via Amazon Music
MrBallen, a YouTuber and former U.S. Navy Seal, has carved out a name for himself on YouTube and TikTok with creepy stories inspired by real-life events. He’s racked up over 6.8 million subscribers on YouTube and over 8 million on TikTok thanks to his retelling of crimes and other macabre subjects, with titles like “This frat boy did the unthinkable”, “This trail is a deathtrap”, or “The top 3 scariest stalkers in the wild.”
Earlier this year, MrBallen rolled out a podcast: MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories. The true crime and horror podcast quickly scaled. In September of this past year, he signed an exclusive deal with Amazon to bring the podcast to their platform, available for listening on the Amazon Music app. Alas, the MrBallen Podcast will be an Amazon exclusive for three years.
MrBallen Podcast episodes have a similar spooky vibe as the YouTube videos he cut his teeth on. Episode descriptions read like a synopsis of an Are You Afraid Of The Dark? or an American Horror Story episode.
IE, via Amazon Music:
- Episode 77 Caught in 4K – “In 2021, police in Salt Lake City, Utah, discovered a strange video on someone’s phone. This video, which at first glance seems kind of playful, is actually extremely disturbing and distressing once you realize what it’s actually about.”
- Episode 76 The Imposter – “A man is ambushed while he is retrieving the newspaper.”
- Episode 74 Firestarter – “A serial arsonist is on the loose in California”
- Episode 71 Blue Haired Woman – Baffling disappearance from 2020, takes a spooky turn in 2021
- Episode 68 The Cindy Problem – A beloved couple is found dead in their mansion in Texas, but there is no evidence to suggest who did it.
These are truly stories that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
With Amazon’s corporate backing, the next chapter of the MrBallen Podcast involves branching out to new audiences.
And what has a bigger audience than the NFL?
Los Angeles Chargers legend Shawne Merriman and runningback Josh Kelly were recently filmed listening to MrBallen podcast episode.
Their reactions are the same reactions of pretty much every true crime fan when listening to MrBallen. Lots of “nope!”, lots of “what?!”, and all kinds of spine-tingling chills from the storytelling.
Check it out for yourself: