The Devil is in the Details (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Summary

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode Title: The Devil is in the Details
Release Date: February 18, 2026
Host: John Allen (MrBallen)

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Episode Overview

In this podcast-exclusive episode, MrBallen delves into two chilling stories unified by the theme of ambition fatally derailed by oversight—a single missed detail leading to dramatic, even deadly, consequences. The episode combines MrBallen’s signature narrative suspense with rich character detail, immersing listeners in true crime and unsolved mystery.

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Story 1: “Birthday Surprise”

[02:04–21:34]

Summary

A newlywed couple in Kanazawa City, Japan, appears to have it all—love, laughter, and shared dreams. When Risa, eager to give her husband Hiroki an unforgettable birthday celebration, draws inspiration from their favorite TV prank show, her enthusiastic planning tragically collides with one overlooked safety detail.

Key Points & Insights

• The Couple:

  • Risa and Hiroki, recently married, are depicted as deeply in love, supportive, and enjoying the freshness of their new life together ([02:04]).
  • Their shared joy is highlighted by regular beach outings, favorite comedy shows, and mutual admiration.

• The Surprise Plan:

  • Risa, inspired by the prank show “Arashi’s Big Secret,” decides to blend romance and humor by orchestrating a beach walk ending in a fireworks display ([04:52]).
  • She themes the evening as a playful re-enactment of the TV show—digging a deep hole on the beach, covering it with plastic and a blue sheet, intending Hiroki to fall in as a prank before celebrating with fireworks ([16:10]).

• Overlooked Detail:

  • The critical flaw: Risa covers the hole with rigid plastic instead of easily-breakable material (styled after the TV show's set design). She expects it to give way easily ([16:58]).
  • On the night of the event, lacking moonlight or flashlights, Risa and Hiroki can’t see the blanket or hole, relying on the faint glow of their phone screens ([10:36]).
  • In the darkness, both step onto the plastic-covered hole. Rather than breaking, it tips, dumping them head-first into the hole and burying them under an avalanche of heavy, wet sand ([17:40]).

• Aftermath:

  • Friends, waiting in the bushes, hear screams, initially mistaking them for part of the surprise, until abrupt silence signals something’s horribly wrong ([15:19]).
  • After frantic, futile searching, authorities arrive and dig out the couple, but it is too late—they have suffocated ([20:44]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It was romantic and crazy, just like her." – MrBallen, on Risa’s vision for Hiroki’s birthday ([06:43])
• “It’s so dark that not only was Risa unable to see this blue blanket…she could barely see the sand.” ([10:55])
• "Right as Risa is about to tell her husband what's going on, suddenly it was like the whole world went completely black. No more ambient light from cell phones. No more minimal moonlight. Nothing. Absolute blackness and silence." ([13:58])
• “Risa made a terrible miscalculation.” ([16:58])
• “The plastic, instead of breaking, just kind of tilted suddenly to one side, causing Risa and her husband to suddenly tumble...both of them head first into this hole, and caused this massive avalanche of sand to come into the hole and completely cover the two of them up.” ([18:09])

Themes and Takeaways

• The boundary between play and risk—how one well-intentioned, overlooked technical detail can turn fun into catastrophe.
• A chilling reminder: Sometimes, the tiniest miscalculation in complex plans leads to irreversible consequences.

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Story 2: “Eggcellent”

[22:37–44:07]

Summary

Dr. Edward Fogel, a German explorer and mapmaker, vanishes during a mapping expedition to Central Africa in 1856. His mysterious disappearance breeds legend and speculation—until, nearly 20 years later, another explorer discovers the shockingly mundane yet fatal detail at the heart of the story.

Key Points & Insights

• The Disappearance:

  • Edward, in Abashir (Wadai Kingdom), is hosted by local nobility but grows increasingly frustrated with both food options and local suspicions ([22:37]).
  • He continually offends by refusing local cuisine, demanding only eggs—meals the locals consider rare and precious ([23:31]).

• Social Missteps:

  • Despite warnings, Edward not only irritates his hosts but also trespasses onto a sacred mountain, fueling hostile rumors that he is a spy ([24:24]).
  • One morning, after another eggless breakfast, he leaves to climb the mountain and never returns ([25:00]).

