The Dinosaur Tree & The Blue Mountains Mystery

An accidental Australian takeover of The Box of Oddities begins with Vegemite and somehow ends with a prehistoric mystery and a disappearance that only gets stranger.

First, buried in ancient Australian rock are the delicate remains of a forest that vanished from the world millions of years ago. Scientists knew these trees only through fossils—until a park ranger climbed into a remote canyon and noticed something he couldn't explain. What he found would rewrite a small piece of botanical history and eventually trigger an extraordinary fight to keep something ancient from disappearing all over again.

Then, 30-year-old Jessica Zarinsky leaves a Western Sydney pub with a man she's just met and vanishes. CCTV traces their journey toward the Blue Mountains, but eventually Jessica disappears from the cameras—and the man she was traveling with disappears too. Years later, investigators find him in one of the strangest places imaginable. But the discovery only deepens the mystery of what happened to Jessica.

Two Australian stories. One survivor from an almost unimaginable past. One woman whose family is still waiting for answers.

Also: wombat poop, penguin fences, Vegemite, and further evidence that Australia may be the most Box of Oddities place on Earth.

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