MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode Title: Prey
Date: September 18, 2025
Host: MrBallen (Ballens Studios)

Episode Overview

In this chilling episode themed “Prey,” MrBallen presents three terrifying, true (but sometimes dramatized) stories that all underscore a jarring truth: humans are not always at the top of the food chain. The tales include:

1. “The Hand that Feeds,” about a man killed by his own predatory pets.
2. “Modern Day Dinosaurs,” featuring the deadly Komodo dragons of Indonesia.
3. “Cat and Mouse,” an account of a relentless, vengeful Siberian tiger stalking a Russian hunter.

Each story is told in MrBallen's signature vivid, suspenseful style, drawing listeners deep into encounters with real-life monsters and nature's most efficient killers.

Story 1: The Hand that Feeds

Timestamps: [04:35 – 19:35]

Summary

• Setting: Newark, Delaware, January 13, 2002
• Subject: Ronald Huff, a reclusive man with a passion for exotic pets
• Ronald returns home, feeling deathly ill, and tends to his usual chores: feeding his seven giant monitor lizards with live cockroaches and raw chicken in his heat-blasted apartment.
• He struggles with a painful, bandaged right hand—injured from a recent lizard bite.
• Feeling overcome by sickness (likely a staph infection from the bite), he collapses against his apartment door and passes out.

“As Ronald passed out, all he could hear were the sounds of roaches scurrying and chicken bones crunching.” (MrBallen, 09:10)

• Three days later, police, accompanied by the building's superintendent and a concerned neighbor, are forced to enter his apartment after Ronald’s absence is noticed.
• The unsettling scene inside shocks the neighbor, who later sketches the horror he glimpsed.
• The truth emerges: Ronald died of the infection (possibly while still alive), and his monitor lizards, ranging from 2ft to 6ft in length, consumed his body—face, ears, hands, and organs.

“He had seven...which he fed roaches and raw chicken and allowed to just free roam his apartment. They ranged in size from 2ft to 6ft long.” (MrBallen, 17:05)

• The lizards, carnivorous and carrying deadly bacteria in their mouths, are ultimately relocated to a wildlife preserve.

Memorable Moment

• The visceral realization that what Ronald kept as beloved secret pets were, in the end, apex predators that did not hesitate to consume him the moment he could no longer defend himself.

Story 2: Modern Day Dinosaurs

Timestamps: [19:45 – 30:20]

Summary

• Setting: Komodo Island, Indonesia
• Subject: The island’s 2,000 inhabitants live alongside the world’s largest lizard: the Komodo dragon.

“They can grow up to 10ft long and weigh up to 350 pounds. And their taste buds are so immaculately developed, it can taste blood in the air up to 9 km away.” (MrBallen, 22:00)

• Komodo dragons are vividly described:

  • Strict, voracious carnivores
  • Capable of biting, poisoning, and then tracking prey over many hours
  • Known for cannibalism (their young hide in trees for years to avoid being eaten by adults)
  • Incredible hunters—fast, cunning, able to eat up to 80% of their body weight in a single day.

• Focal Story: 2009, resident fisherman Mohammed Anwar, after a lifetime of curiosity about forbidden sugar apples guarded by the dragons, sneaks into their territory.

  • Neighbor Teresa Tawa witnesses him ignore warnings and enter the off-limits zone.
  • Mohammed, seeking just one more apple, falls and cuts himself; the scent of blood instantly draws two Komodo dragons from the grass.
  • Teresa watches helplessly as the dragons close in and kill Mohammed.
  • Authorities arrive too late to save Mohammed, though they prevent his actual consumption.

“They smelled his blood, and they charged over, and Teresa could only scream and yell for help as these two Komodo dragons ate Muhammad.” (MrBallen, 28:50)

• Today, tourists can visit Komodo Island—but strict, expensive regulations are in place because of the ever-present danger posed by these "modern dinosaurs."

Memorable Moment

• The stomach-dropping immediacy of Teresa seeing the grass stirring as the dragons sprint toward their wounded prey—highlighting the razor-thin line between safety and doom.

Story 3: Cat and Mouse

Timestamps: [32:36 – 59:10]

Summary

• Setting: Remote Eastern Russian forest, December 6, 1997

• Subject: Yuri Trush, a veteran ex-military hunter and member of a specialized tiger-response unit

• Yuri leads a search party for missing hunter Vladimir Markov, following a trail of blood and upended belongings to Vladimir’s devastated cabin.