• The Legend Grows:

  • Multiple doomed search parties from Germany elevate Edward to heroic status at home; each attempt to uncover his fate ends in death ([26:15]).
  • "People began to see him as like this brave explorer who, who thirsted for knowledge and went daringly into the unknown… maybe he had been assassinated or taken prisoner, or maybe he discovered something holy or ancient that he wasn't supposed to see." ([26:59])

• The Truth Revealed:

  • Explorer Gustav Nachtigall, years later, seeks answers, employing cunning diplomacy to avoid offending the local king—dangerous due to the possible political implications of Edward's fate ([27:38]).
  • Gustav invents a story about a grieving father seeking Edward’s notebooks, appealing to the king’s sense of legacy and kindness ([31:20]).
  • The result: under subterfuge and peril, Gustav is told by a palace guard that Edward’s true, “unforgivable” crime was his relentless consumption of the nobles’ eggs—a cultural insult. This, not espionage nor lost heroics, sealed his doom ([39:15]).
  • Edward was executed for disrespect—in the eyes of his hosts—by being beaten to death and his records lost ([41:12]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Edward's unforgivable crime, the one that caused his downfall, was his insatiable hunger for eggs." ([39:42])
• "In Abashir, eggs were quite rare and considered a precious gift. And Edward demanded them every single meal. And he ate all of that noble family's eggs." ([40:05])
• “As for Edward's notebooks and maps, they were never found.” ([42:44])
• "Gustav was unharmed. He, unlike Edward, had actually bothered to learn the local customs and was highly respectful. And so he was allowed to leave the city…" ([41:45])

Themes and Takeaways

• The fatal pitfalls of cultural arrogance—a disregard for local customs can lead to exile, or even death.
• The easiest detail—a meal, a courtesy—can carry massive, unseen consequences in unfamiliar contexts.
• Legendary mysteries may have mundane, mortifying solutions.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:04] – Start of Story 1 (“Birthday Surprise”): Introduces Risa and Hiroki, their love story, and Risa’s challenge

• [06:43] – Risa’s epiphany; planning the romantic beach birthday

• [10:36] – The night of the event, unforeseen darkness on the beach

• [13:58] – The critical moment: Total darkness, the accident occurs

• [16:58] – Explanation of the miscalculation with the plastic covering

• [18:09] – Tragic consequences; both are buried alive

• [21:34] – Concludes Story 1

• [22:37] – Start of Story 2 (“Eggcellent”): Dr. Edward Fogel’s African expedition

• [23:31] – Edward’s refusal to eat anything but eggs

• [25:00] – Edward disappears after climbing the forbidden mountain

• [27:38] – Gustav Nachtigall’s investigation

• [31:20] – Gustav’s plan to extract truth from the king

• [39:42] – The stunning revelation: Edward’s downfall by eggs

• [41:12] – The fate of Edward Fogel

• [44:07] – Story ends

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Episode Themes & Reflections

• Ambition vs. Oversight: In both stories, a bold plan collides with a missed detail—a tragic flaw often hiding in plain sight.
• The Weight of Cultural Context: Both Risa's "game show" knowledge and Edward's cultural insensitivity underscore how easily fate turns on what we don't know (or refuse to learn).
• Irony & Tragedy: Each narrative’s darkness arises not from monstrous evil, but fatal, almost comical miscalculation: “The Devil is in the details.”
• Closure & Mystery: Neither story resolves with the justice or clarity one might wish—only with a cautionary chill about life’s unpredictability.

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Memorable Episode Quote

“It looked like the ground was level underneath the blue sheet. In Reese's mind, this rigid plastic would break the instant her husband stepped on it...But in reality...the plastic didn't break. It was too rigid.”
— MrBallen ([16:58])

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Final Note

MrBallen closes reminding listeners that while his stories are based on true events, details may be dramatized or anonymized. If you’re drawn to true crime tales where the ordinary suddenly swerves into the extraordinary—and fatal—this episode delivers suspenseful storytelling with a haunting lesson about the perils of neglecting “the details.”

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For more episodes, visit the MrBallen YouTube channel or subscribe for early, ad-free access on SiriusXM Podcasts+.

Transcript

[Mr. Ballin]

Today, I'm going to tell you two stories about people who wanted to do something very impressive and came up with a pretty ambitious plan to do it. But they overlooked one crucial detail that became the difference between life and death. But before we get into today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place, because that's all we do. And we upload two, three, even four times a week. So if that's of interest to you, please offer to take the follow button out on a whale watching cruise. But once you're out on the water, just throw them overboard and leave. Okay, let's get into our first story, which is called Birthday Surprise. Foreign.

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[Mr. Ballin]

On the night of August 25, 2011, a 23 year old woman named Risa Demura, along with her husband Hiroki Demura, were sitting on their couch in their apartment in Kanazawa City, Japan, watching tv. And as they sat there, they both found themselves laughing hysterically at the screen. They were watching their favorite show. It was this hidden camera comedy prank show. And this was like the highlight of their day, sitting here together on the couch and just laughing their heads off. Risa and Hiroki had been married for just four months and so they were still very much living in that newlywed bliss period where they basically spent every second they could together. When Hiroki wasn't working, the two of them would go out to eat. They would go to the movies together or take trips to the beach since Kanazawa City was right on the coast. And whenever they were out, they were always talking about how lucky they felt that they had found each other and that they were married and that the rest of their lives were going to look like this. Like, how lucky were they. Risa and Hiroki had actually met when they were young kids in middle school, but Hiroki was very shy and really didn't speak to Risa at all at the time. But then later, as adults after college, they ran into each other, and Hiroki, he told Risa the truth, that he actually had always loved her, and he still did. And Risa really had been shocked by this because she had always felt a type of way about him, but it really didn't seem like he was interested in her. So this was like this amazing revelation. But more than that, it was also just incredibly romantic to her, like a classic Hollywood love story. And so when he had confessed his love to her, she had pretty much immediately said, oh, my gosh, let's go on a date. This is awesome. Let's do it. And from there, it had just been a whirlwind. You know, they had just fallen completely in love. And then within the year, they had gotten married. Now, the reason they had ultimately settled in Kanazawa City was mostly just because of Hiroki's job. He. He worked at a company that was in the city, and he was also kind of a rising star there. Every time Risa met one of his co workers, they would talk about how, you know, he was such a hard worker and what a natural born leader he was. And so Risa was very proud of him. But more than that, she felt inspired by Hiroki. And so she found herself wanting to find a really fulfilling job herself. And so she was on the hunt for, you know, her career. But for right now, Risa was very much still in the sort of identifying what she wanted to do face. And it was because she was just kind of always going from one interest to another because she just had this huge insatiable curiosity and loved trying new things, which made it hard to choose just one thing to do with her life. But Hiroki was incredibly supportive of this. I mean, he treated Risa like she was royalty. And he always said that whatever she wanted to do was completely fine by him as long as she was happy. But for right now, as Risa sat on the couch next to Hiroki, watching this funny show, she found her mind wandering away from the show and away from her ongoing job search to Hiroki's birthday. It was coming up, and she just felt like there was a lot of pressure on her to do something really special for him, mostly because Hiroki always did something really thoughtful and really incredible for her. Like, he really celebrated her really well, and she didn't want to kind of underwhelm him. And this was also going to be the first time one of them was having a birthday now that they were officially married. So Risa really wanted to go all out and plan something really great that Hiroki would never forget. But as Risa sat on the couch next to her husband, trying to come up with the perfect birthday celebration idea, she just kept drawing a blank. It's like the only thing she could think of that really she and her husband shared was they both were very romantic people, and so this would have to be romantic in some way. But how she didn't know. And in many ways, she and her husband were very different in how they showed affection or how they showed romance. Hiroki was still a very quiet and reserved person, so his displays of affection to his wife were reserved and private. But Risa, on the other hand, was massively extroverted, full of energy. And so her displays of affection were sort of over the top and big and boisterous. And so Risa is just really struggling, trying to think, like, how can I do this? And it was like all of a sudden, she has this epiphany, and she sees in her mind's eye the perfect way to celebrate his birthday. She didn't even know what inspired it, but it just. It came to her. She would take her husband out on a. On a very romantic beach walk. But then at the end of the beach walk, there would be this surprise, over the top fireworks display. It was exactly what she needed. It was romantic and crazy, just like her. Two days later, on Saturday afternoon, Risa, along with six of her friends, were at Osaki beach, which is the beach where the big birthday was going to take place. And the birthday was going to be that night. But now that Risa had planned out the big party, she had done that the day before while Hiroki was at work. Now, on the day of, she actually had some setup, some physical setup to do, because this was not just going to be a walk on the beach. There was also going to be fireworks. And so she needed her friends for that. And so what they were doing on this day is they were walking along the beach looking for the perfect spot that would afford Reesa and her husband some privacy on the beach, you know, so it was very romantic, but also had, like, a vantage point for the friends where they could basically hide and watch the couple and look for the signal to then light off the fireworks when it was the right time. And so Risa and her friends, they're. They're walking along the beach, and then they see it. There's this kind of private, sort of secluded section of the beach that had this row of shrubbery kind of lining the backside of it. That would be a perfect spot for the friends to