Latest / Crime and Horror / What they found inside scarred them forever - MrBallen

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What they found inside scarred them forever - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, we have three stories about people who each have
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Speaker 1: like this one big thing in their life that brings
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Speaker 1: them a lot of happiness and fulfillment and purpose. But unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: this same thing winds up being the very reason that
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Speaker 1: their life gets ruined. But before we get into today's stories,
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Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious
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Speaker 1: delivered in story format, then you've come to the right
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Speaker 1: place because that's all we do and we upload two, three, even.
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Speaker 2: Four times every week.
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Speaker 1: So if that's of interest to you, on the next
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Speaker 1: really cold day, offer to make the like button a
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Speaker 1: cup of hot cocoa.
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Speaker 2: But don't use whipped cream on top, use shaving cream instead.
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Speaker 1: Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all
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Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into today's stories.
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Speaker 1: One afternoon in June of 1993, a movie director named
1:10
Speaker 1: Xie Jin sat on a couch in a production studio
1:13
Speaker 1: in the city of Yinchuan, China. He was with a
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Speaker 1: few members of his production team, and they were in
1:18
Speaker 1: the middle of auditioning what felt like the 100th terrible
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Speaker 1: actor for the lead role in the film that he
1:24
Speaker 1: was directing. However, this was not an ordinary lead role.
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Speaker 1: The lead role for this film was going to be
1:32
Speaker 1: a dog. So the movie was called An Old Man
1:34
Speaker 1: and His Dog, And it was based on this popular
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Speaker 1: novel about a man living during a period of war
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Speaker 1: in China with his loyal yellow dog. People had really
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Speaker 1: responded to the story in the book because it captured
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Speaker 1: just how devastating war could really be on rural communities.
1:49
Speaker 1: And a lot of people in China had seen themselves
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Speaker 1: in the characters in the story. At this point, Jin
1:55
Speaker 1: had already cast the film's human actors, but the dog's
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Speaker 1: role was by far the hardest to fill and obviously
2:02
Speaker 1: the most central to the movie. He and his team
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Speaker 1: had hosted a bunch of casting calls already and advertised
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Speaker 1: to the public to ask if anybody had a dog that.
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Speaker 2: Looked like the one that was in this book.
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Speaker 1: And tons of people had answered this ad, but none
2:15
Speaker 1: of the dogs that they brought in were good enough
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Speaker 1: for the film. And the reason for that is Jin knew,
2:20
Speaker 1: you know, the dog needed to look the part, but
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Speaker 1: it was more than that. Like the dog also had
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Speaker 1: to be compelling and charismatic despite being a dog. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this dog was the hero of the story and the
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Speaker 1: soul of the movie. So it really had to project
2:34
Speaker 1: loyalty and bravery and goodness on screen and sort of
2:39
Speaker 1: come across also as gentle and sweet enough that audiences
2:43
Speaker 1: fell in love with it. But now, as Jin watched
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Speaker 1: yet another anxious, poorly trained dog actor scurry around the room,
2:50
Speaker 1: he felt this wave of anxiety. Jin was starting to
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Speaker 1: feel worried that, you know, maybe the reason all these
2:56
Speaker 1: dog actors were not working out is because maybe the
2:59
Speaker 1: perfect dog just didn't exist. And if that was true,
3:03
Speaker 1: then his movie would not be good. Like, he would
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Speaker 1: have a bad actor in the lead role, and it
3:08
Speaker 1: would flop. And for Jin, I mean, that really represented
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Speaker 1: sort of like a worst-case scenario for him. So, decades earlier,
3:16
Speaker 1: in the 1950s, Jin had been this prolific director in China,
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Speaker 1: and he had won many prestigious awards. But during China's
3:23
Speaker 1: Cultural Revolution, which was a period of unrest in the
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Speaker 1: country in the 1960s and 70s, Jin had been ostracized
3:30
Speaker 1: by the public because of his largely unpopular political views.
3:34
Speaker 1: And ever since then, he had been struggling to regain
3:37
Speaker 1: his status as a celebrated filmmaker. And so the chance
3:40
Speaker 1: to adapt this brilliant novel, which was touching and tragic
3:44
Speaker 1: and already beloved by the public, was like his opportunity
3:48
Speaker 1: to prove himself and get back on top. And he
3:51
Speaker 1: knew that, you know, if the movie failed, he was
3:53
Speaker 1: old enough that, he would very likely not get another
3:56
Speaker 1: chance like this, and he might be completely forgotten about.
