Reality Glitch Vol. II

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories

The episode presents two chilling accounts that challenge the conventional understanding of reality and death. The first story details Dr. J

Key takeaways

• Dr. Julian Kirchically witnessed a robed figure in 1974 that he perceived as an omen of his imminent death.
• The encounter was followed by Dr. Kirchick's diagnosis with an incurable form of blood cancer.

Main topics

• Paranormal encounters
• Reincarnation

Notable quotes

It felt like now the Grim Reaper is beckoning him to come with him, to come die, basically.

Conclusion

The episode provides a haunting look at how unexplained phenomena can

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Today's podcast will feature two stories that challenge your understanding of reality. The audio from both of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode. The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called By the Pool, and it's about a doctor who is having this relaxing day by his pool when he witnesses something that haunts him forever. And the second and final story you'll hear is called The Ride Home. And it's about a man's very bizarre bike ride where something just seems off as he passes by his neighbors. And the reason why will give you goosebumps. 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 podcast because that's all we do. And we upload four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So if that's of interest to you, on the follow button's birthday, offer to bring the birthday cake. But don't tell them you've secretly replaced their candles with TNT. Okay, let's get into our first story, called By the Pool. Speaker 1 (1:24) One evening in the summer of 1974, a 60-year-old doctor named Julian Kirchick sat beside his backyard pool at his home in Old Westbury, New York, which is a suburb of New York City. It was a quiet, sunny day, and Dr. Kirchick was glad to have some time to relax. He was a surgeon at a local hospital, and he also had a wife and four children, so it was not often that he got a moment of peace to himself. And so Dr. Kirchick leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes and tried to relax for a second. when all of a sudden he heard something rustle in the bushes nearby. Now, at first, he just figured it must be a squirrel or a bird or something, so he didn't even bother opening his eyes. Like, this is just nature. It's fine. But this rustling sound persisted, and it just wouldn't stop. And so eventually, Dr. Kerchik did open his eyes, and he got up out of his chair to go see what was going on. Now, these bushes were like 20 feet away from the doctor, and so in order to truly investigate, he had to get up and actually walk over there. And so he gets up and he takes a few steps when he suddenly freezes. Because now, when he's looking at the bushes, he sees there is someone standing basically in the bushes. A person. But he realized this person was not a normal-looking person. The person was wearing what appeared to be this dark, long robe that covered their whole body. And in fact, the robe kind of obscured their face. It was like they were this dark presence just standing there in the middle of these bushes. And so Dr. Kerchick is just frozen, having no idea how to react to this. I mean, does he call out for help? Does he, you know, chase this guy out of his yard? Like, what does he do here? And as he's standing there transfixed, this person in the robe extends one of their arms, this long, skinny arm, and kind of begins to beckon Dr. Kerchick towards them. And Dr. Kerchick went from being sort of startled to being terrified. This figure... basically looked like the Grim Reaper. And it felt like now the Grim Reaper is beckoning him to come with him, to come die, basically. That was the feeling he suddenly had. And it was unbelievably overwhelming. And so Dr. Kirchick is staring, horrified. He blinks for a second, and the man is gone. Speaker 1 (3:39) Over the next few days, Dr. Kerchik obsessed over what he had just seen. I mean, really, it felt like he had just witnessed the Grim Reaper, and worse, that the Grim Reaper was, like, telling him to come with him. Like, he was signaling to Dr. Kerchik that his time on Earth had come to an end, that his death was imminent. That's what Dr. Kerchik is thinking. But Dr. Kerchik, he's a surgeon, he's a man of science and reason, and he can't understand how this could have happened. I mean, Even if it was just a hallucination, it was so vivid. It was so visceral. Like, how could this be? What's going on with him? But the problem Dr. Kerchik had was, who's he going to talk to about this? Hey, by the way, I saw the Grim Reaper, and now I'm worried I'm going to die soon. Or maybe somebody in my family is going to die soon. Or a patient is going to die soon. Like, who's going to have that conversation with him? But at the same time that he was feeling increasingly isolated because of this, you know, whatever he saw, he couldn't help but feel like it was real and it was driving him mad. Like, I'm not doing anything and something bad is imminent. What do I do? And so for months, Dr. Kerchik just carried this incredible weight with him everywhere he went, like this constant sense of unease, until October of 1974. That month, Dr. Kerchik suddenly got sick. He had a fever and it just wouldn't go away. And so he went to his own doctor for a checkup and his doctor told him, I got some bad news. That day, Dr. Kerchick was diagnosed with an incurable form of blood cancer. He was heartbroken, but he was not totally surprised. Because for him, this sort of felt like a validation of what he'd already seen. Death, the Grim Reaper, had been calling him. And now, Dr. Kerchick knew why. Dr. Kirchick would share his story with newspapers, which is how we know about it today. And shortly after sharing his story, Dr. Kirchick would die. The next and final story of today's episode is called The Ride Home. Speaker 1 (5:51) One morning in the spring of 1959, a middle-aged civil engineer named Wu Chiu biked through his rural town in Taiwan. He was on his way home from work, and normally he sort of enjoyed this bike ride home. He would take his time and look at the beautiful temple and all the marketplaces. But today, he was not looking at the scenery. He was in a huge rush because he had gotten word that his wife had become horribly sick. And so Wu is pedaling as fast as he possibly can. trying to get home to his wife to help her and take care of her. But as he got to his neighborhood, he started to realize that he was really gassed. Like, literally pedaling to his house was just unbelievably exhausting. Now, he was sort of sprinting, but at the same time, Wu was a pretty athletic guy. And so this type of a ride was something that he should have been able to handle. But it just sort of seemed like there was a weight attached to him, like he was pulling an extra hundred pounds or something. But regardless, Wu pushed through the pain, knowing he had to get to his wife at all costs, and he turned the corner onto his street, and as he was making his final approach to his house, he saw one of his neighbors. And even though Wu was completely in a rush, he was also very polite, and so even though he's like, you know, sweating and hustling, he still took the time to turn and wave to his neighbor. And his neighbor, who clearly looked at Wu, made eye contact with him, saw it was Wu. Instead of waving back, They kind of scowled at Wu. Like they were