Latest / Crime and Horror / These places look normal… until they KILL YOU - MrBallen

Transcript

These places look normal… until they KILL YOU - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: Both of today's stories are about people who made big
0:02
Speaker 1: choices that they thought would improve their lives. But neither
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Speaker 1: of them really took the time to actually learn exactly
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Speaker 1: what they were signing up for. And that led to disaster.
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Speaker 1: But before we get into today's stories, if you're a
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Speaker 1: fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Deliberated Story format,
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Speaker 1: of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into our first
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Speaker 1: story called Dream Car. At 8 a.m. on June 8, 2015,
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Speaker 1: 72-year-old James Lee Rogers parked his beautiful red Corvette in
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Speaker 1: the parking lot of a Waffle House in Port Arthur, Texas.
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Speaker 1: And as he pulled that car into the lot, I mean, James,
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Speaker 1: he just felt so proud to be driving this vehicle.
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Speaker 1: This was a 2007 C6 Chevy Corvette, pristine condition, and
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Speaker 1: it was exactly the car that James had been dreaming
1:33
Speaker 1: about like his whole life. I mean, it drove amazing.
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Speaker 1: It looked incredible. And more than that, it had all
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Speaker 1: these modern elements to it. I mean, it didn't even
1:43
Speaker 1: have regular door handles. Everything was like push buttons and electric.
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Speaker 1: I mean, to him, owning this car was like owning
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Speaker 1: a really flashy sports car. And he thought that, you know,
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Speaker 1: anybody who saw him driving it, they knew this guy
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Speaker 1: had made it. And on top of having this really
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Speaker 1: cool car... James also had like a pretty awesome life
2:03
Speaker 1: here in Port Arthur. I mean, he had lots of
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Speaker 1: family in the area. He had grown up here. He
2:07
Speaker 1: loved living here. But he also really loved this particular
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Speaker 1: Waffle House. It was where he went basically every morning
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Speaker 1: in his flashy car to get his coffee. But, you know,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't just their coffee that he was drawn to.
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Speaker 1: It was the waitstaff. It was the regulars who went
2:23
Speaker 1: to this Waffle House. This had become like a sort
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Speaker 1: of second home for him. And he really looked forward
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Speaker 1: to coming here basically every day. And so he parks
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Speaker 1: his Corvette, he gets out, and before he walks into
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Speaker 1: the restaurant, he has to tell his dog, he brought
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Speaker 1: his dog along, Leia, this cute little dog, to stay
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Speaker 1: in the car because the dog was not allowed in
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Speaker 1: the Waffle House. You know, this was something he knew,
2:44
Speaker 1: but it was going to be quick. So he told Leia,
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Speaker 1: you know, to be a good girl and stay in
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Speaker 1: the car. Don't rip it up. You know, this is
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Speaker 1: his dream car. She was a very good dog. And
2:53
Speaker 1: so she sat down, he shut the doors, you know,
2:56
Speaker 1: used the electric push buttons to do it. And then
2:59
Speaker 1: once he knew his dog was secure, into the restaurant
3:01
Speaker 1: he went. Once he got inside, James took his usual
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Speaker 1: seat at the counter where his friend MJ was already sitting.
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Speaker 1: MJ was in his 60s, and like James, he was
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Speaker 1: also a fixture at this Waffle House. And so the
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Speaker 1: two immediately began chit-chatting about the weather and their kids.
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Speaker 1: And then at some point, James ordered his coffee and
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Speaker 1: used that as a chance to catch up with some
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Speaker 1: of the waitstaff that he spoke to every morning. And
3:25
Speaker 1: then eventually, more regulars began filtering in and out, and
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Speaker 1: James made a point to chat with them and laugh
3:30
Speaker 1: with them as well. I mean, again, this was like
3:32
Speaker 1: his second home. And in fact, on this particular day,
3:35
Speaker 1: there were so many people that he wanted to talk
3:37
Speaker 1: to coming in and out of the restaurant that he decided,
3:40
Speaker 1: you know what, my dog's fine out there. You know,
3:42
Speaker 1: I've only been in here for a few minutes. I'm
3:44
Speaker 1: going to order some food as well. However, right after
3:46
Speaker 1: James ordered his food, He turned and he looked out
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Speaker 1: the window into the parking lot. And even though he
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Speaker 1: couldn't actually see his Corvette, he could see that it
3:55
Speaker 1: was extremely sunny and very hot outside. Like he knew
3:59
Speaker 1: that when he showed up. But I mean, he's looking
4:01
Speaker 1: out there and it just looks like a desert out there.
