Laurah Norton

Laurah Norton is a professor (of everything from composition to American Lit to podcasting) and co-creator of two podcasts: The Fall Line, a true-crime pod which she makes with Brooke Hargrove and Maura Currie, and One Strange Thing, a “strange news” pod she started with Maura this fall. Follow Laurah on Twitter here, One Strange Thing on Twitter here, and The Fall Line on Twitter here.

How did you get introduced to the audio space? Have you always loved it, before podcasting?
I started in college radio with a drive-time punk rock show, and have dabbled ever since. I didn’t get into podcasts until—like just about everyone else—Serial hit. Ever since then, I was all the way in. Having always loved audiobooks, I felt like podcasts were made for me.

How did the idea for One Strange Thing come about? Did the idea pop into your head while making The Fall Line?
When I teach my creative nonfiction course in podcasting, one of the assignments I give is a fun little exercise in exploratory research. I’ve always loved mysteries, so I have my students look at either the Atlanta Bleeding House or the Georgia Guidestones, gather everything they can, and form a hypothesis based on what they find. Spending time in the archives with them—looking at stories that aren’t as heavy as the material we cover on The Fall Line—it really energized me, and I wanted to turn the experience into a podcast. Maura and I thought that it would be fun to offer people a really specific formula: little-known, regional news stories from the past 75 years that contain one unexplainable element, delivered in snack-size portions. It seemed like the perfect pandemic formula, too: condensed, entertaining, and a bit of an escape. 

What's the goal of One Strange Thing?
The goal of One Strange Thing is pure entertainment. It’s a way to share the kind of fun things that we’ve run into during research—while looking into totally different topics—with our audience, and leave them with a sense of wonder. It’s also a much-needed break for me, and for Maura. We love making The Fall Line. But it’s heavy material. This is our escapist project.

Fill in the blank: You will like One Strange Thing if you like ______.
You will like One Strange Thing if you “want to believe.”

How do you unearth these interesting stories?
It’s a combination of things! Some, like the Atlanta Bleeding House, we knew about just by living in the area. Others we stumbled across during research. Now, Maura and I and our research assistants—the same folks who work for us on The Fall Line—comb through archives using certain search terms to look for stories. You’d be surprised how often “strange” and “confounded” will bring up a juicy story.

Can you tease us with anything exciting coming up in this season?
We have a great episode coming up on the 5th of January. I spent months tracking down the few published articles on this case—the year of publication was not archived in any digital collection—and when I finally got a copy, the librarian found that someone had stamped a giant UFO across the text. That is a good preview of the content. 

Are there too many podcasts?
Not at all! I can’t imagine what “too many” would be. I pro creator and pro creative action.

What’s something listeners don’t understand about podcasts and what goes into making them?
I think audiences are pretty aware at this point of how much work a podcast is—many of them follow creators and hear about it. I do wish that they thought about how and why they judge creators, and how much of that judgment is shaped by cultural conditioning. Like the obsession with vocal fry and upspeak. . . I’d love to never hear about either ever again.

What has making the show taught you about our history and ourselves?
That panics, both moral and otherwise, seem to arrive on a pretty predictable schedule. But also: our normalcy is so tenuous, and we don’t even realize it. It only takes a single event to through a town into chaos. 

What has making the show taught you about YOU?
That I can insert a little personality into a show. We very purposely keep that out of The Fall Line, and that is important. But it’s fun to let a little of myself come through.

What do you hope the show does for people?
I hope it gives them a break! I hope it’s fun, and entertaining, and gives them a few minutes of wonder during a hectic day.

Why are you the perfect host for this show?
I write for my own voice, so I guess that’s the easy-out answer. I don’t write for other people. It’s written from my perspective, narratively speaking, with some tweaks to create a bit of a character—a host position—that I think suits the work. I don’t know if it would necessarily suit another host.

If you were going to create another podcast, don’t worry about the logistics or whether or not anyone would like it, what would it be?
Boy, I have about ten different files of ideas. Brooke and I have wanted to do several longform series that we haven’t gotten around to. I wanted to do a series on the Satanic Panic, but there was a rush on that topic in 2020, so we dropped that idea for now. I do have 30 or so books on the topic at my house, which was pretty weird for pre-pandemic guests. 

Women in podcasting are constantly being criticized for their voices. What is your relationship with yours? How would you describe your voice?
Oh gosh. That’s a big one. I’ve gotten plenty of compliments and plenty of criticism. I’ve been told I sound like Siri and that I’m putting on a weird fake deep voice (can both be true at the same time?!). A weird thing is: I actually was in speech therapy throughout last winter, because I developed recurrent laryngitis, and had to learn new speaking techniques, especially in regard to breathing, and how I project into the mic. So I think about this a lot. I don’t begrudge people their preferences, and I work hard at improving my vocals every time I record. I would love to hear less about women’s voices, and more about their content.

Do you think there are any rules all podcasters should adhere to?
Learning about licensing, usage, and plagiarism, and really understanding all of these topics before they begin. A podcaster should understand attribution, structural plagiarism, overreliance—all of this is important—what audio material they can use, etc. If you plan to monetize, it’s even more vital.

Should podcasters read their Apple Podcast reviews?
I don’t know. It can be useful to an extent. If everyone says your sound is bad, then your sound is bad, and you need to work on it. But do you need to read 20 different conflicting opinions on your voice? I’m not sure. I tend to check the average score every so often for a temp check.

What shows do you love?
So many! Too many to list. I’ll just list off what I have in my listening queue: Scam Goddess, Pleasing Terrors, You’re Wrong About, Behind the Bastards, My Momma Told Me, True Crime Bullshit, Let’s Not Meet, American Hysteria, What a Day. There are so many more, but that’s what I will be listening to while I work!

Thanks, Laurah!