Latest / Crime and Horror / A-photo-so-evil-it-was-never-meant-to-be
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share three progressively more unbelievable stories,
- 0:05Speaker 1: and at the end of each of them, I will
- 0:07Speaker 1: share the famous photo or photos that are associated with them.
- 0:10Speaker 1: But before we get into those stories, if you're a
- 0:13Speaker 1: fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious delivered in story format,
- 0:16Speaker 1: then you come to the right place, because that's all
- 0:18Speaker 1: we do, and we upload once a week. So if
- 0:21Speaker 1: that's of interest to you, please unpair all of the
- 0:24Speaker 1: Bluetooth devices connected to the like button's phone. Also, please
- 0:27Speaker 1: subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so
- 0:30Speaker 1: you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's
- 0:33Speaker 1: get into today's stories. Early on the afternoon of October twelfth,
- 0:50Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, a seventeen year old high school student named
- 0:53Speaker 1: Otoya Yamaguchi stood alone in his brother's house in the
- 0:57Speaker 1: city of Tokyo, Japan, waiting for a tea kettle of
- 1:00Speaker 1: water to boil. It was a Wednesday, so Otoya should
- 1:04Speaker 1: have been at school, but that day he had gone
- 1:07Speaker 1: to school and then snuck out a side door during lunch.
- 1:10Speaker 1: More and more often these days, Otoya was feeling like
- 1:13Speaker 1: school was kind of meaningless. It was hard for him
- 1:16Speaker 1: to sit in history class and watch all of his
- 1:18Speaker 1: classmates diligently take notes, when in Otoya's mind he felt
- 1:23Speaker 1: like all the real history was happening outside of the classroom.
- 1:27Speaker 1: Just then, the kettle on the stove began to whistle,
- 1:29Speaker 1: which meant the water was boiling, and so Otoya grabbed
- 1:32Speaker 1: the kettle. He took it off the burner and he
- 1:34Speaker 1: poured it over a tea bag in a cup, And
- 1:36Speaker 1: as Otoya began to stir his tea, he began to
- 1:39Speaker 1: go over what he was going to do later that day.
- 1:42Speaker 1: It was undeniable that Otoya had a very difficult afternoon
- 1:46Speaker 1: in store. He had a meeting with a person who
- 1:48Speaker 1: was very important, and during this meeting, Otoya would have
- 1:52Speaker 1: to deliver some very bad news. In fact, this news
- 1:56Speaker 1: was so bad that Otoya had decided what he was
- 1:59Speaker 1: going to do was literally write down this bad news
- 2:02Speaker 1: and hand deliver it. Now, Otoya had not quite figured
- 2:05Speaker 1: out what he was going to write, but he knew
- 2:08Speaker 1: whatever it was, it would have to be perfect. For
- 2:11Speaker 1: months now, Otoya had been trying to articulate this bad
- 2:15Speaker 1: news that was really weighing heavily on him to his
- 2:18Speaker 1: peers and to adults and to anybody who would listen.
- 2:21Speaker 1: But nobody took Ottoya seriously. Adults would look at Atoya
- 2:24Speaker 1: and think, oh, that's just some kid. What he's talking
- 2:27Speaker 1: about can't be serious. And when Otoya would talk to classmates,
- 2:31Speaker 1: they would just kind of laugh at him. Otoya frowned
- 2:33Speaker 1: and he looked out the window, and he thought to himself,
- 2:36Speaker 1: you know, maybe this whole time, I've been coming off
- 2:38Speaker 1: as too angry when I talk about this bad news.
- 2:41Speaker 1: Maybe I need to change the way I talk about
- 2:43Speaker 1: it to sound more sincere. And as Atoya was thinking
- 2:46Speaker 1: about this, he suddenly thought, oh, my goodness, I know
- 2:49Speaker 1: exactly what to write. And so Otoya abandoned his tea
- 2:53Speaker 1: and ran over to his brother's desk. He grabbed a
- 2:55Speaker 1: piece of paper and a pen, and he started writing.
- 2:58Speaker 1: Over the last year, Tooya had felt like he had
- 3:01Speaker 1: really grown up and really started to find his true self.
