What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Have you ever found yourself in some kind of weird situation or predicament, and you actually have no idea how you got there? And you’re asking yourself, “What just happened?”This is something I find really fascinating – when our brain is trying to figure out the reality of what is going on, but it just doesn’t have enough information to make sense of it. So the end result is usually confusion. But in some cases, it can be terrifying.Our guest today is Deb, and that’s what happened to her one day while she was downhill skiing with her friend Gary.It was a beautiful day, she’s in fresh snow, and she’s having a great time just flying down the mountain. But suddenly and without any warning, she just stopped. She’s on her back and unable to move. Then she finds that breathing is getting more and more difficult. There’s no one else around.And she has no idea what just happened.She figured out what happened eventually, of course. And get this – Ski Patrol took longer than they should have to get to her, because they couldn’t find her. And Deb says that mistake is what allowed her to survive this whole ordeal.If you like these stories and want to be one of the very special listeners who support the show, visit WhatWasThatLike.com/support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s bonus podcast episode is being released in an “off week”, outside of the regular every-other-Friday schedule. This is being done to introduce you to the podcast called This Is Actually Happening.The host of This Is Actually Happening is Whit Missildine. He and I recently connected after realizing that our two podcasts are very similar – people telling their stories of unusual experiences, first hand. This week, we are trading episodes. He recently published my episode “Tyson was Abducted” for his show, and today I’m broadcasting his episode, which deals with a person who was struck by lightning.This is how Whit describes This is Actually Happening:“What is the most extraordinary event in your life that changed everything?” Over the last 6 years, no single question has fascinated me more. We live our everyday lives with a sense that we know who we are, what we want and what will happen. But at some point in our lives, many of us will experience something unthinkable – a massively unpredictable disruption that rattles our sense of self at the core. Who are we then? How do we recover? What do we become? I have explored these questions in over 100 interviews for This Is Actually Happening – a bi-weekly podcast that probes the extraordinary, life-altering events that shape the lives of ordinary people. We meet a woman who’s sister has five personalities, a son who was shot by his father, a man who wakes up in the morgue. Through stories like these, we gain intimate access to the chaotic interiors of the human story. With no narration or host interjections, This Is Actually Happening is a highly distilled, heavily edited, first-person show that cuts straight to the heart of the narrative.This episode is exactly the type of story I cover for each episode of WWTL so I think you’ll enjoy it. And I would like to get your feedback – just email me at Scott@WhatWasThatLike.com.This Is Actually Happening can be found on any podcast app, or at the website Permatemp.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Kimberly. Recently, Kimberly tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, also known as Coronavirus. She is a doctor.Note: No information on this website or this podcast should be construed as medical advice. The host is not a doctor. The guest for this episode is in fact a doctor, but she is in no way offering any medical advice here. If you have any questions concerning your health, you should consult your own physician.Kimberly was aware early on of how the COVID-19 virus was spreading, and she took extraordinary measures to avoid getting infected. She was concerned for herself, her husband and their 3 year old daughter. But even more so, she worried about the possibility of her parents contracting the virus; in particular, her father, who already has health issues that would make COVID-19 especially dangerous for him.But in spite of her efforts, she tested positive. And her case has been a rather severe and drawn-out one. She described her symptoms each day as she fought the virus for over a month. Just when she would think she was recovering, it would return.Kimberly agreed to come on the podcast and tell her story because she wants others who have tested positive to know they are not going through it alone. And to advise those recovering to take things slowly.Kimberly kept a journal of her journey through this experience, and you can read that here: https://medium.com/@drkimberlykruse/your-test-was-positive-d2638fbbe450 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all experienced embarrassment at some point. It’s not something anyone enjoys or wants to go through.But there’s another level of embarrassment: humiliation. I think it’s safe to say to say that very few people have experienced the level of embarrassment or humiliation that William has.Imagine being on the most popular talent show in the country – American Idol – and failing badly. The judges laugh at you and send you home. One of them even calls your singing “grotesque”. Then the video of that terrible audition gets broadcast on television, and ends up going viral worldwide. So your huge failure is seen by millions of people everywhere, and your name becomes synonymous with that bad performance.That’s what happened to William.What I just described is what most people know about William Hung. But there’s a lot more to his story, which you’re about to find out.If you’d like to join the other listeners who support this podcast, you can do that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support, and I thank you. William Hung links:WebsiteFacebookInstagramTwitterChampion by Choice (Amazon affiliate link) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Tyler lives here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. David is the person who introduced me to James Bain.James was arrested at age 19 as a suspect in a horrible crime, which you’ll learn about in a few minutes. He was convicted for that crime, and sentenced to prison. He spent 35 years in prison as part of his punishment for that crime. James was released from prison on December 17, 2009. David figured out how to get in touch with him, and invited him to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game. They've been close friends ever since.What’s interesting about this is the story behind WHY James was released. It’s not because he finished his prison sentence, or because he convinced the parole board that he was ready to enter society again. James was released because after he had spent 35 years in prison, DNA evidence cleared him of being connected with the crime.He was innocent.It’s kind of hard for me to even wrap my mind around being out of normal society for 35 years. I mean, that was the mid 1970s. No one had computers, no one had cell phones. Even a lot of televisions being sold then were still just black and white. So you can imagine it was quite a revelation for James when he was released and saw how the world and technology had changed over 35 years.David introduced me to James a few months ago, at the 10 year anniversary of the day James was released from prison. I asked him if he would like to come on the podcast and tell his story. I hope you enjoy it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would you do if you were asleep with your spouse, and it was the middle of the night, and suddenly you heard loud noises like someone banging on your door?What about when you got up and before turning on any lights, you could see the figure of a man standing there on the other side of your sliding glass doors?And when you turn on the lights, and you see him, and he sees you, and he explodes with anger and starts trying to break through the door?What would you do?None of wants to be put in a situation like that. But that’s what happened to Eric one night. He was trying to figure out what to do, his wife Jennifer was on the phone trying to get the police there as quickly as possible, and this man was using all his strength to get into the house.And then things took a big turn for the worse.Did you know you can support this show for just a dollar or two per month? You can do that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, the Federal Trade Commission processed 1.4 million reports of fraud. The total losses for all those fraud reports came to almost a billion and a half dollars. And that’s for a single 12-month period.The FTC publishes statistics, and they have said that the most common types of fraud complaints were fake debt collections, imposter scams, and the traditional identity theft. And in the category of identity theft, the most common one was credit card fraud – someone opening a new credit card account, using the identity of a different person.One of the groups most at risk for identity theft are children.This is because if a scammer can find out a child’s Social Security number, he knows it will be easy to establish a clean slate account, since the child has no credit history at all. That’s why experts recommend that parents monitor the credit reports of their children just as closely as they monitor their own, to prevent a scammer from stealing that child’s identity and clean credit.But what about when the parent IS the scammer?That’s what happened to Lynsey, and she told me all about it. Unfortunately, it’s not an extremely rare thing, but it’s something you really don’t hear much about. It’s just pretty sad to think that a mother can do something like this to her own child.If you like this show and the unusual stories we hear from the people who experienced them, you can become a supporter at WhatWasThatLike.com/support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is February 14 and in most places around the world that means a special holiday – Valentine’s Day. If you didn’t realize that’s what today is, you might be in a bit of trouble with your special someone by the end of the day.And since I knew I would have a new episode coming out on Valentine’s Day, I wanted to find a story that is related to love and romance, but would still be unusual and interesting enough to be an episode here on What Was That Like.Then I came across Matt’s story of how he proposed to Ginny, and I knew I had to put this one on the show. You know how when you go to the movies in the theater, and before the actual movie comes on, you see the trailers to preview other movies? Well, Matt created his own custom movie trailer. And he got the movie theater to show it, right there in the theater. And Ginny, his girlfriend, was in that theater. And she had no idea what was about to happen.Matt’s video is right here - watch this first!The video not only shows the movie trailer that he made as part of proposing to Ginny, but it ALSO shows her real-time reaction as she watches it herself for the first time.And actually, if you’re a member of our private Facebook group, you saw that I went in there a couple of days ago and posted this video so that everyone in that group could watch it AHEAD of time and be fully prepared for when this episode went live. Just one more reason you should be in that group!Anyway, I think you’re really gonna love this conversation I had with Matt. I get a big kick out of talking with creative people who like to do things that are way outside the norm. And Matt is definitely outside the norm. His creativity with this proposal made this video go viral, and he and Ginny were invited out to Los Angeles and appeared on the Ellen show (in addition to a TON of other media appearances). Ellen even paid for them to honeymoon in Jamaica.I had a great time talking to Matt, as you’ll be able to tell. And if you’d like to join the other listeners who support this show - for as little as a dollar per month – just go over to WhatWasThatLike.com/support.Matt and Ginny’s YouTube channelMatt and Ginny on EllenMike’s video production company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we’re going to hear from Jami. Jami had something happen to her when she was a teenager, and it clearly had a huge effect because she still thinks about it to this day.One night she came back home from a trip to the grocery store. She parked her car, and before she got out she saw a strange man standing on the sidewalk, right in front of her car. He stood there looking at her, through the windshield.Less than 10 minutes later, that man was in her bedroom. Yeah, this is a creepy one.And if you like the way Jami tells this story, hang around til the end because we’ll talk about the true-crime podcast she hosts.And as always, I invite you to join the other listeners who support this show – you can do that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support.Murderish Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s conversation is with Lauren. A few years ago, Lauren worked at a private zoo here in the United States. And one of her jobs was to take care of the monkeys.But these weren’t just any monkeys – these were howler monkeys. You want to guess how howler monkeys earned that name? You got it, because they howl.But it’s probably not the kind of sound you expect to hear when you think of howling. You know, you kind of think of a dog with that kind of high-pitched noise, that’s kind of charming because it seems like they’re trying to sing. Nope, this is something very different. It sounds more like something from The Exorcist. But that’s just what they do.Part of Lauren’s job was giving the howler monkeys their food and water. But there was one howler in particular that didn’t like Lauren. And one day, he had a brief opportunity to act on it, and he took it.This experience led Lauren to actually leave her career with animals. She went to graduate school and his now a high school science teacher, teaching Earth Science and Biology. And that knowledge plays a part in the podcast she co-hosts with her fiancé Nick, called Just Na Science. You can check that out at JustNaScience.com.Right now, What Was That Like is supported only by the listeners. If you like this show, I invite you to join the others who help out with a dollar or a few dollars each month, and you can do that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support.Links:Howler monkeys WikipediaJust Na Science podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices