Love of paranormal stories turns into a successful podcast in Corner Brook
One otherworldly podcast is picking up popularity in Corner Brook, telling spooky stories as shared by people on the west coast.
"We are the online campfire for everyone to gather around and share their 'Effed-Up Stories,'" Will Pender says.
From his home studio in Corner Brook, Pender records his paranormal-themed podcast, Effed-Up Stories.
Parallel universes, near death experiences and alien abductions are just a few of the far-out topics discussed by Pender and co-host Ryan Sharpe.
What began as a school project has morphed into a YouTube channel, with more than 10,000 subscribers and 1.5 million views.
"We started off telling our own stories to get the ball rolling. Then we started covering the most niche, furthest-reaches-of-the-earth kinds of stories. And that blew up," Pender told CBC's Corner Brook Morning Show.
"I didn't really expect much beyond passing school. I've always loved the paranormal. The idea for the podcast was an afterthought."
'Can't even keep up with it'
The success of the program came as a surprise to Pender.
"We have so much content coming in from submissions now that we can't even keep up with it," he said.
"There are a lot of people out there that want to share their story and we have become a platform that has some reach."
Pender is currently on the fence about whether he wants to sign an exclusive content deal with a large YouTube content provider.
According to Pender, a previous contract he signed with a record label didn't work out, so he's hesitant to sign on to anything else.
A change to everyday life
When asked if he believes the stories featured on his podcast Pender said, "some of them" could be true.
"It's not that I'm a sceptic but you have to approach everything with some skepticism. I take everything at face value even if I don't believe in it," he said.
"Who am I to say that this happened, or never happened?"
Pender may not believe in all of the stories, but that does not change his interest in them, or the subject matter itself.
"When you think about normal life, what do we do? We go to work, we have spouses, we come home ... the same old monotonous tedium of everyday life," he said.
"I really like this idea that there's this whole other world out there — stuff going on right underneath our noses."
