Don't Get in the Water

[0] Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad -free on Amazon Music.

[1] Download the Amazon Music app today.

[2] Today's podcast is about places you can't go and people who went there anyway.

[3] This will be a top three style episode, so you'll hear three unique stories back -to -back, and each story will be more intense than the last one.

[4] The audio from all three stories has been pulled from my YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Ballen, and they have each one.

[5] each been remastered for today's podcast.

[6] The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description.

[7] The first story you'll hear, which is the number three story on today's list, is called the Limpopo, and it's about a waterway in South Africa that locals refuse to go near.

[8] The second story you'll hear, which is the number two story on today's list, is called No Way Out, and it is the definition of what a worst -case scenario looks like in the rugged top end of Australia.

[9] And the final story you'll hear, which is the number one story in today's list, is called Blackwater.

[10] And it's another story from Australia that was so terrifying it was adapted into two major motion pictures.

[11] But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the Strange, dark, and Mysterious, delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.

[12] So, if that's of interest to you, please offer to do the five -star review button.

[13] laundry, but be sure to stop the dryer when their clothes are still slightly damp.

[14] Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads.

[15] Okay, let's get into our first story called the Limpopo.

[16] I'm Dan Tibersky.

[17] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York, a mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.

[18] What's the answer?

[19] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your Head.

[20] Hysterical.

[21] A new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.

[22] Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free on Wondry Plus.

[23] Nicknamed the Great Gray Green Greasy, the Limpopo River is one of Africa's largest rivers.

[24] It serves as a border between Zimbabwe and South Africa, and it also happens to be one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

[25] A town in South Africa called Falaborwa sits on Limpopo shores, and all of its residents know they're never supposed to step foot inside of the dangerous waterway.

[26] But not all of their residents take that guidance seriously.

[27] On January 1st, 2010, Falaborwa resident Mariska Bightendog, along with her boyfriend and six of their other friends, had been out all night partying celebrating the new year.

[28] They had had a considerable amount of alcohol over the course of the night, so as the sun was coming up, in their inebriated state, they decided they wanted to take an early morning dip in the Limpopo River.

[29] So they head over to the river, and while initially they all seemed really eager to get in the waterway, it was only Mariska that was brave enough to do it.

[30] So the rest stayed on shore, and Mariska jumped in the river and jumped right out again.

[31] And she survived.

[32] And everyone was very impressed with her.

[33] So she's confident.

[34] And so she does it again, this time going a little bit farther out into the river before coming back on shore.

[35] Now she's really confident.

[36] She's done it twice.

[37] And so she said, hey, who wants to come with me for a third time in?

[38] And the group said, no, we're still good.

[39] And you really shouldn't push your luck.

[40] This is not safe.

[41] And she said, I don't care, I'm going in for a third time.

[42] So Mariska gets in the water and by herself, she swims out on her back about 15 meters away from shore.

[43] She turns and waves at the group and smiles before she is violently pulled under the water.

[44] There wasn't even time for her to scream.

[45] Her boyfriend immediately jumped into the water to try to pull her out, but he knew where she was, and there was no way he was getting her back.

[46] The other nickname for the Lompopo River is Crocodile River, and Mariska, unfortunately, had felt victim to one of its apex predators.

[47] But it's not just drunk partygoers that fall victim to these crocodiles.

[48] Unfortunately, for the residents of Zimbabwe, because of the extreme hardships they have to face, many of them have been forced to flee the country and cross over the Limpopo River to try to gain entry into South Africa, and many of them will die trying.

[49] On April 11, 2014, Zimbabwean and South African police discovered this crocodile -infested cave right near where Zimbabwean residents will try to cross over the Limpopo River and inside of this cave were the remains of 15 people that presumably tried to cross over and were caught by crocodiles.

[50] The discovery of this cave and the 15 people who lost their lives inside of it, while tragic and certainly gruesome, it only represents a fraction of the total number of people who have died trying to cross this river.

[51] The next story, which is our number two story on today's list, is called No Way Out.

[52] In 1986, 36, 35 million Americans, went to see the brand new movie Crocodile Dundee, which was a comedy that starred this very capable and rugged Australian crocodile hunter who goes to New York City.

[53] One of the 35 million Americans who saw this film was a 24 -year -old model from Virginia named Ginger Meadows.