3:59
Speaker 1: And so now, as this dog's audition came to an end,
4:02
Speaker 1: and obviously this dog was not going to be a fit,
4:05
Speaker 1: Jin's just sitting there feeling kind of hopeless, and Jin's
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Speaker 1: producer walked up and led the anxious dog and its
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Speaker 1: owner out of the room, and Jin at this point
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Speaker 1: was so busy worrying to himself about how this movie
4:15
Speaker 1: was destined to fail now, that he barely noticed his
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Speaker 1: producer bringing in the next dog and owner. But when
4:23
Speaker 1: Jin looked up and he actually looked at the dog
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Speaker 1: that was now standing in front of him, the hundred
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Speaker 1: and first audition he was seeing that day, he just
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Speaker 1: stopped and practically gasped because sitting in front of him
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Speaker 1: right in the middle of the room was now this
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Speaker 1: new dog that looked exactly like how he had pictured
4:41
Speaker 1: the one from the book.
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Speaker 2: It was shaggy and big.
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Speaker 1: And yellow haired and had this eager to please look
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Speaker 1: in its eyes that made Jin instantly feel like he
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Speaker 1: was connected to it. The owner who would come in
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Speaker 1: with this dog was a young, friendly guy in his
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Speaker 1: 30s who introduced himself as Chung, and he explained that
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Speaker 1: he had just started a dog training and breeding company.
5:00
Speaker 1: And so having his dog cast in this movie would
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Speaker 1: be a really big deal for his new business and
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Speaker 1: would definitely help get his name out there.
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Speaker 2: So this was like high stakes for him too.
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Speaker 1: Now, Jin did not love the fact that, you know,
5:12
Speaker 1: Chung had just begun working this dog training and breeding business,
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Speaker 1: so it meant that very likely he was pretty inexperienced
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Speaker 1: with this dog actor. However, when the actual audition began,
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Speaker 1: any worries Jin might have had completely vanished. Throughout the
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Speaker 1: entire audition, Chung skillfully directed this dog like he'd been
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Speaker 1: doing it for his whole life. And the dog was
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Speaker 1: obviously really smart and followed all the commands. He was,
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Speaker 1: you know, really well trained. And it just seemed like
5:41
Speaker 1: the dog was really devoted to Chung. Because it really
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Speaker 1: did exactly what Chung asked every single time. But more
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Speaker 1: than that, you know, as Jin watched this audition, it
5:50
Speaker 1: really felt like this dog didn't just look the part,
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Speaker 1: it acted the part. This was the dog he wanted
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Speaker 1: in this movie. And so after only a few minutes,
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Speaker 1: Jin stopped the audition and he told Chung, you and
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Speaker 1: your dog have got the job. They began filming the
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Speaker 1: movie just a few days later. And basically, as soon
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Speaker 1: as they started, all the worries Jin had had about
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Speaker 1: maybe this movie not doing so well, just completely vanished. Because,
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Speaker 1: just like he'd anticipated, this dog really was perfect. It
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Speaker 1: obeyed his owner, Chung, without hesitation, same as it had
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Speaker 1: during the audition. And the camera, I mean, the camera
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Speaker 1: just loved this dog. The dog had this very sweet,
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Speaker 1: tender quality to it that really came out any time
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Speaker 1: the actor playing the old man interacted with it, which
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Speaker 1: is exactly what Jin had hoped for. And so Jin
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Speaker 1: knew this dog was going to steal the hearts of
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Speaker 1: everybody who saw it on screen. I mean, this was
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Speaker 1: exactly what he wanted. And so Jin just disappeared into
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Speaker 1: the making of this film. He poured all his focus,
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Speaker 1: all his passion into each and every frame. And by
6:52
Speaker 1: the time production finally wrapped a few months later, Jin
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Speaker 1: was sure they had just made a masterpiece.
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Speaker 2: And Jin was right.