- 3:04Speaker 1: He had been raised in a very strict household. His
- 3:07Speaker 1: father was a colonel in the Japanese military, and he
- 3:11Speaker 1: expected Otoya to be obedient and polite, and so that
- 3:14Speaker 1: was what Otoya had done. But a couple of years earlier,
- 3:18Speaker 1: Otoya had managed to secure a spot in a high
- 3:20Speaker 1: school in Tokyo, far from where he had grown up,
- 3:23Speaker 1: far from his father, and Otoya was really excited. He
- 3:27Speaker 1: felt like going to this high school in Tokyo would
- 3:30Speaker 1: finally allow him to kind of get out from under
- 3:32Speaker 1: his dad's strict authoritarian rule, and his father had let
- 3:36Speaker 1: him go to the high school in Tokyo, but after
- 3:39Speaker 1: only a couple of weeks, it turned out Otoya's father
- 3:41Speaker 1: had decided, no, I don't want you to go there,
- 3:44Speaker 1: and he had insisted that Atoya come back home and
- 3:47Speaker 1: go to a Catholic school closer to their hometown. And
- 3:50Speaker 1: it was at this point that Otoya, for the first
- 3:52Speaker 1: time really in his whole life, he decided to push
- 3:55Speaker 1: back against his dad, and so even though Otoya did
- 3:58Speaker 1: come home, he did go to this Catholic school. As
- 4:01Speaker 1: soon as he was home, he began constantly begging his
- 4:04Speaker 1: dad to let him return to Tokyo, let him go
- 4:07Speaker 1: back and live with his brother who lived in Tokyo,
- 4:10Speaker 1: and let him go to the high school that he loved.
- 4:12Speaker 1: And eventually, surprisingly, Otoya's father relented and said, okay, fine,
- 4:16Speaker 1: you can go to Tokyo. You can do what you want.
- 4:19Speaker 1: And so Otoya had been totally overjoyed he had returned
- 4:22Speaker 1: to Tokyo gotten re enrolled in the high school. But
- 4:25Speaker 1: after only a couple of months, Otoya had kind of
- 4:28Speaker 1: lost interest in this school and instead his focus had
- 4:31Speaker 1: now shifted to politics. Otoya's brother, who Otoya lived with
- 4:35Speaker 1: in Tokyo, was very into politics, and he was always
- 4:39Speaker 1: taking Otoya to speeches and rallies, and very quickly Otoya
- 4:43Speaker 1: had gotten into it, and eventually Otoya began to think
- 4:47Speaker 1: that his purpose in life was in politics, and he
- 4:50Speaker 1: just didn't like the idea of having to wait until
- 4:53Speaker 1: he graduated from high school to pursue that career ambition.
- 4:57Speaker 1: But when Otoya brought these ambitions up to anyone who
- 5:00Speaker 1: would listen, no one took him seriously. They looked at
- 5:03Speaker 1: him as a skinny, scrawny, kind of meek little guy
- 5:07Speaker 1: who was not going to make a difference in the world.
- 5:09Speaker 1: But Otoya begged to differ. By now, Otoya was almost
- 5:12Speaker 1: done with this note he was writing, and so he
- 5:15Speaker 1: looked up and he checked the clock. He saw it
- 5:16Speaker 1: was two pm, which meant he really needed to get
- 5:19Speaker 1: going soon. He was going to go to a political
- 5:21Speaker 1: debate at the Habia Public Hall in downtown Tokyo, and
- 5:25Speaker 1: the very important person he was going to meet and
- 5:27Speaker 1: deliver this bad news to was going to be at
- 5:30Speaker 1: this debate. Atoya took one more look down at the
- 5:33Speaker 1: note he had just written, and he read it over
- 5:35Speaker 1: a couple of times, and he realized he was missing
- 5:37Speaker 1: one more line at the bottom, and so he leaned
- 5:39Speaker 1: down and he wrote quote, I can't forgive you. Feeling
- 5:43Speaker 1: like he was done, he folded up the note, put
- 5:45Speaker 1: it in his pocket. He stood up. He grabbed his
- 5:47Speaker 1: school uniform jacket and put it on, and then he
- 5:50Speaker 1: grabbed this package that he had got from his father's
- 5:52Speaker 1: house and he put it under his arm, and then
- 5:54Speaker 1: he headed out the front door. Atoya always loved the
- 5:57Speaker 1: walk downtown. The hall where this debate was going to
- 6:00Speaker 1: take place was near the Imperial Palace, and it was
- 6:03Speaker 1: this big, imposing building with a terra cotta and stone
- 6:06Speaker 1: facade that always inspired Otoya every time he saw it.
