This Is Actually Happening

By Wondery

Society & Culture

What's This Is Actually Happening about?

What if you were trafficked into a cult...or were mauled by a grizzly bear...or were stabbed 27 times by a serial killer - what would you do? This is Actually Happening brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a man who woke up in the morgue to a woman stranded in a Mexican desert fighting to survive, these stories will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what happens next. New episodes come out every Tuesday for free. Listen 1-week early and to exclusive past episodes - all ad-free - with Wondery+ or Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

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281: What if you entered th...

06.06.2023

Escaping the tumult and abuses of his childhood through music, a young man lands a dream gig at a premiere nightclub in Mexico, but when the party’s over, he finds himself inside the underbelly that lurks beneath the glamour.

This Is Actually Happening episodes:

06.06.2023 281: What if you entered the belly of the Narco beast? Escaping the tumult and abuses of his childhood through music, a young man lands a dream gig at a premiere nightclub in Mexico, but when the party’s over, he finds himself inside the underbelly that lurks beneath the glamour.
06.05.2023 Listen Now: Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried From Wondery and Bloomberg, the makers of The Shrink Next Door, comes a new story of incredible wealth, betrayal, and what happens when “doing good” goes really, really bad. When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s ...
05.30.2023 280: What if you lived on the line between life and death? Growing up in a family of ex-Scientologists, a person finds solace in relationships, when they suddenly fall in love with someone calling everything in their life into question while descending into mental illness.
05.23.2023 279: What if you survived online child exploitation? After being subjected to horrific abuses from his schizophrenic father as a child, a man later descends into his own mental illness, but as he struggles to recover, a freak accident unexpectedly awakens him into a new life.
05.16.2023 278: What if you couldn't keep her safe? In the wake of her uncle’s untimely death, a woman bears the brunt of her mother’s long mental health decline, struggling to keep her safe from herself, and in the wake of tragedy, finds a way to help thousands of ...
05.15.2023 Wondery Presents - Flipping The Bird: Elon vs Twitter When Elon Musk posted a video of himself arriving at Twitter HQ carrying a white sink along with the message “let that sink in!” It marked the end of a dramatic takeover. Musk had gone from Twitter critic to “Chief ...
05.09.2023 277: What if you survived the Bosnian genocide? From an idyllic childhood in communist Yugoslavia, as a teenager, Mirsad’s world becomes a living nightmare as the Bosnian War brings shelling, torture, murder and ethnic cleansing to his village, leaving deep scars that haunt and transform his life.
05.02.2023 276: What if you left your kids held hostage? A woman buries a series of childhood traumas and falls into a chaotic world of drugs and abuse, but when things turn from darkness to horror, she must make split second, life or death decisions that ultimately bring everything to ...
04.25.2023 275: What if the demons were too large to see? After divorcing her first husband and starting a new life, a woman meets The One, but when one night he doesn’t come home, she calls the police and her world is turned upside down.
04.18.2023 274: What if you were crushed by 10,000 pounds of stone? Struggling to prove himself and find his identity growing up, a man eventually builds a career and begins occasionally helping out a friend with his granite import business, when one day, the dangers of the job become all too real.
04.14.2023 Point Blank: Bonus Interview with Connor Sheets A special bonus episode featuring a conversation between TIAH host, Whit Missildine and Connor Sheets, an investigative journalist with the Los Angeles Times who co-produced the Point Blank series. In this conversation we discuss the origins of the series, how ...
04.13.2023 Point Blank: Inside the Mind of the Rancho Tehama Gunman A special bonus episode featuring a conversation between TIAH host, Whit Missildine and Candice DeLong, host of the brilliant podcast, Killer Psyche, discussing the spree killing in Rancho Tehama, the focus of our Point Blank series.
04.11.2023 273: Point Blank #5: What if you were the sister of the gunman? Growing up in a supportive, suburban family, Sheridan Orr shares an idyllic childhood with her brother Kevin, but when he suffers a series of head injuries, things take a turn for the worse and the family suffers the ultimate nightmare ...
