Stay ConnectedConversations with people who have lived through extreme events. Some stories are dark and twisted, others are light and funny. In all cases, we get an intimate portrait of ‘what it was like’ to be there.
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Hosted by Julian Morgans
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The recent effort by a FlyDubai co-pilot to crash his own plane is not the first case of its kind. In 2015, Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz flew a plane into the French Alps, killing 150 passengers. On this ep, we talk to pilot and journalist Jeff Wise, who met Lubitz’s friends and visited the crash site. Why do suicidal pilots sometimes become mass killers?
Read Jeff’s book: Fatal Descent: Andreas Lubitz and the Crash of Germanwings 9525
Check out Jeff’s podcast: Finding MH370
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In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished on its way to Beijing with 239 people on board. It remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. In this subscriber ep preview, Jeff Wise, host of the podcast Finding MH370, shares his unique take on what happened to the plane, and why it hasn’t been found.
Check out Jeff’s podcast: Finding MH370
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Join our membership on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.
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In 1980s New York, Andy Behrman was an art dealer forging his clients’ paintings. He was also living with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which he believes fueled his criminality and eventually landed him in prison. On this ep, Andy talks about his eternal hunger for more and how mania both enhanced and ruined his life.
Read Andy’s book: Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania
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Robert Wittman founded the FBI’s Art Crime Team and spent 20 years going undercover to recover stolen art. In the full subscriber ep, Bob tells us how he catches art criminals. As he says, most of them make the same predictable mistakes, including those behind last October’s heist of the Louvre in Paris.
Read Robert’s books:
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures
The Devil’s Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
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Join our membership on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.
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In 1983, 11-year-old Kristine Conyers was abducted at gunpoint by a serial killer. She survived, but those four hours changed her life. It’s a story about the ripple effect on her family, and how she realised the crime was premeditated in ways she didn’t understand as a child. Kristine tells us how she’s lived with the trauma, and why the Me Too movement and the Cornell University rape case has emboldened her to come forward.
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This show often features people who’ve survived unimaginable horrors as kids, which begs the question: how do people move on? In this episode preview we put this question to Al Killen-Harvey, a clinical social worker who has spent decades helping abused and neglected children rebuild their lives. We talk trauma healing, how he carries his clients’ stories, and why he’s optimistic about the future.
Learn more about Al’s organisation: The Harvey Institute
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Join our membership on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.
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In 1991, cruise ship performers Moss and Tracy Hills found themselves on a sinking ship. As the MTS Oceanos floundered, passengers waited for the crew to take charge. Finally, Moss and Tracy stepped in, and ultimately rescued over 500 passengers. On this ep, Moss tells the story of becoming an accidental hero.
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This week's subscriber episode takes us back to February 2020, where Kent Frasure found himself confined to his cabin on the Diamond Princess due to COVID. It was a preview of the pandemic to come: the slow response, the gap between regular people and authority, and the limits of money against a million year-old virus.
Subscribe to WIWL PLUS+ to hear the full episode and get access to loads more exclusive content.
Join our membership on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.
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Through the 1990s, a group of men in Australia’s southernmost state began training as ninjas. It was a kind of proto-manosphere that slowly became part cult, part domestic terrorist cell. They stole explosives, stockpiled guns, and plotted to kidnap local businessmen, until their leader was murdered in 1997. On this ep, Journalist Claire Sullivan walks us through this bizarre and forgotten saga.
Pre-order Claire’s book: Criminally Bad The 100% true story of Tasmania’s most inept crime ring
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How do ordinary, intelligent people end up in cults, and how do they get out? In this subscriber ep preview, we talk to Ingo Michehl, who spent six years in the Moonies before a single phrase from a friend set him free. He later did a master’s in psychology with a thesis on mind control. He tells us about his journey in and out, and we unpack the eight criteria of “ideological totalism”.
Get in touch with Ingo at Balance With Ingo.
Subscribe to WIWL PLUS+ to hear the full episode and get access to loads more exclusive content.
Join our membership on Spotify here or on Apple Podcasts here.
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