What followed was a cruel, deliberate attempt to reenact their own twisted version of the movie Saw. They made Paul answer disturbing questions as part of a game, stabbed him 20 times—including in the face and head, where part of a knife broke off in his skull—and then left him for dead. But they weren’t done. The teens started fires throughout the house, disabled the smoke detectors, turned on the gas burners, stole Paul’s car, and left him trapped inside as the home filled with flames. Somehow, Paul got to his feet, ran through the fire, and escaped to a neighbor’s house. In this episode, he tells the full story of that night, the unimaginable fight to survive, and what happened after.

Gene Odom was Ronnie Van Zant’s close friend, bodyguard, and head of security for Lynyrd Skynyrd. In 1977, he survived the plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and five others—and changed the band forever. But this conversation is about much more than that night. Gene takes us inside his lifelong friendship with Ronnie, the early days of Lynyrd Skynyrd, life on the road, the people and politics surrounding the band, and what happened before and after the crash. He doesn’t hold back as he shares the memories, conflicts, loss, and fallout he witnessed firsthand. This is Gene Odom’s story—in his own words. The views, memories, and opinions shared in this interview are Gene’s own.Footage Notice: All footage was provided directly by Craig Reed and is used in this video with his express permission.

Jere Van Dyk is an American journalist and author who has spent decades covering Afghanistan and Pakistan for The New York Times and CBS News. In the early 1980s, he lived alongside Afghan fighters while reporting on their war against the Soviet Union. In 2008, while researching a book on the Taliban, he was captured near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border and held prisoner for 45 days. He later told that story in his book, Captive: My Time as a Prisoner of the Taliban.

Craig Reed spent years on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd as a guitar technician during one of the most important eras in Southern rock history. He worked closely with the band behind the scenes, helping keep the shows moving while witnessing the personalities, chaos, friendship, and incredible success that came with being part of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s world. On October 20, 1977, Craig was aboard the Convair CV-240 carrying the band when it crashed in Mississippi—killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and others. Craig survived, but the crash permanently changed his life and the legacy of one of America’s most beloved rock bands. In this podcast, Craig takes us inside the real Lynyrd Skynyrd: what the band was like offstage, his role on the road, the final days before the crash, and what happened when the plane went down. He also shares rare, never-before-seen footage he captured with the band roughly two years before the crash. This is Craig Reed’s story.. a firsthand account from someone who lived through one of the most devastating moments in rock-and-roll history.

In February of 2005, brothers Jim and Dave Metza set out for a day of snowmobiling on Wisconsin’s Chippewa River. While attempting to cross the 300-yard-wide river, Dave’s snowmobile suddenly broke through the ice, plunging him into the freezing water approximately 75 yards from safety. Jim watched from the riverbank, knowing that rushing onto the unstable ice could kill them both. A former Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew member, he understood exactly how quickly a rescuer could become another victim. Desperate to reach Dave, Jim rode downstream searching for a safer place to cross. Then the ice collapsed beneath his snowmobile too. Separated by hundreds of yards, both brothers were now fighting for their lives. Jim spent approximately 30 minutes in the water before finally pulling himself onto the ice. Dave remained trapped for more than an hour, breaking ice with his arms as the current carried him downstream and hypothermia began shutting down his body. After reaching a nearby house and calling for help, Jim returned to the river. Believing Dave might still be alive, he crawled back across the unstable ice and somehow pulled his brother from the water. Both brothers survived, but the experience never truly left them. In this deeply emotional conversation, Jim and Dave recount what happened on the river, the impossible decisions Jim was forced to make and the trauma he had never fully processed until now.

In 2005, 16-year-old Craig Hutto was on vacation in Florida with his family, wading out to fish with his older brother Brian, when something bumped his leg. Seconds later, a bull shark latched onto him and pulled him under. Brian swam straight into the attack, grabbed his brother, and fought to drag him back toward shore while the shark refused to let go. Craig tried to pry the shark’s mouth open with his hands. Brian punched it again and again until it finally released him. Craig survived, but the attack cost him his leg. Today, I’m sitting down with both brothers to hear what really happened in the water that day.

Kennedy Bingham was just 16 years old when one ordinary drive home turned into an unbelievable fight to survive. After losing control of her vehicle, Kennedy was ejected from the car, thrown nearly 30 feet into the air, and ended up hanging from a live power line by her broken leg. For over an hour, she hung there fully conscious, badly injured, bleeding, and waiting for rescuers to figure out how to get her down safely. The crash nearly killed her. Kennedy lost her leg, suffered a devastating injury to her arm, and faced a long road of surgeries, pain, and recovery. But what makes her story so powerful isn’t just what happened on that power line. It’s what happened after. In this episode, Kennedy shares the terrifying details of the accident, the moment she realized how badly she was hurt, the emotional weight of losing a limb, and how she found the strength to keep going when life looked completely different than she ever imagined.

Jordan Hatmaker survived what almost no one should survive. During a skydiving jump from 13,500 feet, Jordan’s parachute malfunctioned. Her chute became tangled around her leg, her reserve deployed, and the two parachutes sent her into a violent spin toward the ground. Seconds later, she hit the earth — conscious — with devastating injuries to her back, leg, and ankle. In this interview, Jordan walks me through exactly what happened in the sky, what she remembers from the impact, the fear of possibly being paralyzed, the long road through surgery and recovery, and how she found the strength to walk again.This is a story about survival, faith, fear, recovery, and what happens when the thing you love most almost takes your life.