[54] And after seeing this film, Ginger felt inspired to actually go to Australia to see it for herself because it looked so amazing in this movie.

[55] So a couple of months later, in March of 1987, Ginger, by herself, hops on a plane, and flies to Perth, which is a major city in Western Australia.

[56] And her plan was she would land in Australia and then work odd jobs to make a little bit of cash and then use that cash to fund her travels all over the country.

[57] And then at some point, after she was tired of doing that, she would head back to the United States.

[58] So she lands in Perth and immediately she sees her first opportunity to make some money.

[59] There had been this huge sailing competition in the city leading up to the weekend she arrived there, And so she saw all these luxury yachts anchored at all these docks along the coastline.

[60] And Ginger's thinking to herself, you know, these huge ships, they have crews that work on them basically full time.

[61] Maybe one of these boats could use an extra set of hands.

[62] And so Ginger, who was very friendly and outgoing, she went right down to one of these docks.

[63] And she stopped in front of the very first yacht she saw, which was this huge luxury 100 -foot yacht.

[64] And she introduced herself to the captain of this boat.

[65] And she said, hey, you know, can I hitch a ride with you guys to.

[66] the next place you're going, and in exchange, I'll work for you.

[67] And as it happened, the captain was actually looking for another crew member to assist their chef.

[68] And so he said, okay, well, can you cook?

[69] And Ginger said, yeah, I'm a great cook.

[70] And he said, okay, well, you're hired.

[71] You can be the chef's assistant.

[72] And so Ginger, she climbs on board and she meets the rest of the five other crew members, including the chef who she'd be working with.

[73] And the chef's name was Jane, and those two would become very close.

[74] And then shortly after Ginger had come aboard, the captain cast off their lines, they headed out to sea.

[75] Their next stop was going to be New Guinea, which was roughly 14 days of travel away.

[76] After about a week at sea, the captain realized they were dangerously low on fresh water, and so he decided to take a detour and turn east and head inland along this river system that would bring them to this large freshwater pool, which he also knew had this huge waterfall that dumped down into it, and so he figured they could go right underneath this waterfall and fill up their jugs with all this fresh water and then head back out and they'd be good so on the morning of march 29th the captain anchored the yacht out at sea near the mouth of this river system and then he lowered the yacht's dinghy which is a smaller more agile boat and once that was in the water he ginger jane and the rest of the crew they hop in this dingy along with all these large empty water jugs and they begin making their way towards this river and so they're traveling up this river for a little while and then finally they get to this huge freshwater pool and right in front of them is this amazing waterfall and everybody is just totally awestruck by this waterfall it's like a gem in the middle of nowhere because they're in very rugged australia at this point and so the captain he brings the dingy right near the base of the waterfall and one by one they hold up their water jugs and they fill them with fresh water and then they're about to turn and go back out to sea and get back on their yacht when the captain thinks to himself you know what we've been at sea for seven days straight it's been very monotonous.

[77] Maybe it would be a good thing to stick around here for a little bit longer and maybe even hike up to the top of this waterfall and enjoy the view and kind of enjoy the scenery before we head back out to sea.

[78] And so he says to his crew, hey, do you guys want to go to the top of this waterfall?

[79] And everyone agrees it's a great idea.

[80] With the exception of Jane, she did not feel like hiking to the top of this waterfall.

[81] She said she would stay down in the dingy and wait for them.

[82] Now, this pool is basically surrounded on all sides by just pure cliff face.

[83] There really is no place to land this dingy.

[84] There's no flat surfaces.

[85] You basically have cliffs that go directly into water and then also you have the river that feeds back out to the ocean.

[86] So the captain brings the dinghy right up against the cliff face right next to this waterfall and he and Ginger and the other crew members not named Jane climb out of the dinghy onto this cliff face and they begin climbing, literally climbing up this wall towards the top of the waterfall.

[87] Now everyone was able to do it except for Ginger.

[88] She kept slipping on the rocks.

[89] it was very steep, it seemed kind of dangerous.

[90] And so at some point, she abandons the idea and goes back down to the dinghy with Jane, and the captain and the rest of the crew, they continue up towards the top.

[91] And so as Ginger and Jane are sitting in the dingy, watching the other crew members making their way up, they start feeling a little bit left out, and they're like, you know what, let's try to find an alternate way up to the top of this waterfall.

