This story is a fan favorite from MrBallen's Medical Mysteries.

When a woman gets sick with a mystery illness during the height of the COVID pandemic, she fears her holiday season will be ruined. But as her entire family starts getting sick one by one, a lousy Christmas is the least of her worries.

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For 100s more stories like this one, check out my YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen

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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. 

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallen

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This story is about a 3-year period in France where people were going missing at an alarming rate and no one knew why. Eventually it was discovered, and let me tell you, it is absolute nightmare fuel.

Story name, preview & link to original YouTube video:

• #1 -- "The Beast of Gévaudan" -- A small village in France is terrorized by a beast (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Mm1tJm_Z0)

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the morning of July 11th, 2009, an elderly woman grabbed a coffee and sat down at her kitchen table in Pensacola, Florida, to read the local paper. The news was a big part of her day – she had lived in her neighborhood for 60 years, and liked keeping tabs on everything that was going on in her community. Which was usually a lot – Pensacola and the surrounding county had some of the highest crime rates in Florida. So she wasn’t surprised when she opened the paper that morning and saw a police bulletin about a homicide in the area. The message asked residents of Pensacola to be on the lookout for a red van. But when she saw the grainy photo of the vehicle, she gasped and almost knocked over her coffee. Because she’d seen that van. And she knew exactly who it belonged to. 

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories about mysterious disappearances. 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 -- "Lava Tubes" -- 1100+ miles of underground lava tubes in this park... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNpctf6WJx8)
• #2 -- "Stay in the Car" -- Two people go missing after a car crash (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=eOxeX1MkcWo)
• #1 -- "What Just Happened?" -- Woman repeatedly calls 911 then vanishes... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vARuVoqbQL0)

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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.

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 4 stories about adventures… that go wrong. 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 -- "Bungee" -- A couple decides to go bungee jumping, but someone panics and the result is caught on video... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfnbgIkT_jk)
• #3 -- "Geocaching" -- 4 young people explore an underground tunnel (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtDAo7jS8Z4)
• #2 -- "127 Hours" -- Man is forced to make a horrifying decision (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODsF75lAJY)
• #1 -- "Head Count" -- A group of boys go for a hike. They’re having a great time, until one of them takes a picture... (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaSQ4ou05dc)

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. 

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories where things are not what they seem. 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 -- "Deer Crossing" -- A man's drive home from a night out turns into a nightmare (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgeDUqyCgqE)
• #2 -- "Ancient Beast" -- A security guard searches for a dangerous criminal at the Canadian border (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l74_VQPdxjU)
• #1 -- "Stay Forgetful" -- A man wakes up on the side of the road with no idea of who he is or how he got there (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcWArGuE1Os)

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Late on a June evening in 2000, a detective with the Easton PA Police Department sat in his car on a darkened neighborhood street, surveilling a house nearby and waiting patiently. After what seemed like an eternity, someone emerged from the house, carrying a couple of bulky trash bags in their hands. The detective tensed up– but he didn’t move. It wasn’t the person that he was waiting for. The detective kept watching as the person placed their trash bags on the curb for pickup in the morning, and then walked back inside the house. And that was when the detective flung open his car door. As quickly as he could, he darted across the street and grabbed the bags. He then ran back to his car and stuffed the bags in his trunk. As he drove away – he knew he was about to solve his murder case. 

For 100s more stories like these, check out our main 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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.