hide. And then also down on the beach, it'd be nice and private and peaceful. And they thought that was the best spot to have this big party. And so over there they go, the friends go up into the bushes, and they get their fireworks ready. And then Risa, she went down to the sand section of the beach, and she kind of prepped the area where she and Hiroki would be. And then ultimately, she laid out this blue sheet. And then once that was in place, she walked back up to her friends, and they said, okay, we're ready to go. And so Risa told her friends her plan was to be there that night at 10pm with her husband and that the friends should actually get there a little bit earlier to be all set up. And they agreed, and then they all left. As Risa left the beach, she found herself feeling incredibly antsy. I mean, she was so excited about this big surprise party that night, and she just wanted it to be 10pm so she could finally reveal what she had in store for Hiroki. But she also knew she couldn't give away that she had this big surprise. And so when she got home where Hiroki was, she acted like everything was totally normal. And so when she walked inside, she quickly sent Hiroki to the couch to go relax while she made them both a very nice dinner. And then when she was done, the two of them sat down at the table, and Risa kind of pretended like she had nothing planned. And she was like, hey, what should we do this weekend to celebrate your birthday? And they talked about, you know, going and seeing friends and, you know, going out, whatever they were gonna do, but it was all a big ruse. You know, Risa had her big plan for the night. And then at some point, when it was getting kind of late and it seemed like Hiroki was maybe thinking about going to bed, Risa said, well, wait a minute. You know, it's your birthday weekend. Let's not go to bed right now let's go on a beach walk. What a great idea that would be. And Hiroki was kind of surprised, but he's like, actually, yeah, that sounds great. Let's go for it. And as soon as he said that, Risa could barely contain her excitement because she knew she had this awesome thing planned for him down at the beach, and it was about to happen. Like, this was gonna be awesome. And so she and her husband quickly cleaned up and. And then just before 10pm they left their apartment and got in the car and headed to the beach. About 10 minutes later, they parked at the end of this dead end road right near the beach. And when they got out, there was basically bushes on all sides of the road, but there was this little path that cut through the bushes that led down to the sand. But as Risa led Hiroki down this path, she quickly realized she had a big problem. There was virtually no moonlight. It's like basically pitch black on the beach. And remember, she had put out that blue blanket to signify where she and Hiroki would be, you know, in position so that her friends who were nearby in the bushes could light off the fireworks. You know, it was all contingent on getting to that blue blanket. And it's so dark that not only was Risa unable to see this blue blanket, certainly not from a distance, but, I mean, she could barely see the sand. I mean, it's so dark. It's, like, eerie out on the beach. And this is in 2011, when you couldn't just pull out your cell phone and turn on your flashlight. There was no flashlight feature. And so the best they could do was basically pull out their phone, tap on the screen, and use the little bit of light coming from that to guide their way. But after walking on the beach just a short ways, Hiroki actually stopped Risa and said, hey, like, I don't think it's safe to be walking on the beach. We really can't see where we're going. Like, let's go back and get a flashlight. But Risa knows her friends are already in position in those shrubs down the beach, ready to light off those fireworks, and they likely can't see very well. And so she's, like, worried that if she doesn't get there soon, that somehow her friends are going to panic and light off the fireworks prematurely. Like, she doesn't know what's going to happen here, but she's starting to get worried that everything's falling apart and she can't afford to be late. And so she tells her husband, no, let's not go back and get flashlights. Let's just walk on the dark sand. It's no big deal. And so the two of them are walking along the beach, using their cell phone screens to guide them. But pretty quickly, Hiroki started to notice that Risa seemed really anxious and was walking really too fast. I mean, this is meant to be a peaceful walk on the beach. And Risa is like a woman on a mission here trying to go somewhere, but he doesn't understand where she's trying to go. She's just walking really quickly ahead of him. And finally he said to her, like, hey, what's going on? Like, why are you trying to walk so quickly? Like, what are we doing out here? And so finally she just stops and she looks at her husband and she's about to tell him what's actually going on because she feels like, you know, the surprise at this point is ruined and she basically needs his help if they're gonna find this blanket and figure out where they need to be. But right as Risa is about to tell her husband what's going on, suddenly it was like the whole world went completely black. No more ambient light from cell phones. No more minimal moonlight. Nothing. Absolute blackness and silence. Everyday life is full of moments that you plan for and moments that just happen often when you least expect them. Whether it's part of your normal routine or something unexpected, Amazon is where you go for everyday essentials, making shopping simple and and dependable. From running out of household basics to last minute surprises, Amazon's great deals and low prices on everyday essentials make it easier to handle whatever life throws your way. 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Because I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet Nibbles after his untimely end. Huh? Nibbles gone too soon. May he scurry in peace. Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff. Nibbles would have loved you like a brother.

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[Mr. Ballin]

At the same time, Risa's friends were actually not that far away, up in the bushes. But much like Risa and Hiroki, they had also been dealing with the issue that they basically couldn't see anything. It was so dark and so they got in position but they basically couldn't even see the sand. I mean, they had no idea if Risa and Hiroki were in position or not. But they could hear Risa and Hiroki talking. They could hear them speaking sort of out there somewhere on the sand. And the friends were kind of whispering back and forth like, how are we gonna know when they're actually in position to light off the fireworks? How are we gonna get the signal? We can't see them. And so the friends are sort of like unsure what to do. And they're straining their eyes out onto the sand trying to see Risa, trying to see Hiroki. But again, they can't see them. They can't see the blue blanket even though it's not that far away. And so they're just like looking and listening and they can kind of tell that Risa and Hiroki are probably the voices they're hear. They appear to be moving in this direction, but then suddenly they start hearing these screams coming from the same direction. They were hearing voices that they believed were their friends. And at first they thought the screams might actually be the signal, like light off the fireworks. But the screams, they sounded like somebody was in trouble. And critically, as soon as the screaming started, it abruptly stopped. It was like high pitched, just awful screams. And then silence, Absolute total silence on the beach. And again, they can't see anything. So they don't know what's going on. They don't even know if that's actually Risa and Hiroki. But they think something's wrong here. So they abandon the fireworks, they leave their hiding spot and they charge out onto the beach. And they're looking all around, but they really can't see anything. They can't even find the blue blanket. And they knew roughly where it was. They couldn't even find that. And so they're running around the beach, they're calling out to Hiroki and Teresa, but they're not hearing anything back. And for 30 minutes they're just running around looking for their friends, just knowing, like, something bad has happened here. And then at some point, one of the friends doubles back and they go roughly to the area where, you know, Risa and Hiroki were supposed to be near that blue blanket, and they make a discovery. It would turn out when Risa and Hiroki were out on that beach walking around in the darkness, Risa actually did find that blue sheet that she'd set up in preparation for this big birthday surprise. Except it was so dark that even though they were literally at this point standing on the blanket, she and Hiroki couldn't tell it was that dark. Now, that doesn't seem like that would be catastrophic, but until you consider what was underneath that blanket. So two days earlier, when Risa had that epiphany of how she could have the best birthday ever for Hiroki, she had had that epiphany in part because of the show they were watching on tv, the hidden camera comedy show that she and Hiroki both loved. The show was called Arashi's Big Secret, and its comedy really came from the over the top pranks that the show's hosts would pull on Japanese celebrities. And one of those pranks was to dig a large hole on the beach that somebody would accidentally fall into. And so Risa thought, what a great idea. What If I dig a hole on the beach, cover it up. And then after our romantic walk on the beach for his birthday, I'll have Hiroki fall into the hole, and then my friends will fire off those fireworks, and it'll be sort of like he's on the game show that we love so much. It'll basically be like a combination of a romantic fun time on the beach and a prank and a big birthday celebration afterwards. It was perfect. However, Risa made a terrible miscalculation. So on the game show, when they would dig these holes in the beach, they would cover them with basically dried foam, like, think Styrofoam, that the instant one of their contestants or their celebrities stepped directly on the foam, the foam would break, and they would fall feet first into the hole. What Reesa did is, after she dug this deep hole, along with her friends, you know, getting ready for this big party, she covered the hole first with a thick piece of plastic, like, almost like plywood, but plastic. Like, rigid plastic. And so she covered the hole with that. That was like the platform. And then she covered that with the blue sheet so that, to the naked eye, it looked like the ground was level underneath the blue sheet. In Reese's mind, this rigid plastic would break the instant her husband stepped on it. Like, it wasn't that strong. It was maybe strong enough to hold him for a second, but it would definitely snap in the middle, and he would fall in, just like on the game show. But in reality, when she and her husband inadvertently walked onto that blue sheet without realizing it because it was so dark, that piece of plastic didn't break. It was too rigid. The plastic, instead of breaking, just kind of tilted suddenly to one side, causing Risa and her husband to suddenly tumble basically forward, both of them head first into this hole, and caused this massive avalanche of sand to come into the hole and completely cover the two of them up. And so Risa and Hiroki, they screamed for a second as they began to fall into the ground, and then suddenly, they're upside down and completely covered all the way to the top by heavy, wet sand. That's why it went silent after the screams, because they were completely buried alive. Reese's friends, ultimately, after walking around the beach, after hearing those screams, they would find the blue blanket, and it was partially submerged in the sand. And so they really didn't know what had happened. But because of the screams and what they were seeing, they just called the authorities, and they came out to the beach, and it would take them, like, 30 minutes to finally dig out Reesa and Taroki from this hole. But by that point it was too late. They both had suffocated to death.

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[Mr. Ballin]

