Cost of Adventure

Summary

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MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode: Cost of Adventure

Date: October 9, 2025
Host: Mr. Ballin (Ballen Studios)

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Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, "Cost of Adventure," MrBallen presents four harrowing stories where adventure takes a dark and unexpected turn. Each tale dives into the thrill-seeker's world, exposing both the exhilaration and hidden dangers that accompany the pursuit of extreme experiences. The stories are:

1. Bungee – When a dream adventure in Colombia turns to tragedy
2. Geocaching – An underground treasure hunt becomes a race against floodwaters
3. 127 Hours – The true survival story of Aron Ralston, forced to an unthinkable act
4. Headcount – How a college outing in India ends with a chilling discovery in a photo

MrBallen’s signature storytelling style brings suspense, empathy, and a dark edge to each narrative, leaving listeners both fascinated and reflective about the unpredictable price of adventure.

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Key Stories, Insights, and Notable Moments

1. Bungee (Starts at 02:40)

Setting:
A decommissioned train bridge in the Colombian jungle near Amaga, now used as a bustling bungee jumping spot.

Story Details:

• Protagonist: Yesenia Gomez, a 25-year-old lawyer from Medellin, finally commits to her long-held wish of bungee jumping, accompanied by her boyfriend.
• Anticipation and Anxiety: The couple waits hours in line while Yesenia’s nerves escalate. Her boyfriend reassures her, but her anxiety grows.
• The Fatal Mistake: At the jump platform, in a panic and miscommunication, Yesenia leaps after a staff member says "okay, jump"—orders meant for her boyfriend, not her.
• Oversight: The staff had only put the harness on Yesenia, not the bungee cord.
• Tragedy: Yesenia jumps unconnected and plummets. Her boyfriend races to her but it’s too late.
• Shocking Revelation:
  • "It would later be determined Yesenia did not die from impacting the ground. She actually died from a heart attack she suffered on the fall down." (07:25)

Memorable Quote:

• "Literally, the fear of what was about to happen to her was what killed her." – Mr. Ballin [07:49]

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2. Geocaching (Starts at 08:16)

Background:
The rise of geocaching after the removal of GPS selective availability, spawning a global treasure-hunting craze.

Story Details:

• Setting: An underground 5km tunnel in the Czech Republic, accessed from either end, prone to severe flooding.
• Event: On June 9, 2018, four friends descend into the tunnel to find a particularly hard geocache, heedless of the imminent storm.
• Disaster Strikes: Intense rain floods both tunnel ends; two waves of water converge on the group.
• Survival and Loss:
  • Two manage to swim through rising, oxygen-starved water, narrowly escaping at the lake end with mere inches to spare.
  • The other two are swept under and drown.
• Vivid Detail:
  • "They swam almost 2km in this tunnel...barely able to breathe by the end. They only had about a couple inches of clearance by the time they got to the lake." [12:04]

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3. 127 Hours (Starts at 14:48)

True Survival Story:

• Protagonist: Aron Ralston, an outdoor enthusiast who, after leaving a corporate career, dedicates his life to mountaineering.
• Incident:
  • While hiking solo in Utah’s Blue John Canyon, a 800lb boulder pins his arm. He’s far from help, with minimal supplies and no cell service.
• The Ordeal:
  • Trapped for five days with little food or water, he contemplates but initially dismisses amputation with his dull multi-tool.
  • Becomes delirious, records farewell messages. A vivid dream gives him resolve.
• Unthinkable Choice:
  • "He broke his arm. Takes his multi tool. And over the next hour, he would painstakingly saw through his entire arm." [19:00]
  • After freeing himself, he climbs out one-armed, finds help, and survives.
• Aftermath:
  • The immense boulder required a team and heavy equipment to move.
  • Ralston's story inspired the film "127 Hours," which he described as basically "a documentary." [21:32]

Memorable Quote:

• “You had to cut your arm off in order to get out of there. There was no other way out.” – Mr. Ballin [21:43]

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4. Headcount (Starts at 22:05)

College Trip Gone Wrong:

