Brittany Wallace Shank: What We Were Told vs. What We Found Out (Bonus Series Trailer)

Summary

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Hide and Seek (Bonus Series Trailer): “Brittany Wallace Shank: What We Were Told vs. What We Found Out”

Host: James Baysinger
Date: June 23, 2026
Topic: The Disappearance of Shane Barton (with focus on the Brittany Wallace Shank case as a parallel investigation/trailer for new series)

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Overview

In this special bonus trailer episode, host James Baysinger reopens the investigation into the 2018 disappearance of Brittany Wallace Shank. The new mini-series, spun off from the podcast’s third season, promises to unravel the distance between the official story and the real, often-hidden facts. Baysinger reveals new evidence previously unshared: raw interviews, audio tapes, and conflicting stories that challenge what listeners thought they knew about Brittany’s final night. This trailer teases the depth and drama to come, with the aim of exposing both truth and deception as the show gears up for a new investigative journey.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Revisiting the Brittany Wallace Shank Case

• The episode immediately sets the stage for a “story within a story,” recalling the earlier series about Brittany Wallace Shank’s November 30, 2018 disappearance and teasing what new evidence will be uncovered.
• James Baysinger: “When season three ended, 52 episodes. Everything I had on Brittany Wallace Shank. I thought I’d given you the whole story. I was wrong.” (00:57)

Unheard Tapes and New Evidence

• Baysinger reveals that he has exclusive access to never-before-heard audio: prison phone calls, 911 dispatches, and police interviews that provide firsthand, sometimes contradictory, accounts.
• Key segment: The never-heard-before call between Brittany and “Zach,” made from state prison while Brittany drives to her grandmother’s in a borrowed Mercury.
  • Brittany expresses concern for her safety and makes ordinary plans (“Sorry, I have to have you on speaker while I drive. And also he’s got a paper plat. I have to be careful.” — 01:55)
  • “That’s the last time Brittany Wallace Shank sounded like herself… calm, ordinary, making plans she fully meant to keep.” (02:14+)

The Night of the Disappearance – A Breakdown

• The trailer walks through the timeline on November 30th:
  • Brittany finishes her laundry at her grandmother’s.
  • That night: Emergency 911 call reports Brittany showing up barefoot, bleeding, and needing help at a stranger’s back door (02:37).
  • After seeking help, Brittany vanishes—her car is found mysteriously abandoned and rifled through, with key items missing or out of place.
  • A teenage boy in a nearby house is terrified as someone knocks at his back door, matched with footsteps, but the person vanishes before help arrives.
• “That’s the last recording of her voice anyone has. The last time the world heard Brittany Wallace Shank.” (03:12)

The Tapes: Contradictions and Revelations

• Baysinger promises to share excerpts from 26 interviews spanning 2019 to 2023—containing both discoveries and lies that have never been aired.
  • Ashley (Brittany’s best friend): Different accounts in 2019 and 2023 (03:39–04:43)
    • “From my perspective, from what I saw in my apartment, they were getting back together.” (04:39)
  • Brittany’s husband: Responds directly to how he’s portrayed on the podcast. (04:49)
    • “My fiance actually currently listens to the podcast… screen records it and sends me just that little piece.” (04:50–05:00)
  • Justin “Rabbit” Gayhart: Dismisses rumors and challenges the podcast’s narrative. (05:21+)

Discrepancy Between Stories

• The primary thematic driver: The gap between “what we were told” and “what we found out.”
  • “The distance between those two things, that’s the whole case. That’s where Brittany is.” (05:31)
• Baysinger admits that earlier podcast content came from official case files, but new releases expose oversights, coverups, and flat-out falsehoods.

Setting the Record Straight

• Baysinger emphasizes his own role and the skepticism he faces as an outsider investigating the case.
  • “A grifter in it for the money. A stranger who flew thousands of miles to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong. He’s right about one thing. I came thousands of miles for a woman I never met.” (06:55–07:11)

Preview of Upcoming Episodes

• Baysinger refuses to “draw this out with a countdown”—instead, the release of the bonus series will be sudden.
  • “When the first episode is ready, it’ll just be there. Follow Hide and Seek and turn your notifications on. Brittany went to do laundry. She never came home.” (08:35–08:47)
• Closing thematic statement: “Then she deserves the truth.” (08:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• James Baysinger [00:57]: “When season three ended… I thought I’d given you the whole story. I was wrong.”
• Brittany Wallace Shank [01:55]: “Sorry, I have to have you on speaker while I drive. And also he’s got a paper plat. I have to be careful.”
• 911 Audio [02:43]: “The girl just came to the back door and she had no shoes on, no coat. She’s bleeding… she just told me she needs help.”
• James Baysinger [05:31]: “The distance between [what we were told and what we found out], that’s the whole case. That’s where Brittany is.”
• Interviewee/Local Resident [06:47]: “He’s made almost a quarter million dollars on that… thousands of miles this way. In this town, on this case… a grifter in it for the money.”
• James Baysinger [06:55]: “He’s right about one thing. I came thousands of miles for a woman I never met.”
• James Baysinger [08:47]: “Brittany went to do laundry. She never came home.”
• James Baysinger [08:59]: “Then she deserves the truth.”

