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MrBallen – This video game got TOO real · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, we have three stories about people who found a
0:03
Speaker 1: really amazing pastime that they thought had changed their lives
0:07
Speaker 1: for the better. But they would come to realize that
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Speaker 1: this new pastime actually changed their lives for the worse.
0:15
Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
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Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into today's stories.
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Speaker 1: One night in November of 2009, a man named Mikhail
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Speaker 1: looked down a sniper scope at this dusty street that
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Speaker 1: was running in front of a tan brick building. Through
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Speaker 1: the scope, he saw a man who was wearing black
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Speaker 1: tactical gear come out from around the corner. Immediately, Mikhail
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Speaker 1: trained his sights on this man, and he pulled the trigger. Immediately,
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Speaker 1: when the round impacted, there was a spray of red
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Speaker 1: pixels and a chime, like an audible chime that sounded
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Speaker 1: to tell Mikhail that he had just scored a kill.
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Speaker 2: So Mikhail was not a real soldier.
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Speaker 1: Out in the middle of a real battle. He was
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Speaker 1: a gamer, so he was a virtual soldier. And right now,
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Speaker 1: in real life, he was sitting at his computer at
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Speaker 1: home in the city of Cambrai, France, playing a video
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Speaker 1: game called Counter-Strike, like he did virtually every single day.
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Speaker 1: So Mikhail loved this game, Counter-Strike. because it was like
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Speaker 1: his escape from the real world, which in the real world,
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Speaker 1: you know, he basically had all sorts of stressful things
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Speaker 1: going on all the time, like bills and work and
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Speaker 1: family conflicts. But whenever Mikhail booted up this game, it's
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Speaker 1: like those problems disappeared and he vanished into this virtual world.
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Speaker 1: So Counter-Strike, which even today is still like this unbelievably
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Speaker 1: famous game. I mean, millions and millions of people play
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Speaker 1: this game all the time.
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Speaker 2: It's very popular.
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Speaker 1: It is an online military game where two teams of
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Speaker 1: live players from all around the world, they face off
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Speaker 1: against each other for these short rounds where they just
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Speaker 1: basically try to kill each other or carry out various missions.
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Speaker 1: But it's like a real-time first-person shooter with random people.
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Speaker 2: Across the world.
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Speaker 1: And so Mikhail, after coming home from work, something, again,
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Speaker 1: he sort of hated, he would immediately boot up this game.
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Speaker 1: He would match up with whatever group of strangers from
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Speaker 1: around the world that he was going to play with.
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Speaker 1: and they would automatically get grouped into teams. And then
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Speaker 1: Mikhail would spend hours and hours playing well into the night,
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Speaker 1: just playing with these strangers. And they'd, you know, new
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Speaker 1: people would come on, people would drop off, but there
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Speaker 1: was a steady stream of people, again, all strangers, that
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Speaker 1: Mikhail would be interacting with because he had his headset on. And,
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Speaker 1: you know, there was some camaraderie there, you know, whether
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Speaker 1: it was he was talking to people on his team to,
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Speaker 1: you know, hey, take cover, or I got the shot
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Speaker 1: over here. Or if it was like talking trash to
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Speaker 1: the people on the other side, like the interaction on
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Speaker 1: the headset was like a big part of this experience,
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Speaker 1: you know, for a minute. It was not just that
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Speaker 1: he was, you know, looking down his digital scope and
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Speaker 1: taking shots where appropriate. It was like for a moment
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Speaker 1: in time, Mikhail really was like immersed in this digital world.
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Speaker 1: Like he had a whole community of people that were
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Speaker 1: right there with him. And so now on the screen,
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Speaker 1: Mikhail controlled his character as, The soldier, the digital soldier,
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Speaker 1: ran through the map, taking out one enemy after another. Like,
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Speaker 1: he's on this massive kill streak, like, better than usual.
