The Lore podcast, hosted bi-weekly by Aaron Mahnke, is a documentary podcast that explores dark historical tales with a focus on the macabre. Aaron documents folkloric tales and ancient and modern legends that touch up on the dark side of human nature. All of the stories he narrates either really took place, or were firmly believed by people to be true. This podcast is the epitome of the perfect campfire experience with a touch of horror tales to go around. 

This podcast received a lot of popularity within the first year of its launch because of the deep dives it takes into the darker sides of human cultures. Lore is a documentation of history solely through folklore and gives a lot of insights into the beliefs of the common people. Whether true or not, these stories have shaped human culture and values, and help us understand our ancestors better.

Lore Podcast: A Look At The Popularity And Influence Of The Podcast

The Creator Behind the Lore Podcast 

Aaron Mahnke is a podcaster, author, and lover of folkloric tales. It was his love for supernatural and mysterious stories that led him to start the Lore podcast as a marketing experiment in 2015. It quickly gained a lot of traction and was even awarded as the “best of 2015” by iTunes. This kick-started his career. Today, the podcast has over half a billion downloads, and was even adapted into a two-season show on Amazon Prime and a trilogy of books! Published by Penguin Random House, the books are a collection of the most rare and classic tales from Aaron’s podcast, supported by gorgeous illustrations to make the stories come to life. Lore also won “The Best History Podcast 2016” by the Academy of Podcasters.

Following the success of this hit podcast, he went on to found “Grim and Mild Entertainment,” a podcast production company that focuses on creating shows that tell historical stories. Some of Aaron’s other famous podcasts include Cabinet of Curiosities, Noble Blood, Unobscured, and Bridgewater. 

Aaron currently writes and works on his podcasts full-time and gives lots of lectures about the importance that folk tales and legends have on our society’s culture.

Themes and Topics Covered 

Lore, the critically acclaimed podcast, explores true historical tales that are more frightening than fiction. The history of common people is often filled with mysterious creatures (whether real or supernatural), tragic and unexplainable events, and unusual places – stories that are the stuff of nightmares. These are the kinds of stories that Aaron narrates on this podcast; stories that expose the darker side of history.

The tales are macabre, gripping, and very, very real. Well, at least our ancestors believed they were real. Let’s look at a few of the episodes to understand the content better. 

Episode 220: Uplifting 

This podcast episode takes us to the skies, to an ancient belief more than a century old that believed there was new life in the skies above us. Here, Aaron tells us about UFO sightings, and how they are not a modern phenomena. One of the first sightings took place more than four centuries ago! 

Aaron goes on to give us a summary of various alleged UFO sightings throughout history. Some of them were terrifying, such as the account by Idella, a woman from Ohio, who claimed to have been attacked by unknown beings from the sky. What did the people think of these incidents? Find out in this episode!

Episode 219: Unanswered 

There once lived a man in Detroit known as Benny Evangelista. He was a cult leader, a hex man, and a self-proclaimed divine prophet. In 1929, Benny and his family were found brutally murdered in their own home. Police found Benny and his wife with their heads severed. Their youngest child’s skull had been crushed, and the other children had been slaughtered in their beds. 

To this day, the Detroit Occult Murders remain unsolved. Their house was destroyed, but many people claim that the place is haunted. There have been rumors about sightings of a headless man walking around. In this dark episode, Aaron discusses the murders as well as the many theories that surround it regarding the perpetrators.

Episode 218: Notorious 

Have you ever wondered how some of the most common places today may have meant something entirely different to our ancestors? The American landscape is dotted with several places that hide dark folklore behind their walls. 

In this episode, Aaron gives a summary of locations throughout America that have been the protagonists of Satanic legends. One of the most chilling tales is the one associated with the Stull Cemetery in Stull, Kansas, a place that has been rumored to be one of the gates of hell.

Reach of the Lore Podcast 

The Lore podcast has 12.5k subscribers on YouTube, 85.7k followers on Instagram, and 68.2k followers on Twitter. Aaron Mahnke, the host, has 29.3k followers on Instagram and 62.9k followers on Twitter. 

On YouTube, where view statistics are readily available, it appears that the average podcast episode receives between 500 to 3k views, with some of the more popular episodes racking up as much as 11k views. 

As of January 2023, the Lore podcast was ranked at #5 under the American History category, and #185 under the overall American podcasts category on Apple Podcasts.

Based on this analysis, we estimated that the Lore podcast receives 3k – 5k listens each time an episode goes out across Apple, Google, YouTube, and Spotify podcast networks. 

The Format of the Podcast 

The format of the Lore podcast is pretty simple. Each podcast episode starts out with some background around the topic before we get to the bottom of it. The entire episode tells a story in chronological order.

Aaron doesn’t feature any guests on his podcast. Each episode consists solely of him narrating stories.

Reception and Impact 

The Lore podcast has become one of the most popular podcasts on the internet today, with millions of listeners every month. It has been described by listeners as “a podcast that informs and frightens” while offering “the perfect blend of history and spookiness.” His ability to include modern comparisons to the historical tales adds a nice touch!

Aaron’s smooth voice is amazing to listen to. He is great at painting images with his words, making you feel as if the incidents are happening right before your eyes. This is definitely a binge-worthy podcast with interesting stories that help us understand what our ancestors believed in, and how those beliefs have shaped our worldviews today. 

If you love all things macabre, supernatural, and spooky, this podcast is definitely for you! You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or Google Podcasts. You can also buy official Lore merch from the Lore shop.