What's Kraken?
Claim This Podcastby Jo Szewczyk
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Podcast Overview
<p>Join bestselling author Jo Szewczyk in What’s Kraken?, Empty Hell’s signature interview series where raw, unfiltered conversations cut through the noise. In just 20 minutes, Jo—known for his dark narrative hit Surviving Gen X—dives deep with creators, artists, and the voices shaping culture, politics, and entertainment today.</p><p>From filmmakers to musicians, writers to activists, comedians to elected officials—What’s Kraken? brings you the stories, struggles, and process behind the people changing the world around us. No scripts. No pretense. Just real talk with real people.</p><p>Subscribe now and join our growing community of entertainment enthusiasts. New episodes drop regularly on our YouTube channel and everywhere you get your podcasts!</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/19/2020
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Recent Episodes
July 24, 2026
S5 E5: Lee Hatfield — The Paranormal Prism, and Proving It Twice
Lee Hatfield rebranded his podcast a week before we recorded this. SIPA Paranormal Chronicles is now The Paranormal Prism, he's stepping back as co-lead of the SIPA investigation team, and he's launched a second show with two UK podcasters. He's also eighteen months into a weekly release schedule I specifically told him not to attempt. We get into the medium whose money kept walking off in two different provinces, why the stick-figure cameras don't impress him, and the one question underneath his entire method: can you make it happen again? Key Moments * The rebrand. Paranormal Chronicles becomes The Paranormal Prism. One beam of light in, a spread of colours out. One question, six or eight possible answers. * Paranormal Summat or Other. The new monthly show with Andy Booth (Alien8UK) and Tommy Cullum (Let's Get Freaky). Premiere was two hours of banter in England shirts. * Weekly vs. bi-weekly. I said bi-weekly so he wouldn't burn out. He went weekly anyway and is booked solid to September. Six guests batched into two weeks, then a month off recording. * Make it easy and they come. The one-sheet, the TidyCal link, and guests who now book themselves back onto the show without being asked. * Ruling out the not-normal. Faulty wiring and EMF, the alarm clock beside your bed, carbon monoxide, black mould. All of it hands you hallucinations before a ghost gets a look in. * The medium's missing money; SDG jail; The hand. Real life paranormal talks from the field. * Poltergeist in the forest. Rocks thrown, knocks on trees, footprints. In a house you'd call that a poltergeist. So why does it stop being one under trees? * Starting out. A logical mind, an audio recorder, a camera, a notebook and a pen. Not your phone. And have manners. The takeaway Rule out the obvious before you go looking for the not normal — then ask it to happen again. Belief is cheap. Repeatable is expensive. Find Lee * The Paranormal Prism on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-zyT7fZF-Y-15XJfpBJgUQ * The Paranormal Prism on TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@paranormalpodcasthost * The Paranormal Prism on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61592066402942 * Apple Podcasts — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sipa-paranormal-chronicles/id1799596747 * Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/4mtVyd1Z3xbu7cEzfpZVDZ * New Paranormal Prism episodes Fridays at 5pm Eastern. Paranormal Summat or Other drops monthly. Gear mentioned * Digital voice recorder — https://amzn.to/3ROZTeE * Mel Meter — https://amzn.to/4wu2eL5 Empty Hell is an Amazon Associate. The links above are affiliate links, which means we earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. It helps keep the lights off around here. All our links in one place: https://linktr.ee/Emptyhell
July 12, 2026
Stephanie Roy: Chemotherapy, Tequila, and Fireworks | What's Kraken
