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Stories from a Stranger

Stories from a Stranger

By: Higher Ground
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“Every stranger has a story.” This is what Hunter Prosper realized when he began posting man-on-the-street interviews with real-life strangers to his social media accounts.

Hunter’s genuine connection with strangers and emotional interview moments quickly captured viewers' hearts across multiple platforms and a New York Times Best Selling book. Now, Hunter is expanding his social media series into a new weekly video and audio podcast, Stories from a Stranger, featuring portraits of multiple strangers connected by themes of love, loss, regret, inspiration, illness, family connections, and more.

In each episode, Hunter brings his innate warmth, curiosity, and charm, interviewing people from all walks of life and sharing anonymously submitted confessions. Interviews start with a question and then grow in unexpected ways as strangers open up and share their most defining moments. From the deaths of loved ones to using their most painful moments as inspiration to finding their greatest loves, no subject is off-limits. Their stories are raw, intimate, and bursting with humanity.

Right now, it is easy to feel like the world is irrevocably divided. Stories from a Stranger is a warm reminder that we are all human and more connected than we realize. It’s an invitation to empathy. Every stranger has a story. Let’s start listening.

New episodes every Monday on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.



 Social Sciences
Episodes
  • S E24: You've Made It Through 100% of Your Darkest Days: Mental Health and Healing

    S E24: You've Made It Through 100% of Your Darkest Days: Mental Health and Healing
    19 Oct 2026
    Hunter talks to three strangers about their mental health journey.Justice describes the most beautiful thing she's been told: "that everything is temporary". She explains this perspective has helped her throughout lifelong struggles with mental health, including depressive episodes, suicidal ideation, anxiety, agoraphobia, and OCD. Despite appearing successful externally—running a business, having supportive relationships—she reached a crisis point where she "couldn't quiet [her] brain and it was consuming me to a point of being dangerous". She emphasizes the importance of her support system, admitting that in her darkest moment, she sought help not for herself but for her loved ones: "If I can't do this for myself, I need to do it for the people that love me". Justice also critiques mental health care accessibility, noting that resources like the GeneSight test for medication compatibility should be more widely available, and advocates for trying therapy before medication.Michael shares his experience of finding love with his partner Levi after doing significant self-work through therapy. He describes how he unconsciously said "I love you" first because his "body felt it was ready". Michael reveals his history of seeking validation from others due to feeling "insufficient" and "not good enough", which led to an abusive relationship where he believed "you're not going to do any better because you're you". Through exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, he learned to break obsessive-compulsive cycles and discovered that "I was prince charming"—the love he needed was self-love all along. This realization transformed his approach to relationships from "Am I going to be good enough for this person?" to "Is this person kind? Are they deserving of my love?".Jeremy describes his most profound non-physical pain as intense self-loathing and suicidal ideation that began at age 11. Despite appearing confident and successful, he lived with "faux confidence" as a "high functioning, depressed person". His childhood included family addiction, verbal abuse, and finding a loved one overdosing at age 12. Jeremy found healing through inner child meditations, sobriety, and honestly examining "how much am I contributing to my own suffering?". He emphasizes that healing requires taking control rather than leaving it "in the hands of everyone else", and would tell his younger self: "I love you. And I'm so proud of just how much you endured".Chapters:00:00:00 Navigating mental health struggles and finding hope in dark days00:04:48 Living with childhood anxiety, depression, and severe OCD00:09:40 Breaking the social stigma surrounding mental illness and family expectations00:14:14 Developing empathy for unhoused addicts and understanding trauma00:18:03 Finding a healthy relationship and learning what it feels like to be loved00:23:00 Coming out in college and breaking free from an abusive past00:28:17 Diagnosed with OCD and starting ERP therapy00:34:38 Realizing you are your own prince charming through self-love00:38:00 Battling high-functioning depression and the dangers of alcohol use00:43:00 Surviving an unsafe childhood and dealing with family addiction00:47:00 Healing through inner child meditation and achieving sobriety00:51:28 Taking back control of your life and fighting for your own healingTopics: Navigating high-functioning anxiety and long-term depressionDriving to a mental health crisis facility to get immediate supportOvercoming generational stigma and feeling like a burden to loved onesManaging severe OCD and intrusive thoughts through ERP therapyReclaiming agency and finding self-worth after emotional abuseShifting from searching for external validation to practicing self-loveProcessing childhood trauma, family addiction, and lost innocenceRewiring brain patterns through consistent inner child meditationAchieving 15 months of sobriety and learning to forgive past mistakesFOLLOW THE SHOW►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesfromastrangerpod ►Threads: https://www.threads.com/@storiesfromastrangerpod ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storiesfromastrangerpodcast FOLLOW HUNTER PROSPER►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hunter_prosper/ ►TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hunterprosper See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    53 mins
  • S E23: Finding My Perfect Partner: Love, Loss, and Reinvention

