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- [00:00]
Mister Ballin
Hey prime members you can listen to new episodes of mister bolland's medical mysteries early and ad free download the amazon music app today.
- [00:17]
Narrator
In nineteen forty four a doctor covered a deceased patient's body with a sheet and then wheeled their stretcher out into the hallway the morgue at the oregon state hospital was already full so the doctor planned to put this body in the chapel but when he pushed open the chapel doors there were already so many stretchers with dead patients with sheets on them inside that there was no room for this patient the doctor closed the chapel's heavy wooden doors and just stood there his mind racing more than four hundred patients had fallen violently ill in the past twelve.
- [00:50]
Mister Ballin
Hours and dozens had died the doctor.
- [00:53]
Narrator
Had no idea what the cause was and and if he couldn't figure it out he knew more bodies would be joining the ones already lining the inside of the chapel.
- [01:06]
Mister Ballin
The show is brought to you by progressive fiscally responsible financial geniuses monetary magicians these are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds visit progressive dot com to see if you could save progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates potential savings will vary not available in all states or situations are you searching for a romantic summer getaway escape with rich girl summer the new audible original from lily chu the phenomenally talented.
- [01:34]
Narrator
Philippa hsu returns to narrate her fifth.
- [01:37]
Mister Ballin
Lily chu title this time philippa is joined by her real life husband steven pasquale set in toronto's wealthy cottage country aka the hamptons of canada rich girl summer follows the story of valerie a down on her luck event planner posing as a socialite's long lost daughter while piecing together the secrets surrounding a mysterious family and falling deeper and deeper in.
- [01:56]
Narrator
Love with the impossibly hard to read.
- [01:59]
Mister Ballin
Infuriatingly handsome family assistant nico caught between pretending to belong and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in valerie learns her summer is about to get far more complicated than she ever planned she's in over her head and head over heels listen to rich girl summer now on audible go to audible dot com richgirlsomer.
- [02:22]
Narrator
From ballin studios and wondery i'm mister ballin and this is mister bolland's medical mysteries where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape our own bodies if you like today's story please invite the follow button on an african safari but before you go make.
- [02:43]
Mister Ballin
Sure you sneak twenty seven raw steaks.
- [02:46]
Narrator
Into their backpack this week's story is called blood feast it was late in the afternoon on november eighteenth nineteen forty two a cook named mickey mckillop opened the lid of a giant metal vat then asked his volunteer sous chef twenty seven year old george nosen to carry it over to an industrial oven mickey and george were starting to prepare dinner for almost five hundred patients across five wards at the oregon state hospital a public mental facility for psychiatric patients tonight's menu was scrambled egg yolks and toast and mickey along with his boss mario hair were the only two cooks on duty the hospital had been understaffed for a year now ever since the united states entered world war two many members of the nursing staff had left to volunteer for the war effort during the day there was about one attendant for every sixteen patients but at night that number swelled to one attendant for every one hundred fifty patients mickey and mary were so desperate for help in the kitchen that they had started asking trustworthy patients to help them prep for each meal and one of those trustworthy patients was mickey's volunteer sous chef george nosen george placed a frozen sixteen pound canister of eggs onto the countertop and beside the oven mickey liked george and he felt a little sorry for him too george's parents had originally brought him to the hospital for help with his epilepsy which is a disorder of the brain characterized by repeated seizures at this time people were just beginning to understand how epilepsy actually worked george's parents most likely saw it as a mental condition which is why they brought him to the state hospital they probably didn't think he was crazy but they just wanted help with getting his seizures under control but during george's initial evaluation the staff psychologist would diagnose george with paranoid schizophrenia and then they had george involuntarily committed for life mickey didn't understand how that was possible he'd never seen george hallucinate or get aggressive like the other patients with schizophrenia but there was nothing he could do about it and if he was being honest with himself he was glad to have someone so mild mannered and easygoing to help him in the kitchen mickey yanked the lid off the canister that george had just set down revealing hundreds of thawing egg yolks these days a lot of the hospital's food supply came from federal surplus deliveries since the government was rationing food to help the war effort the egg whites were used in food that was sent overseas and hospitals stateside got the leftover yolks it was time to start cooking so mickey dumped out the canister into the metal vat he repeated the process two more times until the stovetop was crowded with thawing eggs he handed george a cup and asked for water and then he lit the stovetop so the eggs would warm faster he let george dump the water into the vat then the two of them started slicing bread loaves once they were done mickey turned on the oven and laid all the bread slices across the metal grates to be toasted then he turned his attention back to the eggs they were finally thawed so mickey asked george to grab some powdered milk it was the only thing that made the egg yolks creamy enough to scramble as mickey stirred the eggs he sent george to fetch something else postum powder a caffeine free coffee substitute they'd been getting from the government over the past year mickey even let george mix the drink himself he'd never let a patient touch an actual dinner item before so mickey took a quick sip just to be safe the postum tasted like chalk which meant it was made correctly he clapped george on the back and told him he'd done a great job but that momentary taste test distracted mickey just long enough for the eggs to start burning mickey cussed as he turned off the stovetop wondering how to fix this he threw in a palm full of salt and then gave the eggs a stir and then they looked good as new when dinner was finally done mickey and george portioned the eggs and toast into buffet dishes and then loaded them onto a big cart for delivery at each of the five dining halls spread across the hospital's wards by the time they got to ward five hungry patients lined the hallway outside the cafeteria urging mickey and george to please hurry up finally a bell rang and the lines began to move from behind the buffet table mickey watched as the patients ladled scrambled eggs onto their plates he helped serve them each a piece of toast and then sent the patients to sit at the long metal tables that ran the length of the dining hall and as the patients all dug into their food mickey heard someone call out that the eggs were too salty mickey winced and felt bad because he knew he very well could have over salted them and while mickey was worrying about the eggs another patient in the room took a long swig of postum and then started to choke one of the nurses walked over to pat the patient on the back but instead of swallowing the patient keeled over and threw up on the nurse's shoes the nurse shrieked and mickey looked over and saw a red streak on the ground it took him a second to realize that it wasn't vomit it was blood the patient then fell backwards onto the floor and those around him began to scream the nurse bent over and tried to steady the man who was now having a seizure on the floor mickey ran over to help her but before he could make it another patient sent a spray of red blood shooting across the table table mickey shouted for everyone to stop eating but his warning came too late more patients began throwing up blood others collapsed onto the floor writhing in pain mickey didn't know what to do so he just tried to catch patients as they fell one nurse ran into the hallway and sounded an alarm mickey stooped over a patient who was clawing at his own face saying he couldn't feel it his lips were swollen and blue he tried to help the man return to his seat but the man collapsed back down to the floor and started saying that his legs were paralyzed mickey was totally horrified and his hands trembled with fear and he had no idea what could cause this terrible reaction people were having doctor william liedbeck had just finished dinner when his phone rang at his home on the hospital grounds when he picked it up all he heard on the other end was screaming and shouting then a panic stricken nurse got on the line and begged him to run up to the hospital patients across four of the five wards were collapsing they were vomiting blood and now losing feeling in their faces and limbs doctor lidbeck dropped his fork ran out his front door and tore across the lawn heading for the side entrance of the main hospital building one hundred yards from his cottage with every step the screaming he could hear grew louder it sounded like every patient inside of the building was in agony moments later the doctor flung the door open and stepped into the hallway and the scene that greeted him was horrible the hallway was full of patients sitting on the floor with their backs up against the wall coughing blood into their laps one man had been strapped to a gurney in the hallway spasming wildly blood running down the front of his shirt his entire mouth was swollen and drool collected at the side of his lips a nurse ran into the hallway and beckoned doctor lidbeck to come quickly he followed her through a doorway into the cafeteria where he saw dozens of patients writhing on the floor the nurse that doctor lidbeck had followed dashed ahead of him she knelt down beside one of the patients and started spoon feeding him baking soda doctor lidbeck caught up to her and asked what was going on she admitted that the nursing staff had no idea what had caused this outbreak but it had started right after the patients had begun their dinner she didn't know how to reverse it but she was just hoping that baking soda would help alleviate their stomach pain the entire staff was running around in complete panic trying to manage symptoms doctor lidbeck took a deep breath and tried to push down his rising fear he'd never dealt with sudden illness on such a massive scale