• Setting: Southern India; a popular hiking spot ending at an ancient Hindu temple, with a nearby walled pool seen as sacred.
• Event:
  • Sanjay and about 20 college friends take what begins as a joyful trip.
  • On arrival, the group, tired and hot, jumps into the inviting (off-limits) temple pool. Vishwas, one of the group, initially declines, reading a nearby plaque.
  • At Sanjay's urging, Vishwas joins—unbeknownst to all, Vishwas can’t swim.
  • Amid chaotic swimming and photo-taking, the group moves on, not noticing Vishwas’ absence.
• Ominous Discovery:
  • Later, Sanjay reviews the pool selfie: "He looks closer...the smile on his face faded, and he began to panic just a little bit." [26:42]
  • Frantically searching, he can’t find Vishwas. The police are called.
  • "The reason why Sanjay's friend Vishwas was not in the water with everybody else...it's because Vishwas did not know how to swim. But he didn't tell anyone." [29:13]
  • The tragic truth: Vishwas drowned, visible only as the top of his head in the group photo.
• Emotional Impact:
  • "He really did manage to get all of his friends in frame somehow. Except one of them was Vishwas. And you can only see the top of his head. It's because he was drowning in the background of that photo. Just nobody knew it." [30:53]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the cost of impulsive adventure:
  “Literally, the fear of what was about to happen to her was what killed her.” – Mr. Ballin [07:49]

• On solo survival:
  “You had to cut your arm off in order to get out of there. There was no other way out.” – Mr. Ballin [21:43]

• Chilling realization by Sanjay:
  “He looks at it, and he smiles...but as Sanjay was looking at this photo, he realized there was something odd about it...the smile on his face faded, and he began to panic just a little bit.” [26:42-26:52]

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Thematic Insights

• Adventure and Danger: Each story explores the thin line between thrill and peril. Adventure, though exhilarating, often conceals hazards that can turn deadly in an instant.
• Human Error and Miscommunication: Mistakes—whether a misunderstood command or disregarded weather forecasts—play a central role in each catastrophe.
• The Hidden Cost: The title’s theme is echoed in each tale: the emotional, physical, and sometimes fatal price individuals pay in pursuit of adventure.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:40] — Bungee
• [08:16] — Geocaching
• [14:48] — 127 Hours
• [22:05] — Headcount

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Final Notes

The episode concludes with a reminder that all stories are based on true events, but some names have been changed and details altered for privacy and dramatic effect.

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MrBallen’s captivating delivery and vivid detail immerse listeners in each true tale, offering both a thrill and a sobering reflection on how quickly the pursuit of adventure can go awry.

Transcript

[Mr. Ballin]

Hey prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Today's podcast will feature four stories about adventures that go wrong.

[Narrator]

The audio from all four of these.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

Stories has been pulled from our main.

[Mr. Ballin]

YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.

[Narrator]

The links to the original YouTube videos.

[Mr. Ballin]

Are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called.

[Narrator]

Bungie, and it's about a couple who.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

Decides to go bungee jumping, but it.

[Mr. Ballin]

Does not go as planned. The second story you'll hear is called.

[Narrator]

Geocaching, and it's about four young people.

[Mr. Ballin]

Who explore this underground tunnel during a scavenger hunt. The third story you'll hear is called.

[Narrator]

127 Hours, and it's about a man.

[Mr. Ballin]

On a solo hike who is forced to make a gruesome decision. And the fourth and final story you'll hear is called Headcount, and it's about.

[Narrator]

This group of boys who go for.

[Mr. Ballin]

A hike and at first everything is going great until they realize their headcount is off. But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format.

[Narrator]

Then you've come to the right podcast. Because that's all we do.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

And we upload twice a week, once.

[Mr. Ballin]

On Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please offer to give the Follow button some acupuncture, but after you put all the needles in their back, just leave. Okay, let's get into our first story called Bungee. The show is brought to you by progressive, fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

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[Narrator]

