Latest / Crime and Horror / This is why you NEVER stay in a HAUNTED castle - MrBallen

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This is why you NEVER stay in a HAUNTED castle - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share three stories that all fall
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Speaker 1: into the category of paranormal. But before we get into
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Speaker 1: those stories, if you're a fan of the strange, dark,
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Speaker 1: and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to
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Speaker 1: the right place because that's all we do. So if
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Speaker 1: that's of interest to you, please offer to cook the
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Speaker 1: like button a really nice, big Italian meal. But don't
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Speaker 1: tell them every time it calls for olive oil, you
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Speaker 1: used motor oil. Also, please subscribe to our channel and
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Speaker 1: turn on all notifications. so you don't miss any of
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Speaker 1: our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's stories. One
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Speaker 1: night in the summer of 1921, a young man named
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Speaker 1: Carl Logies walked across the farm that he had recently
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Speaker 1: purchased in rural Ohio. He was on his way to
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Speaker 1: check on his horses and his cattle one last time
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Speaker 1: before he went to bed. He had a gun on
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Speaker 1: his hip and a lantern in the other hand. And
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Speaker 1: as he walked across the farm, he sort of looked
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Speaker 1: out at the farmhouse and the barn up ahead and
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Speaker 1: the water well and all this land. And he couldn't
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Speaker 1: help but feel really proud of what he had. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this was all his. So Carl had always dreamed of
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Speaker 1: having this, of having his own farm. And he'd been
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Speaker 1: able to get this one for a really low price.
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Speaker 1: because apparently the people who owned it before him had
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Speaker 1: been very eager to get rid of it, and he
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Speaker 1: had seen it as a great opportunity. Now, Carl didn't
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Speaker 1: really know why they wanted to move it so badly,
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Speaker 1: but he didn't care. It just meant he got a
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Speaker 1: great deal. And so Carl continued walking over to the
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Speaker 1: barn where his cattle and his horses were, and as
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Speaker 1: he got closer, keep in mind it's dark out, you know,
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Speaker 1: it's late at night, he suddenly felt the hairs on
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Speaker 1: the back of his neck stand up, and he had
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Speaker 1: this unmistakable feeling that He was being watched. But Carl,
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Speaker 1: he lives alone. It's just him and his animals. Like,
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Speaker 1: there's no reason there would be anybody nearby to watch him.
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Speaker 1: And so instinctively, Carl stops where he is and he
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Speaker 1: whips around and he shines his lantern in all directions,
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Speaker 1: just seeing if there's somebody there, you know? But there's nobody. Granted,
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Speaker 1: his field of vision is pretty limited. I mean, it's
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Speaker 1: dark outside. His lantern's not that bright. But for the
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Speaker 1: most part, he can tell that there's no one in
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Speaker 1: the immediate vicinity. He's all alone. So then his thought is, well,
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Speaker 1: is there a predator nearby? I mean, is there an
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Speaker 1: animal watching me? But Carl, I mean, he's looking around
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Speaker 1: and it's a peaceful, quiet night. And, you know, the
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Speaker 1: previous owners certainly hadn't mentioned any risk of predators in
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Speaker 1: the area. And so Carl tells himself, you know, he's
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Speaker 1: just being paranoid. I mean, he's new to this property.
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Speaker 1: He doesn't really know what it's like to be here.
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Speaker 1: And so he tells himself, you're just overthinking it. You know,
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Speaker 1: go to the barn, take care of your animals and
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Speaker 1: just go to bed. Everything is fine. And so Carl
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Speaker 1: turns around and he walks over to the barn and
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Speaker 1: He goes inside and he kind of busies himself getting
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Speaker 1: the horses and the cattle ready for the night. And,
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Speaker 1: you know, he's in there for a few minutes. And
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Speaker 1: for the most part, he's forgotten about that strange feeling
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Speaker 1: he had when he came over, that feeling of being watched.
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Speaker 1: But after he was wrapping up, he couldn't help but
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Speaker 1: start to feel like he had that feeling again, that
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Speaker 1: there was somebody watching him. And so he's looking out
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Speaker 1: his barn door and he doesn't see anything, but it's
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Speaker 1: dark out there. And he's kind of looking around the
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Speaker 1: inside of his barn and Again, he's telling himself that
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Speaker 1: you're just, you're being paranoid, everything is fine. But admittedly,
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Speaker 1: deep down, Carl was feeling pretty nervous about just this
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Speaker 1: walk he was going to have to make through the
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Speaker 1: darkness across his property back over to the farmhouse. But,
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Speaker 1: you know, he steeled his resolve. He grabbed his lantern
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Speaker 1: and he checked his gun on his hip. And then
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Speaker 1: he walked out the doors of his barn and began
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Speaker 1: quickly making his way towards his house. And as he's walking,
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Speaker 1: he's kind of scanning both sides, you know, checking to
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Speaker 1: make sure nobody's out here and he's not seeing anyone.
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Speaker 1: right as he's about halfway to his house, something catches
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Speaker 1: his eye on the far side of the property, something
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Speaker 1: kind of off in the distance. And he stops and
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Speaker 1: he aims his lantern in that direction, which doesn't really
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Speaker 1: illuminate that much, but it illuminates enough to see that
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Speaker 1: there's actually somebody standing on his property. And he's so
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Speaker 1: alarmed by it, he just stands there holding his lantern,
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Speaker 1: looking at this person. And it's like this white silhouette
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Speaker 1: just standing there still looking right over at Carl. They're
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Speaker 1: sort of in the vicinity of his water well. And
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Speaker 1: after being frozen for a second, Carl kind of snapped
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Speaker 1: out of it. And he said, hey, like, who are you?
