
After plunging 230 feet off a cliff, Matt, a missionary in Australia--later dubbed the miracle man of Bundanoon, survived against all odds. From unusual weather conditions to a call made without cell coverage, every detail of this story points to...
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Emily Jones
This episode is brought to you by angel studios. Go to angel.com Miracle Files to show your support.
Chris Peterson
We hear this sliding gravel type noise. I hear trees break and I hear the echo. And I go, he just threw a rock. Off we go like three, four minutes of yelling. He's not yelling back. And I specifically remember we were all like, not funny, dude.
Emily Jones
This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones.
Holly Worthington
And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in our lives.
Emily Jones
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey.
Holly Worthington
Welcome back to this remastered edition of our first ever episode about the fall of Matt Weirich.
Emily Jones
Yeah, I just have to say, I am terrified of heights. And of all of our episodes that we have done, this one still gives me the most nightmares, I bet, because.
Holly Worthington
That'S like your biggest phobia, right?
Emily Jones
Oh, my gosh.
It's like not rational, but the fear is so real. I mean, I literally have dreams like every other night about falling off a cliff. So this story, it gets me. But it was really fun to revisit this episode. Add some new music, some sound effects. It's an amazing story.
Holly Worthington
It's unbelievable. And even if you've already heard this story before, besides the changes that we've made to the story, we've got some really cool stuff at the end, so make sure you stay for that.
Emily Jones
All right, let's jump in.
Holly Worthington
Let's do it.
Emily Jones
The day of June 23, 2004, started with a simple plan to go find kangaroos in the Australian bush. The four missionaries drove toward an isolated area near Bundanoon, a small town whose Aboriginal name means the place of deep gullies. These young men had no idea how dangerous those deep gullies could be, as they they saw a sign that read Grand Canyon Lookout. After a short discussion, the missionaries decided the kangaroos could wait. The lookout sounded even more exciting. Here's Chris Peterson, one of the missionaries there that day.
Chris Peterson
By, like happenstance, we weren't even going to this place. We just see a sign that said Grand Canyon Lookout. So then we're like, let's go see what the Australian Grand Canyon looks like.
Emily Jones
The missionaries parked and found a trail overlooking a vast canyon filled with sheer rock cliffs amongst lush eucalyptus trees. Missionaries for this particular church are called by the title of elder. So at the time, 21 year old Matthew Weyrich was known to his companions as Elder Wyrick. As zone leader, Elder Wyrick had charge over the group. He was accompanied by his companion, Elder Peterson, as well as Elder Mortensen and Elder Kornburg. As they walked along a trail overlooking the canyon, they would stop and throw boulders over the edge. They would then listen for the crash and echo of the boulder finally smashing at the floor of the over 200 foot deep canyon.
Chris Peterson
Where we were at, there's like a cliff face, right? And we were throwing these big boulders off the side just to see like the sound they would make or just see how long they would take to hit the ground. And when they would hit, we would hear them echo and they would go through the whole canyon and you'd hear the trees break. You know, it was like they were falling through.
Emily Jones
Elder Wyrick spotted a ledge below that looked easy enough to get to. As a national champion all American pole vaulter, Elder Wyrick was pretty certain he was invincible. His athletic success had given him confidence in his ability to scale the walls of this canyon with ease. Elder Mortensen followed Elder Wyrick down to the ledge where they investigated a carved out cave.
Chris Peterson
Like I remember when him and Zelda Mortensen were like climbing down there. Another car had pulled up and they said, hope we don't see you guys on the news later. And Elder Mortensen was climbing around down there and his foot got caught in one of the cracks of the wall. You know, he couldn't get his foot out, so he had to take his foot out of his shoe. When he did that, his shoe then came loose from the rock and rolls off and falls down off the cliff.
Emily Jones
Now this wasn't just any shoe. This was an Air Jordan. And not only did Elder Mortensen love these shoes, but he'd let Elder Wyrick borrow them on occasion. Elder Wyrick loved these shoes, perhaps even more than Elder Mortensen did. Without a moment's hesitation, Elder Wyrick began climbing further down and around to a lower ledge of the cliff, assuring Elder Mortensen the he would get his shoe back.
