MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 311. On a morning in 2002, a man in Indianapolis, Indiana woke up in a cold sweat. His hands shook as he tried to block out the images he’d seen in his sleep, but he knew these images would not just go away – they would keep haunting him until he did something about it. He got out of bed and walked to his phone. He dialed 9-1-1 and said he needed to talk to a detective, because he was having dreams that showed him everything that had happened during a horrific murder all the way back in 1989. The dreams this man claimed to have would help reopen an unsolved murder case that had shocked Indianapolis thirteen years earlier. But these dreams would not answer the questions police had been wrestling with for years, and it would take them another decade to finally track down the killer.

Today’s podcast will feature 2 stories that many people believe couldn't have happened by chance alone. 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.

Today, we have two stories about some friends that just want to have a fun night out. But at some point during the evening, things take a disastrous turn.

In October 1999, a 911 dispatcher in Austin, Texas was nearing the end of a long night shift when a strange call came in. The man said his guts had blown out of his stomach. The dispatcher asked him to explain what happened, but all the caller would say was that he just woke up and his guts were coming out. He was holding them in with his hand. And he needed an ambulance... NOW.

Tonight's story is a classic scary story. It's so unbelievable that I think a lot of people are going to have a hard time believing it, but when this happened in Hong Kong, this story got picked up by many major outlets and was covered extensive – so that suggests there's some real credibility to this story. But ultimately, it's up to you to decide what you actually believe. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel on Friday, June 26th!

Today, I’m going to tell you two stories about people who found themselves in hopeless situations. But they made an unexpected choice that changed their lives – for better or worse.

On a chilly February night in 2005, a young woman in Chicago was sitting down for dinner when her phone rang. It was her mom, who lived a few blocks away, and she told her daughter to come home... now. The young woman asked what was wrong, but her mom wouldn’t explain. She just said, RUN. And that’s when the young woman realized – the thing her family had been afraid of for so long… might have finally happened.

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 291. In January of 2012, a police truck parked on a trail in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. A member of the K-9 Unit opened the door, and a police dog named Indiana Bones jumped out. Indy quickly caught a scent and led his handler to a mound of dirt just off the path. Indy pawed at the dirt and revealed the top of a plastic bag. The dog’s handler reached into the dirt with her gloved hands, pulled out the bag, looked inside, and saw two dismembered human feet and a hand. Indy’s discovery would launch an investigation that would lead two L.A. detectives into the most insane case they’d ever worked – a case that would involve everything from Mexican drug cartels to a Canadian cannibal.

Today’s podcast will feature 2 stories about unexplainable phenomena. 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.

Today, I have 3 really good stories that all, in their own way, demonstrate that sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.

One night in December 2011, a man sat in an internet cafe, anxiously staring at the words he’d just typed into a chat window. He was about to share his darkest secret with someone he’d only ever talked to online. It was the kind of secret that could destroy him, and he knew sending it was a mistake – but the loneliness was unbearable, and he had to tell someone. So after a long pause... he hit send.

Tonight, I have a great story to tell you. It reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to go camping with my family out in western Massachusetts – we'd sit around a campfire, and my parents would tell me and my sisters ghost stories. It was unclear how true the stories really were, but they were all terrifying. And this story that I'm going to share with you is from Japan, and it happened over 50 years ago. And over the last 50 years, it's been shared many times, and there are many versions of this story, so it's up to you to figure out how much you believe is really true here. But it's a genuinely frightening story. Also, according to some versions of this story, once you hear it, you only have three days left to live, unless you follow really specific instructions... which I'll give you at the very end. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel on Friday, June 12th at 2:00 p.m.

Today’s podcast will feature 2 stories about people who went to disturbing lengths to carry out their plans. 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.

Today, we have two stories about individuals who go above and beyond to make sure investigators have what they need. And in both instances, this turns a case that should be straightforward into something completely shocking.

One night in the summer of 2003, a man approached a drug dealer on a corner in Rochester, New York. The man stepped close to the dealer and whispered that he was a cop... but he wasn’t here to bust the dealer, or to buy from him. Instead, he had a request: he wanted the drug dealer to help him catch a killer.

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 285. On a summer morning in 2001, a woman in Alabama woke up in a cold sweat – like she’d just had a nightmare. But the woman knew what she saw while she was sleeping was not a bad dream – it was real. So she grabbed her phone and made a frantic call. Later that morning, police arrived at an old wooden house on the outskirts of a small rural town. They stepped inside, and they were absolutely shocked, because the woman really had led them to a horrifying crime scene.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 hiking horror stories that are still shrouded in mystery. 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.

Today’s story is about a simple family living a simple life on a simple farm in England. And even though that might sound really nice, this simplicity is actually the exact reason that everything goes wrong.

On an evening in September 2017, a woman in Massachusetts came home from work to an empty house. Her boyfriend was gone, but she saw that his wallet and phone were still right there on the counter. And on the kitchen table were three envelopes. She opened them. One was his last will and testament. The second was a note for her. And the third... was a letter addressed to the family of a woman who'd been murdered 25 years ago.

Tonight, I'm going to tell you a very famous story from Thailand. The story was recommended to me by a fan, and I had never heard of it before. And the second I started looking into it, I knew – that I had to tell this one sitting in front of a campfire. As you listen, you might think you can guess what’s going to happen next – but I had never heard anything like this before, and I bet you haven’t either. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel next Friday, May 29th at 2:00 p.m. ET

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories about people who made grave mistakes. 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.

Both of today’s stories are about people who made big choices that they thought would improve their lives. But neither of them took the time to learn exactly what they were signing up for, and that led to disaster.

Today's story is a completely NEW retelling of a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 382. The audio has been newly recorded and edited. 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.

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.

Today we have two stories about people who had close brushes with death, and were absolutely certain that they had escaped harm and could move on with their lives. They... were wrong.