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Speaker 1: What are you doing here? And this figure doesn't move,
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Speaker 1: doesn't react. They just stand there kind of staring at Carl.
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Speaker 1: And then they turn and begin kind of moving away
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Speaker 1: from Carl in the direction of the water well. And Carl,
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Speaker 1: at this point, he doesn't know what's happening. He thinks
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Speaker 1: that this person... clearly is some sort of trespasser. They
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Speaker 1: must have been here earlier. Like, that's what I was feeling.
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Speaker 1: They were here. They've been watching me. Are they going
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Speaker 1: to try to rob me? Like, who is this? And
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Speaker 1: so he draws his gun and he starts chasing after
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Speaker 1: this person. And as he's running, you know, his lantern's
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Speaker 1: waving back and forth. And like, as he's running, he
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Speaker 1: kind of, he loses sight of this white figure. And
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Speaker 1: by the time he actually gets to the water well,
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Speaker 1: he realizes he's lost this person. They're just gone. At
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Speaker 1: this point, Carl really didn't know what to make of this.
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Speaker 1: He didn't know where this person went. Like he has
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Speaker 1: no idea if they've doubled back around and they're going
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Speaker 1: to like, you know, try to go in his house
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Speaker 1: at some point here. He does not understand what's happened
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Speaker 1: or where they've gone. He doesn't know who they are.
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Speaker 1: And so all he can think to do as he's
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Speaker 1: standing there by the well out of breath, you know,
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Speaker 1: from running there is just to yell out that, you know,
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Speaker 1: he's got a gun and he's not afraid to use it.
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Speaker 1: And don't you dare come back here. But despite yelling
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Speaker 1: out these sort of open-ended threats into the darkness, there's
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Speaker 1: no response. And he doesn't see this, this white figure anywhere.
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Speaker 1: It's just dark and silent in all directions. And so
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Speaker 1: for a while, Carl just stood there at the well,
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Speaker 1: just looking out, almost expecting to see this figure reappear.
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Speaker 1: But they never did. And eventually, when it really felt
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Speaker 1: like everything had kind of calmed down on his property,
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Speaker 1: he just turned and run the rest of the way
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Speaker 1: over to his farmhouse. He went inside and locked the
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Speaker 1: door behind him. Now, the next morning when Carl woke up,
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Speaker 1: he tried to tell himself that whatever happened the night
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Speaker 1: before It had to be an anomaly. Like, maybe that
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Speaker 1: was a neighbor who had come over and they were shy,
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Speaker 1: or maybe it was, you know, a potential trespasser or
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Speaker 1: a thief or something, and they were scared off by
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Speaker 1: Carl's threats of being willing to use his weapon. Like,
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Speaker 1: Carl is telling himself that whatever that was last night,
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Speaker 1: he likely would never encounter that person ever again, and,
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Speaker 1: you know, it was handled. But Carl was wrong. Almost
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Speaker 1: every single night from that night onward for the next year,
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Speaker 1: At about 9.30 p.m. every night around the time that
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Speaker 1: Carl would go to the barn to check on his
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Speaker 1: animals before bed, he would always see that figure. And
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Speaker 1: they were never close enough that Carl could actually see
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Speaker 1: who it was or get any sense of what they wanted.
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Speaker 1: They were always just kind of off on the side
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Speaker 1: of the property, always watching Carl every time he came
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Speaker 1: out of the barn. And then when he would invariably
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Speaker 1: scream at them and run towards them, and even at
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Speaker 1: one point he fired his weapon in their direction every
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Speaker 1: time Carl This figure would just, without saying anything, move
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Speaker 1: away from Carl in the direction of the water well,
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Speaker 1: and around there, Carl would lose sight of them. They
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Speaker 1: would just vanish. Now, as much as Carl really wanted
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Speaker 1: to pretend that this was just something explainable, that this
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Speaker 1: was some person coming on his property that was evading
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Speaker 1: his capture every single night, as much as he wished
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Speaker 1: that could be the explanation, Carl knew, despite not being
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Speaker 1: a very superstitious or you know, a believer in the paranormal,
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Speaker 1: despite not being those things. He felt like what he
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Speaker 1: was witnessing was a ghost. I mean, what else could
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Speaker 1: it be? It's this white figure that floats away from
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Speaker 1: him and vanishes every night. Like, that's a ghost. And also,
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Speaker 1: another part of Carl was thinking, like, the previous owners
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Speaker 1: were really excited to sell this property, effectively at a loss.
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Speaker 1: It's like they just wanted to be rid of this property.
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Speaker 1: And he couldn't help but feel like Maybe there's a
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Speaker 1: connection between what I'm seeing and why they left. But
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Speaker 1: the one thing that Carl hung on to was that
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Speaker 1: despite how unsettling this whole thing was and how terrifying
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Speaker 1: it was to, you know, see this figure floating around
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Speaker 1: on his property, despite that, the reality was is it
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Speaker 1: was pretty predictable. Every night around 930, he would see
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Speaker 1: this ghost, whatever it was, but it didn't really affect
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Speaker 1: him or his animals. It was just terrifying. And he
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Speaker 1: accepted that. It just sort of became his new normal.