[92] And so they begin scanning out across this pool at the other cliffs kind of surrounding it, And it looked like on the very other side of the pool, there was a less severe cliff face that maybe they would have an easier time climbing up.

[93] And so the two women, they jump into the murky brown water and begin swimming directly across this pool towards this other cliff.

[94] And when they make it about a third of the way, Jane suddenly stops and Ginger notices and turns around and looks at Jane and she's like, what's going on?

[95] And Jane would tell her, you know, something just feels off.

[96] The system feel right.

[97] Let's go back to the dingy.

[98] Let's just forget about this.

[99] But Ginger is like, come on, we're so close, let's just keep going.

[100] It'll be awesome once we get to the top of this waterfall.

[101] And so Jane, she's totally hesitant, but she says, okay, fine.

[102] And they both continue to swim.

[103] And then all of the sudden, they hear their captain, who is now on top of the waterfall, screaming down to them to get out of the water right now.

[104] And they notice he is pointing down at the pool in a direction slightly away from where they were.

[105] And so they're looking up at him, and they're following his finger down to the part of the pool he's pointing at.

[106] And they see there is this tidal wave of water coming towards them.

[107] It is a 12 foot long saltwater crocodile that has noticed them and it is charging straight at them.

[108] Now Jane and Ginger knew they were too far away from the dingy to be able to swim to it before this crocodile was going to reach them and so their next best choice was just to turn and swim towards the nearest cliff face because again there is no place to get out of the water.

[109] There's only cliffs and so they swim towards this cliff face which is right on the edge of the bottom of the waterfall.

[110] And so water is landing on them and they reach the cliff face and they're trying to climb up and pull themselves out of the water, but there's nowhere to grab onto.

[111] It's all totally slick.

[112] There's no good handholds.

[113] And so all they have is this little ledge that is in the water that they're standing on, but they're still halfway into the water.

[114] And so after they struggle for a minute trying to pull themselves out of the water and they realize they can't do it, they both just turn around and they lock arms and they look out through the water that's falling down in front of them into the pool and they see this crocodile has followed them and it is now stopped right on the other side of the water that's falling down and it's just staring at them with its mouth wide open and the two women are looking at it they don't know what to do and the captain and the other crew members they see what's going on and they're trying to climb down as fast as they possibly can to try to rescue them but it's going to take several minutes at least before they get down to the dingy and so jane and ginger they're totally aware of this and they're just staring at this crocodile, screaming at it, trying to get it to go away, and at some point, the crocodile does just close its mouth and sink below the surface.

[115] But now they don't know where it is, and this causes Ginger to completely panic, and she lets go of Jane's arm, and she dives into the water off to the right, and attempts to swim away from the crocodile back over to the boat.

[116] But Ginger only made it two strokes before the crocodile suddenly re -emerge underneath her and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her under the water.

[117] Jane is just standing there watching all of this happen in front of her.

[118] She has no idea what to do.

[119] The crew is still not down in the dinghy, so she's totally stranded.

[120] And she's just staring at the area where Ginger has been pulled below the surface.

[121] And just seconds after she's been pulled under, the crocodile re -emerges with its head pointed towards Jane.

[122] And in its jaws is Ginger.

[123] And Ginger's got her arms up over her head.

[124] She's wide -eyed, and she's looking right at Jane.

[125] And Jane makes eye contact with her, but there's nothing she can do.

[126] and she just watched as Ginger again was pulled back under, and this time she did not come up again.

[127] Ultimately, Jane would be rescued from the ledge.

[128] The crew would get down to the dinghy, they'd swing over, they would pick her up, and then about two days later they would find what was left of Ginger's remains.

[129] It would turn out the captain was well aware of the threat the crocodiles posed in this river, and he had told his crew Ginger and Jane included about this threat, and that at no point should anyone get in this water.

[130] But of course, his warning went unheeded.

[131] If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good.

[132] You are a fan of the Strange Dark and Mysterious.

[133] And if that's the case, then I've got some good news.

[134] We just launched a brand new Strange Dark and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[135] And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years, and we finally decided to take the plunge and the show is awesome.

[136] In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between.

[137] Each story is totally true and totally terrifying.