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Speaker 1: He's having a great run. And at some point, after
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Speaker 1: basically wiping out the whole other team, and, like, in
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Speaker 1: his headset, he can hear the people that were on
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Speaker 1: his team that have died, but they're still chiming in.
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Speaker 2: They're like, oh, you're doing great, man. Keep it up. Like,
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Speaker 2: win this for us.
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Speaker 1: He realizes there's one more adversary left on the other
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Speaker 1: side of the map. And so Mikhail, you know, he
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Speaker 1: channeled all of the skills he had learned from playing
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Speaker 1: this game for so long and he maneuvered through the
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Speaker 1: map and he could see the other guy was like
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Speaker 1: trying to, you know, outflank him. But at a certain point, Mikhail,
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Speaker 1: he got the jump on this last lone enemy and
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Speaker 1: Mikhail actually didn't have any ammo left. He had used
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Speaker 1: it all to build up this huge kill streak. Basically,
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Speaker 1: when you die, it resets your ammo and he hadn't
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Speaker 1: died yet.
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Speaker 2: And so he's out of ammo. He's got this one
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Speaker 2: guy left, but he's got his knife. And so Mikhail,
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Speaker 2: he positions.
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Speaker 1: Himself just right, and he leaps around the corner. He
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Speaker 1: surprises this guy, and Mikhail, in this game, digitally stabs the.
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Speaker 2: Lone enemy, kills him, and they win the game.
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Speaker 1: It's like this amazing moment. Mikhail's the man. You know,
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Speaker 1: his team's thrilled. And the guy who got stabbed, he's
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Speaker 1: also on his headset, and he's so mad.
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Speaker 2: He's so frustrated. He's like, you're not even that good.
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Speaker 1: Like, this is garbage. Like, he's just so mad that
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Speaker 1: he got killed. But this was like a moment of
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Speaker 1: elation for Mikhail. I mean, this is sort of like
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Speaker 1: the peak for him and this part of his life.
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Speaker 1: And so this was a great night for him. After
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Speaker 1: this round, Mikhail actually jumped out of.
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Speaker 2: That lobby and he ordered some food and he ate
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Speaker 2: some food.
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Speaker 1: Then he came back and he continued to play Counter-Strike
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Speaker 1: for a few more hours. But he never had another
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Speaker 1: generational run that culminated in sort of an iconic stabbing
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Speaker 1: like he did in that last round.
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Speaker 2: But he played well. It was fun.
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Speaker 1: And then eventually he went to bed. And in his mind,
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Speaker 1: as he drifted off to sleep, he was just thinking
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Speaker 1: about how amazing he did. This was like his best
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Speaker 1: day ever on Counter-Strike. Six months later, on an afternoon
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Speaker 1: in spring of 2010, Mikhail got home from work and
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Speaker 1: he ordered some delivery food. And then, like he always did,
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Speaker 1: he went to his computer and he logged on to Counter-Strike.
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Speaker 1: And he very quickly got so absorbed in playing that
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Speaker 1: he lost track of time. And at some point he
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Speaker 1: heard the doorbell ring and he realized it was, you know,
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Speaker 1: the food. The guy delivering it was here. And so
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Speaker 1: he runs over the door, he opens it up, and
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Speaker 1: there's a guy standing out there who very much appears
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Speaker 1: to be a.
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Speaker 2: Food delivery guy. He's like in his 20s.
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Speaker 1: He's, you know, looking up at Mikhail sort of expectantly.
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Speaker 1: And Mikhail's looking back at him. And there's this awkward
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Speaker 1: pause for a minute where it's like nothing's really happening.
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Speaker 1: These are just two guys staring at each other at
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Speaker 1: the doorway. And then Mikhail, he just reaches back for
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Speaker 1: his wallet and he's like, how much do I owe you?
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Speaker 1: And the young man standing outside his door, he didn't respond.
