Charting the Macabre a Journey into the Heart of Audio Storytelling

Have you ever felt a chill creep down your spine while listening to tales of the paranormal, or found yourself absorbed in the intricate details of a true crime story? That's the heart-pounding journey I, Melissa, take you on with "Strange, Deranged Beyond Insane." In this extraordinary episode, we look towards the horizon of podcasting, predicting its magnetic pull will captivate over 500 million listeners by 2025. I reveal the inception of our show, born from an insatiable curiosity to craft an unparalleled listening experience that melds the macabre with the mysterious. Alongside our dedicated community, I invite you to share your own hair-raising encounters and join us in shaping a podcast that's as unique and diverse as the stories we tell.

Strap in as we navigate through the podcasting universe's latest currents, where the torrent of short-form, video-based content and the revolutionary tide of AI technology are altering the way we create and consume stories. Our special guest, Hollie, a cherished member of our paranormal family, shares her spine-tingling experiences, infusing the episode with authenticity that resonates with the thrill-seekers and ghost hunters among us. As we contemplate the future, imagine immersing yourself in live events and on-site recordings that promise to amplify your listening experience. This isn't just a podcast; it's a gathering of souls united by a passion for the strange and a commitment to staying true to what ignites our spirit. Welcome to the next chapter of "Strange, Strange Beyond Insane.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Good evening everyone. It's your host, melissa at Strange. Strange Beyond Insane. Thank you for joining.

Speaker 1: 0:06

I'm also on TikTok live right now and I'm going to just talk about the future for podcasters. All right, so a quick fun fact is the popularity of podcasting, so podcast growth over the years. Estimates predict over 500 million by 2025. According to Pew Research Center, 42% of Americans over the age of 12 years old have listened to a podcast in the past month. That's a jump of 30% over the last decade, so that's really good. 5 million podcast shows exist worldwide. All right, so let's just talk about like a glimpse into the evolving landscape of podcasting. Okay, all right. So it says here as the popularity continues to grow of podcasts, they're skyrocketing with no signs of slowing down. Marketers are wondering how to capture more of that share of air in an increasingly crowded space. With an expected 424 million podcast listeners worldwide by the end of 2022. Many are curious about what the future of the podcasting may hold. Okay, so basically, this is saying that weekly podcast listeners in the United States listen to an average of eight podcasts per week, she points out. But the most powerful thing about it is that when someone's voice is in your ear, it feels so special and intimate. That intimacy piece is what has experts like Beck predicting that the future of podcasting is heading in the same direction as other social media trends, where experiences will be more privatized, exclusive and gated, so it says. Let's compare the rise of private enterprise podcasting to the rise of social media walled gardens, beck says. In both cases, creators are speaking privately with an audience. Internal communications managers at large companies are using private podcasting to speak directly to their employees. Influencers are using closed communities like Mighty Networks or Patreon to speak directly to their fans.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Okay, so, speaking of this, I just kind of wanted to get a few facts out there. Why I started a podcast is because, listening to a bunch of podcasts over the years, to a bunch of podcasts over the years you know, of course, I'm into like true crime and you know anything grim and you know freaky, spooky A lot of them were starting to kind of like flow into one another and sound the same, especially with the paranormal podcasts. A lot of them were like storytelling and you know it was like the same, like you know your main locations that everybody hears about, knows about stuff you know seen on TV. So it was a couple years in the making that I had thought about. You know that I had thought about you know how do I want this podcast to go? You know everybody kept telling me to you know, do audio and video. And I was like, okay, I'm just gonna start with audio, right? Because I was very shy, I didn't know how this was gonna go. I've never done anything like this, but I knew that I wanted to talk about real life experiences. I wanted to. That's why I called I named it strange, deranged, beyond insane, instead of just like the you know, the paranormal podcast with Mel or blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1: 4:13

I wanted it to be like rounded and not just about paranormal, because it's not just about paranormal on here. So Holly on TikTok says hey, holly, uh, by the way. So Holly on TikTok says hey Holly. By the way, for my listeners, holly, her name on TikTok is hauntedmama03. So go give her a follow. She's also in the paranormal community and she's awesome.

Speaker 1: 4:38

And she said I love doing my podcast, but just don't have time anymore. Yeah, I hear you. It does get difficult sometimes to make time. But oh, why am I awake? Well, because I'm crazy and I have tomorrow off, even though it's not like it's a day off tomorrow because I'll be at the dealership all day Again dealing with my um truck issue, tali Um.

Speaker 1: 5:05

But I wanted to. I wanted to bring in, like crime, paranormal, spooky, halloween, current events, um, crazy facts, um, you know historical buildings, historical locations, historical cemeteries, um, all of it, like anything and everything, and um, I I also wanted to have like so many guest speakers on. Like I always want people to come on and talk. Um, it's actually like one of my favorite things. I don't always want to be the one talking, because not everybody wants to like listen to me on every single episode. Like people like to hear other people do right.

Speaker 1: 5:55

But I wanted to correlate the podcast into Tick Tock. I fell in love with Tick Tock and I wanted to do lives. I wanted to show people where we're at. You know locations and how long this took to drive and you know, or how long this would take to fly if you wanted to go here, how much money it is. You know rate, the place that we're staying at or the. You know hotel or the. You know location or the house or the cemetery, or this or that hotel or the. You know location or the house or the cemetery, or this or that.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Um, I mean, I I want to do like more like, um, like lives at, like paracons and stuff and, um, you know conventions, um, I've tried to do that anywhere I go. Your podcast is great too. Oh, thanks, holly. Um, yeah, so Holly's been a podcaster for a while. Yeah, she's got a few years experience. Um, hopefully she comes back into the podcasting world. I know she said she's very busy. She's got three kids. I get it. You know, um, anybody with kids on here. They hop on when they can and I appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 7:04

But I always want to hear everyone's stories. I want to hear the experiences. I want to hear what they think. I want to hear suggestions, even if you want to call me out and say hey, mel, this episode sucked really bad. I did not like it. Okay, cool, any kind of feedback is good. You have to take constructive criticism. I'm a hairstylist by nature, so I've been doing that for years and, again, not everybody will love you or love what you do, and that's just kind of comes with the territory.

Speaker 1: 7:36

But one, um the I would say the the main compliments that I have gotten across the board. That has really like, kept me doing, like allowed me to keep doing this and, honestly, to make it to I feel good about it is that a lot of people say, when I'm listening to your podcast, I feel like I'm in the same room as you. Like, I feel like I'm there with you just hanging out chatting. That is like the best fucking compliment I could have, excuse my. But honestly, that is like my happy place and I wanted it to be very authentic and I didn't want to like do a lot of editing and I don't. Um, I recently, in the last you know a few months, I've just learned how to like really edit the music in there and kind of like I'm gonna start getting better at like sound effects too. Thank you guys for all. Holly, thank you so much for the love, and the bunnies and the eggs, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1: 8:35

But I really want it to be like very raw, like I don't go crazy on editing, I don't delete shit. I mean we screw up and we keep going. I'm like, no, let's keep going, like, cause I want it to be real, like this isn't, you know, hollywood. I mean I'm in my, I'm in the basement, you know I have, I mean, paul and I both have, you know, money invested and you know in in the equipment and the computer and you know everything else.

Speaker 1: 9:03

But it's not even about that. It's because I fucking love to do it and I love to talk to people and meet people, even on TikTok, and have people come on and, you know, talk about whatever they want to talk about. Like I tell people you know guests that come on they're like, well, you know what should I talk about first? And I'm like, look, this is your show. Like I'm listening to you. Like you you tell me what you want me to know or what you know. So yeah, so I really I just't care if I only have two people listening, I don't care if there's 2 million people listening.

Speaker 1: 10:00

What I care about is that I continue to love to do this and I get excited to come down here and do it Like it doesn't matter to me and I'm not like in the paranormal world and you know paranormal, paranormal researching and all that. Like I, I don't do it for like, hey, I want to be famous, I want my own show or I want to be on TV. It's fucking not about that at all. I enjoy it. I love the paranormal research, I love learning about places. I like to know the backstories. Why is this place haunted?

Speaker 1: 10:31

Okay, how many times did this story get twisted and how many, you know, people told a different version of this, and I want to go experience that for myself and see, like, what I see there, what I hear, what I, you know, feel, whatever, and you know, because we have so much time invested in these trips and you know it's what we love to do, right, um, that's why I wanted to bring it onto a podcast, because I can. It's like a live diary of you know, like what we do and how we felt about it and our experiences and all that. So, um, so I know I have Holly on here, that's, that's a podcaster. I mean, has anyone else had a podcast or thinking about starting one, or has even talked on a podcast before? Because, um, before this, before I started one, I had never even like talked on a podcast. I had never even like talked on a podcast, but it was, I think, like the year 2018, 2017, when I really started getting into podcasts and I was like, wow, this is awesome, it's like better than TV, because I could just really feel it.

Speaker 1: 11:43

You know, then I would start going outside and like making like little bonfires out there and listening to these, like you know, scary or you know grim crime podcasts on the speaker outside, like you know, a fall spooky night and I was like you know, I would love to do this. And back then I was like dude, there's no way I could do anything like that. Like it just clicked to me Just over a year ago. I was like hey, I'm gonna start this, gonna wing it and see where it goes. And I can't believe how many like downloads I get weekly. I'm like I'm getting at least, you know, 110 to like 130.

Speaker 1: 12:25

And you know we did check because we thought, okay, if someone listens to the podcast, does that count as a download. And we've looked at it several times. And if you listen to an episode on my podcast, it does not count as a download. So these are actual legitimate downloads. People are downloading the episodes and I think that's awesome and, um, you know I'm going to keep going with it and I hope to have a lot more guest speakers and you know, people on that I can interview and, um, I'm always looking for people to hop on and, you know, talk about whatever they want. That's why it's called Strange, deranged, beyond, insane, and it wants just one thing. You know what I mean. But yeah, I mean I'm learning. It's a learning experience, of course, because there's a lot of things you don't really learn until you start one, right, but yeah, so that's kind of where I'm at with that.

Speaker 1: 13:35

So it does look like the future of podcast and for podcasters that it's gonna it's gonna be good. So I'm, you know, and I still I listen to a lot of different podcasts. It's actually our favorite thing to do Like when we're on our way to a location, we'll listen to a couple episodes on that location, and sometimes we just listen to, like random podcasts too and, like I said, I like it better than watching TV. Um, still love my music, but sometimes you know you need a little, a little break from music and just listen to a podcast for a little bit. So into a podcast for a little bit, so, but yeah, so, uh, um, you know. So the future, so top five. So it's basically saying, like, what is the top five? All right, so the podcasting popularity hit after the pandemic, so that's, that's a given right, as well as the pop, you know, the popularization of TikTok and Instagram reels. I do not have Instagram anymore, but I love fucking TikTok and I feel like TikTok has really helped grow my viewers too.

Speaker 1: 14:53

So the future of podcasting is about bite-sized content and shareable video formats. Studies show that a number of active podcasts and available episodes is continuing to climb, with over 5 million podcasts and over 150 million episodes available as of 2024. So crazy. So a faster growth rate is also seen in people who listen to podcasts, according to this website. So 41% of Americans responded they have listened to a podcast just in the past month. The future of podcasting and you how fast will it grow and how much further will it grow? As more people seek out engaging and convenient forms of entertainment and information, it's no surprise that podcasting is becoming increasingly popular. In this blog, we are going to share with you the biggest future podcasting trends and how to equip yourselves now. By the way, if you're interested in leveraging AI technology so I do actually have some AI technology now on to my Buzzsprout app and it does help a lot. It cuts down a lot of time when you have a full-time job. Plus I have another side job on top of that, like I have to, and I'm totally for it. It's totally worth the extra money.

