MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

On a cold winter day in 2013, police officers rushed through the dense woods outside of a small town in Kentucky. They weaved their way through the trees, keeping their eyes peeled, and finally, one of them shouted out. He saw what they were looking for in the distance. The other officers quickly followed him into a clearing, and there, they saw a man with a long gray beard sitting in a large self-made camp. It looked like the man had been living out in the woods for months. The officers stared at him, and they almost couldn’t believe it, because they had finally tracked down the man who they thought could help solve a murder that had taken place a year earlier in a town 150 miles away. For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen If 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 @mrballen See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

This story is a fan favorite from MrBallen's Medical Mysteries. One night in 1944, over 300 patients at a mental hospital in Oregon become violently sick after eating dinner. Many of them die. An investigation is quickly launched to determine the source of this deadly illness. Was there something wrong with the food itself? Or could it have been the work of a deranged killer? Listen Now: Wondery.fm/MBMM [http://wondery.fm/MBMM] For 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen If 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 @MrBallen See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

In 2002, two days after Halloween, a police officer stepped out of a house in the small town of Navasota, Texas. He shielded his eyes from the early morning sunlight, then ducked under the band of yellow tape that surrounded the house. The officer had been working all night and really needed a break. So he went down to the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. And as he smoked, his eyes fell on a muddy ditch that ran alongside the street. He saw something in the ditch that looked out of place. He walked closer and crouched down to examine the object. And when he saw what it was, his heart started racing. Because lying in the ditch was a mask. Under different circumstances, finding a mask two days after Halloween wouldn’t be that strange. But this wasn’t the kind of mask you’d buy at a costume shop... and the officer had found it 25 yards from the site of a murder. For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen If 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 @mrballen See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Today’s podcast will feature 2 sailing horror stories. 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 -- "Survivor’s Guilt" -- Sailors have many "customs of the sea," but there is one that is exceptionally dark and once it begins, there's no going back for that crew. (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54toJMsfg94 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54toJMsfg94]) * #1 -- "The Kaz II" -- 3 friends' trip of a lifetime turns into a nightmare (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOMY0JQdFs [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWOMY0JQdFs]) For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen [https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen] If 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 @mrballen See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

You know those messages that you get all the time, the ones that pop up out of nowhere? They could be real, but something about them seems fishy. You likely dismiss these texts and emails as mere annoyances, thinking you’ve stopped some random stranger from ripping you off. But the shocking truth is, the person behind that message might be trapped inside a “scam factory” on the other side of the world and forced to scam others against their will. From Wondery, comes a new series about the brutal reality behind these operations, where one family discovers a horrifying truth: the only way out is to scam their way out. Listen Now: Wondery.fm/Scam_Factory [http://wondery.fm/Scam_Factory]  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].