Chris Peterson
I do remember some pushback from all of us, even including Elder Mortensen, because he was like, don't worry about it. That's like a long ways. It's fine. But he's like, no, no, I got it.
Narrator
Did we mention Elder Wyrick thought he was invincible? Fear wasn't even in his vocabulary. As he climbed down to another ledge, he called to the other missionaries and they would call back to him periodically to help guide him to where the shoe might be. But then other Wyrick spotted something he couldn't resist. A large tree shot out over the canyon and elbowed vertically into the sky. He decided it wasn't only a great place to get a view of the shoe, but also a perfect spot for a photo op. Elder Wyrick wrapped his arms and legs around the huge tree trunk and made his way to the top of the tree. He leaned out and yelled to the other missionaries, asking them to take his picture. They couldn't see the full tree, but they could see the top of it, where Elder Wyrick leaned out. Elder Wyrick took in the majestic cliffs and greenery below him. He could see the whole canyon and beyond stretched out before him. It was breathtaking. And then Elder Wyric started the descent down the tree. Only it wasn't nearly as easy going down as it had been going up. The trunk was so large and the bark so smooth, it was impossible to get a good grip anywhere. For the first time, Elder Wyrich felt a gut punch of fear in his stomach as he realized how slippery and steep it was. The missionary stood above, waiting, hoping to see their friend appear back on the trail any moment. But instead, they heard the sound of gravel thawing, followed by the loud crack of tree branches breaking and an echo of what they thought was a boulder crashing to the canyon floor.
Emily Jones
Elder Wyrick was such a jokester, they knew he had to be playing a trick on them. They called his name. They waited. Silence. They called out again. Nothing. They were sure this had to be a joke. But as the minutes ticked, a feeling of dread washed over them. There was no one around anymore, and they had no phone to call for help. The only thing left to do was pray.
Chris Peterson
Now we're starting to get very concerned. We're yelling off the cliff face for him. Just seeing if we can get any type of response and we're not getting one. And then the three of us get down and pray, and then we come back up the hill and a car had just pulled up.
Narrator
A couple exited the vehicle, and the missionaries asked if they had a mobile phone. Gratefully, they did, and the missionaries were.
Emily Jones
Able to make two calls, one to.
Narrator
The police and another to their mission president before they lost cell coverage completely. When the police arrived, they were perplexed at how the missionaries could have called them because there was no cell reception in the area. Immediately, they went to work searching for Elder Wyrick.
Chris Peterson
It got, like, very hectic, very fast search and rescue and detectives, people with repelling gear. We're watching these people with, like, repelling gear going down the side of this cliff face and we're like, very much in shock. It just didn't feel real.
Emily Jones
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Emily Jones
Join the Angel Guild today@angel.com Miracle files and unlock shows your whole family will love. That's angel.com forward/miracle files.
Holly Worthington
And now back to our story.
Narrator
The three missionaries felt disoriented and shocked. But as night fell and Search and rescue called off the search due to safety concerns, the heaviness of reality set in. The ride back to the mission home was a somber one. It hadn't been a boulder falling. Their friend lay 230ft down, or approximately 20, 21 stories at the bottom of a cliff. And no one was going to find him tonight.
Emily Jones
It was June, and June is winter in Australia. Even if their friend had somehow impossibly.
Narrator
Survived, the temperatures had been below freezing every night that week. There was no way Elder Wyrick could survive a freezing night. Back at the mission home, the mission president knelt with the missionaries.
Chris Peterson
And so he says the prayer. And he says, we know everything is your will, but if you can, please give us a miracle. I remember him asking for a miracle in that prayer.
Narrator
No one slept that night.
Chris Peterson
I remember laying there in the bottom bunk, staring up at the wood planks above me of the bunk bed and pleading with God for hours, like, I will do anything to not have him be, you know, to have him be okay. Like, bargaining with anything I had at that point. Right. That's what I remember. And we were all in the same room. And I know we weren't sleeping. I know none of us were sleeping. We all. We also weren't talking to Each other, You know, it was like we were all just kind of like laying there, still in shock.
