What Was That Like - a storytelling podcast with amazing stories from real people
267 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1.2K ratingsA storytelling podcast, with first-hand amazing stories presented by Scott Johnson and Meredith Hackwith Edwards. Each storyteller tells their own personal true story, with all the details of what happened. Animal attacks, plane crashes, mass shootings, and more – you'll hear what happened directly from the person who experienced it, and the inspirational outcome of how they came out on the other side.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
TQ7: Is there a specific person in your life who you consider to be your enemy? How did that come to be?
April 16, 2024 07:00 - 24 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: Is there a specific person in your life who you consider to be your enemy? How did that come to be? WWTL episode 166 – Suzanne was stuck on the boat Tim Ferriss has a fascinating conversation with Barbara Corcoran To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com...
173: Presenting RISK!
April 12, 2024 07:00 - 1 hourEnjoy this special presentation of RISK!, a podcast where people tell jaw-dropping true stories they never thought they'd dare to share in public. In this episode, Cory Byrom and Chris Lundy share stories about the best and worst times with their friends from childhood. For more episodes of RISK!, be sure to check them out wherever you get your podcasts. Also: This is the video from the TODAY Show that you’ll hear about in this week’s Listener Story: https://www.today.com/video/like-moth...
TQ6: Have you ever gone back to visit your childhood home? How would you describe that experience?
April 09, 2024 07:00 - 18 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: Have you ever gone back to visit your childhood home? How would you describe that experience? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code WHATWAS at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Cancel your u...
172: Janette was kidnapped
April 05, 2024 07:00 - 1 hourThere are few forces in the world stronger than a mother protecting her baby. If you’re outdoors and you happen to come across a mama bear, everyone knows you better not get between her and her cubs. Actually, it’s a bad idea to be anywhere near them. If you appear as any kind of a threat, it’s not gonna turn out well. But I would say that’s just as true for human mothers. They will do anything to make sure their baby is safe – and that includes risking their own life to save their child. Jan...
TQ5: You earn a million dollars (tax free) for every full year you spend in a maximum security prison. How long would you stay?
April 02, 2024 07:00 - 17 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: You earn a million dollars (tax free) for every full year you spend in a maximum security prison. How long would you stay? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code WHATWAS at https://www.oneskin....
TQ4: You get to have lunch with any living celebrity. Who do you choose?
March 26, 2024 07:00 - 22 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group and post some of your answers. The question for this episode: You get to have lunch with any living celebrity. Who do you choose? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code WHATWAS at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. This episode is sponsored ...
171: Annie shouldn't have opened the door
March 22, 2024 07:00 - 1 hourWhen I was a kid, I don’t think I knew anyone who had an actual security system in their home. It just wasn’t heard of. I’m sure they existed, but really, for most typical middle-class families, you just didn’t think a lot about someone breaking into your home. And we certainly never had the concept of a home invasion – you know, someone coming right through the front door, while you’re home and awake, with plans of theft or even violence. But these days, if there’s a knock on the door, every...
TQ3: If you could make yourself twice as attractive, OR twice as intelligent, what would you choose?
March 19, 2024 07:00 - 16 minutesEvery Tuesday, Scott and Meredith grab a past Tuesday Question from the Facebook group and answer it, and also talk about some answers submitted by listeners. The question for this episode: If you could make yourself twice as attractive, OR twice as intelligent, what would you choose? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. This episode i...
170: Justin found his mother on Facebook
March 15, 2024 07:00 - 1 hourHave you ever had one of those moments in your life where your life just changed dramatically? Like, your life is suddenly divided into two chapters – before that moment, and after that moment. Well, that’s the kind of moment Justin had. Justin was adopted the day after he was born. So he never knew his birth mother. He was adopted immediately into a loving family who gave him a wonderful childhood and a great start in life. He always wondered about his birth mother, and he searched and searc...
TQ2: You just made a donation to your favorite cause (money or volunteer time) - what is that cause?
March 12, 2024 07:00 - 22 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and Scott answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: You just made a donation to your favorite cause (money or volunteer time) - what is that cause? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. This episode is spo...
169: Jonathan took the wheel
March 08, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourDo you know how you would react, in an emergency situation? The first time I remember being put to the test with something like this is when I was 18 years old. I was just driving, by myself, on a sort of rural road here in Florida one morning. And as I drove down this road, I could see something odd up in the distance. It was a car, off the road – and it was upside down. Probably most of us have approached accident scenes like this. You’ll see one or two cars that have obviously crashed into...
TQ1: If you had one “do-over” what past event would you spend it on?
