The Murder Media Podcast

This week, join Stella as she dips more toes into the overlap between true crime and horror, with a look at ghosthunting on the trail of serial killers. Stella takes a close look at her new obsession, The Paranormal Files, a YouTube channel which explores all kinds of phenomena. In the episode under discussion, The Paranormal Files hunts the ghost of Ted Bundy, and looks to hear from those that are lost. 

What do they find on the spirit box this time? HINT: It's NOT John!

Which words can we add to the list of Words Stella Cannot Say? 

Find The Paranormal Files on YouTube, and do also have a look at their podcast, Murder in America.

https://www.youtube.com/@theparanormalfiles 

https://open.spotify.com/show/7didcuJyAUG4B3a5RbdDEI 

Sources: 

Basaraba, N. (2023). 'The rise of paranormal investigations as virtual dark tourism on YouTube,' in Journal of Heritage Tourism, Vol 19(2), pp. 287-309

Boyd Smith, M. (2024). 'Fully authenticated by respected scientists:' fact, fiction, and the roots of paranormal reality shows in American television history,' in New Review of Film and Television Studies, Vol 22(3), pp. 669 - 690

Eaton, M. A. (2019). 'Manifesting spirits: Paranormal investigation and the narrative development of a haunting,' in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol 48(2), pp. 155-182

Lauro, S. J., & Paul, C, (2013). 'Make me believe: Ghost hunting technology and the postmodern fantastic,' in Horror Studies, Vol 4(2), pp. 221-239 

Moon, H., Jongsik, Y., Chua, B., & Han, H. (2022). 'Armchair tourism; Exploring individuals' innovative travel experience in the with-corona era,' In Tourism Management, Vol 93.

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

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All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

And we're back, with a look a two media texts, twenty years apart, which tell the story of a bunch of teenage vampires turned murderers. Examining the 2002 film The Vampire Clan, and an episode from Stella's favourite YouTuber, Bailey Sarian, this episode considers the development in true crime from tabloid trash to comprehensive chronologies. 

Bailey Sarian: *strange* blood rituals by a teenage vampire clan turns deadly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWfy87P__v0&t=2127s 

The Vampire Clan (Webb, 2002)

Miskatonic: https://miskatonicinstitute.com/events/if-looks-could-kill-the-spectacle-of-murder-in-contemporary-crime-media-london/

For information and sign up for the Blood Myth Symposium, email [email protected]

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

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All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

This week, Stella finally reflects on The Murder Media Symposium and her trials and tribulations at the hotel. Then the episode gets into the serial killer biopic: films which tell the life stories of real world murderers. Exploring My Friend Dahmer and Extremely Wicked, Stella thinks about why these people get films made about them, what myths to they perpetuate, and how do you say the word 'trajectory?'

My Friend Dahmer (Meyers, 2017).

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile (Berlinger, 2019). 

Sources:

Bingham, D. (2010). The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre. Rutgers University Press 

Gaynor, S. M. (2022). ‘Better the Devil You Know: Nostalgia for the Captured Killer in Netflix’s Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,’ in Robinson, B,. & Daigle, C. (Eds). Serial Killers in Contemporary Television: Familiar Monsters in post 9/11 Culture, pp. 135 – 151. Routledge 

Joannou, M,. & McIntyre, S. (1983). ‘Lust for Lives: Report from a conference on the biopic,’ in Screen, vol 22(4), p. 147 

Rosenstone, R. A. (2007). ‘In Praise of the Biopic,’ in Francaviglia, R,. & Rodnitsky, J. (Eds). Lights, Camera, History: Portraying the Past in Film, pp. 11-29. Texas A&M University Press  

Simpson, P.L. (2010). ‘Whither the Serial Killer Movie?’ in Hantke, S. (Ed). American Horror Cinema: The Genre at the Turn of the Millenium, pp. 133-152. University of Mississippi Press 

Schmid, D. (2006). Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture. University of Chicago Press 

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

Come and join The Murder Media Cult - we'll need all your money, your house, but we promise some lovely shoes. This week, Stella is joined again by Shellie McMurdo for a chat about cults on screen. Shellie gets to talk about one of her favorite things - The Sacrament - an incredible film from Ti West which retells the horrifying story of Jonestown. 

Stella and Shellie also muse on Waco, cults in video games, and what might feature in a starter pack for someone wanting to start their very own cult. 

Media mentioned: 

The Sacrament (Ti West, 2013)

Red State (Kevin Smith, 2011)

The Last Podcast on the Left - Episode 274 - Oaklahoma City 

The Last Podcast on the Left - Episode 300 - Jonestown

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

This week, Stella explores the conditions of YouTube and how that impacts the true crime and makeup videos from the legendary Brittany Vaughn. Unpacking Vaughn's video on Peter Sutcliffe, Stella explains how the political economies of YouTube shape and effect Vaughn's brilliant content. 

Note: at one point Stella talks about a piano sound effect. It is not a piano! It is a xylophone! 

