In short
Two “unexplained” tragedies with eerie, hard-to-explain elements. First: a last-bus disappearance on Beijing’s Route 375. Second: a Wyoming “Death Ship” omen tied to a house fire and a wife’s death.
Guests
No guests are mentioned; the host is MrBallen.
Key claims & notable examples
Zhang, a 19-year-old fast-food worker, boards empty bus 375 with an old woman and a ticket seller. Three robed men (two in blue, one in red) board after the bus stops in darkness; the men stare silently. The woman screams “thief,” hits Zhang with her purse, and forces him off. The bus later vanishes and is found crashed 60 miles away; the three occupants are dead with broken necks, but decomposed as if dead for months. The woman claims the blue-robed men were evil spirits. Separately, ranch hand Gene Wilson (1887) sees a massive ghost ship on the Platte River in mist; sailors reveal a burned body under a tarp. He returns to find his home burned and his wife dead. Journalist Vincent Gaddis finds no record of such a ship, but later similar sightings connect to the “Death Ship” death omen.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOZhang's Late-Night Bus Adventure
1:40 to 1:51
Introduction to Zhang's story as he rushes to catch the last bus.
“That's why drivers have trusted Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years.”
The Mysterious Bus Ride Begins
2:03 to 4:47
Zhang boards the bus and encounters an old woman and strange occurrences.
“on November 14, 1995, a 19-year-old man named Zhang ran down a dark street toward a bus stop on the outskirts of Beijing, which is the capital city of China.”
The Arrival of Mysterious Passengers
4:47 to 9:11
Three men in silk robes board the bus, creating an eerie atmosphere.
“And so as a result, at night, driving this desolate stretch was very, very dark.”
Panic on the Bus
9:11 to 13:54
The situation escalates as a passenger screams and blames Zhang.
“sitting there really unclear, like what's even happening.”
Panic on the Bus
14:03 to 15:04
The situation escalates as a passenger screams and blames Zhang.
“Summer is a great opportunity for kids to review challenging concepts, strengthen core skills, and head into the start of the school year feeling more prepared.”
The Last Bus Ride
16:16 to 22:27
Zhang's terrifying experience on the last bus leads to a shocking revelation.
“Like he expected to get off and basically be in the middle of nowhere because he knew they were in this sort of isolated area.”
Gene Wilson's Misty Encounter
24:39 to 28:01
Gene's cattle herding leads him to a mysterious event by the river.
“On a fall afternoon in 1887, a man named Gene Wilson rode his horse next to the Platte River in Wyoming, herding some cattle that were grazing there.”
Gene's Encounter with the Ghost Ship
28:01 to 33:16
Discover the eerie tale of Gene and the ghost ship that reveals a tragic fate.
“something in the middle of this mist, presumably.”
The Death Ship Phenomenon
33:16 to 37:07
Explore the strange occurrences and the legend of the Death Ship on the Platte River.
“The home had burned down, apparently, in the last few hours while he was gone.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Hey guys, welcome back to the official MrBallen campfire. Tonight I have two awesome stories to tell you. They are both of the strange variety. In both stories, we're going to talk about a tragedy, but it is not the tragedy that is the reason we remember these things. We remember these events, or we still talk about these events. Because in both stories, there are elements that just nobody can fully explain. There are truly unexplained phenomena that are fascinating, that are terrifying, and I know you're going to love it. So if that's of interest to you, please sneak into the Follow Buttons house and replace all of their shoelaces with 20-foot-long shoelaces.
0:46Also, please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into tonight's stories.
1:09The 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. Insurance isn't one-size-fits-all. That's why drivers have trusted Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years. Just tell Progressive what you want to pay, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget.
1:51Visit progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law.
2:03Just before 10 a.m. on November 14, 1995, a 19-year-old man named Zhang ran down a dark street toward a bus stop on the outskirts of Beijing, which is the capital city of China. Zhang, who worked at a fast food restaurant, had gotten off work late. And so now he had to catch this bus because it was the last one out of the area. And if he missed it, he'd be stranded. it. So this area where Zhang worked was actually a pretty historic district in Beijing. It was home to several old palaces and shrines that were built at the foot of this mountain called Baiwong Mountain. And so this area was sort of like a popular tourist area.
