The Way it Was: A podpast

On April 29, 1978, hunters driving along a rural Colorado canyon road came across the bodies of two young women. Forty years later, we revisit the case, known its twists, turns and - to this day - questions.

In 1934, a group of railroad workers found a pregnant border collie mix shivering outside a blacksmith shop. More than 80 years later, her legacy remains as an entire town's adopted pet.

Hearts are strewn from its light poles, businesses build their brands around its "sweet" nickname and, every February, valentines pour into the city from all around the world. So what, or who, made Loveland, Colorado the nation's "Sweetheart City"?

Gary Hinman wasn't a celebrity. He wasn't a young Hollywood type. He was a boy from Fort Collins. And, in the summer of 1969, he became the Manson family's first victim.

On December 14, 1961, a passenger train collided with a school bus, killing 20 children just outside Greeley, Colorado. Their lives ended that cold morning. Their stories, however, did not.

Before the big box stores of Harmony Road, a tiny farming community spanned the desolate stretches of what was once Northern Colorado's no man's land.

For almost three decades, Doris and Allen Sorenson were Windsor, Colorado's jewelers. In the 33 years since early November 1984, they've been its biggest mystery. In this episode, we dig into the Sorenson murders, Windsor's oldest cold case homicides.

On July 4, 1899, the townspeople of tiny Windsor, Colorado watched as their beloved flour mill burned. More than a century later, this past August, they had to again. Only this time, they were faced with a new question. Who set it on fire?

Almost 40 years after 9-year-old Chris Vigil went missing on a hike in the Colorado wilderness, his family recalls the early days of the search, remembers Chris and discusses what's next.

A little boy with a big imagination came to California, by way of Colorado. Years later, he was an artist and trusted friend of Walt Disney. So when Disney came to him with the idea of creating the perfect slice of small town America, he drew on his own idyllic childhood along the Fort Collins foothills. Now, it's one of the most beloved attractions at Disneyland.

Twenty years later, a flood of memories linger for those who lived the 1997 Spring Creek Flood.

The Birney Car 21 trolley started chugging along Fort Collins streets almost a century ago. So, in the 1980s, as it looked toward a new life with a volunteer-led restoration effort, why did people protest the beloved little streetcar?

On April 30, 1978, 9-year-old Chris Vigil went missing on a hike in Colorado's Roosevelt National Forest. For the next four decades, with no trace of him ever found, searchers and residents of his small town were left with nothing but questions. What happened to Chris? And how does it tie into the unknown number of people who have vanished from our public lands?

Dive into Fort Collins history, and beneath the waters of Horsetooth Reservoir, where remnants of a Colorado quarry ghost town still exist.