Brittany Vaughn's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrittneyVaughn 

Bishop, S. (2018). Anxiety, panic and self-optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm. Convergence, 24(1), 69-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517736978 

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

The Murder Media podcast is back! After a break for teaching and then Xmas, NYE, and marking, Stella is back to update on the book proposal progress, and to get cracking on some more overthinking and analysing true crime media. 

This week, Stella looks at two media texts that tell the story of the Unabomber: the 2017 series from Discovery, Manhunt: Unabomber, and the 2021 film, Ted K. 

Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies: https://miskatonicinstitute.com/events/if-looks-could-kill-the-spectacle-of-murder-in-contemporary-crime-media-london/ 

Dracula Returns to Derby

https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2024/dracula-returns-to-derby/ 

The Murder Media Symposium - [email protected] 

The Net, the Unabomber, LSD and and the Internet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn9BvNAUvcU&t=3129s 

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

We made it! We made it to the end of the first series of The Murder Media Podcast. Stella has to go off and be a lecturer now, so, the podcast has to take a break. In this episode, Stella takes a look at how the actual book is shaping up, with a little walk through the chapters, some more of the case studies, and a sneaky look at what else is to come in The Murder Media Project. 

Thank you to everyone who has listened, liked, shared, and thank you to all of my brilliant guests. 

The Murder Media Podcast will be back..... this is just a cooling off period...

Sources used in this episode: 

Lotz, A.D. (2014). The Television will be Revolutionized. New York University Press

Nowell, R. (2011). Blood Money: a history of the first teen slasher film cycle. Continuum. 

Sharma, S. (2016). 'Netflix and the Documentary Boom,' in McDonald, K,. & Smith-Rowsey, D. (Eds). The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21st Century. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 143-155

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

This week Stella has a good long chat with Dr Tom Watson about a case that they both remember and both know in lots of detail: The West Memphis Three and their fight to get out of prison after being wrongly convicted of murder. Joe Berlinger's Paradise Lost trilogy of films is unpacked, alongside chats about the case and the heavy metal community, true crime documentary more generally, and Tom's weird connection between haircuts and true crime. 

Sources: 

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Berlinger, 1996) 

Note: For UK listeners the three Paradise Lost films are currently on NowTV. 

Bien-Kahn, J. (2022). 'The Man Behind Netflix's Jeffrey Dahmer Docuseries is a True Crime Hit Factory,' Bloomberg, October 20,https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-20/the-man-behind-netflix-s-jeffrey-dahmer-docuseries-is-a-true-crime-hit-factory?leadSource=uverify%20wall&embedded-checkout=true 

Echols, D. (2012). Life After Death: Eighteen Years on Death Row. Blue Rider Press. 

Watson, T. J. (2013). 'Rethinking History through Documentary: Paradise Lost and the documented case of The West Memphis Three,' in Mee, L,. & Walker, J. (Eds). Cinema, Television and History, New Approaches, pp. 200-222. Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

This week, Stella visits one of her fabourite YouTubers, Glam & Gore, and explores a video from the 2019 Halloween series where Mykie and friends stayed at various reportedly haunted locations. Merging historical true crime and ghosthunting, this YouTube video might just finally solved the 130 year old case of the Borden murders. Examining media crossovers of true crime, ghost hunting and the conventions of YouTube, this episode explores old and new media, the digital and the analogue, and their application to this very contemporary mode of true crime content. 

Glam & Gore video: 'Ghost told us who did the Lizzie Borden Murders' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_MbWnZHCmk&t=1404s

Glam & Gore video: 'I talked to a ghost at the haunted Chateau Marmont?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP3QS-HciKo 

Glam & Gore video: 'I can't explain what happened in Salem.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzJkcUyVGk 

Sources: 

Koven, M. J. (2007). 'Most Haunted and the convergence of traditional belief and popular television,' in Folklore, vol 118(2), pp. 183-202 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00155870701337403 

Reed, W. (2017, October 30). Ghost Hunting in the 21st Century: Science or Science Fiction? Sciencebuffs.org https://sciencebuffs.org/2017/10/30/ghost-hunting-in-the-twenty-first-century-science-or-science-fiction/ 

Sconce, J. (2000). Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Duke University Press

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

This week Stella tackles true crime comics: graphic novels that tell tales of murder. First looking at Maids by Katie Skelly, the story of the Papin sisters and their brutal murder of their employers; then The Butcher of Paris written by Stephanie Phillips, which tells the unbelievable story of serial killer Marcel Petiot, a monstrous man who used the desperation of those fleeing Nazi occupied France to his advantage. And finally, Becoming Unbecoming by Una, a heartbreaking, poignant yet sadly recognisible to many, story of growing up in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper. 

Sources used in this episode: 

Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. Taylor & Francie Group

McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics. Harper Collins

Mee, L. (2022). Reanimated: The Contemporary American Horror Remake. Edinburgh University Press

Do check out And Now The Podcast Starts! Join Dan, Stella, Ian, and Kirsty as they chat about all things horror. You can find the podcast in all the usual places. 

Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at [email protected], or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/

If you would like PDFs of the images / panels I talk about, drop me an email or give me a nudge on Instagram of Facebook. 

Music:

Cybertruck by Mood Maze

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck

License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert

License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.