Pinned to Steel: How a Red Glove Saved a Woman Buried Alive

Pinned to Steel: How a Red Glove Saved a Woman Buried Alive A single red wool glove, fingers upright twelve feet off the ground on a locked grain silo, stopped a volunteer cold and became the only message from a woman buried up to her chest for roughly sixteen hours - how did that glove get there, and could it have been the difference between life and death? This episode centers on a shocking confined-space emergency at a Midwestern grain facility, where one routine inspection turned into a fight for survival and a tiny object became proof that someone was still alive. In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from Diane Kowalski signing out the key for Silo Three to the discovery that saved her, describing the conditions inside the silo, the timeline of her entrapment, and the clues left above ground that raised the alarm - could the red glove really be the only way she communicated her existence? Person: Diane Kowalski Date: March 7-9, 2014 Location: Prewitt Brothers Grain, Millhaven, Nebraska Event: Confined-space entrapment in Silo Three Duration: Approximately 16 hours - Diane signed out the key to Silo Three at 4:58 PM on March 7, 2014 to inspect the auger shaft alone. - Engineers later estimated the pressure wave that pinned her at roughly 400 to 600 pounds per square inch. - The red wool glove stood upright on the exterior wheel housing about twelve feet up and nearly four stories off the ground. - Diane was pinned at roughly eight feet from the auger shaft housing, trapped in a space the width of a door frame. - The phone slipped from her jacket pocket during the initial surge and fell into the grain, leaving her without external communication. 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].