Mr. Ballin
Appearances
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
Hey, it's me, Mr. Ballin. Thank you so much for listening to Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories. Today, I've got something different, but very special for you. Something that I know you're all going to love. Our studio, Ballin Studios, has another incredible brand new podcast for you to listen to.
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
And it's hosted by none other than Nexpo, a YouTube creator with millions of subscribers on his channel. Nexpo is truly an incredible storyteller, and now he's launching his podcast with new and exclusive stories you can't find anywhere else. It's called Late Nights with Nexpo, and each week, Nexpo will bring you a terrifying story that will absolutely shake you to your core.
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
From the most bizarre unsolved mysteries, to going down the internet's creepiest rabbit holes, to chilling true crime, Nexpo will explore the stories that actually keep him up at night. And if they're keeping him up, I'm pretty sure you'll want to listen with the lights on. or off, depending on how much you like to scare yourself. Either way, one thing's for sure, you'll be hooked.
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
So now, I am proud to present you a full episode of Late Nights with Nexpo. It's called Madness on the Mountain, and in it, Nexpo dives into an eerie mystery of death and survival, which still stumps people today. In 1993, seven hikers set out into the Camar de Bon mountains, but only one returned alive. And the reason for their sudden violent deaths has never been explained.
MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
So what happened on that mountain? After you finish listening to the episode, please go follow Late Nights with Nexpo wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of Late Nights with Nexpo will come out every Wednesday. Enjoy.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
Hey, it's me, Mr. Ballin. Thank you so much for listening to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. Our studio, Ballin Studios, has another incredible brand new podcast for you to listen to, and it's hosted by none other than Nexpo, a YouTube creator with millions of subscribers on his channel.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
Nexpo is truly an incredible storyteller, and now he's launching his podcast with new and exclusive stories you can't find anywhere else. It's called Late Nights with Nexpo, and each week, Nexpo will bring you a terrifying story that will absolutely shake you to your core.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
From the most bizarre unsolved mysteries, to going down the internet's creepiest rabbit holes, to chilling true crime, Nexpo will explore the stories that actually keep him up at night. And if they're keeping him up, I'm pretty sure you'll want to listen with the lights on. or off, depending on how much you like to scare yourself. Either way, one thing's for sure, you'll be hooked.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
So now, I am proud to present you a full episode of Late Nights with Nexpo. It's called Madness on the Mountain, and in it, Nexpo dives into an eerie mystery of death and survival, which still stumps people today. In 1993, seven hikers set out into the Camar de Bon mountains, but only one returned alive. And the reason for their sudden, violent deaths has never been explained.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ballen Studios Presents: Late Nights with Nexpo
So what happened on that mountain? After you finish listening to the episode, please go follow Late Nights with Nexpo wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of Late Nights with Nexpo will come out every Wednesday. Enjoy.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Hey Prime members, you can binge episodes 73 through 80 right now and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. On the afternoon of Saturday, October 30th, 1948, a teenage boy wearing an orange and black uniform ran across his high school's football field. He searched the sky for a pass from his quarterback, but a thick layer of fog had rolled in that made it impossible to see.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Dr. Roth realized he was all alone in his office. He held onto a desk and tried to steady himself, but he kept hacking until he felt nauseous. He managed to make it to the bathroom before he actually vomited. And then after that, he stumbled to the bathroom sink and splashed cold water on his face.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
His heart was racing and his whole body felt weak, but he knew he couldn't just stand there because he still felt faint. So he rushed towards the back room where drugs were stored and grabbed a vial of adrenaline and a clean syringe. With his hands shaking, Dr. Roth filled the syringe, poked the needle through his pant leg into his thigh and injected himself with adrenaline.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And after that, he just collapsed into his office chair. After a few moments, Dr. Roth took a big, deep breath. He sat there for several minutes, relishing how good it felt to breathe again. And as he slowly calmed back down, Dr. Roth tried to figure out what had just happened to him. Just like the patients he'd been visiting all day, he'd had what seemed like a sudden, very severe asthma attack.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
But why? He felt sure that something in the air, in the fog, was causing people all over town, including him, to nearly suffocate. But what? Fog was normal in Donora. So what was different about it this time? As he was thinking it over, Dr. Roth opened up a drawer in his desk, and out of pure habit, he grabbed a cigar. Without thinking, he struck a match with the cigar and took a puff.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And immediately, he launched into another uncontrollable coughing fit. Meanwhile, Helen was on her way back to work after her dinner break. She walked through the fog and passed a crowd of people gathered on McKean Avenue. There were adults and kids, all dressed up in festive costumes. Helen knew they were all waiting for the annual Halloween parade to begin.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
But she couldn't think about candy and costumes right now. She was too preoccupied with getting back to work and making sure her patients were okay. She soon made it to the brownstone and went upstairs to the doctor's office. And right when she opened the door, she heard the phone ring. But before she could answer it, she heard something else.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
There was a groaning sound coming from the back hallway. It made the hair on the back of Helen's neck stand up because Dr. Kohler and Dr. Roth were supposed to be at home on their dinner breaks. Helen should have been alone at the office. She followed the groaning sound back to Dr. Roth's private office, and she opened the door to find one of her bosses slumped in his chair.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
His face was bright red and drenched in sweat, he was wheezing, and his eyes were huge and terrified. But somehow, Dr. Roth spoke, and he told Helen he was okay. He just needed to catch his breath. Helen did not believe him. But she could still hear the phone ringing, and Dr. Roth told her to just go answer it.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And so perhaps against her better judgment, she turned and left, and when she got back into the waiting room to answer the phone, she now saw there were a few patients that had come inside. She gestured to let them know she'd be with them in a second, and then she answered the phone. But this time, Helen didn't hear a patient begging for help.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