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Speaker 1: He just kind of stared back at Mikhail. And so
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Speaker 1: Mikhail's like standing there waiting for this guy to tell
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Speaker 1: him how much to give him. But then he realizes
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Speaker 1: something that this guy, this food delivery driver, wasn't carrying
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Speaker 1: any food. And so Mikhail was about to say something like,
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Speaker 1: what's going on here? When the stranger reached into his pocket,
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Speaker 1: pulled out a kitchen knife, and then before Mikhail could
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Speaker 1: do anything, this guy.
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Speaker 2: Plunges it into Mikhail's chest. And so the stranger flees.
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Speaker 2: Mikhail is like, what's going on? He drops to the ground.
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Speaker 2: He's dying. Amazingly, somehow or another, the paramedics are called out.
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Speaker 2: He gets scooped up. He's brought to the hospital.
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Speaker 1: And amazingly, Mikhail would actually survive this despite a pretty
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Speaker 1: severe stabbing to his chest. The blade actually just barely
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Speaker 1: missed his heart, which obviously likely would have killed him.
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Speaker 2: And so he.
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Speaker 1: Survives the stabbing. And Mikhail comes to find out why
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Speaker 1: this happened, and it's sort of unbelievable. So the guy
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Speaker 1: who stabbed him was 20-year-old Julian Barreau, and he was
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Speaker 1: that Counter-Strike player six months ago who was the lone
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Speaker 1: adversary that ultimately Mikhail got the best of. He had
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Speaker 1: chased him down on the map with his team cheering
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Speaker 1: him on in his headset, and he stabbed him digitally,
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Speaker 1: you know, with his avatar. He stabs Julian's character to
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Speaker 1: win the match. And, you know, It's a video game, and,
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Speaker 1: you know, Mikhail and the others, they're trash-talking and whatever,
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Speaker 1: but it doesn't feel serious.
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Speaker 2: It's just like, hey, we got the best of you, okay.
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Speaker 1: But Julian felt totally emasculated, in part, because of, you know,
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Speaker 1: the peanut gallery in.
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Speaker 2: The headset of all these people being like, oh, you suck, like,
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Speaker 2: he got the best of you.
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Speaker 1: He was so mad that he spent basically every second
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Speaker 1: from the end of that match for six months figuring
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Speaker 1: out who Mikhail was in real life. He started with
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Speaker 1: his avatar and he began going down rabbit holes and
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Speaker 1: trying to figure out who he was until he figured
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Speaker 1: out what his name was, where he lived, and then
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Speaker 1: he showed up at his door and he returned the
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Speaker 1: favor in real life. Pulled out the knife and stabbed Mikhail. Except,
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Speaker 1: you know, luckily he survived. As for Julian, who perpetrated
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Speaker 1: this crime, he was arrested and a court sentenced him
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Speaker 1: to two years in prison with anger management classes. I'm
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Speaker 1: a big believer that the little everyday moments in life
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Speaker 2: Just before 6.30 p.m.
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Speaker 1: On January 16, 2004, a 30-year-old woman named Jodi Lane
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Speaker 1: led two dogs on leashes out of her apartment building
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Speaker 1: in New York City.
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Speaker 2: So it was freezing outside.
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Speaker 1: It was the middle of winter, and Jodi was incredibly
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Speaker 1: busy as a PhD student at Columbia University. But Jodi
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Speaker 1: would never miss a walk with her two dogs, Riley
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Speaker 1: and Miko. She loved them. So these two dogs were
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Speaker 1: basically like Jodi's kids. She had pictures of them all
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Speaker 1: over her apartment. And basically, no matter what, she always
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Speaker 1: made sure that above all else, they were happy and
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Speaker 1: healthy and taken care of, even if it meant her
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Speaker 1: making quite a few sacrifices to make that happen, like
11:35
Speaker 1: going out in the freezing cold regularly to give them
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Speaker 1: their exercise. And so now, once she was outside, Jodi
11:41
Speaker 1: pulled her coat tightly around herself to try to keep warm,
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Speaker 1: And then she walked down her building's front steps and
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Speaker 1: she was immediately glad to see that the sidewalks had
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Speaker 1: recently been salted. So even though there was still snow
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Speaker 1: on the ground, it basically was just on the edges
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Speaker 1: of the pavement. And so the middle was basically clear,
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Speaker 1: not too slippery. And so she and her dogs could
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Speaker 1: head off down the sidewalk, basically unobstructed.
