MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries

Wondery

The human body is a miracle. But when it’s not working, it can be the stuff of nightmares. On this new series from master storyteller MrBallen, we’re sharing medical horror stories and diagnostic mysteries that are surgically calibrated to make your blood run cold.

From bizarre, unheard-of diseases and miraculous recoveries to strange medical mishaps and unexplainable deaths — you’ll never hear the phrase “heart-stopping” in the same way again. MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between MrBallen and Wondery, the award-winning company behind Dr. Death.

Follow MrBallen's Medical Mysteries on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes publish for free every Tuesday. Prime members can binge episodes 25 - 32 early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

Wondery+ subscribers can listen ad-free--join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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Introducing: MrBallen's Medical Mysteries

Introducing: MrBallen's Medical Mysteries

Follow MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge the first 8 episodes, early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episodes

Ep. 32 | Scourge of the South

Ep. 32 | Scourge of the South

A doctor in the early 1900s is tasked with discovering the cause of a sometimes-fatal disease ravaging the American South. But in order to figure it out, he has to conduct a dangerous experiment that puts people’s lives at risk.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 31 | Jade’s Eye

Ep. 31 | Jade’s Eye

A 9-year-old girl in Hawaii suddenly loses vision in one eye, and nobody knows why. And by the time she gets an answer, it might be too late to save her eye at all.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 30 | Look Closely/Burning From the Inside

Ep. 30 | Look Closely/Burning From the Inside

“Look Closely”A teenage boy suddenly falls into critical condition while on vacation with his family in Orlando, Florida. When his doctors find out what’s wrong with him, they fear the worst – this disease is almost always fatal. In order to save him, they’ll have to act faster than they ever have before.“Burning From the Inside”After a young woman crushes her hand in a workplace accident, she begins experiencing debilitating pain throughout her entire body. Will she be able to endure it long enough for her doctors to save her?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 29 | It Came From the Basement

Ep. 29 | It Came From the Basement

When a woman’s five-year-old son in Niagara Falls, New York, suddenly develops epilepsy, she becomes determined to figure out what made him sick. What she finds leads her to one of the biggest cover ups in American history.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 28 | Dead Tired

Ep. 28 | Dead Tired

A mother in Fresno, California races her young son to the emergency room after he goes limp and his eyes roll back in his head. It turns out, the boy was poisoned. And the true culprit was something no one ever saw coming.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 27 | Deadly Cramp

Ep. 27 | Deadly Cramp

A semi-pro tennis player nearly drowns in the pool when she suffers sudden, cramping pain in her midsection. Her doctors fear she has cancer, but then they realize that other people are showing the exact same symptoms.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 26 | The Birds

Ep. 26 | The Birds

In the summer of 1999, a mysterious outbreak rages through New York City, paralyzing and even killing its victims. Doctors scramble for a solution, not realizing the answer is lying at their feet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 25 | It Moves

Ep. 25 | It Moves

A young woman working on a fishing vessel in Alaska begins experiencing a strange burning sensation in her eye. What she finds inside her eyelid makes her skin crawl.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 24 | Blood on Their Hands

Ep. 24 | Blood on Their Hands

In the summer of 1846, a young doctor is thrilled to join Austria’s prestigious Vienna General Hospital. But he soon discovers that new mothers in one of the hospital’s maternity wards are dying at a disturbing rate. He desperately seeks an answer for why it’s happening… and what he finds changes the field of medicine forever.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 23 | Gut Instinct/Into the Woods

Ep. 23 | Gut Instinct/Into the Woods

“Gut Instinct”In the summer of 2021, a doctor celebrates his retirement with a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. But shortly after he gets back, he begins experiencing debilitating stomach pain. Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with him, he tries to diagnose himself. He suspects the answer is a horrible disease that people rarely survive. “Into the Woods”After a camping trip in the summer of 2009, a woman develops a gruesome rash that covers her body with painful welts and makes her mouth bleed. Multiple doctors can’t figure out what is wrong with her – because the answer is something few physicians would ever suspect.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 22 | Surf’s Up

Ep. 22 | Surf’s Up

On Christmas Day, 2008, a surfer living in Hawaii wakes up with a splitting headache and itching all over his body. Soon, the man is comatose and nearly brain-dead in a hospital as doctors struggle to understand what’s happening. His doctors don’t think he’ll recover, but his mother refuses to give up hope – will her belief be enough to save him?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 21 | Breathless

Ep. 21 | Breathless

In 2012, a healthy high school volleyball star suddenly has to fight for every breath she takes. Within a few weeks, she’s on the list for multiple organ transplants and needs a refrigerator-sized machine to keep her alive. Her doctors have no idea why this is happening to her – until the answer comes from a place nobody ever expected.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 20 | The Mist

Ep. 20 | The Mist

In 2007, a worker at a pork processing plant in Minnesota suffers nerve damage so severe that he can no longer move his legs. Within a few months, his co-workers begin to develop similar alarming symptoms. Investigators search for a common thread, and what they find is more disturbing than anything they could have imagined.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 19 | Life in Paradise/The Stranger

Ep. 19 | Life in Paradise/The Stranger

“Life in Paradise”In 1993, a man living in a retirement community in Tennessee falls ill with what he thinks is the flu. But, within hours, he’s comatose and suffering from multiple organ failure. His doctor is stunned, and becomes even more perplexed when the man’s neighbor shows up with the same symptoms. Is it all just a coincidence? Or is a silent killer lurking in the community’s manicured grounds?“The Stranger”One day in 2014, an elderly Frenchman comes home to find a stranger hiding in his bathroom. The intruder doesn’t seem dangerous, although something about him feels…off. And when the man discovers who it is, it changes his life forever.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 18 | Man With the Blue Skin

Ep. 18 | Man With the Blue Skin

In 1944, nearly a dozen men show up at a hospital in New York. All are violently ill and passing out – and they all have bright blue skin. A medical investigator rushes to figure out what is making them sick… and what is causing their bizarre appearance. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 17 | The Curse of Veneto

Ep. 17 | The Curse of Veneto

In 1983, an Italian man finds himself completely unable to sleep, and when he looks in the mirror, his own eyes frighten him. A sense of doom washes over the man. He knows that within a year, he’ll be dead – because he’s just fallen prey to a centuries-old family curse.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 16 | The Carancas Curse

Ep. 16 | The Carancas Curse

In September 2007, a meteor strike leaves a massive crater in the high Peruvian desert, drawing curiosity seekers from miles around. Shortly after, people from the nearby town of Carancas start becoming violently ill. Some residents fear a curse has befallen them, but the truth might be much more frightening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 15 | The Philly Killer

Ep. 15 | The Philly Killer

Throughout the United States, the summer of 1976 is a celebration of two hundred years as a nation. That is, until attendees of a veterans’ conference in Philadelphia start dying of a frightening new disease. As the CDC scrambles to stop the outbreak, the country’s joy turns to terror. Will they stop the spread before a new pandemic emerges? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 14 | Chimera

Ep. 14 | Chimera

In late 2002, a 26-year-old single mother and her children take a DNA test as part of a welfare application. The results are shocking: they say she is not the mother. She has to find a way to prove the children really are hers or risk having them taken away from her forever.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 13 | Village of Death

Ep. 13 | Village of Death

In September of 1998, people throughout Malaysia start dying of a disease that attacks their brains. The authorities think they know what it is, but one scientist believes they are making a dangerous mistake. It’s up to him to convince his superiors before the outbreak spirals out of control.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.