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Speaker 1: It's so hot and like there's nobody out there. It's
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Speaker 1: just cars getting blasted by the sun. And he's thinking
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Speaker 1: like Leia's out there. And even though he had had
4:11
Speaker 1: the AC on when he pulled up and so, you know,
4:14
Speaker 1: likely his Corvette was still a little bit cool. there
4:17
Speaker 1: was no way that it was particularly comfortable in his
4:19
Speaker 1: car right now. And so before his food showed up,
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Speaker 1: James turned to MJ and just said, hey, I'm going
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Speaker 1: to be right back. You want to just like hold
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Speaker 1: my seat? I'm going to go out and check on something.
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Speaker 1: And MJ, who was kind of busy talking to other people,
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Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, go ahead. I'll save your seat. And
4:34
Speaker 1: then James left the restaurant to go check on Leo.
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Speaker 1: And so James, after leaving the Waffle House, he sort
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Speaker 1: of ran around the corner out of view of where
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Speaker 1: he had been sitting. And he went over to his
4:44
Speaker 1: his beautiful dream car. And as soon as he walked
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Speaker 1: up to the window, he could see that Leia was,
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Speaker 1: you know, very excited inside, happy to see James again. And,
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Speaker 1: you know, just for good measure, even though he now
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Speaker 1: knew his dog's okay, he climbed inside the driver's seat
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Speaker 1: and shut the door and he turned around and he
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Speaker 1: pet his dog and just, he could tell the temperature
5:02
Speaker 1: inside the car was not that bad. And so he
5:04
Speaker 1: was only going to be in the restaurant for another 15,
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Speaker 1: 20 minutes tops. She'd be okay. However, after only having
5:11
Speaker 1: sat inside his car for a matter of maybe like
5:13
Speaker 1: 30 or 60 seconds, he felt himself getting really hot.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it was definitely not cool inside the car
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Speaker 1: and the sun's burning through the windows. And he just
5:23
Speaker 1: was like, you know what? This is not responsible to
5:25
Speaker 1: leave my dog in here. I can't do this. And
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Speaker 1: so even though he had placed his order for food,
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Speaker 1: he figured he could go in there, cancel the order.
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Speaker 1: He was a regular. They'd understand, you know, he could
5:34
Speaker 1: have one more sip of coffee, but that was it.
5:37
Speaker 1: He needed to get back out here. and basically put
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Speaker 1: the AC back on and get him and his dog
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Speaker 1: back into the comforts of their own home. But when
5:45
Speaker 1: James pushed that super fancy button on his car door
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Speaker 1: that he was sort of so proud of how modern
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Speaker 1: his vehicle was, when he pushed it to open his door,
5:54
Speaker 1: nothing happened. And so James, like he's just staring at
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Speaker 1: the door in confusion because this has never happened before.
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Speaker 1: And so he starts pushing it a few more times.
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Speaker 1: But again, nothing happened. And then after a few moments
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Speaker 1: when this car door was not budging... James reached across
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Speaker 1: and started pushing the button on the passenger side door
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Speaker 1: to see if maybe it was just an issue with
6:14
Speaker 1: his door. But no, that door wouldn't open either. And
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Speaker 1: so finally, he decided he would just try to turn
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Speaker 1: the car on to see if maybe that would help.
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Speaker 1: But he couldn't get his car to turn on. The
6:26
Speaker 1: Corvette was completely dead. And James had no idea why.
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Speaker 1: But he knew this was not good. Because, you know,
6:34
Speaker 1: this car, because it's so modern... didn't have normal handles.
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Speaker 1: They really were all electric, all buttons. And so if
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Speaker 1: these buttons aren't working and all the windows are up, like,
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Speaker 1: what do you do? How do you get out? And
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Speaker 1: so James, he's starting to stress out about like, what's
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Speaker 1: going to happen here? Like, is he going to have
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Speaker 1: to break a window of his beloved vehicle here? Is
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Speaker 1: that what he's going to have to do? And also
6:56
Speaker 1: how crazy is that? How could he have wound up
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Speaker 1: in this position? But also the sun is just burning
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Speaker 1: through the glass and he's suddenly becoming really aware of
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Speaker 1: just how hot It was getting inside of his car. Like,
7:08
Speaker 1: this is sort of becoming an emergency really quickly. I mean,
7:12
Speaker 1: because again, he can't even turn on the car, so
7:14
Speaker 1: he can't turn on the AC. He's like inside of
7:17
Speaker 1: an oven at this point. And so James instinctively reached
7:20
Speaker 1: for where his phone would normally be, but it wasn't there.
7:24
Speaker 1: And that's when he remembered he had left his phone
7:26
Speaker 1: inside the Waffle House. When he had gone in earlier,
7:29
Speaker 1: it was low on charge and he had handed it
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Speaker 1: off to one of the waitstaff to go plug in somewhere.
