Latest / Crime and Horror / He knew vampires were real, and paid the price - MrBallen

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He knew vampires were real, and paid the price - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share three stories that are about
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Speaker 1: people who have a lot of experience in a particular area,
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Speaker 1: but their expertise and really their confidence surrounding their expertise
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Speaker 1: is actually exactly the thing that causes them to make
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Speaker 1: a disastrous mistake. 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 2: Three, even four times every week.
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Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into today's stories.
1:03
Speaker 1: One evening in November of 1972, a 68-year-old man named
1:08
Speaker 1: Demetrius Machura hurried around his small room at a boarding
1:11
Speaker 1: house in Stoke-on-Trent, England, pouring salt all over the floor.
1:16
Speaker 1: And as he did this, he looked out the window
1:19
Speaker 1: and saw the fading daylight and knew he had to hurry. However,
1:23
Speaker 1: running around like this was really taxing, especially on his lungs.
1:27
Speaker 1: because for decades he had worked in this very dusty
1:30
Speaker 1: pottery factory, and it had really taken a toll on him,
1:32
Speaker 1: so moving faster was really hard to do. But he
1:36
Speaker 1: really needed to push through the pain and the discomfort
1:39
Speaker 1: and finish what he was doing before it.
1:42
Speaker 2: Got dark out. Because when it got dark out, that's
1:46
Speaker 2: when the vampires came out.
1:48
Speaker 1: So Demetrius had immigrated from Poland about 25 years earlier,
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Speaker 1: and in his home country... Vampires were not just, you know, lore,
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Speaker 1: but actually they were a huge part of the culture
2:00
Speaker 1: and were often spoken about as being very real dangers
2:04
Speaker 1: that people should be scared of. And recently, Demetrius, despite
2:09
Speaker 1: now living in England, of course, he had begun hearing
2:12
Speaker 1: about a lot of vampire sightings here. A few years ago,
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Speaker 1: he started noticing these news reports about a vampire that
2:19
Speaker 1: was living in London's Highgate Cemetery.
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Speaker 2: And also around the same time he.
2:23
Speaker 1: Began seeing those reports, he also learned about these two
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Speaker 1: girls who had been attacked by a vampire in the
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Speaker 1: English countryside. And Demetrius, he just could not believe how
2:34
Speaker 1: people were just not that panicked about this.
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Speaker 2: I mean, Demetrius was terrified.
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Speaker 1: You know, he had grown up being scared of vampires
2:41
Speaker 1: that obviously, you know, played a role in his reaction
2:44
Speaker 1: to these sightings now in England. But still, he's thinking, like,
2:47
Speaker 1: why aren't more people scared about this? But even more
2:51
Speaker 1: than that, when Demetrius would actually talk about, you know,
2:54
Speaker 1: these vampire concerns that he had with people in England,
2:58
Speaker 1: he found most people thought it was fake. That they
3:01
Speaker 1: thought that, you know, these news reports and, you know,
3:03
Speaker 1: all that stuff, it was just made up.
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Speaker 2: It was fake.
3:06
Speaker 1: And then they would kind of look at Demetrius as
3:07
Speaker 1: sort of like an idiot for.
3:09
Speaker 2: Thinking that that was real.
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Speaker 1: Like, come on, vampires aren't real. But to Demetrius, he
3:14
Speaker 1: just felt like, you know what? those people who don't
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Speaker 1: believe in this very real threat that obviously is getting
3:20
Speaker 1: worse here, those people, they're the idiots, not him. And
3:25
Speaker 1: so Demetrius, instead of trying to defend his position or
3:29
Speaker 1: try to convince anyone to believe what he believed, he
3:32
Speaker 1: decided to just do what he had to do to
3:35
Speaker 1: protect himself.
3:36
Speaker 2: And he knew exactly what to do.
3:39
Speaker 1: So Demetrius, he had a whole routine of things he
3:42
Speaker 1: would do to protect himself from vampires when he was
3:45
Speaker 1: living in Poland. And mostly he had abandoned that routine
3:49
Speaker 1: when he came to England. But now, you know, since
3:51
Speaker 1: these sightings, he had brought back that routine and it
3:55
Speaker 1: was very extensive. He had added on to it, made
3:58
Speaker 1: it more elaborate, but it was something he now did
4:01
Speaker 1: every single night because vampires only come out at night.
4:04
Speaker 2: And so that's when you need protection.
