We all know the what seals do in peace time is land on remote islands and wrestle and subdue local cannibals pretty sure they would do the same with female cannibals if they were not so bitey. 😂
I had been watching his videos a few weeks and thought he looked like a grungy civilian... Then he mentioned he had some dark diving experience himself when talking about a cave dive. I was like yea sure you're an expert... Then he said I was a navy seal and I was like woaaah yea probably the most qualified person to talk about diving then.
@@conspiracyfacts9745 That's funny to me... I'm 1,57m (5'2'') and usually really jealous of tall people, but I also always liked squeezing into tight places and being tall would probably make that harder.
@@silvercandra4275 I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter how big you are. Just matters from person to person. That being said, I'm claustrophobic as can be.
I am 64 years old and love a good story. Young man, you are an excellent story teller. I'm thoroughly enjoying listening & watching you tell the stories. Thank you.
Found this channel on accident and now I can't stop binge watching it.. Luckily I can do laundry and cook dinner while I listen.. What addicting content?!?!
Same here. I tend to enjoy content like this, but always seem to hear a lot of the same stories. This guy (and team, possibly) has so many really interesting stories I've not heard before, and he does some great presentation.
Same here. I stumbled on this through another channel, and now I've binge watched every video Mr.Ballen is an internet treasure and should be protected at all cost. Haha.
@Joan Bowden Well, i mean, you can never trust anyone completely, but i think family members are the people you can trust the most out of everyone in the world unless they're abusive or manipulative
Seriously you see NO boats whatsoever. No people, no locals in the place but you still go without even asking natives about the deserted island? Na-ah. Ain't doing that.
I say the one advantage of getting older is, after a year, I can't remember the details to most of these stories. So now I get to enjoy them again. Thank you Mr B!
Haha.. yep.. my mom has told me that for years now. Sometimes losing your memory can be a positive. She would say.. it's like free entertainment. Don't have to buy new movies just watch the ones you've already seen and forgotten. 🤣
I'm sorry, but the sheer trust people have in strangers they just met amazes me. Did none of these people remember their parents saying not to talk to strangers?
Stefan the trophy hunter was hunted down by another hunter... Karma. "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." -Francis of Assisi.
@TheStonesSing right? Nothing says compassion like being happy about the gruesome murder of another human being. Like dude had people who loved him and are grieving and good old Jane over here is happy about his death and their pain? Gross.
Returning for the bodies seems like such a crazy thing to do. I respect it, though. Never leave a man behind. I am sure it helped only going down the exit, but still. Can't even imagine it.
Often people don't return for bodies in underwater caves or on tall mountains like Mt Everest. It's simply too hard. Often, retrieving bodies only creates more bodies.
This series made me realize 2 things: humans don't belong underwater and humans don't belong in caves Edit: Yes I know about cavemen, here I'm referring to deep caves, not shallow shelters of rock
Well he got like 5 things wrong about it in the space of 3 minutes, so I don't think that's true. The most glaring of which was this tired, silly trope of "You can't know which of these identical paths is the correct one! OH NO!" Yes, you can, because you have a permanent rope line with arrows telling you precisely which one is the correct path... and if there is no rope line, which pretty much always means it hasn't been explored yet, you would never ever be there doing a traverse. By definition, of course, because if it hadn't been explored, nobody would even know there WAS a traverse, lol. How can you go out to do a traverse that nobody knows exists? You can't. And if they do know it exists, it means there's a rope line in there, and you shouldn't ever get confused about the correct path.
I am late but I just have to comment that diving accident, because I knew one of those man died in there. I am from Finland and my family had many hunting dogs and because of their success, we got puppies and sold those to other people. My family did not want to sell dogs to just random person so we connected little bit with buyers, so we could be sure that new home is good for the dog or dogs. One of these people was diver, who also loved hunting and seemed like perfect home for Peppi, this dog he seemed to like. Most times we stayed in touch with these dog buyer in first year or so just to check out and help if needed. After couple of years we got call that this man died in cave diving accident and none of his relatives could not take Peppi, so we went and took dog back. And today my parent still have this same dog. Also I love your content MrBallen it is the best and you tell these stories so well that I just have to watch more and more. I would love also to see more of these stories that take place in the EU, because it is easier to connect with videos that are "close" to me.
Thankyou for the info, Aleksi. It's really beautiful that your parents were able to take Peppi back, though it's sad no relatives could take him. Glad Peppi has your parents ☮️
Why do people have to talk talk talk? I don’t care about the dogs. It’s irrelevant to the story. The subject is the DIVER and that’s where the focus should be.
@@electrictroy2010 I loved the story and enjoy the way Finnish people write / talk. If you don’t want to read a long comment, just don’t. There’s no need to be rude or try to “teach” other people to comment in ways YOU personally find appealing. Get over your main character syndrome.
@@panadevulpe EXACTLY! Like, why? Some kind of thrill? Adrenaline rush? Erotic turn-on? Why go thru all the expense and hassle when you could just play pedestrian-on-chlorohydrate-car-chicken-freeway-crossing!?!
@@pinkpriss For some people it's just their way of life. Not everyone is built for a desk job 9 to 5. Some people want more even if it means risking their lives.
I love how he used to say in the intro "That's all *I* do..." But now says, "That's all *we* do..." That shows how cool he truly is and just how kind hearted he is to change something so small probably meant the world to the people helping him, and working with him. 💯♥️
There's a true story movie about a caver who died in a cave. He got stuck in a small space upside down which is really bad apparently. They tried to save him but they couldn't get him out. Might not've been underwater but it was still a horrible way to die.
fuckin terrifying. at least to me it is. never ever have I given 2 thoughts about diving. watching this now I feel like Im there myself and start to wig the fuck out. Hate the thought of this shit but for some reason feel the need to watch another dive video.
Don’t seal SDV teams sometimes have to live out of/sleep in the torpedo tubes of submarines for a week or two at a time so they can do saturation dives? Now THAT is a tight space. I think I remember Marcus Lutrell talking about it once in an interview. It blew my mind and freaked me out.
The first story, I just could never see myself leaving my man alone with another strange man on some random strange island. *Hugs Like button* It's alright buddy, we'll get through this.
you can tell the guys in the first story never heard of the last one. he coulda been a criminal on the run but even worse a starving cannibal with no goats on the island.
as a new free diver , that Norway cave diving got me in a panic attack while Mr. Ballen was narrating. I didn't noticed that I wasn't breathing as well. Makes me rethink my recreational activity choices.
I refuse to free dive. I dive but you're just nuts. I have a good friend from Belize that was free diving 60ft when he was like 12. It just how he grew up. He's clinically insane lmao. Get the gear, you can stay down longer!!
In my experience, NOT breathing while free diving is actually very beneficial. Anyway those cave divers were breaking almost every rule of cave diving from the story described, so you shouldn't let it put you off. Just make sure you actually get certified and unlike them, follow all the rules, and you wouldn't be in anywhere near of as bad of a situation as them
Yeah, well... Our history of my country is like no other. When our ppl were in war against Russia (for our independence), there was about 10 Finnish men against 10 000 Russian soliders. We have this saying "kaveria ei jätetä" and it's something like this in english: "you don't leave your comrad".
I have a huge amount of respect for them also, for retrieving there friends and for being able to face what must have been a huge amount of fear in doing so...
Okay but that first story? She really went to grab the head of the gun and fought back. That takes an unbelievable amount of courage. Acting in moments like that is fight in the basic responses of fight or flight
Hearing all these crazy stories I have made up my mind if anything happens to me I’m fighting back and doing everything I can to save myself. The way it always ends up is the person gets killed if they don’t. If you fight back, at least you know you tried and didn’t make it easy for the murderer.
@@Momma_AL And always remember that if a kidnapper takes you to another location, you're dead. If they want your car or something, let them take it. Just don't let them take you with them.
It also takes a lot of courage to sail around the world like they did. During a storm lots of sail boats were made to roll around in the ocean and stay air tight if shit really hits the fan
It was just as stupid as them risking their lives to do that in the first place, but at least it was understandable. Survivor's guilt is a terrible thing to live with.
@@mikemurray8562 The majority of people with survivors guilt share the same opinion. Because the rest... you know. Dark jokes aside, while it's certainly a stupid thing to do, i think it deserves some respect. Whoever cared for them would probably prefer this instead of knowing that they're stuck in that cave forever.
The bravery of the three surviving divers is to be highly commended. Recovering the bodies of their friends must have been not only difficult but terrifying and heartbreaking.
Have you read Stalin’s constitution he “sold” to Russians of that time, before he shows his real monster face? You won’t believe It, it sounded so nice it’s like progressives socialism. Socialism/Marxism always starts nice. www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/12/05.htm
Only ex-soviet sattelite countries really know what it's like. USSR in a nutshell was russia leeching off everyone to fuel its pathetic existence. Even its own people.
Tip of the iceberg. Stalin killed MILLIONS. Not much different than what the Chicoms are doing RIGHT NOW. But, the world is standing silent on that too...
