\u201cSerial Killers\u201d is hosted by Greg Polcyn and Vanessa Richardson. This podcast dives deep into the lives and stories of history\u2019s most prolific and notorious serial killers. Through deep and thorough research, the creators of the podcast explore the killers\u2019 minds \u201cwith the hopes of better understanding their psychological profile.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The episodes \u201cWerewolf of Wysteria\u201d cover the story of Albert Fish, a monster whose most infamous crimes terrified New York from 1924 to 1928. Fish preyed upon over 100 young children (many of whom are still unidentified), molesting, murdering, and sometimes eating them. Polcyn and Richardson cover Fish\u2019s childhood and life before his first attacks and analyze how he was molded into the \u201cWerewolf of Wysteria\u201d. They then discuss his most significant crimes and the murder that led to his arrest and execution.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A unique feature of this podcast is that it has voice actors portray testimonies and eyewitness accounts from people relating to the crime (i.e. witnesses, psychiatrists, the suspect himself, etc.). The actors spoke like the actual person or at least how they believed the person spoke- with an accent appropriate for the location and time period. I felt this helped me stay engaged with the story because it almost felt as if I teleported back in time and the actual person was speaking to me. They also include the portrayals at just the right moments so it blends with whatever the host is saying – like a blended quote in an essay. Similar to a research paper, these testimonies provide evidence and clarification to statements the hosts make.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hosts were excellent! Though neither of them are licensed psychologists or psychiatrists, they both appear to be passionate about the subject and have done a lot of research on the minds of criminals. Polcyn is the main host and does most of the storytelling, while Richardson adds most of the psychological analysis and commentary. They tell Fish\u2019s story in a way that makes sense – starting with an overview of his most prominent crimes, then diving into his psyche and background. I like how they discussed his psychological evaluation from when he was arrested and came up with suggestions as to how he would be evaluated with our present-day understanding of psychology. I thought this was a really good idea because his crimes were committed such a long time ago, and our knowledge of psychology has evolved since then. It also makes it easier for me, as a listener, to understand the killers\u2019 minds. The hosts also do a really good job explaining all of the different psychological terms and go in-depth about how the killers embody the different psych disorders.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though subtle, the background music also helps engage the listener as it creates clear distinctions between different aspects of the story. In this episode, when the hosts were describing Fish\u2019s background, 1920s jazz played in the background- as the story was set in that time period. The same type of music played behind the portrayals of the different significant people in the story. When the story became darker and more suspenseful, the music appropriately changed from the lighter jazz to dark and mysterious. When the hosts were discussing Fish\u2019s motives and psyche, the music switched to a more modern style of music that is similar to what plays on crime shows I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, I really enjoyed the storytelling in this podcast! The hosts were clear and concise, creating an easy to follow pacing. Maybe it\u2019s because the actual story was interesting, but I was really engaged with the podcast – there was never a dull moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 608
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSerial Killers\u201d is hosted by Greg Polcyn and Vanessa Richardson. This podcast dives deep into the lives and stories of history\u2019s most prolific and notorious serial killers. Through deep and thorough research, the creators of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":704,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}