4:06
Speaker 1: So before Demetrius climbed in bed at night, he would
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Speaker 1: pour salt all around the room. and he would also
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Speaker 1: scatter fresh garlic cloves everywhere, since those were both very
4:16
Speaker 1: toxic to vampires. And then after that, he would go
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Speaker 1: up to each of the crosses that he had on
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Speaker 1: his wall to make sure they were properly secured, because
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Speaker 1: crosses are known deterrents to vampires. And then typically, after
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Speaker 1: checking all the crucifixes, he would go around and maybe
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Speaker 1: do a little more salt, a few more garlic cloves,
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Speaker 1: and then once everything was in place and secure, he
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Speaker 1: would climb into bed. And the moment his head hit
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Speaker 1: the pillow... he would feel his heart rate finally start
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Speaker 1: to settle down because he knew that, at least for
4:45
Speaker 1: this night, he would be safe. And so in November
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Speaker 1: of 1972, Demetrius just continued every night doing his vampire
4:54
Speaker 1: protection procedure. And even though some people thought this was
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Speaker 1: very strange and very paranoid of him because, you know,
5:00
Speaker 1: vampires aren't real, right? Well, it wasn't hurting anyone. You know,
5:04
Speaker 1: Demetrius felt better when he did it. It was just
5:07
Speaker 1: sort of his own thing. And so he just continued
5:09
Speaker 1: to do it and it didn't cause any problems until
5:12
Speaker 1: November 24th of that year. So on that day, just
5:17
Speaker 1: before 10 p.m., police constable John Pye of the Stoke-on-Trent
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Speaker 1: Police Department, he walked up to the entrance of Demetrius's
5:24
Speaker 1: boarding house. He was here to do a wellness check
5:27
Speaker 1: because the landlady of this place had called the station
5:31
Speaker 1: to tell them that she hadn't seen one of her tenants.
5:33
Speaker 1: Demetrius Matura in about a week and was starting to
5:37
Speaker 1: worry about him. So now Pi knocked on the front
5:40
Speaker 1: door and a few seconds later, this older woman swung
5:43
Speaker 1: it open and she introduced herself as the landlady. And
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Speaker 1: then she let Pi inside and let him down a
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Speaker 1: hallway and stopped.
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Speaker 2: In front of Demetrius's door.
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Speaker 1: And so Pi knocked and he called out to Demetrius
5:54
Speaker 1: announcing that he was the police and he was just
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Speaker 1: here to make sure he was okay. But there was
5:58
Speaker 1: no sound coming from inside the room. And then when
6:01
Speaker 1: Pi reached down and tried the handle, He found it
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Speaker 1: was locked. And so after knocking a few more times
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Speaker 1: and calling out and still not hearing anything from inside,
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Speaker 1: Pi told the landlady to go ahead and step back
6:13
Speaker 1: because he was going to knock this door down. So Pi,
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Speaker 1: he leaned back and then rammed his shoulder against the door.
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Speaker 1: And actually, it swung open really quickly. And immediately, Pi
6:23
Speaker 1: and the landlady were hit with this really strong smell
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Speaker 1: of garlic that was coming out of the very dark
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Speaker 1: room in front of them. And so Pi immediately yells
6:31
Speaker 1: into the room for Demetrius, but there's no response. And
6:35
Speaker 1: so Pi, he reaches in and tries to find a
6:37
Speaker 1: light switch, and he does, and he flips it on,
6:39
Speaker 1: but it wasn't working for some reason. So Pi, he
6:42
Speaker 1: pulled out his flashlight off his belt, he clicked it on,
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Speaker 1: and then he walked into the room. And right away,
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Speaker 1: Pi felt like this small, dark room was the most bizarre,
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Speaker 1: creepy space he had ever been inside of. there was
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Speaker 1: what appeared to be salt all over the floor. And
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Speaker 1: there were also cloves of garlic like everywhere, not just
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Speaker 1: on the ground, but also.
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Speaker 2: Up on windowsills.
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Speaker 1: And then at some point, Pi swept his flashlight from
7:11
Speaker 1: the wall over to the bed in the back of
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Speaker 1: this room. It's basically like a one bedroom apartment. And
7:18
Speaker 1: he sees the bed and he sees there was a
7:20
Speaker 1: definitive human sized lump under the sheets. And so right away,
7:24
Speaker 1: he had a good sense of what it was. And
7:27
Speaker 1: so Pi, he walked across the floor, stepping on garlic
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Speaker 1: and salt as he went. And when he reached the bed,
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Speaker 1: he pulled back the sheets. And under the sheets was
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Speaker 1: the very obviously dead body of Demetrius Matura. Pi heard
7:40
Speaker 1: the sound of the landlady who had followed him inside
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Speaker 1: by this point. She gasped because she's seeing, you know,
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Speaker 1: what's inside of her boarding house here. And at this point,
7:49
Speaker 1: even though Pi was like very sure Demetrius was dead,
7:52
Speaker 1: just to be sure, he reached down and he felt
7:54
Speaker 1: for a pulse, but there was none. And also Demetrius's
7:57
Speaker 1: skin was very cold.
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Speaker 2: And very pale.
8:00
Speaker 1: However, despite how very obviously deceased Demetrius was, Pi looked
8:06
Speaker 1: around and couldn't really make sense of exactly how he
8:09
Speaker 1: had died. I mean, there was no denying that he
8:11
Speaker 1: was in a very strange location, but he couldn't really
8:15
Speaker 1: picture how the salt and the garlic and the crosses
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Speaker 1: could have had anything to do with his death. You know,
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Speaker 1: maybe it was just the insanity of a dying man
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Speaker 1: who crawled into bed and he died in here or something.
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Speaker 2: But it was like, There's no visible wounds. There's no
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Speaker 2: blood anywhere. There's nothing.
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Speaker 1: It's just this weird, creepy room this guy's in and
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Speaker 1: he's just dead under the sheets.
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Speaker 2: It was just bizarre.
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Speaker 1: But there was one thing about Demetrius that in Pi's
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Speaker 1: mind was pretty disturbing. I mean, even more so than
8:43
Speaker 1: what he was already seeing. And that was that Demetrius,
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Speaker 1: he had died with this terrified looking expression on his face,
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Speaker 1: like his mouth was was wide open, like it was
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Speaker 1: frozen as if he'd been screaming as he took his
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Speaker 1: final breath, which made Demetrius wonder if maybe when he died,
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Speaker 1: his death had been quite painful or just terrifying. Like
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Speaker 1: maybe Demetrius had seen something, like as he died, was
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Speaker 1: he scared of something as he was dying that caused
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Speaker 1: his face to sort of freeze in this expression? However,
9:15
Speaker 1: that made Pi think that maybe this was a homicide.
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Speaker 1: You know, that the victim, Demetrius, was scared of the attacker.
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Speaker 1: And that's why he looked the way he did. The
9:24
Speaker 1: attacker is attacking him and he's reacting. But Pi's looking
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Speaker 1: at the body thinking, I don't think this was a
9:31
Speaker 1: homicide because there's just no injury anywhere.
9:34
Speaker 2: So what would the attacker have done?
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Speaker 1: Like, how could they have forcibly killed Demetrius without leaving
9:40
Speaker 1: any marks anywhere? Now, Pi knew he was not going
9:42
Speaker 1: to get any real answers here without an autopsy. But
9:46
Speaker 1: while he was here, he could at least do a
9:48
Speaker 1: search of the room and also canvass the neighbors, starting.
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Speaker 2: With the landlady.
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Speaker 1: So he turned to the visibly shocked landlady and asked her, like, hey,
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Speaker 1: what's the deal with.
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Speaker 2: All the salt and the crops? and the garlic? Like,
10:01
Speaker 2: what's that about?
10:02
Speaker 1: And surprisingly, she shrugged it off. Like, it was just
10:04
Speaker 1: no big deal. It's just what Demetrius did. And when
10:08
Speaker 1: Pi was like, what do you mean? She explained that
10:11
Speaker 1: Demetrius had a really serious phobia of vampires. And these
10:15
Speaker 1: were measures he took to protect himself from vampires. For
10:19
Speaker 1: a second, Pye just stared back at her like he
10:21
Speaker 1: couldn't believe what he was being told. But then he
10:24
Speaker 1: was also thinking like, all right, I'm looking around the room.
10:26
Speaker 1: This is already totally weird. So actually, in a way,
10:30
Speaker 1: that sort of tracks. However, Pye wasn't sure if Demetrius's
10:35
Speaker 1: apparent delusion around vampires really had anything to do with
10:38
Speaker 1: Demetrius's death or not. Or if this is just a
10:41
Speaker 1: quirk of the case that this man died, you know,
10:44
Speaker 1: however he died and also was scared of vampires.
10:47
Speaker 2: He didn't know. But for now.
10:49
Speaker 1: Pye was just incredibly curious and absolutely determined to get answers.
10:54
Speaker 1: A little over a month later, police constable Pye was
10:57
Speaker 1: sitting at his desk in police headquarters reading a library
11:01
Speaker 1: book about vampires. So Demetrius' case was actually on pause
11:06
Speaker 1: while Pye waited for the autopsy results. But even though
11:09
Speaker 1: he really couldn't do much until those results came in,
11:13
Speaker 1: Pye himself just couldn't stop thinking about Demetrius' creepy room
11:17
Speaker 1: and all his vampire stuff.
11:19
Speaker 2: And so on his own, Pi had become a little
11:22
Speaker 2: bit obsessed.
11:23
Speaker 1: Now, there was a possibility that Demetrius had simply died
11:27
Speaker 1: from some illness in his sleep. Pi had learned that
11:30
Speaker 1: Demetrius had actually been sick a lot before he died
11:33
Speaker 1: and that he'd worked in a pottery factory that really
11:35
Speaker 1: affected his lungs. So Pi knew that it was entirely
11:39
Speaker 1: possible that that Demetrius had some form of potter's rot,
11:43
Speaker 1: which was a lung disease that a lot of pottery
11:45
Speaker 1: workers got from the bad air.
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Speaker 2: In the factory.
11:48
Speaker 1: But potter's rot was like this slow-moving, sort of compounding sickness.
11:53
Speaker 1: It was very progressive, but over a long period of time.