She heard her other boss, Dr. Kohler, and his voice sounded strained. He said that ever since he had left the office earlier that afternoon, he'd been struggling to breathe too. and he said he didn't know when he'd be able to come back to work.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Helen said okay, but it really was not okay, because as she stood there holding the phone to her ear, the office door swung open and more coughing, wheezing patients tumbled inside. Helen felt so confused and helpless. Half the town was outside enjoying the Halloween parade, totally oblivious to what was happening.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Meanwhile, the phone wouldn't stop ringing and patients were flooding into the doctor's office one after another. And the doctors, Dr. Kohler and Dr. Roth, were both deathly ill and no one actually knew what was causing any of this. Helen felt like she had no choice but to close the office because there was nothing Dr. Kohler or Dr. Roth could do for anybody.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
So she hung up the phone and turned around and told the patients gathered in the waiting room that she was very sorry, but they would have to leave and go to a different doctor's office for help. About seven hours later, a man named Rudolf Schwerha was lying in bed with his wife. They were both fast asleep until the sound of the phone ringing jolted them awake.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Rudolph rolled over, looked at the clock on his bedside table and sighed. It was 2 a.m., which meant the call could not be good news. And that was because Rudolph was both a mortician and the county coroner. He lived right above the funeral home that he owned and operated, and he only got calls in the middle of the night if somebody had died.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Rudolph picked up the phone and said hello, and sure enough, the woman on the other end, a dispatcher at the local sheriff's office, said a 70-year-old man had passed away about half an hour earlier. She said he'd suddenly developed severe respiratory symptoms and stopped breathing. Rudolph did not ask any follow-up questions, because it was 2 a.m.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
and he wasn't really thinking straight, and also because he was totally unaware of the mysterious illness currently plaguing Donora. He just asked the woman for the address and then said he would send his hearse, pick up the man's remains. Rudolph then called his hearse driver and explained the situation and the driver said he was on it and would bring the remains back to the funeral home soon.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Rudolph hung up and while his wife went back to sleep, he laid there awake in bed and listened for the sound of the hearse pulling into his driveway. He figured the driver would show up within minutes because the address was only two blocks away. but half an hour passed by before Rudolph finally heard a car's engine rumbling outside.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Rudolph was about to get up to go greet the driver, but as soon as he threw back the covers, his phone rang again. And again, it's the middle of the night, and so these calls are not good news. Rudolph noticed his wife had just woken up and she sat up next to him looking confused. Rudolph picked up the phone and said hello, and he was surprised to hear that another person had passed away.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And like the first, they'd suddenly developed severe breathing problems and then just died. Two deaths within an hour of each other was unusual in a town as small as Donora. And it was even more strange for two people to just suddenly stop breathing. Rudolph didn't know what was going on, but now he felt uneasy, and he decided he should go with his driver to the next address.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
So Rudolph told his wife he'd be back soon, then he got dressed and hurried outside. A few minutes later, Rudolph rode in the passenger seat while his hearse driver inched down the street. It had taken the driver so long to get to the funeral home because the fog outside had somehow gotten even worse. It was like a solid gray wall.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
As the driver slowly inched forward, Rudolph stared intently out the windshield, desperately trying to somehow see through the fog. They were headed to a neighborhood on the opposite side of the Monongahela River. And to get there, they would have to drive across a very thin road right next to a cliff.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
From Ballin Studios and Wondery, I'm Mr. Ballin, and this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape, our own bodies. So if you like today's story, please go to a store the follow button is currently shopping at and page them over the intercom to tell them their car is being towed.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And so Rudolph, naturally, was very concerned that they might accidentally drive right off of it. So when they neared the cliff, Rudolph told the driver to stop and said he wanted to drive, but he would still need the driver's help. While Rudolph got behind the wheel of the hearse, the driver got outside and stood in front of the car.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Then he used a flashlight to guide Rudolph through the fog and make sure the car didn't slip off the side of the cliff. And so Rudolph gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles and did his best to drive as carefully as he could. He knew they would only need to cover a very short distance, but every inch on that cliff felt like torture.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they made it past the cliff and into the neighborhood. They picked up the deceased person's body and then turned right back around and did the same process of slowly driving past the cliff. And then finally, once they were on the other side, they headed back to the funeral home. And by the time they finally got back there, it was almost sunrise.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And Rudolph's wife at this point was wide awake standing by the front door. And the totally overwhelmed look on her face made Rudolph's stomach drop. He didn't need to ask her what was wrong. He could tell by the bags under her eyes that she must have been up all night answering phone calls intended for him, meaning more people must have died.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
So, as soon as Rudolph and the driver had moved the second body into the funeral home, they got back in the car to go pick up another, and then another, and another. By 10 a.m., there were nine bodies waiting in the morgue, and the phone kept on ringing. Four hours later, at 2 p.m. on that Saturday afternoon, a man named August Shambone pulled into the driveway of a stately home in Donora.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
August was the town mayor, but he'd recently been away on business. So when he walked inside, he immediately went to the pile of messages his family had written down for him while he was gone. And as he worked his way down the stack of paper, his face went pale.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Like many people in Donora, August had had no idea that a mystery illness was suffocating people to death all over town, until he saw all these panicked messages from residents, doctors, and morticians begging him for help. August realized he had a very serious emergency on his hands.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Donora didn't have a single hospital, and several of the town's doctors were too sick themselves to work, so people who fell ill literally didn't have anywhere to turn. Meanwhile, bodies were piling up. Between Rudolph's funeral home and the others in town, the death toll was now at 11 people.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And based on the calls he'd received, August estimated that hundreds, maybe even thousands more people were sick. August spent the rest of the day doing whatever he could to help.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