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Speaker 2: As Jody's dogs walked.
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Speaker 1: Happily on down the sidewalk ahead of her on their leashes,
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Speaker 1: Jody found herself just sort of taking in the neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: She lived in East Village, which is a part of
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Speaker 1: New York City, and it was very lively, and it
12:17
Speaker 1: changed a lot with each season. And in New York City,
12:19
Speaker 1: there are all four seasons. And so even though Jodi
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Speaker 1: had done this walk many, many times with her dogs,
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Speaker 1: I mean, this was a well-trodden path for them, it
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Speaker 1: still just felt new every time. I mean, it just
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Speaker 1: never really got boring around here. It's one of the
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Speaker 1: main reasons that Jodi loved living in East Village. It
12:37
Speaker 1: was just constantly changing and exciting. Eventually, when Jodi and
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Speaker 1: her dogs had gotten about a block from her apartment,
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Speaker 1: Jodi looked up and she saw there was a man
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Speaker 1: walking his dog on the same side, the same sidewalk,
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Speaker 1: in their direction. And while Jodi loved her dogs and
12:55
Speaker 1: she viewed them as very sweet creatures, the reality was
12:59
Speaker 1: these two dogs really only got along with each other.
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Speaker 1: They did not get along with any other dogs. Didn't
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Speaker 1: matter what dog it was, they were going to have
13:07
Speaker 1: an issue with it. But Jodi was used to that.
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Speaker 1: And so anytime she saw other dogs approaching, she would
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Speaker 1: just step across and get in the road and cross
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Speaker 1: the street if she had to. She would just get
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Speaker 1: out of the way. She wouldn't put it on the
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Speaker 1: other owner to get around her dogs. She would just
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Speaker 1: remove her dogs from the situation. And so Jodi just
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Speaker 1: naturally turned and stepped over the mound of snow that
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Speaker 1: was pushed up on the side of the sidewalk to
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Speaker 1: step over it and get onto the street, to cross
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Speaker 1: the street. But as she's like stepping over the snow, again,
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Speaker 1: to avoid this dog, she's trying to get her two
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Speaker 1: dogs to come with her, but they're not. They're actually
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Speaker 1: starting to like freak out, the two dogs are. They're
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Speaker 1: barking and yapping. And she's thinking that's so weird. Like
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Speaker 1: her immediate reaction is it's like, what are they doing?
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Speaker 1: That other dog is so far away. How could they
13:56
Speaker 1: be already upset about it? But then she looks down
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Speaker 1: at them and the dogs were like, fighting with each other,
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Speaker 1: which was just so unusual. These dogs, which really they
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Speaker 1: did get along well, they're barking and yapping and they're
14:08
Speaker 1: slashing at each other.
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Speaker 2: They're going nuts.
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Speaker 1: And then it was like they panicked, the two dogs,
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Speaker 1: and they start running in opposite directions. And so Jodi's
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Speaker 1: got each of the leashes. She's getting yanked in either direction.
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Speaker 1: The other dog at this point, nowhere near. It's like
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Speaker 1: her dogs on their own are in full panic mode.
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Speaker 1: All she's thinking about is just getting these crazy dogs
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Speaker 1: back to her apartment, just get back home. That's all
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Speaker 1: she wants to do. And she's trying to pull one in.
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Speaker 1: And as she's doing that, remember, it's pretty slick outside.
