Podcast Summary: Otherworld – "The Little People" [Patreon Preview]
Host: Jack Wagner | Guest: Chris (“Goose”) from Vancouver, BC
Release Date: November 26, 2025

Episode Overview

In this intriguing episode, host Jack Wagner explores a mysterious and unsettling encounter experienced by Chris, an avid outdoorsman and fisherman from Vancouver, British Columbia. While fishing in a remote, First Nations–stewarded wilderness, Chris stumbles upon inexplicable footprints—both large and alarmingly small—leading to unsettling questions about what, or who, might have been lurking in the wild with him. The episode delicately intertwines the supernatural, indigenous cultural secrecy, and personal skepticism, ultimately presenting a story about mystery, cultural intersection, and friendship.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Chris’ Background and Approach to Wilderness (03:38)

• Chris describes himself as an outgoing, lifelong outdoorsman:
  “Grew up just doing outdoor stuff. Hiking, mountain biking and fly fishing were kind of the big ones and those are things that I just like have never stopped doing.” [03:42]
• He works as an outreach worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and as a research assistant in linguistics at UBC.
• His fishing trips are intense, physically demanding, and designed to get him as far from other people as possible—multiple hours of travel and hiking into unpopulated, rugged terrain where human contact is extremely unlikely.

2. The Setting: Remote and Sacred Territory (06:20)

• The fishing spot is “as far as you can go up this road and then you hike for a couple hours, three hours to get into this specific area... It was never land that was ceded in a treaty. It was never purchased and it was definitely never like given away. It was just land that was stol[en] by settlers.” [06:45]
• The land is still actively stewarded by a local First Nation, who are described as exceptional caretakers of the environment.

3. The Experience: Encounter with the Unexplainable (08:50)

• On a cold, snowy outing, Chris spots typical animal tracks (wolf and elk), but soon finds “a single, like, human footprint, roughly the size of, like, my own foot. Not, you know, just like a barefoot. No, no, you know, footwear of any kind on it. And that just sort of like, arrested me.” [09:42]
• He becomes even more unnerved:
  “The more I looked, the more of them I began to find, including some that were, like, roughly 3 inches in length, like a baby, like an infant.” [10:00]
• The tracks form a rough circle—“maybe 50 meters across, like, huge. Thousands and thousands of these footprints…it looked like there had been a mosh pit on the banks of this river.” [10:38]
• Chris details the impossibility of any kind of family or group having been there—let alone barefoot, with babies—in freezing, dangerous conditions among grizzlies and rough terrain. He emphasizes there were “no footprints surrounding that circle that had any kind of tread on them other than my own.” [11:30]
• Some of the tracks led straight “into the woods…no roads up there. No, like, resource extraction. There's no mining, no logging, nothing. Just wilderness from there to, like, I don't know, Alaska.” [12:10]

4. Personal Reaction & Skepticism (12:23)

• Chris describes himself as a rationalist:
  "I'm not a dude who typically, like, believes or, like, gives much credence to, like, paranormal things. I've never believed in, like, ghosts or anything like that. And I just, like, could not…reason it away. It just didn’t make any sense to me…” [12:23]
• The sheer number of footprints, their distribution, and the conditions under which they appeared all challenged his logical explanations.

5. Cultural Layers and Further Mysteries (Intro, 00:06; Preview Close)

• After sharing his story online, a First Nations friend reached out and suggested the phenomena are tied to indigenous beliefs and secret ceremonies not meant for outsiders.
• Host Jack Wagner notes:
  “Part of the challenge of making this episode is that so much of the information about this topic cannot be shared.” [01:28]
• The episode hints at deeper, culturally protected knowledge about ‘The Little People,’ a motif found in various North American indigenous traditions.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Chris’ Shock and Rational Struggle:
  “I just stopped dead and was just, like, staring at this footprint. Like, what the heck?...For me to make that sort of dent and like tear up the, the ground in that fashion would, would take ages, like an hour of going as hard as possible.” [09:48; 10:49]
• On the Impossibility of a Child Being There:
  “No one would do that with a child. No one would let a child, you know, like recreate in that kind of weather in like a super dangerous area. But certainly like a baby baby. Like not, not even like a toddler.” [11:10]
• On the Mystery’s Impact:
  “I got back to my car and just, like, could not make heads or tails of what I had seen.” [12:00]
• Host Jack Wagner’s Reflection:
  “This one is a little bit supernatural, it's a little bit historical, a little bit in between those two. And ultimately I think this is a story about two old friends with different sets of beliefs reconnecting in a very unusual way.” [01:40]

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:06] – Introduction by Jack Wagner: episode context and purpose
• [03:38] – Chris introduces himself and sets the scene
• [08:50] – Chris describes finding the first footprint
• [10:00–10:49] – Discovery of baby-sized footprints and the vast circle of tracks
• [11:10] – Reasoning through the impossibility of the situation
• [12:00–12:23] – Chris’ emotional reaction and rational struggle
• [13:03] – Preview ends, with encouragement to subscribe for the full story

Tone & Language

Chris speaks in a conversational, candid, and sometimes self-deprecating tone, bringing authenticity and vulnerability to his account. Jack Wagner handles the story with journalistic curiosity and sensitivity, particularly regarding indigenous knowledge.

Summary for New Listeners

This preview episode of Otherworld is a captivating listen for anyone interested in real-life encounters with the unexplained, especially those tinged with indigenous traditions and mysteries. Chris’ humble, rational recounting of his experience is both unsettling and intriguing, culminating in a sense of unresolved wonder at the wilderness—and cultural traditions—still keeping their secrets.