I’ve been listening since the original Supernatural with Ashley Flowers launched in March 2020.
In fact, this was the podcast that introduced me to Ashley Flowers, Crime Junkie, and eventually the entire Audiochuck network. I wasn’t some random listener who stumbled across a couple of episodes and decided to complain. I was there from the beginning, which is exactly why the current version is so disappointing.
The first mistake was changing the intro.
The second mistake was replacing Ashley Flowers.
The third mistake was believing listeners were so attached to the brand name that they wouldn’t notice everything that made the show successful had been removed.
We noticed.
What made the original show special wasn’t just the subject matter. There are hundreds of paranormal podcasts. What made Supernatural stand out was Ashley’s ability to create tension, atmosphere, and curiosity without constantly inserting herself into the story.
The new version seems determined to do the exact opposite.
The original Supernatural worked because Ashley Flowers understood something fundamental: the story was the star. She created atmosphere, tension, suspense, and mystery. She knew when to talk, when to pause, and when to let the story do the heavy lifting.
The new hosts seem to have missed that lesson entirely.
Instead of drawing listeners deeper into the mystery, they constantly pull you out of it. Every time the story starts building momentum, it gets interrupted by commentary, reactions, side conversations, personal observations, or unnecessary discussion. The result is a show that feels less like a supernatural documentary and more like listening to two people talk about one.
That’s the problem.
People came for the mystery.
People came for the eerie atmosphere.
People came for the feeling that they were hearing a strange and unsettling story unfold.
They didn’t come to listen to hosts insert themselves into the experience every few minutes.
The original show felt dark, immersive, and compelling.
The new version feels crowded.
The original show trusted the audience.
The new version feels like it doesn’t trust silence.
The original show gave listeners chills.
The new version makes me wish someone would get back to the point.
And perhaps the most frustrating part is that the decline was completely avoidable. Nobody was asking for a dramatic reinvention. Nobody was demanding a host replacement. Nobody was begging for a different tone, different pacing, different atmosphere, and different music.
Listeners already had something they loved.
Instead of protecting it, Audiochuck dismantled it piece by piece and then seemed surprised when longtime fans noticed.
I genuinely tried to give this version a chance.
Multiple episodes.
An open mind.
The benefit of the doubt.
But the more I listened, the more obvious it became that this isn’t the show I originally fell in love with.
The name may still be Supernatural.
The experience isn’t.
The cruel irony is that this podcast introduced me to Audiochuck.
Today, it serves as a reminder of why I stopped listening.
Sometimes revivals work.
Sometimes they don’t.
And sometimes you take something that was mysterious, atmospheric, and memorable, strip away everything that made it special, and end up with a product that serves as a reminder of how good the original used to be.
Sometimes dead is better.