11:56
Speaker 1: And Demetrius apparently had died suddenly. And Pi had spoken
12:00
Speaker 1: to all of Demetrius' neighbors, and they all said, you know,
12:04
Speaker 1: in the time leading up to his death, He wasn't
12:07
Speaker 1: showing any obvious sign of getting sick or getting sicker,
12:10
Speaker 1: I should say. Like there was no progression happening. He
12:13
Speaker 1: seemed normal and then was just dead. So that sort
12:16
Speaker 1: of confirmed that Potter's Rot seemed unlikely. Additionally, when Pi
12:21
Speaker 1: spoke to the neighbors, they also communicated that it didn't
12:25
Speaker 1: seem like Demetrius had any obvious enemies. So the idea
12:29
Speaker 1: that there had been some kind of invisible foul play
12:32
Speaker 1: like poisoning was also didn't really make sense. And so,
12:35
Speaker 1: without any other theories to work on, and without the
12:38
Speaker 1: autopsy results yet, Pi had been doing a lot of
12:41
Speaker 1: research on vampires. Now, he was certainly not about to
12:45
Speaker 1: consider that a vampire had killed Demetrius, but the scene
12:50
Speaker 1: of Demetrius' death was just so weird that Pi couldn't
12:54
Speaker 1: get past the feeling that, somehow, vampires must have had
12:59
Speaker 1: something to.
12:59
Speaker 2: Do with his death.
13:00
Speaker 1: So far, though, his research really hadn't helped clear that up.
13:04
Speaker 1: But just then, Pi's phone rang. And when he answered it,
13:07
Speaker 1: his heart began to race because it was the coroner.
13:10
Speaker 1: And the coroner said the autopsy was done. And the
13:14
Speaker 1: coroner told Pi that he was never going to believe
13:18
Speaker 1: what that autopsy had discovered. It would turn out Pi
13:21
Speaker 1: had been right. Vampires had everything to do with this death.
13:26
Speaker 1: On the night that Demetrius died, He had done all
13:29
Speaker 1: the things he usually did to keep himself safe before
13:32
Speaker 1: he climbed in bed. But unlike the other nights when
13:35
Speaker 1: he had done this procedure, this night, his routine had
13:39
Speaker 1: not worked. So Demetrius, along with spreading salt all over
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Speaker 1: his room, also put garlic cloves everywhere, since that was
13:47
Speaker 1: one of the most famous ways to ward off vampires.
13:50
Speaker 2: And so he did it every single night.
13:52
Speaker 1: One of the places, in addition to the floor and
13:54
Speaker 1: the windowsills that Demetrius would put these cloves at night,
13:58
Speaker 1: one of those places was his own mouth. And he'd
14:02
Speaker 1: become really good at keeping that garlic clove under his
14:05
Speaker 1: tongue while he was asleep.
14:08
Speaker 2: But on that night in November, something went wrong.
14:11
Speaker 1: While he slept, the clove slipped out from under his tongue,
14:15
Speaker 1: went down his throat, and got stuck. And during the autopsy,
14:19
Speaker 1: the coroner literally found the clove still stuck there, and
14:23
Speaker 1: so it was determined that he had died from choking
14:26
Speaker 1: on it. So, while garlic cloves may have played a
14:30
Speaker 1: role in protecting Demetrius from vampires, unfortunately, it was literally
14:36
Speaker 1: the clove itself that killed him. One fall afternoon in
14:55
Speaker 1: the late 9th century, a Viking leader named Sigurd Eistensen
15:00
Speaker 1: rode his horse across this large field.
15:02
Speaker 2: In northeastern Scotland.
15:04
Speaker 1: Riding on either side of him were two of his commanders,
15:07
Speaker 1: and behind the three of them was Sigurd's entire army.
15:11
Speaker 1: This field they were traveling across was about to become
15:14
Speaker 1: a battlefield, and Sigurd and his commanders were riding out
15:18
Speaker 1: to meet the leader of the opposing army who would
15:20
Speaker 1: be taking part in this battle, a.
15:22
Speaker 2: Horrible bucktooth man named Mile Brigta.
15:26
Speaker 1: And Mile was actually already in place at the meeting spot,
15:29
Speaker 1: right in the middle of this battlefield. And he was
15:31
Speaker 1: on his horse, and he was flanked on either side
15:34
Speaker 1: by two commanders as well. And then, you know, well
15:36
Speaker 1: behind him was his sea of warriors that would be
15:40
Speaker 1: taking part in this battle. So Mile, he ruled a
15:43
Speaker 1: kingdom called Moray, which was a large area in the
15:46
Speaker 1: north of Scotland.
15:47
Speaker 2: And Sigurd wanted to conquer it.
15:49
Speaker 1: And so today, Sigurd and Mael were meeting in the
15:52
Speaker 1: middle of this really potential battlefield with their respective armies
15:56
Speaker 1: waiting in the.
15:56
Speaker 2: Wings, you know, behind them. And the idea was, is
16:00
Speaker 2: they would try to negotiate.
16:02
Speaker 1: Effectively, Sigurd would, you know, basically tell Mael, you know,
16:05
Speaker 1: give me some percentage of your land and we won't,
16:08
Speaker 1: you know, raid.
