MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

On the morning of May 17th, 2014, a detective wrote furiously as she sat next to the hospital bed of a mortally-injured 77-year-old woman. The woman had been in a coma for the last ten days, and the detective had been desperately working to figure out who had tried to kill her. Now that the woman had woken up, the detective was finally getting the chance she’d been waiting for – to ask her victim directly. But the woman was afraid. She told the detective she had a lot to say, but she couldn’t say it here, at the hospital – because she was still in danger. 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 where things are not what they seem. 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 -- "Deer Crossing" -- A man's drive home from a night out turns into a nightmare (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgeDUqyCgqE)#2 -- "Ancient Beast" -- A security guard searches for a dangerous criminal at the Canadian border (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l74_VQPdxjU)#1 -- "Stay Forgetful" -- A man wakes up on the side of the road with no idea of who he is or how he got there (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcWArGuE1Os)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.

Late on a June evening in 2000, a detective with the Easton PA Police Department sat in his car on a darkened neighborhood street, surveilling a house nearby and waiting patiently. After what seemed like an eternity, someone emerged from the house, carrying a couple of bulky trash bags in their hands. The detective tensed up– but he didn’t move. It wasn’t the person that he was waiting for. The detective kept watching as the person placed their trash bags on the curb for pickup in the morning, and then walked back inside the house. And that was when the detective flung open his car door. As quickly as he could, he darted across the street and grabbed the bags. He then ran back to his car and stuffed the bags in his trunk. As he drove away – he knew he was about to solve his murder case. 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 -- "Mercy Road" -- A sinister secret hides in a nightly news report (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKeWsdjvnGc)#2 -- "The Woman in a Wrinkled Dress" -- A security guard searches for a dangerous criminal at the Canadian border (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miq7GLDrgVg&t=1s)#1 -- "Striking a Discord" -- The line between fantasy and reality is blurred for a group of online gamers (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcWArGuE1Os)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 evening in the summer of 1998, homicide detective Danny Payne sat in a dark room in a Tennessee suburb police station. He was focused on a TV screen where some surveillance footage played. The recording was bad quality, all blurry and pixelated. But it was still clear what the camera was pointed at – which was a nighttime scene of a McDonald's. On the screen, the shape of a person moved toward the restaurant door and disappeared inside. The video was too low quality to make out any identifying details... but the person wasn’t what Payne was watching. He was focused, instead, on a car parked at the far end of the McDonald's lot. Payne had watched this video probably 30 times, but he’d never noticed the car before. Now that he saw it, though, he realized that nothing in this case, was what he had thought it was.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 chilling horror stories that serve as a stark reminder – we’re not always at the top of the food chain. The audio from all three 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:#3 -- "The Hand That Feeds" -- A man has a deadly secret in his apartment (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_jD-95RhWo)#2 -- "Modern Day Dinosaurs" -- Man sneaks into a predator’s territory (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8swB7qMU7gk)#1 -- "Cat and Mouse" -- A hunter encounters something terrifying in the Russian wilderness (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZA7BqNO-YU)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.During the COVID pandemic, a boy starts experiencing sudden, inexplicable bursts of pain. At first, his symptoms seem psychological – but then doctors say he may need brain surgery to fix the problem. That’s when the boy’s mother turns to a cutting edge technology to help her figure out what’s wrong with her son.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.

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 -- "Family Dinner" -- In 2013, a man was preparing dinner for his family, when he realized he was missing a key ingredient for the meal (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUoex49Yzng)#2 -- "Table for Two" -- A woman spots something very odd about her neighbor’s dinner party (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOMY0JQdFs)#1 -- "Lucky Day" -- A man stumbles into two highly unlikely scenarios when he goes surfing in Africa, and it may sound made up, but it's not (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLT32AR5c68)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 day in mid-December 2003, Detective Mark Kelly walked into a small kitchen at a home in Fort Worth, Texas. The house belonged to a potential suspect in a homicide case, and while his partner was interviewing that suspect in the other room, Kelly was poking around. He wanted to hurry, because the kitchen he was in was disgusting. There was a layer of dirt on the floor, the dishwasher was open, with dirty plates and silverware still inside, dishes were stacked up in the sink, and used pots and rotting food covered the counters. Kelly could hear his partner talking in the other room as he grabbed the nearest drawer and pulled. Instantly, he regretted it. Because when he opened that drawer, about a dozen cockroaches crawled out of it. Kelly gasped and took an instinctive step back, watching the bugs skitter away. He was searching for a weapon, and it wasn’t here. But something about the filth felt like a clue. Kelly just didn’t know what it meant yet. 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 two medical mysteries that sound like they are straight out of a horror movie. The audio from both of these 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:#2 -- "Gasp" --  A very scary thunderstorm foreshadows a mysterious, unexplained disaster with horrific consequences (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09A7pjC3zhY)#1 -- "All in Their Heads" -- A mysterious disease almost wipes out an entire tribe, but where this disease comes from will make you squirm (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_JTdngG9k)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.

Just after 7 p.m. on June 16th, 2010, an employee at the Palmdale, California Sheriff’s Department tapped his fingers on his desk and sighed. The department was usually pretty busy, but it had been slow that night, so the shift was dragging. As the employee aimlessly moved around some paperwork, he heard something that made him look up at the front doors of the department. The sound came from outside, and it was muffled, but it sounded like someone yelling. Seconds later, a young woman charged through the front doors. She was frantically screaming for help… and she was covered in blood. 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 two claustrophobia inducing stories about cave explorers. The audio from both of these 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:#2 -- "Into the Dark" --  A man faces a nightmare in a bat cave (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-OLxaEnFJc)#1 -- "Last Wish" -- An explorer tries to find a new undiscovered chamber in a cave (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjyZeVb8ct4)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 crisp fall morning in 2007, a small airplane took flight over the forested town of Graham, Washington. The pilot was a detective with the Pierce county sheriff’s department, and he was flying a somewhat unusual mission. He wasn’t looking for a lost person, or chasing a fleeing suspect. Instead, he was circling the sky above the scene of a double-murder case that had him – and his whole department – stumped. The detective had run out of ideas on the ground. So he’d decided to take flight. He always thought better in the air – and he figured he would literally get a new perspective on his evidence this way. He circled over the house where the homicides took place. And that’s when he noticed something – from the sky, it became obvious in a way that he never considered from the ground. With a rush of adrenaline, he turned his plane back toward the airfield. He had a hunch – and if he was right, he’d just cracked the case. 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 journeys that promised adventure, but led somewhere far more sinister. 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 -- "Headlights" -- Father & son get lost in the woods during a hunting trip (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCCCxnSMxs)#2 -- "Into Infinity" -- Mountaineering student in Alaska walks where he shouldn't (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Nwh9sq7DI)#1 -- "The Signal" -- A man's trip into the arctic wilderness takes a turn for the worse (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQJUDgQtRNI)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 episode is something completely new! But don't worry, it's in addition to the regular episodes!For the first time ever, I am interviewing a guest. Joining me is superstar comedian, Tom Segura. Tom and I discuss storytelling, share some stories, and I tell Tom a brand new strange, dark & mysterious story I've never told before. It's one that defies logic and belief. You won't want to miss this story, or this discussion!WATCH the full video here: https://youtu.be/8SEDCUaL0hYSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In September of 2021, a young woman named Anna Moriah Willson – who everybody just called “Mo” – stood in front of a cheering crowd at the end of a long outdoor bike path in Idaho. Mo had just finished a grueling gravel race, which is a cycling race on difficult terrain. And it was clear to everyone in the crowd who was cheering that not only was Mo one of the best women cyclists in the country – she was quickly becoming the face of the sport. Like all the competitors, Mo was a highly-trained athlete and in peak physical condition. But that brute athleticism was offset by a bright smile, her long auburn hair, and a true love for talking to anybody and everybody. It was this combination of her athletic skill, outgoing personality, and her natural comfort in front of cameras and on social media that made her the perfect ambassador for the growing sport of gravel racing. And there was one particular person at the race in Idaho who just couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was already one of the most famous male gravel racers in the world, and as he made his way through the crowd to meet her, Mo’s face lit up, and she could feel her heart racing a little. Before long, the two top riders were introducing themselves to each other and having some nice small talk… not realizing the horrible chain of events this encounter would spark.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.

Some people will lie, cheat, and steal to get ahead, but today’s podcast features two wild stories where those so-called “master plans” fall apart in the most unexpected ways. The audio from both of these 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:#2 -- "Sign Here" --  A routine trip to the bank has a sinister backstory (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNbRksDBLHw)#1 -- "A Carefully Laid Plan" -- An undercover cop witnesses something in a fast food restaurant that cracks his case wide open (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbGz9Ayf9Hs)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 afternoon of March 24, 2006, an employee at a moving truck rental company in Ohio opened his desk drawer and grabbed a wad of cash. It had been a slow day, so the employee was using his downtime to organize a few recent payments. The money he’d just grabbed was from an all-cash deal that had happened a few days ago. At the time, the employee had been super busy, so he’d just taken the cash from the customer, flipped through it quickly to make sure the amount seemed right, then shoved the money in the drawer to deal with later. Now, he was actually counting it properly – and he really hoped the customer hadn’t shorted him, or he’d have to track them down to collect. But as the employee counted the bills, he paused. Not because the amount wasn’t right – but because there was something on the money that caught his attention. For a second, he wasn’t sure what it was. So, he looked closer. And then, all at once, he understood what he was seeing. He stopped counting the money and started flipping through it as quickly as he could – and he kept seeing the same thing on almost all the bills. With his heart racing, the employee dropped the money, grabbed the phone, and called 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 story is one I told several years back on YouTube, but in 2024 during my live tour, I brought this one back out and gave it a complete overhaul and ended up telling it live, and the audience absolutely loved it.Story name, preview & link to the original YouTube video:#1 -- "What's in the Basement?" -- A family starts hearing tapping in their walls, but their horrifying story only begins there (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=dR3ThBE7Cj4)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 June of 1980, a car jolted to a stop in a parking lot on the outskirts of a small Utah suburb. The car door opened, a man stepped out into the darkness, and he stumbled across the parking lot towards the large building where he worked. He’d been drinking, and he was feeling it. So he stood outside of the building for a minute, and tried to collect himself. He knew this might be the last moment of peace he – or anyone in his community – would have in a long time. Because he knew something that nobody else inside that building would even imagine. He knew that someone had just committed the first murder ever recorded in this safe, quiet Utah town.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.