True Crime · PodcastOne
by PodcastOne
Two years ago, Kyle MacLachlan, the star of Twin Peaks, called investigative journalist Joshua Davis with a strange story. Kyle had heard a rumor that Pablo Escobar did a deal in the early 1980s with a remote, coastal Southern town of 300 people. In exchange for vast wealth and limitless cocaine, Escobar would be allowed to land planes and ships in the area. Over the last 24 months, Josh and Kyle investigated the rumor, journeying to Varnamtown to knock on doors and find out what really happens when a firehose of money and cocaine is turned on a small, tight knit community. Varnamtown was created in association with PodcastOne. It is produced by Epic Magazine, Picture Perfect Federation, and Full Picture with consulting producers Nir Liberboim and Lynn Betz.
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This podcast was such a fun listen! I’ve shared it with several folks and they all loved it. Such a weird and unbelievable story. Being a Kyle fan is why I tried it but I’m sure glad I did. Hoping for more collaborations with Josh & Kyle!
This format is different from other ‘investigative journalism’ series I’ve listed to, in that the 2 host are furnishing both the story (quite interesting!) and the peanut gallery - their personal observations which are pretty funny sometimes. There were some things missing throughout, like the the voices of the women - we get a bit of there input at the end but it’s largely a story about men told by men. And the voice of the main subject - they talk about talking to him but we never hear him or even what he had to say, that was a head scratcher. But it was entertaining
I’ve really enjoyed this podcast. The hosts treat this story as a conversation and point out the ridiculous (and rather funny) moments from this story. We hear a lot from the people involved.
As an Eastern North Carolinian who grew up here in the 80’s and 90’s, I loved everything about this podcast series. The music, storytelling and interviews with residents captured the tone and kind of good-natured lawlessness of the time period. Even now, Coastal NC can be a pretty strange place, especially some of the smaller towns. I think the hosts did a great job telling this wild story. I only wish it was longer! Listening to the episodes really took me back to my childhood. While we didn’t have massive amounts of cocaine or planes making emergency landings (that I was aware of), we had enough small-town hijinks and drama to fill a book. Thanks for the throwback and for bringing to light a little-known chapter of our history. Can’t wait to hear what’s up next!
It feels like half of each episode is an advertisement. It’s hard to get into the storyline when hello fresh keeps getting pushed into my head, or a 15 min preview for another show. I’ve never heard such a scattered story, that had potential to be decent but just gets ruined because they bombard with ads. It’s frustrating when you pay for the podcast service and still have to FF ads
I’ll echo what others have said about ads. There’s waaaaay too many. The most annoying part is it sounds like brake rotors screeching in the background of their audio. It’s faint, but once you hear it - it’s beyond distracting. It’s like having a train yard in your ears. I lasted 4 episodes before I couldn’t take it anymore.
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