Shawn Ryan Show

#249 MrBallen - Ouija Boards, Aliens Hijacking an Aircraft and Real-Life Horror Stories

October 30, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • MrBallen and Shawn Ryan celebrated their shared success as former Navy SEALs achieving mainstream recognition, including a potential Golden Globe nomination for their respective podcast work. 
  • MrBallen detailed his personal struggle with prolific, aggressive sleepwalking since his time in the SEALs, which has influenced his current decision to keep firearms out of his home. 
  • The main segment of the provided transcript featured MrBallen recounting a detailed, terrifying true story from 1986 involving two young sisters who attempted to contact their deceased mother via a Ouija board, leading to escalating paranormal events culminating in a physical confrontation with an intruder dressed as their mother. 
  • The initial story detailed in this segment of The Shawn Ryan Show, Episode #249, culminates in the discovery of 16-year-old Danny LaPlant living secretly in the walls of the Bowen family's home, who was later revealed to have committed a subsequent triple homicide after being released on bond. 
  • MrBallen explains his storytelling philosophy is to focus on the victim's point of view to create emotional resonance, making the antagonist feel like an ambiguous, encroaching threat rather than leading with the killer's identity. 
  • MrBallen recounted a personal, potentially paranormal experience from age 16 where he witnessed a tall, dark figure in a pitch-black cabin room, which Nick's mother later cryptically suggested was her deceased husband. 
  • The narrator experienced a terrifying, seemingly paranormal event for a second consecutive night in the cabin, characterized by identical sounds (footsteps, sleigh bells, falling pot) but with the entity deviating from the previous night's pattern by heading upstairs toward Nick's mother. 
  • The narrator's fear culminated on the third morning when Nick's mother, crying happy tears, revealed that the words "I love you" were etched into a new coffee table, an act she denied performing, leading the narrator to sever ties with everyone involved due to the trauma. 
  • The narrator later recounted a separate, highly disturbing paranormal experience at a different rented cabin in Tennessee during a survival series shoot, which was corroborated by multiple witnesses and confirmed by reading numerous negative reviews about the location being haunted. 

Segments

Podcast Intro and Sponsorship Reads
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The episode begins with multiple advertisements before the guest arrives.
  • Summary: Sponsor reads for Adobe Express and Golden Nugget Online Casino dominate the first few minutes of the episode.
Welcoming MrBallen Back
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(00:01:35)
  • Key Takeaway: MrBallen is visiting Shawn Ryan’s newly upgraded compound and studio.
  • Summary: The host welcomes MrBallen back, noting the upgraded studio space compared to their previous recording in the attic. They express excitement for Halloween-themed content.
MrBallen’s Career Milestones
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(00:02:46)
  • Key Takeaway: MrBallen has achieved significant success, including over 10 million YouTube subscribers and a New York Times best-selling graphic novel.
  • Summary: The host details MrBallen’s accomplishments, including his podcast’s consideration for a Golden Globe nomination, and they briefly discuss the significance of this recognition.
Gift Exchange and Shooting Hiatus
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(00:04:51)
  • Key Takeaway: MrBallen received a new SIG P226X Legion pistol, prompting discussion about his lack of shooting since 2017 due to entrepreneurship and severe sleepwalking.
  • Summary: The host gives MrBallen snacks and the new SIG pistol. MrBallen explains his hiatus from shooting is partly due to his wife’s concerns over his prolific sleepwalking.
Host’s PSYOPs Series Promotion
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(00:14:39)
  • Key Takeaway: The host promotes his upcoming eight-part audio series on PSYOPs, available October 28th at psyopshow.com.
  • Summary: The host discusses the difficulty of finding truth amidst misinformation and introduces his new series focusing on psychological operations conducted by governments.
The Bowen Family Tragedy
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(00:18:43)
  • Key Takeaway: The story begins in 1986 with two young sisters, Tina and Karen, grieving the recent death of their mother.
  • Summary: The father, Frank, is working extra shifts, leaving the grieving girls alone. They decide to use a Ouija board to try and contact their deceased mother.
Ouija Board and Tapping Sounds
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(00:23:36)
  • Key Takeaway: After the Ouija board fails, the girls hear sporadic tapping sounds throughout the house, which they interpret as their mother trying to communicate.
  • Summary: The girls ask questions downstairs, receive three taps in response, and become convinced their mother is present, leading them to investigate the basement.
The Basement Message
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(00:39:43)
  • Key Takeaway: When the girls investigate the basement, they find no source for the tapping, but discover the message, ‘I’m in your closet. Come find me,’ written on the basement stairs wall.
  • Summary: The girls flee to a neighbor’s house. Frank investigates, finds the message written in ketchup, and insists the girls need grief therapy, believing they wrote it.
The Man in the Closet
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(00:46:16)
  • Key Takeaway: After three weeks of quiet following therapy, the family returns home to find signs of intrusion, culminating in a man wearing a dress and wielding a hatchet emerging from a closet.
  • Summary: The man points upstairs, forcing Frank and the girls into a bedroom. Tina jumps out a second-story window to escape as Frank struggles with the intruder at the door.