Just outside of the popular tourist town of Amaga in northern Colombia lies this thick, thick green jungle. And if you know where to look, there is actually a walking path that leads you from Amanga deep into this jungle. And if you keep going, it will bring you all the way to this terrifying, enormous old railroad bridge that spans this huge ravine. Now, this bridge is no longer used by trains. It's been decommissioned. However, since its decommissioning, there's actually been, ironically, more traffic on this bridge. Although it is the foot traffic variety. People come out to this bridge to go bungee jumping. Bungee jumping is a thrill seeking activity where people will leap off of high places like this bridge, and they'll jump with an elastic rope tied to their ankles. And so this rope has been very carefully measured so that when it is fully stretched all the way out, it ensures whoever has jumped will still not impact the ground. Back in early July of 2021, a 25 year old Colombian lawyer named Yesenia Gomez, who, who lived about an hour north of Amaga in the larger city of Medellin, she told her boyfriend that she wanted to go bungee jumping. This was something Yesenia had talked about for a long time, wanting to go bungee jumping. But every time it became a real thing and they were actually going to go do it, she would back down because she was just too scared. But for whatever reason, In July of 2021, Yesenia had the confidence and the courage to actually see this thing through. And so her boyfriend, when he heard how serious she was, he capitalized on the opportunity because he had never bungee jumped before and he really wanted to, but he couldn't without his girlfriend. And so now it seemed like she was serious. And so right away, he called the Amaga Bungee jumping company to book a.

[Story Contributor]

Slot for he and Yesenia to jump.

[Narrator]

Off of their bridge. So on the day they were supposed to jump, which was Sunday, July 18, Yesenia and her boyfriend hopped in their car and they drove an hour south to Omaga. And when they got there, they found the walking trail and they made their way out to this bridge. And when they get out to this bridge, they are amazed at the number of people who were already in line on this bridge waiting to jump off of it. They knew this was a popular spot, but perhaps they didn't realize just how popular it was. And so Yesenia and her boyfriend, they get in line behind the nearly 100 other jumpers ahead of them, and they proceed to wait. And over the next several hours, Yesenia and her boyfriend would have front row.

[Story Contributor]

Seats to all of the jumpers ahead.

[Narrator]

Of them jumping off the bridge. Now it seems like Yesenia, in her Mind believed she would arrive at this bridge, and very quickly she and her boyfriend would leap off, and it would be great and so much fun. But now they've been forced to wait for a really long time. And this whole time, they're watching other people jump, and Yesenia is starting to panic. Suddenly, bungee jumping looked terrifying. It did not look like something she wanted to do. And so she was beginning to second guess her decision. And so her boyfriend, he's trying to calm her down, and he's telling her, oh, it's totally safe. Look at all these people who have jumped. They're all fine, they're all smiling, they're so happy. You're going to be so proud of yourself. But despite his best efforts to calm his girlfriend down, Yesenia just could not calm down. But she did tell her boyfriend that she's not about to back down. She's going to go through with this. And so several hours went by at this totally high stress, anxious waiting period, and. And then finally, Yesenia and her boyfriend reach the front of the line, at which point the staff members who've been doing this all day long, they signal the two to step forward and get their harnesses on. And so Yesenia and her boyfriend, they make their way to the edge of the platform. So they're looking out over this ravine, and the staff members are putting on their harnesses and getting them ready. And the whole time, Yesenia, she's starting.

[Story Contributor]

To get tunnel vision.

[Narrator]

Her heart is racing, she's totally panicked. She doesn't think this is fun at all. She just wants to get this over with. And then at some point, one of the staff members finally says, okay, jump.

[Mr. Ballin]

And so Yesenia jumps.

[Narrator]

Except it would turn out Yesenia had made a mistake. That staff member who had said, okay, jump was talking to her boyfriend, not Yesenia. However, Yesenia, in her totally panicked state, had just not understood and had leapt, believing they were telling her to jump. However, the staff members had only put her harness on. They had not attached the actual elastic.

[Story Contributor]

Rope to her ankles.

[Narrator]

And so when Yesenia jumped, there was nothing stopping her from smashing into the ground. And so as soon as she leapt off the bridge, her boyfriend ripped off all of his gear and he ran down the bridge. He leapt over the railing and he ran down the hillside all the way to the bottom of this ravine. But when he finally got to his girlfriend, it was already too late.

[Mr. Ballin]

She was already gone.

[Narrator]

It would later be determined Yesenia did not die from impacting the ground. She actually died from a heart attack. She suffered on the fall down, which means she must have realized after she jumped that she jumped too early, that she did not have the bungee cord.

[Mr. Ballin]

Attached to her legs.

[Narrator]

And so literally, the fear of what.

[Mr. Ballin]

Was about to happen to her was killed her. Our next story is called geocaching.

[Narrator]

On May 2, 2000, at approximately midnight Eastern Standard Time, the US government discontinued its use of selective availability. Selective availability was the intentional degradation of public GPS signals. It guaranteed that civilian GPS users would not be able to pinpoint locations on a map. Using their GPS, they could get to within maybe 50 to 100 meters, but that was the best they could do. Prior to the year 2000, there was some concern that if you gave the general public the ability to use GPS to precisely locate things on a map, that that presented an elevated national security risk. But that line of thinking became antiquated. And so, on May 2nd, just after midnight, the so called great blue switch, as GPS enthusiasts refer to it, was flipped. And instantly tens of thousands of GPS receivers received this incredible upgrade. People who were following this development were eager to test out this new capability. And one such GPS enthusiast, a guy named Dave Ulmer, who lived in Oregon, decided he wanted to create a sort of GPS treasure hunt. So he got this box, and inside of it he put a notebook and a pen, and he brought it out to the middle of the woods in Oregon, and he got the precise GPS coordinates of where he put it. And he took those coordinates and he went to an online forum and he posted the coordinates. And he said, go to these coordinates and when you get there, if you find what you're looking for, there'll be a notebook. Record yourself in the notebook and I'll be out there to check who's done this and, and if your name's in there, I'll give you credit on this forum. And so this treasure hunt went viral, and lots of people all over the world thought it was a really cool idea to use this new GPS technology to create treasure hunts all over the world. So people started hiding not just treasure chests with notebooks, but all sorts of random things all over the world and then posting their coordinates online for people to find. This activity was given a name, Geocaching, and it's alive and well today, and it's streamlined on the official Geocaching app. But as geocaching has evolved over the years, so too has the level of difficulty at finding some of these caches. Sometimes it requires geocachers to climb mountains, other times it requires them to dive underwater. And in one case, Geocachers in the Czech Republic had to climb into this strictly off limits, five kilometer long underground tunnel where the only two entry points were on the two extreme ends. And to get to the geocache, you had to go to the middle of the tunnel. And of course, periodically this tunnel completely floods. On June 9, 2018, four geocachers in the Czech Republic decided, you know what, we're gonna go down into that tunnel and we're gonna get that geocache. So they made their way over to the Matalski Brook tunnel, which was one of the two entry points, and they climbed down inside. The reason this tunnel periodically floods is because rainwater gets dumped in there and, and the second entry point is literally sitting in a lake. There is literally water sitting right up against the lip of this entry point. So even light rain will get the lake to rise just enough to where all the lake water pours into this tunnel. And so the day these four geocachers are going into this tunnel, the weather forecast called for torrential downpours, flash flooding, and either these four geocachers were not paying attention to the weather or, or they somehow thought this wouldn't affect their ability to get this geocache. So these geocachers get down into the tunnel and they start making their way towards the center to collect their prize. When outside it starts pouring rain. It rained so much so fast that the lake entrance started dumping tens of thousands of gallons of water in on one side. And then on the other side, where this other entrance was at the bottom of a hill, you had all this water rushing in. So it was like two huge waves of water crashing in on them. And in fact, the survivors would say, because they were right towards the middle of the tunnel, they heard what sounded like a car was getting closer and closer and closer. And that's when they realized it was two waves of water crashing in on them. In a panic, they turned and started running back towards the entrance they came in on. But as they're running, they're hit with this wave. And two of the geocachers got sucked underneath, the other two were pushed up and were basically body surfing their way towards the lake entrance. And so as they're moving forward, the wave from the lake comes in and hits them. And now the water is dangerously close to the ceiling. And the two that have been pushed towards the lake entrance, they don't know what's happened to the other two, but they're just swimming as fast as they can towards the lake entrance. And they swam almost 2km in this tunnel. As the water got higher and higher and higher and they're barely able to breathe by the end. They only had about a couple inches of clearance by the time they got to the lake. They finally pop out and they get in the lake and then luckily there was someone that saw them and brought their boat over and picked them up. As for their two friends, unfortunately they didn't get out of there in time and they both drowned.

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[Story Contributor]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Liberty Mutual Advertiser]

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[Mr. Ballin]

Hey listeners, Big news for true crime lovers. You can now enjoy this podcast ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership. Listen to all episodes of my podcasts, Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries and Mr. Ballin's Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories, along with a huge collection of top true crime podcasts. Completely ad free. No more wading through cliffhangers or dealing with ads, because let's be honest, ads shouldn't be the most nerve wracking part of true crime. To start your ad free listening journey, download the Amazon Music app for free or head to Amazon.com ballen that's Amazon.com B A L L E N Dive into uninterrupted true crime stories today. Our next story is called 127 Hours.

