Maple Street Murder combines my love of mystery, horror, and dramatic true crime media all in one! I knew I wanted to create something spooky for this assignment, so I utilized ChatGPT (for the very first time! In order to save brain space for the meatier aspects of this assignment) to generate a short “Unsolved Murders” reminiscent script, and Maple Street Murder was born. The overall vision for this podcast would be to follow this particular (fictional) case alluded to in the narration.
Since I recruited my boyfriend for the audio narration, both of our names are on the title card with the idea that we would be hosting together. We used my closet as our sound booth to record the audio narration portion. I found the PERFECT “The X-Files” vibe music to accompany the narration (I gasped at how well they went together!) I was also able to find a spooky/ethereal forest ambience audio that complemented the other two audios well. I then added a couple fades, as well as a podcast filter for his voice. I am overall very happy with how this turned out!
Sources:
Audio-
- X Man by 1000 Handz, licensed CC BY 4.0
- “horror forest NL 1209 PM 240531_0730” by klankbeeld found on freesound.org, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- “Maple Street Murder narration” by Zach K., licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.
Script-
- OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (February 15 version). [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
Hi Melody! Ah, I love crime podcasts! Your choice of font for the name of the podcast immediately gave me “reporter” vibes and I love the crackling in the image too. The sepia tone makes it feel old and spooky. Once I started listening, I kept wondering how the building in the photo was tied into the story–I was sort of mentally looking for a victorian style house (although that’s probably just me being too literal). My FAVORITE part of your project is the ethereal forest ambience! It’s absolutely perfect and does a great job of evoking that mysterious element. The music is also excellent and sets the tone perfectly. I couldn’t really tell if this podcast is TRUE crime, or fiction. The font makes me think maybe true crime but the tone of the voice makes me think fiction since he sounds more dramatic than a reporter (if that makes sense). You could include a more direct “join us as we…” call to action to give listeners a feel for the trajectory of the episodes. And since you’re both hosts, it would have been nice to hear YOUR voice as well in the intro! Overall, I heard it more as the beginning of a story and less as a documentary or journalistic piece (which isn’t bad, just left me wondering what the rest of the series would look like). Also–not sure about this, but I couldn’t find a link to the original photo you used? Very nice job on this!!
Hello Karen!! I used a design template on canva for my title image. I found the link to the original template (which I wish I included now in the post and not just the creators name) but here it is!
https://www.canva.com/templates/EAFzAUXJmy0-black-white-vintage-running-man-photo-old-album-cover/
Hi Melody! I really liked the suspenseful music and how well it matched the dramatic tone of the narration. Together they created a strong mysterious mood right from the beginning. The cover art also fit the suspenseful feel of the podcast really well. Using a more dramatic voice seems to work nicely for this type of podcast. I think this concept would appeal to listeners who enjoy suspenseful podcasts or mystery stories! Overall, everything worked well together and the post was easy to follow.
Hey Melody! I am usually a big wimp when it comes to listening to anything in the mystery, horror, or true crime genres, but I really liked your take on the project! I think you conveyed the tone and mood very well; it felt just the right amount of mysterious and intriguing. The music fit very well! I absolutely loved your image. The colors, sepia filter, and text styles really showcased what you’re going for. Everything else looked good! I did see what Karen mentioned about the link to the image/design template, but other than that, great job!