[138] Go follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad -free on Amazon Music.

[139] Hey, all you fans of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious.

[140] It's me, Mr. Ballin, and today I have some big news.

[141] It's something I'm holding in my hands right now, and so obviously you can't see it.

[142] But this is something you're really going to want to see.

[143] It's the first ever official Mr. Ballin publication.

[144] It's a graphic novel, and it's called Mr. Ballin Presents, Strange, Dark and Mysterious, The Graphic Stories.

[145] It's an anthology of both classic and brand new, terrifying stories that we've never covered on any of my other platforms because we created them specifically for this first book.

[146] Each of these stories in the book are feature -length Mr. Ballin's stories that really needed to be told visually.

[147] And the artwork in this book is, I mean, I'm looking at it, and it's just absolutely stunning.

[148] So the book is not actually coming out until my birthday this year, October 1st, but you can pre -order it right now at book .bollen studios .com.

[149] Again, that's book .bollendtstudios .com.

[150] The next and final story, so our top story of today's list, is called Blackwater.

[151] At 11 .40 a .m. on December 21, 2003, three young men who were longtime child, friends, hopped in a truck and began traveling south.

[152] They were 22 -year -old Brett Mann and 19 -year -olds, Sean Blowers and Ashley McGuff.

[153] They lived in a coastal city called Darwin, which is actually the capital of the Northern Territory in Australia.

[154] The Northern Territory, also known as the Top End, is located in the central north of the continent.

[155] It is six times larger than the UK, but has 280 times less people living in it.

[156] Specifically, the UK is home to roughly 70 million people, whereas the top end is home to only 250 ,000 people, and half of them live in Darwin.

[157] There are many reasons why the top end is so underpopulated, ranging from politics to poor infrastructure, but the most obvious reason that so few people choose to live in this part of Australia is because it is wildly rugged and dangerous.

[158] It is scorchingly hot year -round, and the weather in general is just unbelievably unpredictable and violent and, as the old saying goes, all the animals there are trying to kill you and each other.

[159] But Brett, Sean, and Ashley had grown up in Darwin, and so they were accustomed to the hazards of living in the top end.

[160] And so they weren't really concerned about them.

[161] What they were concerned with was finding things to do and not getting bored in the city.

[162] That particular day, in order to ward off boredom, the trio had decided they would head out to a salt flat that was located about 50 miles to the southwest of Darwin.

[163] It was this wide open plain that they could just race around on their quad bikes on.

[164] And so they loaded these quad bikes into their trailer, attach it to their truck, they hopped in their truck, and at 1140 a .m., they started heading south out of Darwin.

[165] The first road they were on was this fairly desolate dirt road that wound around through the wilderness and it passed by the iconic eucalyptus trees that are very well known in Australia.

[166] It passed by palm trees and giant termite mounds.

[167] And after driving on this dirt road for about 30 minutes, the trio passed by the Tumbling Waters Holiday Park, which is a vacation resort for adventurous families.

[168] And then beyond this park, there really was no more civilization.

[169] They were headed right into the outback of Australia.

[170] And so this was kind of like the last mark of civilization.

[171] And so the trio, they drive for another 30 minutes past the park.

[172] And at some point, all of the trees on either side of the road start getting more and more dense until they begin kind of encroaching over the road as if it looks like you're driving directly through the heart of a jungle.

[173] And they would have recognized this change in scenery as meaning they were nearing the Finnis River, which was off to their right beyond all of the trees.

[174] So they couldn't see it, but they knew they were close.

[175] And the Finnis River was not a huge waterway.

[176] It was a 30 -mile stretch that ran east to west through the top end.

[177] And what it was known for was being very brackish and dark.

[178] You could not see into this water more than maybe an inch or two, so it almost appeared black.

[179] And so the trio continued driving along through this kind of jungle atmosphere until the left side of the road began to thin out again, and then it eventually revealed the salt flats up to their left.

[180] And so at that point, the trio pulled off on the right side of the road where the vegetation was still very thick.

[181] And then the trio hopped out of the truck, they went around to their trailer, they dropped the gate, and one by one they pulled their quad bikes off, and then each of them hopped on and drove out onto the flats.

[182] That day, the flats were were actually very muddy because it had recently rained really, really heavy in that area.

