cover of episode Listen Now: We Came to the Forest

Listen Now: We Came to the Forest

2025/1/27
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The Generation Why Podcast

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Matthew Scher
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Vienna Forrest
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Matthew Scher: 我制作的播客《我们来到森林》深入调查了亚特兰大森林中发生的抗议活动和致命冲突。官方说法存在矛盾之处,我们需要揭示事件背后的真相。通过独家录音和目击者证词,我们试图还原事件经过,展现冲突双方的观点和动机,以及这场悲剧对参与者和社区的影响。我们希望能够挑战人们对正义、行动主义以及人们为保护信仰而付出的努力的理解。 我们关注的是事件的来龙去脉,从活动家最初的理想主义目标到当地官员的复杂动机,以及冲突中各种矛盾证词和缺失证据。最终目的是呈现一个全面、客观的故事,让听众自己判断发生了什么。 Vienna Forrest: 我和我的伴侣在事件发生前一天晚上一起去看电影。那段时间对我来说很艰难,我大部分时间都躲藏起来,心情低落。但那天晚上,我和我的伴侣相处得很开心,我们一起吃了饭,看了电影,感觉很放松。我们彼此之间很信任和依赖,这让我感到很安心。然而,第二天发生的事件彻底改变了我的生活,也让我对很多事情产生了质疑。

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In the depths of an Atlanta forest, a clash between activists and authorities ends in tragedy. But the official narrative doesn't add up. I'm Matthew Scher, and on my new podcast, We Came to the Forest, from Wondery, Campside Media, and Tenderfoot TV, we peel back the layers of secrecy surrounding a deadly confrontation

that shook a community to its core. Through exclusive recordings and never-before-released eyewitness accounts, we expose the hidden truths behind a shootout that left one activist dead and countless lives forever changed. As we dig deeper, we uncover a web of conflicting testimonies and missing evidence. From the idealistic dreams of young environmentalists to the complex motivations of local officials,

This story challenges our understanding of justice, activism, and the lengths people will go to protect what they believe in. What actually happened in the forest? I'm about to play a clip from We Came to the Forest. Follow We Came to the Forest on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Campsite Media.

On a chilly evening in January, an activist named Vienna Forrest goes on a date with her partner in Atlanta. It's been a long, rough month for Vienna, the longest in some ways she can remember, and she's spent much of it lying low, crashing on the floor at a friend's house.

Her partner, who goes by Tortuguita, that's a little turtle in Spanish, has decided that it's time for her to get out of the house. And we went to get Vietnamese and Mexican food, just got a whole buffet. It was...

And Tortiquitos, like, at their peak, they were just so happy. They quit cigarettes. They were just really doing good. A couple hours later, Vienna and Tort pack into a sedan, along with two other friends, and drive across town to a movie theater called The Starlight. The Starlight's pretty famous in Atlanta. It's one of the last real drive-ins in the country. Still has that old-school neon sign out front. Me and Tort save on tickets hid under a blanket.

The person manning the gate caught us. They're like, next time, tell your friends to hide their legs better because Torch's legs were sticking out from under the blanket, but they let us go through. The couple stays there together, curled up in the back seat, hands laced together in the dark, even as the movie gets underway. They were always just like someone I felt comfortable with.

They were, "I'm feeling bad. I can lay my head on their chest," and they'd comfort me.

The film that night at the Starlight is Megan, the one about the overprotective, malignant doll. The modern-day Chucky, if you will. It took a while for me to remember what the movie was because I wasn't paying attention to the movie so much. But, yeah. As the movie winds down, Vienna turns to her partner, watching them. They seem like they do have a care in the world, or at least they...

didn't show it. They had this sort of resolve about things, and they just, it seemed like they were just ready for whatever was to come. About 36 hours after the date at the drive-in, in an event that will permanently, violently alter the trajectory of Vienna's life, a joint task force of law enforcement officers sweeps through a forest a few miles to the southeast. Let's go.

This task force, made up of dozens of officers from several different agencies, has been assigned to clear the woods of activists who are camping there in an attempt to stop the construction of the largest police training facility in the country. These officers are nervous. They've been warned in a briefing about the possibility of booby traps and even improvised explosive devices. But they're doing their best not to let it show.

As they press forward, packing up vacant tents with knives, they joke about what they'll say if they happen to find one occupied. Sir, quick question. Can you get the fuck out, please? There's some more laughter, and then everything just kind of shatters open. Oh, shit.

Surprised, unnerved, the officers tense up, drop their hands to their side arms. The mood now is adrenalized, sharp-edged. The squadron of cops begin to move towards the sound of the gunfire. A very faint transmission comes over the radio from just across the forest.

Man down. That sounded like suppressed gunfire. From Wondery, Campside Media, and Tenderfoot TV, I'm Matthew Scher, and this is We Came to the Forest. This is episode one, Paradise Found.

Binge all episodes of We Came to the Forest ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.