He worked with local nurses to create emergency medical stations, he called in doctors from out of town to come help, he had extra oxygen and inhalers shipped into Donora, he even called the state health department for backup. But at the same time, August didn't make any emergency announcements. But in fairness, he didn't really have a way to.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Donora didn't have a local TV or radio news station, and the newspaper was only published on weekdays. And since this disaster had happened on a weekend, the only way for news to travel was by word of mouth. So while half the town did their best to deal with this mysterious outbreak, the other half was blissfully unaware, carrying on business as usual.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
When they run out to go deal with it, steal their shopping cart. This episode is called Darkness in Donora. On the morning of Friday, October 29th, 1948, a young woman named Helen Stack woke up inside her modest home in the small town of Donora, Pennsylvania. And as soon as Helen opened her eyes, she started coughing. Her throat had been sore for a few days, but this morning it felt even worse.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
The local high school even went ahead with their scheduled football game, even though their players literally couldn't see more than a few feet across the field. But finally, after what felt like one of the longest days of his life, August felt like he needed to call a town meeting. Everybody needed to know what was going on.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
However, he couldn't get everybody from the city council and the board of health together until the following morning. And so first thing the next morning, which was Sunday, October 31st, August made his way through the thick gray fog to a government building downtown. There, he met with a bunch of community leaders to discuss what was going on.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And they all agreed that the fog must have something to do with it. But there were a lot of questions that nobody could answer, like what made this fog different? And why was it making some people sick and even killing some people while others seemed totally unaffected by it? They couldn't make sense of it, let alone figure out how to stop it.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Then at some point during their conversation, August began to hear rain pattering down on the roof. He looked out the window and saw the drizzle turn into a full-on downpour, and he watched in amazement as the rain seemed to wash the fog away. The thick gray clouds that had hung over Denora for nearly a week disappeared in minutes. And with it, the mysterious illness disappeared too.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Just like that, the phones at Denora's doctor's offices stopped ringing. It would take years for public health researchers to understand what had happened during that October week in Donora, Pennsylvania. And that's because there was essentially a large-scale misinformation campaign to hide the truth. However, eventually, the truth came out.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
The so-called fog that blanketed Donora that week was not actually normal Donora fog. It was smog from Donora's many industrial mills. These mills manufactured steel, zinc, and sulfuric acid, and as part of that process, they pumped dangerous chemical byproducts directly into the air. Normally, the smog would float up towards the sky and dissipate quickly.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
But during October 1948, Denora was hit by a very rare weather event called a temperature inversion, which in short, kept these dangerous chemicals down at street level for days. It worked like this. Usually, air is warmest near the surface of the Earth and gets colder as it goes upward towards the sky. But during a temperature inversion, this gets flipped around.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Warm air moves into the space above cold air and traps the heavier cold air underneath it. And when this happened in Denora, which was situated inside a natural bowl in the earth, the warm air was almost like putting a lid on top of that bowl. And so the deadly chemical byproducts from the mills were trapped, turning the air in Denora into a concentrated poison.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
But because fog was so normal in the valley, most people didn't think anything of it. Plus, throughout that very consequential week, and for years afterwards, the owners of the mills insisted they were not to blame, putting out a blizzard of misleading information to defend themselves. They claimed the weather was the problem, not the chemical byproducts.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And many locals believed this, because they didn't want the mills to shut down. Two-thirds of the men in Donora worked there, and the majority of families in town depended on that income. All told, at least 70 people died as a result of what became known as the Denora smog, and over 4,000 people were sickened. Experts said that x-rays of survivors' lungs looked like victims of chemical warfare.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
The Denora smog incident was the worst air pollution disaster in United States history, but it also sparked a national conversation about air pollution and the need for better industrial safety regulations. Two years later, in 1950, the US held its first ever National Air Pollution Conference. After that, progress was slow but steady.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
The nation's first major air pollution law was passed in 1963, and the Environmental Protection Agency was formed in 1970. As of today, all of Donora's industrial mills have been shut down. There's now a museum in that town that commemorates those who lost their lives during Donora's smog and proudly displays the slogan, Clean Air Started Here.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Hey, Prime members, you can listen to new episodes of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. And also, Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries ad-free. Join Wondery Plus today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at listenersurvey.com.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
From Ballin Studios and Wondery, this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, hosted by me, Mr. Ballin. A quick note about our stories. They are all inspired by true events, but we do sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and also some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
She thought she might be coming down with a cold, but Helen was not the kind of person to let a minor illness slow her down. So she still got out of bed, got dressed, and then drank some coffee and ate breakfast before starting her walk to work. From where her house stood near the top of a hill, Helen could sometimes see the entire town.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And a reminder, the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This episode was written by Karis Allen Pash Cooper. Our editor is Heather Dundas. Sound design is by Ryan Patesta. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. And our coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffen. Our senior producer is Alex Benidon.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Our associate producers and researchers are Sarah Bytack and Tasia Palaconda. Fact-checking was done by Sheila Patterson. For Ballin Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen and Evan Allen. Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery Siegel. Executive producers are myself, Mr. Ballin, and also Nick Witters.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