My grandmother and her family were almost sent to Siberia in the war, but luckily my great grandfather managed to get them out to Austria and then eventually out to Australia. They're Latvian and this was about the time that Latvia became part of the USSR.
My Grandfather lived in Estonia, and was captured by the Russians on the first day of the war, and sent to Siberia. He came back eventually, malnourished and frostbitten, never spoke about it.
Mr Ballen : trained to kill and protect himself and his country against anything Also Mr Ballen : sounds and looks like the nicest guy ever and can tell a story to keep you awake for months
Alot of SF guys are like that, calm collected, well spoken, even under extreme pressure. Some of those guys arent very friendly or nice like my old boss he was a Ranger. But alot of guys are like MrBallen, very pleasent people.
The most dangerous guy in the room full of strong aggressive people is the one you think is the nicest and weakest. If he was that nice or that weak he would not be there.
@@vonbook1973 That, change of heart, is a lifesaver. Being the one to stay behind is often the best move you can make especially when the plan is shit to begin with. It's really messed up when the group returns & there's NO ONE THERE, but that's more rare. Usually THE DOOMED are the ones who go all the way, unfortunately.
That 2nd story really had me on edge the entire time. I can only imagine what that was like. I was trying to visualize what those men were going through, and it must have just been so horrifying. Being trapped underwater is one of my biggest fears.
I have listened through several stories about cave diving and I guess I am still stuck on understanding the attraction of the sport. The description of swimming through dark cramped spaces where visibility is limited to the end of your flashlight and you may get physically trapped at any moment seems less than fun!
Thrill seekers/Adrenaline Junkies. You can literally get high and addicted on your own adrenaline in the same way you can to any chemical. Most of us are normal and take pot but some people can only get off when the potential for danger is there.
@ben esterberg I can certainly see where you're coming from. All the same the element of extreme danger is always there. I'm sure some just want to explore but you have to at the very least be able to accept if not outright enjoy the prospect of danger to do it. If you didn't in some way enjoy danger you would never actively seek it out and would be watching videos about people who do on their couch like the rest of us.
This is why you don't trust perfect strangers. That Arihano guy may have seemed like a decent person, but even serial killers can appear normal to their neighbours. You don't ask some random strange guy you just met if he wants to guide you through the wilderness in a place you know absolutely nothing about. Might as well walk down the streets of The Bronx in the middle of the night with $1000 in your hand and a bunch of bling around your neck. Same level of stupidity.
You hear how bad hilter was but that cannibal island is just so sick and cruel... and when you finally survive the island you die in a concentration camp. WWII was a time of horror and hate and I'm glad the stories are still being passed around so we're not doomed to repeat them.
PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
The human race is stupid and forgetful. It has happened many times since, just in a smaller scale. Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda, Darfur 2003- , Bosnia 92-95, Cambodia 75-79, Stalin in USSR in 28-56, Iraq killed more than 80.000 kurds in 1988. 😊
I get so annoyed when ppl go to places they’re not familiar with and split up and the other person goes missing. Like what makes you think that’s a good idea!!? Like you met a stranger on an island and left your friend with the stranger...
@@andrewking9454 she should’ve recommended that they stick together and not wonder off with a stranger. But as I stated in my original comment, I clearly said that I get annoyed when ppl think it’s a good idea to split up and leave their friends behind. So that means I’m not just referring to this case. I’m talking about everyone that decides to do this. In college or even after college friends go to a bar, party, etc and leave their drunk friend behind. And that friend goes missing. Y’all gotta stop this culture of leaving your ppl behind and getting shocked/sad that they go missing.
@@breeshm8545 People are usually selfish and don't think like that. It takes real friends and people of character to stick together. It was selfish of her to return to the boat alone when she should've pulled the guy aside and tell him it was a bad idea. If she went with him it's possible they both would've been shot and eaten regardless.
I can't understand why logical people do stupid stuff. Why would anyone knowingly walk off with a stranger on an island like that. Also deep cave diving is way too dangerous. If a pro diver says their not going to attempt that then you shouldn't either.
Excitement... adrenaline... danger. Why would you ever go on top of a building and then hang at the side with only one hand - it's a fucking rush. Life is too boring as it is... adding that excitement even if it means death - quite a many people are willing to take that risk.
@@michellealjunaidi8471 You might, but for a few of us... this adrenaline... this hanging on by a thread in life IS a happy life ;) Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to understand in fact it is rather likely you wouldn't even if I tried my best to explain.
Stefan goes to an island he's never visited before, sees an unfriendly big dude staring him down, and then asks the sketchy dude to go into the jungle alone with him??? Not too bright.
Mr. Ballen my name is Ivan Laverne I'm 61 years old I'm legally blind but I thoroughly enjoy your story tremendously it helps me look forward to the day may I say may God bless you and your family and everyday and every way thank you very much sir and good luck and God bless in your life
#1 Siberia story. It reminds me of something I recently read. A father took his family to a zoo, I believe Australia. A big sign said "On Exhibit- The Most Dangerous Animal on Earth". The visitors anxiously followed the arrow and were met with a giant mirror! Many didn't get it and thought they'd been duped but most instantly understood.
It's such a dumb statement. A human next to another human is in almost zero danger. A human next do an incredibly venomous snake is in incredible danger. Even during the Massive World Wars your chance of being killed in a New Jersey street or a Brisbane Pub was still incredibly small. Humans have periods of danger that we know about and can avoid. Animals are always dangerous.
@@Baelor-Breakspear more ppl die by road accidents than from cave exploring, so what? We should quit driving and walking on roads? U cowards, those divers are the amongst the bravest of brave humans
@Tenacious D Lee Should be a lesson to humanity about how far things can go when Marxism is spread under the guise of benevolence, "rich vs poor" "poor people are poor because of the rich" mindset which is exactly what happened giving power up to that government to do something about it but its a lie and once they gave up their rights all hell broke lose via "rich farmers" thrown to the Gulags but then everyone starved because they where rich because they where competent not because they stole from the poor. The Ukrainian Famine, and estimated 50 million people died under Stalins communism and more under Moa's reign in the same time period and same with Hilter, and every.single.time. communism has been put into practice. Read The Gulag Archipelago at your own peril, you have been warned.
@@unknownuser8454 you can have your opinion on American history, and that might be justified. However if you went into a deep dive on what the Japanese empire did in ww2 you’d see it’s no comparison
pray to God before you watch them,and pray to your God! after you watch them ,if your God is who you think your God is you should not be scared of anything except yourself!
People usually more concerned about the situations they might be in. In this case, if compared, the diving situation is more plausible than Stalin's island.
I was starting to think I was the only one that caught that! I was expecting Stalin to laugh or send more to see how the new would fair against the OG's on the island...but no. The psycho was actually horrified. Talk about a plot twist.
@@darlingdeb7010 I would imagine the thought process was something like "well you expect a bit of cannibalism in death camps but an island full of roving gangs of murderous cannibals that are murdering people for food and stealing flesh from still-living unfortunate locals? I created an entire island of cannibals? Yeah that's just a little too horrifying. I want them dead and dying not turned into basically demons from the hell they live in."
That diving story was intense. I cant imagine how scary it is to be underwater knowing you will eventually you'll have to take a breath and probably your last one. Great video!
Wow that second story had me so captivated. I had to take a few minutes after listening just to gather myself. I can't imagine the anxiety those divers must have felt. Such an intense story.
I think his time as a navy seal where your teammates and superiors need exact details and need your info to be as descriptive as possible but still only giving facts along with his own personal story telling ability is what makes him so amazing at telling stories here on TH-cam. He’s definitely gifted at what he does.
@@HM-eg9hv I was wondering the same thing because the birds fly in the air and they go real fast so fast that you can't see them and there is a sun in the sky with the clouds and the moon
@@HM-eg9hv I don't get why people scan through comments looking for errors to comment. Unless your partner is out of town an no one else is around to bitch at? Lol
PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
@B.Abe. Peenuses dangling down like a rain forest. Hundreds of dangling peenuses. Monkey runs and jumps off a cliff qand grabs a peenus! The monkey swings and jumps from peenus to peenus and goes across the whole forest off flaccid peenuses
I love how you explanation the stories for those of us may not be familiar with whatever the story is about; AND how you cover more than just unsolved murders.
@@preg13 I love water, I love to swim, I love caving. But the thought of being underwater too deep to survive if anything goes wrong with me or the equipment, and worse, being underwater inside a cave, nope, a huge nope.
He's absolutely gifted, and confident, he's a good looking, magnetic man, I can easily explain these stories to my partner, no problem. Excellent. Keep it up sir! Thank you for your service.
This is one of the best episodes on this channel, period. And that's saying something because this channel is a goldmine. But every story here was true and creepy as hell. Excellent collection of stories.
