Have you ever contemplated just how weird the world we live in is?
If not, maybe after tonight's episode, you will.
I have for you three unbelievable tales of murder, oddities, and the stranger side of
human decency.
From a man who survived the mob, a woman who fell victim to the oddest of crimes, and a
story about spontaneous human combustion.
Through them all, it's up to you to decide what is fact.. and fiction.
The line that divides the factual from the unreal has long since blurred, the tales we
once thought fantastical now implanted as truth.
To decipher verity from the imagined, you must break from the ordinary and consider
a universe where the outlandish prevails.
Can you expand your mind to see beyond our perceived reality?
Can you decide what's fact or fiction?
The good 'ole days of Sin City weren't monitored by corporations and effective federal regulations.
Overseeing the tables, the slots, and the cashflow were the families of Vegas, and while
some would attest to how smooth things ran, others like Todd Restin would point to their
unorthodox methods.
Story # 1: The Vegas Hit They advised him not to come back and Todd
had been told plenty of stories about how they handled "problems" in their casinos,
but his need to win far outweighed the cautionary tales he heard.
As the hulking man laid another closed fist against his cheek, he had wished he had heeded
the warnings.
Todd's Vegas experience wasn't exactly what he was promised by his "friends" from in town.
After losing everything at Blackjack, a misfortune he blamed on the "quick and dishonest hands"
of the dealer, Todd lost his cool at the table and was promptly escorted out with the agreement
that his presence wouldn't be welcomed again.
But Todd feared no man and was confident all of those horror stories were old wives tales
intended to scare off the weaker gamblers.
So he returned to reclaim what was his.
His account of the following hours, after being forcedly grabbed from the table, are
hazy at best.
The first half of the beating still resonated throughout his body, even months later, but
beyond that, the first thing he remembered was being picked up by travelers coming in
from California.
When he was conscious, they told him he had been literally crawling along Interstate 15,
his body bloodied and coated with a thin layer of sand.
The more Todd talked about what happened, the more his memory flashed fragments of those
horrifying hours.
That last strike from the burly fellow must have knocked him out cold.
His memory had sparked images of darkness with a hint of light and the hum of a car
engine.
Muffled voices spoke inaudibly before he faded again.
Then a heaviness.
The first pile of something weighed down on his chest, snapping him back to reality.
Shadows were poised over him, framed by the moonlight and hoofing mounds of dirt onto
his body.
Again, he faded but only until the rumbling of an engine kicked to life and faded away.
They hadn't buried him deep enough, so when his mind could fully focus on the situation
at hand, he mustered what strength he had and dug himself out.
Through pain and looming death, Todd dragged himself across the desert.
Though thirst nearly took him, he found himself crawling along the interstate a decent length
of time later.
Todd was alive for long enough to relay what he remembered, painting local police with
a crude image of his attacker.
Within a day of snitching, he was found dead in a motel room, with a single gunshot wound
to his head.
It's common knowledge that the mob ran Vegas with an iron fist, but was it that tough?
You may have to dig into the history of the city to find out, but even if they were this
deadly, could Todd have survived the dryness of the desert and being buried alive after
being nearly being beaten to death?
We'll have an answer for you in a moment, but first, we have another incredible story.
Rhonda Benson had tried to enjoy her time in Maryland, but being a business trip, it
wasn't easy to relax.
So she was looking forward to her return home.
Little did she know, there would be a strange surprise waiting for her when she opened the
front door...
Story # 2: The Misguided Good Samaritan What should have been a one-hour flight from
Washington D.C. was stretched to just over three thanks to a layover in Philly.
All Rhonda wanted to do was get home, but, as she expected in the dead of winter, her
Philadelphia flight was delayed.
After a week of nonsensical team building meetings, all she wanted was to return to
her comfortable apartment.
She hated how sterile hotels felt and couldn't wait to feel the familiarity of her own abode
once again.
She didn't travel often.
Not for any particular reason beyond the fact that she didn't like to.
Her place was cozy, it had her stuff, it was her sanctuary from the world outside.
Sure, she was a little bit of an introvert, but she mostly just liked that it was hers.
During the taxi ride home, she did all she could to avoid conversation.
Inevitably, everything she tried failed.
At the end of the awkward ride, where she was forced to answer a multitude of questions
about her job and reasons for traveling, she couldn't run to her door fast enough.
When she opened the door, however, she wasn't met with that familiarity she longed for.
She stood dumbfounded at the entrance to her apartment, wondering briefly if she somehow
entered the wrong one.
Nothing was as she left it.
Much like the hotels she had just left, everything was so sterile and organized and clean.
She struggled to remember if she had gone on a cleaning spree in the days leading up
to her trip, but she recalled no mad session.
That's when the realization hit her: Someone had been in her apartment.
Without hesitating another moment, she slammed the door in front of her and dialed the Cleveland
Police Department.
The dispatch was just as confused as she was, especially when she took note that some of
her more expensive items - her television and her Xbox - were still in the apartment.
When police arrived and cleared the small 750-sq-ft space as being empty and safe, she
took account of everything that should have gone missing.
To her surprise - and delight - it was all still there.
It's a story Rhonda tells regularly when she has the opportunity.
The time someone broke into her apartment to clean it for her, leaving behind every
valuable and stash of money she had.
Though the unexpected cleaning was a strange surprise, it wasn't one she wanted to come
home to again.
In the days that followed, she installed an alarm on her door to deter any unwanted guests.
Is cleaning someone's apartment a crime?
Surely not, but breaking in certainly is.
So why would someone go through the trouble to sneak into the apartment illegally just
to clean it?
The human mind is a strange thing, but is it that strange?
We'll revisit Rhonda's predicament in a moment, but before we do, vote now using the on-screen
poll and in the comment section, and prepare to meet Count Sebastian Gellone of Barcelona.
He was loved by his people, adored by those that served him, but that didn't stop the
worst from happening to him.
Join Sebastian on his last day on Earth and see if you can decipher what happened to him.
Story # 3: The Combustible Count It was a death that shocked many.
Not just because Sebastian was beloved by those that knew him, but because of how the
late Count had been found.
Just hours before his death, Sebastian enjoyed the company of his family, who were quick
to note something strange about the 62-year-old man.
Some felt he wasn't quite himself, as if an ailment had slowed him down and distracted
him.
Still, as he was known to do, he entertained as best he could, telling his stories recounting
his time as Count in Barcelona.
Just before retiring, Sebastian spoke with his servant.
Many thought it was strange, as he was close to those that served him, but it wasn't like
the Count to forego the company of others if they had company to offer.
The young man ecalled his exchange with Sebastian as being a "pleasant interaction with pleasant
conversation."
When morning came and the Count hadn't been seen past his usual hour, his servant entered
his room to stir him awake.
It wasn't like Sebastian to "sleep in," but he had seemed overly tired the night before.
The dark room gave no indication anything was wrong, but when the servant opened the
window to let the sun in, his eyes fell upon a horrific sight.
Sebastian was not in his bed, but instead on the floor; and not as a whole person.
All that was left were three fingers, charred; half of each leg; and what looked like a part
of his skull, fragmented and missing a large piece in the back, tucked between his severed
limbs.
In the middle of it all a circle of ash and what the servant thought to be the missing
pieces of the Count.
As the room itself was later dissected to determine what had happened to the Count,
everyone was left in confusion.
No one theory proved flawless.
The room was covered in a moist soot and an oil lamp lay on the floor, covered in ashes.
Yet the lamp itself was empty and the bed the Count slept in was unburned.
The soot had found its way out of the Count's room, into the nearby kitchen.
The placement of Sebastian's skull between his legs confused investigators the most.
Only one theory, posed nine years later, accounted for the skull.
It claimed that Sebastian's body was so quickly engulfed in flames and eviscerated that his
head simply dropped to the floor when his body turned to ash.
To this day, the case of Count Sebastian Gellone of Barcelona remains unsolved.
Lest we chalk it up to a supernatural act of spontaneous human combustion.
Spontaneous human combustion is no new concept, but is it something that actually happens?
Or is there a more logical explanation.
One, say, that suggests the tale of Sebastian not even being true?
We've reached the reveal portion of today's episode, but before we divulge, don't forget
to vote with your thoughts.
Are you ready to find out if you can decipher between fact or fiction?
Let’s look back at tonight's three stories and find out which were born from reality
and which were fabrications of the imagination.
Let's start with Todd Restin, the man who's luck did not follow him to Las Vegas.
We asked if you thought the mob truly ran the town with an iron fist and whether a man
like Todd could fall victim to their wrath.
While stories of bodies being buried in the desert by the mob that once ran the city are
very commonplace, our story wasn't tied to any specific legend and there was no Todd
Restin that survived such an ordeal.
With that mystery solved, we move on to Rhonda Benson and her unexpected break-in.
Do you believe someone would risk creating a criminal record just to tidy up someone
else's home?
If you don't, you probably should.
This scenario actually happened to a Virginia man in 2017.
He returned home from a trip to find his apartment had been cleaned and all of his valuables
left in place.
Finally, we have the tragic death of Count Sebastian Gellone of Barcelona.
We've all heard stories of spontaneous human combustion, but they're often followed by
very plausible causes.
Not in Sebastian's case, however.
The theories posed were marred by holes, so this clearly is a false account of a person
being reduced to ashes, right?
Wrong.
This horrific tale is that of Countess Cornelia di Bandi of Cesena, Italy who, in April 1731,
was found in the same manner as our dear Sebastian.
No cause was ever found, though some believe the countess' habit of bathing in "camphorated
spirit of wine" may have played a part.
How well did you do in tonight's video?
Did you look past the deception of our world and define the oft-blurred line that struggles
to separate lies from the truth?
Let us all know in the comment section below and should you find the urge to test your
perceptions again, be sure to subscribe and join us next time when we ask you to decide
what's fact... or fiction.