The Most Terrifying Stories MrBallen Has Ever Told by a Campfire

MrBallen recounts two terrifying true stories from his graphic novels, 'The Bell' and 'Thorns,' involving inexplicable encounters in remote wilderness settings.

• MrBallen's graphic novels feature terrifying true stories, like 'The Bell' and 'Thorns,' collected from real people.

• The 'Bell' story recounts a young woman's encounter with a mysterious bell-wearing entity and a bizarrely mutilated beaver carcass in remote woods.

• The 'Thorns' story reveals a horrifying twist: a vivid nightmare of a crown of thorns was a dream interpretation of a rabid fox eating a girl's scalp.

MrBallen, a renowned storyteller, shares two of his most terrifying fan-favorite true stories: 'The Bell' and 'Thorns.' Both narratives involve young women experiencing bizarre and horrifying events while alone in the wilderness, featuring unsettling encounters with an unknown entity and a rabid animal, respectively. These stories, which showcase MrBallen's signature 'strange, dark, and mysterious' style, are featured in his graphic novels, 'Where Nightmares Live' and its predecessor.

The Bell Story Introduction

• 00:01:08 MrBallen introduces 'The Bell,' a fan-favorite true scary story from his second graphic novel, 'Where Nightmares Live.' Originally from a girl in France, the story was slightly adapted for the book due to publishing issues, setting it in Arizona while retaining the core narrative. MrBallen recently shared this story at Comic-Con, where it was well-received.

The Bell: Mysterious Encounter

• 00:02:21 In June 2019, 18-year-old Bella, visiting her rural French hometown, hiked to a secluded man-made lake. During her hike, she heard a deep, sporadic bell sound with no apparent source, and later discovered a beaver carcass with its head surgically removed. A week later, returning to the lake at dusk during a thunderstorm, Bella found the same beaver carcass suspended above the trail with its head stitched to its paws, and the bell began ringing, seemingly moving closer to her, leading to a terrifying chase by an unknown, bell-wearing figure.

The Bell: Aftermath and Verification

• 00:18:39 Bella managed to call her dad, who, along with her mom, drove to the pickup point and could hear the bell ringing in the woods as Bella screamed for help. Her dad ran in and pulled her to safety, but they saw nothing. Police investigating the next day found nothing except one of Bella's shirts, folded under a rock, that she had not brought with her. MrBallen notes that the story, unlike viral folklore, was a personal testimony from Bella, whom he interviewed five years prior, and her shaken demeanor convinced him of its genuine terror, despite the many unknowns surrounding the beaver and the figure.

The Thorns Story: Rabid Fox Attack

• 00:24:49 MrBallen shares 'Thorns,' another true story from his first graphic novel, also featuring a protagonist named Bella from Germany. During her first summer as a camp counselor, Bella and her friends partied in the woods away from the kids. Sleeping outdoors on a cot, Bella experienced an extremely vivid dream of being attacked with a crown of thorns, only to wake up screaming with her head bleeding profusely. It was later discovered that a rabid fox had been eating her scalp while she slept, explaining the dream's horrifying realism.