Demise by Design (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
This exclusive episode of the MrBallen Podcast explores three true stories where individuals meticulously planned their own demise through m
Key takeaways
- A woman poisoned her ex-husband's underwear with Paraquat, intending to make him reject his new lover, but caused fatal organ failure instead.
Main topics
- Self-destructive planning
- Psychological manipulation through extreme actions
Notable quotes
"She was going to show him that she is the best he's ever going to get."
Conclusion
These stories illustrate how deeply flawed intentions—driven by love,
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Today, I'm going to tell you three stories that are all about people who thought they'd come up with the perfect plan, but instead, they actually planned out their own demise. 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've come to the right place because that's all we do, and we upload two, three, even four times every week. So, if that's of interest to you, the next time you take the follow button on a haunted investigation, lead it into the basement, lock the door, toss the key, and run. Okay, let's get into our first story called The Perfect Wife. Speaker 1 (0:54) One evening in July of 2016, a woman named Bei carried a bowl of rice to the dining table at her home in the city of Liuzhou, China. Her two teenage kids and her ex-husband, Qin, were already seated and they were talking and they were laughing. But when Bei came over and set the rice down and took her seat, the mood changed. It was like everybody suddenly got very quiet and began passing the dishes around in this sort of tense silence. So, Bei and Qin had a very complicated relationship. They'd officially gotten divorced six years earlier. Like, they are not married anymore. But at the time when they got divorced, they had agreed to keep living in the same house to keep the family together. Now, this had been very hard on everyone, Bei, Qin, their kids, for the first couple of years. But eventually, they sort of got used to it. And then actually, after a few years... The two, Bei and Qin, they actually began to fall in love all over again. And they had even begun talking about getting remarried, but they hadn't gotten remarried yet. And so again, just a few years ago, it seemed like they were on a path where the family would be whole again, they'd be married again, and nothing had really happened yet, but that's the path they were on. But then a few months ago, everything had changed. Qin had begun acting increasingly cold and distant toward Bei. And even though, again, they've been divorced this whole time, they were always very cordial. But now there was like this icy front that he was putting up. And then, just a few days ago, Bei had discovered very likely the reason behind this. She found out that Qin was seeing another woman. Now, Bei, she obviously understood that Qin can do this if he wants to. They are divorced. I mean, they live together. They have kids together. But they're not a couple here. You know, she knew logically he could do that, but it just really hurt her. You know, for years now, she was thinking, you know, we're going to get remarried. And now it's like, what's this about? And so Bay, after finding out about this, she confronted him about what she called the affair, even though, again, it's not really an affair. But it had just turned into a huge fight, and they hadn't made up yet. And so now the tension between them was palpable as they sat at the table together. Like, it was so clear. There's, like, this huge conflict that is just totally unresolved. But now, as Bae looked around the table at her family, she felt a wave of not, you know, anger anymore, but longing. She did love Chin still. And she also loved having him and her kids all under one roof, sharing meals together and, like, being a true family. And she wondered, you know, maybe if she could just show Chin how amazing she was. and how good he had it with her and their family here, maybe he would stop seeing this new girlfriend of his. So the next morning, after Chin left for work, it was like Bae was on a mission. She spent the entire day cleaning the house and picking up all of Chin's dirty underwear and all his laundry, doing his clothes. I mean, she made the house look spotless. And by the time Chin finally came home from work that night, She had prepared this beautiful meal that was all ready for him. And even though Chin really didn't have a huge reaction to any of her efforts, it didn't matter because Bae knew this is like a mission she's on. She is going to show him that she is the best he's ever going to get. And so the next day, she did it all over again. Picked up after Chin and made the house so beautiful, cooked more food. He comes home, sort of doesn't care. And the day after that, and the day after that. She was just being the perfect wife, but eventually it did sort of wear on her that it's like he doesn't even seem to be noticing. But still, she was not ready to give up. And so after about a week of this, Bae was in her kitchen, you know, dutifully cooking this big meal for Chin and her kids, even though Chin wasn't even home and he wasn't answering his phone, so Bae didn't even know if he'd be home to eat this food. And her kids weren't home either. I mean, it really was like... Truly, nobody cared or even noticed that she was trying so hard to be the perfect wife here. But just then, Bae's phone rang on the counter. And she glanced at the screen, and she saw it was her daughter calling. So Bae picked it up, and right away she heard her daughter, who sounded really panicked, saying there was a huge problem. She explained to her mother that her dad, Chin, was in the hospital, that he had apparently had this really painful rash. And that had led him to go to the hospital because it wasn't going away. But now he was having trouble breathing. And the doctors were saying it was very, very serious that he might not survive. And hearing this, Bay immediately felt this knot in her stomach. Her heart began to race. And she told her daughter it was going to be OK. She'd be there soon. And then she hung up the phone. And with shaking hands, she grabbed her keys and her purse. And she headed out the door. But she didn't go to the hospital. So, Bae had been so desperate to show Chin that she was the perfect wife for him that she had completely thrown herself into all the housework and the cooking and the cleaning to prove to him that she was better for Chin than his new girlfriend. Except she took this idea of, like, outperforming the new girlfriend a step too far. In addition to all the genuine efforts that Bae was making to tidy the house and make food and all that stuff, she also was doing something to Chin's laundry with a very specific intention in mind. She was soaking Chin's laundry in something called Paraquat, which is an herbicide that causes burning and peeling when it comes into contact with skin.