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Speaker 1: That is until August 1st of 1922, which happened to
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Speaker 1: be almost exactly a year after Carl had purchased this property.
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Speaker 1: On that day, Carl noticed his horses, his cattle, they
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Speaker 1: stopped drinking the water, the well water that he gave
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Speaker 1: them all year long since he had been here. They'd
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Speaker 1: never had any issues with it. But on that day,
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Speaker 1: they just stopped drinking it. And in fact, they were
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Speaker 1: kind of skittish around the water. Like there was something
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Speaker 1: in the water that was upsetting them. Kroll tasted the water.
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Speaker 1: It tasted fine to him, but he assumed there just
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Speaker 1: must be something in it that made it unclean to
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Speaker 1: the animals. And so what he had to do was
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Speaker 1: clean the water, which meant he needed to drain the well,
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Speaker 1: get rid of all this dirty water, and let the
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Speaker 1: well refill, and hopefully at that point it will be clean.
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Speaker 1: So Kroll goes over to the water well. Remember, this
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Speaker 1: is always where the figure goes off and disappears to.
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Speaker 1: And as the water began to drain... he realized there
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Speaker 1: was something in the well, clearly deep in the well
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Speaker 1: that he never would have been able to see unless
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Speaker 1: he drained it. And here he is draining it and
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Speaker 1: he's looking down and he can't quite tell what it is,
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Speaker 1: but eventually the water was shallow enough that it was
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Speaker 1: obvious what was in the bottom of his well. And
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Speaker 1: at that point, he went and got the sheriff. It
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Speaker 1: would turn out five years earlier, Carl's Farm had been
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Speaker 1: owned by another man whose name was Frank Lerman. And Frank,
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Speaker 1: when he was here, had multiple employees, including a young
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Speaker 1: farmhand named Henry Lipinstick. And one day, Henry had gone missing.
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Speaker 1: Henry didn't have any family or close friends who lived nearby,
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Speaker 1: and so basically everybody in town assumed that Henry must
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Speaker 1: have just left town. But one of Frank's neighbors had
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Speaker 1: told the sheriff at the time that she didn't actually
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Speaker 1: believe that. She thought maybe Frank himself had done something
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Speaker 1: to Henry. Because according to her, Frank and Henry argued
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Speaker 1: all the time about money. Like, there was clearly real
10:15
Speaker 1: tension between those two. The sheriff tried to look into
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Speaker 1: Frank to see if there was any legitimacy to this claim.
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Speaker 1: But at the same time this investigation was beginning, Frank
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Speaker 1: abruptly sold his property and moved away. And without any
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Speaker 1: real evidence, the sheriff couldn't prove there was any foul
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Speaker 1: play involved. And so he just had to close the
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Speaker 1: case and move on. Until Carl, five years later, drained
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Speaker 1: that well. And suddenly, the Henry Lipinstik case was solved.
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Speaker 1: because at the bottom of the well, Carl found Henry's
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Speaker 1: very decomposed body. He was practically skeletal by this point,
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Speaker 1: but they could tell that was Henry. An autopsy later
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Speaker 1: revealed that Henry had died of blunt force trauma to
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Speaker 1: the head, and his death was ruled a homicide. Frank
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Speaker 1: was arrested and found guilty of second-degree murder, but he
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Speaker 1: only served seven months before his charges were dropped due
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Speaker 1: to insufficient evidence, and he was released. When they pulled
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Speaker 1: Henry's remains out of the well to give him a
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Speaker 1: proper burial... they noticed he was wearing a watch. And
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Speaker 1: the watch had stopped at 9.35 p.m., precisely the time
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Speaker 1: that Carl, for a whole year, saw that white figure
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Speaker 1: running off, disappearing over towards the water well where Henry's
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Speaker 1: body was located. After Henry's body was properly buried, Carl
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Speaker 1: never saw that white figure ever again. Also, it's believed
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Speaker 1: that the previous owners right before Carl, who sold him
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Speaker 1: the property at a discount, likely they were selling it
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Speaker 1: because they too had seen Henry's ghost. Happy New Year, everybody.
11:54
Speaker 1: And to celebrate this new year, I actually have a
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Speaker 1: pretty huge announcement. So beginning this Monday and going forward,
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Speaker 1: we're going old school on this channel. We're going back
12:05
Speaker 1: to two, three, even four uploads a week. And this
12:10
Speaker 1: is none of that like sort of Like, oh, we
12:12
Speaker 1: edited it differently, so it's brand new. No, we're talking
12:15
Speaker 1: new content up to four times a week. So how
12:19
Speaker 1: will it actually work? Well, this week, you're going to
12:22
Speaker 1: be getting new stories on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and of course, Saturday.
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Speaker 1: Saturday is the same as it's always been and will
12:29
Speaker 1: continue to be. And then each and every week after that,
12:32
Speaker 1: you're going to be getting two, three, even four brand
12:35
Speaker 1: new Mr. Ballin episodes every single week. You've told me
12:38
Speaker 1: that you want more. more strange, dark, and mysterious stories,
12:43
Speaker 1: and now you're going to get it. Can't wait to
12:45
Speaker 1: see you guys. Thank you. Late one night in the
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Speaker 1: winter of 1933, a young nobleman named Anton Holberg poured
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Speaker 1: another round of drinks for all of his buddies who
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Speaker 1: were sitting inside of one of Anton's many sitting rooms
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Speaker 1: inside of his huge castle that he owned in Southern Poland.
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Speaker 1: And after pouring these drinks, Anton kind of clumsily began
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Speaker 1: walking his way over to the table where his buddies were.
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Speaker 1: And because Anton was pretty drunk, because he and his
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Speaker 1: friends had been drinking for hours and playing cards and partying,
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Speaker 1: you know, Anton stumbled at some point and basically spilled
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Speaker 1: half of the drinks onto the carpet. But because he
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Speaker 1: was so drunk, he just thought it was really funny.
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Speaker 1: And so did his friends. They were all roaring with
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Speaker 1: laughter as he's on the carpet, picking up all these
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Speaker 1: basically empty glasses. But then instead of going back and
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Speaker 1: re-pouring the drinks, Anton, sort of as a joke, walked
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Speaker 1: over to the table, sat down, and handed out these
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Speaker 1: basically empty cups to his friends. And everybody thought it
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Speaker 1: was so funny. And they didn't even get up to
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Speaker 1: get more drinks. They were just all so drunk and happy,
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Speaker 1: they just kept on playing their card game. And so
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Speaker 1: as Anton's sitting there and everyone's laughing and smiling, the
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Speaker 1: friend of his that was the dealer for this round
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Speaker 1: of blackjack began to deal. But as he did, there
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Speaker 1: was this sudden, really loud creaking sound that came from
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Speaker 1: right above them. And it was so loud and so
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Speaker 1: pronounced that that even amongst this loud room of drunk
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Speaker 1: men playing cards, everybody heard it. And there was a
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Speaker 1: moment of silence where everyone sort of registered, like, what's
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Speaker 1: going on above us? And in this sudden stillness, Anton,
14:23
Speaker 1: he sort of made a jest, and he goes, oh boy,
14:27
Speaker 1: that's the monk. Now, for the most part, everybody at
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Speaker 1: the table, all of Anton's friends that were there, they
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Speaker 1: had heard the story of the so-called hooded monk that
14:36
Speaker 1: apparently haunted the castle. That's at least what Anton would say.
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Speaker 1: But One person who was there that night was a
14:41
Speaker 1: new friend of Anton's and they had not heard of,
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Speaker 1: you know, the monk's story. And they said, well, what
14:46
Speaker 1: are you talking about? That's the monk. And immediately everyone's like, oh, geez,
14:50
Speaker 1: here we go. Because Anton, he looked over at the
14:52
Speaker 1: friends and he was like, oh, you haven't heard the
14:54
Speaker 1: story of the hooded monk? Let me tell you. And
14:58
Speaker 1: then Anton basically told this friend as the rest of
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Speaker 1: the friends are all like, give me a break. This
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Speaker 1: is just crap. This is not real. But Anton would
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Speaker 1: tell this person, this newbie, that when he took ownership
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Speaker 1: of this huge castle, he was told that everything's fine,
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Speaker 1: except there's one bedroom upstairs that's totally off limits because
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Speaker 1: apparently it is haunted by a hooded monk, an evil
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Speaker 1: hooded monk that sort of patrols this room. And Anton
15:23
Speaker 1: told this friend that he actually had never gone in
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Speaker 1: that bedroom because he believed the story was true, that maybe,
15:30
Speaker 1: just maybe, There really was a malevolent spirit, a hooded
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Speaker 1: monk figure that was in there. And also, you know,
15:37
Speaker 1: he had tons of bedrooms in his castle. He didn't
15:39
Speaker 1: need to go in there. But, you know, right above
15:41
Speaker 1: us is that off-limits bedroom. And so maybe that creak
15:44
Speaker 1: we heard was the monk. Now, again, basically everybody in
15:48
Speaker 1: the room... knew this story because Anton loved to tell
15:51
Speaker 1: the story of how his castle was haunted. But that's
15:54
Speaker 1: all it ever was. It was just some story that
15:56
Speaker 1: Anton told. But this friend, when they heard this from Anton,
15:59
Speaker 1: their reaction was, wait a minute, you have a bedroom
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Speaker 1: in this castle that you own? that you literally haven't
16:07
Speaker 1: gone inside of because there's a ghost in there? Are
16:10
Speaker 1: you kidding me? You literally haven't gone in that room
16:13
Speaker 1: for that reason? And as they said it out loud,
16:16
Speaker 1: all of Anton's other friends sort of picked up on, like,
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Speaker 1: how cowardly it seemed for Anton to have never gone in. Suddenly,
16:22
Speaker 1: this story just made it seem like Anton was just
16:25
Speaker 1: kind of a coward. And everybody just piled on. They're like, yeah, Anton,
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Speaker 1: why haven't you gone in there? Come on, man. This
16:32
Speaker 1: is your castle. Go in that bedroom. And before long,
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Speaker 1: Anton was no longer happy to be talking about the story.
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Speaker 1: He was like, oh yeah, just forget about it, guys.
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Speaker 1: Let's get back to our game. But nobody would let
16:43
Speaker 1: it go until finally they dared him like, hey, not
16:46
Speaker 1: only should you go in there, but tonight you should
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Speaker 1: stay the night in that bedroom to show us that
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Speaker 1: you're really not afraid. And eventually, because Anton was so drunk...
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Speaker 1: And he was sort of standing up for his pride.