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Speaker 1: And she trips, and she falls onto the ground, onto
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Speaker 1: the sidewalk. And the second she hits the ground, everything
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Speaker 1: goes black. It would turn out, despite how observant Jodi
14:50
Speaker 1: was on all these walks that she would do with
14:52
Speaker 1: her dog, you know, within East Village, there was one
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Speaker 1: thing that she never actually noticed about her walking route
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Speaker 1: that she did all the time. And that was, right
15:03
Speaker 1: next to the stretch of sidewalk where she ultimately fell
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Speaker 1: on the ground, so over by the curb, there was this,
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Speaker 1: not that conspicuous, but a pretty large metal plate that
15:13
Speaker 1: was sort of embedded in the pavement.
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Speaker 2: It was sort of off to the side of the pavement.
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Speaker 1: And there was good reason why Jodi had not ever
15:21
Speaker 1: recognized this plate, because it really didn't matter in her
15:24
Speaker 1: day-to-day life. And also, these plates are all over the city.
15:28
Speaker 1: They're on lots of sidewalks, not just in East Village,
15:30
Speaker 1: but everywhere in New York City. They are used to
15:34
Speaker 1: cover up things like manholes and subway vents, like holes
15:39
Speaker 1: you don't want to fall into. They cover them up
15:40
Speaker 1: with these plates that can come off and on as
15:42
Speaker 1: people need to.
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Speaker 2: Go down and access what's underneath.
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Speaker 1: And there's lots of stuff under the sidewalk in New
15:47
Speaker 1: York City that needs access points. But sometimes those metal plates,
15:53
Speaker 1: like this one in particular that she walked right near,
15:57
Speaker 1: it covered up electrical wiring. And unfortunately, some of that
16:01
Speaker 1: salt that was placed on the sidewalk over and over
16:04
Speaker 1: again to make sure no snow would get in the
16:06
Speaker 1: way of people like Jody and their dogs going on walks,
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Speaker 1: some of that salt found its way through the crack
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Speaker 1: of this plate down onto the wires And it corroded
16:16
Speaker 1: the wires to the point where some of those wires
16:18
Speaker 1: were fully exposed and touching the metal plate right above it,
16:23
Speaker 1: meaning they were conducting electricity directly into this plate. And
16:27
Speaker 1: so when Jodi is getting ready to cross the street,
16:30
Speaker 1: you know, because the other dog is coming and her
16:32
Speaker 1: dogs are panicking and barking and fighting each other, they
16:36
Speaker 1: weren't actually fighting with each other. They were standing on
16:39
Speaker 1: this metal plate. They were being electrocuted, and they were panicking.
16:43
Speaker 1: They were trying to get off the plate, but it's
16:44
Speaker 1: slick and icy, and they're trying to get off, and
16:47
Speaker 1: it looked like they were fighting. And so in her
16:50
Speaker 1: panic state, it's like Jodi's trying to control her dogs
16:53
Speaker 1: who have bolted from the plate, and she falls just
16:56
Speaker 1: because of the tug and pull that's going on with
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Speaker 1: her dogs and the ground being sort of slick.
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Speaker 2: And where does she land? On the metal plate.
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Speaker 1: And so unfortunately, Jodi would be electrocuted to death, but
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Speaker 1: her dogs at least would run away and.
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Speaker 2: They would survive.
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Speaker 1: In the end, Jodi's family filed a lawsuit and they
17:15
Speaker 1: reached a settlement with the electrical company who owned that
17:19
Speaker 1: service box under that plate. And the family received about $ 7. 2
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Speaker 1: million and they would ultimately set up a scholarship in
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Speaker 1: Jodi's name at Columbia University. On the afternoon of July 4, 2006,
17:49
Speaker 1: a 50-year-old man named Pascal Norris took a seat in
17:53
Speaker 1: front of a drum at a community center in the
17:56
Speaker 1: village of Smalem, Scotland. So there were a bunch of
17:59
Speaker 1: other drums in this room set up in a big circle,
18:02
Speaker 1: and there were a dozen or so people sort of
18:04
Speaker 1: trickling in and choosing their spots in front of their drums.
