Don't do what he did... (*MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY*)

today's episode deals almost exclusively with suicide and with depression and so i wanted to start this by saying if you or someone you know is struggling with mental health there are resources that can help you i've left a number of them in the description below but before we get into today's story if you're a fan of the strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format then you come to the right place because that's all we do and we upload two or three times every week so if that's of interest to you please ask the like button if you can borrow their phone for a second and then proceed to change their language setting to japanese and then hand it back to them also please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads alright let's get into today's story in the early 1980s richard sumner was in his 20s and he was a scenic designer for a major opera house just outside of london richard was a truly gifted artist and was known to be a very intelligent man in 1984 when richard was 29 he started to notice he was having a really hard time focusing like he couldn't keep basic information straight in his head it would just get all jumbled up and it was making his job exponentially more difficult initially richard assumed it must just be the product of working lots of long hours and being under lots of pressure all the time but after taking a few days off from work his mental focus did not come back in fact it only got worse and so when he told his friends and his colleagues about it they urged him to go see a doctor and so finally he did he went to a doctor and the doctor put him through a series of tests and was really only able to rule out different medical conditions they were not able to pinpoint what was actually causing this mental disturbance and so richard was pretty frustrated because he thought by going to the doctor they would figure out what it was and you know give him a pill and that would make everything better but that wasn't happening he was left with a lot of questions and so richard went to another doctor and another doctor for additional opinions and they too were not able to get to the bottom of what was going on with him and so finally richard found himself sitting across from a psychologist asking them if they had the answer and they did they informed richard that he was unfortunately developing schizophrenia schizophrenia is a very serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally schizophrenics usually experience some combination of hallucinations delusions extremely disordered thinking and behavior that can be disabling richard was horrified at this diagnosis and he asked a psych you know what can i do how can i get better and the psych would tell him that unfortunately there is no cure for schizophrenia however medical treatment has been shown to be very effective in some people especially when it's caught early and it seems like we're catching your disorder fairly early and so richard immediately began the medical treatment plan and he seemed to be one of the lucky few that benefited tremendously from it in fact within just days of being told of this diagnosis he was back to work at the opera house but over the years despite richard diligently staying on his medical treatment plan he just continued to kind of spiral because of this disorder and it was becoming more and more apparent at work that richard was just not the same anymore he had lost that mental focus that he was known for and he was perpetually fatigued and so in 1996 so 12 years after his original diagnosis richard finally had to step away from his job at the opera house he just couldn't do the work anymore although richard was eligible for governmental assistance because of his schizophrenia the money he would receive from those benefits would not be enough to cover the costs associated with living in his flat in london and so he was forced to move back home with his family in north wales even though his family welcomed him with open arms richard immediately felt like he was this huge burden to them and within a year of having moved back home richard had fallen into this deep dark depression and he decided he did not want to live anymore so one day that fall richard left his house and he walked to a store where he purchased handcuffs and then he took those handcuffs he left the store and he walked away from town towards this secluded forest that was not too far away and when he got to the forest he picked a trail and he started walking down it and he kept looking over his shoulder until finally he could not actually see the town anymore he was fairly far into these woods at that point he deviated off of the trail and walked for several more minutes until he came to a stop in front of this tree that had some fairly thick low hanging branches at that point he took his handcuffs and he connected one cuff to one of these branches and made sure it would not come off and then he connected the other cuff to his right wrist and once he was fully secured he leaned back against the tree and he began to wait it's unclear what drove richard to choose such a slow and torturous method for ending his life but apparently after four days of leaning up against this tree and not dying he began to have second thoughts about it he was desperately hungry and thirsty and extremely tired because he was in this kind of semi-upright position that didn't really allow him to sleep and he just ate from standing and kind of hanging on his wrist for as long as he had been and he was worried that he was still days away from dying he also started to feel really bad about the effect his death would have on his family they loved him and even though they knew he was depressed they were not thinking he was suicidal and so this would be a huge shock and it would be extremely upsetting for years and years to come richard also started thinking about the poor soul that was going to stumble across his body in the middle of the woods after he had passed and he thought what a terrible thing for someone to have to go through and so on the night