16:57
Speaker 1: He finally said, fine, you know, fine. I'll go in
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Speaker 1: there and I'll spend the night. Fine. I'll show you
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Speaker 1: that this is just a story. It's no big deal. Now,
17:05
Speaker 1: after Anton loosely agreed to this, he likely thought that,
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Speaker 1: you know, the guys will forget about this and we'll
17:11
Speaker 1: go back to playing cards. And by the end of
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Speaker 1: the night, nobody's going to make sure I really go
17:15
Speaker 1: into that bedroom tonight. Like they're going to forget about this.
17:18
Speaker 1: But no. The friends would not let this go. And
17:21
Speaker 1: at the end of the night, when they had kind
17:23
Speaker 1: of wound down their card game and everybody was feeling
17:25
Speaker 1: pretty tired, they all were like, OK, Anton, we're going
17:28
Speaker 1: to walk you up to your bedroom to make sure
17:30
Speaker 1: you sleep inside of that haunted room. And because Anton
17:33
Speaker 1: had already publicly declared that he wasn't afraid and he
17:36
Speaker 1: would do it, he was like, OK, let's go. And
17:39
Speaker 1: so the group with Anton in the lead, they left
17:41
Speaker 1: the sitting room. went up the stairs to the second floor,
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Speaker 1: and they go down the hallway to the bedroom where supposedly,
17:47
Speaker 1: you know, this hooded monk ghost resided. And the door,
17:51
Speaker 1: it wasn't like barred up or anything, but, you know, again,
17:53
Speaker 1: Anton had never been in there, but he had grabbed
17:55
Speaker 1: the key. And Anton, he goes up and he sort
17:57
Speaker 1: of nervously unlocks the door. And then before pushing it open,
18:01
Speaker 1: he turns and looks at his friends and he's like,
18:03
Speaker 1: all right, I'm going in, trying to see if they
18:06
Speaker 1: really wanted him to do it. And all his friends
18:08
Speaker 1: are sort of looking at him sort of hesitantly, but
18:10
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, go, go inside, go, do it. And
18:12
Speaker 1: Anton's like, all right, pushes the door open. And he
18:16
Speaker 1: and his friends, they all look inside. For the first time,
18:18
Speaker 1: Anton is now laying eyes on the inside of this bedroom.
18:21
Speaker 1: And really, there was not much to see. I mean,
18:23
Speaker 1: it was a bedroom and there was old furniture in
18:25
Speaker 1: there that looked like it had been there for hundreds
18:27
Speaker 1: of years, covered in dust. And there's cobwebs everywhere. But
18:30
Speaker 1: it basically just looked like a really old bedroom that
18:33
Speaker 1: nobody used. And so his friends are like, all right, Anton,
18:36
Speaker 1: get in there. And Anton's like, all right, I'll see
18:38
Speaker 1: you in the morning. And he goes inside the room
18:41
Speaker 1: and he shuts the door. And then the friends, they
18:42
Speaker 1: all walked back down the hall, went into their respective
18:45
Speaker 1: bedrooms where they were sleeping. And everybody went to bed.
18:49
Speaker 1: Several hours later, in the middle of the night, as
18:51
Speaker 1: all the friends are all asleep. there's this sudden, extremely loud,
18:56
Speaker 1: blood-curdling scream that appeared to be coming from the bedroom
19:00
Speaker 1: where Anton was, you know, inside the haunted room. And
19:02
Speaker 1: so the friends, they jump out of bed, they run
19:04
Speaker 1: into the hallway, they go down the hall, and they
19:07
Speaker 1: get to the door and they try to open it,
19:09
Speaker 1: you know, the room that Anton's in, but it's locked.
19:11
Speaker 1: And they start banging on the door, yelling, Anton, are
19:14
Speaker 1: you okay? Are you okay? Because even though they had
19:17
Speaker 1: put him up to this, they had dared him to
19:18
Speaker 1: do this, they didn't really think there was any risk.
19:21
Speaker 1: But at the same time, maybe, you know, maybe there
19:24
Speaker 1: was something bad in there. So they're worried. They're worried
19:26
Speaker 1: about Anton. They want to make sure he's okay. But
19:29
Speaker 1: after pounding and yelling on the door, there was no response.
19:33
Speaker 1: The haunted bedroom where Anton was, was completely silent. And
19:37
Speaker 1: the friends, they all kind of exchanged worried glances. And
19:40
Speaker 1: they're like, we got to get in there. We got
19:42
Speaker 1: to make sure he's okay. Something just feels wrong. That scream,
19:45
Speaker 1: that's somebody in danger. Like Anton could be hurt here.
19:49
Speaker 1: And so they began smashing this door, ramming into it
19:52
Speaker 1: until finally they literally blew the door off its hinges.
19:56
Speaker 1: And when they looked into the room and saw what
19:59
Speaker 1: was going on, they couldn't believe it. When Anton went
20:03
Speaker 1: into the bedroom to spend the night, his friends would
20:05
Speaker 1: recall hearing the sound of him turning the key and
20:09
Speaker 1: locking the bedroom door behind him. So Anton is in
20:12
Speaker 1: this haunted bedroom and he's locked inside and there's no
20:15
Speaker 1: other way in or out of this bedroom. So he
20:18
Speaker 1: is in there totally alone and he's locked the door.