7:00
Speaker 1: The movie was released to rave reviews and and it
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Speaker 1: seemed like everyone who saw it loved it. Not only
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Speaker 1: was An Old Man and His Dog recognized as one
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Speaker 1: of China's top films of the year, but also it
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Speaker 1: was widely regarded as an instant classic worldwide. And so
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Speaker 1: Jin knew that he had accomplished his goal here, and
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Speaker 1: that his career now had a new beginning. A year
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Speaker 1: and a half later, on an evening in late January
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Speaker 1: of 1995... Jin was reading a script in his living
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Speaker 1: room in the city of Shanghai, China. So the huge
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Speaker 1: success of an old man and his dog had meant
7:35
Speaker 1: that Jin was once again in very high demand, which
7:38
Speaker 1: meant he got lots of phone calls and people wanted
7:40
Speaker 1: him to read their scripts. And he was basically just
7:43
Speaker 1: getting to pick and choose what he wanted to do next.
7:45
Speaker 1: This was like best case scenario for him. So, as
7:48
Speaker 1: Jin is sitting there, when his phone rang, you know,
7:50
Speaker 1: because his phone, again, was ringing all the time these days,
7:53
Speaker 1: he assumed it had to be one of his producers
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Speaker 1: who wanted to talk about one of the many scripts
7:57
Speaker 1: they were looking at. However, when Jin answered the phone,
8:01
Speaker 1: it was one of his producers. But what they said
8:04
Speaker 1: to him completely stunned Jin. His film, An Old Man
8:09
Speaker 1: and His Dog, apparently was being banned. Jin, when he
8:14
Speaker 1: heard this, he just like sat there for a moment,
8:16
Speaker 1: unable to actually respond to this. Like, this didn't make
8:19
Speaker 1: any sense. Why in the world would this wholesome movie
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Speaker 1: about an old man and his dog get banned? Like,
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Speaker 1: this wasn't political in any way. This was like a wholesome,
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Speaker 1: family-friendly movie. So China did ban films with some regularity.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes it was the content itself within the film could
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Speaker 1: be viewed as being, you know, unduly influential on the
8:41
Speaker 1: public in a negative way. And so that could cause
8:43
Speaker 1: the film to be banned. Or it could just be
8:46
Speaker 1: that the people who were in the film or the
8:48
Speaker 1: producers who made the film, they could have done something
8:50
Speaker 1: in their own personal lives that was viewed as being,
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Speaker 1: you know, unduly influential on the public, like in a
8:56
Speaker 1: negative way. They could have had some scandal. And then
8:59
Speaker 1: because of that scandal, they could have their work banned.
9:02
Speaker 1: So the movie itself could be okay, but the people
9:05
Speaker 1: involved in the movie, they're bad.
9:06
Speaker 2: So movie must be bad as well. So that was
9:09
Speaker 2: sort of relatively normal.
9:10
Speaker 1: But Jin's film, An Old Man and His Dog, had
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Speaker 1: been out for over a year at this point with
9:15
Speaker 1: no issues. It was viewed as like this masterpiece. Everybody
9:18
Speaker 1: loved it. Everyone had all these great things to say
9:20
Speaker 1: about it. So like it couldn't have been that. The
9:23
Speaker 1: movie itself clearly was okay. And Jin, I mean, he
9:26
Speaker 1: had had a, you know, in his former life, he
9:29
Speaker 1: had been politically divisive and it had cost him dearly.
9:31
Speaker 1: But that was in the past. He had not done
9:34
Speaker 1: anything political, not in this movie, not in his personal
9:37
Speaker 1: life now, like he had not done anything that was
9:39
Speaker 1: scandalous that could potentially warrant, you know, this film being banned.
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Speaker 1: And so Jin's like, what in the world could have
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Speaker 1: caused this movie to be banned?
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Speaker 2: Like, what is going on here? And his producer said, like,
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Speaker 2: you're not going to believe it, but it's the dog.
9:55
Speaker 1: It would turn out a few days before the producer
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Speaker 1: called Jen, Chung, the owner of the dog who had
10:01
Speaker 1: starred in this film, had been arrested for being a
10:05
Speaker 1: serial killer. Over the last five years, he had murdered
10:08
Speaker 1: at least five people. But that was not actually why
10:12
Speaker 1: this movie was being scrutinized. The movie was being banned
10:16
Speaker 1: because of how Chung said, disposed.
10:18
Speaker 2: Of the bodies of the people he killed.
