{"podcast":{"title":"MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories","slug":"mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842","podcast_index_feed_id":4894842,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/dloY8UYJ","website_url":"https://ballenstudios.com/","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/3c9c3c2a-a53f-40bd-9d24-bdb387b03fb1/eae76d2b-6d10-4d80-b309-a724ac0340f0/3000x3000/large-sxm-cover-mr-ballen-3000x3000-final.jpg?aid=rss_feed","author":"MrBallen","episode_count":515,"summary":"MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories is a true crime and mystery podcast that presents strange, dark and mysterious content delivered in story format. The program is hosted by John Allen a.k.a. MrBallen. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes 7-days early and ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-23T16:17:17.056076+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842"},"episode":{"title":"Fan Favorite - \"The Mutant\"","slug":"fan-favorite-the-mutant","published_at":"2026-07-10T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842/fan-favorite-the-mutant","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842","url":"https://ballenstudios.com/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/stitcher.simplecastaudio.com/814143cd-09c6-426f-920a-7be9b3dc1506/episodes/21f566fd-e44a-40a6-8d12-2044de2dd98a/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=814143cd-09c6-426f-920a-7be9b3dc1506&awEpisodeId=21f566fd-e44a-40a6-8d12-2044de2dd98a&feed=dloY8UYJ","summary":"Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 315. On a day in 2001, a veteran homicide detective put on his gloves and stepped into a cluttered bedroom. He’d been working a murder case for months, but he still had no clear evidence pointing to any of his suspects. But a tip from an informant had led him to this bedroom, and he hoped he would find something useful. The detective searched the room, but nothing stood out to him amidst the mess – until he saw a piece of notebook paper sitting on a nightstand. On the paper was someone’s list of goals they wanted to accomplish in life. The detective scanned the list. Most of the goals on the list were pretty standard stuff, but one goal immediately jumped out at the detective. Because one of the things on the list the writer wanted to achieve was to “Kill somebody and get away with it.”","meta_description":"Today's story is a fan favorite that was previously published as Episode 315. On a day in 2001, a veteran homicide detective put on his gloves and stepped…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2050,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842/episodes/fan-favorite-the-mutant/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mrballen-podcast-strange-dark-mysterious-stories-4894842/fan-favorite-the-mutant.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}