    S E23: Finding My Perfect Partner: Love, Loss, and Reinvention
    12 Oct 2026
    This week Hunter talks to three strangers about meeting their perfect partners.Frank met his wife on Tinder following a painful emotionally abusive breakup that had caused him to give up on dating entirely. He initially suspected her profile was a bot due to her being out of his league in his own estimation. Their first planned meeting of 20 minutes stretched into six hours, described by Frank as feeling like time froze, similar to the movie "Big Fish". He knew she was "the one" approximately four hours into that first meeting. He told her he loved her roughly one week into dating, blurting it out during a phone call, and she said it back immediately. Frank described being loved by her as something that makes everything fall into place and allows him to be his true self.Manuel's greatest love is, whom he credits as the first person to give him permission to not be strong. He described an intense childhood that began with working at age 12, managing his parents' emotional conflicts, and caring for younger siblings, which left him guarded and unable to ask for help. Jillian broke through those walls by explicitly telling him he did not need to be strong for her and that he was allowed to simply be sad. Their first date lasted nine hours, covering four bars and ending with pizza at 2:00 AM. He described Jillian as abnormally intelligent, witty, funny, sensitive, and successful -- qualities he noted are rarely found together in one person. Manuel described being loved by Jillian as feeling primarily safe, like having a parachute or safety net.Billy is a Chicago-based man living with limb girdle muscular dystrophy, a rare progressive disease he was diagnosed with in March 2021, though he was born with it and showed no symptoms until his early 30s. A former athlete who played basketball throughout his life, he began losing his balance and falling approximately 13 years before the episode was recorded, gradually losing the ability to run, jump, and perform basic physical tasks. He described the aftermath as the darkest period of his life, during which therapy helped him begin to grieve and process his diagnosis. Billy channeled his experience into a creative reinvention, teaching himself to cook and bake and developing a passion for pizza-making, which he named "Tripping Billy" as a reference to his condition. Billy talks about meeting his wife Rachel, whom he feared would leave him after his diagnosis. Rachel proved to be a steadfast partner and caretaker, and Billy proposed to her by staging a fake charity celebration event to get her friends and his together in one place. He described her as his guardian angel and everything to him.Chapters:00:00:00 Finding love at your lowest point00:03:39 Experiencing an instant spark and a six-hour first date00:06:56 Overcoming emotional barriers and saying I love you00:10:21 Walking down the aisle with the love of your life00:13:31 Learning to drop your guard and accept emotional support00:16:55 Meeting through a dinner with strangers and connecting00:20:16 Overcoming fears of intimacy and finding emotional safety00:23:52 Building a supportive partnership through life's hard moments00:27:14 Receiving a life-changing progressive diagnosis00:30:38 Processing grief and finding purpose through culinary passion00:34:17 Turning personal adversity into community advocacy00:37:34 Finding unconditional love and lifelong supportTopics: Finding unconditional love when you least expect it Tinder date turns into a lifelong connectionOvercoming trauma through true partnership and safetyWhen you know someone is your soulmatePartnership giving permission to stop being strongDinner with strangers leads to meeting a life partnerOvercoming the fear of vulnerability and letting someone inDevastating medical diagnosis and progressive illnessReinventing your sense of purpose after receiving life changing newsBuilding an unshakable foundation of trust and lifelong devotionFOLLOW THE SHOW►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesfromastrangerpod ►Threads: https://www.threads.com/@storiesfromastrangerpod ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storiesfromastrangerpodcast FOLLOW HUNTER PROSPER►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hunter_prosper/ ►TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hunterprosper See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    40 mins
  • S E22: Invisible Battles: Living with Chronic Illness