[Narrator]

While he was in college at Carnegie Mellon University, Aron Ralston studied mechanical engineering, French and piano and and then upon graduation, he moved to the Southwest and took a job as an engineer. But five years into his corporate job, he realized he hated it. And so he quit and moved to Colorado to pursue his real passion in life, which was mountain climbing. On April 25, 2003, Ralston takes a trip to Utah, where he plans to explore the Canyonlands National Park. He slept in his truck that night and the next morning at about 9:15am he gets up and it's this beautiful Saturday morning. He hops on his bike and he bikes 15 miles to Blue John Canyon. The canyon was an 11 mile gorge that at certain places was as narrow as 3ft across. And so Aaron locks up his bike and he begins walking through this canyon. About six hours later, at 2:45pm, Aaron is right at this section of the gorge that's getting really, really narrow. And below him is about 100ft down to the bottom of the dark, the desert floor. He was going to walk with both feet on either wall because it was so narrow and kind of spider man his way through this section of the canyon. But as he began that maneuver, a huge 800 pound boulder became dislodged above him. And it comes tumbling down. And he barely gets out of the way, but it lands on his arm and it pins his arm against the wall. And he can't move. And he's suspended 100ft off the ground and he's 20 miles away from the nearest paved road. Immediately he tries to pull his hand free and push the rock off, but it's not going anywhere. And that's when it dawns on him that he didn't tell anybody he was going to be in this gorge today. No one knows he's here. And he's so far away from anyone that can help him. And he doesn't have a cell phone.

[Story Contributor]

Doesn'T have a radio.

[Narrator]

He's got no way to communicate with anyone who could potentially help him. Now, the position he was in was not him dangling by his arm 100ft off the ground. He was able to position himself against the rocks where he wasn't dangling. He was able to sit fairly comfortably Besides his arm being crushed. And he was able to use the rock that actually had pinned him there As a sort of table or something to lean up against. And after he calms down a little bit, After a few minutes, he reaches back and he pulls his bag out in front and he starts taking inventory.

[Mr. Ballin]

Of what he has.

[Narrator]

And all he had was 12 ounces of water, so just a single water bottle. And he had two burritos and some candy bar crumbs. That was all he had in terms of tools. All he had was this crummy multi tool. And it did have a little knife that extended off the end. And almost immediately, he takes that multi tool and begins chopping away at this boulder to try to see if he can maybe crack it and push half of it off. But he's finding out very quickly that it's completely futile. It is not moving. It is an enormous boulder. It's not going anywhere. He cannot possibly break it with this.

[Mr. Ballin]

Crappy little multi tool.

[Narrator]

As the sun began to set, Aaron started thinking really seriously about trying to cut his, his arm off. But again, all he has is this multi tool and this crappy little dull knife. And he's thinking, there's no way I can cut through my arm. There's bone in there. I can't possibly saw through the bone. And so, very disheartened, he puts his multi tool away, and he begins to nurse the water and slowly eat the food and thinks maybe some miracle will happen where over the next couple of days, someone will be within earshot. I can yell to them and they can come get me, or maybe someone will see me when they're hiking overhead. I can just wait it out. But by the fifth day, he had run out of water. He was becoming delirious. He was actually drinking his own urine at this point. And he expected to die overnight. And so with his multi tool, he etched his name into the rock, and then underneath it, he etched the date he expected to die, which was the next day. And then after that, he put his multi tool down, and he did have a camera with limited battery. And he pulled that out, and selfie style, he filmed goodbyes to his family.

[Aron Ralston (in recording)]

My name's Erwin Ralston. My parents are Donald and Larry Ralston of Englewood, Colorado. Whoever finds this, please make an attempt to get it to them. Be sure of it. I would appreciate it.

