When We Die Talks
by Zach Ancell
Latest episode
BONUS — Three Years Of Talking About Death
BONUS — Three Years Of Talking About Death
About this podcast
When We Die Talks is a collection of real conversations with real people about death, meaning, and what it’s like to be human.
Each week, host Zach Ancell speaks with an anonymous caller. It begins with one question: What do you think happens when we die? From there, the conversation goes wherever it goes. Belief. Doubt. Loss. Relief. Fear. Sometimes even laughter.
These aren’t experts or public figures. Just everyday people saying the quiet parts out loud. The result is raw, unpredictable, and deeply human.
New anonymous calls every Tuesday.
Want to add your voice? Apply to be a caller at whenwedietalks.com. Leave a voicemail and share a belief, a question, or a moment you can’t shake about death: 971-328-0864.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 93 episodes
- BONUS — Three Years Of Talking About Death · 50 min · Episode 78Content note: One voicemail near the end describes being shot and a near-death experience, with some strong language. The episode also talks about pet loss and euthanasia. Three…
- Anonymous #55 — What Do You Believe About Death Once No One’s Telling You What to Believe? · 58 min · Episode 77Content Note: This episode includes a brief mention of suicidal thoughts in childhood. This caller pictures death as floating in a dark bathroom lit only by a nightlight, so…
- Anonymous #54 — Does It Take Almost Dying to Start Living Differently? · 55 min · Episode 76Months into a stay at a rehab hospital, with both arms and both legs broken, the caller found out the crystal they always carried in their pocket had been sitting in their…
- Anonymous #53 — What Would It Take to Accept That You're Going to Die? (2-Year Anniversary) · 1 h 3 min · Episode 75The caller was five or six when they started lying awake at night, scared of death. What frightened them was the idea of not existing at all. That wasn't something a kid could…
- Anonymous #52 — Can You Grieve Without Suffering? · 47 min · Episode 74Content note: This episode includes open, direct discussion of suicide, including details of the caller finding their son after his death and the caller's own suicidal thoughts…
- Anonymous #51 — Why Does Talking About Death Sound So Woo-Woo? · 55 min · Episode 73Content note: This conversation talks openly about drug addiction, recovery, overdoses, and near-death experiences. The subjects are heavy, but the call itself is warm, curious…
- Anonymous #50 — Is It Okay to Have Made Peace With Dying When They Need You to Stay? · 59 min · Episode 72Content note: This conversation includes discussion around a terminal diagnosis and a period of chronic suicidality. If you aren't in the right space for this today, that's ok…
- Anonymous #49 — Is It Okay to Need Them to Stay When They've Made Peace With Dying? · 1 h 0 min · Episode 71Our caller's framework for what happens after we die starts with basic physics: energy can't be created or destroyed. From there, they work backward. If someone survives a…
- Anonymous #48 — Would You Believe a Sign From the Dead More If Someone Else Had the Same One? · 51 min · Episode 70The caller was raised by two atheist parents who explained death the way you'd explain any other natural process: you die, you break down, you go back into the earth. They never…
- Anonymous #47 — When Someone Dies Why Does Everyone Stop Saying Their Name? · 55 min · Episode 69A note before we start: This episode includes discussion of a suicidal crisis and the loss of a pregnancy. If that's more than you can take in today, that's okay, come back to…
- Anonymous #46 — Can You Hope for an Afterlife That Was Your Partner's Worst Nightmare? · 1 h 1 min · Episode 68Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, physician-assisted death, psychosis, and serious illness. The caller and their late partner met when they were…
- Anonymous #45 — How Would You Know If a Message From the Dead Was Real? · 54 min · Episode 67Our caller was sitting in a college class when a professor, mid-lecture, turned and looked directly at them and asked what it might have been like to be sheltered with your…
- Anonymous #44 — What Do You Lose When You Carry Other People's Pain? · 51 min · Episode 66Content note: this episode centers on suicide loss, discussed directly. If that's not something you're in a place for today, it's okay to sit this one out. Our caller found their…
- Anonymous #43 — Is Being Forgotten Worse Than Dying? · 52 min · Episode 65This week's caller calls themself a radical death advocate. Not because they think dying is good, but because they see it as a part of the life cycle we're better off accepting…
- Anonymous #42 — Who Takes Care of the Person Who Is Living for Everyone Else? · 56 min · Episode 64This week's caller was diagnosed as a type one diabetic when they were 22 months old. They've spent their entire life managing something that can genuinely kill them in either…
- Anonymous #41 — If Life Comes from Death, What if Nothing Ever Really Ends? · 57 min · Episode 63This caller was born into death. Their mother survived a rare, near-fatal condition as an infant only because a doctor happened to be at the house that day, checking on a dying…
- Anonymous #40 — Does It Matter What You Believe About Death, As Long As You Actually Believe It? · 56 min · Episode 62This caller doesn't come from a place of loss. They come from a place of curiosity, and a theory they've spent years quietly assembling. It starts with reincarnation. But not the…
- Anonymous #39 — Can You Stop Needing to Know What Happens When We Die? · 56 min · Episode 61This episode includes an open and personal conversation about suicide, suicidal ideation, and suicidality, including experiences from childhood. If you're in a tender place with…
- Anonymous #38 — What Happens to Your Own Life While You're Busy Caregiving Someone Else's? · 56 min · Episode 60This week's caller grew up in a Roman Catholic household where death was treated as simply another part of life. Something to be at peace with rather than afraid of. But the…
- Anonymous #37 — Can Faith Change What It's Like to Be With Someone Who Is Dying? · 48 min · Episode 59This week's caller is a retired physician who spent decades at the bedside of dying patients and now works at a funeral home. They have been present for death on both sides: as…
