892: Trapped on a Bus
Episode of This American Life · July 20, 2026 · 1 h 3 min
Guest host David Kestenbaum presents stories of unwanted journeys: a runaway bus, a neighbor-spy and bipolar paranoia, Havana blackouts, the Sycamore Gap felling, and an in-flight bite.
Summary
This episode of This American Life, guest-hosted by David Kestenbaum, collected stories about people trapped on journeys they did not choose. In the prologue, producer Aviva de Kornfeld recounted the experience of a passenger nicknamed Duck, whose bus from New York to Washington, D.C. was driven by an uncooperative driver to Vienna, Virginia; passengers tried reasoning, speaking French, calling the bus company and finally the police. Kestenbaum likened the feeling to how some people view the presidency of Donald Trump.
In Act One, reporter Ayman Oghanna described learning that his downstairs neighbor Christos, a Greek Air Force colonel, had been arrested for allegedly passing NATO material to China. Oghanna, who has bipolar disorder, recounted a past manic episode of spy-related paranoia that ended in hospitalization, how psychoeducation helped him manage his illness, and how he received the news of the arrest calmly. His wife Clea discussed her fear of triggering him. In Act Two, actor Ana Villafañe read Eileen Sosin Martínez's essay about Havana, where blackouts under a U.S. oil embargo left only a few hours of electricity daily, making it nearly impossible to freeze ice for her sprained knee, and where uncollected garbage piled up and neighbors staged cacerolazos.
In Act Three, Rosa Lister described the 2023 felling of the Sycamore Gap tree by Hadrian's Wall and the trial of Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham, who received prison sentences of four years and three months. Lister suggested the public preferred to see the men as mindless, while the more disturbing possibility was that they cut the tree precisely because people loved it. In Act Four, Leticia Lehman told producer Tobin Low about a first-time flyer who held her hand and then bit her arm during takeoff, after which the two sat in silence for 12 hours; Lehman said she now feels a kind of fondness for the woman.
Chapters
- 1:25
Prologue: The runaway bus
Aviva de Kornfeld recounts how a bus driver refused to take passengers to Washington, D.C., driving them instead to Vienna, Virginia.
- 9:06
Episode theme
Kestenbaum introduces the theme of people trapped on journeys they did not intend or agree to.
- 10:07
Act One: The neighbor who was a spy
Ayman Oghanna and his wife Clea describe their neighbor Christos's arrest for espionage and Oghanna's history of spy-related bipolar paranoia.
- 17:57
Managing bipolar disorder and hearing the news
Oghanna explains psychoeducation, his coping rules, and how he calmly took the news of the arrest while in Syria.
- 23:10
Act Two: Blackouts in Havana
Ana Villafañe reads Eileen Sosin Martínez's account of trying to ice a sprained knee amid near-constant blackouts in Havana.
- 27:25
Garbage, fire, and cacerolazos
The essay describes uncollected trash, a garbage fire, sleepless nights and neighborhood pot-banging protests.
- 34:00
Act Three: The Sycamore Gap tree
Rosa Lister describes the felling of the famous sycamore by Hadrian's Wall and the national outrage that followed.
- 38:44
The trial and sentencing
Lister recounts the trial of Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham, the evidence against them, and their prison sentences.
- 50:35
Act Four: Bitten on a plane
Leticia Lehman tells Tobin Low about a nervous first-time flyer who bit her arm during takeoff on a 12-hour flight.
- 1:01:15
Credits
Kestenbaum reads the credits and jokes about Ira Glass's absence.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- David Kestenbaum
Kestenbaum likened the passengers' situation to the feeling some people have about President Trump's conduct in office.
“whatever you think of President Trump, maybe this is a feeling you have been experiencing”
- David Kestenbaum
Kestenbaum reported that the bus company said the driver no longer worked there and had disobeyed his supervisor's instructions.
“A spokesperson said the driver does not work there anymore. He had disobeyed his supervisor's instructions”
- Ayman Oghanna
Oghanna reported that his neighbor Christos is accused of passing classified NATO material to China.
“He's accused of passing classified NATO material to China and it may take a long time to fully assess the damage”
- Ayman Oghanna
Oghanna said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a decade ago and has experienced paranoia and psychosis often centered on spies.
“Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I've had episodes of paranoia, sometimes psychosis, often involving spies”
- Ayman Oghanna
Oghanna stated that delusions involving espionage and religion are very common among people with bipolar disorder.
“It turns out, delusions about espionage and religion are extremely common in people who have bipolar disorder”
- Ayman Oghanna
Oghanna described psychoeducation as teaching him to understand his disorder as a practitioner would, which he found more helpful than past therapy.
“It taught me to learn the mechanics of my disorder the way a psychiatrist would”
- Ayman Oghanna
Oghanna explained that paranoid beliefs of being watched felt validating because they flattered the ego with the idea that a higher power cared.
