MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Episode Title: The Last Trip
Release Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Mr. Ballin (John Allen), Ballen Studios
Episode Overview
This episode, "The Last Trip," spins together three chilling, real-life tales of journeys intended as adventures that turned sinister and tragic. True to MrBallen's style, each story uncovers unsettling mysteries, unexplained occurrences, and fateful missteps that lead ordinary people into extraordinary danger.
Stories featured:
- Headlights – A father and son’s hunting trip gone wrong
- Into Infinity – A mountaineering student swallowed by the Alaskan glacier
- The Signal – A wildlife photographer’s solitary fight for survival in the Arctic
Key Discussion Points and Story Summaries
Story 1: Headlights
(02:44 – 13:17)
Father and son lost in a snowstorm confront inexplicable phenomena and tragedy.
Synopsis & Insights:
- Background: December 1961 – James McCormick Sr. (fire inspector, Portland, OR) and his 16-year-old son, James Jr., plan a day hunting trip to Larch Mountain, a notoriously rugged wilderness (02:44).
- “They, along with their hunting dog, headed out to Larch Mountain on December 4th...” – Co-host/Narrator (02:49)
- Lost in the Wild: A sudden snowstorm quickly disorients them; without a GPS and off-trail, they become lost while trying to return to their vehicle (03:49).
- “...had started snowing so quickly... the snow had covered over everything... and they realized they were lost.” – Co-host/Narrator (03:49)
- Night of Survival: Forced to spend the night in a tree with inadequate equipment, they endure freezing cold and storm (05:28).
- Escalating Danger: Next day, James Jr. grows delirious and physically weak; Sr. must carry his son while trying to find help (06:36).
- “I feel like I can’t think straight... It’s hard for me to stand even.” – James Jr. (06:34)
- “He picked his son up, fireman’s carry, put him over his shoulders, and for three hours... looking for the way out.” – Co-host/Narrator (06:36)
- Supernatural Encounter: As night falls and hope fades, they spot bright "headlights" deep in the forest (08:30).
- “They both notice these very bright lights about 100ft in front of them that look like headlights...” – Co-host/Narrator (08:30)
- James Sr. chases the lights, but they recede into the woods and vanish—no road or car present (09:29).
- “There’s no road over here... I’m in the middle of the woods. Like, what were those lights?” – James Sr. (09:29–09:32)
- Disappearance: James Jr. vanishes mysteriously, leaving only the dog; Sr. follows confusing footprints until darkness (09:34–10:29).
- Rescue & Aftermath: James Sr. and his dog emerge at a lodge after a harrowing trek. Mass search ensues; Jr.’s personal belongings are found near a cliff, and his body is discovered—he died from exposure, not the fall (10:45–12:38).
- “He had made his way down to that cliff and then died of exposure...” – Co-host/Narrator (12:38)
- Lingering Mysteries: The story closes with questions—Where did the lights come from? How did James Jr. suddenly have the strength to walk away barefoot in lethal cold? Why did he separate from his father? (12:38–13:17)
Notable Quote:
- “What were those lights that James Sr. saw in the middle of the woods? Because they weren’t headlights.” – Mr. Ballin (12:59)
Story 2: Into Infinity
(15:39 – 20:32)
An Alaskan mountaineering student vanishes down a bottomless crevasse, never to be recovered.
Synopsis & Insights:
- Setting: July 11, 1999 – 17-year-old Thomas Nazaro joins a month-long mountaineering course in Alaska. As a star student, he is granted the privilege to trek part of a glacier unsupervised (15:39).
- Disappearance: Thomas offers to fetch water for camp but never returns. His friends search, discovering his pot at the base of an ice wall and signs of his movement towards a “moulin”—a deep, vertical shaft in the glacier (16:41).
- Desperation & Discovery: Rescuers lower an officer and a fiber-optic camera into the moulin; both descend hundreds of feet without reaching the bottom or seeing any sign of Thomas (18:26–19:40).
- “Even with his light, the hole just kept going. It was like into infinity...” – Co-host/Narrator (19:05)
- Unanswered Questions: Thomas’s body is never found. The hole continues beyond the range of equipment, and he is presumed to have died from the fall or from drowning trapped within the glacier—his fate sealed within the ice (20:13).
- Theme: The story highlights the unpredictable, consuming dangers of wild landscapes, and how quickly someone can vanish with barely a trace.
Story 3: The Signal
(21:00 – 36:44)
A wildlife photographer’s tragic isolation and one fatal mistake in signaling for help.