For Wondery, our head of sound is Marcelino Villapando. Senior producers are Laura Donna Palavoda and Dave Schilling. Senior managing producer is Ryan Moore. Our executive producers are Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louis for Wondery.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Donora sat inside of a valley right on the banks of the Monongahela River, surrounded on three sides by 400-foot-tall cliffs. On the fourth side were rolling hills that stretched off into the distance. That morning, though, Helen couldn't see any of Donora's natural beauty because fog was blocking her view. In fact, low gray clouds had been hanging over the town for the past four days.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
But that was actually normal because Donora was inside of basically a natural bowl in the earth. The surrounding cliffs and hills blocked the wind, so the fog would accumulate and then get stuck in the valley. To Helen, this was just part of life in Donora. And while it was sort of frustrating at times, it was easy to ignore, because there were so many other good things about living there.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Everybody was friendly, there were plenty of jobs, and there were always fun events going on. As she walked to work, Helen could hardly see across the street, but she could see enough in front of her to say hello to the neighbors who passed her by on her side of the sidewalk, who all knew her by name.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And then at some point, she passed by a street next to a bunch of industrial mills that were also shrouded in fog, and she knew that somewhere in that fog, most of the men in Denora were working. And when she reached McKean Avenue, the main street in town, she could barely make out the workers who were hanging up decorations for that evening's annual Halloween parade.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Eventually, Helen came to a stop in front of a tall brownstone building on McKean Avenue. She went inside, walked up to the second floor, and unlocked the door of the doctor's office where she worked. Helen was the only employee working for the two doctors, Ralph Kohler and Edward Roth. To Helen, these two men seemed pretty similar.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
As the boy waved his arms, the ball bounced off his helmet and fell to the ground. But before he could even jog back to his teammates, the boy heard the school's announcer call his name over the loudspeakers. The announcer sounded urgent and told the boy to report to the sidelines right now. And when he got there, his coach told him he had to head home right away. His mother needed him.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Both were in their 40s, they were tall and heavyset, and they both had very kind and patient demeanors. The only obvious difference between them was that Dr. Roth smoked cigars like a chimney, and Dr. Kohler avoided cigars altogether because he had diabetes and a heart condition. As for Helen, she was a receptionist, a secretary, and a nurse, so she had a lot of responsibilities at the office.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And today, like most days, she was the first one to the office. She turned on the lights and opened up the blinds in the waiting room, then began sweeping up the thin layer of soot that had blown in through the air vents and settled on the floor overnight. Like the fog in Donora, the soot was also very annoying, but totally normal to Helen. She knew it came from the mills nearby.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
It was just a normal part of living in a factory town inside of a valley. After Helen was all done cleaning up the waiting room, she looked around and smiled, because she had just enough time to go smoke a cigarette before the doctors came in and patients began to arrive. Helen sat down behind the reception desk and lit her cigarette.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
She took a long drag, but immediately she noticed it had a strange, bittersweet taste to it. She tried again, and suddenly the tobacco tasted so awful that she doubled over coughing. She coughed until she had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't sure if it was from the cigarette, her sore throat, or maybe both.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Either way, Helen stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette into her ashtray, and then she heard the door open. She looked up to see Dr. Kohler walking inside, and so she knew her workday was about to begin. A few hours later, at 3 p.m., Dr. Kohler stood in the back of the doctor's office and pulled on his overcoat. Even though it was only mid-afternoon, he already felt exhausted.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
His diabetes and his heart condition left him chronically tired, and to deal with it, he kept to a very specific schedule. He went home every day at precisely 3 p.m. so he could lay down and rest before dinner. But right when he was about to leave, he heard quick footsteps coming down the hallway, and Helen rounded the corner.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
She looked concerned and said an older man had just come in, wheezing and complaining that he couldn't catch his breath. Dr. Kohler knew he needed to get home for his own sake, but his partner, Dr. Roth, had already gone on a break, and he couldn't just turn away a patient who needed help. So he took off his overcoat and told Helen to bring the patient back to an exam room.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Moments later, Dr. Kohler met that patient in the exam room, and he recognized him as one of his regulars. The man was one of many locals in town who Dr. Kohler treated for asthma, which is a chronic condition that causes a person's airways to swell and make it difficult to breathe. And so as a result, Dr. Kohler wasn't surprised that this patient was wheezing.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Whenever the fog in Donora got really thick, people's asthma tended to flare up. So Dr. Kohler gave his patient the usual asthma treatment for 1948, which was a shot of adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone that can help open a person's airway when they're having trouble breathing. Once the adrenaline shot took effect and the man caught his breath again, Dr. Kohler sent him on his way.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Then the doctor put his overcoat back on and followed that patient out, anxious to go home and get in bed. 30 minutes later, Helen sat at the reception desk and flicked through the day's mail. Usually, the office got quiet in the afternoons, and then business would pick up again in the evenings. So she was using the lull to get some administrative work done.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
So the boy just took off his helmet and ran home through the fog. When he burst through the door, he saw his father lying on the couch with the doctor standing over him. And his mother was standing by, weeping. The doctor told the boy that he was very sorry, but his father had just died. The boy just stood there, stunned. His father had been fine that morning.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Helen pulled out the junk mail from the pile and then got up to throw it away. But as she was walking towards the trash can, she heard a loud crash from the hallway outside the office, followed by the sound of somebody yelling. Helen's first thought was somebody fell down the stairs, and so she rushed to check if they were okay, and what she saw in the hallway absolutely terrified her.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
A man she didn't recognize was clinging to the banister, and his knuckles were white and his face was turning blue. He was moaning in pain, kicking the wall and screaming, Help me! Help me! I'm dying! Helen was so confused and afraid that she just froze.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Luckily, another doctor who ran his own private practice across the hall from them soon showed up, and so did the other doctor that Helen worked for, Dr. Roth. While those two doctors began to help the man, Helen heard the sound of her phone ringing at her reception desk.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And so Helen kind of broke out of her trance, ran back inside the office and answered the phone, and immediately she heard the sound of a woman screaming on the other end of the line for help, just like the blue-faced man in the hall had been doing. The woman said her husband couldn't breathe and he needed help right now. Helen got the woman's address and promised that Dr. Roth would be there soon.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
However, before Helen could run across the hall and tell Dr. Roth that another patient needed his help, the phone rang again, and then again, and then again. And everyone Helen spoke to said the same thing. They couldn't breathe, they were coughing up blood, their heads hurt, their stomachs were killing them, and they all thought they were going to die.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And unfortunately, the town only had a single ambulance, and it was booked solid. And so one after another, Helen took down these people's names and addresses and added them to the growing list of patients the doctors needed to visit. Helen had no idea what was going on in Donora, but it certainly felt like all hell had broken loose inside of her normally quiet town.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
He didn't understand what could have happened. However, what this boy did not know was that his father was not the first person in town to die that day, and he would not be the last, because this community was in the middle of a medical disaster that would change the course of American history.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Two hours later at 6 p.m., Dr. Roth squinted as he very slowly drove down McKean Avenue after an afternoon of house calls. Because of the fog, which now had gotten so bad, he could hardly make out the lines on the road, and so he just gripped the steering wheel tightly and went really slow, keeping an eye out for the brownstone building where he worked.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
Dr. Roth had never been in a situation like this before. People all over town were struggling to breathe, regardless of whether they had asthma or not, and Dr. Roth really didn't know why. He figured it must be something in the air, literally. But even with fog this bad, he'd never seen it affect people this much before.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
By this point in the day, he'd already given so many patients adrenaline injections that he'd run through his entire supply. And he'd barely made a dent in the list of people who still needed help. And so now he needed to stop by the office and refill his supply of adrenaline before making more house calls. But it was literally too foggy to even find his own address.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And so Dr. Roth figured he'd have better luck if he just parked his car and walked. So he carefully pulled to the curb, turned off the engine, and got out. He went to the sidewalk, and when he saw the nearest building to him, he realized he'd actually driven past his office without knowing it.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
And so Dr. Roth doubled back towards the brownstone, threw open the door, and began running up the stairs. However, after only a few steps, he had to stop because he ran out of breath, and then he began to cough. His chest felt tight, like somebody was squeezing the air out of him.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 73 | Darkness in Donora
He managed to make it back to his office, but immediately when he got there, he doubled over in the entryway and coughed until tears were streaming down his face. Dr. Roth felt like he was choking. He started to panic and looked around for help, but his secretary, Helen, had left for dinner, and his colleague, Dr. Kohler, who had left to go take a nap, was still at home.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Hey Prime members, you can binge episodes 73 through 80 right now and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. One August morning in 2019, a widow in her 70s drove in silence with her two adult children to a hospital in New Brunswick, Canada. Although it was a beautiful summer morning, the mood in the car was somber.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
They wondered if the disease might have some genetic basis, and whether as a result, they were at risk of meeting the same fate as their father. But, since at this point nobody knew what the disease even was, there was no way to determine if they were in danger or not.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
That morning, Ted read that Dr. Marlowe, along with a variety of other experts, had been meeting at the Public Health Agency of Canada to discuss a new disease that had afflicted more than 40 people in the region, which meant Dr. Marlowe had discovered at least 20 new cases since Ted's dad got sick.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
These experts were referring to this disease by the name New Brunswick Neurological Syndrome of Unknown Etiology. Ted continued reading and he saw that patients with the syndrome spanned different ages, lifestyles, and backgrounds, but they all seemed to develop dementia in the exact same way his father had. And so far, six of these people had died.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Ted was relieved to read that the scientists did not see any genetic link in this disease. In fact, scientists found that these patients had only one thing in common. They all lived in the same geographical area. And this made scientists suspect that something in the environment might be to blame.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Some scientists had apparently drafted a memo to warn local doctors about this horrible, mysterious illness, while others feared it would cause panic and argued against sending it out. However, that disagreement no longer mattered because somebody had leaked the whole memo to the press. And so the mysterious disease now had global attention.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
With this mystery disease now out in the open, Ted hoped to connect with other families affected by the syndrome. And he would quickly discover that somebody had already set up a discussion group for New Brunswick Neurological Syndrome on Facebook.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And soon Ted would share to this group that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research had offered Dr. Marlowe's group 5 million Canadian dollars to fund a clinical investigation of New Brunswick disease.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
