MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories XX
[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 three workplace horror stories.
[3] The audio from all three 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 Scavenger, and it's about a sailor who went missing right before departure.
[6] The second story you'll hear is called wrong door, and it's about a construction worker who went missing after taking a wrong turn.
[7] And the third and final story you'll hear is called Bones, and it's about an electrician who was lured into an abandoned tunnel.
[8] 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.
[9] So, if that's of interest to you, please offer the Amazon Music Follow button a scoop of their favorite ice cream, but slip an elephant laxative into it first.
[10] Okay, let's get into our first story called Scavenger.
[11] I'm Dan Tibertsky.
[12] In 2011, something strange began to happen at a high school in upstate New York.
[13] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms, and spreading fast.
[14] What's the answer?
[15] And what do you do if they tell you it's all in your head?
[16] Hysterical.
[17] a new podcast from Wondry and Pineapple Street Studios.
[18] Binge all episodes of hysterical early and ad -free on Wondry Plus.
[19] In 2003, 23, 27 -year -old Kurt Smith was employed as an engineer for the German shipping company called Hapag Lloyd.
[20] Over the past year, he had completed two separate four -month -long deployments with this company, and he enjoyed the work enough that he asked for a contract extension.
[21] It was granted, and on July 11th of that year, he boarded the CM London Express to begin his third deployment.
[22] Three months into it, one of the ship's pistons broke.
[23] The piston is the part of the engine that goes up and down inside the hollow cylinder of the engine block.
[24] They would need to turn off the engine in order to make this repair, and so they made an unplanned stop in Savannah, Georgia.
[25] Once they got there, Kurt, along with seven people under his command, headed down to the engine room to begin the process.
[26] Over the next several hours, the men were able to extract the broken piston and put in the new one.
[27] But this was backbreaking work.
[28] It was so hot in the engine room.
[29] What they're moving around is so heavy.
[30] incumbersome and they're all bickering with each other.
[31] And at some point, Kurt called out the foreman for being lazy, and the foreman did not like that.
[32] And he was very popular amongst this group.
[33] And so by the end of getting the piston back in, everybody in there just totally resented Kurt.
[34] But ultimately, they got it done and Kurt cut everybody loose except for the foreman.
[35] He told him he needed to stay back and help him ensure all the pistons were properly installed.
[36] To do that, they would need to go inside of something called the Scavenger Air Receiver, which is this tube that's 55 feet long by 5 feet wide with access hatches on either side, and it sits right next to the engine block.
[37] Each hatch on either end had three latches on the outside that were called dogs.
[38] And so Kurt undid the three dogs on his hatch, and he opened it up.
[39] He crawled inside of the tube with his flashlight, and he began crawling, and on his left side were these square cutouts, these windows called scavenger boards that looked into each of the engine cylinders.
[40] And so Kurt crawled along counting the different cylinders until he got to the sixth one, which is where they had replaced that piston.
[41] Meanwhile, the foreman, went around to the aft hatch, he undid the three dogs, he opened up the hatch, and then using a remote -controlled device, he was able to bring the pistons into position safely so Kurt could inspect them through the scavenge report.
[42] The procedure on the ship was if you were inspecting one cylinder, the expectation was is you would inspect all of them.
[43] And that entire process took about an hour, and Kurt just didn't feel like doing it.
[44] He was tired, he had a bad day, he was hungry.
[45] And so after he was certain, the new piston was working just fine, he kind of rushed his checks on the other cylinders, and after only about 20 minutes, he told the foreman that, yep, we're good, we can leave.
[46] So he and the foreman got out, they dogged their hatches, and they headed up to their rooms to change.
[47] Their captain had been told they had to leave port no later than 930 that night because a huge tanker was coming in, and there'd be no space for them.
[48] But at 8 p .m., as everyone is running around prepping the ship, somebody noticed Kurt was not at his workstation.
[49] The chief engineer called down to the engine room to ask anyone down there if they had seen Kurt, but nobody had.
[50] So a sailor was sent down to Kurt's cabin to see if he was in there, but he wasn't.
[51] At this point, because they only had about an hour until they were departing, they had to find Kurt.
[52] So they sounded the alarm on their ship, which was a little bit premature, but they figured let's get everybody involved and just find Kurt.
[53] And so everybody stopped what they were doing and began searching the ship.
[54] During the search, a sailor was down near the Scavenger Air Recovery Space, and he noticed on the forward hatch there was a little piece of rag poking out of the top right corner of the forward hatch and the lower two dogs were not set.
[55] He knew they were having issues getting a good seal on this particular hatch because there was a divot in one of the O -rings.
[56] And so he figured someone must have put a rag right over that divot to try to help seal this hatch and they just forgot to shut the two lower dogs.
[57] Now it did cross this sailor's mind that Kurt could have gotten inside of the scavenger air recovery space and then somehow got locked inside.
[58] And so he did want to investigate.
[59] However, there was a very very strict policy about who was allowed to actually open up the scavenger air recovery hatches.
[60] And it wasn't the sailor.
[61] It was only the foreman, the chief engineer, and Kurt.
[62] And so this sailor decided to play it safe and just close the lower two dogs and then told his superior that there was this weird rag poking out of the forward hatch and that someone should go down there and open it up and see if Kurt's inside.
[63] And so his superior went and told the chief engineer, and so as the chief engineer is making his way down to check on this strange rag situation, the foreman completely independently had gone around to the back of the scavenger unit to the aft hatch so not the one with the rag poking out of it and he unlocked the three dogs he opened the hatch he looked inside and shined his light didn't see anyone shut the hatch locked all three dogs and then began to walk away right as the chief engineer came down and saw him and he saw him securing the scavenger air unit and he said hey i was just coming down here to check to make sure kurt wasn't in there and you just checked right he's not in there and the foreman said yeah no one's in there it's all good and so the two of them, the foreman and the chief engineer, did not check on the rag.
[64] They just left.
[65] The search for Kurt continued on the ship, but they could not find him.
[66] And so as 930 was approaching, the captain called the port authority, and he said, hey, we're down someone.
[67] Can you please send someone out to look around?
[68] And so a search on the land began, but they couldn't find Kurt.
[69] And so finally, 930 came around, and the big container ship that was supposed to come in and take their place was just waiting right out in the water for them to leave.
[70] And so the captain did his best to linger for another 10, 15 minutes.
[71] But finally, they were forced to leave.
[72] even though they had no idea where Kurt was.
[73] So they fired up the engine and they left.
[74] The general consensus on the ship was that Kurt must have fallen overboard and drowned.
[75] Or maybe he ran ashore and ran off, but that was very unlike him.
[76] And so an investigation was launched, but it would probably be a while before anybody found out what happened to him.
[77] Finally, two days later, they arrived in port at Norfolk, Virginia.
[78] They powered off the engine and they got the ship ready to be put into harbor mode, or basically they open up all the hatches and they prep it to sit there for a while.
[79] And during that process, the foreman went down to the scavenger air recovery space and he opened up the forward hatch and he found Kurt.
[80] Although no one has all the details of what happened to Kurt, the leading theory is two days earlier when he had done that abbreviated check of the engine cylinders, when he had basically cut it short with the foreman because he just didn't want to do it, he'd gotten back up to his room and started to think to himself that if anything goes wrong with any of those pistons that I'm going to be to blame.
[81] because the foreman was with me, and I called the foreman lazy earlier, and he doesn't like me, and so he's bound to turn me in.
[82] So Kurt decided he would go back down and do a more thorough check, but he didn't want anybody to know he was second -guessing himself, and so he was going to do this alone, even though it was a huge no -no to go inside of the Scavenger Air Unit by yourself, because if you manage to get stuck in there by yourself, horrible things are going to happen to you, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.
[83] But Kurt was confident, so he headed down, he undogged the forward hatch, he swung it inside, he climbed, in with his flashlight, and then somehow, once he got inside, he managed to fall backwards and hit the hatch door so hard that it swung shut, slammed, causing the upper dog to swivel and rotate down and lock him inside.
[84] He knew that nobody knew he was in there.
[85] He had made sure that nobody knew he was in there.
[86] He screamed for help, but nobody could hear him.
[87] The ship was so loud as it was, and being inside of this tunnel, no sounds getting out of it.
[88] And so he's looking around thinking what he should do, and he looks back at the door, the one that's the one that's that's sealed right behind him and he sees the very top crack there's a tiny sliver of light because even though one dog had sealed him in because the other two had not there was a little gap in the seal and so he thought if he can just wedge his dirty rag into that little space and push it out onto the other side someone will see it will clearly recognize there is a foreign object hanging off of the forward hatch and they'll have to open it up and they'll find me and so once he wedged his rag up and through he was confident he would be found and so he slouched down against the back of the hatch and he just sat there waiting to be found and then a little while later he heard the sound of somebody not opening the hatch behind him as he thought they would but instead locking the two dogs making sure it doesn't open he must have got up and turned around and screamed for them but again they can't hear him and then a couple of minutes later on the other side of the tube 55 feet away the aft hatch opened up briefly somebody shined their light in it didn't hit him he tried to yell for them they didn't hear him and then he saw them shut the hatch and he heard the sound of them locking all three dogs.