16:09
Speaker 2: Your area and try to conquer you.
16:11
Speaker 1: And it was sort of on Mile to determine if
16:13
Speaker 1: that was a worthy thing or not, or if it
16:15
Speaker 1: was better to just stand your ground and fight. Sigurd
16:18
Speaker 1: was not worried because he knew that ultimately he was
16:21
Speaker 1: going to win that fight. Not only did Sigurd's Viking
16:25
Speaker 1: army vastly outnumber the Murray, but Sigurd himself was just
16:30
Speaker 1: far more.
16:30
Speaker 2: Accomplished on the battlefield than Mile.
16:33
Speaker 1: Sigurd was actually known as Sigurd the Mighty, and he
16:37
Speaker 1: was this famous fearsome warrior who'd spent the last two
16:40
Speaker 1: decades fighting ruthlessly conquering parts of Scotland for his king
16:43
Speaker 1: back in Norway. Mile, on the other hand, was not
16:46
Speaker 1: really feared or respected like that, certainly not by Sigurd.
16:50
Speaker 1: Mile was really known just to be sort of impulsive
16:52
Speaker 1: and kind of untrustworthy and also definitely kind of dumb.
16:57
Speaker 1: And now, as Sigurd and his commanders arrived in the
16:59
Speaker 1: middle of the field, right in front of Mile and
17:02
Speaker 1: his two commanders, and they brought their horses to a halt,
17:06
Speaker 1: Sigurd could now see with his own two eyes another thing,
17:09
Speaker 1: about Myle that he actually was known for, he was
17:11
Speaker 1: famous for. And that was his two giant front teeth
17:15
Speaker 1: that stuck out way over his bottom lip and actually
17:18
Speaker 1: had earned him a nickname of sorts, which was Myle
17:21
Speaker 1: the Bucktoothed. And so not long after Sigurd arrived, Sigurd
17:25
Speaker 1: and Myle and the other commanders began their negotiation. But
17:29
Speaker 1: Sigurd quickly realized that Myle was not there to make
17:33
Speaker 1: concessions in order to, you He was actually trying to
17:38
Speaker 1: make demands of the Vikings. Like, he was there telling
17:41
Speaker 1: the Vikings what to do, which is just, in Sigurd's mind,
17:43
Speaker 1: totally ridiculous. I mean, you're outnumbered, you're outclassed, like, what
17:47
Speaker 1: are you doing? In fact, Sigurd, like, couldn't believe what
17:51
Speaker 1: was even happening. I mean, as far as he was concerned,
17:54
Speaker 1: Mile was just a nobody. And his demands, in some ways,
17:57
Speaker 1: were just disrespectful, not real demands. You know, if Mile
18:01
Speaker 1: was smart, he would be begging for mercy here, but
18:04
Speaker 1: obviously he was not smart. And so Sigurd quickly realized
18:08
Speaker 1: that what would have to happen here is he and
18:10
Speaker 1: his Vikings would have to just slaughter his army and
18:13
Speaker 1: seize his lands. And so at some point, while Mael
18:16
Speaker 1: was literally mid-sentence, you know, making whatever demand he was making,
18:20
Speaker 1: Sigurd turned to his two commanders and just gave the
18:23
Speaker 1: signal that they were not doing this. They were going
18:25
Speaker 1: to have to fight here. And so Sigurd just grabbed
18:27
Speaker 1: the horse's reins, turned around, and he and his commanders
18:30
Speaker 1: galloped back to his army. And as soon as they
18:32
Speaker 1: got there, Sigurd told his men that they were going
18:35
Speaker 1: to have to massacre all the Murray.
18:37
Speaker 2: But they needed to save Mile the Bucktoothed for him.
18:41
Speaker 1: Hours later, Sigurd was still on his horse, but this
18:45
Speaker 1: time he was leading what remained of his victorious Viking
18:48
Speaker 1: army down this dirt road away from the battlefield and
18:52
Speaker 1: back towards their camp.
18:53
Speaker 2: Sigurd, like basically all of.
18:55
Speaker 1: His men, was totally exhausted, but he was also full
18:59
Speaker 1: of adrenaline because the battle was over and it had
19:01
Speaker 1: gone exactly the way he knew it would. His soldiers
19:05
Speaker 1: had completely destroyed Mile and his army, and he, Sigurd,
19:09
Speaker 1: had personally killed Mile. And so now, as Sigurd rode
19:13
Speaker 1: along here, he looked down at Mile's severed head, which
19:16
Speaker 1: he himself had removed from his adversary's body.
19:20
Speaker 2: And then he had.
19:20
Speaker 1: Attached the head to his saddle, he looked down at
19:23
Speaker 1: the head, and the head's dangling near his legs, and,
19:26
Speaker 1: you know, Miles' eyes are wide open and looking vacantly
19:29
Speaker 1: up at Sigurd, and his mouth was wide open as well,
19:32
Speaker 1: which only sort of made his front.
19:33
Speaker 2: Teeth look even bigger and hang out even more.