However, two months later, the New Brunswick provincial government announced it would be taking over this investigation, which meant Dr. Marlowe and his team of scientists would no longer be involved. Ted and the other members of this Facebook group could not understand why the government would exclude Dr. Marlowe.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He had done more than anybody else to identify the strange condition and its victims. Ted thought the government should be looking to include more scientists rather than leaving people out. It just made no sense to Ted or anybody else in this group. Unless something was going on behind the scenes that they weren't aware of.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Five months later, in October of 2021, Ted was driving to work on a crisp fall morning. He kept the windows cracked to enjoy the fresh air with the radio turned on low. Ted was doing his best to enjoy the morning, but his mind was preoccupied. His father, Louis, had been dead for over two years, but his cause of death was still unknown.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Ted and his Facebook friends had been anxious for more information, but ever since the provincial government had taken over the investigation, there had been zero updates on the issue. As Ted passed an 18-wheeler loaded with lumber, his ear happened to catch a snippet from the radio. He turned up the volume just in time to hear the announcer mention the New Brunswick disease.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The province had been studying a cluster of 48 cases, eight of which had been fatal so far. To conduct autopsies on those eight fatalities, they had turned to an independent doctor from the province of Ontario, Dr. Robert Hansen. And now Dr. Hansen had finished his investigation. and his preliminary conclusion was that there was no connection between the cases.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
They were all separate incidents, unrelated to each other. Dr. Hansen determined that each of these patients had contracted a well-known disease, such as cancer, Lewy body dementia, or Alzheimer's. There was no new disease here. Ted couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was certain there had to be a connection between all these cases. Also, Ted had seen his father's autopsy report.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He wasn't sure which disease Dr. Hansen thought had killed his father, but he knew that his dad had absolutely not died of CJD or any of those diseases listed in Dr. Hansen's report. It was something new, something that still was not recognized by the medical community. And so now, Ted wondered if maybe the Canadian government wanted to keep it that way.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Something just felt off about this whole situation, and so Ted decided he was going to do something about it. Over the next few months, Ted and his family communicated with dozens of families through that New Brunswick Disease Facebook group. And they all agreed that Dr. Hansen was wrong. There was a connection between all these cases.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And the cause had to be environmental since almost every patient lived in the same area of Canada. Working together, Ted and the others had come up with possible strategies to continue searching for an answer. One idea was just to crowdfund their own environmental testing.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Another idea was to invite famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich, whose life was actually made into a movie starring Julia Roberts, to have her lead an outside investigation. And at the same time, week after week, they campaigned relentlessly, hoping that Dr. Hansen's panel might change their conclusion that the condition was not real.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
They hoped they were having an effect, but Ted couldn't tell for sure. Then one day on February 24th of 2022, Ted picked up the newspaper from his front lawn and saw a headline about the case. He brought the paper inside and spread it out on the kitchen table and flipped to the article.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
There it was, in print, the Provincial Oversight Committee's final report on the so-called New Brunswick disease. After supposedly much consideration and debate, the committee ruled in agreement with Dr. Hansen's assessment. The cases were not connected. A new disease did not exist. Ted's heart sank. All of their efforts had been for nothing.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
It seemed like the truth behind his father's death would now stay unknown forever. Over eight months later, as the sun was beginning to set on an autumn afternoon in 2022, Dr. Marlow slumped into his chair behind his desk and sighed deeply. His last patient of the day had just left. Finally, he could take a moment for himself.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Even after the government shut down his research into the New Brunswick disease, Dr. Marlow's workload of patients who appeared to have the non-existent condition continued to grow. Eventually, it totaled 430, 111 of whom were under the age of 45, and 39 had died so far. And almost all of them suffered a similar pattern of sudden cognitive and physical decline.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Dr. Marlow could find little connection between the age or background of the patients themselves, but he did notice a striking pattern in when they got sick. Most of his new cases were clustered around late summer and early fall. he tried to think about what environmental factors might change at the end of the summer.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Glancing out the window, Dr. Marlow let his eyes settle on the line of trees at the horizon, a common sight across heavily forested Canada. But today, it sparked something in his mind. Dr. Marlow wondered if the late summer spike in cases had something to do with forestry schedules. Dr. Marlowe knew that most logging is done in the summer.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Once the trees are felled and hauled away, new seedlings are planted to regrow the area so it can be logged again in the future. But in order to keep weeds and shrubs from choking off the new trees, loggers spray herbicide. As with many chemicals, Dr. Marlowe knew that their effects on humans sometimes took generations to identify.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
If it was discovered that exposure to these herbicide chemicals was sickening people in this area, it would be a massive liability for the Canadian government. Was it possible that's what they were afraid of and why the government had closed the investigation? To keep a connection like this hidden?
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Logging was one of New Brunswick's oldest, biggest, and most profitable industries, and messing with an economic engine of that size was a dangerous business. If the forestry industry feared they might be tied to a public health epidemic, Dr. Marlowe had no doubt that calls would be made to top political leaders to put pressure on them to stop that information from getting out.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Too many people stood to lose too much money. Dr. Marlowe wanted to test this new chemical theory, but it would take weeks before he finally found a laboratory that was willing to discreetly run some tests for him. It was a six hour drive away in the province of Quebec, but Dr. Marlowe was thankful to have anyone willing to take on this work.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