- 6:10Speaker 1: When Otoya arrived at the hall, he saw loads of
- 6:13Speaker 1: people streaming in through the front doors for this debate,
- 6:16Speaker 1: and so Otoya joined them and made his way inside,
- 6:19Speaker 1: and he moved towards the back of the auditorium, and
- 6:22Speaker 1: then he began scanning the audience and he saw there
- 6:24Speaker 1: was at least two thousand people inside, happily chatting and
- 6:28Speaker 1: laughing and waiting for this thing to start. But all
- 6:30Speaker 1: Otoya could think about was where this person was that
- 6:33Speaker 1: he was going to be meeting, because as he was
- 6:35Speaker 1: looking around, he didn't see them. At around two forty
- 6:38Speaker 1: five pm, the moderator of this debate walked up onto
- 6:42Speaker 1: the stage down in front. He went to the podium,
- 6:44Speaker 1: he grabbed the mic, and he began telling the audience
- 6:46Speaker 1: to take their seats and to be quiet, and then
- 6:49Speaker 1: he began to explain the rules for this debate. Otoya
- 6:52Speaker 1: at this point was really only half listening because he
- 6:55Speaker 1: was still looking all around the inside of this hall
- 6:58Speaker 1: for this person he was going to meet. You know,
- 7:00Speaker 1: where are they? They're not here. Fifteen minutes later, at
- 7:03Speaker 1: around three pm, the moderator left the podium and a
- 7:06Speaker 1: new speaker came out on stage. He was a politician
- 7:09Speaker 1: named Inajiro Asanuma, and he was the chairman of the
- 7:13Speaker 1: japan Socialist Party. But when he began to speak, and
- 7:16Speaker 1: all the thousands of people in attendance leaned in to listen,
- 7:20Speaker 1: Otoya was totally not listening because he could now see
- 7:24Speaker 1: the person he was going to meet had arrived. Careful
- 7:27Speaker 1: not to cause a disturbance, Otoya moved from the back
- 7:30Speaker 1: of the auditorium over to the side of the building
- 7:33Speaker 1: and he began walking up a side aisle, only stopping
- 7:36Speaker 1: briefly near a trash can, where he pulled out that
- 7:38Speaker 1: package he had brought from his father's house, and he
- 7:41Speaker 1: unwrapped it, and he threw the wrapping away and held
- 7:44Speaker 1: on to what was inside of the package. And then
- 7:46Speaker 1: Otoya looked down at what he was holding. He took
- 7:48Speaker 1: a deep breath, and then he looked up and broke
- 7:51Speaker 1: into a run. What happened next was broadcast live on
- 7:54Speaker 1: television all across Japan, and by that evening the footage
- 7:58Speaker 1: had gone so viral that it was basically all over
- 8:01Speaker 1: the world. A photographer who happened to be in the
- 8:04Speaker 1: crowd of people watching this debate also happened to take
- 8:07Speaker 1: a very iconic photo of what happened next involving Otoya,
- 8:12Speaker 1: and that photo would actually go on to win the
- 8:14Speaker 1: Pulitzer Prize in nineteen sixty one. The Pulletzer Prize is
- 8:17Speaker 1: a really big deal. It's the most prestigious award for journalism.
- 8:21Speaker 1: It would turn out the very important person that Otoya
- 8:24Speaker 1: was supposed to meet inside of this hall during this
- 8:27Speaker 1: debate was in fact the speaker on stage at three
- 8:31Speaker 1: pm in Ajiro Asanuma, the chairman of the Japan Socialist Party,
- 8:35Speaker 1: and the package that Otoya had brought from his father's
- 8:38Speaker 1: house to this meeting was a Samurai sword, and so
- 8:42Speaker 1: after Otoya unwrapped the sword, he took a deep breath
- 8:46Speaker 1: and then ran up on stage, charged to the podium,
- 8:49Speaker 1: pulled back the sword and plunged it into Asanuma's torso
- 8:53Speaker 1: before he could do anything, and the photographer out in
- 8:56Speaker 1: the crowd who would win the pulletzer, happened to snap
- 8:59Speaker 1: a photo right as Otoya was pulling the sword out
- 9:03Speaker 1: of Asanuma and getting ready to stab him again. Onlookers
- 9:07Speaker 1: would immediately rush the stage and tackle Otoya, but the
- 9:11Speaker 1: damage was already done, Asnuma would pass away from his
- 9:14Speaker 1: injuries within the hour. It would turn out Otoya, ever
- 9:17Speaker 1: since moving to Tokyo, had become a radical right wing ultnationalist.
- 9:22Speaker 1: The note that Otoya had carefully penned and then folded
- 9:25Speaker 1: up and put in his pocket before carrying out this assassination.
- 9:29Speaker 1: Basically just said that Otoya did not hate Asnuma personally,
- 9:34Speaker 1: but Asanuma was slowly transforming Japan into a communist country,
- 9:39Speaker 1: and so Otoya could not forgive him for that, and
- 9:42Speaker 1: so Otoya decided he needed to act. Otoya was immediately arrested,
- 9:47Speaker 1: but two weeks later, while he was in prison, he
- 9:49Speaker 1: would take his own life. There is exactly one YouTube
- 9:57Speaker 1: channel that I personally religious follow. It's called Bedtime Stories,
- 10:02Speaker 1: and it's like the most epic storytelling and my goodness,
- 10:06Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious,
- 10:09Speaker 1: you will be a fan of Bedtime Stories. They cover strange,
- 10:13Speaker 1: crazy stories as well, and it's just masterfully done. But
- 10:17Speaker 1: I'm not here today just to tell you how great
- 10:19Speaker 1: Bedtime Stories is. I'm here today because I have an announcement.
