MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

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.

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2026

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!

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 28 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 27 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 21 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2026

On an afternoon in December 1991, a woman in small-town Utah opened her mailbox. Inside was a credit card bill, addressed to her husband, who'd disappeared a week ago. The woman found this strange, because she didn't even know her husband had a credit card. And when she ripped open the envelope and read over the charges, she realized that her missing husband had been keeping an even bigger secret from her.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2026

Tonight at the campfire, I'm going to share one of the most credible alien abduction stories ever. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel!

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 4 stories about how a single decision changed the lives of the people in these stories, as well as millions of others lives around the world. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2026

Both of our stories today start with people who are just looking for a solution to their problem. But finding that solution… ends up being the worst thing that ever happened to them.

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2026

On an evening in August 2000, a city council candidate stood behind a podium at a high school in small-town Alabama. He was speaking about why he'd entered the race, and he said he wanted a platform to discuss an important issue – the unsolved murder of a local school district employee. Right there, in front of all the news cameras and microphones, the candidate said he knew who committed the crime – because it had been revealed to him in a dream.

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 392. In the early hours of Thursday, February 21st, 2008, a six-year-old girl woke to a creaking noise down the hallway outside her bedroom door. It was a blustery night in rural Nevada, so she figured it was just the wind bending frozen tree branches in the yard. But then another creaking noise filled the house, this time even closer to her bedroom. She pulled her covers tight around her and stared out through the crack in the door. An uneasy feeling settled over her as the light in the hallway shifted. She could almost see the outline of a person standing outside her room. She squinted, trying to make out a face, wondering if it was one of her parents checking in on her. But as quick as the shadow appeared, it vanished into thin air.

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories about dark secrets that were hiding in plain sight all along. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2026

Both of today’s stories are a reminder that even the most joyful events or celebrations can take a horrific turn, if just ONE tiny thing goes wrong.

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2026

On a Monday morning in February 2003, a man in suburban France got a phone call from a number he recognized. He answered it, but all he heard on the other end was static and muffled voices in the background. He could just barely make out a conversation between two women. They were talking about a murder, and one of them said they needed to come up with an alibi.

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2026

Tonight, I have two stories to tell you. And what makes these exceptional is that they're both just excellent stories to be told around a campfire. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel!

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 30 April 2026

On the evening of August 10, 2005, a man in New York City answered the phone at the office where he worked. A woman’s voice came over the line, and she asked to speak with one of the man’s employees. He replied that that employee actually hadn’t shown up for their shift that afternoon. That’s when he heard a shift in the woman’s tone, and she told him in a trembling voice that she needed to hang up right now and call 911.

Transcribed - Published: 27 April 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that sound impossible – moments so unlikely, they shouldn’t exist… yet somehow, they do. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2026

Today we have two stories about people who finally got to attend an event that they’d been working toward for years. But in both cases, actually going – would turn out to be the biggest mistake of their lives.

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2026

One evening in April 2006, a person sat at their kitchen table, frantically cutting up the page of a newspaper with some scissors. They were working on an important project, and it was almost done. They finished cutting the final letter from the page and pasted it onto a sheet of paper. Then they leaned back to read the message they’d assembled from the scraps. It was a warning. And they were sure it would have exactly the effect they were hoping for.

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 388. On a September afternoon in 2000, an FBI forensics analyst stood in her lab in Quantico, Virginia, staring into a microscope in confusion. She was looking at two strands of hair that were evidence in a murder investigation. And something wasn’t right. She checked the label on the evidence bag the sample came from, then looked back into the microscope. She definitely wasn’t imagining it. The label was wrong, which meant that the detective who had packaged the hairs and sent them over for analysis – had not understood what he was looking at. And this wasn’t a small mistake. Because if the analyst was right about what the hairs really were – then the whole investigation she was working on was about to change.

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2026

Today’s podcast will feature three stories that remind us the most dangerous threats are oftentimes the ones you can’t see. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 16 April 2026

Today we have two stories about people who craved attention or status – but instead of glory, they got absolute carnage.

Transcribed - Published: 15 April 2026

Before dawn in March 1997, a police captain was patrolling the outskirts of a small town in North Carolina. He saw a Jeep parked on the shoulder of the highway with its headlights on. He pulled over, and as he walked closer to the Jeep, he heard the engine running. The driver's side window was rolled down, and there was no one inside. But just then... a cell phone on the passenger seat started ringing.

Transcribed - Published: 13 April 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 384. One afternoon in January of 1998, a prosecutor for the state of Georgia sat in the very back row of seats in a courtroom where a divorce trial was unfolding. The prosecutor was not involved in the divorce case – he handled murder trials. But he had come here today, because he had gotten a very surprising phone call about an unsolved case he had worked on a year and a half earlier. The caller had told him that the testimony in this divorce – could solve that murder. Now, in the courtroom, the prosecutor felt his heart rate pick up, as the witness he had been waiting for took the stand. And as soon as the witness started talking – the prosecutor knew: he had solved the murder.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 3 horror stories with completely unexpected endings. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 April 2026

Our two stories today are about people who believed in something so strongly, that it informed every single choice they made. And unfortunately for them – those choices led them down a very dangerous path.

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2026

In June 2005, a customer at a gas station in Derry, New Hampshire carried a prepaid cell phone to the counter. They paid for it in cash, then they went out to their car and cut open the packaging. They dialed a number to activate it, but when the customer service rep asked for their name, they hesitated. The whole reason they'd bought this prepaid phone was so that no one could trace the calls back to their real identity.

