Transcendence

[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 features two stories about very dark religious rituals.

[3] The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.

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

[5] The first story you'll hear is called Final Act, and it's about a gruesome discovery on a farmer's property in India.

[6] The second story you'll hear is called the Metamorphosis, and it's about the ancient Buddhist monk practice of Sokishinbitsu.

[7] 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.

[8] So, if that's of interest to you, the next time the Amazon Music Follow button is counting something really important, start shouting out random numbers to mess them up.

[9] Okay, let's get into our first story called Final Act.

[10] I'm Dan Tibertsky.

[11] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.

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

[13] What's the answer?

[14] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?

[15] Hysterical.

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

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

[18] On the evening of April 15th, 2023, a mother and father named Hansa and Himu Makwana stood on the front doorstep of a little shack in a little village in Western India called Vincia.

[19] With these two parents were their two kids, a son and a daughter, who were 12 and 13 years old respectively, and they were really excited because tonight they were going to be spending the night with their uncle and their cousins who lived in this shack right in front of them.

[20] And so moments later, the door to this shack opened up and immediately the two kids ran inside, calling out for their cousins.

[21] And the uncle, who had opened the door, he just smiled and said hello to Himu and Hansa.

[22] And the parents, they're calling after their kids to, you know, please behave, listen to your uncle, be good.

[23] But they were already gone.

[24] And so finally, the uncle said, don't worry.

[25] They're fine.

[26] We'll have a great night.

[27] We'll see it tomorrow.

[28] And so Himu and Hansa thanked him very much.

[29] And then they turned around.

[30] They grabbed each other's hands and began walking out towards the dirt road that would take them back to their own home.

[31] The village that Himu and Hansa and their kids and their uncle and their cousins all lived in was a very poor, run -down farming community where for the most part, people worked really hard but barely got by.

[32] But this night, as Himu and Hansa walked along this dirt road, passing by the shacks and tiny apartments and fields and livestock that were kind of all over the place, they weren't thinking about, you know, the struggles of daily life in this village.

[33] Instead, they were thinking about how beautiful the village was that night.

[34] The sun was starting to set, and so the sky was this beautiful orange, and all the cows that had been out that day kind of wandering around the village were all starting to stand up and make their way back towards their stables for dinner, and with every step the cows made, the little bells on their neck would ring out.

[35] And so the scene in front of Himu and Hansa was so, beautiful and peaceful that for a moment they just stopped on the road and kind of took in the sights and sounds and then at some point a group of cows who were making their way to their stable came up onto the road right where hemo and hansa were and very quickly the couple stepped back to make sure no mud or dirt got kicked up on their clothes now himu and hansa were farmers by trade and so on most days they would wear clothes that were covered in mud and dirt but this night was different Himu and Hansa were wearing their finest outfits, and they were not about to get them dirty.

[36] Hansa had on her beautiful red dress, and Himu was wearing a starched white button -up shirt.

[37] After the cows had crossed the road and suddenly the path was clear again for Himu and Hansa to walk on, Himu paused before taking a step, and he turned and just looked at Hansa.

[38] And Hansa, who lately had been feeling quite down, appeared to be very happy and radiant.

[39] And so Hymu just smiled at Hansa and at some point Hansa looked up and smiled at him and then before long they were holding hands again strolling down the road.

[40] A little while later, the couple turned onto their street and just up ahead on the left side just off the road they could see their home, which was a small concrete and brick structure.

[41] But when the couple actually reached their property, instead of going in the front door, they walked around their property into the back side where all their crops were.

[42] They were growing peanuts and cotton.

[43] And Hymu and Hansa just walked straight back away from their house through these fields all the way to the very back of their property, which was marked by this huge stone wall that was as tall as Hansa was.

[44] And when they reached this wall, they also reached their tent.

[45] It was like this patchwork tent they had built with one side being supported by the stone wall, and the other side, the side closest to them as they approached it, was supported by these pikes.

[46] they had driven into the ground.

[47] Inside of this tent was the family's shrine to the Hindu god Shiba.

[48] And over the last couple of days, Himu and Hansa had been working on this new addition to the family shrine.

[49] It had been a lot of work, but it was finally done, and tonight Himu and Hansa were finally going to be able to use it.

[50] The couple stood outside the tent, taking in the sights and sounds of the beautiful sunset, and then one after the other, they went inside the tent.

[51] The next day, sometime in the afternoon, Himu and Hansa's children returned from their uncle's house after sleeping over there the night before.

[52] And when they got to their home, they went in the front door and immediately called out for their parents.

[53] But their parents were not inside the house.

[54] And so these siblings walked all around the house and then went out the back door thinking maybe their parents were out in the fields, working, but when they went outside, they saw their parents were not out there either.

[55] And so as the kids stood there, kind of wondering where their parents were, the boy said to his older sister, maybe they're in the shrine.

[56] So the kids left the back of their house, they cut straight across the field all the way to that backstone wall where they found the shrine, the tent that was propped up against the wall.

[57] And right away, the kids noticed something was off about the shrine.

[58] Whenever their parents were in there praying, they could typically hear them from a distance as they walked up to the shrine.

[59] But now, standing right outside of it, it was totally silent.

[60] The kids finally lifted up the flap of the tent, and they looked inside, and once again they did not see their parents.

[61] Instead, what they saw inside of the shrine was totally confusing.

[62] The shrine, which their parents typically kept absolutely immaculately clean at all times, looked kind of dirty.