[89] At this point, you've got to figure that Kurt's fear is at a primal level.
[90] He knows at any moment, if somebody doesn't get him out of here, this is going to become a death trap.
[91] And so as he's looking around just wondering what's going to happen, he would have felt the incredible pressure start to build up in his ears.
[92] It would have taken him to his knees, would have been crushing in his skull, and he would have heard the sound of each of the hatches being pressed up against their O -ring as the room began to pressurize.
[93] And then he would have heard the sound of the pistons beginning to turn inside of the engine cylinder right next to him.
[94] And at that point, he would know there's no hope.
[95] And slowly, horribly, that room would begin to heat up until Kurt was cooked alive.
[96] I'm Dan Taberski.
[97] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.
[98] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.
[99] I'm like, stop fucking around.
[100] She's like, I can't.
[101] A mystery illness, bizarre symptoms and spreading fast.
[102] It's like doubling and tripling and it's all these girls.
[103] With a diagnosis, the state.
[104] tried to keep on the download.
[105] Everybody thought I was holding something back.
[106] Well, you were holding something back intentionally.
[107] Yeah, yeah.
[108] Well, yeah.
[109] No, it's hysteria.
[110] It's all in your head.
[111] It's not physical.
[112] Oh, my gosh, you're exaggerating.
[113] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem?
[114] Or is it something else entirely?
[115] Something's wrong here.
[116] Something's not right.
[117] Leroy was the new date line and everyone was trying to solve the murder.
[118] A new limited series from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, hysterical.
[119] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
[120] You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondry Plus.
[121] She struck him with her motor vehicle.
[122] She had been under the influence that she left him there.
[123] In January 2022, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O 'Keefe.
[124] It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location.
[125] What happens next?
[126] Depends on who you ask.
[127] Was it a crime of passion?
[128] If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling.
[129] This was clearly an intentional act.
[130] And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.
[131] Or a corrupt police cover -up.
[132] If you believe the defense theory, however, this was all a cover -up to prevent one of their own from going down.
[133] Everyone had an opinion.
[134] And after the 10 -week trial, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision.
[135] To end in a mistrial, it's just a confirmation of just how complicated this case is.
[136] Law and crime presents the most in -depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen.
[137] You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus.
[138] Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
[139] Our next story is called Wrong Door.
[140] On August 14th, 2012, Celestino Cervantes picked up 28 -year -old Victor Diaz for work.
[141] Celestino was an expert roofer, and he had just hired Victor to come on his crew and help him with a particular job.
[142] This was going to be Victor's first day as a roofer, but for the past 10 years, he had worked in construction, so he was familiar with the operation.
[143] The two men arrived at their job site in San Antonio, Texas, around 8 a .m. that morning.
[144] They were in charge of putting a new roof on a 115 -year -old building that was being redeveloped into a fancy steakhouse.
[145] Until 2001, this building had been used by a brewing company to house their enormous boilers.
[146] As such, this building was referred to as the boiler house.
[147] Prutting from the boiler house roof was this large metal duct that was 15 feet long and almost looked like a covered walkway, and it connected to the side of this huge smokestack.
[148] This duct and smokestack used to be how the built -up condensation inside the boiler house was able to travel up and out of the building.
[149] When the two roofers got out of their truck, Celestino told Victor to take his tools and make his way up to the roof of the boiler house and get to work, and that he had a few things he had to do down on the ground floor, but he would be up to check on him in a little bit.
[150] Celestino turned around and was fiddling with his equipment inside of the truck, while Victor made his way into the building and out of sight.
[151] An hour and a half later, Celestino went up to the roof to check on Victor, but he couldn't find Victor anywhere, and he couldn't find his tools anywhere.
[152] So Celestino went back down into the main section of this building, where other contractors that were working on this renovation were, and he began asking them, hey, have you seen this guy, Victor, he works with me, I can't find him, and no one had seen him.