2:40And so during the day, it was very busy. There was lots of cabs coming in and out of the area. But at night, it was basically deserted and no cabs came through here. So again, the bus really was his only shot of getting out here unless you wanted to walk on foot, and that was just not practical. And so Zhang continued running along until he turned the corner, and up ahead he saw the bus stop, and he didn't see the bus. It was just basically a deserted street, but standing near the bus stop was this old woman, and it appeared like she was waiting for the bus, which suggested to Zhang that he had not missed the final bus, because clearly she was waiting for it too, unless she also missed it perhaps but it just seemed like she hadn't and so Zhang who by this point is like kind of out of breath he stopped running and he walked the last distance up to the bus stop where this woman was and as he approached her she kind of turned and looked at him like who are you you know it's late at night she's all alone you know it's just kind of weird but she looked at him and he kind of just smiled at her to signal like I'm no threat you know I'm just here for the bus too and then before the two could even talk Zhang heard the sound of a bus approaching And he turned, and here comes bus 375.
3:48Came to a stop, the old woman climbed on, and Zhang followed up right after her. A moment later, Zhang was inside the bus, the doors had closed behind him, the driver had taken off from the curb, Zhang had paid the ticket seller, who was separate from the driver, sitting in sort of the front right seat, and the woman who had been in front of him, she also had paid, she had sat down in the row right next to the ticket seller, right behind the driver, and Zhang, even though the whole bus was empty, nobody else is on here except for these three people, he just sat down right behind the old woman.
4:19So he takes his seat, you know, they're driving down the road and, you know, it's late at night, he's tired, he's had a long shift. And so for a little while, Zhang just looked out the window and watched all the, you know, imperial gardens and the shrines and all the various landmarks that drew people to the area. You know, this was again sort of a touristy area. He's just watching it all pass by. You know, it's late, it's dark, you can't see much out there. But eventually, you know, relatively soon after they had started, they passed by sort of all the touristy stuff. And they entered into this, the stretch of road that Zhang was very familiar with, he took bus 375 home all the time, that, you know, this stretch was very desolate, there was no more buildings, no more anything, there's just kind of forest and wild on either side of the road.
5:05And so as a result, at night, driving this desolate stretch was very, very dark. There was just literally no lights. And so once they were in this sort of desolate stretch, Zhang found himself just kind of leaning back and closing his eyes because it was a little bit of a ride before he'd get to his stop and get off the bus. And so he just closed his eyes and he's trying to kind of nod off. And they're driving for a little while and he kind of felt himself beginning to fall asleep when suddenly he felt the bus start to slow down. Now, there was no indication within the bus that anything had happened.
5:39Zhang knew that it was way too early to be at the next bus stop. And so immediately he opened his eyes and he's just kind of looking around for some cue from the driver or the ticket seller or even this woman, like, what was going on here. But then the bus came to a full stop and it's so dark outside that Zhang, like, literally can't see what's going on out there. And no one's saying anything. and the driver just kind of inexplicably gets up from his seat and he walks out of the bus. Like he exits the bus, which was odd. Like there's no clear reason for this. And so Zhang, the woman, even the ticket seller, they're kind of just like peering out the window, out the front window of the bus to see what's going on.
6:17But given how dark it was outside and the fact that there was really only light inside the bus, it had the effect of just kind of making all the interior glass of the bus be sort of reflective, like really difficult to look out. Imagine sitting inside of a dark room with a light and being surrounded by glass. It'd be impossible to look out at it. All you would see was like a mirror effect all around you. And so for a minute, Zhang and the others are just kind of like wondering what's happening. What did the driver see? And then Zhang heard something outside the bus that sounded like people talking, or maybe he thought it was people talking.
6:51And so he pressed his face up to the glass and put his hands up to it to see if he could cut through that sort of mirror effect to see what was going on out there. And at first it was just darkness. He couldn't see anything. But eventually his eyes adjusted and on his side of the bus on the road, the driver clearly was interacting with what looked like multiple people, like two, maybe even three people that are down there. There didn't appear to be, you know, any other vehicle. Like it just wasn't clear what was happening, but there was definitely people outside of the bus. And so Zhang and the others, no one's talking.