10:20
Speaker 1: After murdering and dismembering his victims, he would take those
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Speaker 1: body parts and feed them to his dog, the star
10:28
Speaker 1: of the movie. And so ultimately, the Chinese government banned
10:31
Speaker 1: this film because they knew from now on, now that
10:35
Speaker 1: the news broke about Chung being a killer and what
10:37
Speaker 1: he did with the bodies, that you couldn't watch this
10:39
Speaker 1: movie and watch that dog without thinking about the fact
10:43
Speaker 1: that that dog was eating people. Jin would go on
10:46
Speaker 1: to make a few more movies, but they never really worked,
10:49
Speaker 1: and ultimately his career kind of stalled, and he.
10:52
Speaker 2: Never reached the heights that he had hoped for.
10:54
Speaker 1: However, Jin had always hoped that one day he would
10:57
Speaker 1: leave a truly lasting mark on the Chinese film industry.
11:01
Speaker 1: And he did, because he'll always be known for casting
11:05
Speaker 1: a flesh-eating dog in his cinematic masterpiece. One evening in
11:28
Speaker 1: December of 1966, an eight-year-old girl named Elaine Ellery hurried
11:32
Speaker 1: after her parents as they walked towards this large factory
11:35
Speaker 1: in Norfolk, England. Elaine was so excited about the night
11:39
Speaker 1: ahead here that she was literally skipping as she walked along.
11:42
Speaker 1: So this factory was where her father worked. and they
11:45
Speaker 1: were having their big annual Christmas party. And for the
11:48
Speaker 1: first time ever, Elaine was being allowed to go, and
11:52
Speaker 1: she couldn't wait to see what was inside.
11:55
Speaker 2: So Elaine was really close with her dad, because.
11:58
Speaker 1: Even though he worked very long hours, he always went
12:01
Speaker 1: out of his way to spend time with her and
12:02
Speaker 1: make her feel very special. In fact, during the work week,
12:05
Speaker 1: it wasn't uncommon for her dad to come home over
12:08
Speaker 1: his lunch break just to give his daughter a big hug,
12:11
Speaker 1: and so they could quickly eat together before he had
12:13
Speaker 1: to rush back to work. And so now, after hearing
12:15
Speaker 1: about her dad's amazing factory over countless lunches they spent together, Elaine,
12:21
Speaker 1: for the first time ever, was actually going to be
12:23
Speaker 1: able to see what he was talking about, because to
12:25
Speaker 1: this point, she had never even stepped foot inside of
12:28
Speaker 1: the factory. Finally, Elaine and her parents arrived in front
12:31
Speaker 1: of this big factory, and in the doors they went,
12:34
Speaker 1: and immediately Elaine is like totally struck by just how
12:37
Speaker 1: truly incredible this place is.
12:39
Speaker 2: I mean, it was huge inside.
12:41
Speaker 1: It was already packed with people who were chatting about
12:44
Speaker 1: There were all these other co-workers and their kids and
12:46
Speaker 1: their families, and Christmas music was playing, and all she
12:50
Speaker 1: could smell was apple cider and baked goods, and she
12:53
Speaker 1: looked around and she saw the whole interior of this
12:56
Speaker 1: great entry room they had walked into was.
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Speaker 2: Beautifully decorated for the holidays. There was.
13:01
Speaker 1: tinsel and there were all these things hung up everywhere
13:03
Speaker 1: and there was even fake snow all over the place
13:05
Speaker 1: to give it like a true Christmas vibe.
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Speaker 2: And so Elaine, I mean.
13:08
Speaker 1: She had really high expectations of how grand this place
13:12
Speaker 1: was going to be and so far it had more
13:15
Speaker 1: than lived up to its expectations. I mean, this was
13:17
Speaker 1: really like an incredible thing. So she was delighted and
13:21
Speaker 1: the whole night she just ran around the party holding
13:24
Speaker 1: her dad's hand, looking at the machines and meeting his
13:27
Speaker 1: co-workers and eating all these treats. I mean, it was
13:30
Speaker 1: really just an incredible time. I mean, the evening was
13:32
Speaker 1: a whirlwind for her. And before she knew it, Elaine
13:35
Speaker 1: was exhausted and back in the car, driving home, drifting
13:39
Speaker 1: off into a very happy sleep. The rest of Elaine's
13:42
Speaker 1: childhood was very charmed. I mean, basically, she and her
13:45
Speaker 1: dad stayed very close. You know, they went to that
13:48
Speaker 1: Christmas party every year after that first time she went.