- 10:24Speaker 1: Bedtime Stories is starting a podcast and it's going to
- 10:28Speaker 1: fall under the ballin Studios banner. We're working together. It's
- 10:31Speaker 1: super cool. But here's the even bigger news. Not only
- 10:35Speaker 1: is Bedtime Stories a brand new ballin Studios podcast, it
- 10:39Speaker 1: is live right now, new episodes of the Bedtime Stories
- 10:43Speaker 1: podcast will air each week on Wednesday, but right now
- 10:47Speaker 1: the first three episodes of the podcast are available wherever
- 10:50Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. So go and mule kick the
- 10:53Speaker 1: Bedtime Stories follow button right in the Solar Plexus and
- 10:57Speaker 1: get hooked on them just like I did. But first
- 10:59Speaker 1: check out this clip from the trailer for Bedtime Stories.
- 11:05Speaker 2: Turn off the lights, get into bed, and turn up
- 11:09Speaker 2: the volume. It's time for a creepy bedtime story from
- 11:16Speaker 2: Ball and Studios. Welcome to Bedtime Stories, a new weekly
- 11:22Speaker 2: show that will truly immerse you in a strange, dark
- 11:25Speaker 2: and mysterious world and haunt your dreams. Will bring you
- 11:29Speaker 2: true stories from around the world, from the paranormal to
- 11:32Speaker 2: the supernatural, unsolved mysteries, strange deaths, cryptids, and the most
- 11:38Speaker 2: disturbing of true crime, all told in a unique and
- 11:41Speaker 2: bone chilling way. New episodes every Wednesday. Follow Bedtime Stories
- 11:46Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts.
- 11:49Speaker 1: Bedtimes wus On a sunny aftteron in October of twenty fifteen,
- 12:02Speaker 1: a thirty nine year old man named Richard Jones walked
- 12:05Speaker 1: along the perimeter of the yard inside of the State
- 12:08Speaker 1: prison in Kansas, where Richard was serving time for a robbery.
- 12:12Speaker 1: Up ahead, Richard could see there was a small basketball
- 12:15Speaker 1: court with one hoop on it, and on the blacktop
- 12:18Speaker 1: were dozens of other inmates that were exercising and chatting
- 12:21Speaker 1: and socializing, and Richard actually knew most of them because
- 12:24Speaker 1: he had been in prison for sixteen years now. And
- 12:27Speaker 1: Richard was also a very likable guy who was very
- 12:29Speaker 1: outgoing and personable, and so he made friends really easily
- 12:33Speaker 1: even in prison. And so as Richard continued his walk
- 12:36Speaker 1: in the direction of the basketball court, he saw one
- 12:39Speaker 1: of the guys on the blacktop broke free from the
- 12:41Speaker 1: group and began moving towards Richard, and Richard immediately recognized
- 12:45Speaker 1: who it was. It was his good friend, Steve, and
- 12:47Speaker 1: Richard was about to give him a friendly wave when
- 12:50Speaker 1: he noticed Steve looked really mad, and so Richard actually
- 12:54Speaker 1: just stopped and stared at Steve as he slowly approached him.
- 12:57Speaker 1: And as he got closer, Richard could see Steve's fists
- 13:00Speaker 1: were bald up and his face was in a scowl.
- 13:03Speaker 1: I mean, Steve looked like he was coming over to
- 13:05Speaker 1: fight Richard. And so when Steve got about ten feet
- 13:08Speaker 1: away from Richard, Richard actually spoke up before Steve could
- 13:11Speaker 1: say anything, and he said, Steve, what's going on? Why
- 13:14Speaker 1: are you so upset? Steve was kind of a hothead,
- 13:16Speaker 1: and Richard knew that, but a lot of times, even
- 13:18Speaker 1: when he got mad about things, it would blow over
- 13:21Speaker 1: really quickly, and so this was kind of routine. But
- 13:24Speaker 1: Richard just couldn't think of a reason for why Steve
- 13:26Speaker 1: would be mad at him, And so Steve walks right
- 13:29Speaker 1: up to Richard and he goes, oh, so now you
- 13:31Speaker 1: want to talk to me. Richard was immediately confused and
- 13:34Speaker 1: kind of turned his head sideways and was like what.
- 13:37Speaker 1: Steve stared at Richard kind of expecting Richard to eventually
- 13:40Speaker 1: apologize or something, but eventually he noticed that Richard really
- 13:44Speaker 1: was not sure what he was talking about. And so
- 13:47Speaker 1: Steve was like, this morning, I went up to you
- 13:49Speaker 1: at the cafeteria line. I tried to talk to you,
- 13:51Speaker 1: and you completely blew me off and walked away in
- 13:54Speaker 1: front of a big group of people that really embarrassed
- 13:57Speaker 1: me and made me look bad. And Richard was like,
- 14:00Speaker 1: I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't
- 14:03Speaker 1: even see you this morning. I don't know where this
- 14:05Speaker 1: is coming from. Steve was not buying it, and he
- 14:08Speaker 1: was like, Richard, I know it was you. I saw
- 14:11Speaker 1: you this morning. I spoke to you this morning. You
- 14:13Speaker 1: did that. And Richard was like, no, really, Steve, I'm sorry,
- 14:17Speaker 1: I have no idea what this is about. And so
- 14:19Speaker 1: these two continued to go back and forth, back and
- 14:21Speaker 1: forth on this, and then at some point they both
- 14:23Speaker 1: kind of noticed that they were drawing lots of attention
- 14:26Speaker 1: because they are in prison and any sort of confrontation
- 14:29Speaker 1: immediately draws eyeballs. And so when they noticed other inmates
- 14:33Speaker 1: were kind of beginning to walk over to see what
- 14:35Speaker 1: was going on, and the guards were starting to notice,
- 14:37Speaker 1: Steve just said, you know what, Richard, find I guess
- 14:40Speaker 1: I must have made a mistake. No big deal, and
- 14:42Speaker 1: he turned and he ran back to the basketball court.
- 14:45Speaker 1: After Steve had left, Richard continued his walk around the perimeter,
- 14:48Speaker 1: but that exchange with Steve had really weirded him out
- 14:52Speaker 1: because this was actually not the first time something like
- 14:55Speaker 1: this had happened. It all started a month ago when
- 14:58Speaker 1: an inmate that Richard didn't know came up to him
- 15:01Speaker 1: like he definitely knew him and said to Richard, you know, hey,
- 15:04Speaker 1: how's your grandmother? I heard she fell down, you know,
- 15:06Speaker 1: is she okay? And at first Richard was like, wait
- 15:08Speaker 1: a minute, is my grandmother okay? Did she fall? But
- 15:11Speaker 1: then Richard eventually realized that this inmate thought Richard was
- 15:15Speaker 1: someone that he wasn't. Now. At first, Richard thought this
- 15:18Speaker 1: was just kind of like a weird, one off event.
- 15:20Speaker 1: But every few days after this first time, something else
- 15:24Speaker 1: would happen. Either an inmate who Richard didn't know would
- 15:27Speaker 1: come up to him and be really friendly with him,
- 15:29Speaker 1: as if they knew Richard but Richard clearly didn't know them,
- 15:33Speaker 1: or someone Richard did know would come up to him
- 15:36Speaker 1: and accuse him of odd behavior that Richard couldn't remember doing,
- 15:40Speaker 1: like the interaction he had with Steve when Steve came
- 15:42Speaker 1: up and said, you know, you stumb me in the
- 15:44Speaker 1: lunch line. And so after Richard's interaction with Steve, Richard
- 15:48Speaker 1: began to think, you know, wait a minute, is someone
- 15:50Speaker 1: screwing with me? Is that what's been going on? The
- 15:52Speaker 1: next morning, during breakfast, Richard decided not to sit where
- 15:56Speaker 1: he normally did, and instead he sat on the very
- 15:59Speaker 1: far side in the corner of the cafeteria to basically
- 16:02Speaker 1: just be able to people watch all the people inside
- 16:04Speaker 1: the cafeteria. And then that afternoon when Richard was outside,
- 16:08Speaker 1: instead of walking around the perimeter like he liked to do,
- 16:11Speaker 1: he just sat in a central location and just constantly
- 16:14Speaker 1: scanned the Holy yard. Now Richard didn't really know what
- 16:17Speaker 1: he was actually looking for. He just figured, you know,
- 16:20Speaker 1: maybe i'll see something suspicious, I'll see someone staring at
- 16:23Speaker 1: me for too long, or i'll see someone I don't
- 16:25Speaker 1: know talking to my friends. You know, something will tip
- 16:29Speaker 1: me off to what's been going on for the past
- 16:31Speaker 1: couple of weeks. But despite all this careful people watching
- 16:34Speaker 1: he was doing, Richard didn't see anything suspicious until one
- 16:39Speaker 1: week after the interaction Richard had with Steve about snubbing
- 16:42Speaker 1: him in the lunchline. Richard was sitting in the cafeteria
- 16:46Speaker 1: again when he noticed something very strange on the other
- 16:49Speaker 1: side of the cafeteria. And when he saw it, he
- 16:53Speaker 1: just stood up and stared, and he felt his heart
- 16:55Speaker 1: starting to race faster, and he felt his breath speeding up.