Transcribed - Published: 6 April 2026

On today's Campfire episode, I have a great ghost story. Be sure to WATCH this episode on YouTube next Friday, April 3 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that seemingly break reality. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 2 April 2026

Both of these stories are about two people who do not feel safe in their homes. And authorities can't help either of them until the situation spirals out of control.

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2026

One night in March of 2016, two friends sat on a couch in Lunel, France, watching a true crime show on TV. The episode hit close to home – literally – because it was about a missing person who had vanished just miles from where they lived. Suddenly, in the middle of the show, one of the friends stood up and started pacing around the room, muttering to themselves. The other friend asked what was wrong… and they were not ready for the answer.

Transcribed - Published: 30 March 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 359. One September afternoon in 2003, a woman in Tucson, Arizona, heard a knock on her front door and answered it. She was surprised to see a Tucson police detective standing on her front steps, and even more surprised when the detective started asking a bunch of questions about her next door neighbor. The woman was a law-abiding citizen, and she didn’t know anything. The detective gave her his business card and asked her to call him if that changed, but as she closed the door, she was pretty sure she would never have any reason to talk to him again. That was until a few days later, when she looked out her front window and saw two sweaty men jump out of a van and walk up the steps into her neighbor’s house. She watched for a few minutes, with her heart racing, realizing that what she was watching might very well be the coverup of a murder. She let the curtain fall and ran to her purse, to dig out the detective’s business card.

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2026

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that make you realize, not everything is as it seems. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 26 March 2026

One day in January of 2018, a police officer walked through the woods near the town of Gray, France, following a trail of blood. It led to the body of a person who had been shot in the head. It seemed to be a suicide, but the police officer had some questions. Because this wasn’t the first body they had found here in the past few months.

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2026

I'm back by the fire, and I have an epic survival story to tell you. Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel.

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2026

Both of today's stories are about just how hard it is to really know someone, and the consequences of assuming you do.

Transcribed - Published: 18 March 2026

On an early morning in December 1991, a woman woke up to pounding on the door of her home in Largo, Florida. She could hear a woman outside screaming for help. She rushed out of bed and opened the door – and saw her neighbor on the doorstep, drenched in blood. Her head was covered in gashes. Her throat had been slit. But before she could say a word about what had happened to her, she fell back and collapsed on the front lawn.

Transcribed - Published: 16 March 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 300. On a dark fall night in 2010, two detectives stood in the street in an upscale suburban neighborhood outside of Boston, Massachusetts. In the middle of the road – lit by their flashlights – lay the body of a teenage boy. These were two veteran detectives, but neither of them had ever seen the type of brutal violence that had been inflicted on this young man. His legs look shattered, his jeans had been shredded, and his face was bruised and broken. The detectives felt sure this young man had been murdered, but because he had no ID on him, they didn’t know who he was. But when they did finally discover his identity, this case would take a totally bizarre turn. The detectives would find themselves 1,000 miles away from their crime scene, sifting through reported sightings of their victim that defied the laws of physics, and grasping at an insane theory that they hoped could somehow tie it all together.

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 12 March 2026

Both of today's stories are about people who actually achieved their big career ambitions... but at an extremely high cost.

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2026

On June 20th, 2004 a restaurant manager stood at the host stand of a seafood spot in Orange County, California. It was the dinner rush, and he was on take-out duty. So when a customer came in to ask about their to-go order, the manager hurried off to grab it. He found the order, and carried it back out. And as he rang the customer up, he could tell they were in a hurry. They kept looking over their shoulder and tapping their fingers on the counter. So the manager tried to finish up the sale quickly, and ran their credit card. And after everything was done, the customer basically ran out – which was a little strange, but the manager quickly got distracted again with another order coming in, and shoved the signed card receipt into the register like he always did. He had no idea that he’d have to find it again in just a few days… and hand it over to the police.

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 281. On a fall evening in 1996, a young detective sped through the streets of Tucson, Arizona towards an upscale country club. All he knew was that someone had reported an explosion in the area, but he didn’t know what had caused it. Minutes later, the detective pulled into the country club parking lot and as he got out of his car, it almost felt like he had stepped into a war zone. Car alarms were blaring, shattered glass covered the ground, and nearby he saw a car with its roof completely ripped off. The young detective quickly got to work searching the scene – having no idea that he would spend the next 13 years of his life trying to close this case – which would span across the United States and all the way to Europe.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2026

Today’s story has a very surprising ending, and I do sort of tip off what actually happens early-ish on in the story, but I’d be very surprised if people actually pick up on it and put it together before I reveal what actually happened.

Transcribed - Published: 5 March 2026

Today's stories are about how sometimes doing what you think is the right thing... can actually be the most dangerous choice you can make.

Transcribed - Published: 4 March 2026

On an evening in March 1974, an investigator in Salt Lake City, Utah sat across an interrogation table from a man who claimed he had psychic powers. The deputy had been skeptical… but now this self-described psychic was giving him a bunch of incredibly specific visions about the case. It was enough to make the deputy wonder… was this man really a psychic, or was he actually the killer?

Transcribed - Published: 2 March 2026

Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 269. On a spring night in 2009, a middle aged married couple was closing up the local pizza place they ran in a small Virginia mountain town. The husband walked to the back of the restaurant and grabbed a large bucket of ice. He carried the bucket out the back door, and dumped the ice into the grass. He stood up and felt the cool breeze on his face – it was a nice change from the hot pizza ovens he’d been working around all night. But then, he heard screaming coming from inside the restaurant. Without thinking, he dropped the bucket, and rushed back inside. But when he discovered what was happening, all he could do was turn around and run for his life.

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2026