[Narrator]

After he was done filming, he put the camera away and he leaned up against the rock and fully expected to die. But he starts to have this really intense dream where he sees himself playing with a child, and he's missing his right arm. And he takes that as a sign that he's supposed to chop his arm off and get out of here alive and go start a family. And so he wakes up from this dream, and suddenly all he wants to do is survive. And he looks at his arm, which is already starting to decompose at this point, and he thinks to himself, I know I can't cut through bone, but what if I'm able to break my arm clean through? I can take this blade and cut through the break in the bone. And so he began testing, using the edge of the rock as a fulcrum to see if he'd be able to break his arm using the torque of pushing it over the edge of the rock. And when he started to sense it was possible, he took a deep breath. And then he broke his arm. Takes his multi tool. And over the next hour, he would painstakingly saw through his entire arm. Once his arm was free, he couldn't believe it. He actually smiled when he saw his arm still pinned underneath the rock. Because of his sheer will to live at this point, and high on adrenaline, he climbed these 65ft out of this canyon with his one arm. He gets to the trail and he runs six miles and he happens to run into a group of hikers that give him food and water. And they're totally alarmed by him, but they're happy to help him. They call 911 and medics arrive and they save Aaron's life. Following Aron Ralston's rescue, they went back to retrieve his arm. But in order to move that boulder, they had to bring out 13 park rangers, a hydraulic jack and a winch, and all this heavy equipment, and they were barely able to move it. And they told Aaron, had you still been in place, there's no way we could have placed the equipment without killing you. So basically, you had to cut your arm off in order to get out of there. There was no other way out. And so for Aaron, I'm sure that felt pretty good to feel like you cut your arm off. And that was the right decision. They would take his arm and they would cremate it and give the ashes to Aaron. And Eren, after having his cremated arm for a couple of days, decided, no, I need to put this where it belongs. And so Aaron went back out to the canyon where he had been trapped and he scattered his ashes over the boulder that had nearly killed him. In 2010, Aaron's ordeal was turned into a huge Blockbuster movie called 127 Hours, where James Franco plays Aron Ralston in the movie. And it's an incredible movie, albeit it's pretty hard to watch. Aaron Ralston himself said the movie, although it's a drama, is pretty much a documentary because James Franco does an incredible job portraying his emotions and what it was actually like to be trapped underneath this boulder for five days. The fourth and final story of today's.

[Mr. Ballin]

Episode is called headcount.

[Narrator]

At around 2pm on September 24, 2017, a 17 year old college student named.

[Story Contributor]

Sanjay climbed up onto this boulder that was right off to the side of this hiking trail that he was on. Sanjay was on a day trip with about 20 of his friends from college, and they were in this part of southern India that was really famous for its long, winding trails and all these boulders that kind of sat off to.

[Narrator]

The side of the trails.

[Story Contributor]

And then at the end of these trails that are in this part of India is this beautiful ancient Hindu temple that a lot of people will go and take pictures in front of and go inside of. And so that was where Sanjay and his friends were ultimately headed, was this temple. And from the boulder that Sanjay had just climbed up on, he looked up the trail and from his view now, which was now slightly higher, he could actually See just barely the top of this temple. And so he was really excited about going to see it. And he couldn't believe how close they were. But as he was standing on this boulder, staring at the top of the temple, he also realized that kind of off to the side of the temple.

[Narrator]

Basically right next to it, was this.

[Story Contributor]

Beautiful pool of water with a big wall around it and cement steps leading into it. I mean, it kind of looked like a swimming pool. And so, because Sanjay and his friends had been hiking all day to this point, and it was really hot out, Sanjay really liked the idea of going swimming. And so he actually jumped off the boulder and just started running towards the temple and this pool. And he was yelling to his friends as he did, like, hey, I'm going to go swimming. And so he ran, not to the temple, but to this random pool of water that was next to it. And he got to the steps, and he immediately took off his shirt, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket and he put it on the steps, and he. And then he walked his way into.

[Narrator]

The water and turned around, hoping to.

[Story Contributor]

See his friends coming after him. And sure enough, all of his friends were smiling and laughing and running after.

[Narrator]

Him, ripping their shirts off, putting their.

[Story Contributor]

Phones down, and jumping into. And so pretty soon, this very quiet, peaceful pool next to this temple was packed full of very rowdy and crazy college kids.

[Narrator]

Now, to be clear, this pool of.

[Story Contributor]

Water was not intended to be a swimming area. It was dug about 300 years earlier for this temple. And many people began to view this pool of water as sacred because they believed it could cure diseases. And so what Sanjay and his friends were doing was totally taboo and not allowed. But I can promise you, Sanjay and his friends did not care.

