Hidden Threat

Summary

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories — Episode: "Hidden Threat" (April 16, 2026)

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Episode Overview

In "Hidden Threat," MrBallen (John Allen) presents three chilling true stories where the most dangerous dangers remain unseen—until it's almost too late. Each tale explores ordinary people who unwittingly find themselves in profoundly perilous situations, sharing themes of curiosity, unintended consequences, and the unpredictable hazards lurking beneath everyday life.

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Story 1: Underwater Building (Starts at 02:52)

Summary:
Two friends, Christopher Lecan and Robert, on a scuba-diving trip off the Florida coast, investigate mysterious underwater structures, breaking safety protocols and nearly facing a deadly—and invisible—threat.

Key Points:

• Chris and Robert, both experienced divers, spot what looks like a rock pile but realize it’s actually an artificial building below the water’s surface.
• Ignoring a nearby buoy (which bore a warning to stay 100 feet away), they dive to explore the structure up close ([03:32]).
• They discover three massive concrete "buildings" with mesh-covered window openings at the top.
• Tempted by curiosity, they move the mesh aside and swim inside one of the structures ([04:50]).
• Deep inside, they find a large tunnel; as they move closer, they’re swept by a powerful underwater current ([05:55]).
• Robert narrowly escapes, but Chris is sucked into the tunnel, where he tumbles uncontrollably in the pitch dark, fearing he’d be killed by machinery.
  • Quote: “Chris instinctively grabbed his mouthpiece and anchored it… because as he was tumbling, the current kept trying to pull those things off of him.” — MrBallen ([06:31])
• After five minutes of terror, Chris sees light at the tunnel’s end. Instead of encountering deadly machinery, he emerges in a cooling reservoir at a nuclear power plant, where workers rescue him ([08:26]).
• Chris was extraordinarily lucky—the plant design included a reservoir, sparing him from certain death by turbine, as would have happened at other facilities.
• Chris sued the power plant for inadequate warning signs; the plant countered that proper deterrents existed ([09:25]).

Notable Moment:
Chris, in mortal fear, considers pulling out his breathing regulator to end it quickly, but remembers his family and holds on ([07:27]).

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Story 2: A Tribe’s Feast (Starts at 11:48)

Summary:
In 1956, a young Aboriginal boy and his brothers from the Martu tribe of South Australia experience a mysterious and deadly event—what they interpret as a divine blessing is actually a lethal, invisible threat from a secret nuclear bomb test.

Key Points:

• Neri Morgan and his younger brothers are hunting kangaroos when a sudden, blinding explosion and a scorching wind knock them to the ground ([12:15]).
• Kangaroos they were hunting seem to “float in the air, coming right over to him and then dropping on the ground” ([13:14]).
• Seeing the sudden bounty of dead kangaroos, the family assumes it is a gift from God and feasts with the tribe ([13:50]).
• The next day, everyone who ate the meat becomes violently ill; several people die over the following days ([14:48]).
• It isn’t until 11 years later, when British representatives arrive, that the truth emerges—the event was a result of secret British nuclear bomb tests at Maralinga. The kangaroo meat was riddled with radiation.
• Neri survives, continuing to tell his story into old age; the Australian government eventually paid millions in compensation to affected tribes ([17:35]).
  • Quote: “In reality it was just this explosion. And the meat, the kangaroo meat, was not only devastated from the blast, but it was also littered with radiation from the blast.” — MrBallen ([16:50])

Memorable Moment:
The boys’ innocent belief that “God has bestowed upon me this bounty” twists horrifically as the truth emerges ([16:32]).

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Story 3: A Stiff Drink (Starts at 19:17)

Summary:
In 1755, Henry Hall—the world’s oldest lighthouse keeper at age 94—faces a harrowing, nightmarish ordeal when disaster strikes during his solitary night watch.