[153] And so Celestino's thinking to himself, well, I guess Victor must have left, but that didn't really make any sense because Victor didn't have a vehicle, and he didn't live nearby, but Celestino's thinking, you know what, maybe somebody came and picked him up.
[154] Now, unfortunately, Victor did not carry a cell phone, so nobody had any way of getting directly in contact with him.
[155] So Celestino leaves the building, and he calls Victor's brother, and he asks him, you know, have you seen Victor, do you know where he might have gone?
[156] And Victor's brother says, no, I haven't seen him since this morning when he left with you.
[157] So Victor's brother began calling around to friends and family and asked them if they had seen Victor, but nobody knew where he was.
[158] So for the rest of the day, Celestino and the rest of Victor's friends and family, they went out looking for Victor at the job site and around the surrounding areas, but there was just no sign of him.
[159] And so that night, Victor's brother went to the police to file a missing person report.
[160] But the police told him that it was really too early to file a report because Victor was an adult and there was no sign of foul play and that he should just come back in a day or two if Victor still has not shown up.
[161] Two days go by and Victor had still not shown up, So Victor's sister -in -law went back to the police and says, OK, now I want to file a missing person report.
[162] We don't know where he is.
[163] No one can get in touch with them.
[164] We need your help.
[165] But the officer she spoke to told her that she still needed to wait another five days to process this request.
[166] It would turn out this was just not true.
[167] It was a mistake.
[168] There was no arbitrary waiting period to file a missing person report.
[169] So without any help from the police, Victor's friends and family and coworkers spent the next several days scouring San Antonio, scouring the job site, looking everywhere for him and handing out flyers and asking people if they'd seen him, but no one had.
[170] He had just disappeared.
[171] By Monday the following week, so six days after Victor has gone missing, his family had printed out dozens of these huge posters with his face on them and a number to call if you had any information about him, and their plan was to distribute them the following morning all over San Antonio.
[172] But the following morning, before they headed out, they got a call.
[173] Victor had been found.
[174] Seven days earlier, when Celestino told Victor to head inside and make his way to the roof and begin the project, Victor had gotten his tools, gone inside, he made his way up the stairwell to the second floor, and then he made a series of odd decisions.
[175] Instead of making his way to the access door and climbing his way up to the roof, he went to the far side of the second floor where there were all these wooden barriers preventing people from going any farther.
[176] He climbed over all these barriers, and he reached the entrance to that huge duct.
[177] where the condensation used to go.
[178] And so from his perspective, he would have been looking into this duct and it would have been completely pitch black because it connected to that smokestack and the smoke stack was totally sealed off.
[179] But despite not having any idea where this tunnel goes, and it clearly not being the place Celestino told him to go, Victor decides to just get into this tunnel, which required bending over because it was only four feet tall and five feet wide.
[180] So he gets inside of this tunnel and he begins shuffling his way deeper and deeper into this tunnel until he reaches the end of the tunnel where it actually connects into the smokestack.
[181] Now, at the top of this duct, where it connects to the smokestack, there wasn't a grate or bars or any sort of barrier that would stop you from spilling into the smokestack.
[182] And because it was totally pitch black, Victor, when he made it to the edge of that duct, he just kept on walking and fell 20 feet down to the bottom of the smokestack.
[183] And so in total darkness, Victor, who was probably badly hurt from the fall, began feeling around the inside of the chimney looking for a way out.
[184] And he eventually found a hatch that was big enough for him to fit through.
[185] But when he felt up against it, he realized it was locked from the outside, and it wouldn't even budge.
[186] He couldn't even get light to come in through a crack.
[187] It was totally sealed off.
[188] And that was the only way out of the smokestack, unless he could get back up to the duct.
[189] But there was no way to do that.
[190] He most likely began screaming for help, but he was encased in thick brick.
[191] And so his sound wouldn't have traveled.
[192] It would have been completely muffled.
[193] Plus, the smokestack was fairly far away from the job site, which was very noisy as it is.
[194] And so there was just no way they could have heard him.
[195] And the smokestack and the duct were not part of the renovation.
[196] And so there was absolutely no foot traffic over around the smokestack.
[197] He was completely alone.
[198] No one knew he was there, and there was no way out.
[199] Seven days after Victor fell into the smokestack, workers over at the job site, they noticed this huge swarm of flies over around the base of the smokestack.
[200] There were so many flies over there, they decided they had to go investigate.
[201] And so as they walked closer and closer to the smokestack, they were hit with this overwhelming stench of death and decay.