7:24They're all just kind of trying to make sense of what's happening. And then before anybody could ask any questions, the driver comes back on the bus, sits down in the driver's seat, and then behind him come these three new people, who presumably were the same people the driver was speaking to outside the bus. They also are likely the reason the driver stopped in the first place. Although again, it's very unclear why they stopped in the first place. Like, there's no reason to be stopping here. But, you know, Zhang at this point just wants to get home. He doesn't really care. But these three people, they come on board the bus.
7:58And immediately Zhang and the woman and the ticket seller, they're all looking at them like, what's going on here? So there were three men. And they were all wearing these traditional silk robes. There were two in blue. And there was one in red. And the two men in blue were like physically holding up the third man in red, almost like he couldn't stand on his own. Like picture somebody who was like really intoxicated. He couldn't quite stand. But immediately, Jean clocked that this guy didn't look drunk or something. He looked hurt. Like he was covered in mud and like grime as if he had been like rolling around on the ground or something.
8:37Or, you know, maybe he had fallen or whatever. Like it wasn't clear, but something happened to this guy. and the two guys in blue who their robes are pristine, they're holding this guy up and they kind of bring him into the bus and then without saying anything to these people on the bus, they just kind of dragged this man who was conscious, but again, barely able to stand down the aisle, past Zhang, past the others to the back of the bus where they took their seat. And then it was like, nobody said anything. The driver didn't acknowledge how bizarre this whole thing was, he just pulled away and started driving.
9:10And then before long, it's like Zhang is just sitting there really unclear, like what's even happening. But as they're driving along, he just felt so uncomfortable. The woman right in front of him, she had gone back to looking straight ahead. She's not paying attention to what's happening behind her. Same with the ticket seller. But Zhang, he just felt really uncomfortable. And specifically what he felt was it just seemed like the three guys in the back, the silk robe guys. One, they were completely silent, eerily silent. And two, it just felt like Zhang, it was almost like he could feel them staring at him.
9:49Not just looking straight ahead towards the front of the bus, but it was like they were looking at him. It was like a primal sense that Zhang had. And the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became. And frankly, the more fearful he became. It was like every little noise behind him was like confirmation that they were like looking at him or maybe moving up the aisle to get closer to him but he just he couldn't bring himself to turn around and look it was like he was terrified of what he was going to see behind him and so he just he just stayed glued to his seat rigidly looking straight ahead but again it was like this whole ride he's just like they're staring at me something is off like what's going on with these guys and it went on and on for like 10, 15 minutes of just this really tense ride.
10:33But despite how sort of awful this ride had become, even though he couldn't fully articulate exactly why it was just so uncomfortable, despite all that, Zhang is thinking, you know, any minute now, we're going to get to my stop, I'm going to get off the stupid bus, and this is going to be over and done with, and I'll forget all about this stuff. But before they reached his stop, while they're still in this sort of isolated part of the ride where it's very dark outside. Zhang, who again is just sort of glued, you know, looking straight ahead, he notices the woman, the woman right in front of him, who this whole time has seemingly completely forgot about the guys behind her.
11:09Like she's just looking straight ahead, no big deal. She just all of a sudden turns around and looks towards the back of the bus. Just one fluid motion. She just turned and looked. And Zhang, he's staring at the woman as she does this. And he watches as her face goes from, you know, curious and just sort of normal, to her eyes going wide, and she stands up, and she just starts screaming and pointing towards the back of the bus. And then before Zhang can turn around himself, and he's still too scared to even look, he feels something smack into the side of his head, and so he's like disoriented, it hits him again and again, and he realizes it's the woman who's screaming at whatever's happening in the back of the bus, and she's hitting him over and over again with her purse, and she's yelling something and Zhang's like, what is going on?
11:58He's realizing she's screaming thief at Zhang. She's hitting him in the head, screaming thief. Zhang's, he's got no clue why. He doesn't know why she's yelling at whatever's happening in the back. And before long, the bus driver just stops the bus and without even asking what's going on, he just looks at Zhang and just gestures, get off the bus. As if Zhang is like the central issue on this bus. Not the strange people we've picked up 20 minutes ago that no one has any explanation for. No explanation for why this woman is screaming about whatever they're doing back there. The bus driver has just decided that Zhang is the issue.
