On a Monday afternoon in December 2001, a pair of police officers walked in the side door of a big old farmhouse in the woods in Loudoun County, Virginia. They had just received a frantic 9-1-1 call from a man who said he had found his neighbor horrifically injured on the kitchen floor. The police officers crept through the house, peering cautiously around corners in case the attacker was still in the house. But other than the sound of their footsteps creaking on the hardwood, the home was completely silent. When they made it to the kitchen, they stopped. There, lying on his stomach, was the body of an older man, covered in blood. One of the officers stepped forward and knelt down to check the man’s pulse, but it was obvious to both of them that he was dead. The officer was about to stand back up, when something strange on the back of the man’s neck caught his eye. Slowly, the officer reached out a hand, and pulled down the collar of the man’s shirt. When he saw what was there, he looked back at his partner with an expression of fear. Because what he had discovered would lead investigators to wonder if there were devil-worshiping occultists prowling their rural community. For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 medical horror stories. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Honking Boy" -- A doctor rushes to help a boy who's having trouble breathing, what he finds is truly absurd (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRzdiHG3_eY)#2 -- "Magic Elixir" -- A 1900's drink had serious consequences (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MpR4k3-edc)#1 -- "Shiny But Deadly" -- A healthy man suddenly becomes extremely sick, and doctors only clue being the man's very unusual side job (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn7eaj36dUY)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In April 2009, in a crowded shopping center in broad daylight, a young woman was walking to her car, when suddenly a strange-looking man came out of some bushes and rushed toward her. The woman tried to get to her car and escape, but the man was too fast – he blocked her way and pulled out a gun. He put the gun to the woman’s head, and before she could even process what was happening, he fired. The woman fell to the ground and died. Then the man turned, calmly walked into the nearby woods, and disappeared. When police arrived, they found a baby in the backseat of the woman’s car – confused but unharmed. But they did not find a single piece of evidence at the scene, or any clue about the identity of the strange-looking man.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that will make you wonder how many monsters you may have encountered in your life. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Stumble" -- 3 people take pictures near a cliff (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCAXfw9MDxg)#2 -- "Psychopath" --  An evil person makes a horrifying decision (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRnPwaR_CW8)#1 -- "1st Date" -- Man has a terrifying experience on Tinder (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk8NEkZoJWc)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This story is a fan favorite from MrBallen's Medical Mysteries.A boy in Minnesota is rushed to the emergency room with one of the worst food poisoning cases the doctors have ever seen. A short while later, a little girl shows up with the same illness. Soon, cases are popping up throughout the state, leaving some on the brink of death as doctors scramble to figure out why.Listen Now: Wondery.fm/MBMMFor 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @MrBallenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In our lives, all of us have to make really difficult decisions from time to time. Sometimes we make the right call, and other times we don’t. Today’s story is about someone who did the latter, but really the story is about what this person did to try to fix their bad decision. Simply put, this story takes a totally unexpected turn, and unless you heard it before, there’s no way you’re going to see it comingStory name, preview & link to original YouTube video:#1 -- "Daydreamers" -- This story takes a totally unexpected turn, and unless you've heard it before, you won't see it coming (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIDTHwuLwSo)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a summer night in 1980, the audience in New York’s world famous Metropolitan Opera House rose to their feet and applauded at the end of an international ballet performance. The dancers and musicians rushed backstage and congratulated each other on a great show, but one of the musicians was missing. Her prized violin sat on a chair in the orchestra pit. She had left it there during intermission of the ballet, and she had never come back. NYPD Detectives would soon descend on the Met, where they would find themselves chasing down stagehands, musicians, and one of the most famous Russian dancers in the world, desperately trying to discover what had happened to the violin player who just disappeared – while thousands of people were in the audience.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that all demonstrate how one seemingly small action can have massive ripple effects on the future. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Skills" -- An aspiring teacher makes an emotional decision... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPfcCindxhg)#2 -- "Crash" -- A college student doesn't realize the significance of photos he took (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5U1vyQr_IY)#1 -- "Wires Crossed" -- A pilot flying over Europe twisted around in the cockpit of his plane to look at a panel of switches behind him. He took a deep breath, flipped the switch, and then waited… (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaGJBlKT8NA)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the day after Thanksgiving in 1998, a police officer responded to a 9-1-1 call at an apartment in a Florida beach town. But the 9-1-1 call had been vague, so the officer did not know if he was responding to an accident, a break-in, or something else. He knocked on the front door, and nobody answered. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. So the officer walked around the outside of the apartment, and he found an open window that led into the kitchen. The officer climbed in the window, and then made his way through the apartment – everything looked totally normal. Then he came to a door that was slightly cracked open. The officer opened the door, stepped into a small bedroom, and screamed, “Oh my God!”For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 4 stories that will remind you to take caution before your next outdoor adventure. The audio from all four stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#4 -- "Livestream" -- Man climbs Mt. Fuji in the winter (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtDAo7jS8Z4)#3 -- "Into the Wild" -- A major motion picture made about this well-known outdoor adventurer’s story (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHkpDWBmRO8)#2 -- "1 Way Trip" -- How quickly things can go wrong... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RseUuG5Kl8Q)#1 -- "Gates of the Arctic" -- A father & son trip turns upside down (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtEfMtdnjo0)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a spring night in 2009, a middle aged married couple was closing up the local pizza place they ran in a small Virginia mountain town. The husband walked to the back of the restaurant and grabbed a large bucket of ice. He carried the bucket out the back door, and dumped the ice into the grass. He stood up and felt the cool breeze on his face – it was a nice change from the hot pizza ovens he’d been working around all night. But then, he heard screaming coming from inside the restaurant. Without thinking, he dropped the bucket, and rushed back inside. But when he discovered what was happening, all he could do was turn around and run for his life.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 horrifying stories about couple’s romantic vacations. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Honeymoon" -- Newlyweds travel to one of the most beautiful places in the world, but don't realize how dangerous it is (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tul0S0xFzh8)#2 -- "The Underwater Room" -- A vacation takes a horrible turn for the worst (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR2lSI12DA8)#1 -- "Embrace" -- Photographer captures a picture of something terrifying (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIcBvNbHKTs)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a February night in a secluded suburban neighborhood, a man sat down to eat at his dining room table. When suddenly, he heard a "POP, POP, POP" coming from somewhere nearby. The man dropped his fork on the plate and ran to the window at the front of his house, but everything outside looked completely normal and calm. Still, the man could not shake the feeling that something bad might have just happened. So he called the police and explained what happened, and they sent an officer out to investigate. But the officer saw the same thing the man had seen – everything looked normal and calm. So the police officer went back to the station, and the man finished his dinner. And neither imagined that a dead body would lay there, undiscovered in the neighborhood, for almost two full days.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories of missing people that we just can’t explain. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Todd Geib" -- A man who goes missing after leaving a party (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/idNX6Dm6li8?feature=shared)#2 -- "40 Years Later…" -- Man found on a deserted Alaskan island (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/gdONLZ4EuO8?feature=shared)#1 -- "Acid Trip" -- The scene of a fatal crash, and one passenger goes unaccounted for... But how did he escape and where did he go? (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/RsKSqWj3HpQ?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a hot summer day in Illinois, police officers made their way through a field out in the middle of nowhere. They pushed aside the tall grass, and they could see and hear flies buzzing all around them. Suddenly, the officer at the front of the group stopped, crouched down, and called back to the others – he had finally found the body. The other officers rushed to him, and they all stared down at the dead young woman. The cops knew something like this would leave people in the small town nearby in complete shock, but they had no idea what their discovery would lead to. Because this dead young woman in the field would soon help solve a murder that had taken place across the border in Indiana, and lead police to a killer who had been on the run for two years.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This story is a fan favorite from MrBallen's Medical Mysteries.In 1983, an Italian man finds himself completely unable to sleep, and when he looks in the mirror, his own eyes frighten him. A sense of doom washes over the man. He knows that within a year, he’ll be dead – because he’s just fallen prey to a centuries-old family curse.Listen Now: Wondery.fm/MBMMFor 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @MrBallenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just before dawn on the last Saturday of June 2013, an employee at a Toys ‘R’ Us store in upstate New York was working in the stock room, when suddenly he heard an alarm going off somewhere inside the store. He radioed his manager to turn off that alarm, but the manager didn’t respond. Another employee went to the front office to check on the manager, and they found him unconscious and bleeding from a hole in his chest. Police and paramedics responded and rushed the man to the hospital, but sadly, he was dead on arrival. The store had been locked all morning, and the four surviving employees had been working in separate parts of the store. Each of them claimed to have seen nothing out of the ordinary that morning. And all investigators had to help them find the manager’s killer was surveillance footage of a shadowy figure moving in and out of the security camera’s view, almost like they were toying with the police.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 2 camping horror stories. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#2 -- "Pelican Valley" -- A beautiful camping spot with a dark secret (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/o-ywxRasv5s?feature=shared)#1 -- "Blood on the Mountain" -- A middle-aged fisherman cast his line out into the creek’s waters when he started to hear a voice from the woods. The hair on the man’s neck instantly stood up – because, to him, they didn’t sound friendly. (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/hn-sLWFe13w?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a winter morning in 2014, a woman walked through a massive two-story house in the beautiful ski town of Aspen, Colorado. She had come to see her friend, who’d just gotten back from a long vacation. The woman walked into the bedroom, but her friend wasn’t there. She called out, but there was no response. So she walked across the room and opened the door to a huge walk-in closet that her friend had transformed into a meditation room. The woman saw prayer flags hanging from the wall and candles spread out across the room. She glanced down and saw a pile of blankets and sheets on the floor. At first, she didn’t think anything about it – maybe her friend laid on the blankets and sheets when she was meditating. But as the woman turned to go, something caught her eye. She leaned down, looked closer at the blankets, and screamed. Beneath the blankets, she saw strands of her friend’s long blonde hair soaked in blood. With her hands shaking, she grabbed her phone and called the police. She told them that one of the richest and most well known women in Aspen had been murdered.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 2 stories about drivers who left their route, and then bad things happened. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#2 -- "Highway Crash" -- Police officers make a mind-blowing discovery along a forested highway in England (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/oWOMY0JQdFs?feature=shared)#1 -- "Rumble" -- A rumbling sound in a forest in Arizona would be the start of a strange series of events (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/E3eAMAH4QcQ?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a quiet morning in 1995, police cruisers, fire trucks, and ambulances raced down the road in a Queens, New York neighborhood toward an abandoned house that had caught on fire earlier that day. Minutes later, two homicide detectives stepped out of one of the vehicles and made their way inside the smoldering structure. After going down a hallway, they found a door that led to the basement. They descended the stairs, and when they reached the bottom, they froze, because there was something horrifying int he middle of the room. A dead body strapped to a chair. Neither man said a word. They just stared silently – praying – that this person had died before the mutilation had begun.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At around 2 p.m. on March 23, 2015, a 911 call came in to the Vallejo, California police department from this man who sounded totally drunk or high on a drug, claiming that his girlfriend was missing and she had been kidnapped. But his story just didn't make any sense. When the officers got to this man’s house, he looked deranged, and his house looked totally off and had this weird chemical smell. And then when they asked him to give them some information, he would launch into this bizarre story about men in wetsuits with lasers on their hands. But the police would follow up and actually launch an investigation, because this guy’s girlfriend really was missing... and they would uncover a story that was even more bizarre than the 911 caller’s story had been.Story name, preview & link to original YouTube video:#1 -- "Wetsuits & Lasers" -- After a man calls 911 to report that his girlfriend was kidnapped, police would have a hard time believing his wild and bizarre story - but that was just the beginning (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/DCQ6jq5mcDM?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a summer day in 1986, a medical examiner and her assistant stared down at a deceased woman lying on the metal table. Neither of them had ever seen anything like this, the woman appeared to have been completely healthy at the time of her death - she didn't have a stroke, there was no heart attack and there was no sign of a drug overdose. However, this seemingly healthy woman had suddenly collapsed on the floor and been brain dead just minutes later. Just then the assistant took a long deep breath in through her nose, and after she did she looked over at the medical examiner with wide eyes. The medical examiner did the same thing and took a long deep breath in through her nose. They both smelled a very strange odor, and it smelled almost like almonds. The medical examiner could hardly believe it, she'd only heard about something like this happening in movies and detective novels. But that smell meant one thing to her and to the assistant, this deceased woman must have been poisoned with cyanide. And this theory would soon lead to a large scale investigation by local police and the FBI, and what they would find would casue panic across the entire United States.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. And today’s podcast features 3 stories that demonstrate that. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Bad Blood" -- An infamous medical program in Alabama (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/RK6MIl28b-8?feature=shared)#2 -- "Suspended" -- Just wait for the photo... (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/vj_auGTlcLA?feature=shared)#1 -- "Earworm" -- Whatever you do, DON'T sing this song (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/NMQ6qTht1bo?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the morning of July 7th, 2019, Sergeant Dan Birbeck responded to a call at the home of a 49-year-old woman in a small Texas town. Birbeck got to the house and found a bloody crime scene in the master bedroom – evidence that a violent struggle had taken place there. Three other members of the family were home that night and had been in close proximity to the master bedroom – and none of them heard a thing. The victim’s husband had been asleep on the couch just steps away from the master bedroom. The victim’s teenage daughter was asleep in the room just next door. And the victim’s son had been in an upstairs bedroom playing video games all night. It seemed inconceivable to Sergeant Birbeck that a violent attack could have taken place in one room, while members of the family slept through it or played video games without hearing anything. Birbeck believed something sinister had happened in the house that night, and the family members might be in on it. But the sergeant had a problem… the victim of this apparent crime was nowhere to be found.