19:36
Speaker 1: And as Sigurd gazed down at this head, he couldn't
19:39
Speaker 1: help but smile as a wave of just pure satisfaction
19:42
Speaker 1: washed over him. During their pre-battle negotiations, Mile had just
19:46
Speaker 1: been unbearably annoying and sort of offensive. And so Sigurd
19:51
Speaker 1: was thrilled he'd gotten the best of him and now
19:53
Speaker 1: had his head dangling right near his legs.
19:55
Speaker 2: Like, that is just perfect for Sigurd.
19:57
Speaker 1: And now that Mile the Bucktoothed was dead, Sigurd was
20:01
Speaker 1: one step closer to conquering all of Scotland. So he
20:04
Speaker 1: gave out this loud, triumphant war cry, and his men
20:08
Speaker 1: answered him with cheers. Then Sigurd spurred his horse into
20:11
Speaker 1: a full gallop. However, just a few days later, everything
20:16
Speaker 1: had changed for Sigurd. By this point, Sigurd was now
20:19
Speaker 1: laying under a wool blanket in this stone shack in
20:22
Speaker 1: one of his Scottish settlements, and he was screaming in pain.
20:26
Speaker 1: Because over the last couple of days, he'd gotten incredibly sick.
20:31
Speaker 1: And now he was delirious, and he had such a
20:34
Speaker 1: bad fever that he was both covered in sweat and
20:36
Speaker 1: also shivering non-stop. And then at some point, the doctor
20:40
Speaker 1: who had been taking care of Sigurd came into the
20:42
Speaker 1: shack to check on him. And after looking him over,
20:45
Speaker 1: the doctor just shook his head and told Sigurd that
20:48
Speaker 1: he had done all he could, but this sickness, whatever
20:51
Speaker 1: it was, was going to kill him. And Sigurd, when
20:54
Speaker 1: he heard this, he felt nothing but rage. Not because
20:59
Speaker 1: he was dying, but because he knew that he'd actually
21:02
Speaker 1: been very wrong.
21:04
Speaker 2: He had not gotten the best of Mile the Bucktoothed.
21:08
Speaker 1: So it would turn out, after the big battle, after,
21:13
Speaker 1: you know, Sigurd had won so triumphantly, as he was
21:17
Speaker 1: riding along, carrying along with him the head of his adversary,
21:21
Speaker 1: Miles' severed head, well, as he began galloping faster and faster,
21:24
Speaker 1: and he's cheering for his men, they're so triumphant, and
21:27
Speaker 1: everyone's cheering along, as he's going faster and faster, the head,
21:30
Speaker 1: the severed head, began bouncing, you know, because of the movement.
21:35
Speaker 2: And remember... Miles got those big two front teeth. He's
21:38
Speaker 2: got a nickname, Mile the Bucktoothed, for a reason. Well,
21:41
Speaker 2: those teeth, as.
21:42
Speaker 1: The head jostled around, began puncturing Sigurd's thigh. And he
21:47
Speaker 1: didn't notice it because he was so jacked up on adrenaline.
21:50
Speaker 1: He's galloping off. He's looking down. He sees blood all
21:52
Speaker 1: over his legs. And he's thinking it's got to be
21:54
Speaker 1: Miles' blood from the fact that his head's been cut off.
21:56
Speaker 1: But no, it was actually Sigurd's blood from the punctures
22:00
Speaker 1: from Miles' buckteeth. And so in the end, even though
22:04
Speaker 1: Sigurd did, you know, successfully kill Mile, he won the battle.
22:08
Speaker 2: Well, it would turn out.
22:09
Speaker 1: That Mile wasn't done with Sigurd because Mile ultimately caused
22:13
Speaker 1: Sigurd's death because those punctures got horribly infected. There was
22:17
Speaker 1: no antibiotics to cure the infection and ultimately Sigurd died.
22:41
Speaker 1: Around 2 p.m. on July 11th, 1978, a man named
22:45
Speaker 1: Francisco Imbernon Baleña drove down a highway a few miles
22:49
Speaker 1: outside of the coastal town of La Rapita, Spain. Earlier,
22:52
Speaker 1: Francisco had left the warehouse where he worked, and he
22:55
Speaker 1: was now driving back toward.
22:56
Speaker 2: The city where he lived.
22:57
Speaker 1: And so far, this drive had been very uncomfortable and sweaty,
23:02
Speaker 1: since it was really hot out today, and he didn't
23:05
Speaker 1: have air conditioning.
23:06
Speaker 2: And also, he was just very annoyed.
23:10
Speaker 1: Because before he had left the warehouse, he'd gotten into
23:13
Speaker 1: a disagreement with another employee. So Francisco was in his 50s,
23:17
Speaker 1: and he had been doing his job for years. And
23:20
Speaker 1: while for sure he was a bit of a curmudgeon
23:23
Speaker 1: about certain things, he was also really experienced and self-sufficient.