[183] And so the trio spent just as much time racing each other on the flats as they did trying to drive close to each other and spray mud on each other.

[184] And so for hours, they were out there having a great time.

[185] And then at 4 .30 p .m., they decided it was time to call it a day.

[186] And so they drove back over to the truck.

[187] They drove their quad bikes up onto the trailer.

[188] They locked it.

[189] And then they were about to get into the truck to head back home when one of them suggested, hey, let's head down to the water and rinse our clothes off and get all this mud off of us.

[190] Now, you need to understand in the top end, the place you want to spend the least amount of time in is the water.

[191] People in the top end assume that in any natural water body that is not clearly designated as a swimming area has at least one animal working in it that will kill you.

[192] This is a literal precaution people in the top end take.

[193] And so this section of the finis River that these three friends were thinking about going and jumping into and washing off inside of, this was not a clearly designated swimming area, and so it should be avoided.

[194] But you need to remember these three guys, they grew up in the top end.

[195] They were used to living in this kind of wild area, and they'd also come to the salt flats so many times over the years, and they had jumped into the Finnis River before to wash off and go swimming, and nothing had ever happened.

[196] And so really, the idea that the Finnis River could be dangerous to them.

[197] It didn't really cross their mind.

[198] They felt like, you know what, we've been there, done that.

[199] Nothing's going to happen to us.

[200] And so they left the truck and walked away from the salt flats into this mangrove forest that's only a couple of feet off the road and began walking towards this river.

[201] Normally, the trip from the road through the forest to the river bank, basically where the forest ended and you reached the river, it would take about 10 minutes.

[202] But after walking in this mangrove for maybe a minute, they were already standing in river water.

[203] It was only a couple of inches of this water, but it signaled to the guys that clearly the river is very swollen from all of the recent rains, enough so that it overflowed beyond its natural boundaries, and it's flooded the mangrove forest.

[204] But the three guys, they look at each other and think, nah, what's the big deal?

[205] I'm sure we'll be fine.

[206] And so the guys continued moving on, but as the mangroves began to thin out, they began to slow down dramatically.

[207] But because the river banks on the edges of the Finnis River were very, very steep.

[208] If you were standing on dry land, if there was no flooding, and you were right on the edge of the Finnis River, if you took even one or two steps into the river, you would slip down under the water, and the water would be over your head.

[209] Now, as these guys are walking, because the ground is flooded with this black, brackish water, they couldn't see the ground, and so they couldn't tell where the drop -off into the river was.

[210] And so they began to slow down, and then when all the trees were practically gone, they knew they were close, and then one of them actually slipped and kind of tumbled down the edge for a second, but he turned and he grabbed one of the roots of the mangrove tree and pulled himself back up.

[211] And then the other two, after seeing this, they walked over and stood next to him, and the trio just stood there looking out at this pitch black looking river that was very clearly moving faster than normal because of all this excess rain.

[212] But they kind of looked at each other and thought, you know what, it's not that big of a deal.

[213] and we'll hold on to the roots of these mangroves and lower ourselves over the embankment, we'll wash ourselves off, pull ourselves back up, no big deal.

[214] And so they each turned around and grabbed a root of one of the many mangrove trees that marked the edge of this forest, and while holding on, they would lower their lower half down past the embankment until they were submerged.

[215] They rubbed all the mud off of themselves, being very careful not to let go of the mangrove at any point, and then as they were about to finish up and pull themselves back up and get back to their truck when Brett loses his balance and somehow lets go of the mangrove route and slips down the steep embankment and suddenly the current takes him away from his friends and out to the middle of this river and before long he's getting pulled downstream.

[216] And so he yells out to Ashley and Sean who had their backs turn to him.

[217] They turn around, they see their friend and they instinctively leap into the river to try to go get him and help swim him back to the side.

[218] Now all three of them were very competent swimmers and so this was not a high panic situation.

[219] This was more like a inconvenience and maybe a little bit funny.

[220] And so that's why they left in no problem.

[221] They figured, you know, worst case scenario is we'll drift somewhere down there and we'll get out and we'll walk our way back to our car.

[222] But as soon as Sean and Ashley were free floating in this river, they felt how strong this current was.

[223] And it was way stronger than they were anticipating.