but he knew that he couldn't do anything without the proper equipment he had to get his medicine bag from his office on the second floor he instructed the nurse to keep working then ran out of the cafeteria and down the hallway he turned the corner into the third ward where the scene was exactly the same it was full of patients covered in their own blood writhing on the floor doctor lidbeck had always prided himself on having a steely stomach but this felt unbearable to watch he rushed through the hallway stepping over sick patients as he went and ran up the stairs to the second floor but as he left the stairwell he stopped dead in his tracks the atmosphere in this ward was completely different the hallway was empty if it weren't for the screams echoing from downstairs it would almost feel peaceful as he walked past open doors he saw all the patients tucked in their beds they looked scared but seemed to be otherwise fine doctor lidbeck was confused how was this ward so calm when the rest were full of chaos and vomiting patients a door opened at the end of the hallway and the ward's head nurse allie wassell stepped out and walked toward him doctor lidbeck thought she looked really pale the nurse seemed very relieved to see lidbeck and she would tell him that she thought there had to be something wrong with the eggs from dinner she said she had taken one bite and they had tasted so spoiled that she ordered all her patients not to eat them and so her patients were fine but she had been throwing up ever since a chill ran through doctor lidbeck he didn't know yet what was causing his patients to vomit blood but now he knew it very likely had to be related to the eggs it was the only thing all the patients had eaten that night but it couldn't just be a case of spoiled food an egg would have to be so rotten to cause this that it never would have been served in the first place it would have been obviously bad then a realization dawned on him if the eggs themselves were fine it meant that something else had been put in the eggs that night he was glad that nurse wassell had not eaten more of them doctor lidbeck told the head nurse that if she started feeling worse to please come find him right away and then the doctor ran back downstairs to tend to these sick patients as doctor lidbeck went down a hallway he passed by the hospital morgue a nurse was wheeling a covered stretcher inside one of the patients had died doctor lidbeck's blood ran cold but he didn't have time to stop and mourn there were hundreds of other patients still waiting for treatment and so he didn't have a moment to lose the show is.
- [13:51]
Mister Ballin
Sponsored by betterhelp when i fell into a depression in twenty eighteen i didn't know what to do every day i felt stressed but figured i'd just eventually snap out of it however as time went on i only felt worse and over time my mental health really took a serious toll on my life and the lives of the people around me friends and family tried to help by you know doing their own research and offering different remedies and opportunities to boost my spirits but ultimately it was just such an overload of information that i struggled to make any steps toward getting better and in some ways this only made me feel worse and honestly more depressed however eventually really with the help of my family urging me to do this i did speak to a therapist for the first time and that's where i had a breakthrough now therapy might not be a solution for everyone but if you're struggling and you don't know what to do and haven't really tried to do anything yet therapy is a great starting point take time to invest in your mental wellness with betterhelp with access to over thirty thousand therapists and serving more than five million people globally betterhelp is a platform you can trust more join a session with a therapist at the click of a button and easily switch therapists anytime at no additional cost until you feel supported as the largest online therapy provider in the world betterhelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise talk it out with betterhelp our listeners get ten percent off their first month at betterhelp dot com mrballpod that's betterhelph e l dash p dot com mrball let's be honest we all want a better understanding of our physical health but we might not know what's truly going on in our own body we need to be well prepared with data to see trends and make informed decisions about our wellness and future this is not science fiction this is function health function health is your pivot to proactive care function health can assess your body's data all in one place from one hundred sixty biomarkers heart health hormones to toxins and so much more imagine combining your own personal health data with multi region mri and ct scans giving you a full three hundred sixty degree view of what's happening inside of your body that's why people are choosing function health as the game changer in preventative healthcare with function you can get cutting edge insights that are unique to your own health for just dollar four hundred ninety nine a year just one dollar thirty seven cents per day for reference this could cost over ten thousand dollars if you did them on your own and the best part there aren't any unnecessary incentives function feels like empowerment designed to help you own your own health with unbiased healthcare data learn more and join using our link visit functionhealth dot com mrballin.