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Speaker 1: And so his phone's inside. He has no way to
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Speaker 1: contact anyone. But luckily, right at that point, James looked
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Speaker 1: out the corner of his eye and he saw a
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Speaker 1: couple walking out of the Waffle House. And he's like, oh,
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Speaker 1: thank goodness. Someone's coming out. I can get their attention.
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Speaker 1: They can come over here and get me out of here.
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Speaker 1: Or at least, you know, call someone who can. And
7:53
Speaker 1: so he starts waving, you know, through the front windshield
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Speaker 1: at this couple as they're sort of walking generally in
7:58
Speaker 1: his direction. But they clearly didn't see him. Like the
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Speaker 1: sun is glaring off the glass, kind of making it
8:03
Speaker 1: hard to see inside. And so James is sort of
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Speaker 1: realizing this and he's becoming more and more desperate as
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Speaker 1: he and his dog are getting more and more overheated.
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Speaker 1: And so he began leaning on the horn to get
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Speaker 1: their attention that way. But no sound came out of
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Speaker 1: his Corvette because the horn was powered by electricity. And again,
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Speaker 1: the car is dead. And so James now is getting frantic.
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Speaker 1: He's banging on the windows. He's screaming to them. But
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Speaker 1: this is a nice car. It's totally soundproof inside. Again,
8:32
Speaker 1: there's the glare from the sun and the glass. The
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Speaker 1: windows are partially tinted. They can't see or hear him.
8:39
Speaker 1: And so this couple eventually comes right near his vehicle.
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Speaker 1: They climb in their car and they drive away without
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Speaker 1: ever noticing him. Once they were gone, James told himself that,
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Speaker 1: you know what, this is a busy area and Lots
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Speaker 1: of people come in and out of this Waffle House.
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Speaker 1: Someone's going to see us. Someone's going to get us
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Speaker 1: out of this car. And so for the next several minutes,
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Speaker 1: James looked all around him, looking for anybody walking through
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Speaker 1: this parking lot, looking for people come out of the
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Speaker 1: Waffle House. And anybody who came even close to his vehicle,
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Speaker 1: he would scream and yell and bang and do anything
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Speaker 1: he could to get their attention. But nobody noticed him.
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Speaker 1: Like no one could see or hear him. And now
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Speaker 1: James and his dog were really starting to struggle. with
9:20
Speaker 1: the heat inside of this vehicle. It really was like
9:23
Speaker 1: they were trapped inside of an oven. And so eventually,
9:26
Speaker 1: when it seemed like no one was going to notice them,
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Speaker 1: James just began frantically looking around the interior of his
9:32
Speaker 1: car for a toolkit. He thought he had left a
9:35
Speaker 1: toolkit in here somewhere, you know, in case of emergencies.
9:39
Speaker 1: And he's thinking, you know, maybe there was a tool
9:41
Speaker 1: in there he could use to maybe jimmy open one
9:43
Speaker 1: of the doors, or if he had to, he could
9:45
Speaker 1: maybe use something heavy in the toolkit to break a
9:48
Speaker 1: window just to get out that way. And so eventually
9:51
Speaker 1: in the backseat near Leia, he found this toolkit, but
9:54
Speaker 1: when he cracked it open, he was disappointed because it
9:57
Speaker 1: really didn't have anything that useful. There were some pliers,
10:00
Speaker 1: there were some jumper cables and a flashlight. But, you know, James,
10:04
Speaker 1: he still took the pliers and he jammed the head
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Speaker 1: of the pliers into the crack of the driver's side
10:09
Speaker 1: door to attempt to basically wrench open the door. But
10:13
Speaker 1: the pliers were very thin. And so he didn't budge
10:16
Speaker 1: the door at all. And he used a lot of
10:18
Speaker 1: energy trying to, you know, force the door open. And remember,
10:22
Speaker 1: it's like blisteringly hot inside of the vehicle at this point.
10:26
Speaker 1: And it's getting harder and harder to breathe. Like Leah's
10:29
Speaker 1: struggling to breathe. James is, you know, drenched in sweat.
10:32
Speaker 1: And so he drops the pliers and he just has
10:34
Speaker 1: this huge wave of anxiety come over him that like,
10:38
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, like, is this it? Are we going
10:40
Speaker 1: to die in here? And so as like this crushing
10:48
Speaker 1: reality is coming down on him, James has this adrenaline
10:52
Speaker 1: surge and he leans back in his seat and he
10:55
Speaker 1: starts kicking as hard as he can against the glass
10:58
Speaker 1: with his feet to try to break open the windshield
11:00
Speaker 1: or kick open the driver's side window. But amazingly, despite
11:05
Speaker 1: all of his energy going into this, he didn't crack
11:08
Speaker 1: the window at all. Like it felt like he was
11:09
Speaker 1: kicking a concrete wall. There was no budge, nothing. And
11:13
Speaker 1: so again, after exerting even more energy and now sweating
11:16
Speaker 1: even more, and it's getting harder and harder to breathe,
11:19
Speaker 1: James took those pliers and he's like, he's really gassed.
11:22
Speaker 1: He can barely breathe. And he starts smashing the head
11:25
Speaker 1: of the pliers into the window. That didn't do anything.
11:28
Speaker 1: So it's like, I can't do anything. to get out
11:30
Speaker 1: of this vehicle. And so James, he sort of just
11:33
Speaker 1: like lays back in the driver's seat, which he had
11:35
Speaker 1: reclined at this point. And he's just, he's panting. He
11:37
Speaker 1: can barely breathe. He's opened up his shirt a little
11:39
Speaker 1: bit and he's looking back at his dog and she's
11:42
Speaker 1: really struggling. And he's just like, I can't believe this
11:44
Speaker 1: is happening. And as he's laying there, he sort of
11:47
Speaker 1: looks towards the front of the car and his eyes
11:50
Speaker 1: land on the glove box in front of the passenger seat.
11:53
Speaker 1: it was like, oh my goodness, how could I forget?
11:57
Speaker 1: There's a manual inside of there. There has got to
12:00
Speaker 1: be instructions for what to do if your car dies.
12:03
Speaker 1: There's got to be a way to get out. Like
12:06
Speaker 1: it's got to be in that manual. And so suddenly
12:08
Speaker 1: having all this energy, James sat up, he opened up
12:11
Speaker 1: the glove box and he pulled out this manual that
12:14
Speaker 1: he had never read before. I mean, he had no
12:16
Speaker 1: reason to, but He opened it up and he began
12:19
Speaker 1: looking through it, looking for, you know, the section that
12:21
Speaker 1: would explain what to do in case of, you know,
12:24
Speaker 1: total power outage and you're stuck inside the vehicle. But
12:28
Speaker 1: like as he's looking at the pages, like his vision's swimming,
12:31
Speaker 1: it's so hot, he's so tired and he just, it's
12:35
Speaker 1: all this little text, it's hundreds and hundreds of pages.
12:38
Speaker 1: And like nothing explained the situation. It was like so
12:41
Speaker 1: not user friendly. And so James, he's flipping through all
12:45
Speaker 1: these pages and even just the act of turning the
12:48
Speaker 1: page was becoming so laborious. Like he is just beginning
12:51
Speaker 1: to shut down. I mean, he's basically dying inside of
12:55
Speaker 1: an oven and he can barely turn the page. And
12:57
Speaker 1: then before long, after about a quarter of the way through,
13:00
Speaker 1: it's like he couldn't see anymore. And he literally just
13:03
Speaker 1: like he couldn't turn the page anymore. He had no
13:06
Speaker 1: strength left. MJ, so James's buddy, the guy in his
13:10
Speaker 1: 60s who was also a regular at the Waffle House,
13:13
Speaker 1: he's inside the Waffle House. He's having his breakfast and
13:16
Speaker 1: his coffee. He knew James had stepped out. You know,
13:18
Speaker 1: he was going to be right back, and he did
13:20
Speaker 1: not come right back. But he figured, no big deal. Like,
13:22
Speaker 1: you know, he probably got caught up with something. Maybe
13:24
Speaker 1: he forgot that he had ordered food. But, you know, MJ,
13:27
Speaker 1: he's got all these reasons for why James has not
13:29
Speaker 1: come back to the restaurant. And also, MJ, being a regular,
13:33
Speaker 1: he's chatting it up with other people. He's not really
13:36
Speaker 1: even aware of the fact that James has not come
13:38
Speaker 1: back inside the Waffle House. And eventually, after MJ had
13:42
Speaker 1: had his coffee and his food, he's getting ready to
13:45
Speaker 1: maybe make an exit himself when two employees come running
13:49
Speaker 1: in the front door of the Waffle House. And so
13:51
Speaker 1: everybody turns to these employees who clearly are sort of
13:54
Speaker 1: making a scene here. And they're like, what? What's going on?
13:57
Speaker 1: And the employees, they're like, we just saw James. He's
14:00
Speaker 1: asleep in his car and we can't open the doors.