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Speaker 1: And Pascal knew pretty much all of them, because for
18:11
Speaker 1: the last few months, he'd been a regular at this
18:14
Speaker 1: drumming class.
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Speaker 2: So professionally, Pascal was.
18:17
Speaker 1: A woodworker and he actually specialized in making musical instruments,
18:21
Speaker 1: not drums, but pretty much violins and guitars.
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Speaker 2: Those were his specialty.
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Speaker 1: But beyond just being a woodworker who, you know, attended
18:28
Speaker 1: a regular drum class, something that really stood out about
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Speaker 1: Pascal is that he recently had dealt with leukemia and
18:36
Speaker 1: now he was in remission. This was like a huge
18:38
Speaker 1: deal in his life. And after having gotten sick and
18:42
Speaker 1: not really sure what his future held, he had begun
18:45
Speaker 1: playing music himself and it had become this amazing creative outlet.
18:50
Speaker 1: And he was sure it was at least partially responsible
18:53
Speaker 1: for helping him heal after finishing chemotherapy. So like drumming
18:58
Speaker 1: was way more than a hobby.
18:59
Speaker 2: This was like a new way of life for him.
19:02
Speaker 1: And also since Pascal literally built instruments, not again, not drums,
19:06
Speaker 1: but musical instruments.
19:08
Speaker 2: He knew how much time and labor and care went.
19:12
Speaker 1: Into producing the sounds that these instruments made. And so
19:15
Speaker 1: now he felt like the connection he had to music
19:18
Speaker 1: was both physical, the way.
19:20
Speaker 2: He would make instruments, and also spiritual.
19:22
Speaker 1: He really felt like music was his calling for the
19:25
Speaker 1: second half of his life. For the next few minutes,
19:28
Speaker 1: Pascal chatted with a couple of his classmates who were,
19:31
Speaker 1: you know, just getting settled around next to him. And
19:34
Speaker 1: then eventually their instructor came in, and she's very serious,
19:37
Speaker 1: and she took her seat in the center of the
19:39
Speaker 1: drum circle. and everyone immediately went quiet. And at the
19:43
Speaker 1: instructor's cue, Pascal took a deep breath and then began
19:47
Speaker 1: to strike his hands against the surface of the drum.
19:50
Speaker 1: A couple of hours later, Pascal got home from drumming
19:53
Speaker 1: class feeling both very calm and also energized. So Pascal
19:58
Speaker 1: lived alone in this old stone house out in the
20:00
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere, and he also worked there too. He
20:04
Speaker 1: had a workshop on the property where he would build
20:06
Speaker 1: his instruments. And prior to discovering drumming, he used to
20:11
Speaker 1: feel really isolated out there. But that was another reason
20:15
Speaker 1: why this drumming class had been so huge for him.
20:18
Speaker 1: Because now he had a bunch of new friends from
20:21
Speaker 1: the drumming class and really a whole community of people
20:25
Speaker 1: that he really genuinely connected with. And so now, you know,
20:28
Speaker 1: feeling really good about his life, you know, with a
20:30
Speaker 1: grin on his face, Pascal, he went out to his
20:33
Speaker 1: garden and he gathered up some veggies for dinner and
20:36
Speaker 1: he went inside and he He made some food, he ate,
20:39
Speaker 1: and then it was still light outside. So he went
20:41
Speaker 1: out to his workshop because he had some work to
20:43
Speaker 1: get done. And he sat down and he kept working
20:46
Speaker 1: on an instrument that he was building. And he got
20:48
Speaker 1: so absorbed in building this instrument that pretty quickly he
20:52
Speaker 1: lost track of time. And then at some point he
20:54
Speaker 1: looked up, saw it was dark out, and decided to
20:57
Speaker 1: call it a night. So he put the instrument down,
20:59
Speaker 1: he cleaned up after himself, and then he walked outside,
21:03
Speaker 1: made his way back into his home. And he climbed
21:05
Speaker 1: into bed feeling clear-headed and just plain grateful to be alive. However,
21:10
Speaker 1: the next morning when he woke up, Pascal did not
21:14
Speaker 1: feel good. Physically, he felt like there was just something wrong.