of the fourth day that he's been out in the woods chained up to this tree richard finally decides that he just can't go through with it and so with his left hand his free hand he reaches into his pocket he gets the handcuff key and just a couple of seconds later he's out he's free and so he hobbles his way back to the path and he makes his way out of the forest and walks all the way home when he goes inside his sister is there and she's totally shocked to see him she sees the state he's in and she's asking you know are you okay what have you been doing where have you been we've been so worried and that's when richard confides in her that he had been in the forest and he had just attempted suicide and so his sister is totally devastated at this news and she tries to comfort him and remind him that she and the rest of the family loves him and please please don't attempt suicide again we can get you help we can put you in touch with professionals we can do anything you want but please don't do something you can't undo richard didn't make any promises to her but he was very touched at how much she cared he thanked her he gave her a hug and then he went to his room and he went to bed the next morning when richard got up he had this sense that you know he had just survived a suicide attempt and so in many ways he now had this new life he was living and so what better time to kind of forge ahead and build a new life with the current construct and the current limitations that he had and stop focusing so much on the life that he had lost back in london because that life doesn't exist anymore and so for the next couple of years richard did just focus on his new life in north wales he was diligent about keeping up with his medical treatments he tried to spend time with his family he was doing all the right things but his schizophrenia only got worse and one of the ways it was really manifesting itself in his life was this deep-seated paranoia that his family secretly did not want him in the house that they looked at him as this parasite as he called it and so he really developed this awful view of himself and he fell back into a very deep state of depression and before long he was suicidal again and so in 1999 which is three years after his first suicide attempt richard decided he would try again he got his handcuffs and he left the house without talking to his family and he walked to that secluded forest on the edge of town he went down the trail he veered off he found a tree with some sturdy low-hanging branches and he cuffed himself to it and began the long wait but after only being there for a couple of hours richard started to have those same second thoughts he had while he was out here in his first attempt he started to worry about his family and he worried about the person who's gonna find his body and he couldn't help but think about how painful and miserable those four days had been when he was out there waiting to die and so after agonizing over what he should do next richard ultimately decided that again he just couldn't go through with it and so he pulled the key out of his pocket he undid the cuff and he left the forest and he walked back home after the second suicide attempt richard again tried to find meaning in having this new life but he just couldn't shake this growing paranoia brought on by his schizophrenia that his family secretly wanted him to leave the house that he was this parasite and that they all hated him he was this terrible person and it was just overwhelming for richard and so eventually he would actually confide in his sister that he felt this way that he felt like he was this leech on the family and she would say no richard we love you unconditionally we want you here do not leave this is your home but richard just couldn't believe her that paranoia was so strong he just couldn't see reality for what it was and so in april of 2002 which was three years after his second suicide attempt richard grabbed the handcuffs and headed out for another attempt but after securing himself to a tree in the middle of the forest once again his conscience cut through all the chaos inside of his mind and told him don't do it and he listened but this time after freeing himself and getting back home he didn't feel any sense of relief or any desire to kind of live this new life he's been given instead he longed to be back in the forest chained up to a tree he confided in his sister that he had now tried suicide three separate times and he was just at a loss for what he should do next and so of course his sister is totally shocked and saddened by this news and she tells him over and over again how much she loves him and please do not go back in that forest do not hurt yourself and in fact his sister would go on to tell the rest of the family about these suicide attempts and so before long the whole family is telling richard how much they love him and that he's not a parasite let us know how we can help you or let us connect you to someone who can but it was just not enough and less than a week after his third failed suicide attempt richard grabbed his handcuffs he left the house and began walking towards that secluded forest for one final try that night when richard did not come home the family obviously was very concerned about this and so they called the police and they reported him missing and they explained he was suicidal and that the best place to look for him was going to be in that forest but after several days of looking all over town and out in that forest the police could not find richard or any trace of him and so unfortunately they had to turn the search off and so the family was crushed and all they could do was just hope and pray that richard again changed his mind and came back home three years later a woman and her two dogs decided to go out for a walk inside of that secluded north wales forest at some point on their walk they left the path and got kind of lost in the thick of the forest and so as she's walking around trying to get her bearings trying to figure out where the trail is she winds up going behind this one big tree and she enters into this clearing and on the other side