“the idea that someone's watching you appeals to your ego, that there's some higher power that cares about you, whether it's God or an intelligence agency”
- Ana Villafañe
In Sosin Martínez's essay, read by Villafañe, Havana residents were said to receive only about three to five hours of electricity per day.
“We are barely getting three hours of electricity a day. Five at most”
- Ana Villafañe
The essay attributed worsening blackouts to a U.S. oil embargo launched in January threatening tariffs on countries supplying Cuba with oil.
“Then, in January, the United States launched an oil embargo”
- Ana Villafañe
The essay reported that officials blamed uncollected garbage on a lack of fuel and spare parts for garbage trucks.
“According to officials, there's no gas for garbage trucks, which, to top things off, break down with no replacement parts available”
- Ana Villafañe
The essay observed that mass protest has been rare in Cuba for decades, but that pot-banging cacerolazos have now appeared.
“Aside from two or three notable occasions, there hasn't been a massive protest in Cuba in decades”
- Rosa Lister
Lister reported the two men were charged with criminal damage valued at over 623,000 pounds, calculated partly with a tree valuation system.
“The two men were charged with criminal damage amounting to 623,335 pounds, over 800,000 American dollars”
- Rosa Lister
Lister noted that sycamores are generally disliked in Britain and often regarded as weeds.
“The truth is that people in Britain don't really like sycamores. Gardeners go so far as to despise them”
- Rosa Lister
Lister considered the prison sentences unusually harsh, noting that cutting down a tree in England usually results in nothing or a fine.
“The sentence seemed weirdly over the top. When people cut down a tree in England, what usually happens is nothing”
- Rosa Lister
Lister cited a tree lawyer who said this was the first UK case of imprisonment for cutting down a single tree.
“According to a tree lawyer I talked to, it was the first time anyone in the United Kingdom had gone to prison for cutting down a single tree”
- Rosa Lister
Lister argued the more disturbing explanation was that the men deliberately felled the tree because they knew how loved it was.
“That they had thought about it quite extensively, that they knew how much people had loved the tree, and had cut it down for precisely that reason”
Linked moment · 57:05Skip to 57:05 using a listen link in the info box.
Leticia LehmanLehman recounted that the flight attendant offered to have the captain turn the plane around if she reported the assault, which she declined.
“We can call the captain and he will turn the plane around. And I just said to her, like, no, absolutely not”
- Leticia Lehman
Lehman said retelling the story made her uncomfortable as listeners mocked the woman, and she came to empathize with the fear behind the bite.
“I kept thinking like, what would it take for me to feel that scared that I would actually bite someone?”
People
In the conversation
- David KestenbaumThis American Life producer and correspondent, guest-hosting this episode in place of Ira Glass
- Ira GlassHost and creator of This American Life
- Aviva de KornfeldThis American Life producer who reported the prologue about the runaway bus
- DuckNickname of a New York-to-D.C. bus passenger who posted an online thread about the bus ride
- Ayman OghannaJournalist based near Athens who reports from conflict zones
- CleaWife of Ayman Oghanna
- Ana VillafañeActor who read Eileen Sosin Martínez's essay about Havana; one line in this label belongs to Clea
- Rosa ListerLondon-based writer who covered the Sycamore Gap trial for Harper's Magazine
- Leticia LehmanWoman recounting being bitten by a nervous seatmate on a flight from São Paulo to Germany at age 16
- Tobin LowThis American Life producer who interviewed Leticia Lehman
Discussed
- ChristosGreek Air Force colonel and Oghanna's neighbor, accused of passing classified NATO material to China
- Eileen Sosin MartínezHavana-based writer whose essay about blackouts was read in Act Two
- Adam CarruthersMechanic convicted of felling the Sycamore Gap tree
- Daniel GrahamTree surgeon convicted of felling the Sycamore Gap tree
- Christina LambertEnglish High Court judge who presided over the Sycamore Gap trial
- John Clayton19th-century landowner believed to have planted the Sycamore Gap tree
- Donald TrumpPresident of the United States whose conduct of the Iran war is the episode's main subject
Topics
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From the publisher
People on journeys they did not intend — or agree to. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. (00:00:00) Prologue: A woman on a nighttime bus ride wakes up to discover the bus driver is taking the passengers somewhere none of them want to go. (8 minutes) (00:08:11) Act One: Ayman Oghanna was reporting in Syria when he got a surprising call from home: one of his neighbors had been arrested for spying. (13 minutes) (00:21:18) Act Two: Eileen Sosin Martínez describes life in Havana right now, where blackouts have become so constant that it’s nearly impossible to make ice and garbage trucks don’t collect the trash regularly. (11 minutes) (00:33:33) Act Three: A beloved tree in England, more than 100 years old, is mysteriously cut down overnight, leaving the country bereft and enraged and out for justice. (15 minutes) (00:49:31) Act Four: When she was 16, Leticia flew from Sao Paolo, where she lived, to Germany. She was seated next to an older woman who did something so surprising during the flight that Leticia still tells people about it today. (9 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org / This American Life privacy policy . / Learn more about sponsor message choices .
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 30, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.