- [16:31]
Narrator
About sixteen hours later in the late morning of november nineteenth oregon governor charles sprague raced along the highway in his car an hour earlier sprague had heard about last night's outbreak at the state hospital now he was on the way to the state capitol where an emergency state board of control meeting would soon commence from the moment the united states had entered the war sprague feared a morning like this he was worried that the outbreak at the hospital was caused by sabotage that the country's enemies had deliberately tampered with these eggs he knew that the oregon state hospital received food rations from the government the frozen eggs had been part of a shipment to the hospital six months ago but those eggs had been separated from a much larger batch it was entirely possible that someone had poisoned that larger supply which was then sent around to various institutions throughout the country sprague worried that if someone had tampered with the egg supply anywhere that had received eggs from that batch would suffer a similar attack sp sprague shuddered at the thought of a spy for the axis powers poisoning innocent americans the food and drug administration had already ordered all institutions that received these eggs to immediately stop using them sprague's driver stopped the car outside the front steps of the capitol building once sprague got out he was greeted by an aide who walked with him up the stairs the aide had just received word from the hospital as of ten thirty that morning forty seven patients had died and their bodies were still lining the hospital hallways and another three hundred and fifty patients were violently ill as governor sprague needed to make sure that investigators had the resources necessary to investigate the egg tampering and find out who was behind it he told the aide that he'd be a few minutes late to the meeting then headed for his office to call the chief of police in salem oregon where the state hospital was located later that afternoon the superintendent of the hospital doctor john evans stood in front of a cage of rats in a laboratory he was holding a plate full of scrambled eggs earlier that morning a coroner had requested permission to perform autopsies on the patients who had died doctor evans allowed him to take six of the dead hoping the autopsy results could tell him what had happened a few hours after the coroner had taken the bodies doctor evans received a toxicology report that confirmed his worst fear the patients had been poisoned however nobody knew yet what they were poisoned with or how the coroner was still running tests but that was why doctor evans was now holding a plateful of the contaminated scrambled eggs that had been served the night before he was running his own experiment on a neighboring table there was another cage of rats and another plate of eggs but these eggs came straight from one of the egg yolk canisters still in the freezer a lab technician had thawed them out that morning they reasoned that if only the first cage of rats died that meant the poison had been added into the eggs at the hospital but if both cages of rats died it meant the eggs themselves had been poisoned or before they were shipped to the hospital and tens of thousands of people could be in danger doctor evans placed each plate of eggs into their respective cages and then waited for the rats to eat a moment later the rats in the first cage began to shake violently and foam at the mouth they squealed in pain and within minutes all of them were dead doctor evans looked over at the other cage and saw those rats were just fine the experiment had worked it confirmed this wasn't a case of mass contamination or widespread enemy conspiracy the eggs were clearly just fine when they arrived at the hospital before something or someone poisoned them but it also meant there could be a mass murderer inside the hospital who was the one who added the poison enraged and disgusted doctor evans called the police three days later on november twenty second head nurse ali wassell who had ordered her patients not to eat the eggs sat in doctor lidbeck's office speaking to a barrel chested detective the investigators had been interviewing every patient and member of staff for the past two days trying to determine who poisoned the eggs further testing had revealed that the poison was sodium fluoride better known as cockroach poison detectives had even found some in a basement storeroom but what they didn't know was how it had gotten into the eggs or who had done it