Key Points:

• Henry, on night duty in a remote English lighthouse, discovers smoke billowing from the lead-lined dome above the candle-lit lantern room ([20:10]).
• Trying to vent the smoke, he opens a window, which inadvertently feeds the smoldering fire with oxygen, igniting the dome ([21:00]).
• Unable to wake his two drunk colleagues, Henry battles the fire alone, hurling rainwater at the flames from a balcony below the burning roof ([22:25]).
• Ultimately, his colleagues awake and assist, but they cannot quell the blaze; as Henry throws water upwards, he’s suddenly seized by a blinding pain in his stomach and bursts into flames ([23:55]).
• Fleeing the lighthouse for a seaside cave, the trio survives the night as the lighthouse burns to ruins ([25:40]).
• Despite treating his burns, Henry’s stomach pain worsens and, 12 days later, he dies ([26:41]).
• Autopsy reveals the shocking cause: Henry had unknowingly swallowed a 4-inch piece of molten lead, which dripped from the melting dome into his open mouth as he threw water ([28:30]).
  • Quote: “A 4 inch piece of molten lead landed in his gut, destroyed his stomach, then cooled and hardened in his stomach. That was the pain he was feeling.” — MrBallen ([28:36])
• The actual piece of lead remains on display at the National Museum of Scotland.

Memorable Moment:
Henry’s colleagues douse his burning clothes, but nobody suspects the real damage: “No one’s thinking it could be anything else.” ([29:29])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:52] — Underwater Building: Chris and Robert dive
• [05:55] — The deadly current in the tunnel
• [08:26] — Chris escapes into nuclear plant reservoir
• [11:48] — A Tribe’s Feast: Introduction to Neri’s story
• [13:50] — The feast on radioactive kangaroo meat
• [16:50] — The truth about British nuclear tests
• [19:17] — A Stiff Drink: Henry discovers fire
• [23:55] — Henry is burned; unknowingly swallows molten lead
• [26:41] — Aftermath, autopsy, and tragic revelation

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Chris’s Survival Instinct:
  “Chris thought about pulling his mouthpiece out to just end it right then and there to avoid this horribly violent death. But he thought about his family, he thought about his kids, and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.” — MrBallen ([07:27])

• Ancient Belief vs. Atomic Reality:
  “They interpreted this as, oh, God has bestowed upon me this bounty…but in reality, it was just this explosion. And the meat…was littered with radiation.” — MrBallen ([16:32])

• The Ultimate Hidden Threat:
  “A 4 inch piece of molten lead landed in his gut, destroyed his stomach…no one’s thinking it could be anything else.” — MrBallen ([28:36])

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Tone & Style

MrBallen’s storytelling remains vivid, suspenseful, and deeply empathetic, with a focus on human decision-making and the crushing weight of unforeseen, invisible dangers. His delivery blends dark intrigue with a sense of wonder—and a cautionary edge about the hazards lurking below the surface of ordinary life.

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For listeners new and old, this episode underscores MrBallen's signature blend of compelling, true-life thrillers—always reminding us that, often, "the most dangerous threats are the ones you can't see."

Transcript

[Mr. Ballin]

Today's podcast will feature three stories that remind us the most dangerous threats are oftentimes the ones you can't see.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The audio from all three of these

[Mr. Ballin]

stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The links to the original YouTube videos

[Mr. Ballin]

are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called Underwater Building, and it's about friends who investigate this odd structure in the middle of the ocean. The second story you'll hear is called A Tribes Feast, and it's about a tribe in Australia that's that thought they had been blessed by a bounty from God, but it ends up being a curse from hell. And the third and final story you'll hear is called A Stiff Drink, and it's about a lighthouse keeper whose routine night quickly turns into a horrifying nightmare. But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

because that's all we do.

[Mr. Ballin]

And we upload four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. So if that's of interest to you, please steal the follow button's phone and completely rearrange the locations of all their apps. Okay, let's get into our first story called Underwater Building. Right before I started the Mr. Ballin podcast, I found myself thinking a lot about basically every possible way the podcast could fail. And so I actually almost didn't even do it. I sort of held off starting the podcast because of these fears, but I took that leap anyway and it changed everything. That's why when you start a new business, it really helps to have a partner you can trust by your side when you when you take that leap. Like Shopify, Shopify is your commerce expert, handling everything from inventory and shipping to returns and beyond. It's the platform behind millions of businesses worldwide, from household names to brands that are just getting started. It's time to turn those what ifs into sales with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com MrBallin go to shopify.com MrBallin again, that's shopify.com MrBallin the MisterBalln podcast strange, dark and Mysterious Stories is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by State law not available in all states.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