14:03
Speaker 1: We slammed on the windows, but he's not reacting. At
14:06
Speaker 1: this point, MJ felt sick to his stomach because he
14:10
Speaker 1: suddenly realized when he looked at his watch, it had
14:12
Speaker 1: been four hours since James had gone outside saying he'd
14:17
Speaker 1: be right back. Now, MJ, you know, he got caught
14:19
Speaker 1: up doing other things and he was in here all
14:21
Speaker 1: the time. He loved being here. Time flew when he
14:23
Speaker 1: was in here. But even he like didn't understand how
14:27
Speaker 1: much time had passed. And he's thinking like, oh my gosh,
14:30
Speaker 1: what's happened to James? And so MJ jumps out of
14:34
Speaker 1: his seat and he runs outside into the blistering heat.
14:37
Speaker 1: He goes around the corner to the red Corvette. He sees,
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, through the tinted glass, there's James inside of
14:43
Speaker 1: the vehicle. He starts hitting on the window, but there's
14:47
Speaker 1: no answer. You know, James isn't moving. And so MJ
14:50
Speaker 1: calls 9-1-1. It would turn out, when James bought the
14:54
Speaker 1: red Corvette, I mean, it really was like his dream car.
14:57
Speaker 1: He fell in love with it. I mean, it was beautiful.
14:59
Speaker 1: It was flashy. It oozed status. It had all this
15:03
Speaker 1: new tech. It looked so expensive. I mean, it was perfect.
15:07
Speaker 1: And James, I mean, he didn't just, you know, buy
15:09
Speaker 1: this car and that was it. I mean, after he
15:11
Speaker 1: had it, he obsessed over it. He learned every little
15:15
Speaker 1: detail about it. He took great care of it. He
15:18
Speaker 1: drove it everywhere. I mean, this was like his child.
15:22
Speaker 1: But despite, you know, really obsessing over the car, he
15:27
Speaker 1: never learned one really important thing about this car, which
15:32
Speaker 1: is what do you do if you happen to be
15:34
Speaker 1: inside of the vehicle with the windows rolled up and
15:38
Speaker 1: your power goes out? Because the doors are not regular doors.
15:41
Speaker 1: They're powered by buttons. They're electrical. And if you have
15:44
Speaker 1: no power, you can't open them, as he found. Well,
15:47
Speaker 1: it turns out there's actually a lever under the driver's
15:49
Speaker 1: seat that once you pull it up, it pops open
15:52
Speaker 1: the driver's side door and you can get out no
15:54
Speaker 1: matter if there's electricity or not. But that information was
15:58
Speaker 1: buried on page 80 of that owner's manual that he
16:02
Speaker 1: had pulled out and begun flipping through, but he was
16:04
Speaker 1: so delirious from heat exhaustion, he couldn't get that far
16:07
Speaker 1: into the manual. He's like combing through all this really
16:10
Speaker 1: dense text. He made it about a quarter of the
16:12
Speaker 1: way through when unfortunately he and his dog Leah died
16:17
Speaker 1: from heat exhaustion. James' family filed a wrongful death case
16:21
Speaker 1: with Chevrolet, the maker of the Corvette, in 2018, but
16:25
Speaker 1: the case was dismissed. Chevrolet still makes Corvettes with these
16:29
Speaker 1: special electric doors, and there have been numerous additional incidents
16:34
Speaker 1: of people getting locked in and trapped. But in more
16:37
Speaker 1: recent Corvette models, the manuals have the information about the
16:41
Speaker 1: door's release lever much closer to the front of the manual.
17:04
Speaker 1: On the morning of August 20th, 1862, a 17-year-old farmhand
17:09
Speaker 1: named Jean Leroux carried his axe over to a stack
17:12
Speaker 1: of logs by a barn on a farm in Ottawa Township, Minnesota.
17:16
Speaker 1: As a farmhand, Jean was responsible for lots of different
17:19
Speaker 1: odd jobs, like splitting the firewood and feeding the animals
17:23
Speaker 1: and helping with the crops. Basically, Jean had to know
17:26
Speaker 1: every single inch of the farm and the woods that
17:28
Speaker 1: surrounded it and how to take care of it all.
17:32
Speaker 1: But even though he was basically constantly busy, Jean still
17:36
Speaker 1: found his mind wandering to a place that was sort
17:38
Speaker 1: of difficult, which was he felt a lot of times
17:42
Speaker 1: pretty homesick. So Jean was actually from France, and he
17:45
Speaker 1: had left behind his whole family and his previous life
17:49
Speaker 1: to come here to America, where there was supposed to
17:51
Speaker 1: be more opportunity. However, America was turning out to be
17:55
Speaker 1: a pretty violent place. country was currently fighting the Civil War.
17:59
Speaker 1: And on top of that, the area specifically where Jean
18:02
Speaker 1: lived was pretty much like the frontier. And so there
18:05
Speaker 1: were these constant territorial disputes and virtually no law enforcement.
