perhaps
one of the most common phrases that
parents utter to their children
throughout the early stages of their
childhood is to never
talk to strangers strangers come in all
shapes and sizes
from all walks of life and though many
strangers have the best intentions at
heart
some live up to the nightmarish stories
that parents
tell their children to heed
what is up ewo crew today we are going
to be covering a case so shocking
it will make you hold on to your loved
ones tighter than usual
now let's get into it frank edward
ed ray was born on february 26
1921 in le grand california
his parents frank senior and marie ray
were a young couple
navigating the world on their own terms
they decided to move to chowchilla
california when ed was young
because they wanted their son to grow up
amongst friends
and obtain the best possible education
that the ray family could afford
ed graduated from chauchila high school
in 1940
and for the first time in his life ed
was forced to truly consider
what he wanted to do from that point
forward
deciding that he was not quite ready to
leave chowchilla
and the comfort of his family's
proximity
ed decided to purchase a nearby farm
there he ended up growing crops like
corn and raising cows
amongst other animals for a considerable
amount of time
though ed loved his farm and the work
that it provided him with
he had nonetheless felt as though there
was something
missing from his life something even
more fulfilling
ever since he was a young boy ed had
always seemed to have an inherent
love for his community so in the early
1950s
ed decided to try something new
career-wise
something that would allow him to give
back to his community
ed became a bus driver for chauchila's
local school district
where he spent every weekday picking
children up from their homes
dropping them off at dairyland
elementary school
and driving them all home at the end of
a long school day
in that regard ed's work was fulfilling
and his schedule was extremely
consistent
until one day when his life changed
completely
the children on ed's route were all
chouchilla locals
in fact most of them were even the
grandchildren of his own former
classmates
from back in the day when he had
attended dairyland elementary school
himself
and of course all of the children were
familiar with ed
most of them even looked forward to
seeing him at the start and
end of their days the children on ed's
route were anywhere from 5 to 14 years
old
and despite the vastness of their age
range
they all treated ed with the utmost
respect
while riding in his big yellow school
bus
on the afternoon of july 15 1976
ed was driving his usual route to drop
off students back at their respective
homes
after their second to last day of summer
school for the year
on that particular day ed was driving 19
girls and seven boys in the california
heat
as ed navigated down the familiar roads
of chowchilla
approaching the first of his intended
stops and his route
he noticed something peculiar
just ahead of the bus on the usually
open road
was a singular white van stopped in the
middle of the route
as ed approached the site he noticed
that there was another white van
nearby it appeared as though the one in
the middle of the road
was having some kind of difficulty and
was effectively
stuck blocking traffic ed
being the ever helpful man that he was
pulled to a stop
just in front of the van and looked
around for its owner
to see if they were having engine
troubles as ed shifted gears and put his
foot on the brake
he saw three men simultaneously exiting
the van
in front of him almost instantly
ed felt sick to his stomach but it was
all
too late the three men each held guns in
their hands
and wore pantyhose over their faces to
disguise
their identities before ed could react
the three gunmen made their way onto the
school bus
and one of them pressed a gun to ed's
temple
in his ear the gunman told ed to move
away from the steering
wheel without any trouble or he would be
shot
ed with his hands raised moved out of
the way
so that one of the gunmen could
commandeer the bus
he started to drive as the other two men
patrolled the bus
ed was acutely aware that he and the 26
children in his company
were suddenly in a very dangerous
situation
one they likely would not be able to get
out of anytime soon
as the masked gunman drove into a nearby
dry canal
ed did his best to maintain his silence
and fear that the gunman would
inevitably silence him for good
if he spoke up even to reassure the
children that
everything would be okay as a result of
ed's silence
the children began to ask questions as
children usually do
regarding their whereabouts and their
new destination
the youngest child on the bus
five-year-old monica artery
became fascinated with one of the gunmen
specifically
as the legs from the pantyhose covering
his face
were draped on either side of his head
like the ears of a rabbit
as she had no way of conceptualizing the
danger of the situation
monica looked at the gunman quizzically
and asked if he was the easter bunny
monica's innocent curiosity in such a
life-altering moment
further demonstrated to ed the severity
of the horrific reality he found himself
in
with children who were not even old
enough to understand
what was going on not that he was sure
exactly what was happening either at the
base of the canal
the gunman proceeded to herd ed and the
26 children
like cattle into two separate fans
forcing
all of them inside one by one
once inside the gunman slammed the van
doors shut behind their prisoners
and turned over the van's ignitions ed