[202] And then when they got to the smokestack, they could see the flies were centralized on that hatch at the bottom.
[203] And so they cut the lock, they opened it up, and inside they found Victor's body.
[204] And they saw his hands were badly bloodied and bruised, and they were pressed up against the inside of the hatch, indicating in his final moments he was desperately trying to open that hatch and save himself, but there was just no way to do that.
[205] Although no one knows this for sure, it's believed Victor confused the condensation duct with the access point to the roof.
[206] The next and final story of today's episode is called Bones.
[207] In 2017, an electrician named Pete had become accustomed to doing work in basements and sub -basements of old.
[208] buildings in Baltimore, Maryland.
[209] He discovered that many times when he worked in a stretch of older buildings right next to each other, that in the basement or sub -basement there would be a stretch of tunnel that connected each building to each other, kind of like a common door in a hotel room.
[210] One day, Pete was asked to install some new lights in the sub -basements of three very old buildings that were all right next to each other.
[211] Apparently, someone had purchased the entire building complex after they had sat there abandoned for some time.
[212] When Pete arrived, his foreman, whose name was Mike, was waiting for him out.
[213] outside the farthest east building.
[214] And so Pete got out, walked up to the building, and Mike led him down to the basement and then down another flight of stairs into the sub -basement.
[215] The first thing Pete did was pull his flashlight out and look around and see if there was a tunnel connecting to the adjoining buildings, because if there was, it would make his life a lot easier.
[216] And sure enough, he shined his light to the west and there was a tunnel.
[217] And so he knew he wouldn't need to lug his gear up and over after he was done with each building.
[218] After that, Pete and Mike set up floodlights inside of that first sub -basement they were gonna be working in, and then they put their gear on and they got to work.
[219] After a few hours of Pete being really focused on what he was working on, he looked up and realized Mike was gone, and he assumed he must have gone upstairs for a lunch break, and Pete, who had had a really big breakfast, wasn't that hungry, but wanted to take a break, so he decided, instead of eating, he would just go explore the other sub -basements.
[220] So Pete walked over to that first tunnel that went into the second building.
[221] He walked through it.
[222] It wasn't very far, maybe five or six feet to get into the next building.
[223] Once he got into that second building, it was totally dark because neither he nor Mike had actually gotten in there yet.
[224] And so Pete pulled his flashlight out and he scanned around the room and he saw it directly on the other side still going west across the building complex was yet another tunnel connected to the third and final building.
[225] And so Pete walked through this second sub -basement shining around, looking for anything interesting, there was nothing down there.
[226] He got to that tunnel, he walked through and he entered into the third and final room of the entire building complex.
[227] And so he lifted his flashlight up and he scanned around the room.
[228] And he was shocked when on the other, other side still going west as if there was a fourth building, there was another tunnel.
[229] Pete kept his flashlight trained on this tunnel and he's thinking to himself, did I get something wrong here?
[230] Is there really four buildings?
[231] Because I'm almost positive there was three.
[232] There shouldn't be a tunnel over there because there's no more buildings.
[233] And so he's really intrigued.
[234] And so he keeps his flashlight up and he starts walking across the room towards this tunnel.
[235] And he gets about halfway across this sub -basement when he hears someone's voice come out of this mysterious tunnel.
[236] and it sounds an awful lot like Mike's.
[237] And Pete would say that his initial reaction to this was, oh, I guess Mike must have had his lunch break and then come back down here and started doing the same thing I'm doing, exploring the other sub -basements.
[238] And so he's already checked out this tunnel and he wants to show me what's down there.
[239] So Pete walks over to this tunnel and he shines his light inside and right away he can tell it's different than the other two tunnels he's walked through because those went straight across and this tunnel he's looking at goes down and kind of bends off to the right.
[240] And so totally unconcerned because he believes, leaves Mike is down there already, he starts walking down this winding tunnel.
[241] After walking for a couple of minutes just straight down into this tunnel, he finally walks into this huge room with 20 foot high ceilings and he lifts his flashlight up and he looks around and there's no Mike and he yells out for him, he doesn't hear him, but he noticed in the middle of the room where all these small animal skeletons that have been arranged in a big triangle on the ground.
[242] And as he scanned across the ground with his light, he came to the right side of the room at one of the points of the triangle.
[243] And at the top of that point was this large dog -like skeleton lying on the ground.
[244] It looked as if the triangle was more like an arrow and it was pointed at this one large dog.
