Top 3 stories that sound fake but are 100% real | Part 4

sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction and today we're gonna look at three stories that demonstrate that but before we get into today's stories if you're a fan of the strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format then you come to the right channel because that's all we do and we upload three or four times every week so if that's of interest to you please tell the like button you're taking them on a week-long vacation to universal studios but instead take them to the dentist for a root canal 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 stories on august 25th 2010 a small twin-engine propeller plane sat on the tarmac at kinshasa international airport in the congo as the plane was being refueled the co-pilots 62 year old danny philemont from belgium and 39 year old chris wilson from england walked up the stairs and into the cockpit as the pilots got settled in and began their internal systems checks the flight attendant walked up the stairs she said hello to the pilots and then she began preparing the cabin for the passengers the main cabin began boarding at 11 am and by 11 30 am all 18 passengers that were expected to board had taken their seats so the flight attendant closed the doors went into the cockpit and told the pilots they were ready for takeoff this was going to be a one hour long routine domestic flight to ban dundu which is a province that was just outside the border of kinshasa to the east this particular crew had made this flight dozens of times in the past without any issues as the little plane made its way over to the runway the flight attendant demonstrated what to do in case of various in-flight emergencies and then by noon the plane was airborne one hour later residents of a town located just southwest of bendundu remembered looking up into the sky and seeing the small prop plane falling through the clouds in a near vertical nosedive seconds later the plane crashed into the ground right in the middle of the neighborhood luckily the crash did not kill anybody on the ground but unfortunately the pilots the flight attendant and 17 of the 18 passengers died on impact and the one passenger that survived was very badly hurt and was left in a coma an investigation was launched into what happened and very quickly it was theorized that they must have run out of gas because when they hit the ground there was no explosion there was no fire but upon closer inspection it would turn out the plane had plenty of fuel the black box which is a device that records the audio inside the cockpit was recovered but unfortunately it was inoperable so it didn't give them any other clues as to what happened investigators were stumped did they strike a bird in the air did the engines suddenly fail was it operator error they didn't know a few days after the crash the one surviving passenger miraculously came out of their coma and remembered in vivid detail what happened up in the skies right before they crashed they said as the plane was making their final descent into bandundu the flight attendant was walking down the aisle reminding everyone to put away their big devices and put their seat in the upright position and as she got about halfway down the aisle she looked towards the back of the plane and she suddenly gasped and covered her mouth turned around and walked very quickly back towards the front of the plane into the cockpit where she disappeared the passengers that had seen her do this were immediately concerned that something was wrong with the plane and so they stood up and looked towards the rear of the plane where she had been looking and right away they knew what it was she was concerned about there was a hissing crocodile making its way up the aisle someone must have smuggled it on and as passengers realized what was happening they all panicked and stampeded towards the front of the plane this sudden shift in weight threw off the plane's center of gravity causing a nose dive that the pilots could not recover from before they crashed after hearing this story the investigators remembered that a living crocodile had been found around the wreckage but no one had thought much of it because in the congo lots of exotic animals are smuggled onto flights specifically crocodiles are smuggled onto these planes with such regularity that passengers often can recognize the very specific crocodile smell somewhere in the cabin and they'll tell the pilots they'll come back they'll find the crocodile and the owner of said crocodile they'll kick them off before takeoff but obviously this time nobody smelled the crocodile just after midnight on april 4th 2013 a man stepped out of his tent into the pitch black woods of central maine he was wearing a wool hat he had a nice brand new columbia jacket on some lands and jeans and some high quality boots he was carrying a backpack as well as another bag that contained a screwdriver along with some other tools he adjusted his glasses and then looked up into the sky and it was so dark he couldn't even see the moon and he thought to himself perfect he turned and began quickly walking away from his tent into this forest where the trees were so dense that if you weren't careful you could actually get stuck in between two trees and scattered all over the ground where these huge slippery boulders covered in moss where one wrong step and you're breaking an ankle but despite the rugged terrain and zero visibility this man was able to easily navigate this area as if he had memorized every step after an hour of silent hiking he reached this huge pond called north pond and while staying hidden in the trees he followed the shoreline until he reached the edge of the forest overlooking this clearing