MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Sep 24, 2026 · 33 min · 14 segments
Today’s podcast will feature 3 stories that involve people who were trapped - with “*no way out*.” The audio from all three stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel, which is just called…
And their employees knew this because all the time corners were being cut for the sake of money, even if it was totally dangerous.
One of the cogs inside the oven had come loose and fallen off, and someone just needed to pick it up and put it back on.
To picture this oven in your head, think of the scanner you put your luggage through at the airport, the X-ray machine.
It was this eighty-foot long metal tunnel where there was a conveyor belt that ran through it, and you would put dough on one side, and it would run through with the conveyor belt through this oven, and then on the other side it would be fully cooked.
Whenever repairs were needed inside one of these ovens, the procedure was to completely turn off the oven.
So not just the heat, but the whole operation needed to be completely shut down, and then the oven would sit for almost a full twenty-four hours before a mechanic would go in and make the repair.
But the mechanic cost money, and every hour that this bread machine was not operational, the company would lose fifteen hundred dollars.
And so the managers of this company thought, "You know what? That's too much money to be giving up.
If we do the repairs ourselves, that saves us on the cost of the mechanic, and if we can find a way to make the repairs while leaving the oven partially running, that will save us a whole bunch of money too." Someone pointed out that it was possible to turn the heat all the way down in the oven, but allow the conveyor belt to keep rotating through.
They just needed to find a way to get in with this conveyor belt moving around them.
Even though the oven sat flush to the ground, there was a side panel that could open up and you could crawl underneath the oven, and right above you would be the conveyor belt.
And so they thought, "Well, hey, if we just remove a couple of sections of the conveyor belt, when that gap in the belt cycles around and is right over someone who is standing underneath it, they can stand up into that gap and kind of be hunched over and walk along inside of the oven, staying in that gap until they come across the cog that's gonna be right on the ground.
They can pick it up, put it right back on, and keep walking on, staying in the gap until they reach the other side, at which point they could crawl out the exit." And so they began walking around the factory asking for volunteers, and they were offering extra pay.
Two men, forty-four-year-old Ian Erickson and forty-seven-year-old David Mays, volunteered for the job, and their managers told them they would do it the next day because they needed time to turn the heat off on the oven and let it cool down first.
That night, David was out with his friends and he was talking about how he was kind of nervous about getting inside of a semi-operational industrial oven, but he told them the money was good.
The following day at nine AM, the oven's heat was turned all the way down, and the plan was it would sit like that all day and cool off all day, and then in the evening, Ian and David would get inside and do the job.
But Ian and David had a really important soccer game they wanted to watch that night, and so they asked their manager, would it be possible to go in a little bit earlier? And so the manager walked down to the oven and put his hand inside one of the entrances, and there were fans blowing into it, and it had been off for a couple of hours.
You guys can go now." A few sections of the conveyor belt were removed, Ian was given a radio, and the two men opened the side to the oven and they crawled in on the far left side of the oven, and they waited for the gap to come around.
When it did, they popped up and they began their journey into the center of the oven.
About five minutes later, Ian came over the radio and said, "Hey, it's really hot in here." And the manager came back and said, "Don't worry, it's supposed to be a little warm in there, but it's nothing that can hurt you." And then a couple of seconds later, Ian comes back over the radio and says, "No, it's really hot in here.
And their employees knew this because all the time corners were being cut for the sake of money, even if it was totally dangerous.
One of the cogs inside the oven had come loose and fallen off, and someone just needed to pick it up and put it back on.
To picture this oven in your head, think of the scanner you put your luggage through at the airport, the X-ray machine.
It was this eighty-foot long metal tunnel where there was a conveyor belt that ran through it, and you would put dough on one side, and it would run through with the conveyor belt through this oven, and then on the other side it would be fully cooked.
Whenever repairs were needed inside one of these ovens, the procedure was to completely turn off the oven.
So not just the heat, but the whole operation needed to be completely shut down, and then the oven would sit for almost a full twenty-four hours before a mechanic would go in and make the repair.
But the mechanic cost money, and every hour that this bread machine was not operational, the company would lose fifteen hundred dollars.
And so the managers of this company thought, "You know what? That's too much money to be giving up.
If we do the repairs ourselves, that saves us on the cost of the mechanic, and if we can find a way to make the repairs while leaving the oven partially running, that will save us a whole bunch of money too." Someone pointed out that it was possible to turn the heat all the way down in the oven, but allow the conveyor belt to keep rotating through.
They just needed to find a way to get in with this conveyor belt moving around them.
Even though the oven sat flush to the ground, there was a side panel that could open up and you could crawl underneath the oven, and right above you would be the conveyor belt.
And so they thought, "Well, hey, if we just remove a couple of sections of the conveyor belt, when that gap in the belt cycles around and is right over someone who is standing underneath it, they can stand up into that gap and kind of be hunched over and walk along inside of the oven, staying in that gap until they come across the cog that's gonna be right on the ground.
They can pick it up, put it right back on, and keep walking on, staying in the gap until they reach the other side, at which point they could crawl out the exit." And so they began walking around the factory asking for volunteers, and they were offering extra pay.
Two men, forty-four-year-old Ian Erickson and forty-seven-year-old David Mays, volunteered for the job, and their managers told them they would do it the next day because they needed time to turn the heat off on the oven and let it cool down first.
That night, David was out with his friends and he was talking about how he was kind of nervous about getting inside of a semi-operational industrial oven, but he told them the money was good.
The following day at nine AM, the oven's heat was turned all the way down, and the plan was it would sit like that all day and cool off all day, and then in the evening, Ian and David would get inside and do the job.
But Ian and David had a really important soccer game they wanted to watch that night, and so they asked their manager, would it be possible to go in a little bit earlier? And so the manager walked down to the oven and put his hand inside one of the entrances, and there were fans blowing into it, and it had been off for a couple of hours.
You guys can go now." A few sections of the conveyor belt were removed, Ian was given a radio, and the two men opened the side to the oven and they crawled in on the far left side of the oven, and they waited for the gap to come around.
When it did, they popped up and they began their journey into the center of the oven.
About five minutes later, Ian came over the radio and said, "Hey, it's really hot in here." And the manager came back and said, "Don't worry, it's supposed to be a little warm in there, but it's nothing that can hurt you." And then a couple of seconds later, Ian comes back over the radio and says, "No, it's really hot in here.
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