MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
The Good Neighbors (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
14 Apr 2025
It was a frigid December day in a small logging town in Maine, roughly an hour’s drive from the US-Canadian border. And despite the falling snow, Christmas shoppers were out in full force. While most of the shoppers hurried from store to store, a small crowd had gathered in front of the police station. The shoppers watched as an officer stapled a poster to a telephone pole. Then, when he was done, they shuffled closer for a better view. The poster contained a forensic artist’s sketch of a middle-aged woman. She had a narrow face, thin nose, glasses, and bangs. And according to the text above the image, the police were looking for this woman in connection with a recent double homicide. The murders were shocking, but they were also the most exciting thing to happen in this part of rural Maine for as long as anyone could remember. So despite the cold, the shoppers stood there studying the sketch and discussing whether it looked like anyone they knew. They were so caught up in their conversation, no one noticed a bundled-up figure hurrying past on the sidewalk. This figure slowed just long enough to glance at the poster and recognize the face in the sketch, which bore a striking resemblance to their own. Then, before anyone could notice them, the figure turned and hurried off into the falling snow. 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. It was a frigid December day in a small logging town in Maine, roughly an hour's drive from the US-Canadian border. But despite the falling snow, Christmas shoppers were out in full force.
While most of the shoppers hurried from store to store, a small crowd had gathered in front of the police station. The shoppers watched as an officer stapled a poster to a telephone pole. Then, when he was done and stepped aside, they all shuffled closer for a better view. The poster was a sketch of a middle-aged woman. She had a narrow face, thin nose, glasses, and bangs.
And according to the text above the image, the police were looking for this woman in connection with a recent double homicide. The murders were horrible, but they were also the most exciting thing to happen in this part of rural Maine for as long as anyone could remember.
So despite the cold and the need to go buy Christmas gifts, these shoppers all stood there studying the sketch and discussing whether it looked like anyone they knew. And these shoppers were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't notice a bundled up figure hurrying past them on the sidewalk.
And this figure slowed down just long enough to glance at the poster and recognize the face in the sketch, which bore a striking resemblance to their own face. Then, before anyone could notice them, the figure turned and hurried off into the falling snow.
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 give the follow button's phone number to as many telemarketers as you can. 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+.
On the evening of November 27th, 2009, Michael Miller, or Big Mike as pretty much everyone knew him, was stomping around his property in Webster Plantation, Maine, studying his double-wide trailer and thinking through the new addition he was planning.
Like his nickname suggested, 47-year-old Big Mike was a huge man, and he had a big bushy beard, and he looked right at home in this desolate rural setting. The trailer stood at the center of a snowy clearing along the edge of dark woods. There were no other buildings in sight since Big Mike's closest neighbor lived almost 20 miles away.
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