As a luxury cruise ship sinks, unlikely heroes come to the rescue. Rose-Marie Howe was shocked when her cruise was interrupted by a blackout. But she soon realized the loss of power was the least of her concerns. The ship was sinking, and no one seemed to know what to do. Moss Hills, a guitarist in the ship’s band, decided to go to the lounge to investigate. He found instruments thrown about the stage and realized he couldn’t hear the ship’s engines. He also couldn’t find the captain or any of t...
May 05, 2025•35 min•Season 5Ep. 7
A simple drive home becomes a life-or-death struggle. The weather wasn’t great, but Bryan Pederson was just a few blocks from home on a street he had driven a thousand times. Still, the wind was howling and rain was pouring down. Sitting at a traffic light, he heard a loud crack. Instantly, he was trapped in a car being crushed by a tree. Ten cars drove past the scene, peering through the rain at the crumpled SUV and the tree blocking the road. Nine of them turned around and drove away. This is ...
Apr 21, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 6
From a crowd of onlookers, one person steps forward to help. A teenage girl named Maddie walked to a highway overpass and stopped. As dozens of cars sped past, she climbed a railing, looked over the edge and considered stepping off. A few cars stopped then and people began to gather, but only person, David Johnson, sat down and talked to Maddie. That conversation led to a scream, a laugh and eventually a hug. This is the story of how someone was saved and someone else was changed. We also speak ...
Apr 07, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 5
A leisurely float with friends nearly ends in tragedy. On a hot summer afternoon, Abi Sherman and some friends decided to cool off by floating down the Snoqualmie River in Washington. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she had plenty of experience in rivers. This time, however, everything went wrong. Her tube got stuck on a stump and she slipped into the freezing cold water. Without a life jacket, she was unable to stay afloat in the fast-moving river and her friends were too far downstream to...
Mar 24, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Social media comes to the rescue. Stacey Eno loves to travel. Her friend Mikey does too, and so they made plans to meet up and explore Bali. After settling into their hotel, they decided to take a scooter to the town of Ubud for dinner. As they returned to the hotel in the dark, they veered off the road and tumbled into a ravine. They were left there for hours, critically injured, unable to move. Mikey was, however, able to send a six-word Facebook post. That set in motion hundreds of people try...
Mar 10, 2025•30 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Something good emerges from something awful. Chantal Melanson was a country girl from Canada. Austin Monfort was a college student from California. They met at a country bar in Las Vegas the night before the Route 91 Harvest Festival. By the next day, they were living the plot of a romance novel until gunfire erupted. The mass shooting claimed the lives of 60 people. The story of how Chantal and Austin escaped, helping another along the way, is terrifying and, ultimately, heartwarming. We also t...
Feb 24, 2025•25 min•Season 5Ep. 2
A fight for life in the Canadian wilderness. Colin Dowler spent his whole life looking at the mountain named after his grandfather. Finally, at the age of 45, he decided to climb it. What should have been a two-day hike turned into a fight for his life when he encountered a massive grizzly bear. It took an extraordinary sequence of events to save his life. We also talk with Dr. Matt Levy with the American Red Cross about the things that had to line up for Colin to survive and what you can do to ...
Feb 10, 2025•32 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Tell Me What Happened returns for a fifth season of stories that will make you wonder, “What would I do?” If a grizzly attacked? If a cruise ship was sinking? If a night out on the other side of the world ended in a ravine? These are true stories of people stepping up to help strangers in peril, from Indonesia to Las Vegas, from the Oregon backcountry to British Columbia and beyond. As always, each of the seven new episodes includes experts weighing in with practical tips to help keep you and yo...
Jan 13, 2025•3 min
On May 10, 2022, Darren Harrison was one of two passengers flying home to Florida from the Bahamas. They were still over the Atlantic Ocean when the pilot suffered a medical emergency and passed out at the controls, sending the plane into a nosedive. Darren was able to pull out of the dive and regain altitude. But he had no idea how he was going to land the plane. Robert Morgan is an air traffic controller in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was on his break when a call came over the PA for him to g...
Aug 19, 2024•27 min
Justin Downey had a choice — change his life or die. At 16, he was addicted to heroin. In his 20s, he was in and out of prison. While serving a three-year sentence, Justin’s kids were taken into state custody. He knew he had to become a new man for his family and for himself. Getting clean was the first step. But he also had to find purpose, community and a way to support himself. Margo Walsh started drinking when she was 15. By the time she graduated from college, she was an alcoholic. After sh...
