‘The Shell Lake Massacre’ podcast passes one million plays

The first-ever Rawlco Radio podcast has passed the million-play milestone.

“The Shell Lake Massacre,” a six-part podcast, chronicles one of the worst random mass killings in Saskatchewan history, when James and Evelyn Peterson and seven of their children were brutally murdered on their farm in August of 1967.

Over the course of the series, host and producer Brittany Caffet took her listeners on a guided tour through history. With the help of Kathy Hill, the only surviving member of the Peterson family, Caffet’s series explored the lives of the victims, the murders and manhunt, the confession by Victor Hoffman and the mind of the killer, and the lasting impact his crime left on both the community and the province.

The podcast, which launched Aug. 14, has resonated in Saskatchewan and beyond, passing a million plays on Apple Podcasts on Tuesday evening.

“To see it hit one million listens already is really remarkable, and I think it really speaks to the immensity of the story as well as the quality of interviews we were able to get,” Caffet said.

“It’s just been an honour and a great joy to be involved in helping to share the story of the Peterson family.”

Caffet said she was “shocked” to see the series quickly climbing the Canadian and American podcast charts. Asked what made her efforts stand out in a sea of true crime stories, Caffet said the secret was probably her focus on the Petersons rather than only worrying about the killer.

“Something that separates ‘The Shell Lake Massacre’ from a lot of other true crime podcasts is the fact that we really paid attention to who the victims were. Not just the fact that they were murdered, but we shared the story of the Peterson family and helped you connect with them on a level that you often don’t get to in a lot of true crime media,” Caffet explained.

“You got to see them as people and understand what a loss that was, and I think that might be what’s kind of separating this podcast from the pack.”

As for her next project, Caffet said she’s keeping her cards close for now, but plans to keep exploring the true crime genre.

“I’ve got a few things in the works,” she said with a laugh. “There are so many true crime stories across Saskatchewan – across the entire country, really – that haven’t really been brought to light.”

Caffet invited anyone in Saskatchewan with a close connection to an interesting true crime story to get in touch with her.

All six episodes of “The Shell Lake Massacre” can be found here.