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:57: Baysinger reflects on believing he’d told the full story before realizing he hadn’t.
• 01:14–02:14: Introduction of new, unheard call between Brittany and Zach; Brittany’s last “ordinary” conversation.
• 02:34–02:55: 911 call from the night Brittany disappeared; discovery at Fawn River Road.
• 03:12–03:55: Description of Brittany’s car and evidence found after her disappearance.
• 04:18–05:31: Teasing excerpts from new interviews; contradictions begin to emerge.
• 05:31–06:47: Baysinger reveals reliance on prior official information, and previews the new depth of the bonus series.
• 06:55–07:11: Baysinger addresses criticism and reiterates his reason for pursuing the case.
• 08:35–08:59: Announcement of series drop strategy, reinforcing urgency and secrecy.
• 08:59: Final statement on deserving the truth; closing the trailer with a renewed call for answers.

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Tone and Atmosphere

• The tone is solemn, tense, and deeply committed to journalistic integrity. Baysinger uses personal admissions, direct quotes, and atmospheric storytelling to plunge listeners back into the chaos, confusion, and heartbreak of Brittany’s disappearance.
• The episode leans into the suspenseful and investigative mood that defines the podcast, inviting listeners to be part of a real-time discovery.
• Direct speech, raw audio, and candid reflection create a sense of authenticity and urgency: this is about more than a mystery—it’s about the fight for truth.

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Summary Takeaway

This bonus series trailer signals a major pivot in the Hide and Seek podcast—moving from reliance on official narratives to pulling back the curtain and exposing the often-discordant reality found in true investigative reporting. Listeners are prepped for revelations, emotional confrontations, and a relentless pursuit of closure for Brittany Wallace Shank’s family, all woven together with the show’s trademark empathetic but unflinching tone.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host/Narrator]

I need to tell you something I've never said on this show. When season three ended, 52 episodes. Everything I had on Brittany Wallace Shank. I thought I'd given you the whole story. I was wrong.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

Hello? This is a prepaid call from Heck.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

And now I can prove it.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

Thank you for using GTL. Hel

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

Brittany. November 30, 2018. The day she disappeared behind the wheel of a borrowed Mercury on the phone with a man named Zach, who was calling her from a cell in a state prison. Almost nobody has ever heard this.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

I told you what I'm doing. Like you don't think that you hurt my feelings too? You got dog, car or some shit? Yeah, gotta go do laundry.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

She's driving out to her grandma's to do her laundry.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

Sorry, I have to have you on speaker while I drive. And also he's got a paper plat. I have to be careful.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

I have to be careful. At the end of the call, Zach tells her the same thing.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

I'm almost to my grandma's now, so when I get there, then I'll add money on the phone.

[Detective/Interviewer]

All right? Be careful.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

All right? All right. I love you. Bye.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

I love you. Bye. That's the last time Brittany Wallace Schenck sounded like herself. Calm, ordinary, making plans she fully meant to keep. She made it to her grandmother's, she did her laundry. And the next time her voice was caught on record that same night, it sounded like this.

[Detective/Interviewer]

County 911. Where's the emergency?

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

Where are you at? You want to know what suit? I don't know.

[Detective/Interviewer]

The girl just came to the back door and she had no shoes on, no coat. She's bleeding Got her feet, her arms. She just told me she needs help.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

Just before nine at night, the last day of November, on a back road called Fawn river Road, an 83 year old stranger gave her his jacket and turned to get help. When he looked back.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Welcome back.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

In here.

[Detective/Interviewer]

And what's your phone number?

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

That's the last recording of her voice anyone has. The last time the world heard Brittany Wallace shake. But she didn't vanish off that porch. Not far away, a teenage boy sat home alone in the fog. And somebody came up onto his back deck. Footsteps. Then a knock at the front door. He was too scared to open it. By the time a neighbor drove out to check, whoever it was was gone. All that was left was the Mercury. The same car she'd been driving on the phone hours earlier, off in the trees, barely damaged, but the trunk was open, the glove box was open, and everything inside had been torn through like someone was looking for something. And the neighbor who drove out and found it, Nobody asked him what he saw for almost four years. But every one of them had already sat across from a detective, camera on, recorder running. And what they said in that room, you have never heard.

