Brutal Mercy (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

MrBallen (0:00)

Today, I'm gonna tell you four stories about people who thought their day could not get any worse, but they were wrong.

But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark & Mysterious Delivered in Story format, then you 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, please ask the follow button to come on over and help you fix your roof. But then once they actually get up on your roof, tell them you'll be up in a second, but just take the ladder away and leave. Our first story is called Flash.

On the afternoon of March 7, 1946, a 10-year-old boy named Sipo led a team of eight oxen across an open, grassy field in the Highveld region of South Africa. The wind was really starting to pick up, and the clouds were gathering, so Sipo knew a storm was on the way, and so what he was doing was hurrying to finish plowing this field before it hit. He was walking ahead of his oxen, steering them with a rope that was tied to a lead pair. And then behind the lead pair came three more pairs of oxen, and then beyond that was a chain going back to this really heavy plow. So basically all the oxen were working in tandem, pulling this heavy plow. And so as Sipo is leading his oxen team in plowing this field, he's looking around, he's watching for signs the storm's gonna hit, and then at some point he actually hears off in the distance some thunder rumbling, and then he noticed raindrops hitting the ground. So he tugged at the rope, trying to get them to speed up, but the oxen were just slow. They just kept walking at their normal slow pace. Now, at first, Sipo's thinking, okay, we can get through this. We'll plow the field. It'll be slow and steady, but it looks like the storm's gonna hold. But really quickly, once the rain began, it just picked up really fast. Like the drops began falling faster and faster. The thunder got more and more pronounced. And so Sipo began to wonder if maybe he ought to just abandon this and just go home and come back for this later. However, before Sipo could do anything, there was this blinding flash, and then something hit him and literally threw him into the air. Then he slammed down onto the dirt really hard, and for a few seconds, everything just went black. And then slowly, things began to come back into focus, and Sipo found that he was lying flat on his back in the wet dirt. And as he lay there gasping, it dawned on him. He'd just been struck by lightning.

Sipo, who was now starting to panic, tried to sit up to check himself for injuries, but his arms and legs wouldn't move. It was like he was paralyzed. And then, to his horror, he heard the sound of his oxen's hooves getting closer to him. And Sipo realized that where he'd ultimately fallen after being struck was right in their path. And if he didn't move, they were going to trample him. Sipo was like trying and trying to will him, but nothing happened. And the sound of those oxen's hooves are getting closer and closer. So finally, he just shut his eyes and accepted his fate and waited to be crushed by his own oxen. But then, when the oxen literally came right up to him, despite walking effectively right over him, he didn't feel anything. And so Sipo, whose eyes were closed, you know, he's bracing for impact here. He's hearing the oxen pass over him. He opens his eyes and he sees, here are the oxen, but they're not stepping on him. It's like they're avoiding him. And so Sipo, he watches the lead pair pass over him without stepping on him. There's more to come. More oxens are coming along their way. And they too, you know, one by one, it's like they knew he was there or something, or it was just an incredible coincidence, who knows, but they didn't step on Sipo. They all avoided him and basically spared him. And so Sipo, he doesn't know how badly hurt he is from the lightning strike. He doesn't really even know if he's gonna recover here. He's currently paralyzed on the ground, but he breathes a sigh of relief after the final oxen passed by him without crushing him to death. He couldn't believe it. But then he realized there was another problem. The oxen, despite not stepping on him, were continuing to walk as if nothing had happened. They're just going right along here.