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 determines that no one is home, they just go in – usually by breaking in – and take up residence. They just act like its their house.

This is happening all across the country. And the infuriating this is that in most cases, the police can’t just go and remove them. It becomes a civil matter, which means the homeowner has to spend money on lawyers and court filings, as well as paying for some other place to live in the meantime. And all the while, the squatter is living in the home without paying anything.

My guest today is Flash. He didn’t expect it, but he was faced with a squatter problem. But he decided to handle this case on his own.

Disclaimer – the process that Flash used may not work for everyone. It might not work in your case. It also might be dangerous. For advice on how to deal with squatters, consult your attorney.

If you’d like to contact Flash by email: [email protected]

Petition to make squatting a crime:

https://www.change.org/p/change-squatter-laws-help-make-squatting-illegal

United Handyman Association website

HTTPS://Unitedhandymanassociation.org

Instagram:

@flashshelton

@squatterremover

YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/@handymanassoc.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/140

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL 

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what 

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off

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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 million people each year. And people keep coming back. And for anyone with kids, it’s a no-brainer – that’s where the kids want to go.

My guest today is Tricia. She and her sister, Heather, and their mom and dad, would make trips to Disney World every year. It was a family tradition that they all looked forward to.

They knew the layout of the Magic Kingdom by heart, and it didn’t matter that the rides and the attractions and the fireworks were the same as when they were there the year before. It was their place.

But there was one family trip to Disney World that was not like any of the others.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are at

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/139

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

The Letter Your Teenager Can’t Write You was written by Gretchen Schmelzer:

https://gretchenschmelzer.com/parents-corner/2015/6/23/the-letter-your-teenager-cant-write-you

Voiceover for that piece was performed by Elle Ray James. If you need a voiceover artist, check out their work at https://www.castingcall.club/elle-ray-james

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL 

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what 

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off

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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.

That’s not what we’re doing today. This bonus episode is called Raw Audio. The Raw Audio episodes are 3 real-life stories, and they include the 911 calls that were made when it was happening. You’ll hear that audio, as well as the story of what happened.

These episodes are usually only available exclusively to listeners who support the podcast for $5 a month. You can sign up for that at WhatWasThatLike.com/support. When you do that, you also get all the regular What Was That Like episodes without any ads. And you can binge all of the past Raw Audio episodes – right now there are a total of 32 of them.

But today, we have a special one and it’s available to all listeners. Every once in a while I like to put out an extra episode like this, so if you’ve been thinking about it, you can see sort of a free sample of what you’ll be getting when you become a supporter. If you like real-life stories, and the feeling that you are right there as it happens, I think you’ll enjoy this content.

And here’s the content warning for today’s episode – you’ll hear about a plane crash, a murder/suicide, and a home invasion.

And of course, after these 3 stories, we’ll have our regular Listener Story like we do for every episode.

To binge all 32 Raw Audio episodes and get all the new regular episodes ad-free, sign up here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/support

Full show notes for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/138

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 world for over 3800 years.

And now, it’s a popular tourist destination. People from all over the world will travel to Cairo, and stand next to this enormous structure, and just wonder about all the manpower and materials and work that went into creating it.

And there are others, like today’s guest, Alex, who look at the Great Pyramid and think “I’d like to climb to the top of that pyramid”. And Alex came up with a plan to do just that.

What he didn’t plan on was getting caught.

If you’d like to contact Alex:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ABrockstar32

Pyramid map:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giza_pyramid_complex_(map).svg

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/137

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 video on Facebook, and it just took off like crazy. It wasn’t even a video that I created personally. But people saw it and shared it, so it was seen by millions of people – right on my Facebook profile page. So I was getting hundreds of friends requests every day from people I didn’t know (and I declined all of them, of course). It was kind of fun, but also a little weird that suddenly my Facebook page was being viewed by so many people, all over the world.

But for some people, having their photo go viral is not a good thing. That’s what happened with my guest today, Sarah. She got in trouble for selling drugs. This was her first time ever being arrested, and she made the mistake of smiling for her booking photo. That’s when things got crazy, and she was nicknamed in the press as the “Adorable Drug Kingpin”.

The other reason this story went viral was because of where Sarah’s dad worked. His employer was the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sarah’s dad was a DEA agent.

