MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

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 d...

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....

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 collaps...

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 YouTub...

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 hea...

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...

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 sh...

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/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...

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 wh...

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 YouT...

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 clea...

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...

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. Sudden...

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_...

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 t...

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 (Or...

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 e...

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 juic...

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,...

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 lin...

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 tra...

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, prev...

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 walk...

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 ) #...

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-s...