I remember my Russian teacher once telling us about a fisherman who had discovered an island in the middle of nowhere which was full of handicapped people shipped off and hidden out of sight to avoid giving Russia a bad image. After telling us everything, she revealed the fisherman was her father o_o
As a child in Jamaica, there was a cave in the backlands of my family property. At times you could actually hear a kind of echo coming from it and even water rushing. We as children were terrified of going near and my grandfather warned us not to go there. This was in the seventies and a group of hippies camping in the hills wanted to explore it. My grandfather reported Ed it to the constable and he warned them that Jamaica did not have the resources to get them out if they ran into trouble. They never tried it again but I was curious to to this day to know what’s down there.
This poop is not coming out very easily. I was so sure that it would be a liquid consistency diarrhea due to sudden onset of farts. But now here I am, straining to only get a few nuggets out. Meanwhile my stomach still hurts. It is possible that this will be a multi layered poop. Sometimes the second half is an avalanche
@@clobberelladoesntreadcomme9920 PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
Hiking is actually pretty amazing though, go with a group of friends and you eliminate all threats. It's great exercise and you get to connect with nature in a way you don't usually. Also, most hiking victim stories I've heard were solo or with just two people. Don't spend your life being afraid of a little adventure.
All alone in a remote island, with a stranger and nobody knowing that they are there...... This girl was so brave, strong and daring, it’s sad that her boyfriend didn’t survive.
The under water dive story was absolutely terrifying! I was already panicking listening to you talk about the rebreather. I can’t imagine how horrible for that group of divers! I can’t even imagine
honestly, he's okay. i don't understand why people are so enamoured. maybe it's being from ny. maybe it's having spent too much time in bars and clubs.
@@defunctuserchannel Because he does not mock the people in his stories, he is detailed, exact, and uses emotion at the perfect moment, he is objective during his narration, he does not stutter or laugh throughout, and because he remains respectful.
I think i can do good job too because last 11 years telling story to my kids every night. Some of the stories even last 3 months and i have to make everything up.
as opposed to those repping basically any president of the US. You gotta be pretty shitty to gain power, but one sided blinders doesnt actually accomplish anything
Regarding the first couple, I've noticed some world travelers operate on the notion that everyone is good. They see the best of humanity and that probably fuels their continued traveling. But they meet endings like this when they won't accept some people are predators. Quite literally in this case. Don't hike the border of Iran and Iraq. Don't go to North Korea unless you obey every rule, don't overstay your welcome. Learn when to look for something in people's eyes and mannerisms that shouldn't be there. Practice your own poker face, learn to be unpredictable, practice subtle cues to your partner(s). Be savy.
It's not that "everyone is good", it's the belief that there is some good in everyone. I mean Christ, Hitler did a lot for animal rights, and there were some people who loved him. White supremacists still tuck their kids in at night. But there is a big difference between trying to find common ground with someone you hate ( or somebody who hates you ) in a professional of public setting, and a black person showing up to a Klan rally. Don't become a bigot yourself when dealing with bigots, but don't be naive either.
Absolutely; personally I would love to believe the best of everyone, but that is not the case; even in parts of our own countries, people cannot be trusted
The cave dive story…combined with the background music and perfect storytelling, was one of the most haunting stories I heard online. I could almost feel the darkness and claustrophobic environment of cave diving as I listened. Fantastic work! Thank you very much for the effort.
@@edwinov If you breathe air with a much higher than normal O2 concentration, the oxygen in the lungs overwhelms the blood's ability to carry it away. You die. What part of his explanation was wrong?
@@obscurazone He said he was breathing pure oxygen (=100% oxygen, no nitrogen, nothing else, just oxygen). At a partial oxygen pressure of 1.4 bar oxygen is toxic. This means that pure oxygen would become lethal at a depth of 4 meters. This is why Nitrox divers for example set the oxygen percentage of their mixture (eg 30%) beforehand, depending on the maximum depth of their dive. NO diver ever breaths pure oxygen, in contrast to what the narrator says.
@@edwinov He didn't say that at all. He was explaining how a re-breather system works, whereby your own exhaled air mix is scrubbed on a cycle and mixed with pure oxygen on a loop. Which is ok for a limited period, but will poison you eventually as theres only so many times the air can be "re-breathed" and mixed with the pure oxygen.
@@obscurazone 10:20 : "So you have a continuous cycle where you're just breathing pure oxygen". Don't ever try to correct me again you scoundrel! I know my facts.
I had an old school Frogman Dad, he scared us shit less everytime he could. My mom wouldn't even get in a boat with him! Good times, when I was 3 he'd put me on his long board and when he caught a wave haul me on his shoulders. You had to have nerves of steel to hang with him....my brother became an alcoholic and drug addiction, I became a technical rock and ice climber...your basic adrenaline junky. Scary ExNavy Dads! You never know how the kids will turn out...
I feel so sorry for that poor dude who had to swim all the way to the top knowing his friends were dead. I hope he was able to come to terms with the fact that it wasn't his fault, and no one could have expected his friend would get stuck like that. There is nothing he could have possibly done.
Mr.Ballen seems like a great dude that be a great friend to hear stories from. Plus, if you get into trouble he's an ex-navy seal who could probably still stop anyone from fugin with ya.
There is actually a great documentary made about the retrieval of their friends. It is called Diving into the Unknown. By the way the first diver of the second group actually got passed his dead friends body but because of the time it took sufferd serious deco injuries so he was the surface manager at the retrieval months later. The second diver of his group tragicly died as well. My native language is not English so my apologies for the spelling mistakes :)
@@Mehylai They were being kind to you and complimenting your English skills. They also included some critiques of your grammar so that you may improve upon your already good English.
@@Mehylai I'm sorry you took my comment as an insult. I'm trying to learn Spanish, and I appreciate it when Spanish speakers correct my grammar, so I thought I would do the same for someone else. I'm glad Jake was able to clear up the misunderstanding, though! :) Have a good day :)
The documentary about the divers who recovered their friend’s bodies is called “Diving into the Unknown”. Extremely eerie but a good watch. Love you videos!
I’m 25 and received a chemotherapy that effects the lungs, so before treatment I had to sign something saying I’d never scuba dive (I can’t remember the reason why- I just know it has to do with potential lung damage), at first I was kinda bummed… now, not so much…
Diving puts a lot of strain on the lungs, because water pressure compresses the air & then it expands as you rise to the surface. Even healthy persons have died from air expansion popping lung blood vessels
It’s really useful having a navy seal explain the second extremely sad loss of life in a way that you can actually understand as to what should’ve happened and what couldn’t and didn’t happen in detail. Pretty fascinating in a strange way
They were trying to escape. They asked us, "Where's the railway?" We'd never seen a railway. They asked, "Where's Moscow? Leningrad?" They were asking the wrong people: we'd never heard of those places. We're Ostyaks. People were running away starving. They were given a handful of flour. They mixed it with water and drank it and then they immediately got diarrhea. The things we saw! People were dying everywhere; they were killing each other... On the island there was a guard named Kostia Venikov, a young fellow. He fell in love with a girl who had been sent there and was courting her. He protected her. One day he had to be away for a while, and he told one of his comrades, "Take care of her," but with all the people there the comrade couldn't do much really... People caught the girl, tied her to a poplar tree, cut off her breasts, her muscles, everything they could eat, everything, everything... They were hungry, they had to eat. When Kostia came back, she was still alive. He tried to save her, but she had lost too much blood.
Hitler's sin was to bypass the central bank to issue his own currency and achieved full employment in the middle of a world economic recession. THAT is why he was popular and had to be destroyed. Just like Hussein who wanted euros for his oil and Gadaffi who wanted to mint a new currency based on gold. AMERICANS have been responsible for the deaths of more innocent civilians than any other country. When you became allies of Stalin he had already massacred 60 million Christians but the USA and allies didn't give a toss for the genocide of Christians. To paraphrase General Patton. ,'We defeated the wrong enemy. We should have joined the fascists to defeat the communists. In 50 years the USA will be morally destroyed'.
I like how you mention that you were a navy seal, but never too often, never unless your specific experience will help paint a better story
We all know the what seals do in peace time is land on remote islands and wrestle and subdue local cannibals pretty sure they would do the same with female cannibals if they were not so bitey. 😂
I had been watching his videos a few weeks and thought he looked like a grungy civilian... Then he mentioned he had some dark diving experience himself when talking about a cave dive. I was like yea sure you're an expert... Then he said I was a navy seal and I was like woaaah yea probably the most qualified person to talk about diving then.
Thank you for your service! God bless you service the USA and us on TH-cam
I noticed that too.
THIS How u know someone is a true SEAL.
I'm 56 years old and heard a lot of stories but this guy can tell a story like no other.
56 wow
I'm 54 and i agree 100%😁
people from the military tend to be very good story tellers
@@DaisyyyyCampos what’s so amazing about being 56??
@@Ragnar0321 I think they were just implying that they have years of hearing storytelling and MrBallen is great at it
There's no amount of money you could ever pay me to go cave diving... The fact that people do that shit for fun is astounding to me 😐
Even just exploring caves with no water is sketchy
I'm 6'6. There's nothing that freaks me out more than tight spaces. Except maybe heights. Come to think of it, anything can be scary.