Police Rescue and Initial Search
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(00:52:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Police evacuated Frank and the girls, finding no immediate sign of an intruder inside the house.
  • Summary: The narrative continues with the neighbor calling the police after Frank and the girls are hysterical. Police arrive, use a ladder to get everyone out, and usher them to the neighbor’s house. A search of the house reveals no disturbance, though a hatchet is found near a partially ajar sliding glass door.
Police Advice and Investigation
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(00:53:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Due to the vague description of the intruder (clown makeup, dress), police advised Frank’s family not to stay at the house while they staked out the property.
  • Summary: Police inform Frank that the description of the intruder is too vague to act upon effectively. They advise the family to stay elsewhere while officers stake out the property, assuming the intruder might return.
Return to the Vacant House
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(00:55:03)
  • Key Takeaway: On the third day, Frank returned to the house in broad daylight to retrieve belongings, noticing the police stakeout seemed absent.
  • Summary: After a few days, Frank decides to quickly run into the house to get supplies, as the family left abruptly. He arrives and doesn’t see any police cars, leading him to believe he should go in quickly.
Discovery of Bizarre Interior Scene
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(00:56:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Frank saw movement upstairs, called the police, and an officer confirmed no one was inside, but upon entering, found the house bizarrely decorated.
  • Summary: Frank sees movement in the second-floor bedroom and calls the police to confirm if they have officers inside. The police deny this, suggesting a shift change. An officer agrees to check the house for Frank. The officer finds pennies glued to the ceiling, half-full champagne glasses, and strangely arranged furniture.
Finding the Hidden Tunnel
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(00:58:29)
  • Key Takeaway: A second, thorough search of the house yielded no entry/exit points until an officer leaning on a washing machine in the basement revealed a hidden cutout and tunnel.
  • Summary: Police conduct another exhaustive search but find nothing. Frustrated officers in the basement notice the washing machine moves, revealing a cutout large enough for a person. They discover a burrowed tunnel in the wall where they find a man wearing a dress crouching in the corner.
The Story of Danny LaPlante
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(00:59:58)
  • Key Takeaway: The intruder was identified as 16-year-old Danny LaPlante, who had been living in the walls for six months after feeling rejected by Tina Bowen.
  • Summary: The man is identified as Danny LaPlante. The host explains that six months prior, after feeling rejected by Tina Bowen, LaPlante snuck into the house and lived in the walls, spying on the family and intentionally causing tapping sounds during their seance.
LaPlante’s Subsequent Crimes
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(01:01:45)
  • Key Takeaway: After being arrested and released on bond, LaPlante broke into another family’s home and murdered three of the four occupants.
  • Summary: LaPlante was arrested but later given bond. While out, he snuck into another family’s house, murdered three of the four members (strangling the mother and drowning the two children), and is currently incarcerated.
Storytelling Philosophy
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(01:03:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The host explains his storytelling method focuses on the victim’s point of view to make the horror relatable, rather than focusing on the antagonist.
  • Summary: The host discusses his approach to storytelling, contrasting it with common narratives. He prefers to start with an anecdote leading to the theory (like Roswell) or focus on the relatable victims (like the Bowen family) rather than leading with the antagonist.
Stories of People Living in Walls
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(01:05:49)
  • Key Takeaway: The host notes that finding people living in walls is surprisingly common, citing a story about an apartment complex where intruders accessed units through cheap wall insulation and mirrors.
  • Summary: The discussion shifts to other instances of people living in walls. The host mentions a story about a cheaply built high-rise where squatters could access apartments via the wall space and enter units by punching out unsecured mirrors.
Viral Story of Kitchen Intruder
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(01:08:06)
  • Key Takeaway: A New York man set up a camera after noticing missing food and discovered an elderly woman living in his cupboard space for a year.
  • Summary: The host recounts a viral story of a man in New York who set up a camera after noticing misplaced items. The footage revealed a small elderly woman climbing out of a cupboard, using his sink, eating his food, and then returning to her hiding spot.
Belief in Paranormal Activity
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(01:10:47)
  • Key Takeaway: The host believes in the possibility of paranormal activity because humanity occupies a vast, poorly understood existence.
  • Summary: The host discusses his belief in the paranormal, arguing that given humanity’s small place in a vast, unknown universe, dismissing the supernatural is a cop-out.
Mexican Pilot UFO Encounter
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(01:12:32)
  • Key Takeaway: A Mexican pilot lost control of his plane in fog, blacked out, and woke up three hours away over water, with an hour of his flight time unaccounted for and recorded as an alien message.
  • Summary: The host details the story of a 21-year-old Mexican pilot who lost control of his plane in fog and passed out. He awoke to find the plane flying level over water, three hours from his takeoff point. Air traffic control recorded an hour of conversation where an entity speaking through the pilot warned humanity about nuclear destruction.
Host’s Personal Paranormal Story Setup
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(01:22:36)
  • Key Takeaway: The host is about to share a personal, strange experience from when he was 16 that he believes might be paranormal.
