NEW SERIES: We Came to the Forest

Hey, y'all, it's Sean, the host of Noble.

I don't do this very often, but I want to tell you about a new podcast series. It's made by some really talented journalists who I happen to know and deeply respect.
And it also takes place in the city where I live, Atlanta, and just a mile from my house. The podcast is called We Came to the Forest, and it's from Wondery, Campside Media, and Tenderfoot TV.
It's about a now infamous project in Atlanta called Cop City. The podcast peels back the layers of secrecy surrounding Cop City and a deadly confrontation that took place in the forest where it's being built.
The host, Matthew Sher, got his hands on exclusive recordings and firsthand eyewitness accounts, and he exposes the hidden truth behind a nighttime shootout that left one young activist dead and countless lives changed forever.

He uncovers a web of conflicting testimonies, missing evidence, and allegations of a police cover-up.

We Came to the Forest challenges our understanding of justice, activism, and the lengths people will go to protect what they believe in.

So what actually happened in the forest?

I'm going to play a clip from the new series.

Follow We Came to the Forest on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. On a chilly evening in January, an activist named Vienna Forrest goes on a date with her partner in Atlanta.
It's been a long, rough month for Vienna, the longest in some ways she can remember. And she's spent much of it lying low, crashing on the floor at a friend's house.
Her partner, who goes by Tortuguita, that's a little turtle in Spanish, has decided that it's time for her to get out of the house. And we went to get Vietnamese and Mexican food, just got a whole buffet.
Tortuguita was like at their peak. They were just so happy.
They quit cigarettes. They were just really doing good.
A couple hours later, Vienna and Tort pack into a sedan, along with two other friends, and drive across town to a movie theater called The Starlight. The Starlight's pretty famous in Atlanta.
It's one of the last real drive-ins in the country. Still has that old school neon sign out front.
Me and Torte, to save on tickets, hid under a blanket. it.
And the person manning the gate caught us.

They're like, next time tell your friends to hide their legs better

because Tort's legs were sticking out from under the blanket,

but they let us go through.

The couple stays there together, curled up in the back seat,

hands laced together in the dark, even as the movie gets underway.

They were always just like

someone I felt comfortable with.

They were, I'm feeling

bad, I can lay my head on

their chest and they'd comfort me.

The film that night at the starlight is

Megan, the one about the overprotective

malignant doll.

The modern day Chucky, if you will.

It took a while for me to remember what the movie was because I wasn't paying attention to the movie so much. But, yeah.
As the movie winds down, Vienna turns to her partner, watching them. They seemed like they didn't have a care in the world, or at least they didn't show it.
They had this sort of resolve about things. And they just, it seemed like they were just ready for whatever was to come.
About 36 hours after the date at the drive-in, in an event that will permanently, violently alter the trajectory of Vienna's life, a joint task force of law enforcement officers sweeps through a forest a few miles to the southeast. This task force, made up of dozens of officers from several different agencies, has been assigned to clear the woods of activists who are camping there in an attempt to stop the construction of the largest police training facility in the country.
These officers are nervous. They've been warned in a briefing about the possibility of booby traps and even improvised explosive devices.
But they're doing their best not to let it show. As they press forward, packing up vacant tents with knives, they joke about what they'll say if they happen to find one occupied.

Sir, quick question, can you get the fuck out, please?

There's some more laughter and then everything just kind of shatters open.

Oh, shit.

Is this target practice?

Surprised, unnerved, the officers tense up,

drop their hands to their sidearms.

Real soft, you fire.

The mood now is adrenalized, sharp-edged.

The squadron of cops begin to move towards the sound of the gunfire. A very faint transmission comes over the radio from just across the forest.
Man down. Man down.
That sounded like suppressed gunfire. From Wondery, Campside Media, and Tenderfoot TV, I'm Matthew Scher, and this is We Came to the Forest.
This is episode one.

Paradise Found. Binge all episodes of We Came to the Forest ad-free on Wondery+.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.