@@conspiracyfacts9745 That's funny to me... I'm 1,57m (5'2'') and usually really jealous of tall people, but I also always liked squeezing into tight places and being tall would probably make that harder.
@@silvercandra4275 I don't know. I guess it doesn't matter how big you are. Just matters from person to person. That being said, I'm claustrophobic as can be.
i literally don’t understand💀 i would never do that shit especially if death is a 50% chance.
I am 64 years old and love a good story. Young man, you are an excellent story teller. I'm thoroughly enjoying listening & watching you tell the stories. Thank you.
He is awesome ❤
No one does it better than him
This 65-year-old concurs.
Found this channel on accident and now I can't stop binge watching it.. Luckily I can do laundry and cook dinner while I listen.. What addicting content?!?!
Me too. Cooking dinner. Doing dishes. Folding laundry. Always binge watching, just found this channel a week ago and I’m hooked!
Agreed
Same here. I tend to enjoy content like this, but always seem to hear a lot of the same stories. This guy (and team, possibly) has so many really interesting stories I've not heard before, and he does some great presentation.
Right? Hahaha
Same here. I stumbled on this through another channel, and now I've binge watched every video Mr.Ballen is an internet treasure and should be protected at all cost. Haha.
The first story is a perfect example of why you should not trust strangers no matter how nice they appear to be.
yup
Exactly
For some reason i forgot the word trust from the comment. It's fixed now
@Joan Bowden Well, i mean, you can never trust anyone completely, but i think family members are the people you can trust the most out of everyone in the world unless they're abusive or manipulative
Damn, it's just, damn. Really, who gets eaten by a cannibal these days ? Other than that guy.
Seriously you see NO boats whatsoever. No people, no locals in the place but you still go without even asking natives about the deserted island? Na-ah. Ain't doing that.
You don’t really think like that though as adventurers
And you see random big dude in the seemingly abandoned jungle village you decide it's best to go say hi...
@@mickward2885 apparently, it's more like you don't think at all as an adventurer 😂
right like i get they were exploring or whatever but you always gotta make sure before u go somewhere u have no idea who lives there
right and you go approach the ONE person you see on the island 😭 and then proceed to leave your partner with them
I say the one advantage of getting older is, after a year, I can't remember the details to most of these stories. So now I get to enjoy them again. Thank you Mr B!
lucky
I agree!
Loss of memory is one of the advantages of getting older.
@@joanneboggeln4905 actually age related memory loss is a myth, unless you are on the dementia spectrum. age does not dull memory per se.
That's what I'm doing now. Lol
Haha.. yep.. my mom has told me that for years now. Sometimes losing your memory can be a positive. She would say.. it's like free entertainment. Don't have to buy new movies just watch the ones you've already seen and forgotten. 🤣
TH-cam is messed up. They show me a cannibalism story and then show me an ad for Carne Asada steak right after. Lol
Did it make you hungry
@@emmanuelmorales9222 nooooo😭😭😭😭
@@emmanuelmorales9222 My thought exactly. Nothing like a good medium steak.
@@emmanuelmorales9222 Not in the slightest dude
Carne astephen... lmao
I'm sorry, but the sheer trust people have in strangers they just met amazes me. Did none of these people remember their parents saying not to talk to strangers?
@Loren Means ..attention seeking! 😂
Stefan the trophy hunter was hunted down by another hunter... Karma.
"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."
-Francis of Assisi.
@TheStonesSing right? Nothing says compassion like being happy about the gruesome murder of another human being. Like dude had people who loved him and are grieving and good old Jane over here is happy about his death and their pain? Gross.
I all fairness, 99.9% of strangers are not going to kill you.
@Loren Means Sounds like a guilty conscience talking here.
I haven’t watched anything else in DAYS and have no intention of stopping.
nice
excatly, and man, the list of videos is coming to an end. It will be a sad day when I will finish binge watching everything.
@@krtm7231 I’ve finally seen them all, idk what to do with my life now.
@@Tooshortruth fuck im 10 videos short of you. If you find something new tell me!
@@krtm7231 MrBallen Shorts!
Wish you still did top 3 places people cant go who went anyway. Please bring this series back
Same they are my favorite
Yeah I like ballen’s old format. Everyone and their mom is doing true crime. It’s hard to find these kind of stories IMO.
definitely some of his better "mini series" love ALL the content but the top 3 places is my favorite!
Agree. The "3 places" and also the "Missing 411" vids are my favs.
We gotta wait for more people to go to places they shouldn't!
Returning for the bodies seems like such a crazy thing to do. I respect it, though. Never leave a man behind. I am sure it helped only going down the exit, but still. Can't even imagine it.
Yeah they probably done it for that reason and to give their families closure.. Respect
Often people don't return for bodies in underwater caves or on tall mountains like Mt Everest. It's simply too hard. Often, retrieving bodies only creates more bodies.
Ayeee my favorite story channel
Sup
Facts... I think I would do the same.
This series made me realize 2 things: humans don't belong underwater and humans don't belong in caves
Edit: Yes I know about cavemen, here I'm referring to deep caves, not shallow shelters of rock
It's always been that way, though some people haven't learned that yet, hence the MrBallen videos.
Especially underwater caves, no! Happy holidays to all from Montana ✌♥️
And they don't belong on islands.
And that communism kills.
Caveman: ooga booga
I'm convinced at this rate Mr Ballen has taught me more about diving than an actual instructor
Yes: don't cave dive.
Watch Dive Talk (user id)
I could cave dive, but definitely not in tight spots. Getting caught is too risky (as happened with the diver that got trapped)
.
Well he got like 5 things wrong about it in the space of 3 minutes, so I don't think that's true. The most glaring of which was this tired, silly trope of "You can't know which of these identical paths is the correct one! OH NO!" Yes, you can, because you have a permanent rope line with arrows telling you precisely which one is the correct path... and if there is no rope line, which pretty much always means it hasn't been explored yet, you would never ever be there doing a traverse. By definition, of course, because if it hadn't been explored, nobody would even know there WAS a traverse, lol. How can you go out to do a traverse that nobody knows exists? You can't. And if they do know it exists, it means there's a rope line in there, and you shouldn't ever get confused about the correct path.
Yeah but he's a trained seal, so... makes sense he wants to inform people not to take unnecessary risks
I am late but I just have to comment that diving accident, because I knew one of those man died in there. I am from Finland and my family had many hunting dogs and because of their success, we got puppies and sold those to other people. My family did not want to sell dogs to just random person so we connected little bit with buyers, so we could be sure that new home is good for the dog or dogs. One of these people was diver, who also loved hunting and seemed like perfect home for Peppi, this dog he seemed to like.
Most times we stayed in touch with these dog buyer in first year or so just to check out and help if needed. After couple of years we got call that this man died in cave diving accident and none of his relatives could not take Peppi, so we went and took dog back. And today my parent still have this same dog.
Also I love your content MrBallen it is the best and you tell these stories so well that I just have to watch more and more. I would love also to see more of these stories that take place in the EU, because it is easier to connect with videos that are "close" to me.
Thankyou for the info, Aleksi. It's really beautiful that your parents were able to take Peppi back, though it's sad no relatives could take him. Glad Peppi has your parents ☮️
Why do people have to talk talk talk? I don’t care about the dogs. It’s irrelevant to the story. The subject is the DIVER and that’s where the focus should be.
EDITOR: “I knew the diver. We sold him one of our puppies, but sadly he passed-away, so we retook possession of the dog.” (Direct and to the point.)
@@electrictroy2010 I loved the story and enjoy the way Finnish people write / talk. If you don’t want to read a long comment, just don’t. There’s no need to be rude or try to “teach” other people to comment in ways YOU personally find appealing. Get over your main character syndrome.
@@qataripekarsky agreed.
As far as I'm concerned, you gotta be a special breed of person to dive in tunnels, under ice 🧊 Thats a hard hard pass from me.
That breed isn't that special anyway. It's called a moron
I would be afraid of some huge Kraken or other big bad hungry Fish
Adrenaline Junkies and dare devils lol self preservation is last on their list
@@panadevulpe EXACTLY! Like, why? Some kind of thrill? Adrenaline rush? Erotic turn-on? Why go thru all the expense and hassle when you could just play pedestrian-on-chlorohydrate-car-chicken-freeway-crossing!?!
@@pinkpriss For some people it's just their way of life. Not everyone is built for a desk job 9 to 5. Some people want more even if it means risking their lives.
That first story, you shouldn't just go to any island without knowing anything about it. That's basically the start of any horror movie.
👏Exactly👏
The thumbnail is from Jurassic Park 3
Lesson learned through far cry XD
indeed..
Yeah especially the fact that 1 person survived
I’ve been trying to go to sleep for the past 4 hours but can’t stop watching you, Well done man.
SAME
Literally me right now! I can’t stop listening. I should be sleeping.
I love how he used to say in the intro "That's all *I* do..."
But now says,
"That's all *we* do..."
That shows how cool he truly is and just how kind hearted he is to change something so small probably meant the world to the people helping him, and working with him. 💯♥️
"We" basically are the Mr. Ballen "team - behind scenes" . Because I don`t think J.Ballen do all this thing by himself. :))
@@MotoVlogists yes but he used to say “ I “ and not “ we “ before even though his crew worked with him. But now he started acknowledging them.
He’s such a great story teller.
Thank you!
@@MrBallen i second that , from a Brit vet 🇬🇧.
@@MrBallen you truly are!!!! And handsome too 😊
@@ste2442 yo thank you for your service my guy really appreciate it you all carried this country
yea right ? not any yt channel has struck me like that before. his SKILLS
The 5 divers story is so freaking scary, small spaces, darkness and not being able to breath is a terrible death
There's a true story movie about a caver who died in a cave. He got stuck in a small space upside down which is really bad apparently. They tried to save him but they couldn't get him out. Might not've been underwater but it was still a horrible way to die.
fuckin terrifying. at least to me it is. never ever have I given 2 thoughts about diving. watching this now I feel like Im there myself and start to wig the fuck out. Hate the thought of this shit but for some reason feel the need to watch another dive video.
@@SkitSkat674 the putty cave is what you were talking about 👍🏻
Don’t seal SDV teams sometimes have to live out of/sleep in the torpedo tubes of submarines for a week or two at a time so they can do saturation dives? Now THAT is a tight space. I think I remember Marcus Lutrell talking about it once in an interview. It blew my mind and freaked me out.
@@agmsmith4079 What??? That's like being buried alive, that terrifying to me
The first story, I just could never see myself leaving my man alone with another strange man on some random strange island.
*Hugs Like button*
It's alright buddy, we'll get through this.
They were overly trusting
So sad that it was his demise
It reminds me a bit of the movie green inferno you should check it out and maybe review it?
@@-Noistering- I liked this movie. Bit odd and little scary but really cool.
Exactly what i was thinking, overly adventurous, overly curious + overly trusting can ultimately lead to disaster....
you can tell the guys in the first story never heard of the last one. he coulda been a criminal on the run but even worse a starving cannibal with no goats on the island.
as a new free diver , that Norway cave diving got me in a panic attack while Mr. Ballen was narrating. I didn't noticed that I wasn't breathing as well. Makes me rethink my recreational activity choices.
I refuse to free dive. I dive but you're just nuts. I have a good friend from Belize that was free diving 60ft when he was like 12. It just how he grew up.
He's clinically insane lmao. Get the gear, you can stay down longer!!
Nah, go have fun. Just think your venues carefully!
No cave diving for me. Thank you.
In my experience, NOT breathing while free diving is actually very beneficial. Anyway those cave divers were breaking almost every rule of cave diving from the story described, so you shouldn't let it put you off. Just make sure you actually get certified and unlike them, follow all the rules, and you wouldn't be in anywhere near of as bad of a situation as them
Spelunkers United
I have immense respect for those gentlemen breaking the law to retrieve their friends. That's huge.
When I pull the trigger, I will leave a note that I want a "Do Over"
Yeah, well...
Our history of my country is like no other.
When our ppl were in war against Russia (for our independence), there was about 10 Finnish men against 10 000 Russian soliders.
We have this saying "kaveria ei jätetä" and it's something like this in english: "you don't leave your comrad".
@@hannavuorio83 hyvä soomi
I have a huge amount of respect for them also, for retrieving there friends and for being able to face what must have been a huge amount of fear in doing so...
It's not about breaking the law it's about dealing with the fact they left their friends there
mr ballen: cave div-
yeah we already know where this is going
Not to the cave exit that's for sure
@@pauljansen6650 🤣🤣🤣
🤣
@@pauljansen6650 jheeeeeeeez
there are so many of these stories that he tells
Okay but that first story? She really went to grab the head of the gun and fought back. That takes an unbelievable amount of courage. Acting in moments like that is fight in the basic responses of fight or flight
It was probably less courage and more desperation.
Hearing all these crazy stories I have made up my mind if anything happens to me I’m fighting back and doing everything I can to save myself. The way it always ends up is the person gets killed if they don’t. If you fight back, at least you know you tried and didn’t make it easy for the murderer.
@@Momma_AL And always remember that if a kidnapper takes you to another location, you're dead. If they want your car or something, let them take it. Just don't let them take you with them.
It also takes a lot of courage to sail around the world like they did. During a storm lots of sail boats were made to roll around in the ocean and stay air tight if shit really hits the fan
crazy how this incident isnt in the islands wiki page. think its something pacific travelers would want to know
Anybody else think it was really sweet of them to risk their lives again to bring their buddies home? 🥺
No, it was idiotic and could've ended up with all five dead and floating for eternity in their watery grave.
@@NotMyklbetter than being a coward and leaving a man behind. I applaud their bravery and commitment to their friends and friends family.
It was just as stupid as them risking their lives to do that in the first place, but at least it was understandable. Survivor's guilt is a terrible thing to live with.
I’ll rather live with survivors guilt then dying
@@mikemurray8562 The majority of people with survivors guilt share the same opinion. Because the rest... you know.
Dark jokes aside, while it's certainly a stupid thing to do, i think it deserves some respect. Whoever cared for them would probably prefer this instead of knowing that they're stuck in that cave forever.
The bravery of the three surviving divers is to be highly commended. Recovering the bodies of their friends must have been not only difficult but terrifying and heartbreaking.
I’ll be blunt they knew that was a death wish diving their but they did it anyways but all I have respect that they went back to recover their bodies
body's ??? Did you mean to write bodies? Just a thought. 😀
Jon LaRoche umm bro it’s spelled bodies not body”s just a thought
@@NicolasDWolfwood1 there corrected, happy???
garden Revolution reread my comment lmfao
Due to these videos, I will NEVER be scuba diving in caves.
Me either free diving is much better
Me either.
@Doesn't Jump to conclusions dumbest comment all day.
@Doesn't Jump to conclusions Yeah because rights are a bad thing? Vote republican and be in the poor house forever.
Thanks to these videos, I won't even scuba dive on land!!!
The last one is probably one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard. It’s hard to fathom that this ever actually happened.
Have you read Stalin’s constitution he “sold” to Russians of that time, before he shows his real monster face? You won’t believe It, it sounded so nice it’s like progressives socialism. Socialism/Marxism always starts nice.
www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/12/05.htm
It’s so sad it’s sickening too
Just remember it the next time some clown is blathering about the evils of capitalism.
Only ex-soviet sattelite countries really know what it's like. USSR in a nutshell was russia leeching off everyone to fuel its pathetic existence. Even its own people.
Tip of the iceberg. Stalin killed MILLIONS. Not much different than what the Chicoms are doing RIGHT NOW. But, the world is standing silent on that too...
My grandmother and her family were almost sent to Siberia in the war, but luckily my great grandfather managed to get them out to Austria and then eventually out to Australia. They're Latvian and this was about the time that Latvia became part of the USSR.
My Grandfather lived in Estonia, and was captured by the Russians on the first day of the war, and sent to Siberia. He came back eventually, malnourished and frostbitten, never spoke about it.
Omg I physically panicked just listening to the second story I can’t imagine how the survivors managed to keep their shit together and resurface
Same. I have an anxiety disorder and I'd be dead on the drive there
I have begun to skip the cave diving videos...
There’s a documentary about the second story. ✌️
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_into_the_Unknown
Me too!
Mr Ballen : trained to kill and protect himself and his country against anything
Also Mr Ballen : sounds and looks like the nicest guy ever and can tell a story to keep you awake for months
@SELİM ARDA OKTAY wooshing is so old
Alot of SF guys are like that, calm collected, well spoken, even under extreme pressure. Some of those guys arent very friendly or nice like my old boss he was a Ranger. But alot of guys are like MrBallen, very pleasent people.
Neked Sneked not to be that guy but it’s SOF lol
Abraham Lincoln
You actually took the time to figure out how many days that Lincoln has been dead lol
The most dangerous guy in the room full of strong aggressive people is the one you think is the nicest and weakest. If he was that nice or that weak he would not be there.
One thing I have learnt from all your videos.
Always be the guy who changes his mind at the last minute. Like "I'll just wait here".
YESSSS
Yup ! Or just not go, but yup !
^THIS.
@@vonbook1973 That, change of heart, is a lifesaver. Being the one to stay behind is often the best move you can make especially when the plan is shit to begin with. It's really messed up when the group returns & there's NO ONE THERE, but that's more rare. Usually THE DOOMED are the ones who go all the way, unfortunately.
Gladly actually nope
That 2nd story really had me on edge the entire time. I can only imagine what that was like. I was trying to visualize what those men were going through, and it must have just been so horrifying. Being trapped underwater is one of my biggest fears.
I could cave dive, but definitely not in tight spots. Getting caught is too risky (as happened with the diver that got trapped)
.
