382 episodes

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.
Listen to exclusive episodes of This is Actually Happening exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/this-is-actually-happening/ now.

This Is Actually Happening Wondery

    • True Crime
    • 4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

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.
Listen to exclusive episodes of This is Actually Happening exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/this-is-actually-happening/ now.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    The 82 Percent #1: What if you were asexual?

    The 82 Percent #1: What if you were asexual?

    A man grows up waiting for his sexuality to bloom, but after that moment never comes, he feels a longing for intimacy that leads him to transform the meaning of partnership, family and fatherhood for himself and for society.

    • 51 min
    What if you were suddenly a blank slate?

    What if you were suddenly a blank slate?

    A woman growing up in worn torn Columbia comes to the US and builds a new life, but when she suffers a freak accident and loses her sense of self, a new beginning transforms the scars of her past.

    • 1 hr 1 min
    What if you kept hitting rock bottom?

    What if you kept hitting rock bottom?

    After a childhood feeling unworthy of love and belonging, a man finds his path to the Coast Guard and a solid marriage, but after a minor back injury, he’s prescribed painkillers that send him on a tragic spiral of addiction.

    • 50 min
    Listen Now: Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy

    Listen Now: Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy

    Nancy Brophy fills her novels with romantic betrayals and murder. It’s a far cry from her quiet life in the suburbs, where she and her chef husband, Dan, are living out their golden years. But when Dan is shot dead, Nancy finds herself at the center of a murder case that could be ripped from the pages of her novels.




    From Wondery, this is a story about what happens when the line blurs between fiction and reality. 




    Listen to Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting Wondery.fm/HNA_DN now. 

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    • 5 min
    What if they tried to erase you?

    What if they tried to erase you?

    Growing up in the remote Ozark mountains with a mother who believed she was God and a father with deeper abuses, a man paves his own rocky healing path to become a healer for others.

    • 47 min
    What if your mom believed she was the good witch?

    What if your mom believed she was the good witch?

    Growing up with a mother who used practiced an abusive form of spiritual voodoo, a man seeks to numb his pain, but after tragedy and a descent into crack addiction, he finally finds the cure he’d been looking for.

    • 50 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
9.2K Ratings

9.2K Ratings

JenniferBalesteri ,

What if you have already hit rock bottom

PS, I’ve been on Suboxone for 20 years now…. It got me out of my cycle

Houston Holiday ,

Ingrid who escaped the violence of South America

And found refuge in the USA, refers to us Americans as “colonists” and accuses a man who helps her following an accident as “mocking her” and suggests that his touching her waist after the accident made her feel uncomfortable as if he did anything other than help her. Stopped listening. Her lack of gratitude and hostility towards those in the USA who have helped her was stunning.

crandarella ,

Episode 319 is Pathetic

I have never reviewed a podcast before, but I was so disappointed with the content of 319… here I am. Episode 319 is about a mother who becomes homeless. The majority of the episode is her recounting the experience. There is only one time where she takes any responsibility for ending up homeless “or I guess I did it to myself.” That is a direct quote and even in that quote she uses deflecting language. She talks about how she thought her situation was so unfair, she thought her friends and family were rude and unkind for not helping her when she was unstable and refusing treatment. She describes the help & treatment she did receive in negative ways. Eventually she is diagnosed with post traumatic and bipolar and is on medication for them. But she never actually acknowledges that she is the only person responsible for her choices. I live in a city with the largest homeless shelter in the country and a massive population of unhoused individuals. After listening to episode 319 it makes me wary of helping unhoused people - if they share this woman’s viewpoint that the world is unfair rather than their choices lead them to being homeless and they are solely responsible… it doesn’t matter how much help is provided. Without self accountability and responsibility there won’t be real change.

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