and right in front of him were dozens of cabins overlooking this pond this was pine tree summer camp he waited in the tree line for a few minutes just listening to make sure nobody was out there even though he knew their schedule and knew no one was there after not hearing anything and feeling like the coast was clear he stepped out of the woods and walked up to the top of the camp to the dining hall and he made his way around to the back door there he pulled a screwdriver out of his bag and expertly popped open the lock and stepped inside once he was inside he pulled out his tiny flashlight and he made his way over to the pantry where he began stuffing his bag full of candy chips and coffee once his bag was almost completely full he walked over to the walk-in freezer he went into his pocket and pulled out a key that he had stolen on a previous trip he unlocked the lock went inside he grabbed some frozen hamburger patties and hot dogs and then he left the freezer and locked it behind him he did one more pass through the pantry and grabbed some more candy off the shelves and jammed them into his pockets and then after feeling satisfied that he had all he could take he decided it was time to leave and so as he made his way to the door he thought to himself great another successful raid complete or so he thought a motion detector had recently been installed inside of the dining hall behind the ice machine as soon as this man had pried open the back door it had picked him up and remained silent but sent an alarm to the nearby home of sergeant terry hughes who was a game warden that was investigating recent thefts in the area terry sped to the camp in under four minutes and he parked his truck a ways away from the dining hall because he was worried he would scare off the perpetrator so he parked his car and ran on foot staying in the tree line until he got right behind the dining hall he ran up to the back door and looked in the window and he saw this tall skinny man walking out of the walk-in freezer and this guy did not look towards terry instead he turned and walked farther away from him over towards the pantry this guy pulls a flashlight out he shines it at one of the shelves he takes some things off the shelf and puts them in his pockets and then after standing there for a minute the man turns off his flashlight faces terry and begins walking towards the back door at this point terry backs off the window and goes behind a tree that's overlooking the back door he gets his flashlight in one hand and he unholsters his pistol and he waits terry watched as this man barely opened the back door he slinked out the crack and then he began walking into the woods and at that point terry leapt out shined the light in his face drew his pistol and told him to get on the ground the man didn't resist he immediately got on the ground and terry called the state police were there only a couple minutes later they arrested this guy and put him on a chair and then they began interviewing him they asked him what his name was and the man just remained silent and so they searched him but they couldn't find any form of identification and so they asked him again what's your name and the guy again didn't say anything so the officers decided to remove his handcuffs and give him a bottle of water and then see if he would talk and sure enough he did his speech was slow and awkward and kind of abrupt like he had not spoken in a really long time he told them his name was christopher knight and that he had been born on december 7 1965. he said he didn't have an address he didn't have a vehicle and he had never filed a tax return he told them he lived in a tent in the woods nearby they asked him how long he had been doing that for and he paused for a minute and then said when was the chernobyl nuclear plant disaster and the officers looked at each other and they were like 1986 and he's like yeah that's that's when i went in the woods and they were like that was 27 years ago and chris said yeah the officers asked him you know well 27 years is a long time you got to be out there with some other people you know is your family out here you got a girlfriend you got you know some sort of companion out there with you and chris said no i live out there alone and in fact the last time i had a conversation with another person besides now was in 1990 when i happened to walk past another hiker and we both just said hi to each other besides that for 27 years it's just been me and it would turn out chris wasn't kidding and he went to great lengths to ensure he stayed completely cut off from the rest of society despite winter temperatures dropping to negative 20 degrees he refused to light a fire in fear of giving away his camp and so instead when it got that cold he would just stay up all night pacing around his camp trying to stay warm that way he never even talked to himself or sang out loud because he was so worried someone might hear him and he never left his campsite unless it was basically pitch black on an overcast night because he was afraid of being seen when the officers asked him if he had access to the internet at least he said i haven't seen the internet chris wound up confessing to over 1 000 burglaries over the 27 years he had been out in the woods he said he was ashamed of it but originally when he had moved out into the woods he had tried to hunt for his own food and forage for his own food but he was terrible at it so he had to resort to theft he said he only robbed cabins and homes when he was certain no one was there which meant sometimes going a long period of time between meals and the food he did find made for a terrible diet he mostly ate junk food and candy because it was stuff that was easy to find and kept fairly well when asked why