Podcasts · Society & Culture

What It Was Like

Superreal

103 episodes · Explicit

Conversations with people who have lived through extreme events. Some stories are dark and twisted, others are light and funny. In all cases, we get an intimate portrait of 'what it was like' to be there.

More about the show

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Hosted by Julian Morgans

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Episodes page 1 of 3

  1. Years Later, I Discovered the Truth About My Abduction

    · 1 h 04 min · S1 E158

    In 1983, 11-year-old Kristine Conyers was abducted at gunpoint by a serial killer. She survived, but those four hours changed her life. It’s a story about the ripple effect on her family, and how she realised the crime…

  2. I've Spent Decades Helping Abused Children Heal (Preview)

    · 7:20 · Bonus

    This show often features people who’ve survived unimaginable horrors as kids, which begs the question: how do people move on? In this episode preview we put this question to Al Killen-Harvey, a clinical social worker…

  3. When the Captain Abandoned Ship, the Musicians Took Charge

    · 1 h 08 min · S1 E157 · Explicit

    In 1991, cruise ship performers Moss and Tracy Hills found themselves on a sinking ship. As the MTS Oceanos floundered, passengers waited for the crew to take charge. Finally, Moss and Tracy stepped in, and ultimately…

  4. I Got Stuck on a Cruise Ship When COVID Hit (Preview)

    · 6:27 · Bonus

    This week's subscriber episode takes us back to February 2020, where Kent Frasure found himself confined to his cabin on the Diamond Princess due to COVID. It was a preview of the pandemic to come: the slow response,…

  5. The Strange Story of Tasmania’s Ninja Cult

    · 50 min · S1 E156

    Through the 1990s, a group of men in Australia’s southernmost state began training as ninjas. It was a kind of proto-manosphere that slowly became part cult, part domestic terrorist cell. They stole explosives,…

  6. How Cults Take Over Your Mind And How to Escape (Preview)

    · 7:17 · Bonus

    How do ordinary, intelligent people end up in cults, and how do they get out? In this subscriber ep preview, we talk to Ingo Michehl, who spent six years in the Moonies before a single phrase from a friend set him…

  7. I Fell in Love (and Had a Baby) With My Dad

    · 1 h 12 min · S1 E155

    Sophia Greenwood was adopted as a baby. She had no contact with her birth parents, until she met her biological dad in her 20s. They both experienced a sense of profound connection and fell into a relationship that…

  8. Why Some Adoptees Become Attracted to Their Birth Parents (Preview)

    · 6:54 · Bonus

    This week’s story will likely be hard for many listeners to wrap their heads around, which is why we're unpacking the science behind it in this week’s subscriber episode.This is an excerpt from Julian’s discussion with…

  9. I Was Abducted at Gunpoint During Running Practice

    · 53 min · S1 E154

    At 15, Maggie Malloy was abducted at gunpoint during running practice near her home in Galion, Ohio. A few hours later, she was found with multiple gun shots to the head, but alive. This week, Maggie shares how she…

  10. The Hurricane That Swallowed a Cargo Ship (Classic)

    · 48 min · S1 E153

    This week we are revisiting one of our favourite stories. In 2015, Hurricane Joaquin roared over the Bahamas and sank a cargo ship called the El Faro, drowning all 33 people onboard. It was a mystery how a modern…

  11. The Strange Condition That Made Me Write Constantly

    · 38 min · S1 E152

    When Alice Weaver Flaherty’s twins died at birth, she developed an overwhelming compulsion to write about the experience. Soon, Alice had developed hypergraphia, a rare condition that causes sufferers to write morning…

  12. My Childhood Bully Killed My Friend

    · 49 min · S1 E151

    In 1990, 14-year-old Tyler Pelke was home alone in Altona, Canada, watching a movie with a friend. Then the local bully, Earl Giesbrecht, showed up at the door. Hours later, Tyler’s friend was dead and his house was on…

  13. He Slept on His Daughter’s Dorm Room Couch and Built a Cult

    · 1 h 23 min · S1 E150 · Explicit

    In 2010, fraudster Larry Ray got out of prison and started sleeping on a couch in his daughter’s college dorm. Within weeks, he was mentoring her friends. A year later, he’d recruited most of them into what would later…

  14. I Joined a Cult That Demanded Human Ears

    · 58 min · S1 E149 · Explicit

    "Bring me their ears." That was the order from cult leader Yahweh ben Yahweh, who admitted new members of the Nation of Yahweh into his inner circle only after they'd killed someone and had an ear to prove it. Our…

  15. I Traced a Mystery Stalker Back to eBay’s Corporate Headquarters

    · 45 min · S1 E148

    In 2019, David and Ina Steiner began receiving mysterious packages at their Massachusetts home. Local police sergeant Jason Sutherland was called in to investigate, and eventually traced the harassment back to…

  16. How a Bunch of Australian Teens Invented 'Urban Exploration'

    · 49 min · S1 E147 · Explicit

    Today, "urbex" (urban exploration) is a global phenomenon with millions of videos online. But few people know it all traces back to a group of teenagers in Melbourne. In the mid-1980s, they founded the Cave Clan,…

  17. The Day My Daughter Got Abducted (and How I Got Her Back)

    · 45 min · S1 E146

    In 2018, Brittany Todd was a mother of five living in South Carolina. Then one day she came home to find a stranger inside her house who beat her unconscious and abducted her four-year-old daughter. In this episode,…

  18. I Pulled the Largest Prison Break in UK History

    · 38 min · S1 E145 · Explicit

    In 1983, 38 IRA prisoners escaped Northern Ireland's Maze Prison by hijacking a truck and driving through multiple security gates to freedom. Ringleader Gerry Kelly explains how they pulled off such a stunt, and why he…

  19. I Somehow Survived the Darkest Years of AIDS

    · 1 h 12 min · S1 E144 · Explicit

    AIDS devastated America's gay communities through the 1980s. In major cities, up to 50% of gay men were living with the virus, with the median survival rate after diagnosis just 11 months. Mark S. King lived through it…

  20. The Discovery of the Ebola Virus

    · 35 min · S1 E143

    In 1976, a mysterious illness started killing people in Central Africa. Virus expert Joseph McCormick was flown in to work out what it was and how it spread. This is how the world came to learn of a frightening new…

  21. How I Lost Everything to Leonardo DiCaprio

    · 56 min · S1 E142 · Explicit

    In 1995, Dale Wheatley had just written and produced Don's Plum starring his friends Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. The film was quickly snapped up for a 3-picture deal. But then Leo decided he didn't want it…

  22. I Escaped an Abusive Polygamist Cult… and Became a Millionaire

    · 1 h 00 min · S1 E141

    Pamela Jones was born into a fringe splinter group of Mormonism. By her early 30s she had nine children, while her husband had five other wives. But one day something inside her broke. In this ep, Pamela describes how…

  23. A Fatal Search for a Lost City of Gold in the Amazon

    · 1 h 05 min · S1 E140

    In 1981, an Israeli backpacker named Yossi Ghinsberg met a man in Bolivia who told him about a lost city of riches buried in the jungle. Four of them went into the Amazon to search for the city. Two came out. Yossi…

  24. My Terrifying (and Oddly Funny) 25 Hours Kidnapped in New York

    · 58 min · S1 E139 · Explicit

    On the eve of his 38th birthday in 1998, a lawyer named Stanley Alpert was plucked off the street by three armed men. For the next 25 hours he sat blindfolded in a corner of their Brooklyn apartment, listening to their…

  25. I Discovered Snowtown's Bodies in Barrels (Classic)

    · 48 min · S1 E138 · Explicit

    In May 1999, police found eight bodies decaying in barrels in a disused bank vault in Snowtown. Four men were eventually jailed for 12 murders. Former senior constable Gordon Drage was the first to discover the vault…

  26. I Was an Undercover Cop With a Death Wish

    · 50 min · S1 E137 · Explicit

    Todd Maguire was happy-go-lucky Australian policeman until his girlfriend died by suicide and everything changed. From there, Todd became a heavy drinking undercover cop chasing life-and-death situations to bury his…

  27. How Do You Survive a Cyber-Stalking Cult?

    · 54 min · S1 E136 · Explicit

    In 2018, sci-fi writer Patrick Tomlinson posted a Tweet that attracted the attention of a group of far-right internet trolls. As their harassment escalated, Patrick called the police, who did nothing. Now, nearly eight…

  28. How I Became a Cult Recruiter

    · 1 h 00 min · S1 E135

    In 2019, Matthew Thomas thought he was joining a Bible study group. Instead, he was sucked into Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive Korean cult known for coercive control and bankrupting its members. Over the next…

  29. I Committed a School Shooting

    · 1 h 03 min · S1 E134 · Explicit

    In 2004, Jon Romano brought a shotgun to school intending to take his own life. One person was injured before he was tackled to the ground. Today, Jon reflects on the path that led him there—and what he wishes he’d…

  30. I Got Caught Fabricating Stories for the New York Times

    · 41 min · S1 E133

    In 2003, Jayson Blair was a rising star in journalism, until he got caught plagiarising stories and inventing details. What followed was one of the most high-profile downfalls in modern media. In this ep, Jayson…

  31. I Woke From a Coma to a Man Claiming to Be My Boyfriend

    · 52 min · S1 E132

    After Brooke Knisley fell from a tree, she couldn’t walk, talk, or remember anything—or anyone. So when a man appeared claiming to be her boyfriend, she believed him. What followed was months of manipulation, as she…

  32. Pink Jumpsuits, a Limo, and the Wildest Race in America

    · 27 min · S1 E131

    The Cannonball Run is an illegal car race from New York to Los Angeles. In 1972, Judy Stropus entered with an all-women team sponsored by a bra company. They didn’t finish, but somehow became the most legendary team in…