23:28
Speaker 1: But for some reason, this other younger guy, this co-worker
23:32
Speaker 1: of his, who worked in a completely different department, had
23:36
Speaker 1: felt the need to micromanage him and start telling Francisco.
23:40
Speaker 2: How to do his job.
23:41
Speaker 1: And he'd even had the audacity to tell Francisco that
23:45
Speaker 1: if he didn't listen to him, listen to this criticism,
23:47
Speaker 1: and change your behavior, if you don't do that, you're
23:50
Speaker 1: going to regret it. Needless to say, Francisco did not
23:54
Speaker 1: appreciate being told how to do his job, especially by
23:57
Speaker 1: some young idiot here. And so in the moment, during
24:01
Speaker 1: their confrontation, Francisco had simply ignored the other employee and
24:06
Speaker 1: kept doing his work. But In reality, the whole thing
24:10
Speaker 1: had really bothered him. And even now, as he drove
24:13
Speaker 1: down the highway, it was all he was thinking about.
24:15
Speaker 1: He was just totally stewing over what this guy told him.
24:19
Speaker 1: Up ahead, Francisco noticed a sign that said a few
24:21
Speaker 1: toll booths were coming up. And now Francisco felt a
24:25
Speaker 1: whole new wave of irritation about these stupid tolls. He
24:28
Speaker 1: thought they were a complete ripoff. And so he made
24:31
Speaker 1: a point to never pay them if he could help it.
24:34
Speaker 1: And luckily for Francisco, on this particular route, he did
24:38
Speaker 1: know a way around these tolls. It was a back
24:41
Speaker 1: route that did take a bit longer, but it saved
24:44
Speaker 1: him money. Plus, it ran right by the ocean, so
24:48
Speaker 1: it was very scenic. And so at the next exit,
24:50
Speaker 1: he pulled off the highway and began taking this long cut.
24:54
Speaker 1: About half an hour later, around 2.30 p.m., Francisco drove
24:58
Speaker 1: down a narrow road that ran right along the ocean.
25:01
Speaker 1: And as he did this, Francisco, if this was even
25:04
Speaker 1: possible by this point, felt even more annoyed. He had
25:08
Speaker 1: been hoping by the time he got down here that
25:10
Speaker 1: there would be some kind of sea breeze to cool
25:12
Speaker 1: him down because there was no AC in the truck.
25:15
Speaker 1: But it was somehow, despite being near the ocean here,
25:18
Speaker 1: it was somehow even hotter than when he had been
25:21
Speaker 1: out on the highway. Just up ahead, there was this
25:24
Speaker 1: very popular campground called Los Alfakes. It was this expansive
25:28
Speaker 1: field right next to the beach that was full of
25:30
Speaker 1: camper vans and tents. And there were also a few
25:32
Speaker 1: businesses like restaurants and a general store that served the grounds.
25:37
Speaker 1: And Francisco saw that this afternoon, the area was absolutely packed.
25:42
Speaker 1: There were hundreds of people just hanging around their campsites
25:45
Speaker 1: and swimming in the ocean. And as Francisco drove past,
25:48
Speaker 1: all he began to think is how great it would
25:50
Speaker 1: be if he could just pull over for a second
25:53
Speaker 1: and take a plunge in the water himself and actually
25:55
Speaker 1: cool off. And so he was letting his mind wander,
25:58
Speaker 1: sort of wishing this ride was less miserable than it
26:01
Speaker 1: had been so far, when an odd sound caught his attention.
26:05
Speaker 1: It was like this metallic groaning sound. And at first,
26:08
Speaker 1: he couldn't.
26:08
Speaker 2: Even place it.
26:09
Speaker 1: Like, he had no idea what it was, and pretty
26:11
Speaker 1: quickly the sound went away. So he just continued driving along,
26:14
Speaker 1: and then he heard it again. Except this time, it
26:17
Speaker 1: was much louder. And this time, Francisco did know what
26:21
Speaker 1: it was. But it was already too late. Just seconds later,
26:27
Speaker 1: people in towns miles away from the campground where Francisco
26:31
Speaker 1: was passing by, heard this deafening boom. And from all directions,
26:36
Speaker 1: everyone turned towards Los Alfacas just.
26:40
Speaker 2: In time to see this enormous.
26:42
Speaker 1: Fireball rise into the air like a huge mushroom cloud.
26:47
Speaker 1: It looked like a bomb had literally gone off. But
26:50
Speaker 1: before anybody could make sense of this, there was another
26:54
Speaker 1: explosion and then another and another. It was like this
26:57
Speaker 1: rapid fire chain of blasts. that boomed over the campground
27:02
Speaker 1: one after another for several minutes. And then finally, when
27:05
Speaker 1: it all went quiet, it was just like flames and
27:09
Speaker 1: smoke and ash just soaring into the sky over this
27:12
Speaker 1: campground and the beach. Within minutes, emergency response units from
27:16
Speaker 1: towns all outside of Los Alfacas descended on the campground
27:20
Speaker 1: to try to figure out what happened and to see
27:22
Speaker 1: if anyone was still alive. But when they actually got
27:26
Speaker 1: there and saw the devastation, like, They couldn't believe it.
