Video taking off 15x its usual first day

MrBallen's firefighter tale puts a "skinwalker" in the trees

The podcast Short drew more than 330,000 views in its first half-day, with viewers discussing animal screams and recognizing his voice.

Channel:

MrBallen Story of October 20, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 484,308 views a day, 15 times a normal first day on this channel (32,071).

This Firefighter Encountered A SKINWALKER 😭

The screeching has an explanation, until the firefighter looks up again. In MrBallen's telling, a mountain lion is perched above a woodland trail on the first pass. On the return trip, a woman occupies the branch instead.

That unsettling switch is the center of "This Firefighter Encountered A SKINWALKER 😭," a podcast clip in which MrBallen tells two interviewers about a smokejumper named Mike. It's an unusually fast start for one of his Shorts, and the comments have already grown several times busier than his usual full first day.

The story follows Mike along an access road, past a cabin that looks abandoned but shows signs of use. After the encounter in the tree, a conversation with a local at a tavern supplies the supernatural explanation: a shapeshifting figure from folklore said to inhabit those woods. This is MrBallen recounting an encounter story, not footage of the encounter itself.

One thread in the comments offers a less supernatural source of woodland terror: the unfamiliar noises that mountain lions and lynx can make. Another is about the storyteller himself. Several viewers say his short-haired, hatless appearance initially threw them, but his voice gave him away.

Published on Trari

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What viewers say

If i heard a lynx or mountain lion out in the woods, especially not knowing the noises they make, i would assume something supernatural is after me
@codycardinSee it on YouTube
No matter how he changes his looks, that voice is 'unmistakeaballen'
@carlitoalterego2709See it on YouTube
It wasn't until almost the end that I realized it was Mrballen 😁
@LolaSkywalker-j8mSee it on YouTube

2 more comments

Even without his normal scripting and editing hes still a good story teller lol
@EnvisionedBlindnessSee it on YouTube
One of the best story tellers.
@ggCHILLIWACKSee it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube