MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode: Unreal

Release Date: January 8, 2026

Host: John Allen (MrBallen), Ballen Studios

Overview

In this compelling episode, "Unreal," MrBallen weaves three astonishing true stories, each centered on events so improbable, they seem unreal. Each tale explores situations where the odds defy logic—whether it's miraculous survival, a baffling murder, or a funeral gone explosively awry. The stories included are:

1. Just a Bit Cramped: A horrific highway pileup with an impossible outcome.
2. Scenic Route: The inexplicable death of a teenage girl with a twist no one saw coming.
3. Out With a Bang: A funeral that descends into chaos, ending with a literal bang.

The stories captivate with their strange, dark, and mysterious content, always told with MrBallen's signature suspenseful storytelling style.

Story 1: Just a Bit Cramped

Timestamps: Story begins at [02:14]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Caleb Whitby's Early Morning Drive:

  • 27-year-old farmer driving in hazardous, icy, foggy conditions to pick up cattle.
  • Follows a slow-moving semi, considering when to pass.

• The Accident Sequence:

  • As Caleb rounds a sharp bend, he’s confronted with an “unbelievably horrific scene”: a pileup of over two dozen cars.
  • He slams on his brakes, loses control, and crashes into the side of a previously crashed semi. He braces for impact.
  • “All Caleb can do is just brace and pray that he doesn't get killed.” ([04:12], MrBallen)

• Miracle Amid Disaster:

  • A second semi smashes into the back of Caleb’s pickup, crushing it between two semis.
  • Despite an almost certain fatal scenario, Caleb survives with minor injuries: “Minus a bruise and a couple of cuts on his face, Caleb actually was just fine and ultimately walked away.” ([06:40], MrBallen)
  • No one was killed in the pileup, defying all expectations.

Memorable Moment

• The vivid description of the third truck driver’s horror, expecting to find only death but instead pulling a battered but very-much-alive Caleb from a sliver of a compartment:
  • “Somehow when Caleb's truck was smashed from both directions, it created this perfect pocket of space just big enough for Caleb to fit inside of.” ([06:04], MrBallen)

Story 2: Scenic Route

Timestamps: Story begins at [07:44]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Nancy McKeown’s Fateful Commute:

  • 17-year-old Nancy is driving her new yellow Camaro on a breezy, beautiful day in Brooklyn, NY.
  • Suddenly veers off the road and crashes into a tree—there’s no clear cause.

• Unexplained Medical Emergency:

  • A police lieutenant witnesses the crash, checks on Nancy who’s alive but unresponsive and only moaning.
  • Paramedics find “no visible injuries” but her condition deteriorates rapidly and she dies hours later.

• Discovery of a Bullet Wound:

  • Only post-mortem do doctors find a “small circular hole” on the back of Nancy’s head—“It was a bullet wound and for some reason it didn’t bleed at all.” ([10:45], MrBallen)

• Detective Seidman’s Investigation:

  • The lead detective finds no bullet holes or evidence in the car.
  • Extensive canvassing and interviews produce no witnesses, clues, or shell casings.

• Sudden Realization and Solution:

  • After days of dead ends, questioning brings the police to gas station owner Theodore Delisi, a family friend who had been out fishing that morning.
  • Under scrutiny, Theodore recalls firing a rifle at a can while fishing; the bullet ricocheted off the water, traveled an improbable distance, and fatally struck Nancy through her open car window.

Notable Quotes

• “The bullet, by some fluke of physics, ricocheted off the surface of the water, went up into the highway… right as Nancy had rolled her window down, struck her in the head and killed her.” ([16:37], MrBallen)

• Upon realizing his involvement: “It is possible a ricochet could have struck her in the head.” ([16:20], MrBallen, paraphrasing Theodore Delisi)

Outcome

• Theodore is not indicted for homicide (the grand jury rules it a tragic accident), but he is fined for firing a rifle within city limits.

Story 3: Out With a Bang

Timestamps: Story begins at [18:42]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Wong Diang’s Stormy Funeral Duties:

  • Wong is overseeing a wake during a violent thunderstorm in rural NE China, with “hailstones the size of golf balls.”
  • He tends to incense at the casket, stands in silent prayer, and is suddenly killed by a “deafening roar” and complete darkness.

• Lightning, or Something Stranger?

  • Initial assessment is that Wong was struck by lightning, especially given the town’s superstitious fear of recent lightning deaths.
  • The town wrestles with the idea that this could be divine retribution or a sign of hidden vice.

• Second Tragedy—An Explosive Aftermath:

  • At Wong’s cremation, after his body is placed in the furnace, a massive, unexplained explosion occurs.
  • Investigation finds a piece of metallic debris with serial numbers inside the cremator—something forbidden during cremation.

• The Government’s Deadly Weather Experiment:

  • The metal is traced to a weather bureau rocket, used to seed clouds with silver iodide to prevent hail damage.
  • On the day Wong died, a malfunctioning rocket (intended to burst high above the clouds) fell to earth, punched through the roof, killed Wong, and embedded—undetonated—in his torso.
  • When cremated, the rocket finally exploded.

Notable Quotes

• The realization of what really happened:

  • “One of those rockets were fired into the sky… but it doesn’t detonate. It turns around and falls straight down. And it just so happens to go straight through that roof into Wong’s head, blowing off a portion of his head.” ([29:09], MrBallen)

• A tragic irony:

  • “When the police officers found that little piece of metal, what they had found was actually a piece of the rocket itself… there was a serial number for that particular weather bureau rocket. And so that was how they were able to solve this mystery.” ([30:43], MrBallen)

Outcome

• The Chinese government admits fault three years later, offering a modest compensation to Wong’s family.
• Following the incident, rocket designs were changed: if a rocket fails to detonate in the clouds, a parachute now deploys to ensure it lands safely.

Episode Highlights & Style

• Tone & Storytelling:

  • MrBallen’s narration is suspenseful, conversational, and at times darkly humorous (notably his off-beat intro joke about installing cameras in the Like Button’s house).
  • Each story is recounted with careful, escalating detail, pulling listeners into the emotional and factual complexity of events.

• Notable Moments:

  • The miraculous, nearly impossible survival of Caleb in a crushed pickup.
  • The mind-boggling randomness of the ricochet bullet death and the shock when the responsible party realizes the truth.
  • The double tragedy of Wong—already victim to a “lightning” strike, then unwittingly carrying a government rocket into the afterlife, setting off a final, explosive farewell.

Recommended Listening Segments

• Miraculous Survival in Oregon Pileup: [02:14] – [07:21]
• Bullet Mystery Solved by Unlikely Witness: [07:44] – [17:36]
• Funeral Explosion and Government Rocket Reveal: [18:42] – [33:09]

Memorable Quotes

• “All Caleb can do is just brace and pray that he doesn't get killed.” ([04:12], MrBallen)
• “It was a bullet wound and for some reason it didn’t bleed at all.” ([10:45], MrBallen)
• “This was not an average murder case.” ([12:59], MrBallen)
• “When the police officers found that little piece of metal… there was a serial number for that particular weather bureau rocket. And so that was how they were able to solve this mystery.” ([30:43], MrBallen)

Note: Some names have been changed and details fictionalized for dramatic purposes, but all stories are based on true events.