  • Summary: The host confirms he has a long personal story he is willing to share, noting it coincidentally became one of his first viral internet stories.
Cabin Trip After Father’s Death
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(01:25:45)
  • Key Takeaway: The host and friends went on a planned snowboarding trip to New Hampshire shortly after his friend Nick’s father died suddenly.
  • Summary: The host sets the scene: he, Nick, and Wolf were going to New Hampshire. Nick’s father had just died, but Nick insisted they proceed with the trip to honor his father’s love for the cabin.
The Cabin Layout and Sleeping Arrangements
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(01:31:09)
  • Key Takeaway: The cabin was built into a mountain slope, with the boys’ bedroom being windowless and bunkered into the earth.
  • Summary: The host describes the cabin’s unique construction—half on stilts, half built into the mountain. He details the layout, focusing on the small, windowless bedroom where he (lower bunk), Wolf (top bunk), and Nick (queen bed) slept.
Hearing Footsteps at Night
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(01:35:53)
  • Key Takeaway: While pretending to be asleep, the host heard loud, echoing footsteps approach the door, enter the room, and walk toward the beds.
  • Summary: Unable to sleep, the host hears footsteps on the porch around 2 or 3 AM. He assumes it’s Nick’s older brother arriving late. He hears the door open (sleigh bells ringing) and the footsteps enter the room, sounding unnaturally loud and echoing.
Encountering the Tall Figure
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(01:40:17)
  • Key Takeaway: A tall, dark silhouette walked past the host’s bunk, stopped, bowed over Nick’s bed, and then vanished into the ground.
  • Summary: The host, paralyzed with fear, watches a tall, dark silhouette walk past his bunk. He notes he could see the figure clearly despite the darkness. The figure turned, bent over Nick’s bed, and then disappeared into the ground.
Confronting Nick’s Mother
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(01:44:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The host woke up later, found Nick and Wolf still asleep, and asked Nick’s mother if one of her older sons had visited, to which she replied no, adding that she had also heard her late husband the night before.
  • Summary: The host wakes up later to the sound of Nick’s mother in the kitchen. He confirms Nick and Wolf are still asleep. He asks her if her older sons visited, and she denies it, then unsettlingly states, ‘It was just my husband. I heard him last night too.’
Mother’s Unsettling Explanation
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(01:46:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The homeowner claims the strange sounds were just her late husband, which unnerves the narrator.
  • Summary: The narrator recounts telling Nick’s mother about the previous night’s events, and she calmly states it was just her husband, leaving the narrator feeling flat-footed and unsure how to react.
Second Night’s Repeat Performance
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(01:48:34)
  • Key Takeaway: The exact paranormal sequence from Night One repeats itself on the second night.
  • Summary: The narrator prepares for the second night, placing a knife under his bed. He is unable to sleep before his friends. Around 2-3 AM, he hears the footsteps, sleigh bells, and the pot falling, followed by the entity approaching his bed.
Night Two Entity Interaction
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(01:53:40)
  • Key Takeaway: The entity follows the established pattern, bowing to Nick before vanishing, confirming the event for the second consecutive night.
  • Summary: The tall figure marches past the narrator, bows into Nick, and vanishes. The narrator notes that the repetition only made the experience more real and terrifying.
Hysterical Confrontation with Mother
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(01:54:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The narrator breaks down, demanding answers, but the mother remains convinced it is her husband.
  • Summary: Waking up early, the narrator confronts Nick’s mother hysterically, asking her to confirm her sons were there. She reiterates that it was her husband both nights, leaving the narrator feeling that the situation is not okay.
Third Night: Pattern Deviation
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(01:58:37)
  • Key Takeaway: On the third night, the entity breaks the established pattern, heading upstairs instead of toward the narrator’s room.
  • Summary: The narrator is furious and terrified as the third night begins. The familiar sounds occur, but the footsteps walk past the turn toward their room and proceed to the back of the cabin, then up the stairs toward Nick’s mother.
The Etched Coffee Table
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(02:01:20)
  • Key Takeaway: The mother shows the narrator ‘I love you’ etched into a new coffee table, confirming a supernatural event occurred.
  • Summary: The mother calls the narrator over to the new coffee table. Etched into the wood are the words ‘I love you,’ which she claims she did not write. This leads the narrator to cut ties with everyone involved due to the trauma.
Trauma and Severed Relationships
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(02:01:59)
  • Key Takeaway: The narrator ended all relationships stemming from the trip because the experience was too traumatic to overcome.
  • Summary: The narrator discusses the range of possible explanations, leaning toward the mother grieving, but ultimately concluding the event was too real and corroborated. He confirms he never spoke to Nick or his mother again.
Haunted Cabin Story Recap
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(02:04:48)
  • Key Takeaway: The narrator briefly recounts a separate, confirmed haunted cabin experience from a survival series shoot.
  • Summary: The narrator shifts topic to a separate incident where he and his crew experienced footsteps and electrical anomalies in a Tennessee cabin, later confirmed by reviews describing it as haunted.