The next and final story of today's episode is called Eggcellent. One morning in the winter of 1856, a 27 year old explorer named Dr. Edward Fogel sat down for breakfast at the home where he was staying in the city of Abashir, which was in a kingdom called Wadai in Central Africa. Edward poured himself a cup of milk and then, even though the table was full of warm breads and cakes and porridge, Edward called a servant over and asked her to get him a plate of boiled eggs. But the servant just apologized and said, I'm sorry but we don't have any eggs this morning. We're all out. Edward was disappointed, but you know, he thanked the servant anyways. So Edward was visiting Africa from Germany on a map making expedition and he'd been there for the past two weeks and so far all the local food really upset his stomach except for eggs. So for literally every single meal, the only thing he ate was eggs. And now because they were out of eggs, despite there being all this other food to choose from, he knew he couldn't eat it without getting sick and so he would just have to go hungry. But outside of the food, overall, you know, Edward thought the city of Abashir was, it was okay. He had gotten to meet the king who had arranged for him to stay here in this very nice home that was owned by a noble family and the area itself was extremely beautiful. And Edward was actually going to be the very first European to successfully make a map of it, which meant that he'd be essentially creating history. But Edward just really was not getting along with the locals. They just seemed kind of overall pretty suspicious of him. And, you know, Edward couldn't believe it. But, you know, they didn't seem to care at all that he was this famous map maker who'd come all the way there from Germany to literally put their kind of insignificant city onto the map of the whole world. Like, why didn't they appreciate that? He couldn't believe it. And now, adding insult to injury, Edward also couldn't even eat any breakfast. And so, feeling pretty annoyed despite all the effort clearly people had made to feed him that morning, Edward stood up from the table and he left to go spend the day exploring. He walked into the front courtyard where another servant was waiting with Edward's horse. Edward spent most of his days in the city, just kind of riding around and drawing maps of streets and alleyways. But today, this servant warned Edward that he really ought to stay inside because it was not safe for him to go out into the city. So at this point in time, the kingdom that Abashir was a part of was at war with several nations. And so as a result, everybody in the city was very worried about spies, which meant they were very suspicious of foreigners like Edward. Now, for the most part, locals had sort of put up with his presence so far, but to them, it just sort of seemed like he was always watching them without ever talking to anyone. And so they had started to gossip. But Edward, after being given this warning by the servant, did not take it seriously. Instead, he kind of scoffed and said, nah, it's no big deal. Like, I'm not gonna be out there for very long anyways. Nothing's gonna happen. He said he had another plan for today. His big plan was he would leave the city of Abashir and he would go to this nearby mountain. And he wanted to climb up it and get a bird's eye view of the city from the mountaintop to help him finish up his map. But when Edward said that, the servant looked truly horrified and told Edward that he simply could not do that because the mountain Edward was clearly talking about was sacred and nobody was allowed to climb it. Like that was really important to the people who lived here. But to Edward, you know, this warning really did not land. Instead, he just looked at it as more evidence that the locals just didn't appreciate what he was doing for them. Like he was on a very Important mission that was far more important than anything sacred to them. And so Edward, you know, he thanked the servant for his warning, but also said, like, look, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do because this is really important. And so I'm going to go hike that mountain and I'll see you tonight when I drop off the horse. And then Edward climbed onto the horse and he rode off. But Edward didn't come back. He didn't come back that night or the day after or the day after. And pretty soon it was clear that Edward was missing. Word of Edward's disappearance ultimately made it back to Germany pretty quickly, specifically to the Geography Society that, that had sent him to Africa on this map making mission in the first place. So the Geography Society and the German public sent several search parties to Africa to go look for Edward. But despite multiple serious attempts over several years, nobody ever found him or figured out what happened to him. And because of this, Edward sort of became famous in Germany. People began to see him as like this brave explorer who, who thirsted for knowledge and went daringly into the unknown. They imagined dramatic and tragic things that might have happened to him, like maybe he had been assassinated or taken prisoner, or maybe he discovered something holy or ancient that he wasn't supposed to see. And so in time, the story of Edward got bigger and bigger and he became like a symbol of, you know, German pride. I mean, this was our explorer. He had done something amazing, clearly. Also adding intrigue to this already very bizarre mystery was the fact that all the people who actually went to Africa to look for Edward, the search parties, over the years, literally everybody who went died. Now all those searchers, like they know how they died. It was local violence or disease or just plain bad luck. But it sort of added intrigue to this mystery. Like everybody who went looking for Edward didn't come back. Like that became part of the lore. And so this mystery just continued to grow and grow and get passed around and things were embellished and things were fictionalized until finally, almost 20 years after Edward disappeared, another explorer named Gustav Nachtigall decided he was gonna be the one who finally figured out once and for all what actually happened to the sky. And so in the early winter of 1874, Gustav is now in the courtyard outside of his apartment in Abashir because he had actually gone to Africa to begin his search for, you know, the answer here, what happened to Edward. And he's standing in this courtyard along with his translator, whose name was Ahmed. And the two of them were sitting across from an elderly man who was friends with the current king of Abashir. And this elderly man had at one point lived in one of the apartments across the courtyard. And so Gustav asked this old man if he had ever met with a European man about 17 years earlier. And Ahmed translated the question to him, and the old man said, yes, he had. That one European man had come to meet with the king around that time. And he had always been writing in this notebook, but he had never seemed to want to speak to anybody and had, for the most part, kept to himself. But the old man said, you know, beyond his impression of this guy, he really didn't know anything about him. He had no idea, you know, what he was doing or what happened to him. So at this point, both Gustav and Ahmed had been in Abashir for two months now. And in that time, they had been trying to ask around and see if anybody remembered Edward. And so far, they had run into a few people who seem to remember him like this older man, because it was pretty rare to see a European person in the city. But unfortunately, nobody had any information on how or when Edward disappeared, or in the rare case that they did seem to know more, they refused to talk about it. And so for Gustav, you know, on the one hand, this was incredibly frustrating because all he wanted was just the truth here. But on the other hand, you know, as he ran into more and more people that did seem apprehensive to talk about Edward at all, that sort of seemed to suggest that maybe something really bad did happen to Edward when he was in Abashir. And if that was the case, if some horrible fate befell him, Gustav knew there was one person in this city who almost certainly would know the truth. But Gustav basically couldn't ask this one person any questions about Edward without being incredibly offensive, because this one person was the current king of Abashir, King Ali. And it would have been his father who had met Edward and arranged for him to stay with that noble family when he was doing his map making thing. And so for Edward to have been killed or captured or if something horrible happened to him while he was in Abashir, well, King Ali's father would have had to have given the okay or would have at least known about it and maybe been okay with it, like he would have known something, making him complicit in some way with whatever happened to Edward. And so to ask King Ali, you know, what do you think happened to Edward? You could be potentially suggesting that his dad did something terrible. But more than that, What Ahmed had told Gustav was that you don't just risk offending the king by asking those questions. You might actually be executed for for offending the king. And so what Gustav decided he needed to do here, because he was so dead set on trying to figure out this mystery, is he still needed to find a way to talk to King Ali about Edward, but without losing his life, he had to come up with a clever way to get this information out of the king. A few weeks later, and Gustav and Ahmed had still not yet come up with the clever way to speak to the king yet. Like, they didn't have a way to approach the subject without horribly offending the king. And so the two of them were in Gustav's apartment eating lunch, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. And so Gustav got up, he went to the door, and when he opened it up, it was this courier who told Gustav that he was part of a caravan that had just arrived here from North Africa. And he had some mail for Gustav from back home, so letters from Germany. And he just handed the bundle of mail to Gustav. And Gustav, who did not get mail very often, was very excited, and he said, oh, thank you. You know, he took the, thanked the guy, shut the door, and he went back into the common room. And he just began going through the mail and just looking to see who had sent him something. And as he was doing it, he suddenly had this great idea. It had nothing to do with what was written in the letters. It was just the concept of receiving mail suddenly gave him this great way to talk to the king. The very next day, Gustav and Ahmed were walked into the royal palace in Abashir. And when they walked in, they eventually made their way into this bright and airy courtroom. And in this courtroom on the other end, against the wall, was King Ali sitting on a throne. And so Gustav and Ahmed immediately go over to the king and they greet him and they exchange some pleasantries. And as they're doing that, Gustav, he knew that that caravan that had come through the day before from North Africa with, you know, Gustav's mail had also made a stop at the palace and presented the King with all these gifts, like a silver tea set and gold watches and all this luxurious fabric. And so Gustav was really hoping that those gifts had put the king in a really good mood, because that was a big part of his plan here. At some point after, you know, the pleasantries had stopped, Gustav actually referenced the caravan and told the king that, in fact, they had also swung by his place and dropped off this big bundle of letters from back home. And he said he was really happy about it. And the king kind of seconded that and said, oh, yeah, they gave me all these great gifts. Like, yeah, it's so wonderful. And so they're kind of talking back and forth about how great this mail delivery was. When Gustav tells this incredible lie to the king, he tells the king, he goes, you know, all those letters, it was really great to hear from home, from my friends, from my family, but there was this one really weird letter in there that I didn't even know who it was from. Now, this letter didn't exist. This was a total fabrication. But he told the king that this weird letter, it was from this elderly man who had written to Gustav to tell him that his son had gone to Abashir many years ago and not come home again. And so now, the elderly man, he knew his son was probably not alive at this point. But in this letter to Gustav, this fictional letter to Gustav, he told Gustav that his son had done a lot of writing in notebooks, and he was hopeful that maybe someone in Abashir had these notebooks, and could Gustav get the notebooks and return them to the old man to give him some comfort about, you know, what his son had been doing and saying and thinking before he disappeared. As soon as Gustav said this, he could actually feel the mood in the throne room shift, and he could tell that King Ali was very much on edge about what Gustav might say next. But Gustav had planned for this, and he told the king that, you know, just so you know, all throughout Europe, people think of you as a wise and just king. And so if by chance you have these notebooks and you were to give them to me so I can give them to this elderly man in his old age so he can have some comfort before he dies. If you would do that, the people of Europe would love you even more for that simple act of kindness. Then Gustav went quiet, and there was really intense silence in the throne room. But then the king just kind of sat back in his throne and he smiled at Gustav. And as soon as Gustav saw that smile on the king's face, he decided, he's just got to do it. And he said to the king, the son's name is Dr. Edward Fogel. And then after that, Gustav just went silent because he knew at this point, if the king thought he was lying, he could easily