The Pact

In Retrospective 4, Josh discusses how massive life changes coalesced with the creation of the first season of TCB. How he isolated himself entirely to both heal and get into the head-spaces of the people he'd spent so much time researching and writing about. Plus, what went into creating the season one finale.

10th Anniversary Retreat
https://www.bothand.fyi/event-details-registration/ten-year-anniversary-celebration

TROVA TRIP to Galápagos Islands
https://trovatrip.com/trip/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-with-josh-hallmark-jan-2027

TROVA TRIP to Costa Rica
https://trovatrip.com/trip/central-america/costa-rica/costa-rica-with-josh-hallmark-nov-2026

SPONSORS
• Quince: Quince.com/TCBS for free shipping and 356-day returns with code TCBS.
• BetterHelp: BetterHelp.com/TCB for 10% off your first month.  
• Schedule35: Schedule35.co with promo code TCBS for 15% off your first order.

In Retrospective 3, Josh discusses how 24 harrowing hours changed his life and the course of True Crime Bullsh**. He discusses how an incident re-shaped his vision for the first episode of the podcast, and his view on true crime and its darkness. Plus, the impact of that first episode on listeners, and the impact of those listeners on Josh.

10th Anniversary Retreat
https://www.bothand.fyi/event-details-registration/ten-year-anniversary-celebration

TROVA TRIP to Galápagos Islands
https://trovatrip.com/trip/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-with-josh-hallmark-jan-2027

TROVA TRIP to Costa Rica
https://trovatrip.com/trip/central-america/costa-rica/costa-rica-with-josh-hallmark-nov-2026

SPONSORS
• Boll & Branch: BollAndBranch.com/truecrimebs for 20% off.  
• Quince: Quince.com/TCBS for free shipping and 356-day returns with code TCBS.

Retrospective 2 takes us to the origin of the investigation; where Josh's interest in storytelling evolved into his obsession of needing to know everything. And it started in a surprising place: a bound book of correspondence between two teenage girls and their landlord. What started as comedic found writing, became a mystery that people could not let go. And as Josh made his way through it, while working on TCB, he learned about investigations and their repercussions.

This is parts one and two of The Karen & Ellen Letters, Josh's first full-fledged investigation.

10th Anniversary Retreat
https://www.bothand.fyi/event-details-registration/ten-year-anniversary-celebration

TROVA TRIP to Galápagos Islands
https://trovatrip.com/trip/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-with-josh-hallmark-jan-2027

TROVA TRIP to Costa Rica
https://trovatrip.com/trip/central-america/costa-rica/costa-rica-with-josh-hallmark-nov-2026

Cast:
Sara Stapleton as Karen
Sara Kitcher as Ellen
Jeff Powell as Mark
Matt Peelen as Rob

SPONSORS
• Boll & Branch: BollAndBranch.com/truecrimebs for 20% off.  
• Quince: Quince.com/TCBS for free shipping and 356-day returns with code TCBS.  
• Schedule35: Schedule35.co with promo code TCBS for 15% off your first order.

To celebrate 10 years in podcasting, we're spending the summer going back in time and both highlighting key episodes and telling the stories behind them; you’ll get new behind-the-scenes information about what was happening in life, in various investigations, and in the world that impacted these important episodes and their podcasts. You’ll learn how Josh started podcasting, how he started investigating Israel Keyes, some hilarious and terrifying stories from the road, and some really vulnerable and personal stories.

We start our first retrospective at, duh, the beginning. Josh shares how both his podcasting journey and Keyes obsession began. He discusses his time in Seattle and on the Olympic Peninsula, how he ended up on the East Coast, his first deep-dive investigation (not Keyes) and how that led to his second (Keyes).

And this kicks off an early episode of his very first show, Our Americana, entitled Van Life. 

TROVA TRIP to The Galapagos Islands:
https://trovatrip.com/trip/south-america/ecuador/ecuador-with-josh-hallmark-jan-2027

Season finale.

This episode was written, researched, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark

Featuring:
Eric Carter-Landin from True Consequences and Crimelines & Consequences
Albert Perkins

Resources:
Religiosity and Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men: A Meta-Analysis by Bernard E. Whitley Jr.
How Religiosity Shapes Rejection of Homosexuals Across the Globe by Dirk-Jan Janssen
The New York Times
The Harvard Political Review
The National Institutes for Health
The National Institues for Health
The American Psychological Association
The Harvard University Press
The Hill
The Trevor Project
The Human Rights Campaign
This is a Studio BOTH/AND production: bothand.fyi
For an ad-free experience: patreon.com/studiobothand

Music by: Adi Goldstein
Featured music by: Frank Ocean