he had moved into the woods in the first place he didn't really have an answer although in a later interview he would say that growing up human interaction had always been very difficult for him and when he was in the woods he just felt kind of content and at peace when chris's story broke the residents around north pond were shocked for decades they had swapped stories about someone or something haunting the area propane tanks food batteries clothes books would all go missing they were starting to get scared especially when it was overcast at night because they knew that was when this thing this person would come out but despite staying up at night with their weapons out ready to confront whoever it was doing this they never found him and the police were repeatedly called to come in and try to solve this mystery but they couldn't figure it out either as the incidents mounted the phantom was given a name the north pond hermit when chris was finally arrested and some of his life story was leaked to the media residents of north pond were torn on how to feel about him some people thought he was purely a criminal that he was a thief and that not only had he stolen their physical property he had also stolen their peace of mind and their sanity others idolized him like he was some cult hero he was a man that rejected what society says makes us happy careers relationships material comforts yet he was happy but regardless of how residents felt about his lifestyle the one thing they could all agree on was how incredible it was that he survived for as long as he did winters in maine are notoriously brutal and cold a week of winter camping would be considered a huge accomplishment let alone an entire season that was totally unheard of and chris did entire seasons 27 years in a row ultimately chris was sentenced to seven months in prison when he was released he was given three years of probation and part of the conditions for his release is that every week he would have to go physically check in with the judge which meant he would not be able to just escape back into the woods again when his probation did finally end he did not go running back into the woods he decided to remain in society in an interview christopher was asked what he learned from these 27 years in total isolation what have you learned about the human experience what did you learn about yourself tell us because you have knowledge that virtually none of us will ever have access to and apparently he just paused thought about it for a second and then looked up at the interviewer and said make sure you get enough sleep and then he got up and walked away while we don't know exactly what chris is up to these days people that know him say he lives by himself in a small apartment he has a regular job and he values his privacy over everything else one of the least known most hazardous jobs on the planet is saturation diving these highly specialized divers do construction and demolition at depths up to 2000 feet below the surface now unless you're familiar with diving that depth may not stand out to you but it should deep sea divers breathe compressed air which is usually a mixture of oxygen helium and nitrogen during the dive the oxygen is breathed in and completely used up and does not linger inside of their body but the helium and nitrogen they are absorbed as they're breathed in into the bloodstream and they remain there for the duration of the dive as the diver ascends in the water column the pressure on them from the water is reduced which allows these two gases to clear out of their bloodstream but they clear at different rates helium is considered a fast gas which means you absorb it quickly and get rid of it quickly but nitrogen is a little bit slower and so it takes longer for it to absorb into your body and then takes longer for it to clear out of your body if a diver doesn't respect this and just rockets to the surface any of the nitrogen or helium that did not diffuse out of their bodies will bubble up inside of them like a shaken soda and it will wreak havoc on them and many times it can be fatal this condition is known as decompression sickness or the bends the way divers mitigate getting the bends is they have decompression stops in their dive which means after they go down to a certain depth on the way up they will stop at a certain depth and just wait and they will allow these gases to diffuse out of their bodies before making their way up to the surface these decompression stops are planned and built into the dive beforehand the deeper you go the more frequent your decompression stops will be and the longer they will take to give you a sense of just how long these decompression stops can be if you dive down to just 250 feet it might only take you about 15 or 20 minutes to get down there but the return trip will take almost four hours due to the number of decompression stops if you're going down to 2000 feet it will take you over 33 hours to ascend naturally this ridiculous time constraint poses a huge problem for any industry that relies on deep sea work like oil and gas because they simply don't have enough divers to compensate for how long these decompression stops take they tried sending remote-controlled vehicles down to these depths to work on these offshore wells and rigs and pipelines but they lack the touch and maneuverability to do the job and so in the 1960s a crazy solution was implemented to get more people down to these depths for longer periods of time and it was then that the commercial saturation diver was born instead of divers spending hours and hours making all those stops on the way to the surface they constructed these underwater chambers that the divers would go into after their shift was done they would sleep inside of these