Back in 2018, there was a devastating mudslide in Montecito that we now know has claimed the lives of six victims. Amid these dangerous conditions, actress Lori Saunders, who played Bobbie Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction from 1965-1970, needed to leave her house for medicine. The actress and her husband Bernard Sandler decided to venture out, believing they could make it through the mud zone without any serious issues.

See Also

6 fascinating facts about Petticoat Junction

Unfortunately, the couple miscalculated, and they ended up literally stuck in the mud, not even able to reach each other from a short distance apart. Sinking there for two hours, they feared for the worst.

Luckily, that was not the couple's fate. A construction crew worker literally named Angel heard their cries for help. It ended up taking the man, Angel Beltran, an hour to make it through the muck to set Saunders and Sandler free. Even then, he wasn't able to extract them from the mud, though, and Saunders said it took scooping her up in a skip loader to do the job.

To repay the man's good deed, the couple treated the 27-year-old Beltran to an Italian dinner, and now, Saunders has vowed to help the young man achieve what he wants in his life.

Although the experience sounds as frightening as Saunders recounts it was, it also sounds like a story that was scripted for TV, and like all those episodes of Petticoat Junction we loved, we're grateful to know that this one has a happy ending.

Watch Petticoat Junction on Decades

Weekdays at 10a ET | 7a PT