  33. Growing Up With My Cousin, Ted Bundy

    · 1 h 12 min · S1 E130

    Between 1974 and 1978, Ted Bundy confessed to killing 30 women. During that time, he was especially close with his cousin, Edna Cowell Martin. In this episode, Edna shares what it was like growing up with him. From…

  34. Filming 'Titanic' and Someone Drugged Our Soup (Classic)

    · 30 min · S1 E129 · Explicit

    On August 9, 1996, the cast and crew of Titanic wrapped a long shoot with a seafood dinner. Within an hour, around 40 people (including director James Cameron) were ill. The cause: someone had spiked their chowder with…

  35. Dig a Secret Hole on a Volcano and Don't Ask Questions. That Was the Job

    · 58 min · S1 E128

    It's one of the weirdest mysteries we've encountered. On this week's episode, we speak to Brett Grimes, who was 19 when he a got a job digging a huge hole in the forested side of a volcano, with no explanation of what…

  36. Mutiny on the Sex Raft

    · 44 min · S1 E127

    In 1973, a raft carrying five men and six women set off across the Atlantic to answer the age-old question: what causes human violence? The expedition’s leader, anthropologist Santiago Genovés, believed the answer lay…

  37. Whales Are Sinking Boats and No One Knows Why

    · 41 min · S1 E126 · Explicit

    Since 2020, orcas have been attacking sailing boats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal. Experts initially thought the behaviour was a passing fad, but six years later, it shows no sign of stopping. In this episode,…

  38. The Millionaires Who Went Mad in Their Jungle Fortress

    · 51 min · S1 E125

    When American millionaire John Bender moved to Costa Rica with his wife Ann, they set out to build a dream life in the jungle. Instead, their relationship spiralled into madness. When Bender died from a gunshot wound…

  39. Ted Bundy Tried to Kill Me

    · 42 min · S1 E124

    In 1967, 14-year-old Connie Geldreich met a young man at a lake who called himself Ted. What began as a strange encounter escalated into something far more disturbing. In this episode, Connie recounts her memories of a…

  40. How I Ended Up Running a Happy Endings Parlour for Women

    · 58 min · S1 E123 · Explicit

    Alice was in her late 30s when she reinvented her life. She left her marriage and started prioritising herself for the first time ever. That journey led her to open a happy ending massage parlour for women. This is the…

  41. Sunk by Killer Whales, Adrift for 38 Days

    · 54 min · S1 E122

    Douglas Robertson was a teenager when his family set out to sail the world on a yacht. Seventeen months into the voyage, orcas sank the boat in the Pacific. In this ep, Douglas describes 38 days adrift in a small…

  42. I Made a Fortune Helping People Cheat Their Tax

    · 38 min · S1 E121

    Rick Hogg was a Melbourne accountant who specialised in minimising tax by fabricating expenses. In 2018, it all imploded and Rick got five years in prison. In this episode, he explains how the scheme worked, why he…

  43. I Made $2M a Year as a Corporate Spy

    · 46 min · S1 E120

    Robert Kerbeck was a broke actor when he stumbled into corporate espionage. His job was to trick low-level employees into divulging company secrets, which he sold for big money. In this episode, he explains what the…

  44. I Bought a Haunted Witches' Prison (Classic)

    · 1 h 08 min · S1 E119 · Explicit

    Vanessa Mitchell thought she was buying the home of her dreams. Sure, it was a medieval prison for English peasants accused of witchcraft, but it was cute and within her price range. But then her possessions started…

  45. I Was Raised in a Cult Believing I'd be Dead by 12

    · 53 min · S1 E118

    Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God, an authoritarian sect that taught its followers that the world would end in 1993. In this episode, she reflects on how it felt growing up expecting to die, and how the group…

  46. I Was Held Captive in This House for 11 Years

    · 1 h 03 min · S1 E117 · Explicit

    Lily Rose Lee was 21 when she accepted a ride from her friend’s father. She was 32 when she finally escaped his house, along with two other women. In this episode, Lily recounts what 11 years in captivity did to her…

  47. A Journey to Find Russia's Forgotten Space Ships (Classic)

    · 1 h 21 min · S1 E116

    Greg Abandoned is an urbex YouTuber who visits the world’s most wild and forgotten places. A few years ago, he trekked into the Kazakh desert to explore a secret Russian military facility that houses abandoned space…

  48. A Federal Judge Banned My Christmas Lights

    · 32 min · S1 E115

    In 2015, Jeremy Morris bought a house in Idaho to host the Christmas display of his dreams. Within weeks he was locked in a bitter feud with his neighbours over religious freedom and civil liberties. In this episode,…

  49. The Journal Found Beside a Dead Man in Alaska

    · 41 min · S1 E114

    In February 1982, the body of a wildlife photographer named Carl McCunn was found in northern Alaska. A miscommunication had left him stranded and McCunn had documented his final cold months in a journal. In this…

  50. Saying Goodbye to My Multiple Personalities

    · 50 min · S1 E113

    Sometimes Vivian Conan saw herself in the mirror. Other times she saw others with their own distinct personalities and backstories. At 43, she was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, formally known as…

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