March 05, 2024 08:00 - 21 minutesEvery Tuesday, we grab a past question from the Facebook group, then Meredith and I answer it and read some of the answers given by other listeners. The question for this episode: If you had one “do-over” what past event would you spend it on? To check out the new Tuesday Question and get in the discussion, join us at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook. Sponsor deals: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online th...
Introducing: the weekly Tuesday Question episode
February 27, 2024 08:00 - 8 minutesThis is a quick episode to let you know that starting Tuesday, March 5, 2024 – we’ll be doing the weekly Tuesday Question episodes. Every week in the Facebook group, we have a new thought-provoking question. These questions always generate a lot of great discussion, and this weekly post has become very popular. Now, every Tuesday Scott Johnson (host of What Was That Like) and Meredith Hackwith Edwards (host of Meredith For Real: The Curious Introvert) will pick a question from the archives an...
168: Julie is a hospice nurse
February 23, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourThis episode is a little different from the norm. Usually we talk to someone who has experienced something really unusual. But every once in a while, I like to have a guest on who has an unusual job – a job that I find really interesting and have lots of questions about. So that’s what we’re doing here today. My guest is Julie – she works as a hospice nurse. She’s been doing this for many years, so she has lots of information, and lots of stories. Every one of us is unique as an individual, b...
167: Chris was not strapped in
February 16, 2024 08:00 - 58 minutesYou ever watch a video on YouTube, or TikTok, and it shows someone walking right on the edge at the top of a very tall building? Or maybe they’re right at the edge of a cliff with a steep drop off, and they’re doing flips or some stupid thing, just to get views and show how fearless they are. Every time I see one of those, I get this weird feeling in my gut because I think about the risk that they’re taking, and the horrifying outcome if they make just one little mistake. I wasn’t always afra...
166: Suzanne was stuck on the boat
February 09, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourThere are some people whose dream is to live on a boat and just spend their life sailing around the world. In fact, there’s a company called Villa Vie that’s hoping a LOT of people want to do that. They have a cruise ship that holds 924 passengers, and they’re offering a never-ending cruise that goes around the world every 3 ½ years. You can actually buy one of the cabins – starting for as little as $100k. And you own that cabin! Kind of like a floating time share I guess. But you also have m...
165: Hali was saved by a friend
January 26, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourJames had a childhood that would have indicated future success. He grew up in southern California, and his father is a scientist. His mother is a registered nurse. They lived in an affluent neighborhood in San Diego. But by the time he was in middle school, James began to display some mental health issues. He tried to take his own life at age 11. But he did graduate from high school, and also completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of California Riverside. He then decided to move to C...
164: Luke swallowed cocaine balloons
January 19, 2024 08:00 - 1 hourWhat would YOU do in this situation? Imagine you just got off an international flight, and you’re in a Subway restaurant, in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. You feel terribly sick. In fact, you have reason to believe that your condition could be fatal if you don’t get medical help quickly. Do you call 911? That’s the situation Luke was in, on a January day back in 2016. But he was hesitant to call for help, because he knew why he was sick. That terrible feeling he had in his stomach was from a little...
Listen Now: Season 2 of PROOF
January 17, 2024 08:00 - 6 minutesThe second season of PROOF: Murder at the Warehouse takes Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis to Manteca, CA where they reinvestigate the murder of 18-year-old Renee Ramos. On June 5, 2000, Ramos’ body was found buried under a pile of debris inside the shell of a new Home Depot building. Despite tips hinting at alternate suspects - tips that were ignored until now - Renee’s boyfriend, 18-year-old skateboarder Jake Silva, and Ty Lopes, the 33-year-old uncle of one of Jake's close friends were arre...
163: Michael was stabbed on a bus
January 12, 2024 08:00 - 57 minutesIt’s amazing how quickly things can change. Michael lives with his wife, Mu, in New York City. He works for HP, and his job is to visit various locations around the city and do equipment repair. So he often finds himself on public transportation. One afternoon he was on the city bus, headed to his next job. He expected it to be a routine trip. But without any warning, he found himself trying desperately to get away from a man with a knife. And here’s something you need to know as you listen t...
162: The Listener Stories of 2023
December 29, 2023 08:00 - 2 hoursYou’re listening to What Was That Like, and this is the last episode for 2023 – which means it’s our year-end Listener Stories episode. For each episode of the show, we have a guest come on and tell their story. It might be someone who survived an alligator attack, or a person who was shot multiple times, or maybe someone who went on The Price is Right and won the showcase – those are just a few examples of the over 160 past episodes. And then, at the very end of each episode, we have a Liste...
