Payton and Garrett Moreland are the creators of the podcast ‘Murders with my Husband’, the podcast focuses on true crime and Garrett Moreland’s (the husband) reaction to cases involving murders, kidnappings, and sexual assault. The two are married and the dynamic that draws listeners and viewers in their Youtube Channel is the fact that Payton (the wife) is fascinated by true crime and her husband not being at times disgusted and uncomfortable with true crime. The fascination with true crime and serial killers circulating the internet makes these criminals eternal. The creation of podcasts and YouTube channels in order to make profit out of other people’s tragedies seems to be an issue that society is now trying to shy away from but crime is still interesting to society. The only issue I would say with this channel is the fact they have a Patreon which people have to pay in order to hear about exclusive true crime cases narrated by Payton Moreland. The intrigue people have with true crime could make them susceptible to pay the fee in order to hear about stories that are already available. This exclusivity makes people pay to hear about murders, kidnappings, and sexual assault.
There is a fine line to draw with the “ethics” of true crime podcasts. It feels wrong to profit off of the death of another human, but the tales are morbidly fascinating. Especially in the ways we can protect ourselves with this information by being more aware of how killers “do it,” so to speak. I find that overall it’s about the intentionality of the storyteller to retell the story with respect. Storytelling is a performance art, and usually it’s all about tone and manner. When a storyteller in a true crime podcast is rather cold and unempathetic towards the victim, then the entire intention starts to feel a bit disingenuous. I’m just happy to see this topic being introduced, since I feel that true crime podcasts can be overlooked despite the damage that can be caused due to our perception of the victims. True Crime podcasts also have the ability to be used in a positive light if the intention is genuine and purposeful.