    S E22: Invisible Battles: Living with Chronic Illness
    5 Oct 2026
    This week Hunter speaks with three strangers who are struggling with chronic illness.Lulu is a young woman who battled Lyme disease beginning at age 11. Her background includes years of misdiagnosis, during which doctors attributed her symptoms to POTS, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, none of which addressed the root cause. A key contribution of her story is the advocacy role her mother played, described as "the reason I'm alive," who argued with doctors and ultimately suspected Lyme disease after years of searching. Lulu underwent a hyperthermia treatment at Clinic St. George in Germany, where her body temperature was raised to 107.24 degrees to break down biofilms protecting Lyme disease cells, allowing antibiotics to penetrate and kill the bacteria. She now lives with deep gratitude, waking each day thankful for her independence and ability to show up for the people she loves. Christi is a young woman who developed intense, chronic health problems during the fall semester of her junior year of college, eventually forcing her to drop out of school. Her primary debilitating symptom was severe nausea that could last hours on end, leaving her incapacitated and at times walking around her apartment complex from 2:00 AM to 10:00 AM just to cope. She pursued a wide range of treatments including homeopathic, acupuncture, nutrition, and Western medicine. A turning point came when a highly regarded doctor in Scottsdale identified parasitical infections, viruses, and bacteria and showed initial progress, only for the inflammation markers to completely regress approximately six months in. Christie connects much of her illness to growing up in a controlling, "borderline cultish" religious group that enforced constant self-abandonment, which she believes contributed to how her body reacted to stress and trauma. She credits her sister as her most supportive person throughout her journey and has come to view her body's physical responses as a compass for living in alignment with her true self. Madelyn has lived with atopic dermatitis, a chronic and severe form of eczema, since she was a baby. At around age seven or eight, a prominent dermatologist told her mother, in front of Madelyn, that they had never seen a case as bad as hers in either an adult or a child, leaving her feeling hopeless. Growing up, she regularly wore knee-high socks to cover flares in joint areas including her elbows, behind her knees, and ankles, and faced questions from classmates asking if her skin was contagious. She was also told by adults in her religious school environment that her condition was a result of sin or punishment, which she describes as deeply damaging to her mental health. In 2019, at age 19, she began taking Dupixent, a biologic injection taken every other week, which she describes as completely changing her life.Chapters:00:00:00 Living with the hidden burden of chronic illness00:03:39 Experiencing early symptoms and physical limitations00:06:56 Navigating painful medical treatments and persistent flare-ups00:10:21 Reclaiming independence and finding gratitude in everyday00:13:31 Severe eczema and childhood mental health struggles00:16:55 Facing public scrutiny and internal discomfort00:20:16 Unpacking medical trauma and the mental health toll00:23:52 Building self-worth and creating safe spaces for others00:27:14 Dealing with sudden debilitating symptoms with no diagnosis00:30:38 Eastern medicine, treatment setbacks, and mind-body connection00:34:17 Uncovering the impact of trauma on physical health00:37:34 Finding healing through self-trust and genuine human connectionTopics: Living with chronic illness strugglesNavigating medical dismissal and careNavigating the search for a diagnosisThe impact of illness on identityFacing the mental health toll of painThe power of family and patient advocacyUnconventional paths to recoveryProcessing religious trauma and healthLiving in the space between sick and wellRebuilding self-worth and resilienceFOLLOW THE SHOW►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesfromastrangerpod ►Threads: https://www.threads.com/@storiesfromastrangerpod ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storiesfromastrangerpodcast FOLLOW HUNTER PROSPER►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hunter_prosper/ ►TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hunterprosper See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    41 mins
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