Risky Business (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

0:00Today, I'm going to share four stories about people who took big career risks in order to be as successful as possible. But in each case, the risk did not pay off. But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come to the right place because that's all we do, and we upload two, three, even four times every week. So, if that's of interest to you, please give the follow button a beautiful red velvet cake. But don't tell them that the red in the cake is actually from ketchup. Okay, let's get into our first story called Lawyer's New Career.

0:55The story of Southern New Hampshire University started in 1932 above a small storefront. Almost a century later, SNHU offers over 200 degree programs online. There are no set class times, so learning fits around your schedule, and courses are career-focused to help strengthen your skills. But the best part of the story? SNHU's online tuition rates are some of the lowest in the entire country. This could be your next chapter. Visit snhu.edu slash Mr. Ballin today.

1:52Mr. Ballin and see promo details. See ahs.com slash contracts for coverage details, including service fees, limitations, and exclusions. Around noon on May 29, 1975, a 26-year-old man named Homer B. Lawyer Jr. left the store where he worked as a shoe salesman in Miami, Florida for his lunch break, and he walked down the street. He tried not to rush or look like he was in a hurry, but the truth was, He was extremely antsy as he walked along here. And the reason for that is he knew that soon he would either be rich or in jail. Because Homer was actually on his way to rob his very first bank. So Homer had decided that he was done being a shoe salesman.

2:37He didn't make nearly enough money, and it was just so boring. I mean, every single day felt the same, and again, there's like no money in it. And so for the last couple of weeks, Homer had been trying to think of a way to make lots of money really quickly that might also be kind of exciting along the way. Hence how he landed on robbing a bank. And it just so happened there was a bank right around the corner from his work that he decided would be his first target. Now, Homer was aware that he was brand new to robbing banks here. So, you know, before he actually stepped out to go do this thing, he'd put a lot of thought into how to actually do it.

3:15He'd spent days preparing for this by mulling over and scribbling down ideas and plans until he'd finally landed on what he felt was the best way to pull this thing off. And so now, as he rounded the corner and he saw the bank up ahead, his stomach fluttered with nerves. But he took a breath and told himself that he had a solid plan in place. And the risk was definitely going to be worth the reward. Seconds later, Homer walked into the mostly empty bank with one hand in his pocket. He had a finger stretched out so that it looked like he had a weapon in his pocket, a gun. But he was not armed. He was just hoping to fool people into thinking he was armed.

3:56And so with his hand conspicuously located in his pocket, he headed over to the short line where one other customer was at the counter being helped by the only bank teller on duty. And so Homer, you know, doing his best to stay calm. He waited his turn. And then when the other customer was done and had left the bank, Homer walked up to the teller and handed her a note that said he had a gun and he was robbing this bank. And now she just needed to give him all the cash in her register. Homer watched as the teller read this note and then got this terrified look on her face, like it suddenly sunk in what was happening here.

4:33Then, as calmly as she could, because now she was really frightened and very on edge, she set the note aside, and then with shaking hands, she unlocked a drawer and began pulling out all these stacks of bills from inside of it. And then when she was done pulling all this cash out, she put it into a bag and then slid the bag over to Homer. And for a second, Homer just stared at this bag. I mean, at first, he was just totally thrilled that his plan had even worked here. I mean, he was confident, but this is amazing. I can't believe this is going so well. But he quickly snapped out of his elation here, and he realized that the bank robbery is far from over here.

5:11Like, right now, he needs to take this money and get out of here as fast as he can. So he grabbed the bag with his free hand. He's still got the other hand in his pocket, pretending there's a gun there. He grabs the bag, he turns, and he sprints out of the bank. And as soon as he was outside, he just kept on running until he was a few blocks away. And at that point, he stopped, and he turned around to look and to listen. But amazingly, there weren't any police following him or he didn't see any. And there weren't any sirens in the distance. And so Homer relaxed because he knew he was safe and that he'd been right to give robbing banks a try.

5:47I mean, he was a natural. And now there was no way he'd be going back to his boring shoe sales job ever again. The next day when Homer woke up, I mean, he felt the best he had ever felt in his life. This successful robbery was like the best thing he had ever done. And so with a big grin on his face, he decided he would leave his house and he would head out and treat himself to a nice expensive breakfast and maybe then after that go spend some more of that new hard-earned money on whatever he wanted because he was rich now. So with a pep in his step, he walked around the house, he got himself dressed and ready to go, and then he headed out the front door out onto the street.