Stephanie Roy joins What's Kraken to talk about her book Chemotherapy and Tequila: The Last Road Trip — part memoir, part her late sister's actual journal from the road trip she took to say goodbye to everyone she loved. Stephanie traces the road from shy straight-A dropout to the woman whose daily life is orphan Thanksgiving: married at 17, an aortic aneurysm at 23 that broke her open, a trailer park tragedy, and two deathbed promises she kept. Jo and Stephanie also go back to where it all started — ghost hunting meetups in Montreal — and ahead to the TV series she's writing now. Take Away: Life doesn't get easier — the way you deal with it does. You can't order the tools on Amazon. You build them by living through it. Key Moments * Ghost hunters at the mall — mostly there to weed out the weirdos (01:03) * Why Stephanie writes longhand: road trips, the Metro, and the lost art of being bored (04:56) * The book that's written by two sisters — her sister's journal is right there in the middle (08:32) * The extrovert and the introvert: a tracheotomy at three vs. quitting high school over social anxiety (10:29) * Married at 17 — "I knew everything" (14:44) * An aortic aneurysm at 23: "Call your friends. You're not going to make it." (16:03) * Waking up from the coma a different person — broken open, not broken (17:33) * Trailer park tragedy, fireworks, and never blowing up your own supply (20:41) * Her sister's last road trip — smiling for the kids the whole way (34:12) * Two promises: be there for her kids, and finish the book (36:21) * The memoir is becoming a TV series (41:10) * Advice to her younger self: hang in there — the tools are coming (44:20) Chemotherapy and Tequila: The Last Road Trip by Stephanie Roy: Here [https://amzn.to/4aMSKln] As an Amazon Associate, Empty Hell earns from qualifying purchases. Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/Emptyhell
May 27, 2026
Mad Ange: Sobriety, Grief & the Long Crawl Back | What's Kraken
In this episode of What's Kraken, Jo sits down with Mad Ange — artist, writer, publisher, burlesque performer, and lifelong Vegas weirdo — for two hours on sobriety, grief, the old internet, and the long crawl back to yourself. Funny, filthy, and a lot more personal than either of them planned. Support Mad Ange's work at Crafty Bat: [https://thecraftybat.carrd.co/] - Grab the Ephemeronomicon here [https://amzn.to/3RvhSX2]: We are Amazon Affiliates. If you click and buy something, we will get $ Key Moments * Opening riff – A virgin strawberry daiquiri so vile it deserved to die in a fire. Jo wanted to chuck it at an Uber driver; a red light killed the plan. Mid-interview, he asks if Mad Ange would've run the light for him — no hesitation: "Fuck yes." * Getting sober – Both came up the hard way. Mad Ange quit during shutdown — 14.5 months, six drinks since — after trying to get an abusive boyfriend to quit with her. He lasted 14 hours. * The feral early internet – Usenet, AOL, Lycos, and the Vegas chat rooms they were both haunting in the 90s without ever crossing paths. * A career with no single lane – Award-winning non-nude fetish model, ten years of burlesque, painting, sewing, stage managing, and a film-school noir parody shot in an escape room in under two hours. * Crafty Bat – 12 years running. She built the occult day-planner Ephemeronomicon in 10 days with YouTuber Billy Brujo. * The family grammar book – Reissuing an Urdu-English grammar written by her great-great-grandfather, printed out of the family home in Pakistan, with her dad on the foreword. * The heart of it: loss – Losing her mother, a young friend, and fellow Vegas artist Masuimi Max within weeks of each other. Grief as waves, the year after as a chrysalis, and the slow rebuild. * Advice to her younger self – Ignore everyone who says art isn't a real job. Keep being weird, keep being creative, keep falling in love.
70 total episodes available
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- What is What's Kraken??
<p>Join bestselling author Jo Szewczyk in What’s Kraken?, Empty Hell’s signature interview series where raw, unfiltered conversations cut through the noise. In just 20 minutes, Jo—known for his dark narrative hit Surviving Gen X—dives deep with creators, artists, and the voices shaping culture, politics, and entertainment today.</p><p>From filmmakers to musicians, writers to activists, comedians to elected officials—What’s Kraken? brings you the stories, struggles, and process behind the people changing the world around us. No scripts. No pretense. Just real talk with real people.</p><p>Subscribe now and join our growing community of entertainment enthusiasts. New episodes drop regularly on our YouTube channel and everywhere you get your podcasts!</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates weekly.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 8 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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