Fan Favorite | Village of Death

MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following the epic crossover between MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries and Redacted: Declassified Mysteries, hosted by Luke Lamana, we’re revisiting some of our favorite episodes where the line between medical mystery and dark conspiracy becomes blurred.

In September of 1998, people throughout Malaysia start dying of a disease that attacks their brains. The authorities think they know what it is, but one scientist believes they are making a dangerous mistake. It’s up to him to convince his superiors before the outbreak spirals out of control.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	OneWondry Plus subscribers can listen to new episodes of Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries early and ad-free right now.
0:06.0	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:14.1	One morning in the spring of 1999, gunshots rang out in a tiny village in Malaysia.
0:24.5	Once they stopped, a shopkeeper slowly opened his door to see what was going on.
0:29.2	He watched in confusion as a convoy of military vehicles rolled down the street, filled
0:34.2	with soldiers carrying rifles slung across their backs. Then the soldiers stopped in front of a farm just down the road.
0:41.3	The owner of that farm came outside and met the soldiers at the door,
0:45.3	and then, very solemnly, this farm owner walked the soldiers around to the back of the property,
0:50.3	where there was this big thicket of fruit trees.
0:53.3	The shopkeeper, who was watching this
0:55.0	from a distance, was so curious as to what they were doing behind this farm that the shopkeeper
0:59.9	stepped out onto the road, and suddenly he had a clear view of behind this farm. And what he saw
1:06.4	was these soldiers taking up positions, raising their rifles, and shooting at something just below
1:11.9	these fruit trees. And after the gunfire stopped, the shopkeeper began hearing all these terrible
1:17.8	squeals and screams, and then the air began to smell like blood. Terrified, the shopkeeper
1:24.3	turned around and ran back inside his shop, hoping that whatever was going on here would be over soon.
1:31.0	However, the shopkeeper would be terribly wrong.
1:38.1	Hey, I'm Cassie de Peckle, host of Wondery's podcast Against the Odds.
1:41.8	This month, we're bringing back a fan favorite season.
2:03.3	In 1914, former president Teddy Roosevelt leads an expedition to map an unexplored river in the Amazon, but they must overcome hunger, disease, and the threat of attack if they're going to reach the end. Listen to Against the Odds on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Mr. Ballin. Our new crossover episode, a redacted medical mystery, brings together medical mysteries and redacted, declassified mysteries with Luke Lamanna.
2:06.6	If you like uncovering hidden truths about history, well, you'll want to check out more
2:10.5	episodes of Redacted.
	...

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