18:10
Speaker 1: So just a really dangerous place. But more than any
18:14
Speaker 1: dangers he faced, Jean just really missed his family, especially
18:19
Speaker 1: his mom. So he spent basically every spare minute he had,
18:22
Speaker 1: which was, you sitting out in the woods by this
18:26
Speaker 1: one particular just huge, beautiful oak tree. And he would
18:30
Speaker 1: sit at the base of it and he would make
18:31
Speaker 1: journal entries about basically everything he was doing so he
18:35
Speaker 1: could track it all and know what to tell his
18:37
Speaker 1: mom when he finally got to see her again. He
18:40
Speaker 1: just wanted to tell her all about his experience. Also,
18:42
Speaker 1: just for context, Jean had saved virtually all the money
18:46
Speaker 1: he had worked so hard to acquire. And his whole
18:49
Speaker 1: plan was to eventually send that money to his mother,
18:53
Speaker 1: who he loved so very much and missed so much.
18:56
Speaker 1: But more and more, like the more homesick he became,
19:00
Speaker 1: the more he wished he could actually just go back
19:02
Speaker 1: to France and get out of America and literally hand
19:05
Speaker 1: the money to his mom and just see her again
19:07
Speaker 1: and be done with this whole America experiment. But for now,
19:11
Speaker 1: John raised his axe over his head and he brought
19:13
Speaker 1: it down on the log that he was going to split.
19:16
Speaker 1: And it did. It split open. And he raised the
19:18
Speaker 1: axe again to chop another log. But as he did,
19:22
Speaker 1: he froze. Because off in the distance, he could hear
19:25
Speaker 1: a series of repetitive booming noises, like really loud. And
19:29
Speaker 1: for Jean, I mean, immediately his heart started to race.
19:32
Speaker 1: And he was so scared because he knew what those were.
19:36
Speaker 1: I mean, those were gunshots. And he was terrified that
19:39
Speaker 1: the thing that he and really everybody else in his
19:42
Speaker 1: town had been scared of for days was now finally happening.
19:47
Speaker 1: So right on the other side of the woods that
19:49
Speaker 1: surround the farm was the Minnesota River. And over the
19:53
Speaker 1: last decade, lots of people had settled along this river
19:57
Speaker 1: and there'd been a town established right nearby and new
19:59
Speaker 1: homes were being built constantly. However, all the expansion had
20:03
Speaker 1: literally forced out the indigenous tribe who had previously lived
20:07
Speaker 1: in the area, the Sioux. And after being displaced, the
20:11
Speaker 1: Sioux had struggled to find food and a place to live,
20:14
Speaker 1: while the settlers just continued to expand and take more
20:17
Speaker 1: of their land. So finally, just two days earlier, the
20:22
Speaker 1: Sioux had had enough, and they finally retaliated, attacking settlements
20:26
Speaker 1: along that river. It was being called the Sioux Uprising,
20:30
Speaker 1: and the attack so far had been horrific. A lot
20:34
Speaker 1: of farms along that river had been burned to the
20:36
Speaker 1: ground and Their occupants had been killed right alongside it.
20:40
Speaker 1: And then just yesterday, the Sioux had attacked a city
20:44
Speaker 1: that was just 50 miles down the river from where
20:46
Speaker 1: Jean was right now. And so Jean and everybody else
20:50
Speaker 1: in this particular area had really been terrified the last
20:53
Speaker 1: 24 hours that the violence was moving in their direction
20:57
Speaker 1: towards Ottawa Township. And so now Jean, he'd put his
21:00
Speaker 1: axe down and he just stood there, you know, trembling
21:03
Speaker 1: as As the sound of gunshots continued, I mean, this
21:06
Speaker 1: was not just a few stray bullets. This was a
21:09
Speaker 1: barrage of gunfire. And so this could only mean one thing.