of the clearing up against this tree are the badly decomposed remains of richard sumner out of fear she reflexively turns and runs with her two dogs and just keeps on running until she actually does find the trail again and so once she's on the trail she kind of makes a mental note of where she is and then she runs out of the forest and she contacts authorities about the body she saw and so the authorities they come out to the forest and they eventually are able to find richard's location and initially they believed they were dealing with a murder victim because they see this body that's been handcuffed to a tree but after police went through richard's pockets and found a house key that had an address on it they went to that address and it turned out it was richard's family's house and after speaking with them the police were able to confirm that the body they had just found was in fact richard sumner the suicidal man that had gone missing three years earlier and so almost certainly his death was a suicide even though this looked like a total open and shut case the medical examiner still needed to officially rule on the cause of death and so the medical examiner went out into the woods he went right up to richard and he began looking him over and right away he noticed some disturbing discrepancies there were deep scuff marks all around the branch where the handcuff had been connected to the tree and the other handcuff that was connected to richard's wrist had been jammed up over his thumb all the way up to his knuckles the examiner asked the police in the area if anybody had found the handcuff key and they said they had it was laying on the ground about 15 feet in front of richard sumner and that's when the medical examiner realized the horrible truth about what most likely happened to richard in his report the medical examiner theorized that richard had indeed gone into this forest in order to commit suicide he had walked over 200 yards into this forest way off the beaten path into the deepest thickest part where no people went and he most likely went there because he specifically didn't want anyone to happen upon him he wanted privacy and then after handcuffing himself to that branch of that tree he did something that he did not do in his previous three suicide attempts he pulled the handcuff key out of his pocket and then he threw it in front of him so far that he could not get it back again and then tragically richard came to the same conclusion that he had come to in his previous three attempts he realized he did not actually want to die he couldn't get to the key and when he yelled out for help he was so far away from society no one could hear his voice and so for the next several agonizing days richard yanked and tugged and pulled on that handcuff until finally he painfully got the cuff to slip up over his thumb all the way up to his knuckle but he just couldn't get it to go over his knuckle and he didn't have a knife to cut the branch down or to even cut his own hand off and so he used the cuff that was actually on the branch and began twisting it back and forth to maybe hopefully saw through the branch but there just wasn't enough friction inside that cuff and so it made almost no progress also richard probably tried to pull and yank on the branch itself to try to break it to free himself that way but without a tool there was no way he could have broken this branch it was just too sturdy and so after what must have been several horrifying days richard ultimately died of a heart attack out of fear of the situation he had put himself in or he died from starvation as a result of his findings the medical examiner was not able to label richard sumner's death a suicide he basically had to call it an accident so that's going to do it guys but before we wrap up i just want to say to all the people out there that are struggling that are maybe thinking about suicide or harming themselves in some way stop and tell someone tell someone you love tell someone you trust and if you don't want to do that then just call this number they are open 24 hours a day there are trained professionals on the other side of that line that know how to help you you just got a call help is available you are not alone if you've got something out of today's video and you haven't done this already please ask the like button if you can borrow their cell phone for a second and then when you get it change their language settings to japanese and then hand it back also please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly two or three video uploads we are now selling merchandise like hats and flannels and mugs and all sorts of stuff if you're interested go to shopmrballen.com also please follow our shop's instagram page the username is shopmrballen there you can find upcoming deals and promotions if you want to get in touch with me you can direct message me on instagram or on twitter my username on both platforms is the same it's john ballen416 i also have a ton of content over on tick tock where my username is mr ballen we also have a second youtube channel called mr ball and shorts where we post random short videos and lost episodes if you have a story suggestion please submit it to our subreddit just called mr bolland it's linked in the description below so whether i see you on instagram twitter tick tock reddit youtube or some combination just know that i really appreciate your support and until next time that's gonna do it see ya you

Channel: MrBallen

Views: 1,687,904

Rating: 4.9641643 out of 5

Keywords: strange, dark, mysterious, true, story, scary, scary story, horror story, disturbing, narration, narrator, storyteller, storytime, storytelling, unsolved mystery, solved mystery, true crime, oof, nope, depression, anxiety, mental health, depressed, schizophrenia, schizophrenic, mental disorder, disorder, get help, say something, north Wales, Wales, Richard Sumner, handcuff, handcuffs, trapped, stuck, forest, woods, London, operahouse, struggling, parasite, leach, burden, tell someone, speak up, not alone, scared

Id: VewJxeEBc4w

Length: 16min 23sec (983 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 02 2021