In December of 2022, Dr. Marlowe collected blood samples from over 100 of his New Brunswick disease patients and he shipped them to this laboratory. His goal was to test as wide a spectrum of patients as possible to make sure his results were scientifically sound. Weeks later, Dr. Marlowe finally got word from the lab that the tests were complete.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He swiped open his tablet to check the results and what he saw astonished him. Dr. Marlowe's hunch had been correct. The results from the Quebec laboratory proved it. 90% of Dr. Marlowe's patients' blood samples contained elevated levels of glyphosate, which is a herbicide routinely used in forestry work. In one case, the levels were 15,000 times higher than the lowest detectable numbers.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The chemicals in glyphosate block an enzyme necessary for plant growth, so any weeds or grasses sprayed with it eventually die. Dr. Marlow was certain that this chemical was having a long-term, sometimes devastating effect on people's health. But despite his findings, not everyone agrees that glyphosate can be harmful.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The United States Environmental Protection Agency ruled in 2022 that glyphosate causes no health risk, even to children. But in Canada, the debate is beginning to tilt in Dr. Marlowe's favor. Eventually, the province of Quebec acknowledged a link between glyphosate and an increased risk for Parkinson's, a brain disorder that can cause stiffness and serious problems with movement.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Other recent studies have shown that glyphosate disrupts the naturally occurring bacteria in the gut that play a key role in overall health. When bacteria in the gut are imbalanced, it can cause inflammation throughout the body, including in the brain.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Some scientists believe this inflammation can lead to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders, just like Lewis and the other patients experienced. Dr. Marlowe continues to hold out hope that the government will resume their research, and he may get his wish.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
From Ballin Studios and Wondery, I'm Mr. Ballin, and this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape, our own bodies. So if you like today's story, whenever the follow button texts you, only reply with, who dis? This episode is called Sudden Insanity.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
On November 15, 2024, the newly elected premier of New Brunswick, basically the province's new governor, said she wants to reopen the investigation, which means, finally, the people affected by New Brunswick disease may get the answers they've been seeking. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to new episodes of Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Download the app today. And also, Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries ad-free. Join Wondery Plus today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at listenersurvey.com. From Ballin Studios and Wondery, this is Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, hosted by me, Mr. Ballin. A quick note about our stories.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
They are all inspired by true events, but we do sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and also some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. And a reminder, the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This episode was written by Britt Brown. Our editor is Heather Dundas.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Sound design is by Ryan Patesta. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. And our coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffen. Our senior producer is Alex Benidon. Our associate producers and researchers are Sarah Bytack and Tasia Palaconda. Fact-checking was done by Sheila Patterson. For Ballin Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen and Evan Allen.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery Siegel. Executive producers are myself, Mr. Ballin, and also Nick Witters. For Wondery, our head of sound is Marcelino Villapando. Senior producers are Laura Donna Palavoda and Dave Schilling. Senior managing producer is Ryan Moore. Our executive producers are Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louis for Wondery.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
A few days before New Year's Eve in 2018, a woman in her 70s named Jane Benchley stepped through the front door of her New Brunswick, Canada home after walking her terrier around the block. She called out for her 81-year-old husband, Louis, but the house was quiet. Jane checked their bedroom, then the bathrooms, and even looked in the backyard.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And just as she started to worry, she heard Louis' voice from down the hall. She opened the door to what used to be his office. Inside, her husband was hunched over his desk, looking at dusty old accounting logs and muttering to himself. Jane was surprised to find him there. Louis had retired years ago and hardly ever used the office anymore.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
When Jane asked him what he was doing, Louis slammed his fist down. Then he shoved the folders to the floor, leapt to his feet, and began shouting about how he'd been cheated. A supplier overcharged him for lumber on a contracting job, and he was furious about it. Jane tried to calm him down by reminding Louis that he'd sold his construction business years ago.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Any money conflicts from old projects were water under the bridge now. But Lewis was not having it. He just stood there angrily shaking his head and fell silent. Jane left the office to give her husband some space to sort through his anger on his own. But at dinner later that night, Lewis was still fuming. He barely spoke.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The previous winter, the woman's husband and the father of her children had suddenly lost his mind and died. It had been almost like he was in the grips of an extremely fast-moving case of Alzheimer's. His mind and body had declined so quickly, ravaged by this frightening and mysterious disease.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Jane couldn't understand why he was so fixated on financial matters from ages ago, but she just hoped a good night's sleep would clear his head. But the next day, Jane returned to the house after running some morning errands to find her husband acting totally frantic again. This time, it was about his appearance. He pointed to his head in a panic and asked why his hair was white.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Jane didn't know what to say. She told Lewis that nothing had changed and that his hair had been white for a long time, but he brushed her off and stormed out of the room. Jane had a bad feeling. Momentary confusion was one thing, but her husband's strange behavior the last couple of days seemed like something much more serious.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
So she went to the office where Lewis was and she asked him a simple question. What year was it? And his answer floored her. He said it was 1992, but it was not. That was 26 years earlier. And so now Jane was frightened. Despite his age, Lewis hadn't shown any signs of dementia before yesterday. But today, his grasp on reality seemed to be slipping by the hour.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Jane found herself wondering if this might be some extremely aggressive form of Alzheimer's. And so she grabbed her phone to book Lewis the next available appointment with his doctor. That night, Jane did her best to try to relax. She sat down in front of the TV with a cup of tea, but no matter what she did, she just couldn't stop worrying about her husband.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
As she got up to pour a new cup, she heard a loud crash from down the hall. Jane rushed towards the noise and swung open the office door. Inside, the floor was covered in shattered pieces of Louis' desk lamp. Behind the desk sat Louis, thrashing in his chair with his eyes rolled back in his head. Jane rushed to his side and tried to calm him down, but his body was spasming out of control.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
All she could do was hold his limbs and try to keep Louis from smashing anything else. Gradually, the seizure did subside, and once Lewis was breathing normally, Jane grabbed her phone, purse, and keys and guided her husband to the car. Her mind raced as she drove him to the hospital. What in the world was going on with her husband?
