What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Tristan 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...

Most 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...

On 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....

If 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 cau...

Have 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 plan...

Dr. 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...

September 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 hearin...

I 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 spi...

This 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...

There’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,...

There 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 th...

You 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...

Hey, 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 k...

Do 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 a...

Hey, 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 podcas...

Here 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 t...

(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...

There’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 dete...

Every 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 mill...

You’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....

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about seven great architectural structures. That list became known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Of those seven achievements, four were destroyed by earthquake. Two were destroyed by fire. Only one is still standing – the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt. This pyramid today has a height of 450 feet, or 137 meters. It was the tallest structure in the...

Content warning – this episode includes discussion of drug use and suicide. For anyone who creates online content, the big goal is to have your content go viral. Whether it’s a Tiktok or YouTube video, an Instagram reel, or a Facebook photo – when something goes viral, the person who posted it is kind of quasi-famous for a few days or a week. This happened to me once, several years ago. I posted a...

This is Scott, and this podcast is What Was That Like. This is the show where I usually have a guest come on and talk about something they experienced, that was extremely unusual. Like crashing a skydive, or getting shot in a mass shooting, or finding a baby in the New York City subway, or winning a showcase on The Price Is Right. The guest comes on the podcast, and tells the details of what happe...

On a Friday afternoon in 2022, Lex was at home, just doing some routine work on her laptop. It seemed like just a normal day. It did not turn out to be normal. In fact, what happened that day started Lex on a journey she never could have predicted. And by the way – the story you’re about to hear does not include any violence. But there is blood. A lot of blood. This is a short documentary that was...

Probably the most difficult thing for a parent to experience is losing a child. It’s often been said that the English language fails us in this area. A woman who loses her spouse is called a widow. If a man is the one who survives his spouse, he’s a widower. A child who has lost their parents is called an orphan. But why isn’t there a word for a parent whose child has died? Well, it turns out ther...