[224] And so they actually started to get a little bit worried and they looked up ahead of them and Brett, who had been in the water for, you know, 10 or 15 seconds before they left in, he had already moved way farther downstream than them.

[225] And so they decided, you know what, we have to get out, but we need to get to Brett first.

[226] We all need to get out at the same place.

[227] And so they decide they're going to swim downstream, meet up with Brett, and then get the heck out of that river as fast as they possibly can.

[228] And so they yell out to Brett to, hey, we're coming to get you.

[229] And they start swimming as fast as they possibly can.

[230] And with the help of the current, they manage to get all the way up to Brett relatively quickly, maybe a couple of minutes.

[231] And when they reach him, Sean and Ashley go in front of Brett, and then the three of them, they stop actively swimming, and they allow the current to just kind of carry them downstream.

[232] And as they're drifting, they begin scouting the left side of the river for a solid clump of mangrove trees they can swim into, because unless there's something to grab onto on the edge of this river, they can't pull themselves out.

[233] And so at this point, the trio is definitely uncomfortable being in the water because of how strong that current is, but they're confident they're going to find a viable landing spot and they're going to get out of here and it will be a great story.

[234] And so Sean is in the front, Ashley is right behind him and then Brett is behind Ashley.

[235] And they're all about an arm's length away from each other.

[236] And they're drifting down this river for a couple of minutes.

[237] They're looking on the left side for a viable landing spot and then all of the sudden Ashley just yells out, hey, I see something in the water.

[238] We need to get out.

[239] Find the nearest tree.

[240] Get out, get out, get out.

[241] And so Sean, he starts panicking.

[242] He doesn't even turn around.

[243] to see what's going on behind him, adrenaline kicks in, and he swims as fast as he possibly can to a tree that's popped out of the river.

[244] It's literally growing in the middle of the river.

[245] And so he swims up to this tree.

[246] He manages to climb up to the first fork of the tree, which is maybe six or eight feet above the water.

[247] And as soon as he's up there, he turns around and looks down and he sees Ashley.

[248] He reaches down and he hoist Ashley up to the first fork with him.

[249] And then the pair turn around again to grab Brett, but Brett's not there.

[250] And so they look around they're thinking, okay, did Brett not make it to the tree?

[251] Did the current pull him around?

[252] Is he at some other tree?

[253] You know, they're yelling out for him.

[254] They're looking for him, but there's no Brett.

[255] And so they're talking to each other.

[256] Ashley and Sean, they're saying, hey, did he call out?

[257] Did you hear something?

[258] Did he give some indication about where he was going?

[259] And they're saying, no, I don't know where he is.

[260] And so they start climbing up the tree a little bit and trying to look down and up the river to see if maybe they can see him.

[261] And then all of a sudden, Sean notices something yellow flash beneath them in the water.

[262] And so he looks straight down and he sees this yellow thing down there.

[263] And so he nudges Ashley and he says, look.

[264] And so Ashley looks down.

[265] And as they're looking, they're about 10 feet off the water at this point.

[266] They see this yellow thing start rising up to the surface.

[267] Now, the water is so dark, they really can't tell what anything is unless it is at the surface.

[268] And so they're watching this yellow thing and suddenly it comes out of the water and they see it's Brett.

[269] He's got his yellow jacket on.

[270] That's what they saw.

[271] And Brett is in the mouth of a 13 foot long saltwater crocodile.

[272] He is face down and his left side is being held in this animal's mouth and he's not moving.

[273] And so Sean and Ashley are so scared, they're just frozen.

[274] They're just staring at this monster that's in the water that's holding their friend underwater and they can't do anything about it.

[275] And for two minutes, they just stand there looking at this animal wondering what's going to happen.

[276] And for those entire two minutes, the crocodile stared right back up at Ashley and Sean as if it was showing them what it was going to do to them once they got in the water.

[277] I've done this to your friend, I'm getting you two as well.

[278] And so they're staring at this animal when suddenly it just kind of goes underneath the water back down into the black abyss and it, along with Brett, just disappear.

[279] Ashley and Sean are so terrified that they can't even grieve for their friend.

[280] They can't feel sad for him.

[281] It's like they just go into survival mode.

[282] And without saying anything to each other, they just start climbing up this tree as fast and as far as they possibly can.