21:17
Speaker 1: He had that sense that he was about to get sick,
21:20
Speaker 1: and he even felt like he was starting to get warm,
21:21
Speaker 1: like he had a fever. But Pascal, having been through
21:25
Speaker 1: leukemia and, you know, going through chemo treatments, I mean,
21:28
Speaker 1: he knew what really bad sickness felt like. And he
21:31
Speaker 1: was like, this is nothing. Like, this will pass, whatever
21:33
Speaker 1: it is. And so he just went about his day.
21:35
Speaker 1: You know, he went to his workshop. He was doing
21:37
Speaker 1: his thing. But all day long, this fever just got
21:41
Speaker 1: worse and worse. And he was just feeling so bad.
21:44
Speaker 1: He eventually goes to sleep.
21:45
Speaker 2: He wakes up the next day hoping he's going to
21:47
Speaker 2: feel better, but he doesn't. And then it just continues.
21:50
Speaker 2: That whole second day, he's getting better. hotter and hotter.
21:53
Speaker 2: He's feeling totally gross.
21:54
Speaker 1: Like he's starting to experience minor but noticeable chest pain.
21:59
Speaker 1: And so finally the next morning when he gets up,
22:01
Speaker 1: so now three days after that last drumming class, he
22:05
Speaker 1: wakes up and he's sweating bullets. He knows he's really ill.
22:08
Speaker 1: He's really struggling to breathe because of the chest pain.
22:12
Speaker 1: He's like, okay, this is not a minor bug. I
22:15
Speaker 1: need to go see a doctor. And so he goes
22:17
Speaker 1: to his doctor and And the doctor's like, this is serious.
22:20
Speaker 2: We need to get you to the hospital.
22:23
Speaker 1: And now by this point, I mean, Pascal is in
22:25
Speaker 1: a bad way. He's even becoming sort of delirious while
22:28
Speaker 1: he's sitting at the doctor's office. And so not long after,
22:31
Speaker 1: the doctor has said, we need to get you to
22:32
Speaker 1: the hospital.
22:33
Speaker 2: An ambulance shows up. And Pascal, he's being put on
22:36
Speaker 2: a stretcher.
22:37
Speaker 1: And as soon as he laid down, the room began
22:40
Speaker 1: to spin. So he had to close his eyes just
22:42
Speaker 1: to avoid that spinning sensation. He's got that really intense
22:45
Speaker 1: chest pain. It's hard to breathe. And it's just like
22:48
Speaker 1: sudden chaos. Like, what is going on here? And he
22:50
Speaker 1: gets rushed to the hospital. And then once he was
22:53
Speaker 1: at the hospital, again, you know, Pascal's got his eyes shut.
22:56
Speaker 1: And all he can tell is that there are lots
22:58
Speaker 1: of people talking and yelling all around him. Doctors, nurses, paramedics.
23:03
Speaker 1: He can't even tell who's around him. It's just madness.
23:06
Speaker 1: But eventually he gets moved to a triage room or something.
23:10
Speaker 1: And He kind of tries to open his eyes a
23:11
Speaker 1: couple of times, but it's just nauseating.
23:14
Speaker 2: That pain in his chest is so extreme.