13:50
Speaker 2: And it was always such a fun event.
13:52
Speaker 1: And Elaine and her dad continued to have those lunch
13:55
Speaker 1: breaks during the work week. And You know, by the
13:57
Speaker 1: time Elaine was getting old enough to start thinking about,
14:00
Speaker 1: you know, starting a family of her own, she thought
14:02
Speaker 1: hard about the values that her father had instilled in her.
14:06
Speaker 1: One was her dad clearly worked very, very hard. And
14:09
Speaker 1: the second one was her father clearly prioritized family over
14:14
Speaker 1: everything else. You know, as inconvenient as it was for
14:17
Speaker 1: him to come home on his lunch break practically every day,
14:20
Speaker 1: you know, taking a break from, you know, backbreaking work
14:23
Speaker 1: in the factory. He still did it because he wanted
14:25
Speaker 1: his daughter to feel prioritized and special. And so she
14:29
Speaker 1: knew when she had a family of her own, she
14:31
Speaker 1: would act like her father. So you can imagine how
14:34
Speaker 1: Elaine felt in 1983 when Elaine was 25 years old.
14:37
Speaker 1: And by this point, she'd gotten married. She had two
14:40
Speaker 1: kids of her own. She was living up to the
14:42
Speaker 1: example her father had set for her. You can imagine
14:45
Speaker 1: how she felt when that year her father passed away.
14:49
Speaker 1: I mean, for Elaine, this was like earth shattering. I mean,
14:52
Speaker 1: she knew he was getting older and it wasn't wholly
14:55
Speaker 1: unexpected that he passed. But for Elaine, I mean, this
14:58
Speaker 1: truly was like devastating. I mean, her father was like
15:02
Speaker 1: her rock. She had really modeled her whole life on
15:05
Speaker 1: her dad. However, after that initial really intense grief period
15:10
Speaker 1: ended right after the death of her father, Elaine was
15:13
Speaker 1: able to, you know, have a moment of reflection. And
15:15
Speaker 1: she realized that, you know, as devastating as it was
15:18
Speaker 1: that he was gone now, you know, in a way,
15:20
Speaker 1: because of the way she had built her life, prioritizing
15:23
Speaker 1: family and, you know, living like her dad, that in
15:26
Speaker 1: some ways, even though he was gone physically, spiritually, he
15:30
Speaker 1: was very much still with her and always would be.
15:32
Speaker 1: Fast forward 41 years to one afternoon late in the
15:36
Speaker 1: summer of 2024. And Elaine, who was now in her
15:39
Speaker 1: late 60s, was sitting at her kitchen table in her
15:42
Speaker 1: Norfolk home reading the newspaper. So Elaine had retired just
15:46
Speaker 1: a few years ago. And so now her life was
15:48
Speaker 1: pretty much exclusively about her family, and about, you know,
15:52
Speaker 1: slowing down and truly being retired. And in some ways,
15:56
Speaker 1: the timing couldn't have been better for her to start
15:58
Speaker 1: slowing down because lately Elaine had been feeling absolutely exhausted.
16:04
Speaker 1: Which was odd because Elaine felt like, you know, even
16:06
Speaker 1: though she viewed her retirement as a chance to slow down,
16:10
Speaker 1: that she would likely have more energy because she wasn't
16:13
Speaker 1: working anymore. And so her slowing down would sort of
16:16
Speaker 1: be by choice, not because she literally couldn't keep up anymore.
16:19
Speaker 1: But lately, it was like Elaine had zero energy. It's
16:23
Speaker 1: like all she could do was sit in place and
16:26
Speaker 1: either read or call her kids. And that was basically it.
16:29
Speaker 1: But on this particular day, as Elaine just sat in
16:32
Speaker 1: the kitchen reading the newspaper, despite not physically really doing
16:36
Speaker 1: much at all, she suddenly started to feel winded, like
16:39
Speaker 1: she had been running around or something, like it was hard.
16:42
Speaker 2: To catch her breath. And it scared her.
16:44
Speaker 1: She put the paper down and She sat there for
16:46
Speaker 1: a minute trying to calm herself down, telling herself this
16:49
Speaker 1: is just like a panic attack or something. But it
16:51
Speaker 1: didn't go away and she really was struggling to breathe.