[283] and they only managed to get up maybe a couple more feet to two more branches.

[284] One's at about 10 or 12 feet off the water, and the other is at about 15 feet off the water.

[285] And so Sean makes it onto the lower branch, and then Ashley makes it onto the slightly higher branch.

[286] And then once they're situated on their branch and one arm is firmly wrapped around the trunk of the tree, they're able to kind of breathe for a second and take stock of their situation.

[287] And even though, of course, the elephant in the room here is that their friend was just eaten by a crocodile, But it's like they can't process that yet.

[288] Instead, they start talking about, okay, well, our families, they're going to recognize our absence and they're going to tell the police and the police are going to launch a search and they're going to come find us.

[289] Both of them were confident or they acted confident that that was going to happen, but they also knew that there was no timeline for this.

[290] It could be hours or days until this actually happened.

[291] And so as these two teens are sitting on their branches, the reality of their situation really started to come crashing down on them.

[292] because, yeah, they're safe in this tree, but how long can they possibly stay in this tree for?

[293] I mean, eventually, they're going to need to fall asleep.

[294] And if they fall asleep, are they going to fall out of the tree and land in the water with this crocodile?

[295] I mean, they just didn't know how this was going to turn out.

[296] And so as the two began comforting each other, you know, reassuring each other that, oh, no, it's going to be just fine.

[297] Someone's going to find us tonight or tomorrow will be just fine.

[298] As they're doing that, Ashley suddenly stops talking to Sean and just look straight down.

[299] And so Sean realizes what Ashley's doing, and he matches his gaze, and he looks straight down and at the base of their tree in that black water is the 13 -foot -long saltwater crocodile.

[300] It's back, and it no longer has Brett in its mouth.

[301] They have no idea where Brett is.

[302] He's just gone.

[303] Saltwater crocodiles are considered the most aggressive and dangerous crocodiles in the world, and they are one of only two crocodile species that will actively hunt humans when given a chance.

[304] And so these two teens are helpless in this tree.

[305] All they have is some separation from the black water and this animal down below.

[306] And so they just find themselves staring straight down at this crocodile.

[307] And in turn, this crocodile just stares right back up at them.

[308] It's very clearly waiting for them.

[309] It wants them to come out of the tree so it can eat them.

[310] And so the crocodile just continuously repositions itself all around the tree.

[311] It's just keeping the top of its head out of the water so its eyes can look up.

[312] them and so the teens are just praying that at some point it will grow tired of them and will leave and after several hours right as the sun is about to set this crocodile does seem to give up on them and it drifts under the water and disappears after a couple of minutes sean who was on the slightly lower branch decides he doesn't want to be any closer to the water than he needs to be and he's going to climb up to ashley's branch and so he very carefully stands up on his branch he makes sure he's got solid footing and then he reaches up and he grabs a branch with his right hand and he kind of tests it and he feels like it's pretty sturdy and then he puts all his weight on it and tries to reach for another branch when this one breaks and as soon as that branch broke Sean tumbled 10 feet into the water so he hits the water he goes all the way under he sinks a few feet under and immediately he's turned around and he's trying to swim as fast as he can to the surface and he's just expecting at any moment this crocodile is going to bite him it gets to the surface and he looks around it's a little bit dark but he can immediately see his tree And he realizes the current has pulled him away from his tree.

[313] And so in a panic, he starts swimming and kicking his legs as hard as he possibly can to get back to this tree.

[314] And he knows the whole time he's kicking his legs, he's just attracting the attention of this crocodile.

[315] But he's got nothing else he can do.

[316] He's got no other tree he can reasonably get to that will provide safety from this animal.

[317] And so with every ounce of energy he's got, he kicks and swims, and finally he manages to grab a root of this tree that his friend is still inside.

[318] of and he begins pulling himself with his lower half still submerged in the water and so as he's dragging himself towards the trunk of this tree he's just waiting for this crocodile to bite down in his legs and finally he gets to the trunk of the tree and he's able to pull his body out of the water and he clambers up to that original branch he was on and then he and ashley work to get him up to Ashley's branch and as soon as he sits down next to Ashley and he's secure they both look down and just a little ways away from the tree basically in the area where Sean had just landed in the they see with the little light that is left, this crocodile swimming right back over to the tree, and it camps out right underneath.

