Alive Again | E2 | River of Blood

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 07:05:00 +0000

Go listen to ALIVE AGAIN. Episodes available now. Search for ALIVE AGAIN wherever you get your podcasts.

In June 2020, Manuel Bayo Gisbert was kidnapped by armed men and teenagers tortured, and held captive until his family paid his ransom. His story, unfortunately, is a familiar one in Mexico — where more than 116,000 people (as the official number goes) have been disappeared and possibly murdered. But unlike so many, Manuel survived. Unable to shake the ghosts of that night, he set out to photograph and interview families who have lost loved ones to cartel and government-sponsored violence. His perspective is unique in that he developed a relationship with the young men on the night they tortured him, and came to realize that they are victims too – of a much larger system. 

Before his release, covered in blood with multiple broken bones and horribly beaten, Manuel’s captors started a conversation with him while on the ride back down the mountain to let him go. They talked for two hours- while he was coughing up blood and writhing in pain.  They were teenagers- they weren’t in charge of the operation. They were 15 year old boys with assault rifles— they told him that they had targeted him because he was filming and had a camera. They wanted to know if he was a filmmaker. He told them that he was, and they suggested that he make a film about this very incident. They also asked if he would invite them to the screening when he completed the movie. At that moment, he realized that these kids were victims too. And though he’d lost his dignity, and had his sense of self and autonomy was destroyed forever, he still had his humanity— but these kids did not.  These kids had lost their humanity.Now he goes back into the same neighborhoods, where he was abducted,  to interview and help families who have also missing loved ones. Besides the derivative potential of this incredible story, Manuel needs funding for the documentary he’s making about the 116,000 people that have gone missing in Mexico. 

From Alive Again producer and host, Dan Bush.

For more about Manuel and his work, go to: https://www.manuelbayogisbert.com

* If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story. Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

Epilogue

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:01:00 +0000

In case you missed it, Nextcorp’s latest evolution-bending innovation, Hivemind, has a new recruit and he’s about to learn what he really signed away on his enlistment forms. Featuring Noah Centineo as Private Damien Drake.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

Season One Finale Part II - Humankind 2.0

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 07:02:00 +0000

Forced into hiding by Cass, Max returns to Shut Eye’s point of origin to piece together what has happened to him. In the delirium of withdrawals, Jack receives a final message about humankind.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

Season One Finale Part I - A Little Trick My Father Taught Me

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 07:01:00 +0000

Just hours from reaching Arlington, Jack hits a deadly roadblock on the backroads. Meanwhile, Max’s dangerous alter ego Ben reaches the point of no return in his crusade to unleash Hivemind into the world.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

9. Hivemind

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 07:01:00 +0000

With his only ally now dead and hit-man, David Truesdale, hunting him down, Jack races back to NextCorp to retrieve Finn’s Kill Switch, but can he make it out alive? 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

8. Kill Switch

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 07:01:00 +0000

With the impending sale of NextCorp, time is running out for Jack to stop Max from unleashing his dangerous new product on the world. When Jack forms an unlikely alliance with Finn, a possible solution presents itself. Will Jack solve it in time?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

7. The Beginning Of Our Future Selves

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 07:01:00 +0000

As Jack grows dependent on Shut Eye, Max’s reappearance at CES sparks a dangerous chain of events.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

6. To Kill A Monster

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 08:01:00 +0000

After surviving a brutal attack by an unseen force, Jack struggles to continue his mission. When a new adversary emerges, Jack’s worst option suddenly becomes his only option.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

5. Suspended in the Void

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 08:01:00 +0000

Jack must decipher a cryptic message left by a former Nextcorp physician before she vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, with Max gone, the pressure mounts for Jack to help Finn prepare for a pivotal keynote speech. As he befriends Finn, dark figures close in.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

4. The Replay

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 08:01:00 +0000

Inching closer to the truth about Max Fuller’s coverup of the Shut-Eye trial suicides, Jack coerces a former Nextcorp employee. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure lurks in the shadows. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

3. The Shift

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 08:01:00 +0000

After months of infiltrating Nextcorp, Jack works tirelessly to gain Max’s trust while secretly investigating his brother’s death. But as Jack gets ever closer to Max, and to uncovering the truth, tragic secrets from the past surface and a dark side of Max is revealed.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

2. It's Not The Fall That Kills You

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 08:02:00 +0000

After successfully infiltrating Nextcorp by landing a position as Max’s assistant, Jack begins uncovering the company’s covert operations. Jack works tirelessly to understand why Max would aggressively push to make “Shut-Eye” available to the public despite its deadly risks. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

1. A Blueprint For Madness

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 08:01:00 +0000

Nextcorp, a Silicon Valley body-hacking startup founded by enigmatic inventor Max Fuller (Darren Criss), is on the edge of advancing human evolution with its soon to launch new product “Shut Eye;” a mind-app that promises to eliminate its user’s need to sleep. But when participants of “Shut Eye’s” human trials start dying, conman Jack Locke (John Boyega) attempts to infiltrate Nextcorp to uncover the truth behind what Max Fuller is really developing.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript

Introducing: Tomorrow's Monsters

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 21:20:00 +0000

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Direct MP3 link

Transcript