16:54
Speaker 1: And so she decided she would get up and go
16:56
Speaker 1: get a cup of water and just, you know, take
16:58
Speaker 1: a sip of water and calm down. But when she
17:01
Speaker 1: stood up and began walking over to the sink to
17:03
Speaker 1: get water, like this, the sensation she was having just
17:06
Speaker 1: got worse and worse. And by the time she was
17:08
Speaker 1: at the counter, she's like holding on to it just
17:10
Speaker 1: to stay up on her feet. And she's trying to
17:12
Speaker 1: sip the water, but she's still like unable to breathe.
17:15
Speaker 1: And she realized that this, combined with this, you know,
17:19
Speaker 1: recent really intense fatigue, meant something had to be wrong here. Like,
17:22
Speaker 1: this was not something she could just write off. And
17:25
Speaker 1: so she hobbled her way over to the phone, she
17:27
Speaker 1: picked it up, and she called her doctor. Not long after,
17:32
Speaker 1: one of Elaine's children came by, picked her up, and
17:34
Speaker 1: drove her to the hospital. And by this point, Elaine,
17:37
Speaker 1: she'd calmed down a little bit, but still, that experience
17:40
Speaker 1: of really not being able to breathe really had shaken
17:42
Speaker 1: her up. And so Elaine, she goes into the doctor's
17:45
Speaker 1: office and she sits down in the exam room and
17:47
Speaker 1: she explains to her doctor what's been going on and
17:50
Speaker 1: what just happened that day. And not long after that,
17:53
Speaker 1: her doctor got a series of tests done and eventually
17:57
Speaker 1: Elaine got an answer from those tests that explained all
18:01
Speaker 1: of her symptoms. However, that answer made Elaine look at
18:05
Speaker 1: her childhood, her charmed childhood, in a completely new light.
18:09
Speaker 1: and disturbing way. It would turn out, decades earlier, Elaine's
18:14
Speaker 1: father really had been setting a great example by working
18:17
Speaker 1: very hard and always prioritizing his family and always prioritizing
18:21
Speaker 1: his daughter. But what her father didn't know at the time,
18:24
Speaker 1: in fact, many people didn't know at the time, was
18:27
Speaker 1: that his work itself was actually putting his family at risk.
18:30
Speaker 1: At this time in the UK, most factories, like the
18:34
Speaker 1: one Elaine's father worked at, made products that contained asbestos.
18:38
Speaker 2: So asbestos is a substance that was.
18:40
Speaker 1: Used very widely for decades to construct structures primarily.
18:45
Speaker 2: Like in construction, it was used a lot.
18:47
Speaker 1: In fact, it was so common that basically any house
18:50
Speaker 1: or building built before the year 2000 likely was made
18:54
Speaker 1: with asbestos inside of it. And so when Elaine was
18:56
Speaker 1: growing up in the 1960s, Asbestos was, you know, naturally
19:00
Speaker 1: still being used all the time, and her father obviously
19:04
Speaker 1: encountered it daily at his work. But even though they
19:07
Speaker 1: didn't know it at the time, this was a huge
19:10
Speaker 1: problem for Elaine and her family, and really for anybody
19:13
Speaker 1: else who was living a life that was similar to theirs.
19:16
Speaker 1: Because asbestos was eventually found to be highly toxic, and
19:20
Speaker 1: known to cause a very specific type of very aggressive
19:24
Speaker 1: and very deadly cancer that can sometimes take decades to develop.
19:28
Speaker 1: It was the very kind of cancer that Elaine's father
19:31
Speaker 1: had died from in the 1980s. And unfortunately, it was
19:34
Speaker 1: the very kind of cancer that Elaine was diagnosed with
19:37
Speaker 1: in 2024 following that, you know, difficulty breathing and fatigue spell.
19:42
Speaker 1: And then she would eventually die a year later in
19:45
Speaker 1: 2025 from that cancer. And so in a tragic twist
19:48
Speaker 1: of fate here, basically, it was because of how close
19:52
Speaker 1: Elaine was with her father growing up that she ultimately
19:55
Speaker 1: contracted the same disease that he did. I mean, there's
19:58
Speaker 1: no question he got that cancer because of his exposure
20:01
Speaker 1: to asbestos in the factory. But he would come home
20:04
Speaker 1: from the factory, like over lunch, he'd come home and
20:07
Speaker 1: he'd have lunch with Elaine and And he wouldn't change.
