This story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 50.

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...

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

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This story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 40.

Around 2:00 am on April 6th 2018, a mysterious person walked down a snowy suburban street in Wadsworth, Ohio. At some point, this person came to a stop in front of a modest two story home and then looked around to make sure no one was watching them. Feeling satisfied no one was, this mystery person turned away from the road and walked down the driveway toward the backyard of the property. What they did next was unspeakably cruel... and it was caught on camera.

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

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 features 3 stories that will make you never want to go swimming again. The audio from all three of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.

Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:

• #3 -- "What Lies Beneath" -- Something lurks below this hospital (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6IgVVi8TtI)
• #2 -- "What Lurks Below" -- One of the most dangerous jobs in the world (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8swB7qMU7gk)
• #1 -- "Thalassophobia" -- Predator in the deep ocean comes up to say, "hi" (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toswhS4ehRw)

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 night of May 31, 2003, a short bearded man was sitting in his car, holding a rifle, in the parking lot of the Green Iguana Bar and Grill in Rocky Point, Florida. The man opened the window, aimed the rifle at the back door of the bar, and waited for his target – a 37 year-old bartender named Sandee Rozzo. Then suddenly, Sandee stepped outside, so the man took a deep breath and FIRED, but he missed. And in a panic, he threw the rifle in the backseat, hit the gas, and drove away. But he wouldn’t stop hunting Sandee Rozzo. And when police finally tracked him down, the bearded man’s identity would shock them, and their investigation would expose the truth about a violent criminal.

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.

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.

Story names, previews & links to original YouTube videos:

• #3 -- "Double Plot Twist" -- As the name suggests, there are 2 big reveals in this story... considering how insane they are, it's shocking how few people know about this (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q86aQiINdyo)
• #2 -- "The Lamp" -- One of the most fascinating Reddit submissions ever (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUxAsyLN4yI)
• #1 -- "Real Life Super Hero" -- A genius makes a series of bad decisions (Original YouTube link -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjDgOSur5c)

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 18, 2014, in a wealthy neighborhood in Florida, a married couple in their 70's were sitting on their couch, trying to figure out how to use their brand new iPad. As they did this, suddenly, coming from the property next door, they heard a loud popping sound. The man got up off the couch and walked over to the window to see what was going on, and he saw a car he didn't recognize peeling out of his neighbor’s driveway and speeding off down the street. Not sure what to make of this car or the loud sound, the man walked outside and headed over to his neighbor’s house just to make sure they were okay, and when he got to his neighbor’s driveway, he saw their garage door was open and their car was parked inside and was still on. At first, this made the man think that everything was fine, that clearly the neighbor was in their car sitting in their garage, and maybe that loud noise was just the sound of that other car backfiring. But when the man walked forward a few steps and got a look inside the running car, he knew immediately that everything was NOT fine. Moments later, the man stumbled back inside his own house where he frantically grabbed for his phone to call 911.

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.

This story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 30.

In May of 2009, someone in Guatemala uploaded an 18 minute long video to YouTube titled, “YouTube Murder." Within hours of it being published, the video had gone massively viral to the point where YouTube’s servers began to crash, and in Guatemala, angry crowds of people began forming up in the streets demanding justice. When the president of Guatemala reluctantly authorized an investigation into what the video actually meant, no one was ready for the insane truth it would reveal. Today's story includes graphic violence, so listener discretion is advised.

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

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 Sunday, November 17th, 1991, two brothers were driving in their pickup truck down a road in the small town of Conway, South Carolina. The older brother drove, and the younger brother scanned the surrounding woods, looking for the perfect spot to go deer hunting. But as they rolled along, suddenly, the younger brother began shouting that he saw something, so the older brother quickly pulled the truck over to the side of the road and parked. The brothers got out of the truck, but the younger brother didn’t walk towards the woods. He walked towards a huge pool of dried blood in the middle of the road. There was so much blood that the brothers thought a wild animal must have attacked a deer, and they worried that wild animal might still be close by. But then, the brothers saw a trail of blood leading from that spot in the road to a nearby ditch. So they followed the trail, reached the ditch, and stared down into it. Seconds later, the brothers were running for their truck so they could go alert the police.

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.

This story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 56.

In 2016, a woman had just pulled into her driveway in her quiet neighborhood in Missouri, when suddenly her passenger door flung open and in jumped a man she didn't recognize who was wielding a knife. The woman froze in terror hoping this was just a robbery, but when the man spoke, she knew this situation was much, much worse. Ten minutes later, the police arrived at the woman’s house, and what they saw in the hallway of the first floor shocked them. However, the real shocker came a week later when they realized who this man was, and why he had gone to that woman’s house in the first place. This story starts a bit slow, but then it spirals into madness very rapidly. And that is why this story has become one of the most infamous true crime cases in modern history.

For 100s more stories like this one, 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 a cold and snowy day in January of 1994, a land surveyor for the North Carolina Department of Transportation parked his car at the edge of Highway 421 in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. After walking just a few yards away from the side of the road, he was already swallowed up in the deep woods that stretched for miles into Watauga County. Given the cold air and snow underfoot, the surveyor was paying close attention to where he was walking, and hoping that the job would not take long and he'd be back inside his warm vehicle before his toes actually froze. That was, until the man glanced ahead at the fallen tree ahead of him, and before he saw something he just couldn't make sense of peeking out of the snow in the shadow of the upended roots. Squinting, the man took a few steps closer just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. A moment later, he dropped the hard, plastic case that contained his surveying equipment and nearly fell backward as he scrambled to get away from the mound of snow in front of him. Then looking desperately through the thick trees for the other members of the survey team, the calm around him was shattered as he started yelling for help.

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.