04.07.2023 Point Blank: Bonus Stories - Jared and James Two additional victims of the 2017 Rancho Tehama spree killing speak about their experiences in our Point Blank series: First, Jared Tuck, a neighbor of the shooter, who was attacked that morning and witnessed his uncle’s murder; Second, James Woods ...
04.04.2023 272: Point Blank #4: What if you made yourself a target? After a chaotic upbringing and early adulthood, Jessie Sanders carved a life for himself in Rancho Tehama, California and formed a deep friendship, but when his sister reported hearing gunshots at the elementary school that day, Jessie knew exactly what ...
03.28.2023 271: Point Blank #3: What if you shielded your students? Coming from a career in the military, law enforcement and police dispatch, Ken Yuers found his true calling as a teacher for at-risk youth, and eventually landed a job at Rancho Tehama elementary, when one day in 2017, gunshots outside ...
03.21.2023 270: Point Blank #2: What if your grandson was orphaned? After losing her daughter to a freak accident, Sissy Feitelberg focuses on supporting her grandson Gage who lives in Rancho Tehama with his widowed father, Danny, but when a shooting spree begins, a deeper horror falls on the family and ...
03.14.2023 269: Point Blank #1: What if you pled for your life? After navigating a hardscrabble, working-class life, Troy McFadyen finally settles down with his wife in rural California, when one day driving down the road, they are aggressively T-boned by a stranger, and suddenly find themselves in the middle an unthinkable ...
03.07.2023 268: What if he followed you into the house? Having grown up in a safe, sheltered home, a woman balances her career, marriage and five children, but one morning, when her husband is traveling on a two-month tour of duty, a man enters her home and a nightmare begins ...
02.28.2023 267: What if you were forced to keep the nanny's secret? Born to an affluent Mormon family, a boy befriends a rotating set of nannies that help raise him and become part of the family unit, but his favorite nanny starts playing games that reveal darker intentions.
02.21.2023 266: What if you thought everyone was dead? While in the depths of a toxic relationship, a woman begins experiencing a magical, unseen world around her, but on a layover on a flight through LA, the world becomes all too real.
02.14.2023 265: What if a routine pickup led to a crushing blow? Reeling from the early loss of his father and abuse in the family, a man finds an outlet through cars and becomes a repo agent, but on a routine job one night, he faces a life-altering danger that will change ...
02.07.2023 264: What if you were carjacked at gunpoint? A woman struggles to break free from the rules of her strict and sheltered upbringing, but after battling a derealization disorder and finding a new life for herself, she faces a danger she could never have imagined.
01.31.2023 263: What if a darkness destroyed your family? A woman grows up in a loving Libyan family in California, but after recession hits and her dad falls on hard economic times, a darkness enters the family that destroys everything.
01.24.2023 262: What if you were mauled by a grizzly bear? While hunting in the Canadian wilderness, a man accidentally comes between a grizzly bear cub and its mother and a terrifying a fight for his life ensues that will change him forever.
01.17.2023 261: What if your mother was a victim of a secret government experiment? A woman learns shocking truths about what happened to her mom when she was young, while caretaking her mentally ill father and grappling with revelations that haunt the family forever.
01.10.2023 260: What if your husband claimed you were dead? After a chaotic upbringing ending with her parents’ divorce, a woman falls into the hands of a man whose promises are too good to be true.
01.03.2023 What if your singular dream fell to pieces? - [Rebroadcast - #134] After devoting his life to a singular passion, a man develops a rare condition that threatens to crush his dreams forever.
12.27.2022 What if you were tortured in an Iranian prison? - [Rebroadcast - #238] A teenage Russian immigrant in Iran is jailed and tortured during the Iranian Revolution of 1979, but when a prison guard falls in love with her, she’s forced to weigh the price of her freedom.
12.20.2022 What if everyone pretended you were dead? - [Rebroadcast - #212] A man searches to find love for himself and his family after facing the dark consequences of being disfellowshipped by the Jehovah’s Witness.
12.13.2022 259: What if you survived a serial killer? While pregnant and navigating a rocky relationship, a woman coming home from a local fair stops for a soda one night and suddenly faces the brutal terror of a notorious serial killer.
12.06.2022 258: What if you fell in love with a vampire? After suffering the horrific abuses of his Southern grandmother, father and mother, a teenage boy discovers his own queer identity through a fantasy world, but when it becomes all too real, everything he believes is called into question.
11.29.2022 257: What if you didn't know who to believe? After leaving the Jehovah’s Witness faith of her childhood, a woman redefines her life with her husband and child and becomes a loving foster parent for many, but as one of her foster children comes of age, the chaos threatens ...
11.22.2022 256: What if you prepared your boyfriend's body? After losing her father at a young age, a woman begins apprenticing as a funeral director, but when tragedy strikes again, the loss takes an exponential toll.
11.15.2022 255: What if they didn't ask and you couldn't tell? A man growing up in the closet joins the military under “don’t ask, don’t tell” and numbs his identity with alcohol, but after becoming a nurse and after COVID wreaks havoc, his downward spiral hits a new rock bottom that ...
11.08.2022 254: What if your father annihilated the family? A woman grows up in a home chronically terrified by her father’s abuse, but when her parents split and he starts another family, she learns of the true, horrifying danger she was in her entire life.
11.01.2022 253: What if you couldn't even remember the crash? As a teenager struggling with severe depression and anxiety, a woman finds dance as her only outlet, but on a night that is lost to memory, a horrific accident transforms her body, her brain and her identity.
10.25.2022 252: What if you watched your mother disappear? A man tries to put the pieces of his life back together after growing up with a mother who suffered from severe OCD and anorexia.
10.18.2022 251: What if a false allegation stole what you valued most? A woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder experiences a roller coaster of destroyed relationships and mental storm, but after stabilizing through therapy and medication her mentally compromised mother makes an accusation that cannot be revoked.
10.11.2022 250: What if a devastating truth only deepened the mystery? Growing up Black and queer in the South, a man finds an identity for himself through the arts and establishes a wonderful marriage with children, until one day, when his husband is late coming home, there’s a ring at the ...
10.04.2022 249: What if you knew your baby was going to die? Coming from a charmed, conservative, Catholic upbringing, a woman must confront her deepest beliefs as she struggles with the reality and implications of the most devastating news a mother can receive.
09.27.2022 248: What if an invisible disease blew up your life? After surviving a chaotic and abusive upbringing, a woman develops an undiagnosable autoimmune disorder that threatens to take her vision and her livelihood, but when a friend brings a blow-up doll to play a practical joke one night, everything changes.
09.20.2022 247: What if you didn't see the signs? Bill Mitchell built a successful career, marriage and family, but just as his bright and loving daughter graduates from college with big dreams, an unthinkable event irreversibly changes everything.
09.13.2022 246: What if you could never be what they wanted? Always feeling she had failed the ideals of her strict Muslim, South Asian family and community, a woman struggles to navigate trauma, shame and self-expression, when unexpected news forces her into a powerful reckoning.
09.06.2022 245: What if you were taken to the dark side? A woman struggling to find herself finally discovers a place where she belongs and forms a deep friendship, but when she experiments with a powerful psychedelic the experience reveals more than she bargained for.
08.30.2022 244: What if you could never make him proud? A man struggles to free himself from his father’s iron grip on the family, but when an unsettling truth about his past is revealed, his entire life comes into focus.
08.23.2022 243: What if you signed a billion-year contract? After a woman’s Mormon family falls apart following the death of her father, her mother brings her to a Scientology Center where she leaves everything behind.
08.16.2022 242: What if you woke up and couldn't move? After growing up queer with a complicated father in the 1960s, a man forges his own path, identity and career in the arts, but suddenly, after a routine surgery, he wakes up unable to move.
08.09.2022 241: What if you were the other woman? A woman falls deeply in love with a married man in her close friend’s circle, when suddenly an unthinkable event throws everything into question.
08.02.2022 What if you were the one to break the silence? - [Rebroadcast #137] Growing up in a household full of both love and violence in Mississippi, Kiese Laymon struggles with generational trauma, career success, and addiction before finally facing the silences of his past.

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