As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond audio. Creators are expanding into video, merch, and live events, finding new ways to deepen listener relationships and bring audiences together. One clear example is the paranormal-comedy podcast Let's Get Haunted.Hosted by best friends Alyssa Terry and Natalia Strawn, the show has built a devoted fanbase-affectionately known as the Haunties -around a shared love of the spooky and the absurd. Last year, the podcast joined Spotify's 2025 RADAR creators class, our global program designed to help emerging creators reach new audiences.
That support helped pave the way for a new milestone: the show's first-ever live taping, recently recorded in front of about 120 fans at Spotify Studios in Los Angeles. The episode is now streaming on Spotify, offering a snapshot of the community they've built.
To mark the occasion, For the Record caught up with Nat and Aly for a joint Q&A about the show's evolution, their live debut, and what's next.
For anyone hearing about Let's Get Haunted for the first time, how would you describe the show? It started as a tongue-in-cheek response to the horrors of everyday life. We take turns deep diving into paranormal topics-ghost encounters, alien abductions, cursed objects-with the assumption that each story is true. Our goal is to give the audience a chance to suspend their disbelief and tap into a sense of childlike wonder.
We also have a broad definition of haunted. Did you get three flat tires in a month, hunt down the person who stole your credit card instead of calling your bank like a normal person, or rescue a possum on the side of the highway and crowdfund its femur surgery? Congrats, you're haunted! (These are all things that have really happened to us.) We try to match the chaos of the hauntings in our personal lives with the tales we select for the storytelling portion of the show.
How has the podcast changed since you first launched it? And how have your listeners helped shape where it's gone? Our podcast has always been very community-based. We use listener surveys to get feedback at the end of every season, then have a meeting where we go over that feedback and figure out which suggestions are feasible for us to incorporate.
When we first started the pod, we were living on opposite ends of Los Angeles and would scramble to find places to record that were roughly in the middle. We've recorded in bathrooms, cars, empty office buildings, and anywhere we could find.
In 2023, thanks to the generosity of our audience, we were finally able to sublease an office space. Having a stable place to record was a total game changer: It allowed us to increase the number of episodes we were putting out, create vlogs, produce and store merch, and organize fan meet-ups. We literally would not exist without the support of our listeners.
Your first live taping was a big milestone. What did that moment feel like for you? It was absolutely surreal! We were so nervous going into it, but as soon as we parked at the venue we immediately ran into two Haunties who had arrived three hours early to be first in line. Knowing we were walking into something brand new with the support of the people who've been with us since the beginning made us feel so much more at ease.
What do you think it is about the show that translates so well to live and in-person experiences? We always joke that the first time you listen, you're probably going to hate us. But if you stick around, eventually we'll Stockholm Syndrome our way into your heart. We inject so much of ourselves into our show, sharing not just entertaining ghost stories, but also the highs and lows of our personal lives. If you can handle us talking about our worst breakups and Abraham Lincoln's ghost train at the same time, we're bonded for life.
This back-and-forth with the audience carries over well into our live events. We incorporate callbacks to previous episodes and inside jokes so everyone can feel like they're participating along with us.
You're also expanding into video and other formats. What's exciting to you about building Let's Get Haunted beyond audio? Yes! We were an audio-only podcast up until last year when we started incorporating video. We're constantly trying to push ourselves to do things outside of our comfort zone so we don't get stagnant. Video has opened up a whole new layer of storytelling for us, especially when it comes to visual gags, reactions, and bringing our personalities to life in a way that audio alone can't always capture.
How do you think about balancing what longtime fans love with trying new things? Oof, it's hard to always get this right. Ultimately, it's important to remember that nobody putting out content would exist without their audience. So, we have to take our longtime listeners' feedback seriously or it's a disservice to the community we've worked so hard to build. At the same time, we want to take risks and push ourselves to try new ideas from time to time to keep things fun and fresh. This is where being open and honest with the audience helps strike that balance: If we're trying something new, we'll explain why we're doing it.
As RADAR creators, how has being part of the program helped support your growth? We are so incredibly grateful to be in Spotify's 2025 RADAR class. It's led to so many new experiences, from getting our own billboard in New York City to our first live show. As indie creators, having a huge company back you in such a public way is very validating. After being told we were too small for years, we feel like the RADAR program has given us the chance we've been waiting for.
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