20:21
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind. So now a few hours later,
20:23
Speaker 1: after hearing the scream, the friends blow the door open,
20:26
Speaker 1: literally knock it off its hinges because it was locked
20:29
Speaker 1: and they find Anton and he's dead and he's laying
20:33
Speaker 1: on the bed on his back. And the only sign
20:35
Speaker 1: of something that happened to him is there's this red
20:38
Speaker 1: mark around his neck, like a ligature mark, a thin
20:41
Speaker 1: red ligature mark around his neck. But there's no rope
20:45
Speaker 1: or line anywhere in the room. There's no sign of
20:47
Speaker 1: a struggle. There's nothing else really in this room except
20:51
Speaker 1: for Anton. And he's just inexplicably dead with this mark
20:54
Speaker 1: on his neck. Authorities got involved and they searched the
20:57
Speaker 1: room top to bottom and they never found any rope
21:00
Speaker 1: or any line, nothing that could have left those marks
21:02
Speaker 1: on his neck. And they also did an autopsy on
21:05
Speaker 1: Anton but they couldn't figure out what his cause of
21:07
Speaker 1: death was. So just the fact that Anton died in
21:10
Speaker 1: this really inexplicable way in a bedroom that he claimed
21:14
Speaker 1: was haunted is pretty mysterious. But it becomes even more
21:18
Speaker 1: mysterious when you consider the whole story about this ghost
21:23
Speaker 1: that haunted this castle. So Anton, when he would typically
21:25
Speaker 1: tell the story, would just basically say, well, you know,
21:28
Speaker 1: there's this evil hooded monk that is upstairs in one
21:30
Speaker 1: of the bedrooms, and that's why I don't go in it.
21:32
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the whole story. But that's not
21:35
Speaker 1: the whole story. That's just kind of the version that
21:37
Speaker 1: Anton would tell. The whole story was this castle has
21:40
Speaker 1: been haunted for hundreds of years. There is an evil
21:43
Speaker 1: monk that lives in that bedroom upstairs. And if you
21:46
Speaker 1: go in there, the evil monk will kill you by
21:49
Speaker 1: strangling you with a thin rope. That's the story. And
21:53
Speaker 1: so it really makes you wonder because to this day,
21:57
Speaker 1: nobody knows how Anton Holberg died alone in that locked
22:01
Speaker 1: bedroom after seemingly being strangled by a rope that didn't exist.
22:18
Speaker 1: Around 1 a.m. on Sunday, January 20th, 1907, a 57-year-old
22:23
Speaker 1: man named Samuel Hughes was riding on a passenger train
22:26
Speaker 1: that was moving through southeastern Wales. Sam had spent basically
22:30
Speaker 1: the last 24 hours working the entire time. He was
22:34
Speaker 1: a salt merchant and he had left the town where
22:36
Speaker 1: he lived, a town called Blackwood, and taken a train
22:39
Speaker 1: south about an hour to another town called Newport, where
22:42
Speaker 1: he did a lot of business. And basically all day Saturday,
22:45
Speaker 1: from early morning all the way until late at night,
22:47
Speaker 1: he had been working And now finally, you know, 1 a.m.
22:50
Speaker 1: on Sunday, he's back on a train heading back to
22:53
Speaker 1: his town in Blackwood. But despite how utterly exhausted he
22:57
Speaker 1: was on this ride back home, you know, barely able
22:59
Speaker 1: to keep his eyes open, Sam was just so relieved
23:02
Speaker 1: that soon, very soon, he would get off the train,
23:06
Speaker 1: he'd be back in his house, and he could just
23:08
Speaker 1: collapse in bed. And so that's all he's thinking about.
23:10
Speaker 1: And so for a little bit longer, Sam is, you know,
23:13
Speaker 1: fighting to keep his eyes open and the train's rumbling
23:15
Speaker 1: along and He can tell he's getting close to home.
23:18
Speaker 1: I mean, he rides this train all the time. This
23:19
Speaker 1: is a pretty, you know, regular route for him. And
23:22
Speaker 1: then finally, Sam feels the train start to slow down,
23:25
Speaker 1: at which point he gathers up all his things. He
23:27
Speaker 1: gets up and kind of shuffles his way into the hall.
23:30
Speaker 1: And then once the train came to a full stop,
23:32
Speaker 1: he stepped off the train onto the platform, relieved that,
23:35
Speaker 1: you know, he's now maybe 10 minutes from home. But
23:38
Speaker 1: as the train took off from the station, Sam, who's again,
23:42
Speaker 1: standing on this platform, it's late at night here. He's
23:45
Speaker 1: looking around. And he realizes something. In his stupor, in
23:49
Speaker 1: his exhaustion, he didn't realize this was not his stop.
23:53
Speaker 1: He had gotten off one stop too early. It was
23:56
Speaker 1: like he was on autopilot. He was so tired. He just,
23:58
Speaker 1: he got off thinking he was home, but he wasn't.
24:01
Speaker 1: And now the train is gone. And remember, this is
24:04
Speaker 1: the early 1900s. He didn't have a quick way to
24:07
Speaker 1: get from where he was to his home. Like there
24:10
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be another train anytime soon, nor did
24:13
Speaker 1: he know the train schedule. He also didn't have a
24:15
Speaker 1: way to call a cab or anything. You know, it's 1,
24:18
Speaker 1: 2 in the morning here. And so Sam realizes he
24:21
Speaker 1: basically can either find a place to stay in whatever
24:24
Speaker 1: town this is, or he can basically walk to Blackwood,
24:29
Speaker 1: which is, you know, a pretty good walk away. But
24:30
Speaker 1: he figured, you know, maybe, you know, this town was
24:33
Speaker 1: close enough he could do it. And so he figured,
24:34
Speaker 1: you know, his first step here is just leave the
24:37
Speaker 1: platform and just go find somebody, anybody in town that
24:40
Speaker 1: maybe is out and about and just kind of figure
24:42
Speaker 1: out where we are. How do I get to Blackwood?
24:45
Speaker 1: Is there a hotel nearby or an inn or something?
24:48
Speaker 1: But he needs to go find somebody. And so even
24:50
Speaker 1: though Sam at this point is furious with himself and
24:53
Speaker 1: really just wants to spend time dwelling on the fact
24:56
Speaker 1: that he's made this mistake, he sort of over that
24:59
Speaker 1: and he's just focused on finding a solution. And so
25:02
Speaker 1: Sam leaves the platform and he starts walking, you know,
25:05
Speaker 1: in the general direction of lights that he sees off
25:07
Speaker 1: in the distance. But this is a small train platform.
25:11
Speaker 1: He's clearly not near any major city. It's pretty much
25:14
Speaker 1: dark and just rural roads going in different directions. And
25:17
Speaker 1: so he really does not have high hopes that he's
25:19
Speaker 1: going to run into anybody anytime soon. But surprisingly, after
25:23
Speaker 1: leaving the platform and walking not very far... he got
25:27
Speaker 1: to an intersection where he saw another person walking up
25:30
Speaker 1: the other street. And he quickly realized it was a
25:32
Speaker 1: police officer. And so Sam is like so relieved, you know,
25:35
Speaker 1: an authority figure, they can help me. And he flags
25:39
Speaker 1: down the police officer and the officer comes over and,
25:42
Speaker 1: you know, they're kind of sizing up Sam, like, what
25:44
Speaker 1: are you doing out here? It's the middle of the night.
25:46
Speaker 1: You got luggage with you. Like what's going on here?
25:48
Speaker 1: And Sam explained the mistake he had made. And asked
25:51
Speaker 1: the officer, like, hey, you know, is there a place
25:53
Speaker 1: to stay here? Or maybe, you know, is it walkable
25:56
Speaker 1: to get to my town, you know, Blackwood? And the
25:58
Speaker 1: officer would tell him, like, you know, there is places
26:00
Speaker 1: to stay in this town. But if you're up for it,
26:04
Speaker 1: it would only take you, you know, maybe an hour
26:05
Speaker 1: if you did want to make the walk to Blackwood. And,
26:08
Speaker 1: you know, if I was in your shoes, I might
26:10
Speaker 1: do that. And Sam, you know, he thought about it
26:12
Speaker 1: and he was like, you know what? I do. I
26:13
Speaker 1: just want to get home. I want to get in
26:15
Speaker 1: my own bed. So yes, just point me in the
26:17
Speaker 1: right direction. And so the officer, he explained to Sam
26:20
Speaker 1: that luckily it's really simple. You just basically go straight
26:23
Speaker 1: down that road and you walk for about an hour
26:26
Speaker 1: until you reach a bridge. Once you get over the bridge,
26:29
Speaker 1: follow some signs and it'll be really obvious that you're
26:31
Speaker 1: right near Blackwood and you'll make it the rest of
26:33
Speaker 1: the way. And so Sam thanked the officer and then
26:36
Speaker 1: gathered up his things and he began walking in the
26:39
Speaker 1: direction of his town. Several hours later, a little after
26:42
Speaker 1: 3 a.m., Sam's wife, Bess, was awake inside of their
26:47
Speaker 1: home in Blackwood. She was awake because she was waiting
26:49
Speaker 1: for Sam to get home. She knew he would have
26:51
Speaker 1: a long day in Newport, but by now she knew
26:55
Speaker 1: he should be home. I mean, he went on this
26:57
Speaker 1: trip fairly regularly. She knew how long it took, even
27:00
Speaker 1: on the long end. And it being 3 a.m. and
27:03
Speaker 1: him not being home was starting to be pretty concerning.
27:05
Speaker 1: And so she's up. She's kind of anxious. all of
27:08
Speaker 1: a sudden, she hears Sam calling out to her. He's
27:11
Speaker 1: clearly out in front of the property. You know, he
27:14
Speaker 1: must have known that she was awake. He could see
27:15
Speaker 1: the lights on inside the house and he was calling
27:18
Speaker 1: out to her that, you know, he was returning. And
27:20
Speaker 1: so Bess, you know, she's overcome with relief. She knows
27:22
Speaker 1: her husband is safe. She grabs a candle and she
27:25
Speaker 1: goes to the front door to greet her husband. She
27:27
Speaker 1: opens the door and she looks out and it's not
27:30
Speaker 1: her husband. Her husband is nowhere to be found. Instead,
27:33
Speaker 1: there is this dark figure standing on her porch, just
27:36
Speaker 1: inches away, looking right at Bess. And Bess, you know,
27:40
Speaker 1: she freezes when she sees it, but she isn't scared.
27:43
Speaker 1: There's a weird calm about what she's looking at. She
27:46
Speaker 1: doesn't know what it is. She has no idea what
27:48
Speaker 1: to do, but she's just standing there, calm, as this
27:51
Speaker 1: figure is right in front of her, not moving. And
27:53
Speaker 1: as she's just staring at it, she realizes it's dressed
27:57
Speaker 1: in this this long black cloak, and it had on
28:00
Speaker 1: a black silk hat. And her husband always wore a
28:06
Speaker 1: black silk hat. And she knew specifically he had worn
28:10
Speaker 1: it that morning when he went to Newport. And so
28:12
Speaker 1: for a minute, she's just staring sort of unbelievably at
28:15
Speaker 1: this apparition, apparently wearing clothes, at least a hat, that
28:20
Speaker 1: belonged to her husband. And she knows she just heard
28:23
Speaker 1: her husband call to her. She didn't imagine that. He
28:25
Speaker 1: just called to her. But then Bess blinked, And the
28:28
Speaker 1: figure just vanished. The hat, the cloak, it's all just gone.
28:31
Speaker 1: And there's nobody standing on her porch. And now Bess
28:33
Speaker 1: is scared because as much as there was a calm
28:36
Speaker 1: about this figure, now she's thinking like, did I just
28:39
Speaker 1: imagine that? Like what's going on here? Is my husband
28:41
Speaker 1: outside somewhere? Did he call to me because he's hurt
28:44
Speaker 1: or something? And so she leaves her house with this
28:46
Speaker 1: candle and she's running around her house calling out for Sam,
28:50
Speaker 1: but Sam's not out there. And so eventually Bess goes
28:53
Speaker 1: back inside the house and just continues to sit up
28:56
Speaker 1: waiting for Sam. But Sam doesn't come home. And eventually,
29:00
Speaker 1: you know, by five or six in the morning, Bess
29:02
Speaker 1: just goes to bed. When Bess woke up later that afternoon,
29:06
Speaker 1: Sam still had not come home yet. But now, you know,
29:09
Speaker 1: the sun is out and she's telling herself that that
29:11
Speaker 1: weird thing that happened last night, she must have imagined that,
29:14
Speaker 1: you know, like that didn't happen. And, you know, Sam's fine.
29:17
Speaker 1: He'll be home. You know, he's stayed late before and
29:20
Speaker 1: not told me. Like, everything's okay. But as Bess is
29:23
Speaker 1: reassuring herself that everything's okay, she hears a knock on
29:26
Speaker 1: the front door. for a second she thinks maybe it's Sam.
29:29
Speaker 1: Maybe he's home. But she goes to the door. She
29:33
Speaker 1: opens it up and it's a police officer. And he
29:36
Speaker 1: just says to her, I have some terrible news. It
29:39
Speaker 1: would turn out the night before when Sam met that
29:42
Speaker 1: police officer who told him to walk this way to
29:44
Speaker 1: get back to Blackwood, well, Sam had followed the directions
29:48
Speaker 1: and apparently he was on the right path because he
29:50
Speaker 1: got all the way to that bridge that the officer
29:53
Speaker 1: said would, you know, demarcate that he was close to Blackwood.
29:57
Speaker 1: But perhaps because he was so exhausted or maybe just
30:00
Speaker 1: because it was still so dark outside, he fell off
30:03
Speaker 1: the bridge to his death. And so the police officer
30:07
Speaker 1: is telling Bess this, and she's totally overcome with grief.
30:10
Speaker 1: But then for whatever reason, her mind immediately went to
30:13
Speaker 1: that dark figure she saw on the porch a little
30:16
Speaker 1: after 3 a.m. And without really thinking this through, she
30:19
Speaker 1: just said to the officer, what time do you think
30:22
Speaker 1: he died? And the officer was like, well, you know,
30:25
Speaker 1: based on the officer that directed Samuel in that direction,
30:29
Speaker 1: you know, towards the bridge and how long it would
30:31
Speaker 1: have taken him to get there, we estimate he likely
30:33
Speaker 1: fell off the bridge around three in the morning. And
30:36
Speaker 1: so for Bess, she's thinking that's around the same time
30:39
Speaker 1: I saw that figure on my porch. And then she
30:42
Speaker 1: also began to think about that hat, the black silk
30:44
Speaker 1: hat that Sam always wore that she knew he had
30:48
Speaker 1: worn that morning when he went to Newport. And so
30:51
Speaker 1: Bess's next question was, well, when you found him, Was
30:55
Speaker 1: he wearing his black silk hat? And the officer was
30:58
Speaker 1: kind of confused and said, no, he wasn't wearing a
31:01
Speaker 1: hat at all. And so when Bess heard that, those
31:04
Speaker 1: details confirmed that who or what she saw on her
31:08
Speaker 1: porch earlier that morning, the dark figure with the black
31:11
Speaker 1: silk hat, that must have been Sam's soul. He was
31:14
Speaker 1: coming to say goodbye to his wife because he had
31:17
Speaker 1: just fallen off the bridge and died. And, you know,
31:20
Speaker 1: this figure having that black silk hat on was a
31:23
Speaker 1: way of showing her that, yes, that really was her husband.
31:26
Speaker 1: Bess would later tell this story to a reporter who
31:29
Speaker 1: would have this story printed all over Wales. And that's
31:32
Speaker 1: how we know it today. Thank you so much for watching.
31:42
Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of today's episode in
31:43
Speaker 1: the comments. And remember, we have hundreds of videos for
31:47
Speaker 1: you to binge right now. But if you're looking for
31:50
Speaker 1: a recommendation from me of that one video that's worth
31:53
Speaker 1: your time, well, It's this one right here. So give
31:56
Speaker 1: it a watch. All right, until next time, see ya.