21:13
Speaker 1: The Sioux were here. Now, Jean couldn't tell exactly where
21:17
Speaker 1: the shooting was coming from, but he could tell it
21:19
Speaker 1: was pretty close. And so Jean knew that he likely
21:22
Speaker 1: only had maybe several minutes to gather up whatever he
21:25
Speaker 1: could of his possessions and get to safety here. before
21:29
Speaker 1: the Sioux arrived. So Jean, he bolts over to the farmhouse,
21:32
Speaker 1: goes inside, and he goes to the area inside where
21:35
Speaker 1: he slept, and he grabbed his rifle, and he also
21:37
Speaker 1: grabbed his notebook and all that cash he'd been saving
21:40
Speaker 1: for his mom. And he jammed the notebook and the
21:43
Speaker 1: cash into a satchel, and with his rifle over his shoulder,
21:46
Speaker 1: he ran back outside. And then once he was outside,
21:49
Speaker 1: he sprinted right towards the tree line at the edge
21:51
Speaker 1: of the property. And after running for a little while,
21:53
Speaker 1: Jean finally stopped to catch his breath and to listen
21:57
Speaker 1: to see if there was more gunfire. As he sat
21:59
Speaker 1: there listening, he couldn't hear anything. But that's when he realized, like,
22:03
Speaker 1: he's all alone out here. If the Sioux came charging
22:06
Speaker 1: through the trees right now, he wouldn't stand a chance,
22:09
Speaker 1: even with his rifle. But Jean had an advantage. He
22:13
Speaker 1: knew these woods like the back of his hand. He
22:15
Speaker 1: was in here all the time. And because of that,
22:18
Speaker 1: he knew exactly where to go to find safety. About
22:24
Speaker 1: an hour later, Jean's boss and the owner of the farm,
22:27
Speaker 1: Edward Gleek, hustled from his farmhouse towards town. Mr. Gleek
22:31
Speaker 1: had also heard the gunshots. I mean, basically everybody in
22:34
Speaker 1: town had. And he had come running out of the
22:36
Speaker 1: barn just in time to see his farmhand, Jean Leroux,
22:41
Speaker 1: bolting off into the woods. And, you know, Mr. Gleek,
22:43
Speaker 1: he didn't blame the kid. He was also horrified by
22:46
Speaker 1: the recent attacks and was also very worried that those
22:49
Speaker 1: shots they were hearing were a sign that trouble had
22:52
Speaker 1: finally arrived in their town. But after all these gunshots...
22:56
Speaker 1: no Sioux warriors showed up in town. And so now Mr.
22:59
Speaker 1: Gleek was heading to the town center to see what
23:02
Speaker 1: had actually happened. Like, what were those gunshots? Now, Mr.
23:05
Speaker 1: Gleek had sort of accepted that this could have been
23:08
Speaker 1: something totally benign, or it could have been the Sioux.
23:11
Speaker 1: He didn't know. But he was just going to find out.
23:13
Speaker 1: He was rational. He was calm, despite, you know, the
23:16
Speaker 1: risks here. But when he got into the town center,
23:20
Speaker 1: I mean, all he could see was just chaos. Many
23:24
Speaker 1: of the area's residents were out running around carrying trunks
23:27
Speaker 1: and bags and all their belongings like they were fleeing
23:31
Speaker 1: the area, much like Mr. Gleek's farmhand, Jean Leroux, had
23:34
Speaker 1: looked like he was doing. However, it didn't take long
23:37
Speaker 1: for Mr. Gleek to hear what had happened, and it
23:39
Speaker 1: was not an attack by the Sioux. Those people running
23:42
Speaker 1: around like maniacs, you know, fleeing the area, they just
23:46
Speaker 1: hadn't heard the real story yet. They were sort of
23:48
Speaker 1: operating like there was an attack coming. So apparently, a
23:52
Speaker 1: group of American soldiers had been riding on a boat
23:56
Speaker 1: up the Minnesota River, and for some reason, they'd just
23:59
Speaker 1: gotten overly excited and began firing their guns repeatedly. So
24:03
Speaker 1: those were gunshots. And unfortunately, because they were gunshots, they
24:07
Speaker 1: completely freaked out all the residents around the river because
24:12
Speaker 1: of this growing threat of the Sioux attacking. But fortunately,
24:16
Speaker 1: at least in this case, there were no attacks. This
24:18
Speaker 1: was just you know, an unfortunate event. And so after
24:22
Speaker 1: hearing this, Mr. Gleek went back to his farm to
24:25
Speaker 1: find John and tell him that, you know, everything was
24:27
Speaker 1: actually just fine. But when he got there, John still
24:31
Speaker 1: had not come back yet. And when Mr. Gleek went
24:34
Speaker 1: into the woods to go look around for him, he
24:36
Speaker 1: couldn't find him. Now, Mr. Gleek figured that John would
24:39
Speaker 1: eventually find out what happened, much like everybody else in town.
24:43
Speaker 1: I mean, not everyone had the news yet. And so
24:45
Speaker 1: at some point that day, he was bound to return.
24:48
Speaker 1: But by the time night fell, Jean still had not
24:51
Speaker 1: come back. And then the next day, Jean didn't come back.
24:55
Speaker 1: And the next day, and the next day, he just
24:58
Speaker 1: didn't come back. And so finally, after repeatedly searching his
25:01
Speaker 1: property and asking all over town if anybody had seen Jean, Mr.