allie wanted to help but she told the detective that she hadn't seen anything suspicious until that horrible dinner she'd been on duty taking care of patients she watched the detective as he scribbled something down on a notepad and she started to feel nervous allie assured the detective that the other nurses would confirm her story too the detective wrote a few more things down and then looked up at allie and thanked her for her time and told her she was free to go allie breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to leave as she reached the door the detective told an officer standing outside to bring in the next person to be interviewed assistant cook mickey mckillop allie passed mickey as she was walking down the hallway he was waiting in a chair outside the office bouncing his leg up and down allie couldn't help but think that he looked anxious or like a man who was hiding something by late that same evening mickey mckillop had been in doctor litvack's office for hours the detective had asked him the same few questions over and over pressing him about the way the kitchens were run mickey thought he'd kept his story straight but he'd told it so many times now that it was hard to be sure and he knew he was likely starting to confuse the details all mickey wanted to do was sleep he had a migraine that was making it hard to focus but every time he closed his eyes the detective would shake him awake and so mickey was feeling like he would do just about anything to make this interview end it was obvious the police were suspicious of him and mickey knew they would not give up until he mickey told the police what they needed to know so mickey decided it was time to come clean mickey sat up in the stiff wooden chair and while avoiding eye contact with the detective mickey would admit that he did know more than he had told them mickey said that he could tell them exactly who had poisoned the eggs in fact he had watched it happen and worst of all he had not done a thing to stop it an hour later mickey and his boss mary o' hare were being led from the oregon state hospital in handcuffs a police officer read the charges mickey was charged with manslaughter mary was charged with accessory after the fact then the officer loaded them into a police van mickey took one last look at the hospital and caught a glimpse of a few patients staring out the windows terrified looks on their faces one of the faces he recognized was george nosen the psychiatric patient who volunteered in the kitchen mickey shook his head he knew that what he had just told the detectives would change george's life forever.
- [23:57]
Mister Ballin
If you're anything like me you love a good story that has twists and turns and moments that make you stop and think like how is the story.
- [24:04]
Narrator
Even real that's why i want to.
- [24:06]
Mister Ballin
Recommend the podcast crime junkie every week amazing host ashley flowers unravels stories about missing people murders and mysterious deaths these strange dark and mysterious cases range from stories ripped straight from the headlines to cases you really won't hear anywhere else it's binge worthy true crime storytelling that is thoughtful well researched and always leaves you wanting more discover why crime junkie has such a loyal community and dive into your next mystery today search for crime junkie wherever you're listening right now.
- [24:36]
Narrator
Whenever i'm shopping online and i finally.
- [24:38]
Mister Ballin
Make it to checkout i always look.
- [24:40]
Narrator
To see if the site has a.
- [24:41]
Mister Ballin
Shop pay button if it does i know my shopping experience is going to be way more convenient and safe now maybe you know this maybe you don't but the shop pay button means that store is actually powered by shopify and that's why so many business owners power their website with shopify because customers like myself know they're going to have a smooth experience and so now imagine being a business owner and knowing that if you use shopify you can literally guarantee that shopping will be convenient for your customers but not only that with shopify you can offer both shipping directly and also local pickup everything is made simpler so customers can shop how they want and your team has the tools to close the sale every time stop seeing carts going abandoned and turn those sales.
- [25:22]
Narrator
Into sign up for your dollar one.
- [25:25]
Mister Ballin
Per month trial and start selling today at shopify dot com mrballin go to shopify dot com mrballin shopify dot com mrbalin.