161: Rosie saw the hit
December 15, 2023 08:00 - 1 hourVery few people have seen someone get hit by a car. There’s a movie from 1998 called Meet Joe Black. Kind of a weird film that combines romance and fantasy. I don’t remember being particularly impressed by the movie itself, but there’s one scene that’s stuck in my head forever. If you’ve seen it, you probably know the scene I’m talking about. Two young people, played by Brad Pitt and Claire Forlani, meet by chance at a coffee shop and there seems to be a rare connection between them. They lea...
160: Sue's parachute failed
December 08, 2023 08:00 - 1 hourOn October 24, 2015, Sue was with her daughter Jessica, who was 14 years old at the time, and her friend Elise. Sue and Elise were skydiving buddies, and they were doing what they often did on a beautiful Saturday morning – they were going to go jump out of a plane. Since she was 14, Jessica wasn’t yet old enough to jump – but she just liked being with her mom and hanging out at the drop zone. The weather was beautiful, and everything was going fine, until Sue got to about 5000 feet. She trie...
159: Danna was attacked by yellow jackets
December 01, 2023 08:00 - 56 minutesOne of the things I really try hard to avoid is any flying, stinging insect. When I was a little kid, we lived in a pretty rural area in central Ohio. We had a big yard so my brothers and I were outside playing all summer. And of course there were bees. I was old enough to know not to mess with them, but my next youngest brother, Steve, hadn’t really learned that yet. So sometimes I would show him that nice little flying thing – a regular honey bee – and encourage him to go and catch it in hi...
158: Stories from work
November 24, 2023 08:00 - 1 hourI’m Scott, the host of What Was That Like. And this is a bonus episode. Normally, on this podcast you would hear someone talking about the time they witnessed a murder, or when they escaped a cult, or when they were swimming and they lost their leg to a shark attack. Those are all actual past episodes, and there are currently over 150 of them to binge. But we’re doing something a little different in this episode. You’ve heard me talk about the private Facebook group. That’s where we discuss e...
157: Stacy gave away her kidney
November 17, 2023 08:00 - 1 hourAnthony is a husband and a father. He lives in Canada. His kidneys were failing, and he was in desperate need of a donor. He was even on the local news with his wife and daughter, hoping to find someone who was a match, and willing to give up a kidney. Almost anyone can donate a kidney, but to donate to a specific recipient, you have to be tested to find out if you’re a match – to see if your kidney is likely to work when it’s in the other person’s body. My guest today is Stacy. She also live...
“48 Hours” Presents: My Life of Crime | Twisted Twins: Who Killed Heather DeWild?
November 13, 2023 08:00 - 8 minutes“48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty takes you inside true-crime investigations like no one else, in her podcast “My Life of Crime”. In the new season, Erin delves into the labyrinth of crime within families and the secrets that kept them together or tore them apart. Here’s a preview of the “My Life of Crime” season premiere, “Twisted Twins: Who Killed Heather DeWild?” Erin examines the case of 30-year-old Heather DeWild, who vanished after visiting her soon-to-be ex-husband Daniel DeWild'...
156: Jen accidentally caused a death
November 10, 2023 08:00 - 1 hourOctober 4, 2016. For Jennifer and her husband Chris, and their 4 children, it was just a regular Tuesday. Up until around 8 pm that evening. Jen was driving home and she had their two young daughters in the car. Jen stopped at a stop sign, and then proceeded into the intersection without seeing the motorcycle that was approaching on her left. The motorcycle hit her car, and with that collision, the lives of two families were forever changed. David, the driver of the motorcycle, was taken to t...
155: Stephanie was date raped
November 03, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourHave you ever heard of Rohypnol? In the US, Rohypnol is classified as a Schedule IV controlled substance. It functions as a depressant to the central nervous system. It’s not manufactured or approved for sale in the US, but it is shipped here from other countries and used illegally. It’s similar to Valium, but ten times more powerful. A common name for it on the street is the “forget-me drug”. A more generic term is “roofie” and it’s often referred to as the “date rape drug”. In many cases, R...
154: Daughters
October 27, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourThis is a special episode. Most of the time here on What Was That Like, I talk to a regular person who has been through some type of extremely unusual situation. If you’ve just discovered this podcast, you can just scroll through the episode titles and see that we’ve heard a lot of REALLY big and unusual stories – and all of them are told first-hand, by the person who went through it. But a lot of times a listener will contact me and say, “Scott – I’ve just binged ALL of your past episodes an...
Listen Now: New Podcast “Ghost Story”
October 23, 2023 07:00 - 9 minutesTristan Redman is a journalist who doesn’t believe in ghosts. But weird things happened in his teenage bedroom – weirder than normal. When, years later, he discovers subsequent occupants of his family home say they have been visited by the ghost of a faceless woman, he’s curious. It just so happens that the house Tristan grew up in is right next door to the house where his wife’s great grandmother, Naomi Dancy, was murdered – killed by two gunshots to the face. Could there be a connection? Tr...
153: Karen gave birth in a Subaru
October 20, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourMost of the time, childbirth happens in a hospital. But not always. Consider the pregnant woman in Payson, Utah, who went in to Walmart early on a Sunday morning just to pick up a few things. This was her third pregnancy, so she was familiar with what to expect. But by the time she finished shopping and was at the register, she was on her knees and holding her stomach in serious distress. The baby was not going to wait. The manager and other employees were trying to help her, to get her to a ...
152: Kami ran from a mass shooting
October 13, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourOn the night of October 1, 2017, 64 year old Stephen Paddock opened fire from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. He was able to fire over 1100 rounds in just 10 minutes time, from 10:05 pm to 10:15 pm. His target was the crowd of 22,000 people in the open field below his room. These people were attending the final night of the 3-day Route 91 Harvest Music festival. Country singer Jason Aldean was performing when the shooting began. In the end, 851 people were i...
151: Laura's pain became her purpose
October 06, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourIf you’re a parent, you know – there is nothing more precious to you than your child. You would do anything for them, to keep them healthy, and happy, and safe. But sometimes, even the best parents with the best of intentions can have a brief lack of focus, and the results can be devastating. The subject we’re talking about today is hot car deaths. Outside of crashes, heatstroke is the leading cause of death in vehicles for children 14 and under. It happened 36 times in 2022, and so far in 20...
150: Tara's only option was the attic
September 22, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourHave you ever been in a situation and had the thought, “I actually might die here today”? We recently observed the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and I learned about a woman named Linda Gronlund, from New York. She was an attorney, an accomplished sailor and scuba diver, a certified EMT, and she held a brown belt in karate. On September 11, 2001, Linda was on United flight 93. The plane had been hijacked, and the passengers knew that two other planes had already been flown into th...
Introducing: Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University
September 15, 2023 07:00 - 11 minutesDr. Robert Hadden was a trusted OB-GYN at Columbia University. Friendly, caring, unassuming... and behind the closed door of exam rooms, one of the most prolific sexual predators in New York City. During his 25-year career, he assaulted hundreds, perhaps thousands, of patients, under the guise of medical exams. Those who tried to warn Columbia were ignored or not believed. When it appeared that no one — not Hadden, not Columbia — would be held to account, it was the survivors who undertook a ...
149: Stories from September 11
September 08, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourSeptember 11, 2001 was a tragic day in America. The terrorist attacks caused the deaths of 2,996 people in New York, the Pentagon, and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thousands more were injured. And many people since then have died from illnesses caused by exposure to toxic materials at the World Trade Center crash site. Here on the podcast, each year in September we dedicate an episode to hearing stories from people who were there and witnessed the tragedy. In this episode, you’ll hear from...
148: Kat was given to a cult at 13
August 25, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourI live about 20 minutes from world-famous Clearwater Beach. I do bike around that area sometimes but that’s about the only time I go there, because I’m not much of a beach person. But people come from all over the world to sit in that sand, because that’s one of the things Clearwater is known for. But there’s something else that makes this city famous. Clearwater, Florida is also the worldwide spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology. Back in 1975, there was a Scientology-founded g...
Introducing LISK: Long Island Serial Killer
August 12, 2023 08:00 - 55 minutesThis weekend edition of What Was That Like highlights a top true crime podcast called LISK: Long Island Serial Killer. Since 2017, the show has covered a decade-long cold case set in Long Island. The podcast recently went viral after a suspect was arrested in connection to the case. If you enjoyed this episode, listen to LISK: Long Island Serial Killer wherever you listen to podcasts or click here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
147: Gregg fell into a crevasse
August 11, 2023 07:00 - 43 minutesThere’s a phrase I find interesting. It’s often used to describe a person who seems to have an unusual power in different ways. The phrase I’m thinking of is “force of nature”. When I hear “that man, or that woman, is a force of nature”, it makes me think of someone who comes in like a whirlwind, with a clear objective, and nothing is going to stand in their way. And that description makes sense, because that’s how nature is sometimes. Here in Florida, we’re about to go into that magical time...
