Yellowstone visitor flung into the air by bison identified as grandfather 48%

By Chris Nesi71%

7/13/2026, 11:55:10 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 58.6% saturation with 438 hits. Analysis detected 1,644 faulty-reasoning hits from 747 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.2% and a BS Rank of 48% (11,124 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 52.50% of the article peer group.

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The Yellowstone National Park tourist tossed into the air like a rag doll by a marauding bull bison has been identified as a community-minded grandfather who immediately cracked jokes about his painful, now-viral ordeal. 
Carl Isom-McDaniel suffered multiple broken bones in the frightening encounter with the beast Friday night at the Bridge Bay Campground near Yellowstone Lake in the southeast quadrant of the park, where he was traveling with his grandson. 
Carl Isom-McDaniel suffered multiple broken bones in his terrifying encounter with a testosterone-fueled bull bison in Yellowstone National Park friday night that saw him flung eight feet in the air like a ragdoll. 
Facebook / Carl McDaniel 
But he made light of the attack even as he waited for a park ambulance to arrive, according to the professional photographer who captured the now-wildly viral moment. 
“He was in a lot of pain with his leg, and otherwise he was conscious the whole time, in good spirits, joking,” photographer Mike MacLeod told the New York Times. 
Neither McDaniel nor his grandson did anything to provoke the animal and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to the photog who is based in Bozeman, Montana. 
Before the bison’s viral encounter with McDaniel, the animal  likely hopped up on testosterone as mating season begins  had already menaced several groups of visitors, including a small group of teenage boys who quickly scattered when the bison charged, the shutterbug told the Times. 
After scaring off the teens, the bison took a moment to rest in the dirt near a picnic table just off a campground road that was still covered in dinner leftovers. 
McDaniel was visiting the park with his grandson from Whatcom County, Washington when the duo found themselves in the bison’s crosshairs. 
Mike MacLeod / NewsFlare 
When he got up, MacLeod told the outlet, “it was kicking like a rodeo horse who’s clearly very agitated.” 
It was at that inopportune time that a pickup truck drove by and McDaniel and his grandson stopped to take pictures of the bison, having no idea he was in an irritated state. 
“The bison stopped rolling in the dust and kind of sat up. 
He’s looking in the direction of those two,” MacLeod said. 
“And as soon as they stop taking pictures, the bison stands up and the grandfather’s like, ‘Let’s get out of here. 
I don’t like this.’” 
His grandson managed to escape, but McDaniel was charged and tossed at least eight feet in the air by the beast. 
Mike MacLeod/NewsFlare 
Another pickup truck drove by at that moment, which appeared to briefly capture the attention of the bison. 
However, once the vehicle was out of sight the massive creature turned his attention to McDaniel and his grandson, chasing them around a copse of pine trees. 
The grandson was able to escape using some fancy footwork, but McDaniel was a sitting duck as the bison charged at him, hooking him with his left horn near his hip before flipping him some eight feet into the air. 
MacLeod, who was watching in horror from a distance, said he could tell the bison was “really, really angry” by his body language  his head rearing up and down in an aggressive manner. 
It was at that moment that he decided to intervene. 
“I put my camera down and I ran at the bison pumping my arms up and down, yelling at the top of my lungs and jumping up trying to look big and distracting,” he said. 
Other park visitors followed suit, which the photographer believes eventually convinced the bison to flee the scene. 
Fellow tourists stayed by McDaniel’s side while they waited for a park ambulance to transport him to a hospital for treatment, which arrived about 10 minutes later. 
Park regulations require visitors to keep their distance from bison  giving them at least 75 feet of breathing room, particularly during mating season, which coincides with the height of Yellowstone’s tourist season. 
MacLeod said every visitor he observed in the park Friday, including McDaniel and his grandson, were keeping a “respectful distance” from the animal, and had done nothing to provoke it to charge. 
McDaniel was visiting the park with his grandson from Whatcom County, Washington when the duo found themselves in the bison's crosshairs. 
Mike MacLeod / NewsFlare 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 6.6%Chris Nesi: 4.1%California Post: 4.1%Confirmation Bias6.6%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.4%California Post: 1.4%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 6.2%Chris Nesi: 4.3%California Post: 4.2%Availability Heuristic6.2%This article: 10.0%Chris Nesi: 1.2%California Post: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic10.0%This article: 4.4%Chris Nesi: 0.8%California Post: 0.7%Hindsight Bias4.4%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.1%California Post: 2.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 7.1%Chris Nesi: 9.6%California Post: 10.4%Framing Effect7.1%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 4.4%Chris Nesi: 0.9%California Post: 0.6%Status Quo Bias4.4%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.2%California Post: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.1%California Post: 2.5%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.8%California Post: 1.5%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 26.6%Chris Nesi: 17.0%California Post: 16.1%Negativity Bias26.6%This article: 4.3%Chris Nesi: 4.6%California Post: 2.4%Self-Serving Bias4.3%This article: 7.9%Chris Nesi: 2.6%California Post: 1.5%Fundamental Attribution Error7.9%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.4%California Post: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.2%California Post: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.3%California Post: 1.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 9.1%Chris Nesi: 4.4%California Post: 3.1%Halo Effect9.1%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 2.4%California Post: 0.6%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 3.7%Chris Nesi: 0.8%California Post: 1.6%Recency Bias3.7%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.9%California Post: 0.5%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.1%California Post: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 5.3%California Post: 2.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.5%Straw Man0.0%This article: 6.7%Chris Nesi: 5.3%California Post: 4.2%Appeal to Authority6.7%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.2%California Post: 1.5%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.2%California Post: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.7%California Post: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 4.3%Chris Nesi: 5.5%California Post: 5.5%Hasty Generalization4.3%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.3%California Post: 0.7%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.7%California Post: 1.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 3.7%Chris Nesi: 8.5%California Post: 8.9%Appeal to Emotion3.7%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.5%California Post: 1.1%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 13.7%Chris Nesi: 3.1%California Post: 2.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)13.7%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 8.6%Chris Nesi: 1.7%California Post: 0.8%Burden of Proof8.6%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 4.6%Chris Nesi: 3.3%California Post: 3.6%Anecdotal4.6%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 16.3%Chris Nesi: 2.9%California Post: 2.0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)16.3%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.7%California Post: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.1%California Post: 0.4%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 8.3%Chris Nesi: 5.0%California Post: 3.2%Unattributed Quote8.3%This article: 2.8%Chris Nesi: 4.4%California Post: 2.1%Quote-first Misdirection2.8%This article: 58.6%Chris Nesi: 18.7%California Post: 13.1%Biased Writer Voice58.6%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 1.1%California Post: 1.4%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 0.4%California Post: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Nesi: 2.8%California Post: 3.1%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 2.1%Chris Nesi: 0.2%California Post: 6.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…2.1%

747 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker22%attributed speech584writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 9 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 100.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 30 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 46 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 12 words • 0.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 10 words • 0.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 21 words • 100.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 35 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 0.0% coverageMike MacLeod • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Mike MacLeod

69%flagged-word coverage
163 attributed words100% of attributed speech91% writer coverage
0%37.5%75.0%Biased Writer Voice-75.0 ptsWriter: 75.0%Mike MacLeod: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote+38.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Mike MacLeod: 38.0%38.0%Quote-first Misdirection+12.9 ptsWriter: 0.0%Mike MacLeod: 12.9%12.9%Attempt to Sell a Product -2.7 ptsWriter: 2.7%Mike MacLeod: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.