Midnight Fog, Tripod Upright: How He Walked Away from the Tide

Midnight Fog, Tripod Upright: How He Walked Away from the Tide Fog closed from a quarter mile to near zero in under eight minutes as a student photographer stood nearly half a mile from shore with his tripod upright and lens cap on - then disappeared. How did a Pelican case sit planted like a stake two hundred yards out, its sealed contents bone-dry after the flat had been under four feet of water, and what did the last pencil entry in the orange notebook mean? In this episode, we tell what happened that night on Garnet Flat and lay out the sequence of events the evidence records, from the tide chart on his phone to the timing of the marine fog advisory. Can a improvised navigation system written in the dark explain why his gear was left as it was? Person: Clifford O'Connor Age: 22 Location: Garnet Flat, central Oregon coast Time: 23 minutes past midnight (June 22-23) Tide low window: 11:18 p.m, to 3:22 a.m. - Car: 2009 Subaru parked at gravel pull-off near Brackish Point Road at 11:40 p.m. - Distance: Last photo places him 940 yards from the pull-off (more than half a mile out). - Equipment found: Tripod with camera attached 200 yards from shore; Pelican case upright near tripod. - Pelican contents: second camera body, two lens pouches, one small orange notebook - all dry despite flat under four to five feet of water. - Notebook entry: six phrases in pencil - "east mark. two flag, fourteen minute pace, case equals anchor, lens cap equals seal, NB under body." Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA. Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7194395 © 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].