On July 12, 2015, 30 year old Christopher Lecan was out on his boat with his wife, his kids and his best friend Robert, just off the coast of Port St. Lucie in Florida. Throughout the day, anytime Chris or Robert were looking down from the boat and spotted a rock pile, they would throw on their scuba tanks and dive down to attempt to find lobsters. Towards the end of the day, when they were looking down into the water, they saw what they thought was a rock pile at first. But as they kept looking at it, they noticed it had lots of straight lines indicating it could be an underwater building. Chris and Robert noticed there was a yellow buoy floating on the surface right above where this building was underwater. And they thought they should probably go

[Mr. Ballin]

over and read it.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But they decided, meh, it's inconsequential, we can just go down and check it out for ourselves. Now if they had stopped and gone over and read the buoy first, they would have seen there was a warning

[Mr. Ballin]

on it that was telling people to stay back at least 100ft from this underwater structure.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But Robert and Chris didn't read that warning. So they put on their scuba tanks and they dove down into the water. And after only going down about 10ft, they noticed there wasn't just one structure underwater, there were actually three huge structures. And so Chris and Robert looked at each other and they're totally amazed at what they're looking at. They had been scuba diving together since they were young kids and they'd spent a lot of time in these waters, but they had never seen these before. And so they were very excited to go down and have a look. When they got down there and they were only a couple feet away from one of these structures, Chris saw that the top of the building was just a square concrete slab. And then on all four sides there were big concrete slabs. But at the top of each of the four walls of this building were what appeared to be openings. They were almost like windows at the top of the structure. And across the window was mesh all the way around, like a GR protecting things from going into the window and into the structure. And so Chris and Robert went right up to the mesh and tried to look inside of the structure just to see what was in there. But when they looked, it was just too dark inside and there was no way to tell what was in there. And so Chris is really disheartened because he really wanted to know what was inside of this building. And so he just grabs the mesh itself and just kind of Tries to tug it in one direction just to see if it would even move to maybe create some space so he could look inside. And it very easily slid all the way to the side, revealing an opening big enough for he and Robert to go through. And so the two of them look at each other and they just nod because they know they want to go inside and see what's in there. And so Chris went in, followed by Robert, and they found themselves inside of just this big empty space, the 70 foot by 70 foot space where there really was nothing inside of it except down at the very bottom. On one wall was this 16 foot wide opening that was the entrance to a huge tunnel. And from where Chris and Robert were at the top of the inside of the structure, they couldn't see into the tunnel. And so they decided by looking at each other and nodding once more, that they would just go down and try to look to see if they could see through to the other side of this tunnel. And so Chris goes down first, followed by Robert. And as they start making their way down, they both start to feel a

[Mr. Ballin]

current that's pulling them straight down.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And as soon as they felt that, they both intuitively knew that they didn't want to be a part of that. And they started swimming as fast as they could back up towards their exit.

[Mr. Ballin]

And Robert, who was a little bit

[Narrator/Storyteller]

higher than Christopher, was able to escape the pull of this current and got up to the top of the inside of the structure towards the exit. Chris, on the other hand, was not able to escape this current's grasp and was actually pulled backwards into the tunnel where he disappeared. Robert had actually turned around and saw his friend get pulled into that tunnel, but he knew there was nothing he could do. And so he just turned around, swam

[Mr. Ballin]

out of the structure and up to

[Narrator/Storyteller]

the boat as fast as he could to call 911. Once Chris had been pulled into this dark tunnel, he began tumbling backwards. He had no control over his body position. The current was just way too strong. And so Chris instinctively grabbed his mouthpiece and anchored it inside of his mouth. And then he grabbed his mask and did his best to keep that on his face, because as he was tumbling, the current kept trying to pull those things off of him. As Chris tumbled through this pitch black tunnel, he began to realize that more than likely he's going to encounter some very powerful pump that's sucking this water through this pipe in the first place, or some huge turbine that has something to do with pulling the water through this pipe. And in both of those situations, once Chris reaches the end of this tunnel, he's going to get cut up and get killed. And so Chris thought about pulling his mouthpiece out to just end it right then and there to avoid this horribly violent death. But he thought about his family, he thought about his kids, and he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

[Mr. Ballin]

And so he just continued to hold

[Narrator/Storyteller]

onto his mouthpiece and his mask and just continued to tumble with no control in total darkness, having no clue where he was going.

[Mr. Ballin]

After over five minutes of this just

[Narrator/Storyteller]

nightmare situation for Chris, he suddenly sees a very small flicker of light at the very far end of the tunnel in the direction they're being pulled towards. And all he can think of is, okay, well, whatever that light is, that's the area where I'm gonna get killed. There's gonna be some pump or some turbine right out there. And so he's bracing himself for this terrible, violent end to his life. But as they got closer and closer and that light continued to grow, Chris got a better picture. Every time he would tumble around, he'd get. It did not look like there were spinning blades of death or some pump in there. It actually looked like very peaceful, calm water with sunlight pushing through it. And sure enough, after he got shot out into this lit up area, the current kind of died down and stopped. Chris immediately began swimming right up towards the surface where there was actually land

[Mr. Ballin]

right in front of him.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

He was inside of what looked like this huge building and he saw there were people walking around with hard hats. And so Chris just pulled himself out of the water and began yelling for help. It would turn out Chris had been pulled into a nuclear power plant's cooling system. This particular nuclear power plant used a multi level system where instead of just pulling the water in directly into the plant where it would be cooled and there would be, you know, a pump of death or spinning turbines or something like that. Instead, there was a reservoir first where the water was dumped, and then after a while, that reservoir water would then get churned up into the cooling system. So Chris was just incredibly lucky that that was just the way this nuclear power plant was built. And because many other nuclear power plants, if he had done what he did, he would have been killed in a really horrible way. Chris would ultimately sue the power plant saying they didn't put up enough warning signs or enough deterrence to protect people from getting sucked into these intake pipes. And the power plant has countered by saying, we put up enough deterrence.

[Mr. Ballin]

You just went past them on purpose.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

As of now, it's unclear what came of that court case. Everyday life is full of moments that

[Mr. Ballin]

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[Mr. Ballin]

Our next story is called A Tribe's Feast. On the afternoon of September 27, 1956, a 13 year old boy named Neri Morgan was walking with his two younger brothers through a desert in South Australia called Maralinga. Neri and his brothers were members of an isolated Aboriginal tribe called the Martu, and they were out Right now to hunt kangaroos for their family. So NRI had a spear, and his two younger brothers had a club, and they also had a boomerang. And for a while, they had been tracking this particular group of kangaroos. But every time they slowed down and, you know, the brothers got ready to strike, the kangaroos would take off. And it was very frustrating. But eventually, as they were walking, this group of kangaroos stopped at a watering hole, which was just a few dozen yards away from them. And so at that point, the brothers knew this was their chance. These kangaroos were gonna stay here long enough that they could strike. And so Nuri signaled to his brothers that it was time to move. And so they got down in the brush and began advancing on the kangaroos. But after only taking a few steps, they heard this loud rumbling sound off in the distance. And as they looked to see what was going on, the sky suddenly was illuminated impossibly bright to the point where Neary is shaking, shielding his eyes to just see what's going on here. And as he was doing this, this extremely hot gust of wind came blasting through and literally knocked the brothers onto the ground, totally disorienting them. And then from the ground, at some point, Nuri kind of turns his head, and he happens to look in the direction of the watering hole where the kangaroos were. Then he sees them literally floating in the air, coming right over to him and then dropping on the ground. And then a moment later, it was like everything just went back to normal. The sky went back to a normal color. There was no more rumbling. There was no more wind. Except now you have all these kangaroos just dead right in front of NRI and his brothers. Now, of course, Nuri and his brothers had a lot to process here. I mean, they really had no idea what had happened. But they're looking at this bounty right in front of them, all these kangaroos, and they're thinking, what's just happened here was a gift from God. Clearly, what we just experienced was literally God lifting these kangaroos up, ending their lives and putting them at our feet. This was a gift. And so eventually, Neri and his brothers, after kind of standing up and dusting themselves off, began lifting up these kangaroos and carrying as many as they could back to their tribe. And then that night, the tribe had this big celebration honoring this gift they had been given from God. And they had this big feast, and they ate all this kangaroo meat. I mean, it was incredible. But then the next day, when the tribe woke up, everybody who had eaten any of that kangaroo was violently sick. Vomiting, rashes all over their body, aches, pain. I mean, people were really sick. And over the next few days, some people did recover, but a lot of others did not. And soon people from this tribe began dying.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And so, naturally, Nuri and the other