27:30
Speaker 1: The scale was almost incomprehensible. There were all these blackened,
27:35
Speaker 1: charred bodies scattered everywhere. They were all contorted from the heat,
27:41
Speaker 1: and some were even still sitting in the remains of
27:43
Speaker 1: camp chairs, like they had been instantly cooked in place
27:46
Speaker 1: when the explosions first began. Now, that was horrifying enough,
27:49
Speaker 1: what they saw up on the field. But what first
27:52
Speaker 1: responders saw down on the beach was even worse. because
27:56
Speaker 1: along the shoreline were bodies of people who had been
27:59
Speaker 1: in the water when whatever happened happened, and they had
28:03
Speaker 1: clearly been boiled alive. The destruction at this entire site
28:08
Speaker 1: was so complete, so total, that first responders really couldn't
28:12
Speaker 1: even begin to guess what had happened beyond obviously some
28:16
Speaker 1: kind of explosion. That task of deciphering what happened would
28:20
Speaker 1: take investigators several days. What they would discover was that
28:24
Speaker 1: it all came back to that fight that Francisco and
28:27
Speaker 1: Bernon Valencia had had with the younger employee before he
28:31
Speaker 1: left the warehouse. So on the day of this catastrophe,
28:35
Speaker 1: it was true that Francisco was on his way back
28:37
Speaker 1: home from the warehouse.
28:39
Speaker 2: He had left work and he was going home. But
28:42
Speaker 2: he wasn't driving a regular truck. It was not a
28:45
Speaker 2: personal truck.
28:46
Speaker 1: And also, he had one stop to make before he
28:49
Speaker 1: could actually go home for good. Francisco was a long-haul
28:53
Speaker 1: truck driver, and he was driving this specialized truck to
28:57
Speaker 1: transport some specialized cargo to its final destination. That cargo
29:03
Speaker 1: was pressurized liquid gas, which is highly flammable and very volatile.
29:09
Speaker 1: So earlier that morning, the younger employee, who Francisco was
29:13
Speaker 1: so upset that he had been micromanaging him, he had
29:16
Speaker 1: worked here for so many years, how dare he, Well,
29:20
Speaker 1: the younger employee had been warning Francisco that Francisco had
29:25
Speaker 1: overfilled his tanker. He had put too much pressurized liquid
29:30
Speaker 1: gas in his truck, which was an incredibly dangerous thing
29:34
Speaker 1: to do if he really had overfilled it, because pressurized
29:38
Speaker 1: liquid gas needs room to expand. And if it doesn't
29:41
Speaker 1: have enough room, it can explode. And that's true on
29:45
Speaker 1: a normal day, but it's even more true, even more
29:48
Speaker 1: dangerous when you're driving this cargo around on a hot
29:52
Speaker 1: day because heat, like external heat on the truck, will
29:57
Speaker 1: make that gas expand even more. But Francisco, he just
30:02
Speaker 1: brushed this young employee's warning off. He had years of
30:06
Speaker 1: experience and knew that drivers like him overfilled their trucks
30:10
Speaker 1: all the time. That way they can get more fuel
30:12
Speaker 1: to their destinations. And so he just assumed that, you know,
30:16
Speaker 1: this other employee was overreacting because this never mattered. This
30:19
Speaker 1: never had any impact on anything. They just made more money.
30:23
Speaker 1: And so he just went on with his day and
30:25
Speaker 1: everything was fine. You know, nothing happened to the truck.
30:28
Speaker 1: until Francisco happened to be.
30:30
Speaker 2: Driving past that campground.
30:33
Speaker 1: At that point, the heat did cause the gas to
30:35
Speaker 1: expand past the point of no return, and it blew up,
30:39
Speaker 1: and it sent a scorching fireball that was thousands of
30:42
Speaker 1: degrees Fahrenheit through the campground that was full of people.
30:46
Speaker 1: The initial blast was over a mile wide, and that
30:51
Speaker 1: blast triggered a wave of smaller explosions from all the
30:54
Speaker 1: camper vans and the portable grills, basically all the The
30:57
Speaker 1: gas cans in that mile radius, those all detonated as well.
31:02
Speaker 1: And so in the end, Francisco, along with 158 other
31:07
Speaker 1: people largely at that campground, died from the initial explosion.
31:12
Speaker 1: And then some estimates, when you consider long-term disease, long-term
31:16
Speaker 1: health issues from this blast, they put the final death
31:20
Speaker 1: toll at as many as 243 people. Thank you so
31:31
Speaker 1: much for watching today's episode. Let me know what you
31:33
Speaker 1: thought of it in the comments below. And remember, we
31:36
Speaker 1: have a whole playlist of Places You Can't Go episodes
31:40
Speaker 1: ready for you to binge right now. So go ahead
31:42
Speaker 1: and click here and give them a watch. All right,
31:45
Speaker 1: until next time, see ya.