[63] There was this weird, rusty, colored liquid kind of all over everything, including on some of the holy objects, like the picture and statue of Shiva, and in the middle of the shrine where there was this fire pit, were these two hunks of meat that looked like they had been placed in the fire and then forgotten about.

[64] The kids knew their parents would never leave the shrine in this condition, nor would they spoil food and let it sit out on a fire and not eat it.

[65] And so they're thinking to themselves, You know, what happened inside of the shrine and where are my parents?

[66] And then, when they did one more look around the inside of the shrine, they noticed something that they had not when they first opened up the tent.

[67] And when they realized what it was, they screamed and took off running.

[68] This is the story behind what those children saw.

[69] The night before, when their parents, Himu and Hansa, stepped inside the tent, they looked around and surveyed the shrine.

[70] Right in the middle of the shrine on the ground was that fire pit, and then off to the right side of the fire pit was a small egg -shaped statue that was a statue of Shiba, and then next to the statue was a picture of Shiba.

[71] Shiba is a powerful figure in the Hindu religion.

[72] He is viewed as a god of both rebirth and of destruction, and when he is portrayed, like in the photo and in the statue that was inside of the shrine, his skin is smeared white with the ashes of.

[73] of corpses, he has crescent moons in his hair, and around his neck are snakes and skulls.

[74] And so Shiva is kind of viewed as both a loving, kind god, and also one to be scared of.

[75] And so after the couple looked around at their shrine for a second, they got to work.

[76] Even though that night it was very hot and muggy outside, the first thing the couple did was get some firewood off to the side inside of this tent, put it in the fire pit, and start a fire.

[77] And then after the fire was built, Hansa began sprinkling orange flower petals all around the statue and picture of Shiba.

[78] And at the same time, Himu got out a piece of paper and began writing a note.

[79] And as he wrote, his hand shook with nervous anticipation of what they were going to do that night.

[80] And then after Himu finished writing this letter, he and Hansa dipped their thumbs in ink and pressed them to the bottom of this note.

[81] kind of like signing the note.

[82] And then after the note was complete, they folded it up and tucked it between the statue and the picture of Shiva.

[83] Then Himu and Hansa turned their attention to their newest addition to the shrine.

[84] The new addition basically just looked like a big doorframe, but without a door in the middle of it.

[85] It was made out of scrap metal that Himu and Hansa had gathered around their village, and if you were standing in front of this structure, it would almost look like you were looking at a doorway into the fire pit.

[86] And also draped over the top of this rectangular frame was a white rope.

[87] And so Himu and Hansa moved over right in front of the structure as if they were going to walk through the frame into the fire.

[88] But instead of doing that, they knelt down right at the base of the structure right in the dirt, and then they both, in unison, began to say a prayer out loud.

[89] And then after the prayer was done, Hymu reached up and grabbed one end of this white rope, and he began pulling it until it was tight.

[90] And then he pulled it a little bit more and a little bit more until he had it right where he wanted it, and then he held the rope steady.

[91] And then Hymu, still holding onto this rope, along with Hansa, very carefully got down onto their bellies, Hymu being very cautious not to give any slack to the rope or pull it any farther.

[92] And then once they were in position on their bellies, all they would have heard was the crackling of the fire in front of them, and all they would have felt was their hearts beating in their chest.

[93] Now, very likely, Hymu and Hansa were terrified at this point.

[94] But this was their moment.

[95] They had come too far, and they knew they had to finish this ritual.

[96] And so with one last loving look at each other, the couple nodded, and then turned their attention back to the fire, and then Hymu let go of the rope.

[97] The rusty -colored liquid that Hymu and Hansa's children would discover inside of this shrine the next day was Hymu and Hansa's blood.

[98] And the two hunks of meat that their children saw in the fire pit were their parents' decapitated heads.

[99] The children realized this was the case, when they scanned around the tent one more time, and noticed their parents' headless bodies lying side by side at the base of the structure.

[100] That was what, of course, caused the children to run outside and go find the police.

[101] This new addition to the shrine, the metallic structure, was a homemade guillotine.

[102] A guillotine is a device that kills people by cutting off their heads.

[103] The white rope that Hemu had pulled on was connected on one side to a very heavy metal blade.

[104] And so when he was pulling the rope, he was pulling that blade up off the ground until it was positioned right above them, and then he held it steady.

[105] And then when he let go, the blade fell straight down, striking the backs of their necks, decapitating them instantly and sending their heads rolling forward into the fire, as designed.

[106] When the police arrived at the shrine, they would find that letter that Himu and Hansa had written and then signed with their thumb, tucked near the statue and the picture.

[107] And in this note, Himu and Hansa would not give a reason for why they did this, but they would say, this was our choice, we wanted to do this, we just ask that our living family members take care of our children and our elderly parents.

[108] No one has been able to give a reason for why Himu and Hansa intentionally decapitated themselves and then let their heads burn in a fire.

[109] Their family has said there was no indication that the couple was going to convince me. suicide.

[110] I mean, they seemed happy.

[111] They were not financially well off, but they were not financially struggling either.

[112] It seemed like their life was good.

[113] And so basically, this whole thing came out of left field.

[114] As for the police, they believe that Hymu and Hansa must have been performing some sort of black magic ritual where they believed if they locked their heads off and allowed them to roll forward and burn in this fire, that that somehow would bring them closer to perhaps Shiva or some other god or some other higher power.

[115] But as of today, no one knows.

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

[117] It's me, Mr. Ballin.

[118] And today I have some big news.

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

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

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

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

[123] 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.

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

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

[126] 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