[Narrator]

They were having a great time.

[Story Contributor]

And in fact, Sanjay was having such a great time that when he turned around and looked back up the steps they had all charged in on, he. He saw one of his friends, whose name was Vichoas, was standing up out of the water, reading what looked like a plaque about this pool of water. And Sanjay hated the idea of one of their buddies not getting to experience this fun. And so Sanjay, a little out of pocket, yelled out to Vichoas, like, hey, stop reading that and get in the water. Let's go. What are you doing? And viz vas was obviously kind of embarrassed to be called out so publicly in front of the, you know, 19 other kids that were there. They're all looking up at him expectantly.

[Narrator]

Now like, yeah, get in here, man. And Vishwasi's like, okay, fine.

[Story Contributor]

And so he took up his shirt, put his phone down as well, and.

[Narrator]

He got in the water with all of them.

[Story Contributor]

And very shortly after he did that, Sanjay kind of forgot about him and decided, hey, this would be a great time to take a photo of everybody here, you know, memorialize this amazing trip. And so Sanjay, he waited over to the steps, he grabbed his phone, he came back towards the group, and, you.

[Narrator]

Know, he's looking at this big, rowdy.

[Story Contributor]

Crowd of his friends who were totally not paying attention to him, and he's saying, hey, guys, come over here. I want to take your photo.

[Narrator]

You know, gather up.

[Story Contributor]

I'll take a photo of all of us.

[Mr. Ballin]

And so it took a couple of.

[Story Contributor]

Minutes, but eventually, you know, all these.

[Narrator]

Kids got in frame, and Sanjay, you.

[Story Contributor]

Know, he held the phone out, made sure everybody was there, and they all smiled, and he took a picture.

[Narrator]

And then after he took the picture.

[Story Contributor]

Sanjay put his phone back on the steps and returned to just splashing and goofing around with his friends. About an hour later, Sanjay and his friends had left the pool and were now in the temple and were just walking around exploring. But eventually, Sanjay just got tired of looking inside the temple. It was not very interesting to him. And so he eventually just went outside.

[Narrator]

Again and sat down on this low.

[Story Contributor]

Wall that was right outside the temple. And because he knew his friends would not be done for at least, you know, 15 or 20 minutes or so, he just pulled out his phone and began kind of scrolling through social media.

[Narrator]

And, you know, doing what we all.

[Story Contributor]

Do on our phones. But eventually, Sanjay opened up his photo album to look at all the photos he had taken during the hike in. And then also that picture in the pool, and then also some pictures he took inside of the temple.

[Capital One Advertiser]

And.

[Story Contributor]

And so he pulls up his pictures and just kind of starts scrolling through.

[Narrator]

Them, and he eventually reaches the photo.

[Story Contributor]

That he took selfie style in the pool with all of his friends together. And so he opens that picture up, and he looks at it, and he smiles because it definitely was the best picture he took.

[Narrator]

You know, he got all his buddies in frame.

[Story Contributor]

Everybody seems so happy. But as Sanjay was looking at this photo, he realized there was something odd about it. There was just something in this photo that just seemed like it shouldn't be. And as he looked more closely at it, the smile on his face faded, and he began to panic just a little bit. He didn't know if what he was looking at was real or not, but he knew he had to go find out. And so Sanjay put his phone away and he looked up and began looking around outside the temple at all the other people who had left. And many of them included his friends. And they were walking around talking in groups or whatever. And Sanjay, he began looking at all of his friends and he would stare at their faces. He was looking for something, but he didn't see what he was looking for. And so after scanning the entire outside and not feeling satisfied, Sanjay got up and speed walked back into the temple and began going into each and every room, looking at every single person he encountered. And when he would find one of his friends, he would stare at their face. And when he didn't find what he was looking for, he just kept on going to every single room until finally he reached the last room of the temple and he found the last of his friends and he looked at their faces and still he did not see what he was looking for. And so now Sanjay is truly panicked.

[Narrator]

He's actually horrified at this point.

[Story Contributor]

He runs back outside and he finds their college professor who had come along.

[Narrator]

To sort of chaperone the trip.

[Story Contributor]

And he ran up to this professor and he pulled out his phone, he opened up that photo of them in the pool. And Sanjay pointed out the strange thing about this photo. And so the professor, he began looking.

