MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

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.

In the depths of the dark net, tech journalist Carl Miller makes a disturbing discovery: a secret Kill List targeting hundreds of innocent people on a murder for hire website. When the police decide not to investigate, Carl is thrown into a race against time to warn those in danger and uncover the truth about the people who want them dead. From Wondery and Novel, comes a true story about obsession, control and the price of life and death.Listen to Kill List on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/Kill_List You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery App for all your true crime listening.See 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.