146: Chris lost his hands in a corn picker
July 28, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourThere are a lot of things we have that are amazing, but we take them for granted. Have you ever seen those videos online where the person being recorded is color blind? And their family gets them those specially-made sunglasses that actually allow a person to see colors, even though they have never been able to before. Of course, everyone in the family wants to see their reaction the first time they put on those glasses. So they all go outside, and there are usually some brightly colored ball...
145: Collier testified against a murderer at age 12
July 14, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourYou know when people are asked about what their biggest fear is, a lot of the answers are what you’d expect – fear of heights, fear of spiders, and so forth. Humans are afraid of a lot of things. But when people are asked what their single BIGGEST fear is – the big one that usually comes out as number one is fear of public speaking. For a lot of people it even ranks higher than their fear of death. When Jerry Seinfeld heard about that, he correctly observed that that means if that person is a...
144: Jane was stabbed 27 times
July 07, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourHey, this is Scott, and you’re listening to What Was That Like. But this is not a regular episode of What Was That Like. I’ve got a really cool BONUS episode for you today. What you’re about to hear is the first episode in a new podcast series called Dark Valley. This series is investigation-oriented, and it’s about as True-Crime as you can get. You’re gonna learn about America’s “unknown serial killer” – or by the name given to him by law enforcement and the media: The Connecticut River Vall...
143: Samantha got a surprise baby
June 30, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourDo you ever think about the children in your state who are currently in foster care? Here in Florida, there are about 19,000 children living in foster care. That’s a lot of kids. And in that group, there are about 500 children who have no identified families. Can you imagine how scary and lonely that must be, to be a child with no family at all, and only the government to try to take care of you and keep you safe? There are a lot of different situations that can lead to that. But whatever hap...
Announcing - What Was That Like Plus
June 27, 2023 07:00 - 15 minutesHey, this is Scott. This is just a short episode in between the regular episodes – I guess you could call it an In-Between-isode. What I have for you today is an announcement about the podcast, followed by a Listener Story – and the Listener Story is from someone you’ve heard from before. But first, I want to give you an update on a new feature that’s now available in the What Was That Like podcast. This is a new subscription program that allows you to get rid of the ads that get inserted int...
142: Traci's husband was arrested
June 23, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourHere on the podcast, I talk to people who have been through extremely unusual situations. Like witnessing a murder, or being attacked by a monkey, or winning the showcase on The Price Is Right. We get to hear those stories first hand, from the person who experienced it. In this bonus episode, I want to introduce you to another podcast that has a very similar format, which means you’re gonna want to subscribe. This podcast is called The Only One in the Room, and the host is Laura Cathcart Robb...
141: Jennifer fought off a rapist
June 16, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour(Content warning – this episode includes discussion of sex trafficking, and graphic depiction of sexual attack. If you’re in the car with the kids, you might want to save this one for later.) The situation that Jennifer found herself in is one that no one ever expects. She was away from home, and she didn’t really know anyone. On top of that, she was an American in Turkey and she didn’t speak much of the language. And her attacker was strong, and determined. But what came to her during this t...
140: Flash handled the squatters
June 02, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourThere’s a problem that’s becoming a bigger and bigger issue for anyone who owns a home. The problem is squatters. If you’re not familiar with the term, “squatting” is when a person – or even a group of people – figure out that a house is not being occupied. Maybe the owner is trying to sell it, or in some cases, the owner lives there but is just away from home on a vacation. When the squatter determines that no one is home, they just go in – usually by breaking in – and take up residence. The...
139: Tricia smuggled her dad into Disney World
May 19, 2023 07:00 - 1 hourEvery tourist destination wants their guests to have a happy experience, but few places do that as well as Disney World in Orlando, Florida. When Disney World visitors were surveyed, 75% said they were very satisfied with their experience. Did you know, the Magic Kingdom Park at Disney World gets around 21 million visitors every year? And if you combine all of the Disney parks, it’s around 58 million people each year. And people keep coming back. And for anyone with kids, it’s a no-brainer – ...
138: Raw Audio: three 911 stories
May 12, 2023 07:00 - 42 minutesYou’re listening to the What Was That Like podcast, but this is not a regular episode. This is a bonus Raw Audio episode. Usually on this show I talk to a regular person who’s been through something really unusual. Like they got attacked by an alligator, or they were buried in an avalanche, or they witnessed a murder. That person comes on the show and tells the story of what happened, first hand. That’s not what we’re doing today. This bonus episode is called Raw Audio. The Raw Audio episodes...