← MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
No Way Out Vol. XI
00:26:26
Today’s podcast will feature 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.
Loading summary
Transcript5 lines
- [00:00]
A
Today's podcast will feature three stories that all involve people who were trapped with no way out. The audio from all three of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode. The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called Escalation, and after you hear this story, you'll likely never feel safe on an escalator again. The second story you'll hear is called Volunteer, and it's about a swimmer who mysteriously goes missing in a lake, which prompts a local man to come in to help. And the third and final story you'll hear is called the Messiest Place, and it's about a disappearance inside of a hospital that nobody can explain. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place. Because that's all we do. And we upload four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. So if that's of interest to you, please replace all of the follow buttons Toilet paper with duct tape okay, let's get into our first story called Escalation. Been sitting on a business idea. My advice? Don't overthink it. Just take that first step and make sure you have the right tool, a robust selling platform like Shopify to help turn your idea into something real. Shopify checkout takes just one click, so it helps more of your customers finish their purchase and when they come back, their details are already saved. With Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. If you're ready to stop putting off your business and start hearing Cha Ching, then you're ready for Shopify. Start your free trial@shopify.com MrBallin today. You heard that right. Start your free trial today@shopify.com MrBallin Again, that's shopify.com MrBallen Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why drivers have trusted Progressive's name your price tool for years. Just tell Progressive what you want to pay and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Visit progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates Price and Coverage Match limited by state law. Around 10am on July 26, 2015, a 31 year old mom named Xiang Lu Xuan and her husband chased their two year old son around a brand new indoor playground. This playground was on the sixth floor of a mall in Jingzhou City, which is in central China. And so Xiang and her husband had come to this mall today just so their son could basically enjoy this playground. And currently, he was running around in circles and laughing hysterically. Even he thought it was great. Jiang caught up to her son and scooped him up and then placed him at the top of a slide, and he happily slid down to the bottom. And when he reached the bottom, Jiang was waiting for him. And the sun, he just stopped and looked past her and pointed and started saying, ride, ride. And so Jiang, she turned around, and she saw right behind them were these two escalators, one going up and one going down. And so Jiang realized her son clearly thought these escalators were maybe a part of this playground, and so he wanted to go use them. They were a fun attraction. And so Jiang smiled and took her son's hand and then told her husband, they're gonna go ride the ride, you know, the escalators. And then they began walking over. Once Jiang and her son actually reached the escalator, suddenly her son was not as keen to hop on board. He was nervous. But Jiang, who had ridden escalators many times before, you know, told her son, it's totally safe. And she kind of coaxed him to do it. And eventually he stepped on right alongside her, holding her hand. And about halfway up the escalator, when she was confident her son would be okay, Jiang turned around and looked up towards the top escalator, the seventh floor, where they were going. And she saw three mall employees at the top of the escalator on the seventh floor where they were going. And they were clearly looking at Jiang with a very serious look on their faces. And they were gesturing at something towards the top of the escalator. It seemed like they could be warning her about something or simply pointing something out. She wasn't really sure. And so she looked up at them like, what's going on here? But the three mall employees just didn't do a good job communicating whatever was going on or whatever issue they were dealing with. And so, as a result, Jiang and her son just continued riding up the escalator. And as they got closer and closer, these mall employees continued to gesture at something happening on the seventh floor just beyond the escalator. And Jiang still totally confused. And then finally, when Jiang and her son reached the top and stepped off, Jiang suddenly understood what these employees were referencing. But by now, it was too late. Moments later, Jiang's husband, who was still down below on the sixth floor at the playground, he heard the sound of his Wife and son screaming over near the escalator. And so instinctively, he bolted over to the escalator. He didn't see his wife, didn't see his son, and he began going up the escalator when someone at the top screamed at him to stop and get off the escalator. And so he did. And right then, a mall employee came running down the other side carrying his son. And this person handed the son over to Jiang's husband. And Zhiong just said, where's my wife? Where is she? And this employee, who clearly was completely shocked by whatever had happened up above, just shook their head. It would turn out earlier that day, those mall employees who were at the top, gesturing to Xiang, they had discovered a defect with the metal platform that sits right at the top of the escalator on the seventh floor. Basically, when you get off this escalator, it's the platform you step onto first. They'd found there was something wrong with it. It wasn't stable. But instead of immediately blocking off the escalator to make sure nobody walked on it and then go get it repaired, these employees just kind of nonchalantly allowed the escalator to continue, you know, stationed a couple of them at the top to make sure nobody, you know, used the escalator and then called for a repairman. But the repairman hadn't shown up and fixed this problem by the time Jiang and her son boarded the escalator. And these employees at the top knew there's this huge issue with the platform they're gonna step on the second they get off. But they failed to communicate the danger to Jiang and her son as they were coming up. They just kind of broadly gesticulated that there was some issue up here and to sort of watch out for it. But Xiang had no idea. And so by the time she got to the top and stepped off the escalator onto that platform, well, the defect with the platform is that it caved in with any weight. And so she fell into the escalator where the teeth of the escalator was rotating. And as she was getting pulled in to her death, her final moment captured on video as she took her son and thrusted him to the employees, saving his life before she disappeared and died inside the inner workings of the escalator. Following Zhang's death, there was a full scale investigation, and quickly there were massive safety failures identified on the part of the company who made the escalator and also on the mall itself. Two people were ultimately arrested in connection with Xiung's death. And the safety failures and the mall reportedly offered to pay some settlement to Xiang's family. However, the details of that settlement have not been made public. You can predict the summer soccer showcase action all the way to the final match with FanDuel predicts. All you have to do is sign up to get your $25 bonus. I didn't expect FanDuel predicts to change how I watch these matches, but it really does. It's easy to use, and once you've made your predictions, you start paying a lot more attention to big moments throughout the tournament. Instead of just, you know, kind of casually checking scores along the way, you find yourself following along the entire time to see how everything plays out, which just makes watching way more fun. Sign up now for your $25 bonus on FanDuel Predicts, go to FanDuel.com predicts to sign up. That's FanDuel.com predicts to get your $25 bonus offered by FanDuel Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 bonus is non withdrawable and expires seven days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with their consumer protection tools. Restrictions apply. See terms@fanduel.com predicts bonus offer terms There's a lot of ways to feel alive. One way is to forget everything and be in the moment of excitement. And that's the idea behind the Genesis GV70. It's built to thrill. A thrilling yet elegant design always makes driving the Genesis GV70 an exciting adventure. Its powerful athletic stance screams performance and turns heads command the road and experience a class leading standard 300 horsepower. Plus. Discover the different dynamic drive modes for all different terrains. Choose between the different terrain modes for whatever road conditions you may encounter. The Genesis GV70's award winning technology and performance lets you drive with comfort and drive with confidence. It's an exciting SUV with intuitive tech that can make your ride smooth even where the road is not. And its blind spot cameras allow you to see what's next to you. Its performance is measured not only in power, but also in how it makes you feel. The Genesis GV70 learn more@genesis.com and feel the GV70 shipping is one of those business expenses that people tend to set and forget. But those costs can quietly add up over time and many businesses don't realize they're overpaying. That's why Shipstation stood out to me. It's built to simplify the entire shipping process while helping you find better rates along the way, Shipstation automatically compares rates across UPS, USPS and FedEx on every order, with savings up to 90%. Shipstation is an end to end order fulfillment platform for e commerce businesses, built to handle your entire shipping workflow so your team can focus on growth. Everything from order management to inventory and returns is centralized in one platform. What I like about Shipstation is that it simplifies a process that can otherwise become really time consuming. Having everything in one place, from comparing rates to tracking shipments, makes things much easier. And knowing you're not overpaying for shipping every time an order goes out is a huge bonus. The sooner you switch, the sooner you start saving time and money. Get started with Shipstation today and get 60 days free at shipstation.com with code mrballen. That's shipstation.com code mrballin shipstation.com code misterballin taxes and fees apply. Our next story is called Volunteer. Around 5pm on Sunday, August 15, 1971, a 23 year old man named Michael was sitting inside of his living room in rural Ontario, Canada. Michael was flipping through a photo album that showed pictures of him scuba diving and mountain biking and doing all these really high adrenaline activities because Michael really lived for adventure. And so as he's flipping through this album, he hears a knock on the door. So he stops what he's doing, he goes to the door, he opens it up and there is this police officer who's totally frantic and is speaking a mile a minute and he tells Michael, hey. So we had this guy who was swimming in a lake nearby and he went missing. He's been gone for over an hour, hour now. We don't know where he is. And we were asking around, you know, does anybody have any scuba diving equipment or experience? Because we need to get in there and look for this guy in the lake. And everybody said, you're the guy, you have scuba equipment and maybe you might be able to lend it to us so that, you know, the police could go in there and look for this guy. Now, Michael was kind of caught off guard by all this. I mean, this was not a typical occurrence to have police show up and have this type of request. But Michael immediately felt this sense of responsibility. He did know that he was sort of the top dog in scuba diving in rural Ontario, Canada. And he's hearing this police officer say what he's saying, but he's thinking, even if I give you my equipment, you can't just put the stuff on and safely conduct dives. You need the training as much as you need the equipment. And so Michael just kind of instinctively said, hey, look, I'm not just gonna give you the equipment Because I feel like I'm setting you up for failure here. What if I come with you? I'll put the equipment on, and I'll go look for this guy. I know what I'm doing. I know how to use the equipment. It'll be way safer and more efficient. And the cop said, thank you so much. That would be great. Let's go. And so Kyle, he went and got his scuba equipment, and before long, he had thrown it in the police Cruiser, and the two of them were flying towards the lake. About 30 minutes later, Michael and the police officer pull into this parking lot, this wooded lot with trees everywhere. And straight ahead of them, through the trees, they can see down below is this big lake. And then to the left of the lake is a big dam. And then beyond that, over to the left side of that is a river. And so where the swimmer had gone missing was in the lake portion. And so Michael quickly hopped out of the car, he grabbed his scuba gear, and then he and the officer took off running through the trees down to the lake. And when they got down there, Michael scanned the area, and he saw there were all these police officers and park employees. There were other people who clearly had just come to the lake that day, like tourists. And everybody's kind of scanning the lake. No one's really in the water, but everyone's sort of walking around the perimeters, like, hoping they can just see this missing swimmer somewhere. And also, Michael noticed clearly the family of this missing man was off to the side, and many of them were crying. But it definitely seemed like no serious search effort had really happened yet. It's like everybody was just kind of waiting for something to happen. And so when Michael shows up with all his scuba gear, it was like everybody looked at him as, like, oh, my goodness. Thank you. Like, get in there. Find him. Like, I bet he's okay. Like, get out there. And Michael, you know, he's thinking to himself that he hadn't done a search like this before. But the fact somebody was missing for that long already did not bode well. But he thought, you know what? I'm gonna go in there. I'm gonna give it my best shot, and I hope we find this guy still alive. And so Michael put on all his equipment right on the shore side. And everyone's waiting, kind of watching, anxious about what's gonna happen next. And once he had donned his equipment, Michael stood up and just Began scanning the lake, looking for any sign of where to begin the search. Cause it's just one man in this huge body of water. He needs sort of a starting point. And so it's quiet. Everyone's just kind of watching Michael as Michael's looking around the lake. And then at some point, he looked out, and he saw there was this little ripple sort of right in the middle of the lake. Now, the surface of the lake had basically been glass, like, because nobody was really in the water, save for, like, the very perimeter of the lake. And so the water