- 16:58Speaker 1: And Steve actually was sitting next to him and said, hey, Richard,
- 17:01Speaker 1: what's going on? And Richard couldn't even find the words.
- 17:04Speaker 1: He just raised his arm up and pointed to the
- 17:06Speaker 1: other side of the room. When Richard had originally been
- 17:09Speaker 1: arrested sixteen years earlier, it was for robbing someone in
- 17:12Speaker 1: a Walmart parking lot. Richard had always claimed he did
- 17:16Speaker 1: not do it, but multiple witnesses had pulled Richard out
- 17:19Speaker 1: of a lineup saying that's the guy, and the woman
- 17:22Speaker 1: who actually got robbed told police she overheard the getaway
- 17:26Speaker 1: driver yelling to Rick, the man who had robbed her,
- 17:29Speaker 1: to get in the car so they could leave, and
- 17:31Speaker 1: Rick is a nickname for Richard. Richard had insisted he
- 17:35Speaker 1: was at a barbecue in another state at the time
- 17:38Speaker 1: of this robbery and so it really couldn't have been him,
- 17:41Speaker 1: but the evidence was just overwhelming, and so eventually he
- 17:45Speaker 1: was convicted. Richard had never been able to understand why
- 17:48Speaker 1: so many people sixteen years earlier had insisted that he
- 17:53Speaker 1: was the one who committed that crime, and more recently,
- 17:56Speaker 1: he couldn't understand why his friends like Steve, were accusing
- 18:00Speaker 1: him of doing things that he didn't remember doing. But
- 18:03Speaker 1: that night in the jail cafeteria, when Richard spotted something
- 18:07Speaker 1: on the other side of the room, suddenly everything over
- 18:10Speaker 1: the last sixteen years made perfect sense. Richard really was
- 18:14Speaker 1: an innocent man. He did not rob that woman in
- 18:17Speaker 1: the Walmart parking lot. His doppelganger had. A doppelganger is
- 18:21Speaker 1: someone who looks exactly like you, but they're not actually
- 18:25Speaker 1: related to you. It's just genetic chance that somebody else
- 18:29Speaker 1: on the planet looks just like you. And it just
- 18:31Speaker 1: so happened that Richard's doppelganger, who was this man named
- 18:35Speaker 1: Ricky Amos So it just so happened as well that
- 18:38Speaker 1: the doppelganger shared basically the same first name, Ricky and Richard. Well,
- 18:43Speaker 1: this doppelganger, Ricky just happened to be sent to the
- 18:46Speaker 1: same prison that Richard was at for a totally unrelated crime.
- 18:50Speaker 1: These two men have never met, there's no connection whatsoever.
- 18:53Speaker 1: They just look the same. And when Richard looked across
- 18:56Speaker 1: the cafeteria and saw Ricky, it was like looking at
- 19:00Speaker 1: a clone of himself, and it all clicked. All the
- 19:03Speaker 1: people that were coming up to him saying you were
- 19:05Speaker 1: doing this and acting weird, Well, those people Stephen included
- 19:08Speaker 1: were actually interacting with his doppelganger, Ricky, And sixteen years earlier,
- 19:14Speaker 1: Ricky was the one who committed that robbery in Walmart,
- 19:18Speaker 1: and the victim and the witnesses, they all confused Ricky
- 19:21Speaker 1: for Richard. Here are Richard and Ricky's photographs side by side.
- 19:25Speaker 1: Once a judge was made aware of this situation and
- 19:28Speaker 1: saw the two photos side by side, he knew the
- 19:31Speaker 1: police had made a mistake. Even the prosecutor who had
- 19:34Speaker 1: tried Richard in the robbery case supported his release. Richard
- 19:38Speaker 1: was freed in twenty seventeen and got a one million
- 19:41Speaker 1: dollar settlement from the state. As for the doppelganger, Ricky Amos,
- 19:46Speaker 1: he was never actually tried for the robbery sixteen years
- 19:49Speaker 1: earlier because by the time they figured out he was
- 19:51Speaker 1: the robber, the case was too old to try. On
- 20:04Speaker 1: the evening of March fifteenth, twenty eighteen, a fifty five
- 20:07Speaker 1: year old man named Jean stumbled out of this fine
- 20:11Speaker 1: dining restaurant in downtown Singapore and promptly threw up on
- 20:15Speaker 1: the sidewalk. Pedestrians jumped back to get out of the way,
- 20:18Speaker 1: and a woman in high heels in a beautiful fancy
- 20:20Speaker 1: dress mumbled something insulting about how drunk Jean must be.
- 20:24Speaker 1: But Jean was not drunk. He was totally sober and
- 20:28Speaker 1: now he was absolutely mortified. Jean was actually a businessman
- 20:32Speaker 1: who was attempting to impress his clients at dinner. But
- 20:36Speaker 1: as he had been sitting at the table with his clients,
- 20:38Speaker 1: he had started to feel this pressure in his chest
- 20:41Speaker 1: that became so intense that at some point he just
- 20:43Speaker 1: had to get up and run outside and vomit. And
- 20:46Speaker 1: so after Jeanne had stood up and wiped his mouth,
- 20:49Speaker 1: he thought, you know, now that he had been sick
- 20:51Speaker 1: and thrown up, that he would feel better. But as
- 20:54Speaker 1: he was standing there, he noticed the pressure in his
- 20:56Speaker 1: chest had not been relieved at all, and so as
- 20:59Speaker 1: much as j wanted to stick around and talk more
- 21:02Speaker 1: with his clients, he felt like the only thing he
- 21:04Speaker 1: could do now was to go in and politely excuse
- 21:07Speaker 1: himself for the rest of the night and just go
- 21:09Speaker 1: home and sleep off whatever was going on with him.
- 21:12Speaker 1: But when Jean went back into the restaurant and was
- 21:15Speaker 1: actually back at his table, before he could even say
- 21:18Speaker 1: a sentence to his clients explaining the situation, he was
- 21:22Speaker 1: turning around and running back outside and vomiting on the
- 21:25Speaker 1: street again. At this point, Jean knew something was definitely wrong,
- 21:29Speaker 1: and so he didn't have time to tell his clients
- 21:32Speaker 1: what was going on. He just needed to get to
- 21:34Speaker 1: a hospital, and so he sprinted across the street, got
- 21:36Speaker 1: in his car, and began driving. When he got to
- 21:39Speaker 1: the hospital, he was so scared about what was happening
- 21:41Speaker 1: to him that he actually tarked his car crooked in
- 21:44Speaker 1: the spot and left his door open as he sprinted
- 21:47Speaker 1: towards the emergency room. And then once he was inside
- 21:50Speaker 1: the hospital, he ran up to the receptionist and tried
- 21:53Speaker 1: to tell them what was going on, but he literally
- 21:56Speaker 1: couldn't speak, and then he just collapsed in a chair
- 21:59Speaker 1: right near by. Now, the hospital was extremely busy, but
- 22:03Speaker 1: all the nurses could tell whatever was going on with
- 22:05Speaker 1: this man. It could not wait, and so they ran
- 22:07Speaker 1: over to him. They lifted him up, they put him
- 22:09Speaker 1: on a stretcher, and they wheeled him into a private
- 22:12Speaker 1: exam room. And then once he was in there, they
- 22:14Speaker 1: began taking his vitals and also they began assessing him,
- 22:17Speaker 1: looking for some sort of trauma on the outside of
- 22:19Speaker 1: his body that could explain what was going on with him,
- 22:22Speaker 1: but they couldn't find anything. And so after they were
- 22:25Speaker 1: sure that geon was stable, he was breathing okay, his
- 22:28Speaker 1: heart rate was okay. He just couldn't speak, but you know,
- 22:30Speaker 1: he was gonna be okay. The team decided that the
- 22:33Speaker 1: next thing they should do would be to give him
- 22:35Speaker 1: a CT scan. A CT scan is a specialized type
- 22:39Speaker 1: of imaging that can show what's going on inside someone's body.
- 22:42Speaker 1: It's like a really detailed X ray. And after they
- 22:45Speaker 1: gave Jeon a CT scan, his results were baffling. There
- 22:50Speaker 1: was this solid, fairly large white object that was lodged
- 22:54Speaker 1: at the base of Geon's esophagus. U esophagus sits below
- 22:58Speaker 1: your throat and above your stomach. It's basically the tube
- 23:02Speaker 1: that food goes through to get to your stomach. But
- 23:04Speaker 1: whatever was stuck inside of Geon's esophagus was not something
- 23:09Speaker 1: that looks like food. It actually kind of looked like
- 23:11Speaker 1: a human hand. Now, the doctors had no idea what
- 23:14Speaker 1: this thing was, and you got to remember that they
- 23:16Speaker 1: really don't have much information here. All they know is
- 23:20Speaker 1: this middle aged guy who's dressed really well has come
- 23:22Speaker 1: running into the hospital. He can't speak and he's collapsed,
- 23:26Speaker 1: and here we are. He has this substruction in his esophagus.
- 23:29Speaker 1: And so even though the doctors really had no idea
- 23:31Speaker 1: what they were dealing with. What they knew is they
- 23:33Speaker 1: had to get this foreign object out of geon. So
- 23:37Speaker 1: they wheeled geon into the operating room for emergency surgery,
- 23:41Speaker 1: and then at some point a doctor came in with
- 23:43Speaker 1: this long, skinny tube that had a camera at the
- 23:46Speaker 1: top of it. Their first step for this operation was
- 23:49Speaker 1: putting this camera down into Jeon to see what this
- 23:53Speaker 1: thing was that was stuck inside of his esophagus. And so,
- 23:55Speaker 1: after Jean was prepped for surgery, the doctor with this
- 23:59Speaker 1: camera began and snaking it down Jeon's throat until finally
- 24:03Speaker 1: the camera could actually see this white object in his esophagus.
- 24:07Speaker 1: And when the camera revealed what this thing was, the
- 24:11Speaker 1: entire medical team in the operating room just gasped. They
- 24:14Speaker 1: could not believe what they were looking at. To understand
- 24:17Speaker 1: what they were looking at, we have to go back
- 24:20Speaker 1: several hours. That night, Jean had decided he really wanted
- 24:24Speaker 1: to impress his wealthy clients, and so he had decided
- 24:27Speaker 1: to take them to this very special restaurant that none
- 24:30Speaker 1: of them had been to, and he wanted them to
- 24:32Speaker 1: try a very special and very rare dish that this
- 24:36Speaker 1: restaurant sold. It was called sinakji. Sinak g is a
- 24:40Speaker 1: Korean delicacy that is very popular in certain circles, but
- 24:44Speaker 1: it's also very dangerous. Every year in South Korea, at
- 24:49Speaker 1: least six people die from eating sinacchi. Because sinakji is
- 24:54Speaker 1: just a living octopus. You literally eat the octopus as
- 24:58Speaker 1: it's moving around, and the risk it getting stuck in
- 25:00Speaker 1: your throat is pretty high. And so as Jehn is
- 25:03Speaker 1: trying to eat this living octopus, the octopus decided it
- 25:07Speaker 1: didn't want to be eaten, and so it flailed its
- 25:10Speaker 1: tentacles around and finally its suckers lodged onto his esophagus
- 25:14Speaker 1: and that's where it stopped. Now, we don't know how
- 25:17Speaker 1: long this octopus remained alive inside of Jion's esophagus, but
- 25:22Speaker 1: we know it was alive at least for a little
- 25:25Speaker 1: bit because after John managed to swallow it down, it
- 25:29Speaker 1: kept wriggling around and grabbing and trying to escape, and
- 25:32Speaker 1: that's what created that intense pressure in Jeon's chest and
- 25:36Speaker 1: kept causing him to go vomit. And so when the
- 25:39Speaker 1: doctors put that camera down Jeon's throat, they saw a
- 25:43Speaker 1: whole octopus. The octopus was removed from Geon's esophagus, and
- 25:48Speaker 1: two days later, Jeon was discharged fully recovered. It's unclear
- 25:52Speaker 1: if Jeon ever tried sinocchi again. At four am on
- 26:00Speaker 1: a winter day in nineteen ninety three, a fifty year
- 26:03Speaker 1: old man named Joe walked down a dark hallway inside
- 26:07Speaker 1: of his farmhouse in Kentucky. As he moved, he did
- 26:10Speaker 1: his best to be as quiet as possible so as
- 26:12Speaker 1: not to wake up his wife or son, who were
- 26:14Speaker 1: sleeping nearby. But when Joe got about halfway down the hall,
- 26:18Speaker 1: he happened to look inside the family room and he
- 26:20Speaker 1: thought he saw something moving. He strained his eyes to
- 26:23Speaker 1: see who it was, thinking maybe it was his wife
- 26:25Speaker 1: or son who had gotten up for some reason, but
- 26:27Speaker 1: he just couldn't tell. However, as Joe stared into the darkness,
- 26:32Speaker 1: he heard the sound of floorboards creaking inside the family room,
- 26:35Speaker 1: and then, before Joe could do anything, the thing he
- 26:38Speaker 1: had seen moving was now rushing straight towards him. Hours later,
- 26:42Speaker 1: Kentucky State Police would arrive at Joe's house, and what
- 26:45Speaker 1: they would discover there was a monstrous crime that literally
- 26:49Speaker 1: had never been committed before in this part of Kentucky.
- 26:56Speaker 1: So that's going to do it. If you got something
- 26:58Speaker 1: out of today's stories and you want more content like it,
- 27:01Speaker 1: be sure to check out our podcast called The mister
- 27:03Speaker 1: Ballen Podcast, where we have literally hundreds more stories just
- 27:07Speaker 1: like these that are available to listen to right now.
- 27:09Speaker 1: That podcast is called The Misterballen Podcast and it's available
- 27:13Speaker 1: exclusively on Amazon Music