Mr Ballen Podcast

*Thank you Michael, Jenny, Braden, Bennett and Ty for allowing me to share your family's story.* Today’s podcast is Michael B. Wright's powerful first hand account from inside the Twin Towers during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in NYC. The audio from this story was pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and was remastered for today's podcast. Story name, preview & link to original YouTube videos: #1 -- “9/11" -- Michael B. Wright's first hand account from inside the Twin 5Towers on 9/11/2001. (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0azXES3MKew)

In the fall of 1994, a 52 year old woman pulled into the driveway of her home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and then turned her car off. As she sat there for a minute, chatting with her daughter on her car phone, she was suddenly startled by someone running up and knocking on her window. When she turned to see who it was, she saw this big guy standing in the driveway who she didn't recognize. But when she rolled the window down just a couple of inches, and she was able to hear what this guy was saying, the woman relaxed. Then she got out of her car, shut the door behind her, and then led this guy into her home with her… That man would later be dubbed, “The Bathroom Man".

Late one night in November of 1975 a man came home from work and parked his car at the end of his driveway, which looped around the back of his house. After sitting in his seat for a minute, he turned his car off, and then stepped outside into the cold night air. From there, he walked toward the side of his house where there was a path that led around to his front door, but before he could reach his front door, he heard a voice call out to him from somewhere off to his right. The man stopped and stared into the darkness, wondering if he really had just heard a voice at all, but then as he stared, the voice called his name again. Confused, the man walked to the fence at the edge of his property, and looked over it to see who was there. Little did this man know, he had just walked into a trap.

In March of 1990, a detective in Florida, who was investigating a missing person case, decided to search for them in a forested area near a busy highway. The area had been searched before, but this detective just had a hunch that something could still be in there. And so he stepped into the thick rows of trees and began walking deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually he reached a point where it was so thick in front of him, he didn’t know if he could physically get through. But he decided he would just keep on going a little bit further. And after only a few minutes, he reached a clearing, and in the middle of it was something huge.

One September night in 2006, a man left his office in upstate New York and walked across the nearly vacant parking lot to his truck. When he climbed inside the driver’s seat, he instantly noticed that the back left of his vehicle seemed to be sagging slightly. But before he could figure out why that was, he thought he saw something moving in his peripheral vision off to his left. Reflexively, he turned and looked out his window into the dark night, and there, only a few feet away from him was a shadowy figure looking right at him. Then, whoever it was began to raise their hands...

On March 20, 1995, a crumpled up newspaper was spotted lying on the floor of a Tokyo, Japan train car. In Japan, the subways are always immaculately clean, so this newspaper stood out like a sore thumb. As commuters stared at the trash, wondering who would be so inconsiderate to litter, a wet spot began to form at the center of the newspaper, like it was sitting on top of a liquid that was now starting to seep through. As soon as this began to happen, everyone in the train car started to cough. The cough was mild at first, but within minutes it progressed into a violent cough making it hard for people to catch their breath. By the time the train pulled into the Government Center station, the commuters on board the train were clawing at the doors of the car to get off...

In 2012, a man living in Omaha, Nebraska met a woman on a dating website and after dinner, he invited her into his apartment. As they started getting intimate, they heard a knock on the door. Annoyed, the man got up and went to look through the peep hole, and he couldn’t believe who he saw standing on the other side of the door. This story has one of the strangest endings I’ve ever covered. Let’s just say, the plot twist is HUGE.

In 2004, a woman living in Nashville, Tennessee, was sitting up in her bed one night trying to get some homework done for a Bible study class. As she sat there, she started to feel tired and so she decided to call it a night. She bookmarked the page she was one and leaned over to put her Bible on the bed side table, when she suddenly froze. The house was supposed to be empty, her family was out for the night... but now, standing at the foot of her bed was a person, just staring up at her... and this person was dead.

In the fall of 1994, a 52 year old woman pulled into the driveway of her home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and then turned her car off. As she sat there for a minute, chatting with her daughter on her car phone, she was suddenly startled by someone running up and knocking on her window. When she turned to see who it was, she saw this big guy standing in the driveway who she didn't recognize. But when she rolled the window down just a couple of inches, and she was able to hear what this guy was saying, the woman relaxed. Then she got out of her car, shut the door behind her, and then led this guy into her home with her… That man would later be dubbed, “The Bathroom Man,” and he was there to do something horrific to that woman.