was very calm. But he sees there's this little ripple sort of right in the middle. And so Michael points out the ripple to the other officer he was with. And sort of anybody who could listen to. And he said, okay, I'm gonna go in there and start searching right there. So Michael goes into the water, kind of wades in till about his waist. And then he kind of looked around one more time, put on his mask and went under the water. About 15 minutes later, the police officer who had originally gone and gotten Michael and driven with him to the lake, he was still just standing on the lake shore. Along with the missing swimmer's family and other searchers. And pretty much everybody was just kind of waiting for Michael to give some sort of report about how the search was going. Now, Michael easily had enough air in his tanks to be out there for quite some time to do a pretty thorough search. And they're only 15 minutes in, so they don't really know if this is too early to expect feedback from Michael. But it's just tense. Everybody's just waiting, you know, waiting to see what's gonna happen. But at some point, as this officer is just standing there, One of the volunteer searchers comes bombing along the shore from up near the dam. They ran right down to this officer and said, hey, you gotta come with me. We found something over there in the river. And so, you know, at this point, the police officer is thinking, I bet they found the missing swimmer. You know, they're probably not in this lake. Maybe they found them over in the river. And he's thinking the worst, right? So he runs with the searcher. He goes to the dam. He goes to the riverside on the other side of the dam. And there's this crowd of searchers and police that are all along the shore of the river. And so this police officer pushes through the crowd expecting, frankly, at this point, to see a dead body, to see the missing swimmer. But when he parts the crowd and sees what they're all looking at, he realizes there has been a terrible mistake. So two hours earlier, when this missing swimmer first went missing, this is like before Michael was ever contacted, you know, before he was out there searching for him. This is like the initial wave of panic that we have a person who is missing somewhere in this water. Well, a park employee had been really motivated to try to help with the search and the. And so without really telling anybody, they ran into the control room of the dam. And in there they turned a valve. And this particular valve opened up a pipe that spanned from the lake back through to the river. And when this valve was turned and the pipe was opened up, water from the lake would go back into the river, basically draining the lake. This employee was thinking, if I drain the lake, it'll make it easier to search the lake where we believe this man has gone missing. Like this will make it easier to search the lake. And so this pipe has been opened up, this 2 foot in diameter, 30 foot long pipe connecting river and lake. And it's sucking water like mad from the lake into that river. Nobody had really gone into the lake to look for this missing swimmer, believe it or not. So the lake really hadn't been touched as soon as this valve was turned. So the first person who went into the lake once that was opened up was Michael with a scuba gear on. And when he went into the water and actually flagged the ripple on the surface of the water, he didn't realize this, but that ripple represented this deadly undercurrent of all the water being sucked into this pipe. And so as soon as he went out and went under the water, the current pulled him so quickly and so hard that he couldn't resurface. All his equipment got yanked off his body and he was thrust into this pipe. And in the pipe he got stuck and he drowned inside of the pipe before eventually being forced out the other end where his body spilled out onto the shore of the river. That's what everybody was crowded around once they got up to the riverside. Michael's dead body. Four hours after Michael's body was found, they would find the missing swimmer. His body was located about 150 yards away from where Michael had first entered the lake. His body was found on the shore of the lake. And so Michael had sort of been close, but unfortunately that current had pulled him under and killed him. Today, the lake has been permanently drained in part because of this tragedy. This is a paid ad by BetterHelp. Even in 2026, stigma can get in the way of a lot of things like, for example, getting support for your mental health. Maybe you've encouraged friends to consider therapy while avoided taking the first step yourself because you're busy. Or maybe you're worried about what others might think. Or maybe you're just telling yourself you should handle it alone. I mean, I've definitely had times when I told myself I could handle it on my own and just kept pushing forward instead of taking care of what was bothering me. But now, looking back, that really usually just made things way harder than they had to be. But therapy with BetterHelp, the world's largest online therapy platform, can be a space to slow down and talk through what's been building before it feels unmanageable. Just take a short questionnaire and BetterHelp will handle the initial therapist matching work for you and their industry leading match rate means BetterHelp typically gets it right the first time and you'll feel confident knowing betterhelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully qualified. Don't let hesitation hold you back. Find support with BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off@betterhelp.com MrBallPod that's betterhelp.com MrBallPod you know how you look around your house and you think, man, this room could really use an update. But then you also convince yourself that it'll be so expensive or just like a massive project and so you don't do it. I've definitely done that until I realized even a few small changes can still completely transform a space. Wayfair has thousands of products to help you make your space feel like you, from furniture and decor to outdoor essentials and storage solutions. Also without breaking the bank. Plus, Wayfair Verified makes shopping way easier by highlighting hand vetted items that have been checked for quality, functionality and just overall value. I've used Wayfair for a couple of different projects around my house. I ordered Adirondack chairs for outside and bar stools for inside, and both of those purchases instantly made those spaces feel way more put together. I'd recommend Wayfair to anyone who's been putting off a home refresh because Wayfair makes it really easy to update your home without overthinking or overpaying for it. Ready to upgrade your home for way less? Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less. That's W A Y-F A I R.com Wayfair Every style every Home Wayfair Every Style Every Home the next and final story of today's episode is called the Messiest Place. On the morning of Tuesday, July 13, 1993, a middle aged nurse named Sharon Dempsey hurried down the hallway of the Meharry Hubbard Hospital, which was in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. And as she went down the hallway, Sharon checked in every single hospital room because she was searching for a patient that kept disappearing from her room. When Sharon reached the end of the hallway, she looked into the last room, and there inside was the woman she was looking for. Her name was Mildred lancaster. She was 69 years old, and she was sweeping the floor of another patient's room with a broom that Sharon knew she had taken from the custodian's cart. Sharon walked in and she politely asked Mildred, you know, what are you doing here? And Mildred turned to her and just said, oh, she was just doing her job. At this. Sharon, the nurse, just sort of sighed and kind of rolled her eyes because, you know, obviously this was not Mildred's job. Mildred was a patient. She had been admitted to the hospital two days earlier, primarily because she was having stomach pain. But she also suffered from severe bouts of confusion, which is something she was witnessing right here. Her family had told doctors that, you know, Mildred had spent most of her life being a housekeeper. And so when she would get confused, which, you know, they saw plenty of times, she often would sort of default to thinking that she was back to being a housekeeper. Even though, you know, she was home or clearly not working, she would think she was working. And so when Mildred began demonstrating this kind of bizarre, disoriented behavior, there was some consideration to actually just physically restraining Mildred inside of her room to keep her from vanishing and, you know, going and thinking she was a housekeeper somewhere. You know, she could get into trouble or get hurt. However, Mildred was this very sweet and gentle woman who, you know, it was just hard to forcibly restrain inside of her room. And so instead, the medical team decided that we're just going to have to deal with the fact that periodically she's going to, you know, think she's at work and might walk out of a room and go start cleaning somewhere. And so we need to keep a close eye on her and keep her safe and just deal with her stomach pain and sort of manage her disorientation. And so in this moment, Sharon, the nurse, who's just found Mildred, once again cleaning some room she was not supposed to be in. She just, you know, floated, followed their protocol and went in and kind of gently told Mildred, like, okay, you know, put the broom down, come with Me. And, you know, Mildred listened, and she led Mildred back to her room. And Sharon continued going about her day. A couple of days later, and Sharon was doing her regular rounds through the hospital. And as she did, she went into Mildred's room. And once again, she saw the room was empty. Now, Sharon was actually just kind of annoyed at this point. She wasn't really concerned because by this point, point, Mildred had done this, had, you know, become disoriented and left to go clean or something so many times by this point that it was just kind of a hassle. But, you know, Sharon just followed protocol and quickly left the room. And began walking along the floor looking for