Emily Jones
The next morning at sunrise, the missionaries returned with their mission president to the site of the fall. They showed search and rescue again exactly where Elder Wyrick had fallen. But this wasn't a rescue mission anymore. It was a body retrieval mission.
Chris Peterson
We all, I think, kind of lost faith at that point that he was okay. You know, we had gone overnight, staying up all night. We're exactly exhausted. Like, there's no way that he's okay after falling that far. We saw the cliff. I mean, it was massive.
Emily Jones
The missionaries solemnly drove back with their mission president to the mission home. Across the world in Texas, Elder Wyrick's parents were heading out on a vacation where they'd be without cell coverage for a week. Only they missed their flight that morning, they both said slept through their alarms. As they worked to rearrange their plans, they received a call informing them that their son had fallen off a 230foot cliff. They immediately booked the soonest flight they could to Australia. Meanwhile, rescuers had descended down the steep cliffs and scoured the dense forest floor of the Australian Grand Canyon, searching for a body. As they made their way along a smaller cliff's edge, they noticed some torn clothing in a tree, followed by a trail of blood. At the mission home in Australia, the missionary sat tensely waiting for hours for the call from the police telling them when Elder Wyrick's body had been found.
Chris Peterson
We then sit for what seems like hours of agony with just no news. I mean, we're just sitting there with like the. You can hear the clock ticking on the wall. Finally, one of them's like, that's it. I'm calling him. And so he picks up the phone and he's looking at us, he's making eye contact with us. So we're like trying to read his every twitch of his eyes, right like. And he's like, you found him. And I remember him giving us the thumbs up. And then he mouths, he's alive.
Emily Jones
Elder Wyrick was alive. It's impossible to put into words the.
Narrator
Way the missionaries felt hearing this news.
Emily Jones
But they were definitely filled with gratitude and shock. No one had expected to find him alive. And no one can begin to explain.
Narrator
How he survived the fall.
Emily Jones
What we do know is the rescuers were able to follow the trail of blood to where Matt lay semi conscious. He survived partially because he crawled 30ft after landing and lay at an angle on a rock where his head was below his body, keeping the blood flow steady to his brain. The weather that night was unusually warm. It was the perfect temperature to help keep Elder Wyric's brain from swelling while not freezing him to death. The fact that Elder Wyrick was alive was nothing short of a miracle. But now the missionaries wondered, what was his outlook? Had he broken every bone in his body? Would he continue to survive the coming days? And if he did, would he be brain damaged to the point where he wouldn't be able to function at all? Here's what happened in Matthew Weyrich's own words.
Matthew Weyrich
They expected when they lifelined me in and put me in the hospital that everything was going to be shattered, broken, that I would have every type of thing. So they put me through CAT scan and MRIs, only to find out that there was no bones broken other than I had a hairline fracture above my right orbital where I hit the ground with my head.
Emily Jones
Elder Weyrich was immediately put into an induced coma.
Narrator
However, within 24 hours, his vitals were so good that the doctors decided to bring him out of the coma.
Emily Jones
Still, he wasn't responding in any way. If he didn't show show any sign.
Narrator
Of response, the doctors had decided they would need to perform a procedure where they would drill into his skull to relieve the pressure.
Matthew Weyrich
They found out my name, Matthew Weirich. So they were calling me Matt. Matt, Matt or Matthew? Matthew, Matthew. The mission president came to the hospital and they were telling him what would happen. And he was like, well, that's your problem. For these past 18, 19 months that he's been out here, he's only been known as Elder, you know? So he goes and he says, elder, wake up. You slept in. You got to study your scriptures. And when that happened, they saw a flinch on my finger. They said, oh, Elder, if you can hear us, wiggle your finger. I did make a small movement. And they're like, amazing. We don't have to do surgery. He's going to get out of it. When my parents came, came in, at first I didn't recognize him and I was a little confused. And then my mom hugged me. And when that happened, it clicked with me and made me realize and understand that my parents were there and everything was fine.
Narrator
Elder W continued to improve over the next few days.
Emily Jones
The doctors all agreed every aspect of this survival story defied reason.
Matthew Weyrich
The head neurosurgeon, one of the best in Australia, says, you know what? This is beyond medical science. I cannot describe medically what he is able to do and his progression. It's what I would deem as a medical miracle. No one could understand how quickly I progressed.
Emily Jones
Elder Weirich became an overnight sensation. He was on 60 Minutes Australia, and for four to five days, he was the COVID story everywhere you went in Australia. Dubbed the Miracle man of Bundanoon, Chris Peterson. Still can't believe it.
Chris Peterson
For him to fall and then, like, not break a bone. I heard his body hit and echo through the valley. I heard the trees break. And everybody was just very stunned that he lived. What became so much more stunning was to find out his condition after the fact.
Narrator
It was truly unbelievable.
Emily Jones
But the miracles didn't stop there. Within a month, Elder Weyrich returned home. He visited a neurologist in the United States who said Matthew's brain looked completely normal. When the doctor received the original CAT scan images taken shortly after the fall and compared them to these new perfect scans, his shock couldn't be contained. He simply described it it as medically impossible. And it was. Yet it wasn't. Because with God, all things are possible. And because of this one miracle, many lives have been touched, many people's faith and hope have increased, and Matthew himself.
Narrator
Has been changed forever.
Matthew Weyrich
I felt invincible. I felt like nothing could touch me, nothing could hurt me, that I was going to be anything and everything that I wanted to be. And so it leveled me back to being humble and understanding, like how without Heavenly Father, nothing in this life is possible.
Emily Jones
For over a year, he worked tirelessly to regain his strength and coordination until.
Narrator
Eventually he was able to return to pole vaulting at Brigham Young University.
Matthew Weyrich
I was not going to have someone tell me that I would not be able to compete again. Competition was my life. So I worked my tail off. I pushed myself to the limit every time. And finally they gave me clearance to be able to pole vault again. I was able to go to nationals and become an All American.
Emily Jones
And yeah, when we asked Matthew why.
Narrator
He thinks miracles take place, this was his response.
Matthew Weyrich
From what I was told of the whole search and rescue, of everything they did there, I was the only person that they had found alive. They say, you know, this is always just a definition. We go and try to find a body so that way we can just drag it out. And for me to not have any ill repercussions at this moment anymore is beyond miraculous. Miracles do happen. How I landed, how everything happened, how it transposed, I don't know. I just know that I fell. But beyond that, I don't know how it happened. Nor will I ever try to make an assumption of how it happened. Through God's mercy. I am alive and safe. Miracles bring us to Christ. I did have to go through some troubling and hard times, but that's what it's for, that's what miracles happen, is to be able to increase people's faith and help them see that there is a plan and there is a way to find happiness in this life amidst all the pains and troubles and sorrows.
Emily Jones
Wow.
Holly Worthington
How on earth did Matt survive falling 230ft?
Emily Jones
I know it's crazy.
Holly Worthington
I mean, I know the answer is God, but it's still 230ft. So it just, it blows my mind.
Emily Jones
It's crazy. I mean, like you say, obviously this is God showing his power and showing his love. Clearly, this touched Matt's life. It touched Chris. They witnessed a miracle. But the cool thing is all of Australia got to witness this miracle. It was on 60 Minutes Australia, it was all over the news. And he was known as like the miracle man of Bundane. Yeah, but we've actually were able to track down one of those news clips. And so here is a news reporter reporting on it that very day.
News Reporter
The miracle of Bundaloo. The survival of an American tourist who fell more than 90 meters off a cliff in the Southern Highlands. Matthew Weyrick's parents were about to start making funeral arrangements when they learned via the Internet that he'd been found alive. Against all the odds, Matt Wyrick emerges from the trees that almost certainly saved his life. The 21 year old Mormon missionary fell 90 meters into a valley known as the Grand Canyon at Bundenoon. He slipped after offering to retrieve a friend's shoe from a clifftop yesterday afternoon. Rescuers abseil down the same cliff face early this morning. No one was expecting to find him alive, including Matt's mother and father in Texas shortly after 9:00 clock this morning. He was bound with a fractured skull.
Matthew Weyrich
Semi conscious, he suffers fairly extensive injuries.
News Reporter
Initial indications are that he's in a critical condition. Experienced rescuers are dumbfounded. They say the odds of living after falling 90 meters are impossible to calculate. And with no doubt he owes his overnight survival to the cushioning effect of the thick canopy on the valley floor and unusually warm weather in the southern high for us after this landing. His father says miracle is not too strong a word.
Matthew Weyrich's Parents
We're very happy that he is alive and that he survived and that Heavenly Father protected him on this journey down that hill.
News Reporter
He's now stable in Wollongong Hospital. Adam Waters, National 9 News.
Emily Jones
Isn't that so fascinating to hear this News report from 2004. And they're all calling it so cool as well.
Holly Worthington
So cool. And so much had to happen for this miracle to take place.
Emily Jones
Yeah.
Holly Worthington
Like the temperatures, like every night that week it had gotten down to freezing temperatures. Except for that one night.
Emily Jones
I know the temperature had to be perfect. And then it kept his brain from swelling. One thing I'm so curious about is, like, what happened that night. Thinking about him, they said he crawled 30ft. Like, he had to have been conscious at some point. And whether he intended to or not, the fact that he laid with his head below his feet, which kept the blood flow to his brain. Just so many little things.
Chris Peterson
Yeah.
Holly Worthington
And one of those little things that I thought about was the cell phone. The police, when they got there, said there was no cell coverage in the area. Like, none. They were amazed that the missionaries were able to somehow call out and get help.
Emily Jones
Yeah.
Holly Worthington
So just so many little ways that you can see God's help in this situation.
Emily Jones
Yeah, absolutely. And the fact that he was able to go be a college athlete after falling 230ft, just the whole thing is pretty astounding.
Holly Worthington
Yeah, it. It really is. And we want to end with one more news clip of Matthew's parents just thanking the amazing rescue workers who helped to save his life.
Matthew Weyrich's Parents
I don't think words can describe what we have. Feelings hard for each and every one of you. We just want to thank you for the bottom of our hearts and our family's hearts what a miracle this actually was.
Matthew Weyrich
And for you guys, words cannot express how much we really appreciate all of you.
Holly Worthington
Well, thank you everyone for joining us today. Thank you, Matt and Chris, and we appreciate each and every one of you. We appreciate your support and your encouragement. And we've got some amazing, awesome stories coming up, so we're looking forward to those.
Emily Jones
Stay tuned. And if you know anyone who could use a little encouragement in their life, if you want to remind someone that God lives and that miracles are still real, please share this podcast with them and we'll see you next time.
Holly Worthington
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact us@themiraclefiles.com or find us on social media. We release new episodes each Monday.
Emily Jones
Yes. So don't forget Miracle Mondays. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
Holly Worthington
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.
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Podcast: The Miracle Files
Hosts: Emily Jones & Holly Worthington
Date: January 26, 2026
In this remastered episode, hosts (and sisters) Emily Jones and Holly Worthington revisit their very first—and most haunting—Miracle Files story: the astonishing survival of missionary Matthew Weyrich, who plummeted 230 feet (about 21 stories) off a cliff in the Australian bush. With new music, sound, and added follow-up reflections, Emily and Holly walk listeners through a tale blending danger, faith, unimaginable odds, and the small wonders that can only be called miracles.
Emily and Holly close by marveling at the layers of unlikely “small miracles” that contributed to Matt’s survival—from the weather and his position on the rocks to the mystery of the working cellphone. They invite listeners to share the story and to look for God’s light and miracles in their own lives.
For anyone seeking a testament to resilience, hope, and the unexpected, this episode of The Miracle Files serves as a powerful reminder that—even at the edge of reason—miracles can and do happen.