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Six months later, in May of 2019, Dr. Alan Marlow, a neurologist, looked across his office desk at Jane and her two adult children, Ted and Ellen. The mood in the room was tense and very emotional. Jane dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. Only days ago, Jane's husband, Louis, had died.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Dr. Marlowe first met Jane and Lewis back in January of 2019, when she had brought her husband to the hospital following that seizure. Initially, Dr. Marlowe thought Lewis must have a brain disorder, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, or ALS. Any of these could have explained his abrupt mental decline and loss of motor control.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
By the end of May that year, the woman's husband was dead, leaving her and her children both shattered and confused by what they had just witnessed. But the worst part of it was they didn't even know what disease had killed him. His doctor had a pretty good guess, but he wouldn't be sure until an autopsy was performed.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And so Dr. Marlowe had conducted various tests to confirm that Lewis had one of these conditions, but all of the tests were inconclusive. Yet, week by week, Lewis's symptoms only worsened. He began having daydreams that were like nightmares. They were pure hallucinations, but very real to Lewis. Also, Lewis began to lose control of his limbs.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He would have these muscle spasms that were super intense, to the point where basic movements would cause him severe pain. Eventually, Dr. Marlow suspected the worst, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and always fatal condition that is caused by abnormal proteins in the brain.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The symptoms of CJD, as it's also called, can seem like an unusually fast-moving case of Alzheimer's, but there are no treatments to slow its progress. Victims typically die within six months to a year. Now, unfortunately, CJD can only be diagnosed by doing an autopsy of the patient's brain after death.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And so even though Dr. Marlowe felt confident what Lewis had was CJD, he couldn't be sure so long as Lewis was alive. And so the doctor did everything in his power to ease Lewis's symptoms. However, his condition never improved and Lewis died within five months of his first meeting with the doctor.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Dr. Marlowe knew that being back in his office was hard for Jane, but he needed her to sign documents consenting to an autopsy of her husband's body. Learning the details of the condition that killed Lewis might help future CJD patients avoid a similar fate. Jane dried her eyes, took the pen, and signed the documents.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Three months later, in the late summer of 2019, Dr. Marlowe returned to his office to find an email informing him that Louis Benchley's post-mortem report was complete. Dr. Marlowe clicked it open and he was surprised at what he saw. Louis did not have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Louis' symptoms had been very consistent with CJD. Nothing else had made sense to the doctor.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
But if CJD didn't kill Louis, what did? Dr. Marlowe opened Lewis's old medical file to re-familiarize himself with the details. And as he did, something about Lewis's combination of symptoms rang a bell in Dr. Marlowe's memory. Dr. Marlow dug up the case files of some other patients he treated over the past few years.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Now, they were much younger than Lewis, in their 20s or 30s, so at first they did not seem connected to him, especially since CJD typically afflicted older or elderly people, but these younger patients had reported very similar symptoms to Lewis, sudden mental and physical decline with no warning or prior genetic condition.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
And so now, two months later and after an autopsy was done, the family was going to meet with that doctor about what he discovered. Once the woman and her children were settled in the doctor's office, he got straight to the point. Unfortunately, the autopsy had been inconclusive. Her husband had died from an unknown illness.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
The other similarity was that nearly all the patients, Lewis included, lived in the same two regions of Canada, the city of Moncton, which is the most populous city in New Brunswick, and the Acadian Peninsula, a strip of the northeast coast known for scenic fishing villages and blueberry farms.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
However, Dr. Marlow couldn't imagine why the people in these two specific areas of New Brunswick would be more vulnerable to this strange and deadly disease. Dr. Marlowe buzzed his secretary to schedule a meeting with Jane to share the results of her husband's examination. Dr. Marlowe wondered what to tell her after breaking the news that her husband had not in fact died of CJD.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He knew she'd want to know the same thing he did. What had killed Lewis? Dr. Marlowe just hoped he could eventually find the answer. Six months later, in the depths of winter, Dr. Marlowe poured himself another cup of coffee in the break room and looked out the window. It was barely 3 p.m., but it was already getting dark out. Dr. Marlowe felt spread thin by his workload recently.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Over the past six months, his medical practice had been filled with a string of complicated cases, all very similar to Louis Benchley's. Patient after patient had come to him after suffering an abrupt mental decline, followed by physical degeneration. As with Lewis, many of the patients exhibited symptoms similar to CJD, but something was always slightly off.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
No matter how many tests Dr. Marlowe ran, the results never quite aligned with CJD. The symptoms either developed too slowly or too rapidly, or they didn't respond to medications that they should have. But the strangest thing was how young most of these patients were. And this made Dr. Marlowe think.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
Ever since Lewis's post-mortem examination showed that he was negative for CJD, Dr. Marlowe had begun to have the sneaking suspicion. Maybe what happened to Lewis was something totally new, something other doctors hadn't recognized yet, something still unnamed. Dr. Marlowe admitted that that was a bit far-fetched, but it was the only working theory Dr. Marlowe had.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
However, despite his suspicion that perhaps he was looking at this brand new condition here, Dr. Marlowe still reported each of these new mysterious cases to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System, run by the Canadian government. He hoped that by keeping the government informed, it would help them spot larger trends that maybe Dr. Marlowe couldn't.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
He figured that if they did see a bigger trend, that healthcare providers like himself would be notified of any special actions they should take in response. In the meantime though, Dr. Marlowe decided to do a little investigating on his own.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
But before the widow could say a word, the doctor told her that wasn't all. In digging through the hospital's records, the doctor had discovered 20 other patients in just the past few years who were diagnosed with symptoms that were very similar to her husband's. So whatever this disease was, it was not isolated.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
But the strange thing was, beyond their geographic proximity, there was nothing connecting these patients, not age, not lifestyle, nothing, which left the doctor with a chilling but inescapable conclusion. Something where these people lived was responsible for making them sick, but the doctor had no idea what it could be.
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries
Ep. 74 | Sudden Insanity
A little over a year later, on an early morning in 2021, Louis Benchley's son, Ted, opened his morning newspaper and saw that the mystery disease that had killed his father was finally getting some public attention. After meeting with Dr. Marlowe, Ted and his sister Ellen had been scared to death.