What It Was Like
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. Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast Follow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcast Hosted by Julian Morgans This is a Superreal production Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
In 1991, Shaun Attwood arrived from the UK to find American rave culture in its infancy. Spotting an opportunity, he began importing potent Dutch ecstasy and built a drug empire through his network of dealers and party organisers. In this episode, he tells the story of his rapid rise and hard fall.
Check out Shaun Attwood’s YouTube channel here. His books and social media accounts can be found here.
Find us on TikTok: @...
A new study gave psilocybin to religious leaders, just to see whether their faith would be affirmed or rattled. In this episode we hear from one participant, Islamic leader Sughra Ahmed, who describes how the trip brought her closer to God but uprooted her belief in organised religion.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Follow us on Instagram: what...
Mary McGriff was 15 when she hitched a ride with a man named Lawrence Singleton. The next day, she lay at the bottom of a cliff, her arms severed with an axe. Somehow, she survived. In this episode, she shares how a voice in her head kept her going. It's a story about refusing to let the monster win.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Follow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikep...
This week, we're re-running a classic. When abandoned farm houses started catching fire in rural Virginia, police weren't sure what to think. It took five months and almost 80 fires for a couple to be arrested and the story to emerge. In this episode, convicted arsonist Charlie Smith explains how he and his ex-partner lit fires to relax when their relationship soured.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
In the early 90s, Paul Templer ran a business guiding clients down the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls. One afternoon, he was attacked by a hippo and found himself halfway down its throat. In this ep, Paul regales us with his wild story of survival, moment by moment.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Follow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcast
This is a Superreal&n...
In 2005, Malcolm Naden murdered two women and vanished into the Australian bush. For seven years he evaded police, until former detective Ricky Hennessy joined the case. In this episode, Hennessy shares how he helped track and capture one of Australia's most wanted men in remote wilderness.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Follow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcast
This is a Superreal...
John DeLorean was a star auto designer in the 1960s, but his own car company—the DeLorean Motor Company—never took off. When a cocaine deal offered a last-ditch lifeline, it ended in a dramatic arrest. In this episode, his daughter Kat DeLorean recounts the rise and fall of the iconic car—and how it found immortality in Back to the Future.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
In 1976, 20-year-old Rob Hunter was a month into his first teaching job at a remote Australian school when an armed gunman abducted him and his nine students. In this episode, Rob recounts the harrowing night they spent as hostages—and their dramatic escape via a high-speed car chase.
Connect with Rob and book him to speak at your school at https://kidnappedteachertalks.com/.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Last year, 23-year-old British porn star Lily Phillips announced plans to break the world record for the most sexual partners in a day—starting with a “practice run” involving 100 men. In this episode, she tells us what's motivating her, how her first attempt affected her—and why she’s still determined to go the whole way.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
In the mid-80s, producer Linda Gottlieb heard a friend’s story about “dirty dancing” at summer camp and urged her to write a script. Despite rejections, budget cuts, and on-set drama, the film became a surprise hit. In this episode, Linda shares why she believed in it from the start—and what she saw that others missed.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
In 2024, Cass Taulaki fell pregnant to the man of her dreams—a 32-year-old engineer in the Australian Defence Force. Or so she thought. In reality, he was unemployed and wanted for impersonating military personnel and skipping out on multiple families. Cass' TikTok story went viral earlier this year—and now she's sharing the full saga.
Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast
Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast
In the early 2000s, musician Nathan Munn moved into a tiny, ornate apartment in Montreal. At first, he and his flatmates brushed off its strange energy—but the nightmares and disturbances wore them down. Now, Nathan believes the apartment just wanted to be noticed.
Check out Nathan's music on Spotify
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
A Superreal production
In 2012, a cruise liner named the Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people. But Australian couple Rob and Tracy Elcombe survived and the disaster brought them closer.
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
A Superreal production
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Awá, an Indigenous group in Brazil's Amazon, had no contact with the outside world until recently. In 2010, BBC journalist Justin Rowlatt visited them in their new reserve, created to protect them from loggers. In this episode, he explores how modern pressures are impacting isolated tribes and what his ongoing friendship with the Awá has taught him about humanity.
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
In 2009, Kari Ferrell was outed by the media for writing bad checks and robbing trust fund babies across Manhattan. Dubbed the 'Hipster Grifter,' Kari served a year in prison and is now sharing her story. In this episode, she unpacks her motivations, her methods, and what she learned about the psychology of grifting.
Check out Kari's new memoir: You'll Never Believe Me.
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
This is the first episode of our new What It Was Like series, SCAMMERLAND. It's based on an episode we did last year, looking at how online scams are run by people living in modern slavery. We start our story with Small Q, a young Ugandan rapper and singer who thought he was traveling to Thailand for a dream job. However, everything changed the moment he stepped off the plane.
In 2015, wellness influencer Belle Gibson was outed for pretending to have cancer. Now she's back in the headlines thanks to a new show on Netflix. In this episode we talk to a woman named Beckii Jones, who once considered Belle a friend. She ran a Facebook group for mothers in the early 2010s when Belle joined and even suggested the name for her infamous app, The Whole Pantry. Beckii reflects on the woman she knew and the parts of...
Tornado chasing was a niche hobby when Tim Marshall started in the 1970s. But over time, he watched it grow in popularity and then explode into the mainstream with the 1996 release of the film Twister. In this episode, Tim reflects on the times he was lucky to make it home, the friends who didn't, and the "internetization" of his beloved past time.
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
A Superreal production
Julie Lindahl always knew there was something different about her family. Her German grandparents had fled to Brazil after the war, but she didn't know why. Until she discovered her grandfather was in the SS—the elite guard of the Nazi regime, responsible for some of their worst atrocities. In this episode, Julie explores guilt, accountability, and why confronting the past is the key to healing.
Julie's book, The Pendulum,&...
In 2014, Laurence Hearn was drinking too much and struggling to make ends meet. Then he accidentally got stuck in a washing machine. What followed was a series of unexpected events that would ultimately turn his life around. This is a one-of-a-kind tale of Australian larrikinism—told by the man who lived it.
Find us on TikTok
Find us on Youtube
Follow us on Instagram
A Superreal production
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.