Speaker 1: 16:23

Holly says I love the paranormal, just tired of all the people who fake shit just to get the likes. That's why I love your stuff. It's real Well, holly. That's why I've always loved you girl, because you're real Girl. I mean, when you and I first met there was so much drama, paranormal field and you know, holly and I were in a group many, many moons ago and you know the girls were catty and they were like oh, this is not this or this isn't the right way. And you know you can't do this, you can't do that, and it's honestly. I say that I'm, I'm a part of everyone's group. I don't, I'm not like official in a group group. Um, I just go out and do this shit because it makes me happy and I like it and it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 17:06

And I've always been into this. Since I was a kid. I've always been into like research and questioning everything why, why, why and well, what, if, what, if, what, if, and I, they say you either have it in you or you don't, and a lot of us do and a lot of us don't. But if we carry it into our adult lives and it's obviously a passion, right, like I don't get paid to podcast. Um, I mean, it would be cool as shit to do this for a living. I'm not going to like fucking lie about that, right, but I do this because I enjoy it and I spend the time investing into it because I absolutely 1000% love it. I enjoy it and I believe in all podcasts. I think it's the new way and okay.

Speaker 1: 17:54

So Holly says, oh, oh, my god tell it, I was called a fake and that's why I left that group. I'm gifted and never shared it until then. And now, because of that, I don't open up like I know I can. Well, we all know you're gifted, holly. Um, holly's got like this soft, like amazing, magnetic, like reiki healing touch. But her and I were out at a cemetery before and, um, it's just crazy, but Holly, you remember and um, it physically hurt like I mean, I was, you know, and you find that a lot when you go out to haunted places and she, um, excuse me, she started to um rub my shoulder and she has like put her arm down, like she knew, like exactly like where it was going on, at like down by my neck, and like took the pain away. You guys haunted mama. Oh, three Also, holly, she is, um, she does practice Reiki and, um, you know you guys can contact her if you need any Reiki sessions.

Speaker 1: 19:00

I think I lost internet, yep. So okay, yeah, I'm kind of going in and out here. Okay, you said you see and hear me, um, until then, and now, because of that I don't open up, like I know I can well it. You know it's, it's upsetting when somebody wants to call you out, but for me that it just reflects how insecure they are, you know, and I mean, look at them now. Anyways, I'm civil with everybody that I've met in the field. I'm grateful for the best ones and I'm grateful for the awful ones. They've taught me I've learned a lot in the last, you know, five years or so. But yeah, I mean, like I said I, the future in podcasting is definitely there and the numbers are here to show it. The articles here show you, and I love it and I will not stop.

Speaker 1: 20:15

I want to do it forever and you know sometimes you slow down, you can't always hop on. I mean I try to pump out at least three to like, like, let's just say, between two and four episodes monthly, um, I, I really really really tried to do that and sometimes you just can't. You know, I really really really try to do that and sometimes you just can't. You know, holly says is your hair pulled back Cause it looks short and I like it looking short? I used to. I've had short hair before. If I was, um a lot thinner, I would wear my hair short again. Um, I have lost a few pounds, um, from my new job, so I mean maybe, uh, holly, I might go short, but no, it's not short, it's up in a bun. Yeah, and I got to recolor my front bangs and all that stuff. But I always have to color my hair, so I don't want to do that right now. But again, coloring my hair or podcasting.

Speaker 1: 21:09

Tonight I was like, eh, I'm going to hop on and do some episodes. But yeah, you know it just I love this stuff and I I love, I love getting on and speaking about anything and everything. I mean, I've even had people on here mamas on here, you know complaining about what's going on in the school systems. So you know, like I said, it's about anything and everything. But I'm going to say goodbye to listeners on here. Thank you guys, so much for listening. Again. You can contact me at ghost sisters 2124 at Gmail. Again, that it's. That is, ghost sisters 2124 at Gmail. If you look up strange, strange, insane podcast, you can listen to it on any platform that you listen to podcasts. I always mentioned Spotify because they are free to listen to podcasts and thank you guys for listening and tune in.