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are some truly dangerous people in this world whose intent is to mean harm to others, and today’s podcast features 2 stories that demonstrate that. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#2 -- "Head of the Family" -- Recently separated man decided he needed to do something really special for his estranged wife (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/pUoex49Yzng?feature=shared)#1 -- "The Snowball Effect" -- This story is a stark reminder that there really are truly dangerous and unstable people who walk among us (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/btzFaCuKUjg?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One Monday morning in May of 2010, a classroom full of sixth graders sat at their desks waiting for their substitute teacher to arrive. But the morning bell rang, and the substitute never showed. A passing administrator noticed the substitute’s absence, and he hurried to the front office to find out what was going on. This substitute had always been reliable, and it was not like her to just not show up for work. The administrator rushed to the office and called the substitute’s son. And he went to his mom’s house to see if everything was ok, and he found his mom sitting at her computer. But when he got closer, something terrified him – his mom’s hand had turned purple. He called 911, and police quickly arrived. And what they found inside the rest of the house would turn a small, wealthy community completely upside down.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This story is a fan favorite from MrBallen's Medical Mysteries.A young woman working on a fishing vessel in Alaska begins experiencing a strange burning sensation in her eye. What she finds inside her eyelid makes her skin crawl.Listen Now: Wondery.fm/MBMMFor 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @MrBallenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the afternoon of September 10, 2009, an art student walked inside her off-campus apartment in Dallas, Texas, and immediately began making herself a late lunch. Her roommate didn't come out of her bedroom to greet her, but to be honest, this wasn't totally unusual. The two of them, despite being roommates, were not actually very close at all. After eating their food, the student studied for a while, then watched some TV, and then went to bed. All the while, still never hearing a sound coming out of her roommate's bedroom. But again, this was normal. That is, until the next day, when the student received a call from their school telling her to go back to her apartment to check on her roommate. Because, apparently, the roommate's mother was very concerned about them. The student was annoyed, but went back to the apartment. And when they walked into their roommate's bedroom, they would see something that would haunt them for years. And it would instantly explain why their roommate would not come out of their room. For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast features 3 stories that involve people who were trapped – with “no way out.” The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Behind the Partition" -- A husband wakes up and can't find his wife (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/EQFYw9sRGzc?feature=shared)#2 -- "Moulding Room" -- One fateful mistake has devastating consequences (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/NMQ6qTht1bo?feature=shared)#1 -- "Within Reach" -- This story is about an infamous caving incident, and at the end of the video we will show you the haunting picture associated with the story (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/OieeAo7l2vA?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In April of 1990, a bleary-eyed detective stepped into a townhouse in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The detective had been on call for days, and all he wanted to do was sleep. But now, he’d been called in to investigate a double homicide. The detective opened the door to the basement, and started walking down the steps. The overhead light cast shadows on the floor below, so he couldn’t get a clear look at what he was walking into. Then the detective reached the bottom of the steps, and he suddenly felt wide awake. The scene in the basement was far more gruesome than he’d imagined – two dead bodies lay there on the floor. And there was one thing that jumped out at the detective immediately. On a cardboard box sitting between the bodies, a heart and the letter “U” was scrawled in blood. The detective had no idea if one of the victims had left the message, or if this was a scene staged by a deranged killer… and it would take him six months to get the answer he was looking for… and to discover what really happened in that basement.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s story centers around one of the dumbest criminals EVER. It will be confusing at first, but trust me... at the end, it will all fall into place, and you’ll be left wondering how in the world people like this actually exist.Story name, preview & link to original YouTube video:"Feint of Heart" -- This story centers around one of the dumbest criminals EVER. It will be confusing at first, but trust me, at the end it will all fall into place, and you’ll be left wondering how in the world people like this actually exist (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/y4wnvH4gHuI?