[319] Sean had gotten out just in time.

[320] When the sun finally did set about 10 or 15 minutes later, it became pitch black.

[321] There's no ambient light in this part of the world.

[322] There aren't any buildings or cities close enough to this area, and so it is truly pitch black, and so they could no longer see the crocodile down below.

[323] But they knew it was there because periodically they would hear it repositioning itself right underneath them.

[324] Also, because it was so dark, the two teens could not actually see each other.

[325] And so they began holding on to each other.

[326] And then any time either of them moved, they would announce their movement to the other, just so they knew they had not fallen asleep and were not falling out of the tree to a horrible death.

[327] And so a few hours went by like this where it was silence, with the exception of the sounds of this crocodile repositioning itself periodically.

[328] A little after midnight, a huge storm rolled into this area, and it began absolutely downpouring, and the raindrops that were hitting the river were so loud that the teens could no longer hear the sound of this crocodile, and so they had no idea if it was still down below them or not.

[329] But every time lightning would strike, it would illuminate the sky for that flash of a second, and in that flash they would look down, and there would be the crocodile.

[330] After several hours of this super intense downpour, the two teens also started to become concerned that all this additional rain could raise the water level of the river all the way up high enough that this crocodile might be able to jump out and reach their legs.

[331] But because it was so dark, they couldn't actually see the top of the water.

[332] And so they had no way of knowing if the water levels were actually rising or not.

[333] And so they both kind of sucked their legs up onto this branch and tried to make themselves as small as they could while still remaining anchored to each other and also to the branch.

[334] And that's how they sat for the next several hours, just hoping they would survive the night.

[335] Finally, when the sun came up that following morning, the teens immediately noticed that the crocodile was still right below them, just lurking at the base of the tree waiting for them, and they also noticed the water level of the river had clearly come up quite a bit.

[336] And so if they weren't rescued soon, there was a good chance that another heavy rainstorm, that crocodile would be in range of them, and there was nowhere they could go.

[337] They were as high up as they could get.

[338] Not to mention the fact, they were hypothermic, they were weak, they were tired, and if you fall asleep, you're going to fall in the water.

[339] And so the two teens, they knew they did not have much time left.

[340] Luckily, at 10 a .m. that morning, they heard the sound of a police officer who was out in the mangrove forest.

[341] It turned out their families had recognized their absence.

[342] They'd called the police.

[343] And that morning, a search had been launched.

[344] They had found their truck, and then had been walking down the river.

[345] yelling out to them and then they finally did find them.

[346] Initially, when they located these two teens stuck in the tree, they called in a helicopter to hover over them and lower down a ladder that could climb back up.

[347] But when the helicopter got close to this tree, the rotor wash from the spinning blades, it practically blew the boys out of the tree and this crocodile was still in the water.

[348] The rescuers could see it, the boys could still see it.

[349] And so there was this fear that the helicopter would literally send them into the water to their death.

[350] And so they had to abandon the helicopter approach.

[351] However, the blades of that helicopter did ultimately scare this crocodile, and the crocodile swam away.

[352] And so as soon as the helicopter was off station, they had a boat come in, and the boat got right underneath the two boys.

[353] They jumped down into it, and they were brought to safety.

[354] The two boys were brought to a hospital where doctors determined they were physically okay, but both of them were severely traumatized from what they had just been through.

[355] As for Brett, despite an exhaustive search of that river, they never found his body or any of his clothing or any belongings he had on him, and they never found the crocodile that killed him.

[356] Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast.

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[370] And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry .com slash survey.

[371] I'm Dan Tiberski.

[372] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

[373] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

[374] I'm like, stop fucking around.

[375] She's like, I can't.

[376] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.

[377] Like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.

[378] With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

[379] Everybody thought I was holding something back.

[380] Well, you were holding something back.

[381] Intentionally.

[382] Yeah, yeah.

[383] Well, yeah.

[384] No, it's hysteria.

[385] It's all in your head.

[386] It's not physical.

[387] Oh my gosh, you're exaggerating.

[388] Is this the largest mass history?

[389] hysteria since the witches of Salem?

[390] Or is it something else entirely?

[391] Something's wrong here.

[392] Something's not right.

[393] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[394] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, Hysterical.

[395] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[396] You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondry Plus.