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Holy smokes, y’all. I’ve spent the last couple of days binging the latest season of the Uncover podcast, and it’s riveting.
Uncover reports on unsolved crimes in Canada, usually through short, six-episode series (they call them seasons). The reporter/host changes from season to season with each case.
Although most of the cases covered are decades old, there are always plenty of unanswered questions.
This latest season of Uncover is titled Satanic Panic, and it's about an alleged satanic cult committing child abuse in a small town in Saskatchewan in the late 80s and early 90s.
I was born in 1980, so I was about 10 years old when this alleged cult hit the news. It never made it on my radar (until yesterday).
I didn’t even know that (according to the podcast) concerns about satanic cults were rampant in North America in the 80s. This is, I suppose, why I love listening to podcasts so much!
But I'll be honest: I went into the first episode of Satanic Panic with hesitation. Although I find the idea of cults fascinating, I'm not someone who really enjoys a deep dive into them.
So for me, it was a happy surprise that Satanic Panic is about the investigation and trials of the accused, not about a cult at all.
Satanic Panic: What I Like About This Podcast
Besides the true crime theme and unbelievable story, there are a couple of things to really like about this podcast.
First, the pace of the show is perfect. It’s pretty quick and covers a lot of ground.
I binged the six available episodes within two days, and it’s not a stretch to say that I was hanging on every word.
Even though I knew that the next episode was queued up to start at any second, I was dying to find out what happened next. Thankfully, host Lisa Bryn Rundle moves it right along, dropping facts and testimony to satisfy my appetite.
Another thing I love about this podcast is that, from the very beginning, it’s really upfront about potential for a lot to go wrong.
Episode 1 lays the foundation for this, introducing how the small town in the case was lacking experienced law enforcement officers.
At first, I though maybe these would be the unlikely heroes of the story, but then I realized that having inexperienced substitute police officers almost never ends well.
The host sows seeds of doubt about the validity of the alleged abuse early on. Then, at some point, a few episodes in, she makes it pretty clear that it’s possible nothing even happened at all.
And even knowing all that, I was still silently screaming in my head, “SO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED???”
A Well-Crafted Story
Whenever I listen to podcast like this, I imagine how difficult it must be to figure out where to start the story, and how to weave in all the different pieces (not to mention how to figure out what to cut).
The team behind this show have done a fantastic job of creating a puzzle and then piecing it together in an entertaining way.
The podcast includes tons of clips of news footage (which seem so salacious, but are no different than how it would be reported today), audio of suspect questioning, and interviews with people touched by—and actually charged in—the case.
At no point did I find it confusing, and I was even able to keep all the names straight.
Conclusion
If you like Netflix’s Making a Murderer, you’ll like the Satanic Panic season of Uncover. There are striking similarities between the two cases, including how the community is split by the outcome of the case, and how the police handled witnesses.
I really enjoyed this season of the show, and I'm hoping for bonus follow-up episodes in the future (something the Uncover podcast does quite a bit of).
[Related Post: True Crime Podcasts to Get Hooked On]
What Do You Think?
Have you listened to the Satanic Paniac season of the Uncover podcast? I'd love to know what you think! Leave a comment below to share what you liked or didn't like about this podcast.