be executed right now. But King Ali just kept on smiling at Gustav and just said, you know what? I'll think about it. Gustav quickly thanked the king and hurried out of the throne room. And then he went back to his apartment and spent the entire night just pacing around his room, wondering what was going to happen. Part of Gustav was optimistic that maybe the king would come through here and hand over these notebooks if he really did have them. But the other part of Gustav, the more realistic side, is maybe what he had just done is effectively signed his own death warrant, and that soon he'd become one of the many travelers who came to Abashir and never went home. A few days later, a very nervous Gustav followed a palace guard back into the throne room. And when he got in there, he immediately saw King Ali sitting on his throne. And Gustav really couldn't read his expression. So he didn't know if the king was mad at him, if he was going to be conciliatory, if he was going to help him. He had no idea. And so Gustav just walked into the room and kind of held his breath. King Ali broke the silence, and when he did, it was clear he was not angry. He was just kind of even keel. And he told Gustav that after their conversation, he had gone and spoken to the noble family that Edward had stayed with when he was here. But they told him they couldn't find any of Dr. Edward's writings, and so they had either been thrown away or lost. And so, unfortunately, there was nothing to send back to Edward's elderly father. Now, Gustav did not believe this, because at this time, paper was very scarce, so there was no way they would have been throwing it away or destroying it. I mean, paper was pretty valuable, but he couldn't say that to the king. So he just swallowed his disappointment and thanked the king for asking about the notebooks. And then Gustav hoped that at this point, he'd be allowed to leave. But one of the guards put their hand on Gustav's shoulder and said he needed to follow him. And at this point, Gustav's stomach dropped because he assumed he was about to go be punished for asking about Edward in the first place. And so Gustav's hands were shaking and his heart was racing as he followed the guard out of the palace and out into the courtyard where there were some horses tied up and waiting for them. Gustav felt nauseous as he followed the guard through the city streets, and he wondered if he should just try to make a break for it and try to escape. But he looked down different streets and alleys and realized that would be totally useless because the palace guards would find him, so there was nowhere for him to go. And so Gustav had no choice but to just keep on following this guard. And so through the city they went. And then eventually they got to the city gates and Gustav was horrified as they. They left the city, just began riding out into the wilderness, over towards this huge mountain in the distance. And as they're making their way towards this mountain, all Gustav is thinking is, at any moment here, they're going to just dump me here to die or they're going to ambush me or something bad's going to happen to me. At some point, the guard led Gustav all the way to the foot of that mountain. And there the guard abruptly stopped and climbed off his horse and just turned around and faced Gustav and he says, I'm going to tell you exactly what happened to Edward. And Gustav was kind of shocked by this. He really didn't know what was going to happen here. Again, he doesn't even know if he's in danger at this point, but now he's just holding his breath, you know, waiting for potentially this mystery to finally be solved. And so the guard, he looked at Gustav and he said, edward committed an unforgivable crime, and he was punished for that crime. Now, at this point, Gustav was shocked because Edward was like this very well traveled and highly respected guy, and it didn't make sense that he would commit any crime, let alone an unforgivable one that apparently cost him his life. And so Gustav kind of blurted out, like, what crime? What did he do? The guard explained that from day one, Edward had made lots of enemies in Abashir. He basically spent his days riding all around the city and staring at everybody and writing in his notebooks, but never talking to anybody. And so people began to gossip that maybe he was a spy. And then also the guard said Edward had climbed their sacred mountain despite being told not to, the mountain that was literally right behind them. And then also the guard said Edward was just totally unpleasant and just kind of a snobby person that nobody liked. But the guards said, you know, none of that is actually what caused Edward to be punished. Edward's unforgivable crime, the one that caused his downfall, was his insatiable hunger for eggs. At every single meal, he refused all the food his noble hosts prepared for him and demanded eggs. In Abashir, eggs were quite rare and considered a precious gift. And Edward demanded them every single meal. And he ate all of that noble family's eggs. And so eventually the nobles, they could not stand Edward's disrespect. And so they went to the king, and the king, who agreed. This was just awful what Edward had done. Decided the only appropriate punishment was to take Edward and drag him out to the base of that sacred mountain and literally beat him to death. Dr. Edward Fogel, the proud symbol of Germany's exploring spirit, was executed because he ate an offensive number of eggs. Gustav was unharmed. He, unlike Edward, had actually bothered to learn the local customs and was highly respectful. And so he was allowed to leave the city even after being told what happened to Edward, and he would become the first European ever to leave Abashir alive. As for Edward's notebooks and maps, they were never found. 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. Our head of production is Zach Levitt Produced by Jeremy Bone Story editing by Evan Allen Research and fact checking by Shelly Shue, Samantha Vanhus, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway and Camille Callahan Research and fact checking supervision by Steven Ear Audio editing and post produced by Whit Locasio and Cole Locascio, Perry Kroll and 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 thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. And just a reminder, every new and exclusive episode we put out on the Mr. Ballin podcast, you can also now watch on the Mr. Ballin YouTube channel that very same day. And trust me, some of these stories you truly have to see to believe. Again, my YouTube channel is just called Mr. Ballin. If you want to listen to episodes one week early and ad free, you can subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or visit siriusxm.com podcastplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. So that's gonna do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time. See ya.

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