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On an evening in 2010, a driver pulled over and parked their car on a residential street, trembling with fear. The driver looked to the passenger seat and saw a six foot tall demon sitting there. And when the demon spoke, it sounded like the famous 1970s R&B and soul singer, Barry White. This demon told the driver there was no need to fear, but they had been chosen for an important mission. Suddenly, the demon disappeared, and an angel who sounded like the actress Olivia Newton-John took its place. And the angel said the demon was right – the driver was the only one who could fulfill this mission of cosmic proportions. So soon, the driver would take up the mission laid out by the angel, and that mission would end in blood, murder, and the most bizarre case local police had ever seen.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories of heroic acts. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "A Father’s Love" -- One father will stop at nothing to protect his child (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/Pzm-T_btfa0?feature=shared)#2 -- "Transplant" -- The ending is worth the wait (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/lG6ghojk3oQ?feature=shared)#1 -- "The Maneuver" -- A skydiving disaster story, however, it does not go the way you might expect it to (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/7M4etV1_iBc?feature=shared)To donate to Dave's Go Fund Me, click this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/david-b-hartsock-heroic-skydiverFor 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a cool, spring evening in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a man burst out of a bar and started running down the sidewalk, chasing a woman who had suddenly stormed outside in the middle of their conversation. The guy grabbed the woman’s arm, and she spun around to look at him with a furious expression on her face. He asked her what was going on, and she slurred her words as she said that she didn’t want to talk about it. The guy asked her to please come inside — it was dark and she shouldn’t be walking alone at night. But this just made her even more upset. She started pounding her fists into the guy’s chest and screaming at him to leave her alone. The man backed up so she would stop hitting him, and he asked her again to just calm down and come back into the bar. But she refused. She turned around and started speed-walking away from him. The guy didn’t know what else to do, so he went back into the bar by himself. But what he learned the very next day would keep him awake at night for years, wishing he had tried to chase the woman down a second time.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 horror stories that will have even you questioning your own identity. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Bamboozled" -- The odds of this ever happening again, are basically zero (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/vj_auGTlcLA?feature=shared)#2 -- "Lucky Shot" -- A shot in a famous episode of a hit TV show has massive ripple effects (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/M1D-WfCQ7Fs?feature=shared)#1 -- "Familiar Face" -- One selfie changed 2 girl's lives forever (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/XxrnuiotrN0?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At 6:45 AM on an ordinary Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Utah, a father and son lugged a heavy jewelry case into the lobby of a high-rise building. They ran a jewelry store together on the third floor, and had come in early to set up their new display. They heard the lobby door open behind them and turned to see a man holding a cardboard box. The man said he was making a delivery and asked where the elevator was. The father and his son were heading that way, too — so, all three got on the elevator together. As they stood, the father looked at the box the man was carrying. There was a name written on the top in black marker, but no return address, which seemed odd. And the man didn’t really look like a delivery driver, either. He was wearing a green letterman jacket, like a high school athlete would wear. But the father kept his thoughts to himself. When the elevator doors opened to the third floor, he and his son carried their jewelry case out and went on with their day. Later that morning, a firefighter pounded on the jewelry shop door and said that the building was being evacuated. The father and son rushed outside, where they saw fire trucks, police cars, and a crowd of other people who worked inside the building. As a woman in the crowd filled them in about what had just happened, a horrible realization dawned on the jewelry shop owner: That delivery man was not who he claimed to be — and the cardboard box contained something more sinister than anything the shop owner could have imagined.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 4 stories that all demonstrate how one seemingly small action can have massive ripple effects on the future. The audio from all four stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#4 -- "Orange Juice" -- A bottle of orange juice changed an African man's life (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/zxmNm9vUgik?feature=shared)#3 -- "Overcoming Adversity" -- The ultimate revenge story (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/Pzm-T_btfa0?feature=shared)#2 -- "Cowboy" -- A beloved Hollywood icon has a dark past (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/OPfcCindxhg?feature=shared)#1 -- "Pick Your Poison" -- A very sick person inadvertently becomes the test subject in a highly controversial experiment (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/xn7eaj36dUY?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 34.On September 6th, 1988, a middle aged woman named Cindy Borton, was washing dishes in her little house in Shenandoah, Iowa. As she did this, she heard a knock on her back door. She glanced at her watch and saw that she only had a few minutes before she had to get ready for work, and so she just hoped that whoever was there, was not expecting a long visit.… A few hours later, the police would arrive at Cindy’s house and they would discover a crime scene so gruesome, that they had to call in a special investigative unit just to process it.For 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @MrBallenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast features 3 stories that will make you wonder how many monsters you may have encountered in your life. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "Granny Ripper" -- Crazy plot twist... (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/5-DiRM4CFPI?feature=shared)#2 -- "Reign of Terror" -- The implications of this story are massive and will take you down a deep rabbit hole (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/aJJmwCKgHAQ?feature=shared)#1 -- "Inside Scoop" -- One of the most unbelievable revenge stories ever, but you won't realize it's a revenge story until the very end (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/sVwIOVFdpxM?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a January afternoon in 2015, a medical examiner stood over a dead woman’s body in the county morgue. He’d already opened up the woman’s abdomen, and he was using his scalpel to cut the tissues around her stomach. The woman had been murdered, and the medical examiner had already determined her cause of death — but now, he was searching for something specific. He placed the stomach on a metal tray and sliced it open, revealing everything she’d eaten before her death. To his surprise, there was almost nothing there, which meant the woman hadn’t eaten for several hours. This struck the medical examiner as very odd, because detectives had told him that the woman bought Mexican food less than half an hour before her death, and they found the empty wrapper at the crime scene. But if the murder victim didn’t eat it, that left only one other possibility: her killer did. The medical examiner put his scalpel down and looked at the woman on his autopsy table. He tried to imagine what sort of person would want to murder her and then eat her lunch, while standing right beside her body.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s story is really, really weird. And just know going into this that a lot of what happened in the story has never been fully explained, so we did our best to make this make sense. But I'm sure many of you at the end of this story are going to be like, “what did I just hear?” And if that's you, I would encourage you to just Google the case yourself, because it's totally wild.Story name, preview & link to original YouTube video:#1 -- "Masterwork" -- At the end of the story, some of you may be left thinking, “what the heck did I just watch?" And if that's you, I would encourage you to google this story yourself (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/MclMKi4zDBw?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In February of 1983, a young police officer arrived at what looked like a normal, residential home in Mobile, Alabama – but the officer already knew that there was more to this house than met the eye. Just a few minutes earlier, an emergency medical technician had called to tell the officer that there was something inside the home he should really see. The officer opened up the front door and walked into the living room, where first responders were huddled around a man’s dead body. The owner of the home had died by suicide, but that wasn’t what the EMT was talking about. The officer walked right past the commotion and into the homeowner’s bedroom. There, he stopped dead in his tracks. What he found was one of the strangest and most chilling things he’d seen in his entire career. But even as he stood staring at this bizarre scene, he felt a sudden rush of hope. Because he was pretty sure he had just found the answer to one of the city’s most notorious crimes.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast features 2 stories that will make you think twice before leaving the trail. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#2 -- "Dinner" -- Solo hiker makes a big mistake (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/NYbUTIwWdNI?feature=shared)#1 -- "Rattlesnake Canyon" -- Two people find themselves in a totally hopeless situation. As the story unfolds, ask yourself… what would you do? (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/LC8xgfT7uoI?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On an early June morning in 2012, a successful luxury car salesman slept soundly in his bed inside of his high rise apartment. The man was a heavy sleeper, so he didn’t wake up when someone walked into his room, walked across to his bed side, and then just stood there, standing over him watching him sleep. Almost two days later, the sleeping man was found still lying in his bed, but with a blood-spattered bedsheet pulled up to his mouth. His family was left in complete shock, and a young detective would spend over a year trying to figure out why the man had never woken up.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Money doesn’t solve all problems, and today’s podcast features 2 stories that demonstrate that. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#2 -- "Crocodile Tears" -- Family found murdered in Beverly Hills mansion (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/AGjdQlwzbkk?feature=shared)#1 -- "Privilege" -- This story is about a crime so notorious it has been dubbed "The Crime of the Century" - but the reason for it's notoriety has less to do with the crime itself, and more to do with who committed it (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/VxW5qmQD80M?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On a hot summer night in Arizona, a man slept soundly in his second-floor bedroom with his beloved pit bull terrier curled up at his feet. Suddenly, the dog’s ears perked up. A sound came from the roof, then the bedroom window shattered and sent glass flying across the room. But no matter how much the dog barked, his owner didn't move. What happened in that bedroom would give a rookie homicide detective her first major case – a case with a series of twists that seemed to come right out of a soap opera.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 “underwater diving” horror stories. The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast.Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:#3 -- "The Nest" -- A father and son try out a new Christmas present (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/U9en1PDgpAI?feature=shared)#2 -- "Collapse" -- 2 divers can't find the exit (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/8VtvoYQzmuk?feature=shared)#1 -- "Panic" -- 5 men attempt one of the most dangerous dives in the world... (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/4rWMEiC43pM?feature=shared)For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.