12:37And Zhang, at this point, does just want to get off the bus. He doesn't want to be here. And so without even looking at the back, he just got up, no questions asked, breathes past the woman who's still hitting him with her bag, and out the door he goes. He didn't care. He knew he had a long walk home, but anything was better than being in that bus.
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16:22Like he expected to get off and basically be in the middle of nowhere because he knew they were in this sort of isolated area. but when he got off he realized they had sort of just came to the end of that isolated section and so pretty nearby he could see a neighborhood which meant he actually was not that far away from his home and so he's thinking okay i got a bit of a walk but again thank goodness i'm not on that bus i don't even want to think about what's happening on that crazy bus like thank goodness i'm just out of there and so zhong he just starts walking towards his home and he's making his way when he hears something behind him.
16:56And he immediately stops. Because think about how traumatic whatever just happened was for him. He can't process what's happened. It's this totally crazy, inexplicable thing. He's on the side of the road now. Like, he's on edge. And so he hears something behind him, and he just stops. And this time, unlike on the bus, he does turn around to see what's going on. And he turns, and he sees he's not alone. Standing behind him on the sidewalk is the old woman. And she's staring right at him. And so Zhang, he's looking at her, and immediately he clocks that something's different about her. On the bus, that expression she had on her face when she screamed at whatever was in the back of the bus and then began hitting him with her purse, that expression she had was fear and paranoia and even anger.
17:46That's what he saw on her face, but now she's like smiling and she's looking at him with this almost like, I'm sorry look on her face. Like, please, I want to talk to you about what just happened. Like it was, she was signaling to him, like, we need to talk. And so picking up on that, Zhang, like he wanted to just go over to her and be like, what are you doing? Like, why did you do that to me? I didn't take anything from you. Like he wanted to yell at her. But again, there was just that look on her face that said, like, I got to go talk to this woman. And so Zhang, he turns and he walks to this woman and he says to her, like, what happened on there?
18:21Like, what's going on? Like, what did you see? Why did you, what happened? And she looked at him and she was like, I have to tell you a secret. So that night, unbeknownst to Zhang and very likely unbeknownst to this woman, this bus they were on, bus 375, after they got off, it would take off and drive off with its strange occupants on board and believe it or not the bus would vanish it would just go missing nobody knew where it went and then three days later it was found crashed in a reservoir 60 miles north of where Zhang and this woman had gotten off and on board the bus were three dead bodies it was the driver the ticket seller and then also the man wearing red the guy who was needing to be propped up by the other two men in blue.
19:10Now, authorities made no mention of the men in blue. It was just these three people were found on board the bus. Now, it was determined that all three of them had died from a broken neck. And so the running assumption was the crash itself caused them to break their necks, and that's what killed them. But there was a very strange determination about the condition of the bodies. So the occupants on board the bus presumably died within 72 hours, because that's the time frame they were missing and when they were found dead. But it was determined that their bodies were so decomposed, they likely had been dead for months.
19:53The secret that the old woman told Zhang was that when she turned around on the bus and she looked to the back and she saw the men. She said the men in blue were staring at Zhang with just a look of pure evil on their face. She was like, I knew it wasn't right. These were evil spirits and they were after Zhang. It was like she instinctively just knew it. She didn't know why. She just knew it. And almost like reflexively, she began screaming. And then it was like this thought crossed her mind that she needed to save Zhang. And the first thing she thought to do was accuse him of being a thief so the bus driver would stop and kick him off the bus.
20:35And so she put on this performance, hitting him, calling him a thief, basically to save him, to get him off the bus away from what she thought were literally evil spirits. And so think about this. She's telling Zhang this on the side of the road. They're in the middle of nowhere. Their ride is pulling away. Zhang wasn't like, oh boy, thank you so much for saving me from the evil spirits on the bus. He's like, okay, okay, I get it now. I guess I appreciate it. And then the two of them just took off on their merry way. It wasn't until three days later that Zhang realized whatever caused her to have that reaction literally saved his life.
21:13And who knows who the men in blue were because something happened on that bus. Something caused it to vanish and then crash into the reservoir and everybody dies on board with their necks broken and their bodies decomposed more than they should be? Like, none of that makes any sense. But all Zhang knows is because of that woman, he was still alive. And so Zhang is like a mix between terrified that he was involved in this, but also so thankful that this woman saved his life. But what he did when he put it all together, when he found out about this bus and, you know, what happened on board, you know, the dead bodies and all that, he went to the authorities and he said there were two other people on the bus that were acting so weird, the men in blue, you know, the ones the woman basically warned him about being these evil spirits.
21:58And he told the authorities. And, you know, whether or not they bought the evil spirit line didn't really matter. What they're being told is there were two people acting strange on the bus before this all happened. And they went out and they looked for the two men in blue. And they never found them. No one has any idea who they were. And so to this day, all the locals all say to never take the last bus ride along Route 375.
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24:48On a fall afternoon in 1887, a man named Gene Wilson rode his horse next to the Platte River in Wyoming, herding some cattle that were grazing there. Next to him was Gene's dog, who was running along dutifully right behind him and sort of nipping at the cow's heels to keep them in line. So Gene was a ranch hand, and he worked for a ranch in the town of Casper, which was about maybe 10 miles away from where he was right now. And part of Gene's responsibilities was going out and finding lost cattle that wandered too far from the ranch and herding them back to the pasture. So on this particular day, the weather was perfect.
Read the full transcript
25:24It's sunny. It's beautiful. And generally, Gene actually really enjoyed this aspect of his job. He liked being out here. But today, even though he should have been like, this is a great day, he just felt really, really tired. He had worked many, many hours up until this point, and he really just wanted to be done and head back home to where he lived with his wife. They had this little house that was sort of tucked away in this secluded area in this valley surrounded by hills. It was like his oasis. Gene and his wife were like absolute best friends, like the very best part of his day, even on days where he went out and enjoyed his job.
26:03Still, the best part of his day was always returning home and just catching up with his wife over dinner. That was like the thing he looked forward to the most. And so right now, it was like he craved just being home and being with his wife. He could not wait. But Gene, you know, he was a diligent guy, and he just continued doing his job. You know, he's trotting along the river. He's herding the cows. And at some point, as he's sort of at this point mindlessly doing his job, because again, he doesn't want to be here anymore. He looks down and he notices his dog is no longer next to him. His dog was always right next to him, you know, helping, you know, doing the herding, and his dog's not there.
26:42And so he stopped and he began looking around, and that's when he realized that maybe because he was becoming so mindless doing this job today, that this huge amount of mist had sort of rolled out over the Platte River. Like he hadn't noticed that there was just all this mist. And as he's looking out, seeing this massive cloud of mist, he noticed his dog. And his dog was actually kind of going nuts. The dog had broken off and run to the edge of the Platte River. And it was sort of like barking like mad. And it had been for some time. It was like Gene just hadn't noticed it. And so he's seeing the mist and he's seeing his dog.
27:18And he's like, what's going on over here? He can't see anything on the river. This is a usually pretty well-traveled river, but there hadn't been any traffic, no boats or anything. And so it's a quiet day, but it's like he can't see anything out on the river. The dog is just going crazy. And so Gene's like, what's going on? What's out over there? And this is also like very unusual behavior for his dog. Like his dog was very well-trained. This is an odd thing for it to be doing. But, you know, Gene's thinking there's got to be a good reason for it. The dog wouldn't do this for no reason. And so Gene, he lets the cattle just continue making their way along the river, but he, on his horse, he turns and begins making his way over to the dog, who again is sort of stationary by the river's edge, barking and looking out at something in the middle of this mist, presumably.
28:03However, as Gene trotted his way towards the dog, the horse began to react to something. Gene's horse began to react to something that Gene couldn't even see. It started to get really scared. It was whinnying and sort of unwilling to go any further. And then finally, when Gene really tried to get the horse to carry on here, the horse actually reared onto its back legs and almost kicked Gene off of it. Gene managed to hold on. And when the horse came back down on all fours, he just calmed the horse down and brought it over to a nearby tree. The whole time, the dog is still barking like crazy, looking at something out over the water.
28:41And so now Gene's like, what is going on here? He gets off his horse and he ties it to a tree. And then on foot, he walks over to his dog. And so he walks over to his dog. His dog's yapping and barking. And as soon as Gene is next to his dog, his dog stops barking, but it continues to be really fixated on the water, which again is like utterly covered by mist. He can't see anything out on the water. It's quiet, like eerily quiet. You know, the mist is almost obscuring the sunlight at this point. It's almost like they're inside of a cloud. And it's just him and his dog. The dog is fixated on something.
29:15And Gene's looking out over the water. And then all of a sudden, it was like the mist began to part. And this enormous, like way bigger than he had ever seen on the Platte River, this huge wooden ship suddenly comes into view. And so right away, Gene is sort of baffled by the ship. Number one, it seemed fairly obvious that this is the thing that his dog was barking at. And it might have been the same thing that the horse was reacting to, but Gene's like, why? There are ships that go up and down this river all the time. The dog, the horse, they don't react this way to any of those ships, so what's that about?
29:53But more than that, this ship really was just enormous. Like, looked out of place, it was so big. And this is not a particularly deep river. And so Gene's like, how is this big of a ship here? And so Gene's almost like fascinated with what he's looking at. You know, he's sort of not really worried about the dog anymore or the horse or even his cattle. He's just, he's looking at the ship wondering what in the heck it's doing here. Like whose ship is this? And so Gene continues to watch as the ship, you know, continues just slowly making its way down Platte River. And as he's staring at it, again, just sort of fascinated by it, he counts nine sailors on the deck, moving around, doing something on the deck.
30:35But what they were doing on the deck just wasn't immediately clear. They weren't doing sort of obvious sailor things. They were clearly working on something in unison on the deck. There was something they were doing all together. Like there was this apparent huge tarp almost that sat in the middle of the deck of the ship. And they were sort of moving it around. And it appeared like there was something underneath it. But Gene couldn't see it. And he was too far away to make out what it could be. and so Gene is just, he's staring at this crew, he's looking at the ship, and then all of a sudden, all nine of the sailors on board the ship, almost like in unison, just stopped what they were doing, and they turned, and they all, at the exact same time, just stared directly at Gene, and it sort of like disarmed Gene, like he was really, you know, staring intently at them, it was sort of, it was like alarming to have them all be looking at him all at once, and so he's sort of taken it back, and he's looking out at them like, are they looking at me?
31:35What did I do? What's going on here? And then all at once, these nine people, they go back to what they're doing and they begin to lift up this tarp, right? So they're revealing what's underneath it. And now, you know, Gene, he's both terrified and sort of confused and still just fascinated. And he's looking out like, what are they going to reveal? Like, this is so weird. And the tarp comes up. And at first, all Gene could see was like this weird mound, like a black mound sitting on the deck of the ship that was underneath this tarp. But as he continued to stare, he suddenly realized what he was looking at, it couldn't be possible.
32:19Like, how could that be out? Like, that doesn't make any sense to me. and he was horrified. He was scared and he's thinking like, I don't even know what to do. And all of a sudden he just, he grabs his dog. He runs back to his horse and he thinks, I have to get home. I have to get home right now. And so on his horse, he goes, he just gets his dog. He abandons the cattle from what he's seen. He doesn't even care. He has to make sure that everything back home is okay. And he takes off. He starts galloping as fast as he can back in the direction of that quaint little home he's got down in the hillside.
32:52And so over an hour of riding, basically at full tilt, he finally crests the hill. And by this point, he's tried to convince himself that what he saw on board that ship could not have been a real thing. But he goes up the hill that looks down into the valley where he would normally first see his home. Except when he looked down into the valley, his home wasn't there anymore. His home was just this smoldering black ruin. The home had burned down, apparently, in the last few hours while he was gone. And so Gene is a mixture of horrified, but also weirdly not surprised, and he blazes down the hill.
33:29He gets to what remains of his home, and he sees that's not all. He sees there is a black mound that looked just like the mound he saw on board that ship that is laying on the ground not far from where his house was. And it's the body of his wife. That's what he saw out on the ship. He saw the dead body of his wife burned and destroyed, but it was definitely her. He could make her out from here. It scared him so bad he went back to check, and now he's seeing it in real life. Now, of course, for all you folks who are hearing this story, you're going to think, come on, like this happened in the 1800s, like how much of this is really true, what he looked out and he saw a ghost ship appear with a, with, you know, a premonition or, or, or a vision of his, of his wife who he's going to find dead.
34:22Sure. Right. Well, listen to this. So after Gene finds his dead wife, you know, he has this incredible story about how he sort of knew about it beforehand by seeing this, this ghost ship, if you will. And so he went and told people. He told a lot of people about what happened. And eventually, a few years later, his story found its way to a journalist named Vincent Gaddis. And Vincent Gaddis happened to have done all this extensive reporting about the infamous Bermuda Triangle, which is just off the coast of Bermuda. There's this section of the ocean where all this very strange activity has been reported over many, many years, like stuff that is basically paranormal in nature, consistently is reported in this part of the world.
35:08And so he had done a lot of research on the Bermuda Triangle. And so he's primed to hear stories like Gene's story and take them seriously. And so when he heard about Gene's story, he began looking into it. And Vincent pretty much immediately discovered that there was absolutely no record of this enormous ship being on the Platte River. In fact, as Vincent found, it would have been impossible for a ship of that size, as Gene described, you know, this hundred-foot ship, being able to travel on the Platte River. It was too shallow. So there was no record, and it really just, it seemed impossible.
35:45And so the way Vincent responded to this is, okay, well, clearly Gene is a man who's been wracked by guilt and shame. He feels probably like he somehow let his wife down by going out that day and she winds up dying in this fire. And so this is a man who's just dealing with grief. And it's his grief that has somehow created this story in his mind to explain what happened to his wife. You know, it seems crazy, but people do crazy things when they are really deeply affected by grief. However, many years later, that same journalist wound up finding out that actually Gene was not the only person who had a story like this.
36:26He discovered that apparently 25 years before Gene's story and then 16 years after Gene's story, there were these two other people who specifically reported seeing this enormous ship on the Platte River that apparently had the dead body of one of their loved ones on board. And like all the sailors are looking out at them and they're like showing them this dead body. but that person that they're seeing was alive as far as these people thought. But then when they went home, they discovered that their loved ones were in fact dead. It was the same as Gene's story. In the years since these sightings, this ship has become known as the Death Ship.
37:07And it's widely considered to be a death omen, both in the Platte River Valley and also throughout Wyoming.
37:21A quick note about our stories. They are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. The Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories, is hosted and executive produced by me, Mr. Ballin. Our head of writing is Evan Allen, produced by Jeremy Bone and Cole Acasio. This episode was written by Karis Pash Cooper. Research and fact-checking by Shelley Shue, Samantha Van Hoos, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway, Camille Callahan, Alex Paul, Ben Faciano. Research and fact-checking supervision by Stephen Ear.
37:57Audio editing and post-produced by Whit Lacasio and Jordan Stidham. Production support by Antonio Minata and Delaina Corley. Artwork by Jessica Clogston-Kiner. Theme song, Something Wicked by Ross Bugden. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast. And just a reminder, every new and exclusive episode we put out on the Mr. Ballin Podcast, you can also now watch on the Mr. Ballin YouTube channel that very same day. And trust me, some of these stories you truly have to see to believe. Again, my YouTube channel is just called Mr. Ballin. If you want to listen to episodes one week early and ad-free, you can subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast Plus on Apple Podcasts or visit SiriusXM.com slash podcast plus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice.
38:44So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya.
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From the publisher
Tonight, I have two awesome stories to tell you. They are both of the strange variety. In both stories, we're going to talk about a tragedy, but it is not the tragedy that is the reason we remember these things. We remember these events, or we still talk about these events, because in both stories, there are elements that just nobody can fully explain. These are truly unexplained phenomena that are fascinating – that are terrifying – and I know you're going to love it.
Be sure to WATCH this episode on my YouTube channel on Friday, July 17th!
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