[Mr. Ballin]

members of the tribe did make the connection that very likely, whatever was happening here, the sickness was tied to consuming that kangaroo meat. And then other members of the tribe who didn't necessarily subscribe to the idea that, you know, this had been a gift from God, just said, clearly the meat was poisoned. But they didn't know if that was intentional, if somebody had done that, or if it was just kind of a byproduct of something else. But poison. That's what was doing this. But for NRI and his tribe, this whole event remained a mystery until 1967. So 11 years later, when Neri was 24 years old, that's when representatives of the British government came out to southern Australia, near where the Martu tribe lived, and began trying to clean up the mess that they had made. It would turn out all those dead kangaroos that got kind of dumped out of the sky right in front of Neary and his brothers were not the result of, you know, God giving them a gift. Instead, the reason that happened was because of a big scientific experiment that was conducted in Maralinga in total secrecy. The British government was testing nuclear bombs. Neary and his brothers had been a few kilometers away from a detonation site. And where they were positioned was basically exactly in the right spot to where they would feel the effects of the explosion. They would hear it. They would see this huge lighting up of the sky. They would feel the shockwave. But they were just far enough away from the detonation site that the shockwave and the blast and all that did not kill them. It knocked them to the ground and made them totally disoriented and confused. And I'm sure it hurt a great deal, but it didn't kill them. However, those kangaroos they had been stalking were technically closer to the detonation site. They were also smaller, and so were more susceptible to an explosion being affected by it. And so they were just close enough that when that shockwave passed through, it lifted up and obliterated the kangaroos and threw them right in front of Neary. They were, like, right at that perfect separation point. Neri and brothers just barely safe kangaroos, just barely in the lethal zone. And so keep in mind that Neri and his brothers did not know things like nuclear bombs existed. They're very isolated. They're completely cut off from sort of modern society. And so even though they saw a lot of indications that this was a bomb, they didn't really interpret it that way. Instead, they interpreted this as, oh, God has bestowed upon me this bounty. Like this is a gift from God. But in reality it was just this explosion. And the meat, the kangaroo meat, was not only devastated from the blast, but it was also littered with radiation from the blast. And so the members of the tribe who ate the kangaroo meat immediately got radiation sickness and began to die. An unknown number of people died from these nuclear bomb tests, and it would take 11 years before the British government would come in and begin cleaning up the nuclear waste. The Australian government ultimately paid $13.5 million in compensation to Aboriginal tribes that were affected by these tests. As for Neary, he survived and today he's actually in his 80s and he continues to tell his story to younger generations.

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[Mr. Ballin]

The next and final story of today's episode is called A Stiff Drink. At 2am on December 2, 1755, a 94 year old man named Henry hall slowly climbed a flight of stairs inside of a lighthouse that was located on this tiny island off the southwest coast of England. Even though Henry was in his 90s, he was still working as a lighthouse keeper out at this lighthouse, by the way, that is a very rugged job, especially in the late 1700s. I mean, if there's ever any emergency of any kind out on this island, there's virtually no communication back and forth to the mainland, and help can't really get out to you very easily. So you're kind of on your own. I mean, lighthouse keepers at the time were sort of viewed as these very rugged sort of survivalist types. And here's Henry at 94 years old, still doing this job. But it was because he loved it. And in fact, even to this day, he remains on record the oldest active lighthouse keeper ever. On this particular night, the other two lighthouse keepers that were staying on this island with Henry and working with him, they were passed out drunk in their beds. They basically had drank the whole night away and they were out for the count. But, you know, Henry sort of expected this. It was his job that night to do the night shift, you know, the kind of the worst shift, if you will, where all night, every 30 minutes, he had to, one, stay sober, then two, hike his way up to the very top of the lighthouse and make sure the lighthouse was still emitting light. And so that's what he was doing right now. He was heading up to the so called lantern room at the very top of the spire, the actual lighthouse. And you gotta remember that this is in 1755, so this is before electricity. And so the light that was coming out of this lighthouse were literally a whole bunch of candles that were situated in this big chandelier that kind of hung down from the very top of the the spire. And then above, you know, where the candles are all resting in the chandelier was this big dome that was the very top of the lighthouse. And the dome was lined with lead. And there was also lots of windows all around. And so the lead sort of reflected all the light and pushed all the light out all the windows. And so basically Henry's job, or any of these lighthouse keepers, when it was their turn to do this, they had to go up to the lantern room and make sure all the candles were lit. And if they weren't lit, you know, relight them. That was basically it. Now, Henry had been checking on lighthouses for decades. You know, doing these every 30 minute checks of the candles was completely routine. And so Henry is making his way up, thinking nothing of it, like, this is gonna be completely mundane. I'm gonna go up, check the lights, come back down. I'll do it again in 30 minutes. All night. That's all it's gonna be. Doesn't expect anything to happen. But on this night, at around 2am, as he's making his way up the stairs, as he's right near the top of the stairs and he's about to turn the corner and see, you know, this big chandelier, it's called a. And right as he's turning the corner, he starts to smell smoke. And then when he turns the corner, he's looking out at this completely lit up chandelier, the candelabra, and he doesn't see where the smoke is coming from until he looks up at the lead dome that sort of sat right above all the candles and reflected the light. And this lead dome had been here for a long time. This was an old lighthouse. And he could see there was all this buildup of soot on the underside of this lead dome from the candles being so close to it. And clearly some of the soot that was caked on the underside of this dome was starting to smolder. It was not on fire yet, but it was starting to smolder, and some smoke was filling up the lantern room. And so for whatever reason, Henry decided the best thing for him to do was to open up a window, because all the windows were shut at this point. And he's thinking, you know, get the smoke out. So he opens up a window, but when he does, it creates a vacuum effect. And all this air gets pulled into the lantern room. And oxygen, it sort of acts as an oxidizing agent for fire. It basically accelerates fire. And so oxygen is pulled up and the dome just ignites into flames. Basically, Henry threw a lit match onto the dome. That's the equivalent of what he did. And so suddenly Henry's staring at this wall of fire on the roof of this lighthouse. And also above the lead dome, the actual structure itself of the lighthouse was wood. And so Henry has no idea what to do. He. He knows this is obviously a massive emergency. And so as quick as he can, he turns and goes down the stairs, down into the bunk room where his two colleagues are who are passed out drunk in their beds. And he's trying to shake them awake and tell them, we have this huge fire, but they're so drunk that they don't wake up. And so Henry's on his own. He needs to do something about this. And so he gives up on his colleagues and he starts walking back up the stairs towards this fire, and he starts making his way up the stairs, but because before he reaches the lantern room, right before maybe 5, 6ft, down below, still on the stairs, there was this outcropping, like a balcony that jutted outside of the actual lighthouse. And so he stepped out onto this balcony, and standing out here, now he's outside. He turned and could look up, and basically right in front of him is the roof, and it's on fire. It's, like, right in front of him and out on this balcony were all these buckets that were out there to collect rainwater because it rained a lot out here. And so there's all these buckets of water. And Henry decides all he can do is start lobbing this water up onto the roof to hopefully put this fire out. And so, one by one, he's hauling these buckets of water and chucking the water up on the roof, and it's really not making a difference. And he's so tired and exhausted, and the heat from the flames is so intense, like, he knows he's not making much of a difference here. But just then, he hears his two colleagues come bounding up the stairs, and they're totally panicked. And even though they're drunk, it's clear they're kind of sobering up when they see the scene here. And so they instinctively run out of the balcony with Henry. And all three of them are now grabbing buckets, and they're looking up, and they're chucking the water up onto the roof. And Henry, at one point, sort of positioned himself a little bit closer to the edge and was, like, right underneath the dome throwing water up. And it just. It didn't matter. It was like nothing they did could get this fire to go out. And then finally, Henry Greb, one last bucket. And with the last of his energy, he got right below the dome, sort of with his arms out in the balcony, and he looked up, and he chucked the water right onto the roof. And as he did, he suddenly felt this blinding pain come over his whole body. But somehow it sort of felt localized in his stomach, but definitely it was his whole body. And he turned and he looked over at his colleagues, like, in shock, like he can't even believe, like, what's causing this pain. And his colleagues, they look at him, and they see he's smoldering the. There's smoke coming off of him. And so clearly he's on fire. And so they start taking their buckets, and they're dousing Henry with water. And Henry's like, oh, my God, I'm on fire. And he feels this horrible pain in his stomach. And finally he just blurts out to them, we Gotta get outta here. Like, leave it. We gotta go. And so the three of them, they abandon the buckets, abandoned the fire, and they bolt out of the lighthouse and they make their way to a cave on the coast of this island. And there they stayed in this cave overnight as their lighthouse burned to the ground. And all night, Henry, even though now, you know, the fire that had begun on his clothes, it had obviously been put out, but he still had this awful pain that really felt localized in his stomach. It was like this burning, awful pain. And he just couldn't figure out, like, what is that? Is it from being on fire? Was I not aware of how long I was on fire for? Is this just like the result of an extreme burn? Is this smoke inhalation? Like, he didn't know, but he was just happy to be alive. And finally the sun came up the next morning, and these three men are huddled in this cave. And luckily there was a ship on the horizon that spotted this smoldering ruin of the lighthouse.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And they came in, they scooped the three men up, and they brought them

[Mr. Ballin]

back to mainland England. Once they arrived in England, Henry's two younger co workers made sure to help get Henry to his home. And then when he was there, they called for a doctor because Henry was still complaining about this really intense feeling in his stomach. And just obviously the fire had really taken a toll on him. And so the doctor shows up and they perform an examination on Henry, and they see that, yes, you do have significant burns on your body. Clearly you were at one point on fire. And, you know, to Henry, he couldn't quite believe it because, you know, his memory of the night was just, you know, throwing water up on the roof and being so frustrated, like he didn't even realize it, that at some point he'd been on fire. It was just all of a sudden he had this sudden blinding pain. And before long, he had been doused with water, and that was it. But he still just had this awful pain in his stomach. And the doctor told him, like, look, I don't know exactly what that pain is from, but very likely when you were on fire, when you were right near the fire, you were inhaling a lot of smoke, and that can absolutely cause a really intense burning sensation in your lungs. And so just apply this ointment to your burns, you know, take care of your burns, and eventually your burns will heal. And that feeling in your gut, like in your core from the smoke inhalation will pass. And so for the next several days, Henry did as the doctor ordered. He Applied his ointment to all of his burns. You know, he rested and just drank lots of water and just basically waited for all these pains and ailments to go away. But over the coming days, he didn't get better, he got worse. Not only would that pain in his stomach just not go away, but also he developed a really bad fever. And then finally, 12 days after the fire, Henry died. Now, on one hand, Henry's death was really not shocking. I mean, he was 94 years old. You know, people die when they're in their mid-90s. It's sort of a natural thing. But at the same time, he was like a really active, rugged guy. And it just seemed like, how is it possible he's died from what appears to be sort of relatively superficial injuries here? I mean, he definitely got burned. He had real burns on his body, and he had clearly some smoke inhalation going on. But the doctor said, like, that shouldn't have been enough to kill him. He should have, you know, weathered this and been okay. You know, maybe he did die from natural causes, but this just feels wrong, like something else must have happened here. And so ultimately, the doctor decided to perform an autopsy on Henry. And at first, when the doctor began the autopsy, you know, everything kind of checked out, that Henry did appear to, you know, have just passed away. And, you know, he's 94. It is what it is. Until he cut open Henry's stomach. When he saw what was in there, he was horrified. It would turn out during the fire, when Henry was out on the balcony lobbing buckets of water onto the roof to try to put the fire out. Well, at some point, right before he felt that burning sensation in his gut, he looked up as he was throwing the water and his mouth was open. And at the same time he did that, a piece of molten lead from the dome that was on fire dripped down and fell into his mouth, and he swallowed it. A 4 inch piece of molten lead landed in his gut, destroyed his stomach, and then cooled and hardened in his stomach. That was the pain he was feeling. And then he also caught on fire about at the same time. And so in the chaos of the moment, despite this blinding pain he's feeling in his stomach, everybody else is looking at him saying, oh, my gosh, you're on fire. That's what the problem is. They douse him with water. And even after he's had the flames extinguished and he's complaining of this pain in his stomach, no one's thinking it can be anything other than the fact, you were just recently on fire. That's got to be it. Smoke inhalation, you know, connected to your burns. Whatever it is, no one's thinking it could be anything else. Today, that same piece of lead is actually on display at the National Museum of Scotland. 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 Research and fact checking by Shelly Shue, Samantha Vanhus, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway and Camille Callahan Research and fact checking supervision by Stevenier Audio editing and post produced by Whit Locasio, Jordan Stidham and Cole Locasio 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 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 Podcasts 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 ya.

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[Mr. Ballin]

Hey everybody, it's me, Mr. Ballin. Thank you so much for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast each week. If you wanna 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.