surveyed the inside of the vans as he
and the children felt the earth
move beneath the vehicles the vans were
stripped of anything functional
and contained no food or water as the
vans began to drive
off ed checked his watch and noted the
time of their departure
crowded in the back of the two vans ed
and the 26 children
found themselves being driven 11 long
hours
with no bathroom breaks and no idea
where they were headed
as the children were mostly young the
disregard for driving precautions caused
the majority of the smaller children
to experience intense motion sickness
many of the children had to throw up in
the back of the vans
while the older children tried to keep
the younger ones calm
by singing songs to cheer them up the
kids sang songs like
boogie nights love will keep us together
and even their own rendition of if
you're happy and you know it clap your
hands
except the children were far from happy
and even changed the lyrics to
quote if you're sad and you know it clap
your hands
hearing this ed started to feel even
more anxious than he already had been
by the time it was 3 30 in the morning
ed and the children had been brought by
the mass kidnappers to a livermore
quarry
nearly 100 miles from chowchilla where
they had originally been abducted
dazed confused and absolutely terrified
ed and the children were escorted out of
the unmarked vans
one by one as they each exited
one of the mass kidnappers made each
individual child
state their name and hand over a single
piece of clothing
from their person ed could not fathom
what was going on
nor could he understand why he and 26
children were targeted for this attack
worst of all ed could only assume that
his fate
along with the children in his company
would be death
to add surprise and horror the three
kidnappers led each individual child
further into the quarry as ed was
ushered forward
he noticed that there was a moving van
beneath them
a moving van that had been buried 12
feet under the ground
the only part visible around the dirt
was the roof
at the top of the roof was a small
opening and a ladder that was lowered
inside the van
ed realized suddenly that he and the
children were being herded
deep into the van and they were going to
be buried alive one by one
each of the children were forced to
climb down the ladder into the buried
moving van
and one by one the horror of the
situation began to set in
at least for the older children in the
group inside the van were a variety of
dirty mattresses of all shapes and sizes
and quite a few containers of water and
food
ed took a quick inventory of the inside
of the van
as his eyes adjusted to the lack of
light
and then before he could even speak up
the kidnappers proceeded to close the
steel plate on the roof of the van
to cover the hole that ed and the
children had entered through
then they heard the thump of dirt began
to be piled over the roof of the van
one shovel full at a time some of the
children
started to scream one of them even
painted
ed did his best to calm them down but he
knew all too well that his own fears
were quickly taking over his ability to
be calm
soon enough ed felt himself crying
right along with the children he was
positive that the roof could not hold
the weight of the dirt being loaded on
top of it
he feared it would inevitably cave in
with the van itself growing more and
more stuffy
ed looked around at the children seeing
their terrified faces
and then something peculiar happened
the oldest boy of the group
fourteen-year-old mike marshall
stood up abruptly and stated that he was
not going to die without at least trying
to get out
ed filled with a newfound purpose stood
up with mike
and had the older boys help out as they
planned their escape
the older boys along with ed gathered
the mattresses that were strewn about
the van
and began to stack them on top of each
other until the structure was tall
enough for someone to stand on top
and reach the roof next the boys took
their time
climbing to the top of the makeshift
mattress tower
as they did so some of the other
children handed them wooden slats from
one of the bed frames inside the van
once at the very top of the mattress
tower the boys used the wooden slats to
try to dislodge a steel plate
that covered the hole in the roof of the
van
as they pushed against the steel plate
with all of the strength that they were
able to muster up
ed and the boys realized that the plate
itself
was being weighed down with two enormous
tractor batteries
just in case the group of hostages tried
to escape
each battery weighed about a hundred
pounds
as ed and the older boys fought
vigorously to move the steel plate
and the two massive tractor batteries on
top of it
they felt themselves succumbing to heat
exhaustion
and extreme muscle fatigue as they had
not eaten in almost a day
and were quite literally suffocating
underground
some of the other children poured water
over the heads of ed and the boys
in an effort to cool them off and keep
them conscious
despite all of their efforts it seemed
as though they really were
trapped for good as well to their horror
the roof had started to collapse slowly
concaving towards them
but then with one well-timed push
the steel plate moved in an almost
unbelievable turn of events ed and the
boys were able to push back the plate
and watch as some of the dirt piled on
top of the van
spilled off the roof ed helped lift one
of the older boys out through the hole
and instructed him to clear away some of
the dirt and debris
in an effort to make room for the other
hostages
after doing so ed lifted the children
out through the hole
in the van's roof one by one once the
children were all cleared out of the van
the boys helped to pull ed out through
the hole and to freedom
just like that the children of
chowchilla climbed out of the van
nearly 16 hours after they had been
buried
alive ed and the children made their way
to the quarry's guard shack
near the shadow cliffs east bay regional
park
in an effort to locate help there they
ran into a night watchman at the quarry
who though incredibly confused offered
to call the police
and wait with the group for their
arrival
once local police arrived at the scene
they could not believe what ed and the
children
claimed had occurred when officers
located the buried moving van
they were horrified about what had
happened to ed and the children
and relieved that they had escaped the
investigation into who was in charge of
the kidnapping did not take long
as one thing was incredibly clear to
investigators
whoever was responsible had to have had
access to the quarry for
long amounts of time in order to bury a
moving van of that
size rather quickly investigators were
able to locate the quarry owner's son
then 24 year old frederick newhall woods
iv
as he was known to access the quarry
frequently during the summer
once they found frederick police were
quickly able to locate his two friends
the brothers james and richard
schoenfeld
upon arresting all three of the young
men within two weeks of the initial
kidnapping
the story began to unfold right before
investigators eyes
the bus carrying the youngsters and
driver from a summer school session at
dairyland unified school was found
empty in a bamboo covered area of the
dry brenda slough
there is no doubt the bus was
deliberately hidden in the thicket
and dust on the seats indicated the 26
youngsters were not aboard when the bus
was driven
into the slough the mysterious
disappearance would also indicate that
at least two people had to be involved
one to drive the bus into the slough and
another to guard the youngsters
there were other vehicle tracks on top
of the bus tire tracks in the sand
many of the worried parents were waiting
at roadside while others kept an
all-night vigil at the chatula police
station frederick
james and richard revealed to police
that despite coming from extremely
wealthy families
the three of them had fallen into
remarkably deep debt
as the men were in desperate need of
money they thought it best to hold
hostages for ransom
like people often did in movies so they
kidnapped the children on ed's school
bus
as they all headed home from class
because as james claimed
we needed multiple victims to get
multiple millions and we picked children
because
children are precious the state would be
willing to pay ransom for them
and they don't fight back they're
vulnerable they will mind
it is now believed that the three
kidnappers had been inspired by the
story
the day the children vanished by hugh
pentecost
as the details of the story and their
kidnapping
are remarkably similar as well
the book alfred hitchcock's daring
detectives
where the story was published was in the
chowchilla library
and would have been accessible to them
unfortunately for frederick
james and richard they had been unable
to call in their intended
ransom demand of five million dollars
because every single family of the
kidnapped children
had been ringing the chouchilla police
department in search
of their missing children with clogged
phone lines
the kidnappers had decided to wait a day
to call in
and then much to their dismay they saw
on the news that same evening
that ed and the children had actually
managed to escape
their plan had failed miserably
by the time the chouchila kidnappers
went to trial
all three of them pled guilty for ransom
and robbery
all three were sentenced to life with
the possibility of parole
in 2012 richard schoenfeld was released
from prison
and in 2015 james was paroled
frederick woods on the other hand is the
main motivator behind the kidnapping
has been continuously denied parole over
the years
and remains in prison since his initial
sentence
it is important to note that even though
all 26 children
and ed ray managed to survive the
terrifying hostage situation
back in 1976 the reality of the
experience
still haunts many of them to this day
most of the children involved in the
kidnapping suffered from anxiety
panic attacks and a variety of
nightmares involving kidnappings and
death
as a result of the trauma from the
attack
in fact most of the victims of the
kidnapping even reported having
continuous symptoms of trauma even
25 years after the incident
the anguish that those children
experienced at such a young age
was carried with them throughout the
majority of their lives
all because three men spent money they
did not have
and needed to pay back after the
incident
ed ray received a california school
employees association
citation for outstanding community
service
as a result of his bravery and work
keeping the children safe
on that fateful day the children
gathered together
on august 22 1976
a little over a month after their
amazing escape
to celebrate ed ray the group took a
photo at the event
with ray standing in the back ed died
in 2012 at a nursing home in chowchilla
at the age of 91. despite everything
that occurred between the day of the
kidnapping
and the day he passed away the children
of chowchilla
never forgot what ed did for them in his
last days
frank edward ray was visited by many of
the school children he helped save
in the chowchilla school bus kidnapping
35 years before