Unsolved Mysteries

Nothing enlivens a walk in the woods quite so much as listening to the tale of an unsolved double murder.

Although I’ll concede that, when it comes to listening options, this one is rather less soothing than birdsong or the sighing of wind in pine boughs.

As much as I enjoy the music that nature supplies, I have noticed over the years, and the miles, that the melody from one mountain brook is pretty much the same tune as any other.

True crime, by contrast, is endlessly surprising.

For the past several months during our regular weekend hikes, my wife, Lisa, and I, and our kids, Olivia, 14, and Max, 10, have frequently brought, besides the snacks and the water bottles, a wireless speaker that looks rather like a mushroom.

It’s white, anyway, and round.

This cunning little device, which weighs little more than a sandwich, connects to our phones via the invisible digital tentacle called Bluetooth and plays podcasts.

We don’t always turn on the speaker.

I would consider it an unpardonable breach of backcountry etiquette to blare anything — whether it’s a murder mystery or, say, The Beatles’ White Album — while walking a trail or road where we’re likely to come across other hikers.

Some of whom might not share my affinity for forensic science or “Back in the U.S.S.R.”

But with a few exceptions, such as the Lake Basin in the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the Anthony Lakes area, our corner of Oregon is a pretty remote place, where crowds are as rare as a social media thread that lacks a single insult.

I don’t want to imply that we confine our podcast topics to the grisly and sordid, although this genre is as richly represented in the online audio world as on the shelves of a bookstore or library.

We’re also partial to a pair of free podcasts. “Locations Unknown,” as its name suggests, explores missing persons cases.

“The Strange Sessions” is more eclectic, tackling such topics as Bigfoot and other cryptids, and a variety of supernatural subjects including ghosts.

Olivia’s favorite is “Unsolved Mysteries,” an audio-only update of the 1980s TV series starring the inimitable Robert Stack.

All three podcasts are available on iTunes and many other providers.

— Jayson Jacoby, editor, Baker City Herald