Who randomly found him then has been watching him ever since
I came back to watch this video to see this was the top comment thanks guys
I can't remember how I found this channel, I just know that I time my coffee in the morning around when he posts
Me
Yeah that's basically how youtube works
Yep. For a month now.
Me
I have listened through several stories about cave diving and I guess I am still stuck on understanding the attraction of the sport. The description of swimming through dark cramped spaces where visibility is limited to the end of your flashlight and you may get physically trapped at any moment seems less than fun!
Thrill seekers/Adrenaline Junkies. You can literally get high and addicted on your own adrenaline in the same way you can to any chemical. Most of us are normal and take pot but some people can only get off when the potential for danger is there.
@ben esterberg I can certainly see where you're coming from. All the same the element of extreme danger is always there. I'm sure some just want to explore but you have to at the very least be able to accept if not outright enjoy the prospect of danger to do it. If you didn't in some way enjoy danger you would never actively seek it out and would be watching videos about people who do on their couch like the rest of us.
Insane hobby.
I agree
There are few wild places left.
This is why you don't trust perfect strangers. That Arihano guy may have seemed like a decent person, but even serial killers can appear normal to their neighbours. You don't ask some random strange guy you just met if he wants to guide you through the wilderness in a place you know absolutely nothing about. Might as well walk down the streets of The Bronx in the middle of the night with $1000 in your hand and a bunch of bling around your neck. Same level of stupidity.
Girls thought Ted Bundy was charming.
To be fair in the Bronx being that naive at best the person would just get robbed and slightly beaten but not eaten like the overly trusting explorer.
@@hollystiener16 Could you please post the direct link here?
@@pinkpriss it's listed in the description
@@hollystiener16 no cap I was reading that article and it turned into a whole ass mystery they went hard
You hear how bad hilter was but that cannibal island is just so sick and cruel... and when you finally survive the island you die in a concentration camp. WWII was a time of horror and hate and I'm glad the stories are still being passed around so we're not doomed to repeat them.
PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
The human race is stupid and forgetful. It has happened many times since, just in a smaller scale. Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda, Darfur 2003- , Bosnia 92-95, Cambodia 75-79, Stalin in USSR in 28-56, Iraq killed more than 80.000 kurds in 1988. 😊
Each world war gets progressively worse but today's politicians are desperately fighting for another one.
I get so annoyed when ppl go to places they’re not familiar with and split up and the other person goes missing. Like what makes you think that’s a good idea!!? Like you met a stranger on an island and left your friend with the stranger...
Lol wtf was she supposed to do??? He was dumb after and got what he deserved good for her
@@andrewking9454 she should’ve recommended that they stick together and not wonder off with a stranger. But as I stated in my original comment, I clearly said that I get annoyed when ppl think it’s a good idea to split up and leave their friends behind. So that means I’m not just referring to this case. I’m talking about everyone that decides to do this. In college or even after college friends go to a bar, party, etc and leave their drunk friend behind. And that friend goes missing. Y’all gotta stop this culture of leaving your ppl behind and getting shocked/sad that they go missing.
@@breeshm8545 People are usually selfish and don't think like that. It takes real friends and people of character to stick together. It was selfish of her to return to the boat alone when she should've pulled the guy aside and tell him it was a bad idea. If she went with him it's possible they both would've been shot and eaten regardless.
I don’t even like trusting someone who I don’t know in my own neighborhood
D&D taught me: "Never split the party"
I can't understand why logical people do stupid stuff. Why would anyone knowingly walk off with a stranger on an island like that. Also deep cave diving is way too dangerous. If a pro diver says their not going to attempt that then you shouldn't either.
Excitement... adrenaline... danger. Why would you ever go on top of a building and then hang at the side with only one hand - it's a fucking rush. Life is too boring as it is... adding that excitement even if it means death - quite a many people are willing to take that risk.
@@RennoP You can live a happy life without dying for it.
@@michellealjunaidi8471 You might, but for a few of us... this adrenaline... this hanging on by a thread in life IS a happy life ;)
Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to understand in fact it is rather likely you wouldn't even if I tried my best to explain.
Some ppl live for the thrill and excitement of going on a adventure. It’s the same thing on why people climb mt Everest
Exactly!! This guy was staring at y’all long enough to make you uncomfortable but not enough to prevent you from going off with him?
Stefan goes to an island he's never visited before, sees an unfriendly big dude staring him down, and then asks the sketchy dude to go into the jungle alone with him??? Not too bright.
except that he wasn't being unfriendly to them when they first met
@@huh968 What is this 'friendly stare down with a stranger' of which you speak?
@@GrislyAtoms12 you're the one calling it a stare-down
@@huh968 No, I got that from the video.
@@GrislyAtoms12 mr ballen doesn't say "stare-down", he just says he was watching them
This series has taught me to always appreciate the life I have and to never go to remote places.
I can imagine when Ballen’s Military buddies were bored they would ask him to tell them stories to entertain them
I’m just imagining the manliest navy seals sit around Ballen’s bed as he holds a candle and tells them a story before bed lmaoooo
@@sethdriscoll1563 looooooooooool
He'd be the best person to have on watch with you thats for sure
😂
Thats where I was thinking he must have gotten his skills
i like how he sounds so optimistic about people surviving these places then he's like NOPE THEY DIED.
Lol
He has the tone of oh ya they lived only to come out with there body were found a few days later
That's part of the storytelling.
Lol!! Agree!!!
Then how did they get their stories shared from dead people
"That's gonna do it guys"
- that never does it. The bingeing will continue. 😅
Do you understand a damn word you're saying?
@@Jack-zw9re calm down jack
@@Jack-zw9re wdym I understand everything they just said
Ahahaha
I agree and will continue to binge! 😉 😆 😂
Mr. Ballen my name is Ivan Laverne I'm 61 years old I'm legally blind but I thoroughly enjoy your story tremendously it helps me look forward to the day may I say may God bless you and your family and everyday and every way thank you very much sir and good luck and God bless in your life
#1 Siberia story. It reminds me of something I recently read. A father took his family to a zoo, I believe Australia. A big sign said "On Exhibit- The Most Dangerous Animal on Earth". The visitors anxiously followed the arrow and were met with a giant mirror! Many didn't get it and thought they'd been duped but most instantly understood.
That is both hilarious and clever.
how did many not get it tho ....
It's such a dumb statement. A human next to another human is in almost zero danger. A human next do an incredibly venomous snake is in incredible danger. Even during the Massive World Wars your chance of being killed in a New Jersey street or a Brisbane Pub was still incredibly small. Humans have periods of danger that we know about and can avoid. Animals are always dangerous.
HAH I LOVE THAT-
@@MadhuBala-md2sr well because theyre stupid animals lmao
I don't even remember how I found him, but I'm hooked
Same here
And here ✋
I fou him because of the navy seal connection
tiktok
Annnnd here
Wow i had no idea we have a popular cave diving spot in Norway, can't wait to not dive there!
Not diving is my new passion. There are tons of diving locations in my country and I plan to never visit any of them!
Very much this.
I could cave dive, but definitely not in tight spots. Getting caught is too risky (as happened with the diver that got trapped)
.
🤣 I had to re read this comment. I was going to ask you if you even watched the video
@@Baelor-Breakspear more ppl die by road accidents than from cave exploring, so what? We should quit driving and walking on roads? U cowards, those divers are the amongst the bravest of brave humans
It’s crazy how the last story of Nazino island isn’t talked about in history class
@Tenacious D Lee Should be a lesson to humanity about how far things can go when Marxism is spread under the guise of benevolence, "rich vs poor" "poor people are poor because of the rich" mindset which is exactly what happened giving power up to that government to do something about it but its a lie and once they gave up their rights all hell broke lose via "rich farmers" thrown to the Gulags but then everyone starved because they where rich because they where competent not because they stole from the poor. The Ukrainian Famine, and estimated 50 million people died under Stalins communism and more under Moa's reign in the same time period and same with Hilter, and every.single.time. communism has been put into practice.
Read The Gulag Archipelago at your own peril, you have been warned.
@Tenacious D Lee I cant, they talk abt the holocaust
@@unknownuser8454 the Soviets were literally as bad as the Nazis. Arguably the Japanese were the worst in ww2.
@@itnotmeitu3896 Dont u mean the americans?
@@unknownuser8454 you can have your opinion on American history, and that might be justified. However if you went into a deep dive on what the Japanese empire did in ww2 you’d see it’s no comparison
I didn’t realize how scary these stories are until my daughter knocked on my bedroom door and I yelled “Who is it?” I jumped out of my skin 🤣😆🤣
👋 BRE.
i’m always get shocked when my parents just open the door without knocking the door
@@CutieRingoJoy my parents took my door- 😔✋
🤣🤣
pray to God before you watch them,and pray to your God!
after you watch them ,if your God is who you think your God is you should not be scared of anything except yourself!
I can't believe all the comments are talking about the divers when the Siberian cannibal camp is a million times more horrific.