Mildred so she could bring her back. But after searching the floor, she didn't find Mildred. And so after checking the whole floor again, but this time much more thoroughly looking in every closet, every supply area, I mean, really searching the area and still not finding her, that's when Sharon began to panic. She began going to other nurses and doctors and asking them, have you seen Mildred? And remember, at this point, the whole floor is aware of what's going on with Mildred, but nobody had seen her, so nobody knew where she was. And so Sharon ultimately went and spoke to the higher ups at the hospital. And informed them what was going on here. And in turn, they launched this huge search all across the hospital, both inside and outside, to just go find Mildred and her get back. And while the search is ongoing, Sharon was walking around trying to be helpful. Because, you know, she was somebody that worked closely with Mildred and had a sense of where she might go. And she was telling folks to go to messy areas. Because Mildred, when she would get confused, would basically go clean areas she deemed messy. And so go to parts of the hospital that might look messy. And so people were doing that. But this hospital, I mean, it was huge. It was 11 stories tall. And there were lots of areas that appeared messy. And so it just seemed like a kind of overwhelming task. To quickly search this massive property for Mildred. And then on top of that, making it even harder to find Mildred. Was the fact that the hospital didn't have security cameras. So they couldn't just pull up the footage and see if maybe Mildred had walked outside or something. After about an hour of the search going on, when still they had not found Mildred. And people were starting to wonder, like, are we even going to find her at all? It was at that point that something new and really concerning happened. Sharon called Mildred's cousin to let her and the rest of Mildred's family know that Mildred was missing. And that this time it was actually pretty serious that they hadn't found her. But as Sharon is breaking this news to the cousin. The cousin stops her and says. Well, wait a minute. I think I know what's going on here. Because apparently, a few hours earlier. The cousin had gone to the hospital to visit Mildred. And when they got there and spoke to the receptionist. The receptionist looked up Mildred to see what room she was in. And on their system, it showed that Mildred had checked out of the hospital that morning. So she was not there. And so, of course, this big search for Mildred was not gonna find her. Because she wasn't at the hospital. But this really made no sense to Sharon. I mean, it did logically make sense. That if she checked out. That would explain why she wasn't here. But Mildred should not have been allowed to check out of the hospital. She still definitely was not well. Not just her confusion, but also the stomach pain she was having. Like, she was still totally sick and should not have been discharged. But, you know, the cousin was adamant that they actually left the hospital. Because they told them, like, you know, Mildred's not here. There's no one to go visit. She's gone. She checked out. And so Sharon hung up with the cousin. And quickly ran down the hall. To go talk to the receptionist. To see if it was actually true that Mildred had been discharged. And when the receptionist looked it up, sure enough, it was true. Mildred had checked out. And so at this point, Sharon. I mean, she could not believe what she was hearing. This didn't make sense. And so Sharon kind of not knowing what to do next. She walked away from the receptionist. And she just walked over to the window. That looked out to the front of the hospital. And she was just standing there wondering what she should do. And as she was standing there, she was just looking outside kind of absentmindedly. And she saw all these cars whizzing by. You know, all these busy streets out there. And she suddenly had this thought. Like, well, wait a minute. What if Mildred, in her confused state. Like, went to the front desk. And somehow talked her way out. And got discharged. And is now wandered out into the streets. And what if she's gotten hit by a car or something like this could be an emergency. I have to do something. And so Sharon's first thought was, I gotta call the police. And so not long after this, after Sharon did call the authorities. The police arrived at the hospital. Hospital. And they arrived along with search dogs. And one of the search dogs almost immediately picked up Mildred's scent. By one of the front doors of the hospital. And the dog led its handler down the street, which seemed to confirm that Mildred really had left the hospital. And so officers would search a full square mile around the hospital, and they even got a helicopter to begin flying overhead. And the search went on for days, but nobody found Mildred. There was no sign of her. She just disappeared. Until almost two weeks later, on Wednesday, July 28. So, 13 days after Mildred went missing, A security guard walked into a construction site on his daily patrol. And at the very edge of the site, he noticed there was a long, thin hole in the ground that was about five feet deep that had been dug to lay some pipework. But when the security guard just happened to walk over and look down into the hole, he gasped, because he saw Mildred. It would turn out on the day Mildred disappeared, she did become very confused. And she believed she was once again a housekeeper. And she went out, you know, left her room to go do some work. And so Mildred just began wandering around the hospital for quite a while. And surprisingly, nobody stopped her, Even though she had left the floor that she was supposed to be on. But she was just such a pleasant person and so nice that she just kind of passed by people and nobody said anything. And after wandering around for quite some time and going in and out of different places and up and down flights of stairs, she eventually found this construction site. And to her, it was not a construction site. Instead, it was this horribly messy area that needed to be cleaned. Because there was pieces of wood and plastic and debris everywhere. And so she just began to clean. And after a while, she had picked up quite a bit of debris, and she had basically straightened the whole area out. But as she walked around towards the back of the site, she did not see a hole in the ground, and she fell inside. And because Mildred was just very disoriented, she likely didn't understand that she had, you know, fallen into a hole and needs to climb out again. And so in this dark space, this dark, confined space, she would have just continued to feel more and more disoriented. And maybe didn't even attempt to climb out. But however it happened, she just stayed in that hole and remained undetected for days until she just eventually died. But perhaps the most tragic aspect of this case Is that Mildred actually never left the hospital. That construction site was on the 10th floor of the hospital. Mildred had just kind of meandered her way up to that floor, and that floor was being renovated. That was the construction site, and she had fallen in that hole. Then you have all these people that are searching the hospital looking for her, and they searched that construction site, but they didn't look down into this little hole. And Mildred, assuming she was alive when they were up there, didn't have the wherewithal to call out for help. She was confused and just stayed quiet in that hole. And so she was never found. Today, it's still not known why Mildred was listed as having been discharged on the day she went missing. Because she was not discharged. Some people say maybe it was added into the system by mistake or perhaps it was just a glitch in the system. But however it happened, it was just an anomaly. And then also the police dog that found Mildred's scent that took the authorities away from the hospital. That's also anomalous. We don't know how or why that happened. Ultimately, Mildred's family would sue the hospital for $13 million in damages, but eventually they dropped the case. A quick note about our stories they are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. The Mr. Ballin podcast Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories is hosted and executive Produced by me, Mr. Ballin. Our head of writing is Evan Allen. Produced by Jeremy Bone and Cole Locasio Research and fact checking by Shelly Shue, Samantha Van Hus Evan Beamer Abigail Shumway, Camille Callahan Alex Paul, Ben Faciano Research and fact checking supervision by Steven Ear Audio editing and post produced by Whit Locascio and Jordan Stidham Production support by Antonio Minata and Delaina Corley Artwork by Jessica Clogston Kiner Theme song Something Wicked by Ross Bugden thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. And just a reminder, every new and exclusive episode we put out on the Mr. Ballin podcast, you can also now watch on the Mr. Ballin YouTube channel that very same day. And trust me, some of these stories you truly have to see to believe. Again, my YouTube channel is just called Mr. Ballin. If you want to listen to episodes one week early and ad free, you can subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. So that's gonna do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time. See y.
- [33:16]
B
Traditional home security only alerts you after a break in and that's too late. Simplisafe is changing that.
- [33:22]
A
Stop. This is Simplisafe. Police are on the way.
- [33:25]
B
We don't just alert, we stop crime before it starts. SimpliSafe plans starting around a dollar a day, save 50% on your new system with professional monitoring at at simplisafe.com sxm or with promo code sxm Outdoor deterrence
- [33:39]
A
requires a SimpliSafe Active Guard Outdoor Protection Plan starting at $49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com licenses for alarm license information. Tennessee 2012 hey everybody, it's me, Mr. Ballin. Thank you so much for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast each week. If you want to hear new episodes ad free and a whole week early, subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice or.