[Mr. Ballin]

At the photo too.

[Story Contributor]

And right away he also could see this very strange thing that seemed very out of place. And so the professor asked Sanjay a few follow up questions, you know, about like what Sanjay had done since discovering this. And after Sanjay said, you know, I've been all over the temple, I still can't figure it out. And so the professor knew the police would have to get involved. And so the professor got in touch with police. And so the police came out to the temple not long after that, and the students. So Sanjay and all of his friends had been instructed to stay right by the temple, do not go down to the pool, stay up here, let the police handle it. And so when the police came in.

[Narrator]

They came running by the group and.

[Story Contributor]

Sanjay and his friends were just kind of watching anxiously waiting to see what happens.

[Narrator]

And then as the officers went down.

[Story Contributor]

To the pool from where Sanjay and.

[Narrator]

His friends were standing, they actually did not have a clear view.

[Story Contributor]

The temple itself blocked their view. So they could not see the pool, but they could hear what the officers were doing. And at first, as Sanjay and his friends are standing there really nervously, they don't hear anything down at the pool.

[Narrator]

But then they hear one of the.

[Story Contributor]

Officers shout something out like he's found something. And Then Sanjay and his friends heard all this splashing as clearly officers were jumping into the pool. And it was at this moment when Sanjay heard that splashing that he knew the thing he saw in this photo. It had to be real. As horrible as that was, it had to be real. The reason why Sanjay's friend Vishwas was not in the water with everybody else, you know, why he was up reading that plaque about the history of this pool was because Vishwas did not know how to swim. But he didn't tell anyone. Nobody knew this. And so he was probably kind of embarrassed about it. And so maybe was reading this plaque as sort of a way to, you know, act distracted, like the plaque is the reason he's not swimming. But then when Sanjay, who meant no harm by this, but he yelled out to Vishwas, hey, come on, dude, get in here. Come swimming with us. You know, because he did it so publicly in front of all the other friends, it seems like Vishwas felt very pressured into getting into the water. And that's what he did. Instead of telling anybody that he could not swim, he just kind of shrugged, took off his shirt, pulled his phone out of his pocket, put it on the ground, and waded into the water. And as soon as he did, the entire group just kind of went back to goofing around and splashing and being totally chaotic. And then when Sanjay was like, hey, let's take that photo, he really did manage to get all of his friends in frame somehow. Except one of them was Vishwas. And you can only see the top of his head. It's because he was drowning in the background of that photo. Just nobody knew it. And so obviously, an hour later, when Sanjay's looking at this photo, he sees the top of Vizwas head and he's.

[Narrator]

Like, wait a minute, is he goofing.

[Story Contributor]

Around or is he drowning? And then he ran all around the temple looking for Vishwas. He wanted to prove that he was not in the pool still, that he was up here. But then after searching the entire area and not finding Vishwas, he went to his professor, they called the police and the discovery was made. And unfortunately, by the time police pulled V. Schwas out of the water, he was already deceased.

[Mr. Ballin]

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.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

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. Our head of production is Zach Levitt. Produced by Jeremy Bone Research and fact checking by Shelly Shue, Samantha Vanhus, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway and Camille Callahan Research and fact checking supervision by Steven Earth Audio editing and post produced by Whit Locasio and Cole Locascio Additional audio editing by Jordan Stidham Mixed and mastered by Brendan Cain Production coordination by Samantha Collins Production support by Antonio Minotta and Delaina Corley Artwork by Jessica Claugston Kiner Theme song called Something Wicked by Ross Bugden.

[Mr. Ballin]

Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

If you enjoyed today's story and you're.

[Mr. Ballin]

Looking looking for more bone chilling content, be sure to check out all of our studio's podcasts.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

There's this one, the Mr. Ballin podcast.

[Mr. Ballin]

As well as Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, Wartime Stories, Run Fool Redacted, Late Nights with Nexpo and A Twist of History.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

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[Mr. Ballin]

For Ballin Studios wherever you get your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories just like.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

This one, head over to our YouTube.

[Mr. Ballin]

Channel, which is just called Mr. Ballin.

[Producer/Host Assistant]

So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support.

[Mr. Ballin]

Until next time. See you. Hey prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad free on Amazon Music, the Amazon Music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey.