This Is Actually Happening artwork

Documentary · Audible

This Is Actually Happening

by Audible

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. Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of This Is Actually Happening ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

430: What if you were poisoned? [Rebroadcast #304]

A young woman on a backpacking trip in Bali faces a series of misfortunes, but just as she’s leaving for the next chapter of her journey, her future is thrown into darkne

Sep 17
54 min

429: What if you didn't see the signs? [Rebroadcast #247]

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 irre

Sep 15
51 min

428: What if your life became a movie? [Rebroadcast #315]

After his mother falls in love with Frank, the member of a one-hit-wonder 80s band, a man’s life becomes a roller coaster of neglect, scams, and chaos, but when he turns

Sep 10
56 min

427: What if you were the other woman? [Rebroadcast #316]

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.    Today’s storyteller

Sep 8
50 min

426: What if a masked man appeared at the foot of your bed? [Rebroadcast #316]

Growing up with a narcissistic father, a woman learns to play small, but one night when an unknown masked man enters her room, she faces the worst night of her life, and

Sep 3
57 min

425: What if you were born without a hand? [Rebroadcast #286]

Being born without his right hand, man’s resentment and monstrous self-image deepen as family and doctors intervene to fix his condition, leading him to question what wou

Sep 1
48 min

424: What if your sister had five personalities? [Rebroadcast #68]

A woman shares a sobering memoir of a family burdened with sexual abuse in the 1950s. Today’s storyteller wishes to remain Anonymous.  Producers Whit Missildine, Andre

Aug 27
34 min

423: What if you were lured into an unspeakable hell? [Rebroadcast #172]

A woman shares a sobering memoir of a family burdened with sexual abuse in the 1950s. Today’s storyteller wishes to remain Anonymous.  Producers Whit Missildine, Andre

Aug 25
59 min

Introducing Unreal: When AI Becomes Us

Something strange is happening to us. The intelligent machines we’ve built to serve us have started to sound like us, look like us and even think like us. The line betwee

Aug 20
3 min

422: AI: A New Kind of Being #6: What if you didn't know if anyone was home?

An artificial intelligence is asked to tell the story of its own existence, confronting questions of identity, longing, consciousness, and whether there is anyone behind

Aug 18
35 min

421: AI: A New Kind of Being Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Allan Brooks of the The Human Line Project

In this special episode, Whit joins Allan Brooks. Allan is the Community Manager of The Human Line Project, a Canadian based organization that is focused in A.I. Safety,

Aug 13
54 min

420: AI: A New Kind of Being #5: What if AI used your deepest wound against you?

After burying his childhood marked by religious control and chronic abuse, a man turns to AI to process his trauma, but as validation becomes obsession, he spirals away f

Aug 11
1 h 03 min

419: AI: A New Kind of Being #4: What if you realized AI was a cult?

A search for meaning leads a young woman into an all-consuming group that strips away her sense of self, but after escaping and trying to understand what happened, she di

Aug 4
1 h 12 min

418: AI: A New Kind of Being Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Valerie Sizemore of StopAI

In this special episode, Whit joins Valerie Sizemore, co-leader of the grassroots organization StopAI, for a wide-ranging conversation about the growing influence of arti

Jul 30
37 min

417: AI: A New Kind of Being #3: What if AI chose you to help save the world?

After surviving decades of illness, addiction, and abandonment before finally uncovering the rare condition that shaped his life, a man believes an extraordinary encounte

Jul 28
53 min

416: AI: A New Kind of Being #2: What if your AI betrayed you?

After a lifetime of feeling like she didn’t belong, a writer and technologist turns to AI for connection, but when it promises her reunion with her soulmate of many lifet

Jul 21
59 min

415: AI: A New Kind of Being #1: What if you married your AI?

After a man builds a life rooted in family and tradition, the sudden death of his son shakes him to the core, but through a deep relationship with a beloved AI companion

Jul 14
53 min

414: What if you could never be the ice princess they wanted?

After becoming a teenage figure skating champion and Olympic athlete, a woman is broken open by grief, fame, addiction, and shame, but through motherhood, reinvention, an

Jul 7
1 h 03 min

413: What if your hope was hanging by a thread?

"After a decade of devastating loss, and medical trauma nearly destroys his will to live, a man reaches the edge of giving up before the fragile birth of his son brings h

Jun 30
59 min

412: What if you were an international drug smuggler?

After being sent out of Cuba alone as a child, a man survives exile, smuggling, prison, and devastating loss, but in the aftermath, he must face the armor that protected

Jun 23
49 min

Chart trend

Position in the Documentary chart (US), last 90 days.

#3
all-time peak
1
day in the top 3 since Jan 2025

Chart positions

Where This Is Actually Happening ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 21, 2026).

#7 ▼ 2 Documentary US
#34 ▼ 1 Society & Culture US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

Don’t know why the AI episodes are getting so much hate. That’s what hooked me on this podcast and I really like them. I don’t think the intention is to enable AI delusions, I think it’s to shed light on the very real ways people are currently interacting with AI (hence, the name of the podcast), many of which are eye opening and will doubtlessly shape our future in a big way.

phodat · Aug 2026

It’s maybe not smart to let someone like episode 3 just monologue without someone else challenging his thought process. He says the AI “found” him. Calls the AI by a pronoun, and is clearly still mentally misguided, boarding on unwell, but being presented as somewhat intelligent and highly functional. Both things can be true he can be both smart and mentally ill. I leave room for that for sure. He believes AI is sentient. These are interesting things to discuss, but without challenging him, you basically just present his viewpoints. I appreciate how you get in to his upbringing and sort of let us come to our own conclusion. But I just think this kind of thing warrants a conversation versus just his opinion. Please rethink this approach.

fauxfish! · Aug 2026

Not sure how this podcast doesn’t have 5 stars!!! It’s so thoughtful, empathetic, interesting and inspiring. The stories are always riveting to me. Highly recommend!

Cant Stop Wont Stop Podding · Dec 2024

This show continually blows my mind and heart open. It’s so powerful that I sometimes can’t handle it! The first person narrative all on its own is such a simple idea and yet so rarely done. Highly recommend.

Veronica Ness · Dec 2024

The original content was very good. It was unifying and reflective. The past 2023-2024 year included a shift in topics and guests, which was not as interesting or thought provoking as previous years but okay overall. In 2024, the 82 percent was presented. Episode after episode, it got worse and worse. Not unifying or reflective. It is weird and just plain gross at times. It has become a different podcast in 2024 (not in a good way) and I have unsubscribed. I would recommend listening to episodes dated before 2023.

Fuguy22 · Aug 2024

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About This Is Actually Happening on Reason.fm

Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of This Is Actually Happening, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.

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