MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

Episode: When Your Eyes Deceive You

Date: January 14, 2026
Host: John Allen a.k.a. MrBallen
Podcast Theme: True crime and real-life mystery stories presented in narrative style

Episode Overview

This episode of the MrBallen Podcast delves into the perilous consequences that can arise when our perceptions fail us—when what we see (and believe) simply isn’t what’s real. MrBallen presents two gripping, true stories where characters become ensnared by their own misinterpretations: “Her Smile” recounts a shocking incident at a Dutch zoo, while “Off the Bus” revisits a chemical tragedy on a midnight bus in Turkey. Both tales highlight how easily our senses can deceive us—with deadly results.

Story 1: Her Smile

[Start: 01:22]

Key Discussion Points

• Setting & Characters:

  • May 18, 2007, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
  • Yvonne de Horde, a 57-year-old Dutch woman, visits her "friend" at a park every day.
  • Her friend is reclusive, never leaves home, doesn’t speak Dutch, and was abandoned as a child.

• Nature of the Friendship:

  • Others find their connection strange; Yvonne considers herself a maternal presence.
  • She communicates via gestures and smiles, convinced the feeling is reciprocated—albeit wordlessly.

• Fateful Day in the Park:

  • The park is crowded due to a spring holiday weekend.
  • As Yvonne approaches her friend’s house, she sees him looking listless. She smiles and waves through the window; he eventually smiles and waves back.
  • Their visit is quiet and non-verbal, defined by gestures and presence rather than speech.

• The Attack:

  • As Yvonne leaves around 2:30pm, she notices children throwing rocks and hears splashing in a normally off-limits stream.
  • Suddenly, something massive slams into her, pinning her to the ground amid park-wide screams—her last thought before blacking out:
    • "Oh my God, I'm about to die.” (MrBallen, 09:30)

• Park Café Panic:

  • Arvid Hendricks, a father nearby, witnesses chaos as people flood the café for safety, barricading doors.
  • The panic reaches a peak when the café doors shatter. Parents hide, and a giant presence enters.
  • Arvid realizes the terrifying truth: they are trapped inside with a rampaging animal.

Revealed Truth & Aftermath

• Yvonne’s “Friend” Identified:

  • Yvonne’s friend was a 400-pound silverback gorilla named Bokito, living at the Rotterdam Zoo.
  • Cultural Misinterpretation:
    • For humans, smiling signals friendship. For gorillas, it is a sign of threat or aggression.
    • "So it's very likely that from Bokito's point of view, almost every day for years, Yvonne had been coming to his enclosure, in essence to threaten him." (MrBallen, 15:02)

• The Escape & Survival:

  • Bokito, already agitated by noisy crowds and rocks thrown at his enclosure, saw Yvonne’s habitual smiling as repeated provocation.
  • The gorilla broke from his enclosure, attacked Yvonne, leaving her with over 100 bite wounds and multiple fractures, but she survived.
  • Bokito stormed the café but didn’t attack anyone else. Arvid and his family managed to escape when the commotion dissipated.

• Aftermath & Reflection:

  • Despite her ordeal, Yvonne continued to describe Bokito as “her darling” and visited him again—no longer smiling.
    • “After she recovered, Yvonne would tell the media that Bokito was still her darling... she would go back to the zoo... but this time she didn't smile.” (MrBallen, 16:34)

Notable Moments & Quotes

• “What Yvonne didn't realize was that them smiling back and forth was actually something her friend hated.” (MrBallen, 14:25)
• “It would turn out all the people in Yvonne's life who frowned on her special friendship had been right to do so.” (MrBallen, 13:38)
• “To silverback gorillas, smiling is not a sign of friendship. It's a sign of aggression and hostility.” (MrBallen, 14:55)

Important Timestamps

• [01:22] – Story introduction
• [09:30] – Yvonne is attacked
• [13:38] – Reveal of Bokito’s true feelings
• [16:34] – Aftermath and Yvonne’s reaction

Story 2: Off the Bus

[Start: 17:05]

Key Discussion Points

• Setting & Characters:

  • August 11, 1965, Northwest Turkey, 3am.
  • Ali Dogan, 19-year-old student, riding a bus from Ankara to Istanbul.
  • Ali strikes up a conversation with the Air Force lieutenant sitting next to him.

• The Ride Turns Deadly:

  • Most passengers are asleep while Ali and the lieutenant enjoy the nighttime highway view.
  • A headlight suddenly appears on the road—imminent collision!
  • The bus swerves, impacts a truck, and crashes into a roadside ditch.

• Disaster Unfolds:

  • Smoke fills the bus; panic ensues as passengers scramble to escape.
    • "All the people on the bus, the 50-some-odd passengers... everyone’s rushing forward, bumping into Ali and the Lieutenant trying to get off this bus." (MrBallen, 20:49)
  • The lieutenant forces open the door, and Ali leaps out—landing on the far side of the ditch.
  • Inside, chaos: passengers scream as they exit through doors or jump out windows.
  • Outside, Ali is alone—no one else emerges from the smoke. The screams become ones of agony.

• Horrific Reality:

  • As authorities arrive, Ali observes that people aren’t escaping but are instead being carried out in pieces.
  • The bus had crashed into a truck carrying nitric acid; the acid mixed with the ditch water created a deadly chemical bath.
    • "That combination caused a chemical reaction. And that chemical reaction caused the smoke—because that freight was nitric acid, a highly corrosive, highly toxic liquid chemical that now... had basically filled the ditch." (MrBallen, 25:23)

• Unthinkable Tragedy:

  • Most passengers, mistaking the smoke for fire, jumped from the bus into the acid and were dissolved.
  • Ali survived only because his leap cleared the ditch entirely.

• Aftermath:

  • Of nearly 50 passengers, 26 "literally dissolved to death." Ali was the sole uninjured survivor.

Notable Moments & Quotes

• “All he hears is smoke, and all he hears is screams.” (MrBallen, 23:44)
• “There was no fire. The truck… was transporting a huge amount of freight… that freight was nitric acid.” (MrBallen, 25:17)
• “Ali, when he left the bus first he leapt out of the bus... cleared the acid bath and landed on the other side, avoiding dissolving in the acid.” (MrBallen, 26:08)

Important Timestamps

• [17:05] – Story introduction
• [20:49] – Fire and panic; Ali and the lieutenant try to escape
• [25:13] – Reveal: acid, not fire
• [27:00] – Aftermath and conclusion

Episode Takeaways & Reflections

• Overarching Theme:

  • Both stories poignantly highlight how a simple misreading of intent, signal, or sensory data can result in tragedy.
  • Yvonne’s innocent smiles were interpreted as threats; Ali and fellow passengers mistook smoke for fire, stepping unwittingly into greater danger.

• Final Thought:

  • “Sometimes what people see is not what's really going on at all. But once people have convinced themselves of something, it can be very hard for them to change their minds. And as you'll see today, sometimes that can lead people into deadly situations.” (MrBallen, 00:24)

Episode Structure

• [00:00] – Introduction and theme
• [01:22] – Story 1: “Her Smile” (Rotterdam Zoo)
• [17:05] – Story 2: “Off the Bus” (Turkey, 1965)
• [~27:00] – Episode wrap-up and credits

Memorable Quotes

• "To silverback gorillas, smiling is not a sign of friendship. It's a sign of aggression and hostility." (MrBallen, 14:55)
• "She would go back to the zoo to see Bokito… but this time she didn't smile." (MrBallen, 16:38)
• "There was no fire... freight was nitric acid, a highly corrosive, highly toxic liquid chemical that now... had basically filled the ditch." (MrBallen, 25:17)

Summary prepared for listeners who want the chills without the ads, intros, or outros.
MrBallen guides us through two real-life cautionary tales about belief, perception, and the sometimes catastrophic consequences of misunderstanding what’s right in front of us.