THE ART OF NARRATING TRUE CRIME
An interview with Mike Oh
by Julia Scrive-Loyer
Artwork by Julia Scrive-Loyer
As I’ve stated before, I’ve always dreamed of being a detective. That turned out to be a frustrated career path for me, but I have since then used my interest for human nature in my writings for and about films. Nevertheless, I do get my true crime fix religiously through numerous podcasts, and through only one YouTube channel: That Chapter, hosted by the insightful and surprisingly cheerful Mike Oh, from Ireland.
Over a now iconic black background, Mike greets us twice a week with a friendliness you might not expect from a true crime narrator, “I always try and tell my stories like I’m telling a friend at a bar or something”, he tells me, “I don’t like to be formal”. It is precisely that informality that hooked me up: in a sea of true crime narrators that opt to creep you out, Mike seems to almost be having a conversation with us, indulging in inside jokes with his subscribers, and ending every video by reminding us to look after ourselves: “the dark topics can really get to some people, and some videos can get really dark, which is why I try to lighten the mood sometimes and end on a positive note (...) I do care about the people who watch, and I’m amazed when people tell me how much my videos helped them in dark times or whatnot, that blows my mind.”
With a little over 300 videos on his channel and counting, Mike has truly found a way to be unique amidst the overflowing amount of content that is uploaded to YouTube everyday. And as we know, being unique doesn’t mean getting on a rocketship to go out and find some outlandish quirks and ideas that nobody has ever seen before - it is as difficult and as simple as being you: “it took me time to find my style and become comfortable in front of the camera and ‘be myself’”, he admits.
The idea itself of being a youtuber wasn’t something that Mike had necessarily planned. As he says, it happened “completely by chance”. He did enjoy making videos with his friends, but had never really thought about posting on YouTube until a friend asked him to help him on his channel, “that went on for a few months, then jobs and stuff put an end to it, but I always missed it, so I started again”. And yet, his first videos weren’t necessarily crime-related, “first I made science type videos, then internet mysteries and gradually followed my interests into true crime”.
So I was curious, why true crime? Is he a fellow frustrated detective? Or is he simply indulging in his own curiosity and very generously feeding ours? The medium is the message, or in this case, the medium is the answer: storytelling. And what sparked that passion you might ask? Well, we have an answer for that too: “It probably goes back to when I read In Cold Blood, telling a real story in the most interesting way possible is what I enjoy the most out of covering true crime tales”. Reading Capote’s book at 15 opened Mike’s eyes. He discovered the craft of “telling the story rather than just reciting the facts”. And this is something I assure you Mike has really come to master. I am often amazed at the way he narrates each case with such enthusiasm and attention to detail - he seems so involved in each of them that it feels as if each case was the only case he had ever covered. But of course, that’s because he is amazed as well, “some stories just don’t seem real, like if it was on TV you wouldn’t believe it, but it happened. Real life is certainly always stranger than fiction”, he says, “there’s always something in a story I haven’t seen before, something new, a new angle. There’s been a few times when I’ve thought ‘wow that was the craziest most interesting case I’ve covered, it’s all downhill from here’. I'm always wrong, I continually come across stories I'm amazed I never heard about before.” This adds to the sense of uniqueness I was speaking of earlier. Because what does it mean to be oneself? I guess it could mean to be sincere, candid, and show genuine emotions, “when I’m filming I ad lib a lot, so my reactions in the videos are how I actually am reacting to the story, which I think people can relate to”. Since we can feel how Mike feels about the cases he covers, it instantly feels much closer to us, but that also means it feels more real, and that to me, is far scarier than the atmospheric fear you could get from other types of videos. Mike is talking to us as if he was telling the story of what happened to his neighbors, thus, in a very casual manner, he fully engages us in each particular case.
But what is it about true crime? Why are we so fascinated by it? Could it be just morbid curiosity? Mike thinks “people are just fascinated by the extremes of human nature, what people can do to each other. (...) It’s like the scares you get from a horror movie, but you’re still safe. True crime is even closer to home as it actually happened. Maybe it’s even an evolutionary thing, people want to learn about murders so it doesn’t happen to them. I’m not sure, but human nature stories are always fascinating no matter what.”
I found this evolutionary thought interesting. I had never looked at it that way. Delving into these stories constantly reminds me that monsters aren’t otherworldly creatures with three heads, but human beings. They make me think about how vulnerable we are, the fine line between good and evil, making me aware not only of the dangers that await outside, but also inside. The evolutionary theory proposed by Mike is somewhat more empowering, cathartic even, as if by collectively listening to these stories we could by the end feel a sense of appreciation towards life, treasuring it and going about our day feeling grateful that it didn’t happen to us. In this sense, I wondered if covering so many of these cases had given Mike a different perspective on humanity:
“The only new perspective it’s given me on humanity is how insane and stupid some people are, thinking they can get away with the shit they do. I think most people, me included, think others go about their lives and think somewhat like they do, and then you come across some nut job who goes about murdering and having these insane plots. It boggles my mind for sure. At the same time, there’s so many people I’ve covered, who did something horrible, yet many times they can be somewhat likeable or relatable, you can see where things went wrong and maybe you end up feeling some pity for them. Though that should always be saved for the victims, not the perpetrators.”
As I mentioned, Mike posts videos twice a week on his YouTube channel. That is a lot of work, since it involves researching the case, finding footage, assimilating the details in such a way that he can actually ad lib most of the narration on camera, editing, etc. I am not only baffled by that amount of dedication, but am also curious about how he deals with all that information, how does he cope? “I have a pretty good ability to leave things at my computer, so to speak”, he explains, “I don’t take things home with me or dwell on aspects of cases when I’m not working”. He doesn’t even watch any other true crime channels or listens to true crime podcasts in his free time and honestly, good for him, because that way he can find balance watching the complete opposite, classics like Peep Show, Alan Partridge and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which explains the greatly appreciated sense of humor he pours into his videos.
And yet, I wanted to know, is there a case that does haunt him? And there is: “Probably the one that sticks with me the most is “The Highway of Tears”. I actually made a video about that, it’s not on the channel anymore as I really want to remake it and do it justice, maybe even travel and cover it on location. It’s a highway in western Canada that roughly 70+ indigenous women have either disappeared on, or been found murdered on, and no one cares. That is probably the case that I think about the most.”
In the meantime, you can binge all the cases he has covered on That Chapter. You can also support him on his Patreon and get early access to his videos, have some extra ones, and join the community asking Mike to take a few days off once in a while. If, like me, you’re a true crime fan, then believe me when I say there’s a before and after you hear these few words for the first time: ““Hey you, and welcome, my name is Mike”.