6:28But as soon as he did, he found himself completely surrounded by a swarm of Miami police officers and FBI agents. So, it would turn out, somewhat unbelievably, that Homer was not actually a natural at robbing banks. He had robbed a bank in broad daylight, close to his work, and without even wearing a mask or any sort of disguise. He had just sort of gone in there and done it. And while those are all things that could have gotten him caught, and likely would have gotten him caught, the actual reason he got caught so quickly after the robbery was because of one very avoidable and truly just completely idiotic mistake that he made.

7:12So when Homer fled the bank, he was so intent on getting out of there as fast as he could that he had forgotten to grab the note that he had given to the teller with him. He had left it on the counter. That note had been written on the back of some scrap paper that Homer had been using in the days prior to the robbery to scribble down all his ideas and thoughts about the robbery. And one of the things that Homer, in all his thoroughness, had written down on that scrap piece of paper included his own extremely distinctive name. So when the investigators arrived at the bank to take the teller's statement, the one who was actually robbed by Homer and try to collect some evidence, the bank teller literally just handed them that note with the robber's full name on it and also clearly their intention to come and rob this bank.

8:05Like, it was basically, my name is Homer and I'm going to rob this bank. Here's how I'm going to do it. Like, that's what he gave the teller, in essence. And so using that note, the police located Homer pretty much immediately and arrested him.

8:20Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories is brought to you by FanDuel. Baseball fans, think you know who's hitting a homer today? Well, FanDuel is giving you a free chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers. Before I make my Daily Dingers picks, I take a minute to look over the day's matchups and see who's been swinging a hot bat, who's got a favorable pitching matchup, things like that. It's a quick, fun part of my baseball routine. Joining the action is easy. Just make your free pick on who's hitting a home run in their game, and if you're right, you'll get a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings.

8:54You've got nothing to lose and a lot to gain. And don't forget, you can make a free pick every day during the MLB season. It's just another reason why FanDuel is the home for home runs. So, are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at FanDuel.com. That's FanDuel.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer. Play ball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of the MLB. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. For Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required.

9:27Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com slash RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpline ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York. For kids, summer means freedom. And as adults, summer still means freedom thanks to Mint Mobile Summer Sale. Right now, all of Mint's plans are$15 per month, even unlimited.

10:03Free yourself from big wireless and switch to Mint for high-speed data and coverage on the T-Mobile 5G network. Personally, one thing I've really appreciated about Mint Mobile is that it just quietly does what it's supposed to do. I get reliable service, solid coverage, and I don't find myself thinking about my phone bill nearly as much as I did. It's one of those things that's simple, dependable, and really easy to stick with. To get your new wireless plan for just$15 a month, go to mintmobile.com slash mrballin. That's mintmobile.com slash mrballin. Cut your wireless bill to$15 a month at mintmobile.com slash mrballin.

10:41That's it. There's no catch. Upfront payment of$45 for 3 months,$90 for 6 months, or$180 for 12 months. Plan required,$15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra, initial plan term only, greater than 50GB may slow when network is busy. Includes up to 20GB hotspot, capable device required, availability, speed, and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. No matter which room or area of your home you want to curate the perfect setup for, shop furniture and decor that stand up to real life at Wayfair. So I spend a lot of time telling stories, but before any of that happens, I do a lot of research.

11:21And when I buy furnishings for my house, I do the same. We had a couple of these outdoor spaces at our house that we just couldn't quite figure out what to do with. So after some diligence, some research, we picked out an outdoor dining set, lounge chairs, a fire pit, and poolside chases from Wayfair. And it totally transformed all the spaces and came together exactly the way we hoped. And so now, those same areas have become our favorite places for outdoor gatherings before back-to-school comes around. At Wayfair, you'll find quality materials that are built to last, and you'll find options that fit your style and budget.

11:56Plus, shop Wayfair Verified, your shortcut to durable pieces hand-vetted by product specialists using a 10-point quality inspection, testing things like quality of materials, functionality and features, and even how long it takes to build. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5 % back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to Wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com. Wayfair. Every style, every home. Wayfair. Every style, every home.

12:29Our next story is called The Destiny Ring.

12:37On an afternoon in early June of 1938, a 21-year-old actor named Jack Dunn paced nervously around the lobby of a film studio in Los Angeles, California, waiting to be called into the next room. Jack was incredibly anxious, and as he paced around, he kept stopping in front of this mirror to adjust his outfit and fiddle with the ring on his finger. So Jack was actually being considered for a lead role in a major motion picture. And he was about to do this one final audition. This one would be on camera. To prove to the film's producers that he was the guy for the job and not the others. And this was a job that Jack not only wanted, but I mean, he desperately needed it.

13:19Even though Jack was young, he had been trying to make it as an actor out here in Hollywood for years. But everything he'd auditioned for or had actually been cast in had invariably fallen through. So he hadn't actually been in a movie yet. And so he was starting to feel like if he didn't get a big break soon, he would literally just run out of money. And then he'd have to go back to England where he was from. But if he got this part, the one he was auditioning for today, I mean, there was no question in his mind that it would launch him not just into a viable career out here in Hollywood, but perhaps superstardom.

13:56Because this film was a biopic about the life of this Italian actor, Rudolph Valentino, who was a massive movie star from the 1920s who'd had millions and millions of obsessive fans and he was considered at the time to be like the biggest sex symbol in Hollywood. Now, Rudolph had unfortunately died young and sort of unexpectedly at just 31 years old from this sudden illness. But his sudden passing had actually made him even more legendary and more beloved. So this was like a very iconic film to be involved with. Now, Jack had never met or gotten to know Rudolph. But from what he'd heard about him, they had a lot in common.

14:40They were both tall, dark, and handsome, and they were both immigrants and accomplished athletes. Jack had been an ice skater, and Rudolph had been a dancer. Now, Jack hoped the producers also could see these similarities as well. But he knew even if they did, that still wouldn't be enough to get him the part. Rudolph was singular and special, and so Jack really needed to actually become him if he wanted a shot at this role. So today, for this screen test, Jack had dressed up like Rudolph and put on a very expensive, flashy outfit since that's the kind of thing that Rudolph liked to wear. And Jack had even gone one step further and managed to get a hold of this vintage ring that Rudolph himself had actually owned.

15:25It had this huge yellow stone and this really ornate platinum setting. and apparently at some point in the history of this ring, in part because Rudolph had owned it, it had gotten this sort of over-the-top nickname. It was called the Destiny Ring. And now Jack hoped that by wearing this Destiny ring that it would help him sort of get the role that he felt destined to play. And so now as he looked into the mirror for the umpteenth time and checked his hair and his outfit, he heard the door open and the producer's voice called out, asking if Jack was ready. Jack took one last deep breath and then silently told himself that once he walked out of this lobby, he was no longer Jack Dunn.

16:09He was Rudolph Valentino. Then he straightened his shoulders, he adjusted his destiny ring, and followed the producer through the doorway. And wouldn't you know it, just a few days later, almost every paper in Hollywood had a new headline. Newcomer Jack Dunn has been cast as the icon Rudolph Valentino. He got the part. At the end of June, so now about two weeks after Jack officially got the part, he was out in the California desert, less than 100 miles from Los Angeles, and he was carrying a rifle through some brush. So ever since Jack had been officially cast as Rudolph, his life had become a whirlwind.

16:49The movie was set to shoot in the fall, but he was already getting a ton of attention and lots of press about his casting. However, to Jack's surprise, a lot of this attention was pretty negative. The media seemed to think that Jack himself was just too inexperienced to handle playing someone as famous and iconic as Rudolph. And also, Jack had received literally thousands of letters from Rudolph's fans who had basically said the same thing, only more rudely. Now, Jack had always coveted the life of famous actors and actresses who were in the public eye, but he had never been in the public eye.

17:29And so this criticism had been really hard to hear. Like, he wasn't used to this. But the criticism had also made him want to prove the naysayers wrong here. So ever since getting cast, Jack had been working even harder on this role. Like, he had really tried to become Rudolph Valentino, Valentino to really show that he could do this. And so after being cast, he just kept on dressing like Rudolph. He'd used Rudolph's dance moves at clubs and actually invented a dance that he called the Valentino Roomba. He'd also started dating around, sort of seeing a bunch of women all the time, just like apparently Rudolph had.

18:08Like he was trying to really be this guy. And today, you know, sort of in keeping with this trend, Jack had come all the way out here to the desert to hunt, which had been a hobby of Rudolph's. And so Jack, he's trudging across the desert landscape, trying to act like this hardened hunter that he really wasn't. And at some point, he looked down at his hand, and he saw there was a tick that was actually on his hand near where his destiny ring was. Now, the tick had not bit him yet, and so quickly, Jack squeezed his hand and crushed it with his thumb against Rudolph's destiny ring. Fast forward a few days.

18:46Jack has now come back home. You know, he's back to fully pretending to be Rudolph, and he's getting ready to shoot that fall. Like, he's doing all the things he's supposed to be doing, but he started to feel like he was having a hard time being able to focus. Like, it was like every time he tried to work, it's like his mind would just wander. And he started to realize what was going on here is he was getting sick. He could sort of feel it coming on. And then shortly after that, one of his eyes got really swollen and his throat became raw. And then he had this really bad fever. And then not long after that, he became completely delirious, like just out of his mind.

19:25And so it was around this time where it's like Jack is losing touch with reality that he knew, you know, his acting career really needed to be set aside. For now, he needed to go to the hospital. And so Jack, he goes to the hospital, and as soon as he is admitted, his condition only got worse. Like, no matter what they did, it's like they could not stop whatever was happening to him. And he declined really quickly, to the point where it was clear Jack's body was shutting down. And even though the doctors, the nurses, the staff did everything they could to try to save him, about a week after being admitted to the hospital, he died.

20:03So when Jack was out hunting, doing his best Rudolph impersonation, well, that tick that he saw on his hand that he ultimately killed by crushing against the destiny ring, well, he was smart to kill it because it was infected with this rare illness called tularemium. And it had not bit him yet, so it was like he saved himself by crushing this tick, right? Except later that day, like after he got back, He rubbed his eye with his fist and his destiny ring, and the guts of that tick and this disease were still on the ring. And so he basically rubbed it directly into his eyeball, and then it got into his bloodstream, and that literally killed him.

20:46And so in a weird way, that destiny ring, which had become such a part of Jack's identity as he took on this persona as Rudolph, It's like the ring kind of is the reason he died. Like the ring is the mechanism by which he got this disease. But it actually goes much deeper. So the destiny ring was famous not just because Rudolph Valentino had at one time owned it, but also because the destiny ring was said to be cursed. Specifically, that the owner of the ring, the possessor of this destiny ring, could potentially be killed. Basically, the curse could kill them. And so it's very likely that Rudolph Valentino was aware of the lore behind this ring because he was known to collect superstitious objects.

21:36He didn't believe in things like curses, but he really liked things that had sort of scary lore around them. And so he very likely bought this ring in part because it was cursed. But then he dies this sudden tragic death when he's really young while wearing this ring, and it only added to the lore of this ring. And then from there, the ring did not go directly to Jack Dunn. No, there were three people in the middle. There was a radio star, a singer, and a burglar who all possessed this ring following Rudolph. And each of them, while wearing the ring, died sudden unexpected deaths. And then finally, the ring winds up on Jack Dunn's finger, who's playing the role of Rudolph Valentino, and he too would die a sudden, unexpected, tragic death young while wearing the Destiny Ring.

22:29Since Jack Dunn's death, the Destiny Ring has seemingly disappeared, and nobody knows who has it now, or whether they know about the curse.

22:46I've always thought it would be so awesome to speak another language. I mean, being able to have a real, genuine conversation with someone in their own language is a skill I've always wanted and I've always admired. I've definitely had moments while I've traveled abroad where I wished I knew more than just a few words of the local language. Well, that's why I like Rosetta Stone. It helps you practice in a way that feels natural, so you can build confidence before you find yourself in those real-life situations. And Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade.

23:20It combines Rosetta Stone's research-backed learning method with new features that help you speak more confidently. One of the coolest new features is chat missions, which turns conversation practice into interactive real-world scenarios like ordering at a restaurant or haggling at a market. If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. Mr. Ballin podcast listeners can get 20 % off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta Stone Sapphire in 25 languages. Visit rosettastone.com slash mrballin to redeem your 20 % off.

23:56That's rosettastone.com slash mrballin. Here's the thing about other home security systems. They're all designed for after. After the window breaks. after someone's inside, after you get the notification, and after the police come. But technology has evolved, and SimpliSafe is the first security system designed for before, stopping a break-in before it even begins. With SimpliSafe, smart AI-powered outdoor cameras detect suspicious activity at the perimeter and alert live US-based agents to step in. One specific moment that really stood out to me was when I got a notification on my phone. But at the same time, I knew SimpliSafe was already monitoring the situation and was ready to take action, and it really just gave me a huge level of confidence that I wouldn't have had with other systems.

24:46That's the difference between simply hoping everything is okay and knowing your home has an extra layer of protection. SimpliSafe has been protecting your world for 20 years. Celebrate their anniversary with us and save 60 % on your new SimpliSafe system at simplisafe.com slash strange. That's 60 % off at simplisafe.com slash strange. Plus, when you order, write in our show name in the How Did You Hear About Us survey to let them know we sent you. Don't forget, there's no safe like SimpliSafe.

25:22Our next story is called Striking It Rich.