Jun 03, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 7
On September 11, 2001, Stanley Praimnath went to work on the 81st floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, same as he always did. When a plane struck the north tower, Stanley and many others began their evacuation. But when he reached the lobby, he was told his building was safe and to return to work. He was back in his office minutes later when a plane hit the south tower and tore through his floor. Brian Clark’s office was three floors up from Stanley on the 84th floor. When the tow...
May 20, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 6
In April 2023, Liv Titor visited Dreamtime beach on Australia's Gold Coast. What happened to her that day felt like a nightmare. After a quick swim, Liv walked out onto a sandbar beside some rocks. Then she felt a pull at her legs and fell into the water. Liv stepped into a rip current that quickly pulled her out to sea towards massive waves and jagged rocks. John Gordon, a local surfer, was making the most of the big swells at the beach when he saw Liv get swept away. He knew if he didn’t act q...
May 06, 2024•21 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Lani Williams and her mother, Sincerity, could smell smoke, but that wasn’t rare on Maui. Brush fires happen with some regularity. This fire, they quickly learned, was different. Five hundred miles to the south, Hurricane Dora had kicked up unusually troublesome winds. In Lahaina, Hawaii, where Lani and Sincerity lived, those winds downed power lines and whipped sparks into a full-blown wildfire that was closing in on them. They tried to escape the blaze by car, but the main roads were either cl...
Apr 22, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Bob Tillotson knew the avalanche danger was high when he set out with friends into the Utah backcountry on his snowmobile. But he also knew which areas to avoid. Or so he thought. On January 13, 2024, an avalanche hit Bob without warning, carrying him down the mountain in a wave of snow. When he stopped, he was completely buried and separated from his group. Dustin Sweeten was snowmobiling with a separate crew that day. Just before he was ready to head home, he saw what looked like an avalanche ...
Apr 08, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 3
When Gabriel Otrin and Klever Freire stepped into their office elevator, they naturally assumed they’d be able to get out. It was August 2018, and a massive downpour was causing floods all over Toronto. Gabriel and Klever were working late and went to check on Klever’s car in the basement garage. Before they reached the bottom, however, the elevator stopped with a jerk and began to quickly fill with water. They couldn’t open the doors. They were trapped. Police officers Ryan Barnett and Josh McS...
Mar 25, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Nicole Rakowski arrived in Iceland looking for adventure. She left in a wheelchair. In February 2017, Nicole and two friends hiked to a natural hot spring just south of Reykjavík. When they arrived, Nicole took off her boots, changed into her bathing suit and stepped onto the riverbank beside the steaming water. She immediately began to sink into the mud and felt excruciating pain. She screamed for help. Lee Ricasa was taking a relaxing dip in a nearby mud pool when he heard a scream followed by...
Mar 11, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 1
In 1941, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the Bogancha family saved two young Jewish girls from Nazi soldiers, giving them fake identities and hiding them in an orphanage. That act of kindness would ripple across time and, amazingly, lead to the help their descendants needed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Connecting those dates begins with a book. In 2009, Greg Dawson published Hiding in the Spotlight , a book about his mother, Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson. She was a 14 year-old piano prodigy in 1941 wh...
Aug 14, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 7
When her crowded New York City subway train screeched to an emergency stop, K.Page Stuart Valdes melted in fear. She’d recently had a stroke nobody could explain. Terrified it would happen again, right there surrounded by strangers, K.Page felt anxiety wash over her. Until one warm voice cut through the fog. That stranger, just another face on a train moments before, helped K.Page find her way out of the panic attack and get on with her day. Then the stranger was gone. But her kindness was criti...
Jul 31, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 6
On the morning of Christmas Eve 2022, Joe White set out on the long walk to his job in the North Park neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. Joe has autism and he didn’t realize he was walking into the deadliest winter storm to hit the region in a century. Severely frostbitten and disoriented, Joe stumbled into snowdrifts and called out for help. A stranger heard his plea. Sha’Kyra Aughtry bundled Joe into her home. She was able to call Joe’s sister, Yvonne, who didn’t know he was out in the storm, ...
Jul 17, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Taylor Hash, a student pilot, had just taken off on her third solo flight when she got the shock of her life. Over the radio, she heard another pilot telling air traffic control that her front wheel fell off during takeoff. Taylor knew she’d have to land the plane with no front wheel, but she had no idea how or what to do next. In a case of right place, right time, a veteran pilot named Chris Yates happened to be at the airport that day, getting ready to co-pilot a private flight. It was his voi...
Jul 03, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Kristy Millar spent days preparing for Hurricane Ian, but when the storm hit, her family ended up trapped in their rapidly flooding home. They escaped, but the storm had turned their street into a river. To get to higher ground, Kristy and her 3-year-old son were going to have to swim. Enter Kevin Ott. Ott was also out in the storm, determined to rescue his kids’ grandmother — who happened to be Kristy’s neighbor. Driving a borrowed pontoon boat through canal-like streets in a Category 4 hurrica...
Jun 19, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Phil Mummert was in the middle of a perfect day of surfing at Bunker Bay, one of his regular spots in western Australia, until he was suddenly knocked off his board. When he surfaced, his board was broken, his leg was bleeding, and there was a great white shark charging at him. Using only his bare hands, feet and what was left of his surfboard, Phil fought for his life. But he knew he wouldn’t last long against a 16-foot shark. That’s when three more surfers arrived to help. Thanks to them, Phil...
Jun 05, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 2
René Compeán had hiked in Angeles National Forest many times. So he didn’t think twice when he set out on one of his favorite trails for a quick hike. But to save time, he went off trail — and ended up lost and relying on a rapidly dying cell phone to call for help. René was unprepared to spend a cold night in the mountains with wildlife roaming around him, and his mental and physical health deteriorated quickly. Rescue teams struggled to find him in a thick fog and a massive search area, until ...
May 22, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman was working at a job he loved, making enough money to provide for his family. At just 14, he was the father figure in his home in Honduras. One night after work he was abducted and smuggled into the United States. He was sold into sexual exploitation. For months he was tortured, beaten, drugged, starved and raped. But he was rescued. Sabrina Goosby took Suamhirs under her wing and taught him how to use his experiences to change the lives of others. As an adult, he has bec...
Dec 05, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Arapahoe Basin is a legendary ski resort in Colorado, and when it’s a powder day, skiers wake up at the crack of dawn to get up the hill for those fresh tracks. That’s exactly what Richard Dempsey did, except he only got a few runs in before everything changed. Richard is able to recount his story thanks to a slackliner named Mickey Wilson who risked his own life to save someone he met that morning. We also speak to author and retired ski patroller Patti Burnett about what dangers to look out fo...
Nov 21, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Lindsay Bull has worked at Scales and Tails for years. She has hosted numerous demonstrations with the animals at the facility, but one wrong move can end in disaster. That’s what happened during a child’s birthday party. The main attraction, a nine foot long alligator named Darth Gator mistook her hand for food and the race was on to save Lindsay’s hand. Thanks to Donnie Wiseman who attended the birthday party with his niece, Lindsay is still able to use both hands. You’re much more likely to c...
Nov 07, 2022•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Sixty-five horses live at Tamara Boole’s equestrian center. That is a lot of large animals to move to safety in a short period of time. But that’s what had to be done as the fires from the CZU Lightning Complex Fires bore down on Felton, California in August 2020. Thanks to local ranchers, including another stable owner - Michelle Le Clair, the horses at Tamara Boole’s Covered Bridge Equestrian Center were safely evacuated in the knick of time. We also speak to vet and UC Davis Veterinary Emerge...
Oct 24, 2022•23 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Gabe Rosescu had driven on the highway numerous times and was used to driving in all types of weather. But the day Gabe took his then new partner of six months, Sheri Niemegeers, on an epic road trip to see his friends, he could never have planned for what was about to occur. It’s not every day you see a tree crossing the road in front of you. Thanks to four motorists who risked their own lives, Sheri and Gabe are here to tell their story. We also speak to Mary Ann Adams, OnStar Member disaster ...
Oct 10, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 3
A seizure can happen anywhere at any time. It just so happened that when Aidan Jackson suffered a seizure there was no one there to witness it or call for help. But there was someone 5,000 miles away — another gamer who he had been talking to online. Raven Wolvesbane realized Aidan was having a seizure and quickly set to work trying to figure out how to send First Responders to his home. The only problem: she was in Texas and he was in England. We also speak with Dr. Kelli Dunlop, a psychologist...
Sep 26, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 2
It wasn’t the first time that Ryan Osmun had been hiking in a National Park, nor was it the first time he had hiked in the winter. Ryan knew what equipment to take and packed accordingly. As a photographer he enjoys hiking trails when they’re less populated. But he never expected to find himself or his girlfriend stuck on the trail, literally. A desperate phone call for help brought lifesaving assistance. We also speak to Faris ‘Faz’ Ali, Deputy Station Officer of Bay Search & Rescue about h...
Sep 12, 2022•25 min•Season 2Ep. 1