• Ominous signs—a dog in circles, crows fleeing, a “forest-wide” growl—signal something monstrous nearby.

“...this unbelievably loud growling sound that seemed to be coming from somewhere really far away and also somewhere really close. It was like the forest itself was growing.” (MrBallen, 35:50)

• Rewind: Five days earlier, Vladimir found a freshly killed wild boar and, against all bush-craft etiquette, stole the meat (unknown to him, possibly from a tiger).
• That night, his dogs sense a presence; Vladimir witnesses a shadowy beast destroy his shed to reclaim the meat, then spends hours staring through peepholes, watching the beast motionless outside.
• As Vladimir tries to rest, the tiger disappears from view. When he peers through one peephole, the beast suddenly slams into the wall—its massive, blood-covered face and yellow eye meeting his at near-point-blank range.

“This massive yellow eye suddenly lowers down and looks right back through the hole, right at Vladimir.” (MrBallen, 46:12)

• Vladimir fires his rifle, wounding and scaring off the tiger—temporarily.
• The next morning, Vladimir discovers the tiger’s tracks circling his cabin, indicating it spent hours stalking him just outside.
• Fearing for his lost dogs but marked by superstition—he seeks help from neighbors. None will accompany him, warning: the tiger has “marked” him, and will not stop until he is dead.

“Vlad, you have been marked by the tiger. I'm not going out there with you.” (MrBallen, 52:20)

• Vladimir returns home after a day of fruitless scrambling for support, only to find fresh destruction—his sink and beehive boxes smashed. He hears his missing dog’s whimper from inside.
• Bursting into the cabin to rescue the injured dog, Vladimir walks straight into the tiger’s trap. (It’s theorized the intelligent tiger orchestrated this to lure Vladimir.)
• Four days later, the search party, led by Yuri, finds Vladimir’s remains: mutilated and displayed—his clothes, then pieces of his body in the snow, and his skinned head left in a “warning” arrangement.
• The killer tiger later claims at least one more victim, using similar vengeful, elaborate tactics. The Inspection Tiger unit eventually tracks and kills it. However, according to local legend, Yuri is now “marked” and may, too, be hunted in the future.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• The realization of Vladimir’s fate, and the calculated, almost human malevolence attributed to the tiger, ties the story together with an uncanny sense that in these wild places, humans are not the only creatures capable of strategy or revenge.

“...this Siberian tiger attacked Vladimir just for revenge. That this tiger felt like, you know, Vladimir was encroaching on its territory. It stole its boar kill. And then also Vladimir had shot the tiger, wounding it, which only incited the tiger more.” (MrBallen, 58:23)

Key Themes & Insights

• Nature's Ruthlessness: Each story explores the frailty and arrogance of humans in the face of true predators.
• The Thin Line Between Domestication and Danger: Whether with pets, local legends, or nature’s law, the line separating prey from predator is perilously thin.
• Superstition and Survival: Both the Komodo dragon and Siberian tiger tales weave in local myth and the chilling respect—or fear—earned by these creatures, underscoring a deep, evolutionary truth about what it means to be "prey."

Notable Quotes

• “Was it demonic possession? Or something even worse? Something more sinister?” (MrBallen, 05:17 – demonstrating the suspenseful, questioning tone throughout the episode)
• “Their mouths are filled with deadly bacteria…the staph infection very likely caused him to pass out inside of his apartment. And then after that he was eaten by the lizards.” (MrBallen, 17:42)
• “Hiding from their own parents, because if they're spotted by an adult, they'll be eaten.” (MrBallen, 24:40, on young Komodo dragons)
• “He has been marked by the tiger...that tiger is never going to stop, and it's going to eventually track you down and kill you.” (MrBallen, 52:20)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Opening and Episode Theme: 00:00 – 04:35
• The Hand that Feeds: 04:35 – 19:35
• Modern Day Dinosaurs: 19:45 – 30:20
• Cat and Mouse: 32:36 – 59:10

Final Thoughts

“Prey” is quintessential MrBallen—unsettling, immersive, and expertly crafted. The episode reiterates, in haunting fashion, that while humans may be clever, the natural world is full of creatures that have evolved as ruthlessly effective hunters. Sometimes, in the wilderness or even within our own homes, we may find ourselves just another potential meal.