25:07
Speaker 1: Glick finally came to the conclusion that Jean must have
25:10
Speaker 1: fled because of this, the Sioux attack, and then likely
25:14
Speaker 1: gone back to France to be with his mother, something
25:16
Speaker 1: he knew was he wanted to do anyways. Maybe this
25:19
Speaker 1: was his excuse. 57 years later, on a morning in
25:23
Speaker 1: July of 1919, Mr. Gleek sat on his porch looking
25:27
Speaker 1: out over his farm, the same farm that Jean had
25:30
Speaker 1: been a farmhand for 57 years earlier. Mr. Gleek was
25:34
Speaker 1: old now, and so he could no longer actually physically
25:36
Speaker 1: work on the farm himself. So instead, he had to
25:39
Speaker 1: hire entire crews to do various jobs. And in fact,
25:43
Speaker 1: right now, he had a whole bunch of workers out
25:45
Speaker 1: in the woods working clearing away some dead brush for him.
25:48
Speaker 1: And so as Mr. Gleek is just kind of surveying
25:50
Speaker 1: his property, he notices a worker come running out of
25:54
Speaker 1: the tree line and starts waving at Mr. Gleek really frantically,
25:57
Speaker 1: like he had something really important to say. And then
26:00
Speaker 1: as the man got closer, Mr. Gleek could see that
26:04
Speaker 1: this worker looked terrified. And before Mr. Gleek could ask
26:08
Speaker 1: what had happened, the worker, whose face was, you know,
26:11
Speaker 1: white as a ghost, said Mr. Gleek needed to come
26:14
Speaker 1: and see something. And so Mr. Gleek, who was, you know,
26:16
Speaker 1: very intrigued at this point, managed to haul himself up
26:19
Speaker 1: and he slowly hobbled off into the woods with this worker.
26:23
Speaker 1: And as he got to where the rest of the
26:25
Speaker 1: crew was inside the forest, he saw that they were
26:28
Speaker 1: all mostly gathered around this very large, recently downed oak tree.
26:32
Speaker 1: And the whole group was very quiet and tense. And
26:36
Speaker 1: they were all just staring at a section of this
26:38
Speaker 1: tree that had split open. When Mr. Gleek joined the
26:41
Speaker 1: group and looked at this particular section of the trunk
26:44
Speaker 1: of this tree, this hollow part, at first he didn't
26:47
Speaker 1: even know what he was staring at. It was just
26:49
Speaker 1: this hollowed out sort of split section of the tree,
26:52
Speaker 1: and there was a few items that didn't belong there
26:54
Speaker 1: that were inside of it, like a cachet of sorts.
26:59
Speaker 1: But then he sort of fixated on one particular item,
27:03
Speaker 1: and that's when he understood why the group was just
27:06
Speaker 1: so stunned. And as he stared and sort of took
27:09
Speaker 1: in what he was seeing, he suddenly became utterly horrified.
27:14
Speaker 1: It would turn out when Jean ran off into the
27:16
Speaker 1: woods 57 years earlier, he used his intimate knowledge of
27:21
Speaker 1: the farmland and the surrounding woods to escape what he
27:24
Speaker 1: thought was a very dangerous situation. And he did that
27:28
Speaker 1: by hiding. Jean knew that that oak tree where he
27:31
Speaker 1: would always go when he would write in his notebook
27:33
Speaker 1: happened to have a hollow trunk. figured he'd be just
27:37
Speaker 1: the right size to crawl inside of there and stay
27:41
Speaker 1: in there hidden until the Sioux were gone. And so
27:44
Speaker 1: Jean had made it to the tree and he had
27:46
Speaker 1: wedged himself inside of there totally out of view. And
27:50
Speaker 1: then unfortunately, he got stuck. From inside the trunk of
27:54
Speaker 1: the tree, Jean had managed to write one last letter
27:57
Speaker 1: to Mr. Gleek saying that he couldn't get out. He
28:00
Speaker 1: was stuck. And if he did die here, please give
28:04
Speaker 1: all his money to his mother in France. And so
28:07
Speaker 1: decades later, when Mr. Gleek's workers cut that big oak
28:10
Speaker 1: tree down, what they found inside of the hollow trunk
28:13
Speaker 1: was Jean's gun, his money, his notebook, and his mummified body.
28:24
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching today's episode. Let me
28:27
Speaker 1: know what you thought of it in the comments below.
28:29
Speaker 1: And remember, we have a whole playlist of Places You
28:32
Speaker 1: Can't Go episodes ready for you to binge right now.
28:36
Speaker 1: So go ahead and click here and give them a watch.
28:39
Speaker 1: All right, until next time, see ya.