- [25:37]
Narrator
When mickey the cook finally told the truth to detectives he began by telling them about the terrible evening the sickness broke out while the nursing staff was running around treating all these patients who were vomiting up blood mickey saw george nosen cowering in the hallway and suddenly mickey had a terrible thought he grabbed george and asked him to retrace his steps from that afternoon mickey and george mimed preparing the eggs getting the frozen yolks lighting the stove getting some water to help warm them then mickey followed george down the kitchen steps in search of the powdered milk that made the eggs creamy at the bottom of the steps there were two storeroom doors instinctively mickey leaned toward the storeroom on the left which held dry goods but george led him to the storeroom on the road right which held fruits and vegetables mickey felt an icy chill run through him he watched george turn the key and open the right door george pointed to a large unmarked tin canister sitting on the ground inside it was open and filled with white powder a scoop was sticking out of the powder like it had just been used mickey's stomach dropped but he tried to look unbothered he thanked george and sent him to his room then he ran back upstairs and grabbed his boss mary and showed her the canister george had just pointed out mary went white as a sheet it was against the rules for mickey to have given keys to a patient mary told mickey that she did understand why he'd done it they were so understaffed he'd been desperate for help but if anyone found out they were both done for and so they agreed to keep it a secret mary had kept her promise and said nothing but but mickey eventually broke and told the story to the detective in doctor lidbock's office once the detective got mickey's confession they knew who had poisoned the eggs at the oregon state hospital and how they had done it that fateful night george had taken the keys to the storeroom and headed down to the basement but he went into the wrong storeroom he went into the right door and he brought back a heaping scoop of white powder that he believed was powdered milk but it wasn't he then poured that white powder into a vat of scrambled eggs and in doing so george had accidentally poisoned his fellow patients with sodium fluoride aka cockroach poison to this day nobody knows why the poison was kept in that storeroom with the fruits and vegetables in adults a lethal dosage of sodium fluoride is just five to ten grams which is a bit more than what you'd find in a sugar packet well george had accidentally spiked the eggs with five pounds of poison in the end the charges against mickey the cook and his boss mary were dismissed the hospital was held liable since the real culprit was gross understaffing the only person who suffered any real consequences for the mistake was george who was unable to leave oregon state hospital for another forty one years george was never the same after that night he couldn't forgive himself for what he'd done even if it was just a tragic mistake the patients who remembered the outbreak bullied him relentlessly for decades and after a while george started fighting back he got into physical brawls on multiple occasions and then in nineteen eighty three he got into a big altercation with an older inmate and during it george was severely injured and and died as a result follow.
- [29:18]
Mister Ballin
Mister bolland's medical mysteries on the wondery app amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to new episodes of mister bolland's medical mysteries early and ad free right now by joining wondry plus in the wondry app apple podcasts or spotify or by listening on amazon music with your prime membership before you go to tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry dot com survey.
- [29:47]
Narrator
From ballin studios and wondry this is mister ballin's medical mysteries.
- [29:51]
Mister Ballin
Hosted by me mister ballin a quick.
- [29:54]
Narrator
Reminder the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice diagnosis or treatment this episode was written by aaron lan our editor is heather dundas sound design is by ryan patesta coordinating producer is sophia martins our senior producer is alex benidon our associate producers and researchers are sarah vitak and tasia pelikonda fact checking was done by andrew rosenblum for ballin studios our producer is alyssa tomineng our head of production is zach levitt executive producers are myself mister ballin and nick witters for wondry senior managing producer is ryan lohr our head of sound is marcelino villapando our producer is julie mcgruder senior producers are laura donna palavotta and dave schilling our executive producers are aaron o' flaherty and marshall louis for wondrous.
- [30:59]
Announcer
The town of agda in france is famous for sun sand sea and sex but lately life on the coast has taken a strange turn the town's mayor a respected pillar of the community has been arrested for corruption his wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant then there's the mysterious phone calls that that local people have been getting i am the archangel michael the whole town has been thrown into chaos as the mayor.
- [31:31]
Narrator
Is unable to carry out his duties i would like to address you all legal proceedings have been initiated join me.
- [31:39]
Announcer
Anna richardson and journalist leo chic for the mystic and the mayor as we investigate a story of power corruption and magic binge all episodes of the mystic and the mayor exclusively and ad free right now on wondery plus start your free trial in apple podcasts spotify or the wonder app.