Imagine the worst moment of your life unfolding with the world watching. A phone call saying "turn on the news." A knock on the door. Your friends' faces on a magazine cover.

This summer, a new podcast explores how people affected by public tragedies work their way through the trauma with the hope of emerging stronger.

This is Survived By.

Host: Erika Grotto

Sound design: Matt Grotto

Music: "Year of the Night (Summer Sun)" by Champagne Sunday

Art: Josh Seybert

On July 17, 1996, TWA 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. There were no survivors. Among the 230 on board were 16 French Club students and 5 chaperones from Montoursville High School in Pennsylvania. The town would never be the same.

In the aftermath of the crash, flowers, gifts and notes poured in from all over the world. One item, a stuffed bear sent from Oklahoma City, was just beginning its journey.

Read more:

EXPLOSION ABOARD T.W.A. FLIGHT 800: THE FRENCH CLUB;A Pennsylvania Town Asks, 'Why Us?'

Terror on Flight 800

CBS This Morning open 7-18-96

Executive producer and host: Erika Grotto

Sound design and editing: Matt Grotto

Theme music courtesy of Champagne Sunday

Visit us on Instagram @survivedbypodcast

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols built and planted a truck bomb outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City with the goal of inciting a revolution against the federal government. Instead, the nation united behind a city reeling from loss. And a phone call from one first lady to another began a movement that would continue for decades.

Executive producer and host: Erika Grotto

Sound design and editing: Matt Grotto

Theme music courtesy of Champagne Sunday

"Teddy Bears Picnic" from Library of Congress Jukebox collection

Visit us on Instagram @survivedbypodcast

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