[245] Pete went back to looking around the room and he saw right across from him was another tunnel entrance into more unexplored passageway.
[246] And for a second he thought about just turning around and leaving because this whole thing was starting to give him the creeps.
[247] But then he heard what sounded like Mike's voice again calling from that unexplored tunnel.
[248] And so he decided, okay, I'll walk a little bit farther to see what Mike wants.
[249] And so Pete carefully walked across this room, being careful not to step on any of the bones.
[250] And right before he walked into this new tunnel, he pulled his phone out in case he might have service and he could just call Mike and see what he wanted, but he had no service on his phone, so we entered the new tunnel.
[251] Unlike the other tunnel that went down the whole time, this new tunnel was totally flat, but it was a little bit more narrow.
[252] And so as he's walking, it's kind of zigging and zagging and it's just getting a little bit tight on his shoulders as he's moving.
[253] And after a couple of minutes of walking and yelling out for Mike and not hearing from him, he just stops and he just thinks, is this a good idea?
[254] Should I keep walking down this strange tunnel?
[255] Or should I just go back and meet Mike back up in the sub basement?
[256] And as he's standing there, facing away from the direction he just came, he thinks he hears something behind him.
[257] So Pete turns around and shines his light and there's no one there.
[258] He yells out for Mike and Mike doesn't yell back.
[259] And then Pete hears the faint clicking sound of something moving on all four.
[260] fours in the chamber he had just come from.
[261] And he's thinking to himself, what could have gotten down here?
[262] There's only one way in, and I've taken the other tunnel.
[263] Did I miss some dog that was staying in the middle there?
[264] I think I would have seen an animal that was moving around.
[265] And so as he's thinking about this, he realizes the clicking sounds have stopped.
[266] It's gone completely silent.
[267] And so he stops, and he's just intently listening.
[268] And then all of the sudden, whatever it is out there, starts running at full speed down the tunnel towards Pete.
[269] And so Pete immediately turns around and starts sprinting down this on explored tunnel, all he hears behind him is this animal at full sprint grunting and bouncing into walls as it gains on him.
[270] And finally, after what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, Pete gets to the end of this tunnel and he sees it's a small flight of stairs to a large metal door.
[271] He runs up and he grabs the door and he tries to open it and it opens.
[272] He runs outside, pulls it shut, hears it click and then he sinks down with his back against the door pressing up against it to ensure it stays shut.
[273] And as Pete is sitting there, he hears this thing come barreling into the room where this door is and it rams into the door and he feels it shake the door forward but the door holds and then whatever it was just lost interest turned around and left even though this animal appeared to be gone and the door appeared to hold Pete stayed sitting with his back up against the door for a couple of minutes while he composed himself he really didn't know what to make of what just happened because he's thinking to himself that animal had to have been huge it just nearly barreled this door down I felt the whole door shake I mean if that's a dog, that is a huge dog.
[274] And also, where's Mike?
[275] Mike's the whole reason I went into this tunnel in the first place.
[276] He was calling to me, or so I thought he was, and I never saw him.
[277] And so Pete's totally confused and he's traumatized, and he's looking around and he's finally taking stock of where he is, and he realizes he's under one of the docks of what would turn out to be the four -season's hotel, which meant he was at least about a half mile away from where he had started in the sub -basement of those buildings.
[278] Pete stood up and made his way up to the sidewalk where he called Mike.
[279] And Mike was very confused at what Pete was telling him because he said, I never went into that tunnel.
[280] I never went into the other sub -basements.
[281] At my lunch break, I just went upstairs and got a bite to eat.
[282] And when I came down, you were gone.
[283] And so Pete started talking about the animal he saw.
[284] And as he was describing it, he's thinking to himself how crazy he must sound.
[285] And he began to realize that it just had to be, you know, a stray dog got in there.
[286] And he just must not have seen it.
[287] And that was it.
[288] And so after they hang up, Pete is left thinking to himself, you know, if that was a stray dog then what were those bones arranged in that triangle for and why did they seem to be an arrow pointing at that other bigger dog and also who was yelling to me inside of the tunnel if it wasn't mike but when pete and mike got back to those old buildings they did not do any more exploration it was like they were just not going to talk about what happened instead they put a fold -up table in front of that tunnel that led down to the room filled with bones and whatever animal was down there and they rushed the job and all the sub -basements cut all the lights up as fast as they could the last thing they did was they moved the table back out of the way and then ran up out of the building and never looked back.
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[299] So, that's going to do it.
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