In late December of 2003, a 32 year old man named Russel drove along scenic back roads on an island off the coast of Washington State, until he arrived at his destination, a house tucked way back in the woods. After driving down the property’s long driveway, Russel pulled into a parking spot and came to a stop. After turning off his car’s engine, Russel went to unbuckle himself, when he stopped. Because right in front of him, in the tree line, he saw a figure moving in the shadows. As Russel leaned forward and strained his eyes to see who it was, the figure suddenly emerged and began walking quickly toward Russel's car. At first Russel thought he knew who this person was, but as they got closer, he knew that he didn't. But before Russel could do anything about the situation he was in, the stranger from the forest had arrived right outside of Russel’s car door and had begun staring down at Russel through the glass. As they did this, Russel turned to look at them… and what he saw was so shocking he just froze in terror.

In 1996, an 18 year old college freshman named Diane, began acting strangely. She would suddenly break down and start crying hysterically, and then a second later, she'd get extremely mad, and then a second after that, she'd be fine again, as if nothing had happened. For a while, her classmates thought her erratic behavior must be tied to her just really missing her boyfriend, who went to another school. But when Diane's classmates finally approached her and asked her what was going on, she gave them an answer that at first sounded so unbelievable, they assumed it was a joke. But Diane wasn't joking, and she had the scars to prove it. Horrified, Diane’s classmates left her bedroom and ran to tell school staff.

In 2015, police in New York were alerted to a very strange death; The victim, who was a pillar of their own community, had died suddenly and unexpectedly, and their autopsy showed something very unusual. So the police began digging into the case, and eventually, after a few major twists and turns, they would get to the shocking truth… and the truth could be summed up in 1 word, "EVIL."

This is the story of what is, quite possibly, the strangest outcome of a failed romantic relationship ever. In 2013, two young people who met on a dating site, met for the first time in person over a cup of coffee. Immediately the pair hit it off, and within a year they were engaged to be married. But shortly after their engagement had begun, cracks in their relationship formed and they broke it off. It seemed like they both were moving on and building new lives for themselves, until a very strange email arrived in one of their inboxes... then another email showed up.... then another.... and another.... and before long, people were getting attacked and others were getting arrested.

In mid July 1977, a 38 year old woman was sitting in her living room talking to her husband, when suddenly, mid-sentence, she stood up, and said very robotically, that she was going to go lie down for a while. Then she turned and walked away into a nearby bedroom. Sensing something was off with his wife, the husband followed her… What he would see, and hear, in that bedroom over the next 30 minutes, would not only scar him for life, but would also become some of the most infamous evidence ever used by police in a real murder investigation.

Today’s podcast features two separate, unique stories that share a theme: workplace horror stories. The audio from these stories has been pulled from our YouTube channel, which is just called "MrBallen," and has been remastered for today's podcast. Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos: Story 1 -- “Hell Fire" -- Workers make repair inside huge industrial machine (Original YouTube link -- https://youtu.be/46zxGu-y_4A?t=1260) Story 2 -- "The 9th Compartment" -- A secret note was discovered at the bottom of the ocean (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz5Gw2vBtgs)

In 2010, a very successful Nashville, Tennessee music producer turned her car into her driveway, and pulled into her garage. After turning her car off, she was about to click her garage door remote again, to shut the garage door, when she turned and looked out her car’s back window and she saw something very strange sitting there on her driveway. Seconds later, Veronica would be scrambling to get out of her car, and inside of her house, as fast as she possibly could... Initially, this story will seem fairly cookie cutter for a true crime story, however, it is not. There is a very unique plot twist at the end…so stick around to make sure you hear it.

In the late 1800s, a very strange hotel was constructed in Chicago, Illinois. From the outside, it looked perfectly normal, but the inside of the hotel was anything but. Hallways were a maze of twists and turns, and there were trap doors, sliding walls and secret stairwells everywhere. But the shock factor of this hotel was part of its allure. Walking around and getting lost could actually be kind of thrilling. But, what guests didn't know was that every time they got lost in that hotel, they might never find their way out again...

Today’s podcast features three separate, unique stories that share a theme: they are stories about hitchhiking. The audio from these stories has been pulled from my YouTube channel, which is just called MrBallen, and has been remastered for today's podcast. Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos: Story 1 -- “The Hitchhiker" -- The most unlikely, and unfortunate, sequence of events (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rucBo9HjMuU) Story 2 -- "That Didn't Age Well" -- A passenger on a plane sees something on a mountain, as they fly over it (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxmNm9vUgik) Story 3 -- "Five Hacks" -- A brutal cautionary tale for anyone thinking about hitchhiking (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiUo8biy0Ok)

At 10:30pm on June 2, 2000, 15 year old Heather Robinson heard her family’s land line telephone ring, and so she picked it up. But before she could even say, “hello,” she heard her father already saying, "hello" to whoever had just called them; He had picked up the other land line telephone upstairs in his bedroom. Heather was about to hang up, but she got curious when she heard the tense, low tone of the person her father was speaking to. So, she decided to just mute her handset and secretly listen in to her dad’s conversation. What she would hear over the next 45 seconds would not only change her life forever, but it would also make headlines all over the world.