Synopsis & Insights:
- Introduction: August 7, 1981 – Carl McCunn, wildlife photographer, finishes a five-month solo trip in the Arctic Circle, waiting for a pickup plane that never comes (21:00).
- “Carl was on the last day of a five-month long solo camping trip... inside the Arctic Circle.” – Mr. Ballin (21:12)
- Isolation & Miscalculation: Due to a miscommunication—never confirming his pickup—Carl is stranded, realizing too late his friend Rory never planned to get him. He has almost no hope of a rescue and limited supplies (24:11).
- Hard Choices: Carl must decide: stay put and hope, or try to hike 75 treacherous miles to civilization, both with low chances of survival (28:29).
- A Cruel Twist: Weeks later, a plane (Alaska State Troopers) finally flies overhead. Carl waves a single arm (fist) to signal excitement, believing he’s rescued (30:22–32:56).
- “With a big grin on his face, Carl watched as this plane... made a big U turn. And then Carl watched the plane make another pass... but it didn’t [land]... it disappeared over the horizon.” – Mr. Ballin (31:47–32:16)
- Heartbreaking Realization: That night, Carl reads his hunting license and discovers that raising a single arm signals “all okay; do not wait,” while two arms mean “need rescue.” The pilot, seeing Carl’s joy and single arm, radioed that all was well and departed (33:40–34:20).
- “At first he thought maybe he misunderstood. But no, he read it over and over again, and it was very clear. And so Carl looked up in shock. He suddenly understood why that pilot had left him.” – Co-host/Narrator (33:41)
- Inevitable Winter: By late November, Carl is starving, frostbitten, and hopeless as winter seals his fate (34:41–35:17).
- Final Act: On November 26, 1981, he writes his last diary entry—“They say it doesn’t hurt”—and ends his life (35:17).
- “If Carl had only read that hunting license a little bit sooner, he would have known to have raised two hands in the air as the pilot flew over for the universal sign that means pick me up.” – Mr. Ballin (36:23)
- Discovery: His body is discovered in February 1982. The story closes with tragic irony—the tiny misstep in communication that made all the difference.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- Headlights – The Surreal Encounter
- “There’s no road over here... I’m in the middle of the woods. Like, what were those lights?”
— James Sr. (09:29–09:32)
- “There’s no road over here... I’m in the middle of the woods. Like, what were those lights?”
- Into Infinity – The Glacier’s Depth
- “Even with his light, the hole just kept going. It was like into infinity...”
— Co-host/Narrator (19:05)
- “Even with his light, the hole just kept going. It was like into infinity...”
- The Signal – The Fatal Fist Pump
- “He threw his fist up in the air in excitement... That fist pump had sealed his fate. Because like it said on Carl’s hunting license, a single arm raised in the air is the universally recognized body sign for all okay, do not wait.”
— Mr. Ballin (35:42–36:06) - “They say it doesn’t hurt.” [Carl’s final diary entry] (35:17)
- “He threw his fist up in the air in excitement... That fist pump had sealed his fate. Because like it said on Carl’s hunting license, a single arm raised in the air is the universally recognized body sign for all okay, do not wait.”
Timestamps for Key Segments
- (02:44) — Start of "Headlights"
- (08:30) — The mysterious "headlights" appear in the woods
- (12:38) — Search concludes; lingering mysteries remain
- (15:39) — Start of "Into Infinity"
- (18:26) — Rescue attempts and the endless moulin
- (20:32) — Into Infinity concludes
- (21:00) — Start of "The Signal"
- (30:22) — Carl sees the rescue plane; crucial miscommunication
- (33:41) — Carl discovers the meaning of single vs two-arm signal
- (35:17) — Carl's final act and diary entry
- (36:23) — Explanation of rescue signal misunderstanding
Episode Tone and Language
The episode is narrative-driven, suspenseful, and contemplative. MrBallen’s signature calm, vivid storytelling heightens the tension and brings a respectful tone to these true-life misfortunes. He often highlights the emotional complexity and tragic irony of ordinary people caught in extraordinary and lethal situations. The language remains direct, accessible, and empathetic, designed to unsettle and provoke thought.
Summary Takeaways
"The Last Trip" weaves together harrowing accounts of adventure gone wrong—each story a cautionary tale about the unpredictability of nature, the margins between survival and disaster, and the eerie mysteries that sometimes haunt those margins. Whether through unexplained phenomena, the vast indifference of the wilderness, or fatal human error, the episode explores how journeys meant for growth, pride, or beauty can, in moments, become unimaginable nightmares.
For more strange, dark, and mysterious stories, subscribe to the MrBallen Podcast or visit the MrBallen YouTube channel.