20:10
Speaker 1: He'd give her a big hug. They'd have their lunch
20:12
Speaker 1: break together. He's putting asbestos on his daughter, not knowingly,
20:15
Speaker 1: but he's covering her in this toxic substance. And then
20:19
Speaker 1: when he would bring her to the Christmas party, all
20:21
Speaker 1: that white snow on the ground was not snow. It
20:24
Speaker 1: was asbestos, but they didn't know it was toxic. And
20:26
Speaker 1: so ultimately, it really was because of how much she
20:29
Speaker 1: loved her dad and how much he loved her that ultimately.
20:32
Speaker 2: Killed them both. Around 9 p.m.
20:51
Speaker 1: On January 18, 2015, a 68-year-old man named Dennis Antiporak
20:56
Speaker 1: stood at his kitchen counter in North Miami Beach, Florida,
21:00
Speaker 1: writing a note. And this note was for his wife
21:02
Speaker 1: and for his adult daughter, Laura, who lived with them.
21:05
Speaker 1: And all he was doing was letting them know that
21:07
Speaker 1: he was going to be stepping out, but he'd be
21:09
Speaker 1: back in a couple of hours. Now, for Dennis, it
21:11
Speaker 1: actually was not that unusual for him to go out
21:14
Speaker 1: this late at night.
21:15
Speaker 2: This was kind of routine.
21:17
Speaker 1: He would often leave the condo where they lived, and
21:19
Speaker 1: he would go down the street to this diner called Denny's,
21:21
Speaker 1: which is a big chain in America. And he would
21:24
Speaker 1: hang out there with his friends, you know, stay there
21:25
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, and then he'd come back home.
21:27
Speaker 1: And tonight was going to be no different. His plan,
21:29
Speaker 1: as he said in this letter, was to go to Denny's. However,
21:33
Speaker 1: there was one stop he wanted to make before he
21:35
Speaker 1: headed out to Denny's, and he made that clear in
21:38
Speaker 1: his note. He basically provided his loved ones with his
21:41
Speaker 1: evening itinerary. So after finishing the note, Dennis left it
21:45
Speaker 1: on the counter.
21:45
Speaker 2: He grabbed his things. then he walked out the front
21:48
Speaker 2: door of the condo.
21:50
Speaker 1: Several hours later, around 2 a.m., Dennis's daughter, Lara, paced
21:54
Speaker 1: around the living room of the family's condo with her
21:57
Speaker 1: cell phone to her ear. So she and her mother
22:00
Speaker 1: had gotten home around 10, so an hour after Dennis
22:03
Speaker 1: had left, and they had found Dennis's note on the
22:06
Speaker 1: kitchen island. But now, you know, it was getting really late,
22:09
Speaker 1: and from the note, it seemed an awful lot like
22:12
Speaker 1: he would have been back by now, And so now
22:14
Speaker 1: Laura was trying to call her dad to figure out
22:16
Speaker 1: what was going on. However, every time Laura dialed her
22:19
Speaker 1: dad's number, it just went straight to voicemail.
22:22
Speaker 2: And so again, now that it's like 2 a.m.
22:24
Speaker 1: And she's starting to worry about her dad, she knew
22:27
Speaker 1: that he had gone to Denny's, the diner down the road.
22:29
Speaker 1: And so she looked up the number for that restaurant.
22:32
Speaker 2: It was open 24-7. And she called the Denny's.
22:35
Speaker 1: However, when a worker at Denny's answered the phone and
22:38
Speaker 1: Laura asked them, you know, hey, is my dad there?
22:40
Speaker 1: Because by this point they would know him. He went
22:42
Speaker 1: there all the time. The worker said, no, he hadn't
22:45
Speaker 1: been in at all the whole night. And so after
22:47
Speaker 1: hearing this, I mean, Laura was baffled. Like where else
22:50
Speaker 1: could her dad be? But then she remembered the note
22:54
Speaker 1: because her dad said before he was going to go
22:57
Speaker 1: to Denny's, he was going to make a pit stop.
