True Crime Campfire - Amazon Music Presents MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories

Episode Date: November 7, 2022

A hiker terrorized for days by two unknown figures… A man stalked through the woods while camping, who barely escaped with his life… two cops who quit their job at a local theater because of unexplained encounters with an alleged demon…These are just some of the unbelievable cases you’ll hear on the MrBallen Podcast on Amazon Music. Each week you’ll get new inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances and other strange, dark and mysterious stories.Hey Prime Members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast, MRBALLEN PODCAST: STRANGE, DARK & MYSTERIOUS STORIES, in the Amazon Music App. Download the app today: www.amazon.com/BALL_us_pfd_AA_110122Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hey, campers, it's Whitney. Have you ever heard about an experience or case that unnerved you so much that it stuck with you for years? Well, the Mr. Ballin podcast on Amazon Music is nothing but these kinds of stories. Each week, you'll get new episodes full of inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, and other strange, dark, and mysterious stories. Like the spine-chilling case of Haley Zaga, who disappeared from a hiking trail for 51 hours after getting separated from her grandparents. When search and rescuers finally found her and asked how she survived,

she simply said a friend helped her. She described the friend, four years old, black hair, brown eyes. This friend was initially dismissed until they realized a girl had gone missing in that exact spot 23 years earlier and was never found. She was four years old, had black hair and brown eyes. I'm about to play you a clip from the show. While you're listening, make sure to follow the Amazon Amazon Music exclusive podcast, Mr. Balin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories in the Amazon

Music app. Download the app today. Matt didn't have a planned route. Instead, he had a map and a compass, and he began just kind of wandering in the forest, kind of exploring wherever he wanted to go, and over the next two days, he covered at least 10, maybe 15 miles in kind of random zigzag directions. He found a nice clearing, and he set up another campsite. That night, he set up a fire, and he was eating some food near his fire, and then as he's sitting there, he hears rustling coming from behind him. And he's pretty sure it's an animal, so he turns around and he doesn't see anything. And he goes back to eating his food.

And then a little while later, he hears some more rustling behind him. And this time he can't really just write it off. Clearly, there is something behind him that's moving around. And so he stood up, turned around, and remained motionless, and just listened, expecting to see maybe a deer come out of the woods. But instead, he hears a man's voice come out of the darkness that says, Do you know how to get to Bell's Canyon? And Matt's heart starts racing. He knows that even though he can't see him, it has to be the same guy he saw two days ago.

Because they are in the middle of nowhere. He hasn't seen any other hikers or campers or anyone. And clearly this guy has the ability to sneak up on him. And so he's thinking, what does this guy want? I just spent the past two days hiking in random directions for 15 miles and he must have followed me. And so Matt, not knowing what else to do. just says, I don't know where Bell's Canyon is. And then there's silence. And Matt, one part of him is thinking, I hope this guy does not come into the light. I hope he just goes away. The other part of him

is thinking, well, you know, maybe this is a different person that is lost and they're looking for this place called Bell's Canyon and they'll come into the light. It'll be a big relief. I'll send them on their merry way and everything will be fine. But as Matt is having this wishful thinking, the voice from the shadows does not come any closer, but instead ask the same question, a bit more forcefully this time. Do you know how to get to Bell's Canyon? This time Matt did not respond. Now he was scared. This is not some friendly hiker looking for directions. There's something wrong. And so Matt, knowing he's all alone out here, he knew he had to do something to try to take control of this situation. And so he took a deep breath. He reached down and grabbed his flashlight. And in one swift

motion, he lifted his light up and shined it in the direction of this guy's voice. And what he saw was this guy from two days ago looking out from behind a tree right in Matt's direction. He was hiding from him. And when the light hit him, the man barked at Matt to aim it away. And Matt kind of instinctively lowered his light, but now he was too scared to raise it again. And now he knows it's the same guy. This guy has been following me for two days. And so for several minutes, Matt just stood there, absolutely terrified.

And this guy, he just stayed out there. Matt didn't hear move. It was just a complete standstill. And then the silence was broken yet again by this voice, except somehow he had moved even closer to Matt. And when he came through asking the same question, Do you know how to get to Bell's Canyon? His voice was so close to Matt that Matt got scared and raised his light up, and the man was standing just a few feet away from him.

And this time, the man's eyes got wide like they did the first time they saw Matt, and he turned around, and he ran into the forest again. Matt, not knowing any better, just began running after him, but he only ran for about 30 seconds before he realized the terrain out here is so rough he's going to fall get hurt he's going to get lost and this guy's already long gone he somehow managed to run immediately so far away and so matt just goes back to his campsite and he's thinking to himself what do i do i have no cell phone service i'm at least three days away from my car and i'm in the middle of nowhere no one even knows where i am because i didn't chart a course i didn't tell anyone where i was going to be and so matt just grabbed his knife and stood in the middle of the campsite, and for hours and hours, he just kept looking around expecting this guy to just show up again or start speaking to him from somewhere out in the darkness. It was absolutely horrifying. Finally, by about three in the morning, Matt was so tired that he had to go to sleep. He hadn't heard this guy again. He didn't see him again, and he figured, I need a little

bit of sleep because tomorrow he's going to pack up his campsite and begin this epic journey back to his car. And so he climbed in his tent and he had a very restless next couple of hours, Then the sun came up, Matt jumped out of his tent, packed up his stuff, and began practically running in the direction of his car. All day as he was hiking, Matt kept looking over his shoulder, expecting to see this guy, because clearly he had followed him for multiple days over 15 miles, and so the likelihood that he's still following him was really high. And so all day, Matt just felt like he was being watched, he was totally terrified, and then the sun started to go down, and Matt knew he would have to camp out again. And so he found a clearing in the trees, he set up his campsite, and he was so tired from running basically all day and being so mentally exhausted from this experience that he just got in his tent and fell asleep very quickly. But several hours later, he woke up to the sound of somebody walking around his tent. And he knew it had to be this guy.

He's still in the middle of nowhere. He's not even close to the parking lot yet. And so this guy is still following him. And so Matt sat up in his tent. He clutched his knife. And for hours and hours and hours all night, this guy just walked around his campsite. And then around four or five in the morning, he scampered off. When the sun finally came up, Matt leapt out of his tent, packed up his stuff,

and literally just began running in the direction of his car, hoping that maybe he could get there before needing to camp out one more night. And unfortunately, as the sun was setting, he knew he was not going to be able to make it to his car. He was just too far away. And so at some point, when it got too dark to keep moving, he had to find a clearing and set up his tent again. And so once his tent was set up, he just climbed inside, grabbed his knife, and sat there knowing this guy was somewhere out there.

And so Matt climbed inside of his tent. He zipped it up behind him. He grabbed his knife and he sat there, expecting to hear this guy come walking around. But after several hours, he didn't hear him. And Matt started to wonder, maybe this guy has left me alone, finally. Maybe he's not following me anymore. And so Matt, who was totally exhausted, laid down to go to sleep. And then, as he's laying there from somewhere out in the woods,

Do you know how to get to Bell's Canyon? Hey, Prime members. Listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast, Mr. Ballin podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today.