MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Death of a Salesman (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
21 Apr 2025
On a June night in 1997, Kathy Peters was asleep at her home in Mirror Lake, a quiet neighborhood of Sarasota, Florida. Around 3:45 AM, she was awakened by a strange noise. It was unlike anything Kathy had ever heard – a faint, eerie, rattling hiss. After a few seconds, the sound faded and Kathy tried to go back to sleep, but now she was too anxious. So she got up and crossed to the window. She opened the blinds and looked across the lake's glassy surface. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But then she nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud, metallic banging noise sounded right below her window. Someone was pounding on the screen door. Kathy hurried downstairs, wondering who could be bothering her at this time of night. She considered not answering, but Mirror Lake was a safe community. There had to be a reasonable explanation… so she opened the door. Through the screen, she could see someone standing in the darkness. Kathy asked who it was and what they wanted - but the figure didn’t respond. By now, Kathy was absolutely terrified, so she switched on the porch light. And when she saw what was in front of her, she reeled back in horror.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Episode
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. Download the Amazon Music app today. On a June night in 1997, Kathy Peters was asleep at her home in Mirror Lake, a quiet neighborhood of Sarasota, Florida. Around 3.45 AM, she was startled awake by a strange noise.
It was unlike anything Kathy had heard, a faint, eerie, rattling hiss. After a few seconds, the sound faded, and Kathy tried to go back to sleep. But now she was too anxious. So she got up and crossed to the window. She opened the blinds and looked across the lake's glassy surface. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
But then she nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud metallic banging noise sounded right below her window. Somebody was pounding on her screen door. Kathy ran downstairs, having no idea who could be bothering her at this time of the night. She considered not answering, but Mirror Lake was a very safe community, so there had to be a reasonable explanation here. So she opened the door.
Through the screen, she could see someone standing in the darkness. Kathy asked who it was and what they wanted, but the figure didn't say anything. Now Kathy was terrified, so she switched on the porch light, and when she saw what was in front of her, she reeled back in horror.
But before we get into that story, 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. So if that's of interest to you, please remember, before you do anything mean to the follow button, walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you bully them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. Okay, let's get into today's story.
When a young woman named Desiree vanishes without a trace, the trail leads to Cat Torres, a charismatic influencer with millions of followers. But behind the glamorous posts and inspirational quotes, a sinister truth unravels. Binge all episodes of Don't Cross Cat early and ad-free on Wondery+.
June 20th, 1997 started out as a perfect day for Henry Knieva. The wiry, silver-mustached 76-year-old arrived at the Toyota dealership in Sarasota shortly after dawn. Getting to work early meant that he got first pick of the morning customers, which was how he liked it. By lunch, he'd already made two sales, and he was working on his third.
And when that third customer signed for her car, Henry handed her the keys and felt that familiar rush of victory. He'd worked plenty of jobs throughout his life, but selling cars was the first thing that he truly loved, and he was really good at it. Henry had an effortless charm and a sort of unthreatening quality that made people trust him.
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