Episode 17 -- "This Island Has a Dark Secret"

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Ballen Studios

True Crime, Mrballen, Mysterious, True Story, Storytelling, Strange, Dark

4.9 • 27K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2022

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is 1 of 5 MrBallen Podcast episodes that we are currently offering for free on all podcast platforms. You can listen to many more MrBallen Podcast episodes exclusively on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app, and search for MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories, now included with Prime. If you're not a Prime member, you can still listen to all episodes by subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited in the Amazon Music app.

http://www.amazon.com/mrballenpodcast

During World War 2, there was a horrific incident that occurred on a small island in the Pacific Ocean. At the time, the details of exactly what happened on this island were made top secret. But in 2004, the US government decided it was time for the public to know the truth. Not only is the story of the Chichijima Incident unbelievable, but the twist at the end will genuinely shock you, especially if you are an American.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is the remastered audio from a popular video on my "MrBallen" YouTube channel. The video is called "This island kept a dark secret until 2004" (Here is the link to the video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB9-eS44A_8)

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

SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT:

Main Sources:

1. Blog post: "Chichijima incident-Cannibalism in WWII and George H.W. Bush’s remarkable survival." -- https://dirkdeklein.net/2016/06/30/chichijima-incident-cannibalism-in-wwii-and-george-h-w-bushs-remarkable-survival/

2. 9 News write up: "The Chichijima incident: George HW Bush's extraordinary WWII survival story" -- https://www.9news.com.au/world/chichijima-incident-george-hw-bush-extraordinary-wwii-survival-story/b8edd905-c63b-409f-971b-23f08e533389

3. All That's Interesting write up: "Inside The Chichijima Incident, George H.W. Bush’s Harrowing Escape From Cannibal Enemies During World War II" -- https://allthatsinteresting.com/george-bush-cannibalized-chichijima-incident

4. Inside Hook write up: "Horrors of History: How George H. W. Bush Dodged Cannibalism Death in WWII" -- https://www.insidehook.com/article/history/the-horrors-of-history-the-cannibalism-of-chichijima

5. Find a Grave "Marvelle William Mershon" -- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9206627/marvelle-william-mershon

6. Find a Grave "ENS Floyd Ewing Hall" -- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9204880/floyd-ewing-hall

7. Find a Grave "2LT Warren Earl Vaughn" -- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56134288/warren-earl-vaughn

8. Chichijima Incident Wikipedia page -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichijima_incident

9. "Torture, Execution, and Cannibalism on Chichi Jima, and George HW Bush's Narrow Escape" -- https://www.pacificatrocities.org/blog/torture-execution-and-cannibalism-on-chichi-jima-and-george-hw-bushs-narrow-escape

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is one of five Mr. Ballin podcast episodes that we are currently offering for free on all podcast platforms.
0:09.0	You can listen to many more Mr. Ballin podcast episodes exclusively on Amazon Music.
0:15.0	Download the Amazon Music app and search for Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange Dark, and Mysterious Stories now included with Prime.
0:23.0	If you're not a Prime member, you can still listen to all episodes by subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited in the Amazon Music app.
0:33.0	Today's episode is about an incident that was kept top secret by the US military until 2004.
0:40.0	The story is unbelievable, but it is the twist at the very end that you're going to remember.
0:46.0	This episode is the remastered audio from this island kept a dark secret until 2004, which is a very popular video on my YouTube channel.
0:55.0	There are several very graphic sequences in this story as such, listener discretion is advised.
1:00.0	But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the Strange Dark and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you come to the right podcast because that's all we do.
1:09.0	And we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.
1:12.0	So, if that's of interest to you, please replace the five star review buttons hand sanitizer with lubricant right before they go out to run some errands.
1:20.0	Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin podcast where ever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads.
1:26.0	Okay, let's get into today's story.
1:28.0	Chichi-jima is a small Japanese island about 500 miles south of the Japanese mainland.
1:48.0	During World War II, the Japanese put a base on this island and they put two radio towers at the top of the two mountains on the island.
1:56.0	These radio towers became integral to the Japanese communication and surveillance operations in the Pacific during the war.
2:03.0	And so at that time, the island was heavily fortified with up to 25,000 troops and huge anti-aircraft guns.
2:10.0	Because of the island's obvious strategic value to Japan, the Americans wanted to take it from them.
2:16.0	But American military strategists advised against that, saying that any amphibious landing of this island would result in massive casualties for Americans and the Japanese would likely just repel the attack anyways.
2:28.0	And so the Americans decided to go with the next best thing, which was to attempt to bomb the two towers and cut out their communications.
2:36.0	So in June of 1944, American aircraft carriers, which are those huge, huge ships that planes can take off of and land on, they headed for the island of Chichi-jima.
2:47.0	And once the island was completely surrounded, the Americans began launching their pilots to try to take out these towers.
	...

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