Fr
People usually more concerned about the situations they might be in. In this case, if compared, the diving situation is more plausible than Stalin's island.
NoelPZC- And especially when you consider how the Democrats are pushing Communist groups like BLM and Antifa to take over America!
@@snackdaddy4128 Just... no.
@@NoeLPZC yes...just yes...
No fucking way I would do that crazy underwater shit, scuba diving fine, underwater cave exploration no
Thus channel has even scared me away from scuba diving lol
Just follow the rules. Like always have a reel with u connected to the surface.
Same here ..I don't like small spaces under water...nope
he explains better than all the teachers in my school.
He is as good as those Indian guys you find on TH-cam the day before your test
Trueee
He’d be an outstanding history teacher.
4:49 Easy Money Strategy th-cam.com/video/yyOSAzQrEew/w-d-xo.html
Lmao fr tho
The amount of anxiety this video gave me... I couldn’t stop watching though.
Same. I lost count how many times l "😤"ed from pure anxiety. Especially on the last story.
Came to the comments to figure out if it was for me or not. Here goes 22 minutes of my life. I’m trusting you kind gal
@@nfrench2100 the diving story is proper sad. gives you mad anxiety mate
@@JBeech26 bruv, I got so jacked with pressure, I blew’v me top mate
⁰
da-mn. A fate so horrible that even Stalin is like "Ok maybe that's a little too far"? That horrific.
I was starting to think I was the only one that caught that! I was expecting Stalin to laugh or send more to see how the new would fair against the OG's on the island...but no. The psycho was actually horrified. Talk about a plot twist.
@@darlingdeb7010 I would imagine the thought process was something like "well you expect a bit of cannibalism in death camps but an island full of roving gangs of murderous cannibals that are murdering people for food and stealing flesh from still-living unfortunate locals? I created an entire island of cannibals? Yeah that's just a little too horrifying. I want them dead and dying not turned into basically demons from the hell they live in."
Too bad he didn't become their food, I mean he did drive them to cannibalism....
He only shut it down because it looked bad on him. He was not horrified.
@@Couplescience I think you're right on the money.
That is so sad and devastating. I will never scuba dive, and I'm a Colorado girl forever! I hope the families of the deceased divers have peace.
That diving story was intense. I cant imagine how scary it is to be underwater knowing you will eventually you'll have to take a breath and probably your last one. Great video!
Wow that second story had me so captivated. I had to take a few minutes after listening just to gather myself. I can't imagine the anxiety those divers must have felt. Such an intense story.
The diving stories scare me the most... I love it!
I could cave dive, but definitely not in tight spots. Getting caught is too risky (as happened with the diver that got trapped)
.
There was actually a documentary about the recovery of the bodies if you are interested.
@@Anarchristian_Beanz do you know what it’s called?
I think his time as a navy seal where your teammates and superiors need exact details and need your info to be as descriptive as possible but still only giving facts along with his own personal story telling ability is what makes him so amazing at telling stories here on TH-cam. He’s definitely gifted at what he does.
@@HM-eg9hv I was wondering the same thing because the birds fly in the air and they go real fast so fast that you can't see them and there is a sun in the sky with the clouds and the moon
@@HM-eg9hv I don't get why people scan through comments looking for errors to comment. Unless your partner is out of town an no one else is around to bitch at? Lol
PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
@B.Abe. Peenuses dangling down like a rain forest. Hundreds of dangling peenuses. Monkey runs and jumps off a cliff qand grabs a peenus! The monkey swings and jumps from peenus to peenus and goes across the whole forest off flaccid peenuses
I love how you explanation the stories for those of us may not be familiar with whatever the story is about; AND how you cover more than just unsolved murders.
I was never into diving, now I'm definetely NOT into diving.
I know,deep water is really scary!
@@HeaanLasai idk. Surprised the 1 guy immediately turned back, I would've tried to take the oxygen tank from the dead guy at least
@@escapetherace1943 he was prolly stuck and couldn't take the oxygen tank from him
It's awesome though!
@@preg13 I love water, I love to swim, I love caving. But the thought of being underwater too deep to survive if anything goes wrong with me or the equipment, and worse, being underwater inside a cave, nope, a huge nope.
You have a true gift. Your kinda like a genie, people ask and you give
5:38 Really Big Profit
th-cam.com/video/mUHHkyYViXo/w-d-xo.html
He's absolutely gifted, and confident, he's a good looking, magnetic man, I can easily explain these stories to my partner, no problem. Excellent. Keep it up sir! Thank you for your service.
Thank you!
I agree with god, lazy tops suck I’m not sure you’re talking about the same top I am
This is one of the best episodes on this channel, period. And that's saying something because this channel is a goldmine. But every story here was true and creepy as hell. Excellent collection of stories.
I remember my Russian teacher once telling us about a fisherman who had discovered an island in the middle of nowhere which was full of handicapped people shipped off and hidden out of sight to avoid giving Russia a bad image. After telling us everything, she revealed the fisherman was her father o_o
Mankind's evil.
Wtf 😳😂👍🏻😂😅
😧😳
@@theresaosborne2736 it's called communism
MrBallen: Spoiler alert - It didnt end well.
Me: That's... why I'm here.
Lmaooo
True.
lol
This comment made me think I was watching Nuke’s for a minute lol
Some of these people are on a death mission, especially when the signs say do not enter.
The second story really made me feel sad. It was dumb to go back but much respect to the three guys for going back to their two mates.
Imagine going on vacation to a group of islands and running into the only cannibal. Talk about bad luck!
As a child in Jamaica, there was a cave in the backlands of my family property. At times you could actually hear a kind of echo coming from it and even water rushing. We as children were terrified of going near and my grandfather warned us not to go there. This was in the seventies and a group of hippies camping in the hills wanted to explore it. My grandfather reported Ed it to the constable and he warned them that Jamaica did not have the resources to get them out if they ran into trouble. They never tried it again but I was curious to to this day to know what’s down there.
Rocks
@@fgnoyola My mom found a body in a cave when she was a Girl Guide in JA. Someone had fallen in years before and broken his neck.
This poop is not coming out very easily. I was so sure that it would be a liquid consistency diarrhea due to sudden onset of farts. But now here I am, straining to only get a few nuggets out. Meanwhile my stomach still hurts. It is possible that this will be a multi layered poop. Sometimes the second half is an avalanche
@@fgnoyolaMEATY KOK WHIPPED OUT AT YOGA CLASS. WOMAN WHIPS OUT A HUGE KOK AFTER SHOWING HER BULGE TO THE YOGA TEACHER
@@clobberelladoesntreadcomme9920
PEENUS FLAVORED SPORTS DRINK. LOGAN PAUL COMES OUT WITH A PEENUS FLAVORED DRINK AND SELLS TO HOMOSEXUALS! MASSIVE VEINY KOK ON THE LABEL. ONLY INGREDIENTS ARE PEENUS SWEAT AND GROUND PUBES!
R.I.P in advance to all;
Scuba divers
Hikers
Cave explorers
This is why I'm happy staying in my house.
What about Stalin victims in #3?
They are the ones that were put in that situation against their will.
Hiking is actually pretty amazing though, go with a group of friends and you eliminate all threats. It's great exercise and you get to connect with nature in a way you don't usually. Also, most hiking victim stories I've heard were solo or with just two people. Don't spend your life being afraid of a little adventure.
McDonald's?
Geez for real
All alone in a remote island, with a stranger and nobody knowing that they are there...... This girl was so brave, strong and daring, it’s sad that her boyfriend didn’t survive.
Cannot imagine being in her shoes 😨
shes just lucky he wasnt hungry yet
The under water dive story was absolutely terrifying! I was already panicking listening to you talk about the rebreather.
I can’t imagine how horrible for that group of divers! I can’t even imagine
I'm 67 years old and l've heard a lot of stories. But MrBallen can tell them like no other!
honestly, he's okay. i don't understand why people are so enamoured. maybe it's being from ny. maybe it's having spent too much time in bars and clubs.
It has nothing to do with that. It's his storytelling that makes his video's special
You are the second person to state your age and say that
@@defunctuserchannel Because he does not mock the people in his stories, he is detailed, exact, and uses emotion at the perfect moment, he is objective during his narration, he does not stutter or laugh throughout, and because he remains respectful.
I think i can do good job too because last 11 years telling story to my kids every night.
Some of the stories even last 3 months and i have to make everything up.
This is why the hipsters getting tattoos of Stalin and carrying pictures of him should be distrusted at best, or ideally shunned completely.
Yeah, those idiots have no idea who they're representing.
What... what is wrong with people??
100% agree.
Same can be said about them with their Che Guevara shirts.
as opposed to those repping basically any president of the US.
You gotta be pretty shitty to gain power, but one sided blinders doesnt actually accomplish anything
Regarding the first couple, I've noticed some world travelers operate on the notion that everyone is good.
They see the best of humanity and that probably fuels their continued traveling. But they meet endings like this when they won't accept some people are predators. Quite literally in this case.
Don't hike the border of Iran and Iraq. Don't go to North Korea unless you obey every rule, don't overstay your welcome. Learn when to look for something in people's eyes and mannerisms that shouldn't be there.
Practice your own poker face, learn to be unpredictable, practice subtle cues to your partner(s).
Be savy.
It's not that "everyone is good", it's the belief that there is some good in everyone. I mean Christ, Hitler did a lot for animal rights, and there were some people who loved him. White supremacists still tuck their kids in at night. But there is a big difference between trying to find common ground with someone you hate ( or somebody who hates you ) in a professional of public setting, and a black person showing up to a Klan rally.
Don't become a bigot yourself when dealing with bigots, but don't be naive either.
Yep. There is nothing that would lead me to go alone with half wild local into unknown area
Your Navy seal experience gave you credibility for my 82 year old father!
Lots of people lucky enough to be able to travel are raised in a safe, rich bubble
Absolutely; personally I would love to believe the best of everyone, but that is not the case; even in parts of our own countries, people cannot be trusted
You tell stories better than anyone else!👏🏻
The second story is sad but quite touching that they later made the treacherous journey to retrieve their dead friends. “No friends left behind”
There is a documentary here on YT about it,& it’s fascinatingly beautiful
All friends lives matters!
We are finnish, no one is left behind. Ever.
@@jyrkik8107 Well, their bodies were retrieved but they're still gone to the depths. Makes very little difference.
The cave dive story…combined with the background music and perfect storytelling, was one of the most haunting stories I heard online. I could almost feel the darkness and claustrophobic environment of cave diving as I listened. Fantastic work! Thank you very much for the effort.
Story number 2 was sooo stressful but that ending has one word “friendship”
These stories are the reason I bond with my family as much as possible.
Some of the stories this guy tells actually get my heart racing as if I were in the situation myself.
Amazing to have first hand, working knowledge about the rebreather. For us laymen types, that kind of explanation is a valuable part of the story.
Except that he was completely wrong about breathing pure oxygen.
@@edwinov If you breathe air with a much higher than normal O2 concentration, the oxygen in the lungs overwhelms the blood's ability to carry it away. You die. What part of his explanation was wrong?
@@obscurazone He said he was breathing pure oxygen (=100% oxygen, no nitrogen, nothing else, just oxygen). At a partial oxygen pressure of 1.4 bar oxygen is toxic. This means that pure oxygen would become lethal at a depth of 4 meters. This is why Nitrox divers for example set the oxygen percentage of their mixture (eg 30%) beforehand, depending on the maximum depth of their dive. NO diver ever breaths pure oxygen, in contrast to what the narrator says.
@@edwinov He didn't say that at all. He was explaining how a re-breather system works, whereby your own exhaled air mix is scrubbed on a cycle and mixed with pure oxygen on a loop. Which is ok for a limited period, but will poison you eventually as theres only so many times the air can be "re-breathed" and mixed with the pure oxygen.
@@obscurazone 10:20 : "So you have a continuous cycle where you're just breathing pure oxygen". Don't ever try to correct me again you scoundrel! I know my facts.
Your kids are pretty lucky to have such an awesome dad.
I had an old school Frogman Dad, he scared us shit less everytime he could. My mom wouldn't even get in a boat with him! Good times, when I was 3 he'd put me on his long board and when he caught a wave haul me on his shoulders. You had to have nerves of steel to hang with him....my brother became an alcoholic and drug addiction, I became a technical rock and ice climber...your basic adrenaline junky. Scary ExNavy Dads! You never know how the kids will turn out...
Agreed!!
I bet his parents are proud to. Be like MrBallen.
I need some more of these videos in my current life please! It's been so long I feel since we've had a 3 places you can't go...
The second story is real sad 😔.... The fact that they went back illegally & took back the same traumatic dive to get to the deceased
REAL FRIENDS ❤🙌🏾
Well they probably just went through the exit this time and not where they began
Ya know…I’ve learned a lot about diving from this channel. One thing I’ve learned is to just not do it.
I feel so sorry for that poor dude who had to swim all the way to the top knowing his friends were dead. I hope he was able to come to terms with the fact that it wasn't his fault, and no one could have expected his friend would get stuck like that. There is nothing he could have possibly done.
Mr.Ballen seems like a great dude that be a great friend to hear stories from. Plus, if you get into trouble he's an ex-navy seal who could probably still stop anyone from fugin with ya.
There is actually a great documentary made about the retrieval of their friends. It is called Diving into the Unknown. By the way the first diver of the second group actually got passed his dead friends body but because of the time it took sufferd serious deco injuries so he was the surface manager at the retrieval months later. The second diver of his group tragicly died as well. My native language is not English so my apologies for the spelling mistakes :)
@@Samantha777love good thing English is not my native language. I am sure you never make a mistake when writing in a different language.
@@Mehylai They were being kind to you and complimenting your English skills. They also included some critiques of your grammar so that you may improve upon your already good English.
@@jakemoresea7415 in that case my apologies. But I did not read it like that, hence my reaction.
@@Mehylai Understandable. I just wanted to clear up the misunderstanding
@@Mehylai I'm sorry you took my comment as an insult. I'm trying to learn Spanish, and I appreciate it when Spanish speakers correct my grammar, so I thought I would do the same for someone else. I'm glad Jake was able to clear up the misunderstanding, though! :) Have a good day :)
Anyone "sigh" when this video is over...and start the next one right away ?
And then "Oh no!!! there's only 20 left!"
Yes
Yea, satisfied but only temporary. Addiction. Love this guy
Always
I sometimes watch them over again now. While waiting for the new ones.
The documentary about the divers who recovered their friend’s bodies is called “Diving into the Unknown”. Extremely eerie but a good watch. Love you videos!
Best storyteller on TH-cam, end of! Awesome delivery and great emotional responses to the stories your telling. Keep up the amazing work!!!
I’m 25 and received a chemotherapy that effects the lungs, so before treatment I had to sign something saying I’d never scuba dive (I can’t remember the reason why- I just know it has to do with potential lung damage), at first I was kinda bummed… now, not so much…
You got cancer?
Diving puts a lot of strain on the lungs, because water pressure compresses the air & then it expands as you rise to the surface. Even healthy persons have died from air expansion popping lung blood vessels
Wishing u to heal quickly 🥰
Also, I’m super healthy. Would NEVER dive.
Not being able to breathe (without an apparatus)is not coo.
You get the bends aka decompression sickness. Not good for anyone especially someone in your predicament. Get well!
@@davidmurray6176 that’s what I assumed after watching all these videos 😂. Yeah, I’m perfectly content not diving… lol
I found this channel by accident and now I can’t stop watching 😂
Me too. I’m 4 days into watching all his videos now.
Same with me! I've been binge watching for two weeks now. He's an awesome storyteller. Great animation!.
Me too... I'm 6 days in.... Addicted 😊
This channel is like an underground cave. Once you entered there is no way back)
It’s really useful having a navy seal explain the second extremely sad loss of life in a way that you can actually understand as to what should’ve happened and what couldn’t and didn’t happen in detail.
Pretty fascinating in a strange way
They were trying to escape. They asked us, "Where's the railway?" We'd never seen a railway. They asked, "Where's Moscow? Leningrad?" They were asking the wrong people: we'd never heard of those places. We're Ostyaks. People were running away starving. They were given a handful of flour. They mixed it with water and drank it and then they immediately got diarrhea. The things we saw! People were dying everywhere; they were killing each other... On the island there was a guard named Kostia Venikov, a young fellow. He fell in love with a girl who had been sent there and was courting her. He protected her. One day he had to be away for a while, and he told one of his comrades, "Take care of her," but with all the people there the comrade couldn't do much really... People caught the girl, tied her to a poplar tree, cut off her breasts, her muscles, everything they could eat, everything, everything... They were hungry, they had to eat. When Kostia came back, she was still alive. He tried to save her, but she had lost too much blood.
Is this real, or are YOU a great story teller🤔🙏
@@tiaa.7110 It is an eyewitness account. Very real
@@phyto12 and yet Hitler gets all the hate while Stalin gets a free pass
@@chiefkeef74 hitler was absolutely abhorrent
Hitler's sin was to bypass the central bank to issue his own currency and achieved full employment in the middle of a world economic recession.
THAT is why he was popular and had to be destroyed. Just like Hussein who wanted euros for his oil and Gadaffi who wanted to mint a new currency based on gold.
AMERICANS have been responsible for the deaths of more innocent civilians than any other country.
When you became allies of Stalin he had already massacred 60 million Christians but the USA and allies didn't give a toss for the genocide of Christians.
To paraphrase General Patton. ,'We defeated the wrong enemy. We should have joined the fascists to defeat the communists. In 50 years the USA will be morally destroyed'.
Mr.ballen: explaining how a rebreather works
My dad: if you go up too fast you explode
Gotta love parents
Irish parents
Keep watching. He talks about a guy exploding because of the decompression.