claustrophobia-inducing metal chambers and then the next day they would put their dive gear back on hop outside of the chamber and then just start working again nowadays these chambers are either left down at depth where the diver is located and they can just go in and out and that's the whole process or there's a dive bell that sits down near the work site and the diver when they're done goes back into the dive belt it kind of looks like an escape pod and it's raised by a crane all the way up to the surface where it's placed on top of a ship or a rig and inside of this dive belt the pressure is artificially made to match the depth they've been working at and then when they're placed up on the surface on the ship or the rig the bell is connected to a bigger chamber that's also set to the same pressure they're at down at depth and they can go inside this chamber they can sleep they can eat go to the bathroom and then the next day the process is reversed where they go back into the diet bill it lowers them down to depth they hop out and they continue their work the point of this system is to keep divers fully saturated with their inner gases like nitrogen and helium so that they only have to do one major decompression at the very end of their shift which is oftentimes multiple weeks long now while the saturation diving system has worked extremely well it's still extremely hazardous which is part of the reason why it pays really really well some divers have died because they panicked and got hurt and if you think about what their job really entails they are going down thousands of feet all on their own into total pitch black nothingness they have one crummy light that can barely see about 10 feet in front of them they're operating heavy dangerous equipment there are large animals swimming around them that they can't see oftentimes they're perched on a pipeline clinging to it that if they were to fall off of it and detach from the dive bill they would sink into an abyss and no one could get them again and so it's an easy place to get hurt other divers have died because they were given the wrong mixture of gas and so at depth they began having seizures and there's nothing anyone can do to help them but the most well-known and brutal saturation diving accident involved something called explosive decompression on november 5th 1983 four saturation divers were working off of the byford dolphin oil rig in the north sea just after 4am two of the men edwin coward and roy lucas were in their bunks lounging inside of that chamber that sat up on the rig the other two men bjorn bergensen and trolls hellevick had just finished their shift down below they had gone into the dive bell and were being raised by crane to go up to the chamber on the rig once the dive bell was up on the rig two dive tenders named william kramend and martin saunders begin clamping the bell onto the side of the chamber without getting too into the weeds about how it actually works getting divers to go from one highly pressurized area the dive belt into another highly pressurized area the chamber and vice versa basically it just boils down to opening doors at very specific times and doing it wrong will result in catastrophe the process was going just fine helyavik and bergensen had exited the dive belt they had gotten into the chamber and they were literally in the process of shutting their internal door when outside dive tender crammond made a huge mistake before helyuvik had sealed his door kramen for whatever reason undid the latch that connected the dive belt to the chamber and what this did is it created a vacuum that instantaneously depressurized the chamber where the four men were from nine atmospheres down to one and it created so much pressure coming out of the chamber that it fired the dive belt straight out like a bullet killing crammond and severely injuring saunders on the outside inside the chamber all four men literally had the air ripped out of their chests helyavick who was closest to the door was literally sucked through the narrow crack because the door had not sealed he was sucked through and rocketed out the other side basically all four men exploded but fortunately they died instantly so that's gonna do it guys if you found the secret in today's episode let us know in the comments what it is and where you found it and if you're the first to do that we will pin you at the top of the comments section if you enjoyed today's video and you haven't done this already please tell the like button you're going to take them on a vacation to universal studios but instead just take them to the dentist for a root canal also please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly 3 or 4 video uploads if you want to get in touch with me you can direct message me on instagram or on twitter my username for 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 i also have a second youtube channel called mr ballin shorts where i post short videos if you have a story suggestion please submit it to our subreddit just called mr ballen 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

Channel: MrBallen

Views: 1,974,727

Rating: 4.9562788 out of 5

Keywords: saturation diver, saturation diving, Byford dolphin, oil and gas, oil & gas, pipeline, oil rig, work accident, diver, diving, scuba, underwater diving, decompression sickness, the bends, true story, true, story, story time, mrballen story, strange, dark, mysterious, stranger than fiction, crocodile, congo, airplane crash, crash, plane crash, hermit, north pond hermit, Christopher knight, maine, tent, camping, winter camping, scary, disturbing, unbelievable, mind-blowing, wow, crazy, interesting, oof

Id: l74_VQPdxjU

Length: 19min 45sec (1185 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2021