[Detective/Interviewer]

If I'm understanding, what you're talking about is these people on the podcast, what'd you call them before? The pod people?

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

Until now.

[Detective/Interviewer]

You talked to spence back in 2019. Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

You're going to hear Ashley, Brittany's so called best friend. What she said in 2019.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Is Ashley on the good side or is Ashley playing games and misdirecting? I know, I know. I'm not saying you are.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

And what she said in 2023, from

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

my perspective, from what I saw in my apartment, they were getting back together.

[Detective/Interviewer]

She wanted to try and work things out. I told her I wasn't ready and we left it at that.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

You're going to hear Brittany's husband.

[Detective/Interviewer]

I mean, I've heard the podcast. My fiance actually currently listens to the podcast. So everything that is said about me, I hear about. Screen records it and sends me just that little piece.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

Some questions he answered as far as I can remember.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Yes. Okay.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

And some he answered a little too well.

[Detective/Interviewer]

The other rumor is she actually is murdered, dead somewhere and buried out in a field out of state.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

I can tell you what I know. Yep. Number one base in your school. Shit.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

You're going to hear a man they call Rabbit. Justin Gayhart. A man who told the police the podcast was making a mountain out of nothing.

[Detective/Interviewer]

You weren't the guy that was with her that night, right? Correct. Right.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

What we were told what we found out. The distance between those two things, that's the whole case. That's where Britney is. Here's the part I owe you. Everything I gave you during season three, I'd gotten from them. The detective's version, the official case file. And after we signed off, another one came around. A newer version, a fuller one with things I'd asked for years ago and was never handed. The actual interviews, video, audio, the real voices from the real rooms. 26 of them going back to 2019, all the way to 2023. I've listened to every minute and it didn't just fill in what was missing. It showed me what was never true. So this summer, I'm taking you all the way back in a bonus series. What we were told and the lies that we uncovered. Right up to where this case stands today. Clearing the path to Brittany. Now, not everyone wanted me to come back. Some of the people on these tapes have plenty to say about me, about this show.

[Interviewee/Local Resident]

Keith goes, man, he's made almost a quarter million dollars on that. Bob Brainstone. Thousands of miles this way. In this town, on this case, out

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

of nowhere, a grifter in it for the money. A stranger who flew thousands of miles to stick his nose where it doesn't belong. He's right about one thing. I came thousands of miles for a woman I never met.

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[Interviewee/Local Resident]

His picture and his house picture and his address right on that seat, you know, hide seat shit. I think it'd be really good for him in case we're working here down security. I wouldn't think a murderer would go to Seattle, right?

[Detective/Interviewer]

The purpose of this is to kind of. I would like to clear you, right. Of all the stuff that especially the podcast is talking about.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

I'm not going to draw this out with a countdown. When the first episode is ready, it'll just be there. Follow hide and seek and turn your notifications on. Brittany went to do laundry. She never came home.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

It's foggy outside.

[Detective/Interviewer]

I mean, he's. He's doing his thing, right? He's making money.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

I'm sure she deserves to be found.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

This is like, ever since all that happened. Like, this is my motherfucking deck of the cars. You're not even gonna play?

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

Then she deserves the truth.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

I was hanging around Eric. Pocket. The lady in pocket. Okay, So I don't. I don't need anything said right now.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Do you remember where you were that night on November 30th? I pinpointed where it started. I pinpointed who she was hanging out with. I pinpointed what kind of drugs they were doing and where they were getting them from. When I found out she did it, I was upset, but I wasn't angry. So here's the thing, though. We want to make some progress.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

We're just trying to talk with you, okay?

[Detective/Interviewer]

Over in White Pigeon. The guy, his house burned down. Don, I want you to understand.

[Podcast Host/Narrator]

You're here to set your record straight.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Don? Don Hill? Yeah, Don Hill. You know Don Hill. You got at least two or three people throwing your name under the bus.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

Maybe they're the ones who didn't even

[Detective/Interviewer]

be looked at then, man.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

I don't know. It's a very possibility, but I don't

[Detective/Interviewer]

think I've ever met the actual owner of that house.

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

I know. Like, it doesn't always pan out like how it's supposed to.

[Detective/Interviewer]

Did you burn it down?

[911 Caller/Interviewee]

You're not the only one who's stressing out. I don't know if it's all that irritated with me. Please, have some patience.