23:16
Speaker 1: And then he starts hearing this pounding in his ears,
23:20
Speaker 1: and then everything just fades into silence. The next morning,
23:26
Speaker 1: a doctor stood over Pascal's hospital bed as a team
23:29
Speaker 1: of nurses moved around the room, unhooking Pascal from the
23:33
Speaker 1: various machines he had been attached to from the previous night. Because,
23:37
Speaker 1: just a few moments ago, Pascal had died. And so
23:41
Speaker 1: now all the doctor and the rest of the team
23:43
Speaker 1: could do was just stand there totally baffled because nobody
23:48
Speaker 1: knew what actually happened to Pascal. I mean, they had
23:52
Speaker 1: tried everything to save him and they had run just
23:54
Speaker 1: about every test they could think of to try to
23:57
Speaker 1: identify what was happening. But the x-rays and all the tests,
24:01
Speaker 1: all the things they did, none of it yielded any results.
24:04
Speaker 1: It just seemed like he had some crazy, really aggressive
24:08
Speaker 1: mystery illness. that did ultimately kill him. And what's worse
24:12
Speaker 1: is that because Pascal, when he showed up, he very
24:15
Speaker 1: quickly just fell unconscious, they really hadn't had a chance
24:19
Speaker 1: to even begin to ask him what was happening before
24:22
Speaker 1: you felt this way. He was just a guy who
24:24
Speaker 1: showed up basically delirious, passed out, and then died. And
24:29
Speaker 1: so they really had no clue what happened. However, they
24:33
Speaker 1: had taken his blood and they figured at this point
24:35
Speaker 1: they would send off the blood And then when the
24:38
Speaker 1: blood came back from testing, perhaps there'd be something in
24:41
Speaker 1: his blood that would give away what actually happened to him.
24:44
Speaker 1: And so now they just had to wait for results.
24:47
Speaker 1: About a month later, that same doctor who was baffled
24:50
Speaker 1: by Pascal's death got a call about Pascal's blood work.
24:55
Speaker 1: And while he was bracing for some weirdness to show
24:58
Speaker 1: up in the testing, because this was a mystery illness
25:01
Speaker 1: after all, they still had no idea what happened even
25:03
Speaker 1: now a month later, he was expecting something odd but
25:07
Speaker 1: what he was told about what was found in Pascal's
25:11
Speaker 1: blood was truly shocking. It would turn out that the
25:15
Speaker 1: very thing that made Pascal feel so alive during his
25:19
Speaker 1: cancer recovery was actually what killed him, his drumming hobby.
25:24
Speaker 1: Because the drums that he had used in his drumming
25:27
Speaker 1: class were made out of animal hides, and one of
25:30
Speaker 1: those hides, or several of those hides, we don't actually
25:33
Speaker 1: know for sure, had been made from an animal, from
25:36
Speaker 1: a cow, that had been infected with anthrax.
25:40
Speaker 2: Anthrax is a.
25:41
Speaker 1: Naturally occurring bacteria that turns into these little spores and
25:45
Speaker 1: it floats around in the air. And for some people,
25:48
Speaker 1: if they come in contact with it, it can kill them.
25:51
Speaker 2: So it can be fatal. And so every time Pascal.
25:54
Speaker 1: Banged his hands on one of those drums that had
25:57
Speaker 1: the anthrax on it, well, the vibration would cause those
26:00
Speaker 1: tiny spores of anthrax to float up into the air
26:04
Speaker 1: and he would inhale them. Now, others in the class
26:08
Speaker 1: also had this experience, but unlike Pascal, their.
26:12
Speaker 2: Immune system was strong.
26:14
Speaker 1: Pascal, he had had leukemia, he had had chemotherapy, and
26:17
Speaker 1: so he was immunocompromised. And so when he played one
26:21
Speaker 1: of those drums, that tiny amount was enough to be
26:24
Speaker 1: fatal for him. Thank you so much for watching today's episode.
26:34
Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of it in the
26:35
Speaker 1: comments below. And remember, we have a whole playlist of
26:38
Speaker 1: Places You Can't Go episodes ready for you to binge
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Speaker 1: right now. So go ahead and click here and give
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Speaker 1: them a watch. All right, until next time, see ya.