Alex Hannaford: True Crime Podcast Host Discusses The Railroad Killer
My guest, journalist Alex Hannaford, has interviewed murderers, serial killers, and even wrongly convicted felons who are on death row. He conducted these interviews for the 'Dead Man Talking' series of his true crime podcast 'Huddled Masses.' Today, I’m interviewing him.
What’s it like coming face to face with a serial killer? Does going to death row change your views on the death penalty? How does this work affect your personal life?
Alex describes his experience of talking to the people that society has classed as ‘evil’, and how easy it is to humanise them when seeing them face to face. We also talk about the justice there is in the death penalty, and whether it is a desirable law enforcement measure.
Finally, we discuss the recent election and the way it turned into some kind of Trump referendum...
“For every ten people executed in America, one person is freed with evidence of their innocence. That’s one in every ten.” - Alex Hannaford
Time Stamps:
01:28 - Who Alex is and what his true crime podcast is about.
09:17 - Alex’s background as a journalist, and how he got into crime journalism.
11:02 - What it’s like interviewing serial killers on death row.
13:34 - How the discovery of wrongly convicted individuals led Alex to start his podcast.
16:58 - How Alex gained permission to interview these convicts.
20:08 - How interviewing inmates on death row has changed Alex.
23:28 - The importance of maintaining a journalistic stance when interviewing murderers.
25:35 - Why Alex disagrees with the death penalty.
28:30 - The work Alex is doing with Proclaim Justice, helping to turnover wrongful convictions.
32:51 - Interviewing Rusty Yates and the trauma these types of interviews can cause.
40:16 - How the election evolved into a referendum on Trump, and the podcast Alex made looking at the real issues.
47:43 - How the pandemic has affected Alex and the work he’s been doing.
49:02 - Whether Alex would ever report in war zones.
50:25 - The issues some war correspondents have.
Resources:
Huddled Masses
Dead Man Talking
One For Ten
Proclaim Justice
Battleground
Texas Real Food