This is a great podcast. The host has a wonderful voice; a beautiful timbre in tone and excellent pacing make each story a pleasure to listen to, minus one glaring flaw.
The host uses the word “totally” much too often. If it were a drinking game, we’d all be three sheets to the wind by the end of each episode! At first, it was kind of silly. Now it’s become a bit of an annoying earworm to me.
Seems like running the script through AI software might help, as the word “totally” appears at least six or seven times per episode. Sometimes more!
Until then, here’s a helpful list:
Synonyms for the word "totally" include:
completely, fully, utterly, quite, perfectly, wholly, all, and thoroughly.
(And sometimes an adverb is not needed.)
One star removed for overuse of that word which reduces the effectiveness of the stories. Overall, I recommend all of Mr. Ballen’s work!
Saves the climax of the story until the last 2 minutes and it’s super lame and underwhelming issues. Like “turns out her heart issues were because of misshaped arteries. Thank you for listening”
These stories are well written, researched and performed. Learning about a mystery illness and the ways medical staff work to figure out the problem is fascinating. Thank you!
I’m assuming the stories are all read from text, so I can’t figure out why every other sentence is punctuated by “ya know.”
Some of the stories are interesting, some are not.
I think the medical mysteries are interesting and entertaining - like an episode of House, but I think that the host is telling the story to middle schoolers. He over emphasizes and over enunciates words, uses extremely basic vocabulary that is repeated over and over again (“shook his head,” “furrowed his brow,” “in disbelief.) He also gives way too much explanation of what things are - like what Sudoku is. There is a lot of made-up details that just seem unnecessary. It would be better, if he didn’t tell the story like he was there but just a straight case study. I was expecting the host to actually be a middle school teacher and was surprised he is an ex-SEAL. Also please drop the plea to press the “follow” button. The pleas are the worst part of this podcast. They are totally not funny or nor do they make any sense - not even to a 10 year old.
Could you do Sudden unexpected death syndrome (SUDS) or Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)? I’ve heard about it before and it’s really fascinating, especially the history about it. If you could do an episode on it that would be great 😊!
Love u Mr Allen you were born for this and so much more! Can’t wait to see how much more famous you will get!!! Thanks also for your service and dedication. Freedom is never free. Also thank you for sharing your real life stories and experiences. My brother is also a veteran.
Im really enjoying this channel even though it can give me more anxiety than the strange dark and mysterious stories! Lol
Its kinda weird how some people are hating on you for picky grammar issues or promoting your channel. Are they new to the internet?
Anyway, keep up the good work!
‘shaken to the core’.
‘hanging on by a thread’.
‘like moving through a fog’.
overuse of ‘desperately’, ‘absolutely’,
‘craved _______ the way an addict craves a fix’
‘like having a car with no gas in the tank’
‘a wave of nausea washed over…’
‘a last-ditch effort’
ouch.
Im addicted to these stories they are amazing! Also I don’t understand why people are hating it a great show and both me (a 12 yr old) and my dad (a 50 yr old) love y’all ❤️❤️❤️
The content has so much potential. Unfortunately, the host’s cadence and pronunciation ruin it. It sounds like he’s trying to be a TV news anchor. Over emphasizing the letter a (AAA big box) but then saying the more common uh sound in several sentences. Same with thEE (theeee list of gripes about this podcaster) makes thuuuh whole thing hard to listen to. Bummer.
The writing is terrible for these stories. It is a shame because they are so interesting and have so much potential. I can’t listen to them any longer though because the poor grammar is truly distracting from the content. The way sentences are spoken don’t even make sense sometimes, so I’m stuck reworking it as I’m listening.
The latest podcast episode “Hard case to crack” was about my story of the medical mystery and eventual diagnosis of Hypophosphatasia.
A lot of what was said wasn’t accurate in terms of dates and hospitalizations, conversations with my spouse and definitely some creative liberties taken.
While I appreciate my story being told as it is very important for people to know what patients like myself go through, it would’ve been nice to at least been contacted given my real name was used and my wife’s name.
I know my story is widely available online because again I believe it’s important to share and obviously you know enough about me where someone from
Your team could’ve reached out.
It’s just disheartening to have my story shared without my approval in a way that has some inaccuracies to it.
While there were some kind things said about me which I appreciate, just maybe contact the people you know you can contact before sharing their story while also taking creative liberties for that story so people I know aren’t reaching out to me asking about a podcast episode I had no clue about. -Aaron Blocker
You spin a good tale, but your grammar and phrasing seriously undercut the quality. Nauseous means making someone else sick. Nauseated means feeling sick. Lie is to recline; lay ts to place. Bring it here; take it there. And so much more!
Please fix it.
Everything good I have to say about the content is canceled out by the repeated follow button requests. They are obnoxious and many are offensive. You have good content, I can’t commit to listen to it though, because I know I am going to hear the awful pleas to follow your show that bookend each episode.
Anyone who likes this podcast needs to watch his YouTube channel both are great! The stories are told in the best possible ways and Mrballen always chooses the absolute best stories!
The stories are interesting BUT poorly written and the word BUT is used to much BUT the narrator has a great voice BUT I wish he would stop emphasizing the word BUT.
I quickly fell in love with Mr.Ballen a couple months ago when I was struck with a nasty stomach bug. I laid in bed for an entire day watching his Facebook clips. Not long after I found myself hooked on his podcasts especially the medical mystery ones. Now my family and I will sit around the table with my phone in the middle and intently listen just like families did back in the 1920’s with their wooden radios. Even tonight on a long drive we listened to the podcasts all the way there and back and my kids are so into it they don’t speak a word (ages 10 and 12). Of course I only play ones for them that I’ve previously listened to so I know if they’re appropriate or not. Thank you Mr. Ballen for the hours of entertainment and something that my family and I really enjoy. You’re a fantastic speaker and you and your team put together amazing stories!
Please, please, please hire a medical consultant to help. The inaccurate medical descriptions, pronunciations and explanations around are painful. The stories are interesting but hard to listen to with the errors.