If you’d like to contact Sarah, her email is [email protected]

Show notes for this episode:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/136

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at https://WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well).

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 happened, first hand.

This episode is different.

In this one, I’m going to talk about a man who lived in Texas, whose name was James Bigby. You’ll learn about his horrific crimes, his bizarre behavior in court, and what eventually happened to him.

This is not a case that you’ve ever heard about on any other podcast.

But after you’ve heard his story, stick around and I’ll tell you exactly why I’m bringing it to you today.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/135

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL.

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Voiceover work for this episode by Kiyana Morgan. Graphics by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 made by Luke and Jasper (two of Lex and Meg’s sons) about their family and their pet rabbit, Shirley:

https://vimeo.com/642010919

If you’d like to Lex’s blog and the amazing photographs she creates, visit

https://LexBeach.com

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/134

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 there actually is a word for that.

“Vilomah” is a Sanskrit word that’s been used in Hindu philosophy for centuries. It’s a compound word made up of two words – “vi” which means “against”, and “loma” which means “hair”. The word “vilomah" is often translated as “against the hair” or “against the grain” or “against the natural order of things”.

In recent years, the word “vilomah” has gained popularity outside of Hindu philosophy, and it’s now used to describe a parent who has lost a child. The term “vilomah parent” refers to a parent who has experienced the loss of a child, which is considered to be a violation of the natural order of things.

Ashley lives in Florida, and she knows about that experience. And she’s using her story to help other people avoid what she’s been through.

Great resource for learning about infant swimming, and even finding an instructor local to you:

https://www.infantswim.com/

If you’d like to contact Ashley, you can email her at [email protected].

If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/133

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a bonus episode of What Was That Like.

If you’re new to the show, this is not normally what you’ll hear. What usually happens is I’ll have someone come on the show to tell the story of something that happened to them. Something that was very unusual. At this point we have over 130 episodes, and a huge variety of stories – animal attacks, plane crashes, mass shootings, all kinds of stories.

And at the end of each episode, we have a Listener Story. This is a story that is sent in by a listener. It’s not an interview, just the person talking about something interesting that happened to them.

I started ending each episode with one of these short stories back in 2021. And just about a month or so ago, I put out a bonus episode with all the Listener Stories from 2022. And I got a lot of positive response to that. So I thought it would be good to get all of the other Listener Stories – the ones from the beginning, in 2021 – and put them out as a bonus episode as well. So that’s what we have here today.

And if you have a story like this, I’d love to hear it. It can be funny, or sad, or anything really – as long as it’s interesting and you can tell it in 5-10 minutes. Just record it on your phone and email it to me, at [email protected]. There’s a good chance I’ll play it in a future episode of the podcast.

I definitely enjoyed hearing these stories from a couple of years ago, and I think you will too.

Full show notes for this episode are here:

WhatWasThatLike.com/132

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard for me to imagine not loving dogs. But that’s the way some people are, and it’s usually pretty easy to spot someone like that.

I remember one time we were visiting my parents and of course we brought our two little Yorkies with us because they like to go everywhere we go. They are Lilly and Fenway. And Fenway is a little guy, only about 7 pounds, and he is the social one. He just loves to meet new people, and of course he just charms everyone with his cute little face.

Well, not everyone. This time we were at my parents’ house, and they had some friends of theirs over at the same time. The man was sitting on the couch, you know, everyone was just chatting. And Fenway just goes over and jumps up on the man’s lap, like he does with everyone. Now, if that happened to me, I’d love it, because “oh cool, this dog likes me!”. But this man didn’t have that reaction. He kind of froze, he pulled his hands back, and the expression on his face was “um, okay, what do I do now?”. I just found it kind of amusing that someone could react to a friendly little dog that way. But I went and picked Fenway up, and he was probably a little confused because that’s not the typical reaction. But I understand, not everyone loves dogs like we do.

My guest today is Jacqueline, and she’s like me – a big fan of dogs. In fact, she was working as a dogsitter, and she loved doing that because she got to meet new dogs all the time. So dogs were a big thing in her life.

But there was one day, when the thing she loved so much almost cost her her life.

If you would like to contribute to her recovery expenses, she has a GoFundMe:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/dog-sitter-jacqueline-durand-nearly-killed-in-ca

You can follow Jacqueline on her Instagram or her YouTube Channel.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/131

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices