The Unorganized Township of Bootstuck
The Unorganized Township of Bootstuck is a documentary-style audio descent into a place that shouldn't exist—but very much insists that it does.
Once a forgotten military outpost in the depths of Northern Ontario, Bootstuck has taken on a life of its own. Discovered only through a pile of mislabeled cassette tapes at a Sudbury garage sale, the story of Bootstuck slowly unravels through scattered interviews, cryptic clues, and increasingly bizarre residents. The deeper you listen, the more you realize — this isn't just a town. It's a puzzle. And somewhere in that puzzle?
A plane crash that changed everything.
Somewhere between folklore, found audio, and fever dream, Bootstuck blurs the line between documentary and delusion—offering listeners a place to get lost in, over and over again.
Episodes
65 episodes
TAPE 73 - Going Down a One Way Black Hole
What begins with a loud bang and fears of the apocalypse quickly turns into another perfectly normal day in Bootstuck: old ladies crashing into buildings, philosophical discussions about black holes, and a town-wide effort to secretly redistrib...
TAPE 72 - "Nonprofits, No Profits, and the Quick Witch”
A simple attempt to discuss “ideas that make sense” quickly collapses into a Bootstuck philosophy: if it doesn’t make money, why bother making sense at all? This sparks a wildly misguided dive into nonprofits (or “no profits”), leading to a cha...
TAPE 71 - The Disappearance of Pornography Shed 14
A strange noise sparks a deeply confusing (and possibly supernatural?) discussion about Philip—a long-missing Bootstuck resident who may or may not still be wandering around carrying random objects and smelling up the back-back-back woods. As t...
TAPE 70 - Mr. Peanut Sold Him a Car
A bizarre car commercial leads into a discussion about Bootstuck’s newest vehicle: a peanut-shaped car supposedly bought from Mr. Peanut and powered by decidedly non-almond fuel.Elsewhere, credit cards are applied for via the “social med...
TAPE 69 - The Yellow Toilet Rug: A Formerly White Problem
A discussion about proper plumbing quickly unravels into a full-blown Bootstuck renovation crisis, as the town debates the future of its deeply questionable bathroom setup — including a permanently yellow “formerly white” toilet rug and a carpe...
TAPE 68 - Health and Safety in Bootstuck
This week’s call to Bootstuck begins with a surprisingly large audience gathered to listen in — though most of them quietly leave through the back door before being counted. Conversation turns to local cuisine, including a house mustard recipe ...
TAPE 67 The Bootstuck Art Scene
A routine call to Bootstuck quickly turns into a tour of the town’s rapidly expanding art scene. With Caleb busy hanging pictures “upside down but sideways,” it’s revealed that Bootstuck has recently welcomed an artist — and the results ...
TAPE 66 - The Whoop Ban and Seatless Bicycle Racing
A noticeable drop in “whoops” leads to the revelation that Dave’s bout of whooping cough forced a temporary ban on celebratory noises — and some very questionable problem-solving methods. Bootstuck turns its attention to spring entertainment, i...
TAPE 65 - Thirty Hours From Anywhere
Tape 65 kicks off with excitement over an incoming Dropbox delivery, triggered into action by a green flag that probably means “go.” Spring maintenance follows, including rotating the tires on Dave’s car — which hasn’t moved — with a confident ...
TAPE 64 - Move The Shitter 5 feet
When asked a simple question about rain, Bootstuck responds the only way it knows how: with large-scale tarp engineering and aggressively sticky-tacked grocery bags. Why spend $800 on a rain shell when you can fashion one from leftover Piggly W...
TAPE 63 - If Pluto Were Your Girlfriend
Tape 63 begins with an earnest attempt to advocate for dark matter, quickly pivoting into a passionate defense of Pluto, now rebranded as “Dwarfy,” a misunderstood ice dwarf traveling the wrong way and apparently deserving emotional support. A ...
TAPE 62 - A Mapmaker Tries to Find Bootstuck
Tape 62 opens with a discussion of silliness that quickly spirals into confusion over string, strength, and a much-anticipated “stripper” coming to town—revealed to be strictly for removing paint, not clothing. From there, spring preparations b...
TAPE 61 - The Green Day Blueprint
Tape 61 begins as a rambling voicemail about making a very urgent personal decision, before veering into a rescue operation involving a lost baby raccoon, an upside-down milk container, and Caleb acting as both lookout and chair. Along the way,...
TAPE 60 - The Social Media Flyer
In this episode, Bootstuck checks off another major cultural milestone after finally finishing Who’s the Boss—though it takes some time to determine whether the title refers to the vacuum man, the working woman, or the elderly authorit...
TAPE 59 - The Day Bootstuck Thought Lorde Was Coming
The episode opens with a chaotic voicemail and quickly spirals into a very Bootstuck conversation about frozen rivers, rubber-banding birds to make them quieter, and the town’s proudly nonsensical “fish maze.” As the caller tries (and fails) to...
TAPE 58 - The Day Jonathan Frakes Wandered In
This tape begins as an attempt to discuss traffic conditions in Bootstuck and immediately collapses into a strange meditation on Dave’s “back 40,” which turns out not to be land at all, but a graveyard of empty bottles and 14 immobile cars. Bef...
TAPE 57 - Toilet Paper Shed 6A
In this tape, two residents attempt to solve problems they clearly do not understand, beginning with the collapse of the township’s food supply and spiraling into Dave’s catastrophic “shed incident” involving a porcupine, several gallons of map...
TAPE 56 - Bowling for Stars and Purple Kush
This tape opens with what sounds like a cheap local radio ad for World of Bowling — a chaotic pitch about “hard or soft balls” that fades into a conversation so derailed it feels like a hallucination in real time. The interviewer tries...
TAPE 55 - The Mushroom Intelligence Test with Corn Juice
The tape begins with a voicemail — a jumble of static, mumbling, and the distinct sound of someone explaining how to “fix” a cassette with a pencil and a wiggle. From there, the conversation slides straight into Bootstuck logic: juice made from...
TAPE 54 - Screw the Violins Together
Bootstuck receives another baffling shipment — one that somehow contains blank coins with holes, six violins (or possibly chair parts), an unidentified handled object, and an alarming number of beans. Between coughing up a real frog mid-convers...
TAPE 53 - A Pocket Full of Slaps
A confused caller accidentally goes live on the air and immediately loses his composure, setting the tone for another chaotic dispatch from Bootstuck. Between jam jars, smoke-filled air, and impromptu fire dances, the locals’ musical ambitions ...
TAPE 52 - A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (and Build a Lake)
A torrential downpour hits Bootstuck, and the townsfolk treat it like an Olympic event. Our narrator excitedly describes his tactical methods for “dodging raindrops” and “putting out buckets,” before proudly announcing the formation of a brand-...
TAPE 51 - The Personal Walking Association
In this installment, the documenteur’s patience continues to erode as Bootstuck introduces yet another baffling innovation: the Personal Walking Association (or “PWA”). According to the locals, it’s an organized fitness initiative led by...
TAPE 50 - The 'Stuck' Travel Show
The documenteur, once again hanging by a thread of patience, tries to have a reasonable conversation while the residents of Bootstuck crawl around town “looking for scraps” and debating the difference between beets and beats. ...
TAPE 49 - Chamomile, Chloroform, and the Big Word Board
The documenteur once again attempts to establish a thread of logic in Bootstuck, only to be derailed immediately by talk of sleep aids — ranging from chamomile tea to the rather more concerning chloroform and carbon monoxide. Dave, it seems, ha...