MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode: Stranger Than Fiction Vol. XI

Date: September 11, 2025
Host: MrBallen (Ballin Studios)

Episode Overview

This episode features three "stranger than fiction" true stories—remastered from MrBallen’s YouTube channel—highlighting how real-life events can be more bizarre and horrifying than anything imagined. The stories in this volume are:

1. Family Dinner – A Russian family’s fatal encounter with toxic potatoes.
2. Table for Two – The mysterious deaths of two close friends at a backyard cookout in France.
3. Lucky Day – An American surfer’s double brush with death in Africa: first by shark, then by lions.

1. Family Dinner

[06:16 – 17:36]

Key Points & Narrative

• Set in a Russian suburb, August 23, 2013.
• 8-year-old Maria is drawing at the kitchen table; her father, Mikhail (42), is preparing dinner.
• Mikhail realizes he’s missing potatoes, which are in the cellar.
  Quote:

  "Hey, do we have any potatoes?" (Mikhail) [07:12]

• He goes into the cellar; later, Maria’s mother follows when he doesn’t return.
• After smoke from burning onions causes chaos, other family members, one by one, go into the cellar—all disappear.
• Only Maria and her grandmother remain upstairs. Eventually, the grandmother and Maria also descend, leaving the door open.
  Quote:

  "Both of them just expecting the parents to emerge any second. But as the seconds ticked by, nobody emerged." (Narrator) [10:47]

• Neighbor arrives, finds Maria sobbing, surrounded by the lifeless bodies of her entire family in the cellar.
• Investigation reveals the cellar’s old, rotting potatoes released toxic fumes (likely solanine gas) in the unventilated, sealed space. Each family member who went down (and closed the door) succumbed to the fumes; Maria survived because her grandmother left the door open, allowing the fumes to dissipate.
• Eerie, tragic, and a rare but real danger from stored root vegetables in enclosed spaces.

Notable Moment

• The gradual, agonizing buildup as the family, one after another, disappears downstairs, leaving Maria alone in a now-silent house.

2. Table for Two

[20:51 – 32:56]

Key Points & Narrative

• Set in a small village in northern France, August 2, 2017.
• Lucien Perrault (69) and Olivier Boudin (38) are close friends despite their age gap—villagers dub them “father and son.”
• That evening, they barbecue at Lucien’s patio—wine, cheese, and beef rib.
• Neighbor (Marie) sees them from her upstairs window, notes they’re drinking and having fun.
• The next morning, Marie finds them both—Lucien at the table, Olivier “passed out” on the patio.
• She assumes they're sleeping it off, but by noon, neither has moved and they don’t respond to her calls.
• Upon approaching, Marie realizes both are dead.
  Quote:

  "As she got closer and closer to the two men, she realized that they were not moving at all. Like they were not breathing. Something was horribly wrong here." (Narrator) [29:40]

• Initial theories: food poisoning (botulism), double homicide, or murder-suicide.
• Food and beans are tested for toxins—all negative.
• Autopsies reveal the true cause:
  • Lucien, missing teeth, choked on a large piece of beef rib.
  • Olivier, with a heart condition, attempted to help but suffered a fatal heart attack in the stress of the moment.
  • Both died almost simultaneously, victims of tragic coincidence, not foul play.

Notable Moment

• The twist where supposed foul play gives way to tragic medical happenstance—reminding listeners how mundane flaws can have lethal consequences.
  Quote:

  "Their non-fatal, minor medical issues suddenly became a really, really big deal." (Narrator) [32:12]

3. Lucky Day

[33:00 – 52:38]

Key Points & Narrative

• April 1993, John Doyle, a surfer from Colorado, is alone on the West African coast.
• While waiting for a wave, spots a circling shark fin 20 meters away.
  Quote:

  "John is horrified, and he wants to get out of the water immediately." (Narrator) [34:11]

• Plans to escape by surfing the next wave but as he catches it, falls off his board—lands in the water with the shark.
• Shark (a great white) bites his calf. John punches its nose; manages to get back on the board, bleeding profusely.
• As he nears shore, the shark attacks again, but John uses his board as a shield.
• The board is bitten in half; John rides the broken half into shore.
• With a wounded leg, he applies makeshift tourniquets and drives through the savannah, desperate for help.
• Stops at a creek to drink water, is attacked by a lion.
• John manages to beat off the lion with a stick, limps back to his Land Rover—only to find himself surrounded by a whole pride.
• Narrowly escapes by locking himself in the car, keys outside.
• He’s sure he’ll die, but a tourist safari stumbles upon the scene. The guide fires shots to scare off the lions; John is rescued, rushed to hospital, needs 250 stitches, but survives.
• The broken surfboard fragment now hangs in his office as a memento.
  Quote:

  "He says the surfboard reminds him how lucky he was." (Narrator) [52:23]

Notable Moments

• The escalating survival horror—shark attack, DIY first aid, then lion attack, topped by a pride.
• The vivid recounting of his desperate fight and the poetic twist: his “lucky day” by surviving not just one but two apex predator attacks.

Memorable Quotes

• On the agony of waiting:

  "Both of them just expecting the parents to emerge any second. But as the seconds ticked by, nobody emerged." (Narrator, 10:47)

• On accidental deaths:

  "Their non-fatal, minor medical issues suddenly became a really, really big deal." (Narrator, 32:12)

• On the shark encounter:

  "John is horrified, and he wants to get out of the water immediately." (Narrator, 34:11)

• On the meaning of survival:

  "He says the surfboard reminds him how lucky he was." (Narrator, 52:23)

Structure & Tone

MrBallen’s tone remains conversational, suspenseful, with a touch of gallows humor and his signature knack for building tension. Each story is presented as an escalating narrative, drawing listeners in with everyday details, family dynamics, or humor before plunging into the dark twist remarkable for its real-life bizarreness.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro and Story Teases: 00:00–06:15
• Story 1 ("Family Dinner"): 06:16–17:36
• Story 2 ("Table for Two"): 20:51–32:56
• Story 3 ("Lucky Day"): 33:00–52:38

This episode is a chilling reminder: sometimes reality outpaces imagination, and survival can hinge on a single decision or a random chance—whether in a household cellar, a quiet garden, or the wilds of Africa.