Ignorant Assumptions

I am halfway through this, but had to stop and review. The creator of this podcast is so grossly ignorant of Catholicism, Catholic education, and teen psychology that it makes this hard to listen to. There’s an obvious anti-Catholic bias. He makes it sound like teaching world religions is an unusual thing. Every Catholic high school teaches world religions. He also dramatizes how frequently the church talks about the antichrist which is not a major focus in Catholic education at all. So many things that he states as fact are flat out incorrect. I guess Dungeons and Dragons is also going to be blamed for turning this kid into a satanist. This is so poorly researched compared to other Wondery podcasts that I’ve listened to.

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Meh

Season One is not available, so I went straight into season two. While this is a horrific crime, I feel like there wasn't much information regarding the religious/demonic aspect that seemed to be substantiated. Some of the story details regarding the exorcism seemed vague. Some leaps taken. A bit referencing The Exorcist is thrown in for good measure.

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Based on true crime, not a true crime podcast

Absolutely infuriating that they are passing this off as a true crime podcast. Episode 1 is the only episode that isn’t almost complete nonsense. What’s worse - the nonsense is that the Devil made him do it. Really?! If they didn’t advertise this as true crime, it would be fine but it’s a huge disappointment if you were hoping for actual insights. Skip it.

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1 person found this helpful

Fiction that bills itself fact

it calls itself true crime but its about as true as stories that are 'inspired' by true events. the production quality is good, which is sad to see wasted on such garbage. This is a work of fiction for the religious right and nothing more.

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3 people found this helpful

It’s Fan Fiction…

This podcast is a completely fantasized account of a real crime where the author makes insane jumps on motive, feelings, and thoughts of people long dead. It does everyone in the story a disservice.

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Absolutely terrible

I thought this was true crime and it was a fantastical work of fiction that gave credence to the satanic panic…. HUGE disappointment. I usually love wondery but this has almost ruined them for me, in terms of credibility at least.

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All over the place!

If I could give it less than 1 star, I would!
I cannot count how many times I said "What is going on??" This podcast was all over the place with random stories and "what ifs" and scenarios that never even happened. It went into detail about history that had nothing to do with the case itself. There was so much rambling that I thought I had accidentally changed podcasts somehow.
The brief descriptions beside each episode do not correlate with what is actually going to be talked about for that episode!
I am very disappointed. I will not be recommending this podcast.

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Great! and entertaining

This podcast is well done. There are conclusions drawn from open questions, but if you are listening for entertainment purposes, it is well done. This podcast is not a conclusion but an observation on the community's perceptions of events. If you are wanting conclusive evidence this podcast is not for you. If you want entertainment that may have you questioning your reality then it is.

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Just google "travesty"*

It will say: "a false, absurd, or distorted representation of something" with a link to this podcast. The writer seems to base his assertions more on imagination (not untainted by anti-Catholic bias) and hearsay than an examination of the facts. What are these facts? Well, who knows? Not our author. But he's convinced they are so horrific that anyone who finds out too much is driven to suicide. Or a nunnery. Or even a o'er hasty remarriage and move to Florida. But lack of actual information is no impediment because he's got something to say about satanism (or is it paganism?), demonic possession (and some kind of cover-up about an exorcism that the Catholic church *didn't* perform), and the Jersey Devil. Not to mention conversations and internal thought processes to invent. And what if Robert Frost was writing "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" in the persona of a murderer who has just hidden a body? that would be cool, huh?
The real question is why I listened to every episode. Part of it was just pure "I hate this so much; what else will this guy throw out there" (like an "ancient" castle built to harness supernatural powers in 1905 New Jersey). The other part of it was wanting to know more about the real family at the heart of this tragedy. I just hope the surviving members are ok and never ever listen to this.

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What a waste

I started listening to this thinking it would be another piece on the absurdity of the satanic panic (like the West Memphis Three). Instead this feeds directly into those insanely dated and thoroughly debunked ideas that activities such as playing Dungeons & Dragons or listening to heavy metal music are in any way dangerous or related to Satan/the occult. It is laughable and irresponsible that this was made and released in the 21st century. Do better, Wondery.

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