WRAL true crime journalist Amanda Lamb relives a haunting case from her youth in her latest podcast.
Just in time for cozy season, WRAL has released the perfect true crime podcast to pair with a glass of red wine and your favorite chunky knit throw. Written and hosted by veteran true crime journalist Amanda Lamb, The Killing Month August 1978 is a new documentary-style podcast detailing the grisly story of The Johnston Gang murders that took place in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in August 1978.
“I think I always knew someday I would write about it in some form,” says Lamb of the case, which she watched unfold as an adolescent in a very intimate way, given her father was the lead prosecutor who helped bring the family of killers to justice. This personal connection makes for a captivating listen as Lamb revisits the shocking events that ultimately shaped her future career path.
“Not only am I telling you the story from the perspective of all the people who were there—including attorneys, investigators, witnesses and victims’ family members—but I’m telling you my story, the story of how I viewed this as a child and how I view it now,” she reveals. “My dad did not sugarcoat or hide anything from me at the time. He answered my questions and allowed me to come to the trials. There’s no doubt this was what piqued my interest in journalism and covering the crime beat.”
“And there’s really a backstory here about what I learned through this process about my father,” Lamb adds. “It’s been an incredible journey.”
Now available on all podcast apps, the eight-episode series is suspenseful, spine-chilling (brace yourself for episode four) and completely addictive—all the elements of a bingeworthy true crime podcast.
“There’s obviously something so gut-wrenching, so raw and so devastating about all of these stories, but I also see the passion of the investigators to solve the cases and the resilience of the victims’ families as something very hopeful,” Lamb shares. “I am always humbled when people agree to talk to me about such intense stories. But I truly believe there is a way to tell them with humanity.” Available wherever you stream your podcasts
Head into fall with a new ’fit, home decor or comedy album obsession.
Trade traditional fashion for funky pieces and beat the bell-bottoms blues with bold attire from Beatniks—aka the brainchild of Raleighite/fashion guru Luke Suggs—dropping its curated street-style selects in Raleigh Iron Works this fall. @beatniksshop
Idyllic venue no longer a figment. Enter Sassool Cafe’s FigMintFarms, serving a serene, intimate Apex setting perf for parties, photoshoots and beyond via reno’d shelter, two walkable pine forests, a fishing pond and dock, picnic tables, and a mint garden, natch—with Sassool catering upon request. @sassoolcafe
Feather your nest with flair. … Vintage home decor store The Fab Foo has moved to a new home on Wade Avenue. Find colorful interior adornments, midcentury modern furnishings and other fresh finds. How fab! @thefabfoo
Be the conversation piece via statement jewelry from Uli Amsterdam and meet eponymous textile accessory pioneer Uli Rapp at C.T. Weekends’ trunk show Sept. 22. @ulirapp; @ctweekends
Look good, feel good. Bringin’ healing vibes to DTR is fitness recovery center ReFitTherapy touting taking care of your beautiful bod—whether you’re a bodybuilder, marathon runner, stay-at-home mom or anyone in between. @refittherapy
Life’s too short to wear boring clothes—or clothes that don’t fit. Dress to impress in custom garb (e.g., suits, skirts) courtesy of Limatus Bespoke, bowing in City Market this fall. @limatusbespoke
Youth is wasted on the young—and perfect is boring.
Need to kick your own ass back into relevance? “Less kvetch, more stress!” says veteran DJ and Aged to Imperfectionco-host Chico Scott. Aka an apt MO for this 2023-born local podcast battling middle-aged malaise with mischief and mirth for hipsters and quipsters of a certain age seeking enlightenment—often with the help of “whippersnapper guests.” Tune in as middle-aged hosts—and lifelong cohorts—fetch fresh POV and goofs on the vagaries of life and pop culture via self-lacerating humor on topics from fashion faux pas to accumulated clutter to aching bodies (raise your hand if you hurt your neck sleeping) and more. “To paraphrase a poet, we’re raging against the dying of the hipster light,” says co-host and writer/entrepreneur Billy Warden. “We’re more than eager to reboot everything from our lingo to our basic life assumptions. But it’s a process—hopefully an amusing one.” You’ll find us laughing. Produced by Little Raleigh Radio, stream on Spotify
Juicy nugget: Episode 9, “Oversharing the Best Parts: Are you starting a podcast as part of a midlife crisis or do you have something important to say?” On this epipod, “whippersnapper” guest Earfluence Producer Cee Cee Huffman stages an intervention: … Snippet worth sharing from “middle-aged” co-host: “A [15-year-old] kid looked at me and said, ‘Why is it that everyone your age wants to get on a microphone and tell all of the rest of us how life should be done?’” (Jer Warren)
WRAL’s new podcast digs into cold cases and unidentified human remains.
Curious to find outhow tooth enamel can be used to determine where a person grew up or how a body farm (or human decomposition facility) in NC is gathering research that can aid in murder investigations? WRAL’s Amanda Lamb tackles these topics and more in her new podcast, What Remains.
Amanda Lamb (Photo Credit: Jennifer Robertson)
Launched in June 2022, What Remains explores how human remains are connected to missing and murdered people—hence the double entendre moniker… what remains of the remains.
“This has a really wide appeal for true crime junkies, but also science nerds,” says Lamb, “and I really think I’m becoming a science nerd because I get so excited when I talk to someone, and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. Back up. Explain that to me.’ And I’m like, ‘No, really, that’s for real?’”
Appealing it is—as of July, What Remains ranked in the top 200 for all Apple Podcasts and in the top 10 for science podcasts. In fact, it became so popular so quickly that rather than ending season one when the 11th weekly episode dropped in mid-August, the station has continued to produce new episodes.
“We’re just going to keep on rolling and providing new content,” says Lamb. “It may not be weekly. It may be every 10 days. … We have a very small team, but we’re really excited by the interest.”
Throughout the series, listeners hear from forensic anthropologists, including Dr. Ann Ross from NC State University, investigators and families of the deceased.
After submerging herself in various topics surrounding cold cases and unidentified remains for the podcast, Lamb says there’s one important thing she’s learned.
“Everybody, whether you are a person living off the grid, whether you are a person who has fallen on hard times and is living on the street,” she says, “no matter who you are, everybody deserves to be identified and returned to their families.”