23:00
Speaker 1: And so she looked at the note again and she
23:02
Speaker 1: was like, that's where he has to be. He's got
23:05
Speaker 1: to be upstairs. So upstairs in this condo complex was
23:09
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of amenities that this place offered for
23:11
Speaker 1: its residents. There was a, a big gym and a
23:13
Speaker 1: pool and there were common areas and relaxation rooms and
23:16
Speaker 1: all these different things up there. And Dennis loved going
23:20
Speaker 1: up there. And in his note, he indicated that's where
23:22
Speaker 1: he was going to go and go relax for a
23:24
Speaker 1: little bit before going out to Denny's. And so Laura,
23:27
Speaker 1: she heads upstairs and the first place she looks is
23:30
Speaker 1: the gym. But the gym was totally empty. No one's
23:33
Speaker 1: up there working out at two in the morning. It
23:35
Speaker 1: was vacant and her dad's nowhere to be found. And
23:38
Speaker 1: then from the gym, she went to the pool area
23:41
Speaker 1: and the pool was closed, but she could look into
23:43
Speaker 1: the pool area itself and there was no one in there,
23:46
Speaker 1: including her dad.
23:47
Speaker 2: He was not in the pool.
23:48
Speaker 1: But then Laura looked from the pool over to this
23:51
Speaker 1: door that was near the pool area that led to
23:54
Speaker 1: one of those relaxation rooms that this condo offered its residents.
23:58
Speaker 1: And in her dad's note, he had indicated he was
24:00
Speaker 1: going up there to, you.
24:02
Speaker 2: Know, relax. And so she walked over to the door.
24:05
Speaker 2: She tried the handle. It was unlocked.
24:07
Speaker 1: She pushed it open and immediately she was hit with
24:10
Speaker 1: this overwhelming smell.
24:12
Speaker 2: She nearly gagged. And then she looked up and she
24:15
Speaker 2: saw her dad.
24:19
Speaker 1: So this condo had a whole bunch of different ways
24:22
Speaker 1: for their residents to unwind and relax. They had these
24:26
Speaker 1: like relaxation rooms. They had mindfulness rooms and meditation rooms
24:30
Speaker 1: and yoga rooms.
24:31
Speaker 2: They had the pool. They had the gym.
24:33
Speaker 1: And they had Dennis's favorite relaxation room. which was actually
24:38
Speaker 1: just a sauna. So earlier that night, Dennis went into
24:41
Speaker 1: the sauna, expecting to be in there for a short
24:44
Speaker 1: amount of time to just relax, basically. A sauna, all
24:47
Speaker 1: it is, is just a closed space that gets really,
24:49
Speaker 1: really hot inside.
24:50
Speaker 2: And you sweat and you just kind of sit.
24:52
Speaker 1: There and just allow your body to kind of like
24:55
Speaker 1: melt a little bit and relax.
24:56
Speaker 2: And then you get out again, you feel very refreshed.
24:59
Speaker 1: But it's critical that you only stay in for a
25:02
Speaker 1: limited amount of time because you're effectively inside of an oven.
25:05
Speaker 2: And Dennis, he went into the sauna. No one else
25:08
Speaker 2: is in there.
25:09
Speaker 1: He set the timer for when it should shut off
25:12
Speaker 1: and he fell asleep inside the sauna. And then the
25:15
Speaker 1: timer malfunctioned. And so the sauna didn't turn off. And
25:20
Speaker 1: so he's asleep in the sauna. It's just cooking him
25:23
Speaker 1: over and over again until he actually has a heat-induced
25:26
Speaker 1: heart attack and he dies. But then nobody knew he
25:30
Speaker 1: was in there. And the sauna's still on. And so
25:32
Speaker 1: he's dead in the sauna forever. basically just cooking.
25:35
Speaker 2: For hours and hours and hours.
25:38
Speaker 1: Until finally his daughter Laura went up there, opened up
25:41
Speaker 1: the sauna door, and found her dad, who by this
25:44
Speaker 1: point was literally charbroiled. Thank you so much for watching
25:53
Speaker 1: today's episode. Let me know what you thought of it
25:55
Speaker 1: in the comments below. And remember, we have a whole
25:57
Speaker 1: playlist of Places You Can't Go episodes ready for you
26:01
Speaker 1: to binge right now. So go ahead and click here
26:04
Speaker 1: and give them a watch. All right, until next time,
26:07
Speaker 1: see ya.