The Pact

78
True Crime #234

It started with the 2014 disappearance of an Upper Michigan man named Chris Regan. The two-year investigation into his disappearance would take authorities on a strange journey into a world of sex, drugs, pig farming, alleged cannibalism, and serial murder; all stemming from a wedding day pact between Kelly and Jason Cochran, that resulted in the murder of at least two men. Investigative reporter, Josh Hallmark, dives through thousands of case files and dozens of hours of interviews with Kelly to make sense of the breadth of her crimes and her often contradictory stories, in hopes of identifying her additional victims she's refused to name... if there even are any.

This is a Studio BOTH/AND production:
www.pactpodcast.com / www.bothand.fyi
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Recent Reviews
  • LucyDog29
    smart narrator sounds uneducated to be annoying.
    dude. please learn how to properly pronounce iron. i-run is not how it's pronounced anywhere much less in the upper midwest. don't tell me no one's corrected you. you sound like a indiana hillbilly.
  • SweetBoga
    So hard to hear
    I am really interested in this podcast and think the writing is great. However the sound quality is so bad. You can’t hear the recordings of the trial almost at all and then the narrator is too loud. Only made it 2.5 episodes in.
  • _spreesome_
    Early Exit
    When I got to the fourth installment, I thought it was a different podcast. When I saw that there are 18 episodes total, I got out. To me, lack of focus and brevity was more of an issue than narration style.
  • DeeGram
    Huh? What “pact”
    There is nothing there. This is a slogggg. You will get drowned out by phony 5 star reviews but if you want to listen to this podcast listen on 1.5x speed because he either slowed it down to drag this out or is annoyingly slow in his delivery. There is literally no talk about this so called pact. Skip episode 6 about Laura. Provides nothing to the story of Kelly. Its a filler episode. You come away in the end thinking why did i listen to that? Did we really uncover anything?
  • BJWBAN
    Sound is definitely an issue
    Trying to listen on a road trip is hard when the sound of the podcast is so drastically different than the ads. You’ll get startled. Like many others his pronunciation of iron is distracting. Those two issues aside, the content is interesting.
  • northwoodslover
    Content good
    Good podcast content but the 3+ min spooky musical outros drive me crazy. I didn’t come here for that.
  • EllieM78
    I hate leaving “bad” reviews, but…
    The narrator is almost impossible to listen to. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard someone speak so monotonously- I had to speed it up to 1.25 which then interfered with the normal speakers and courtroom scenes. The topic was interesting but not worth sitting through this.
  • Bigboggity
    Would be 5 stars with a few tweaks
    This story is really engaging but there are several things that take away from the podcast: 1. The narrator’s pronunciation of “iron” and “Regan.” 2. The near-indecipherable recordings 3. The later episodes which get a bit unfocused 4. The emphasis on “the pact” between Kelly and Jason which is dismissed by the narrator as almost definitely a lie and at the very least unable to be corroborated 5. Consistent references to another serial killer unrelated to this case
  • Ellimac B
    Mixed bag
    The story itself is fascinating. I love grappling w gender and sexuality in the context of those who perpetrate crimes. But the host delivers the content in a somewhat condescending and presumptive way. His voice sounds like what you might hear in a fictionalized podcast so it’s hard to understand where the host is genuinely coming from. I also feel like content is repetitive and droning. It’s a three (star) for me
  • Dabbler123
    A bit slow
    At first I didn’t think I could get through even one episode because the host has a completely monotone, slow, narration style. The content is interesting though. I ended up listening at 1.25 speed which helped matters dramatically.
  • LizzieLarson
    The word is IRON: “EYE-urn.” Iron.
    Highly recommend listening at 1.2 speed, available on Spotify. Otherwise, there’s so much space between the words you’ll forget what the sentence was about. Periodically the host will call the subject “A GODDAMN LIAR” like she’s his ex or something. Other than that, entertaining.
  • Sico and the man
    Bad sound
    I wanted to like this story but had to turn off and unfollow unfortunately. The sound is bad and then when you do get a voice narrated, it’s putting me to sleep.
  • Lilnaz524
    Poor Audio
    Unfortunately difficult to hear court testimony. Very poor audio as if in a tin can.
  • stinkydogbreath
    Sound is so so bad.
    Good story but the sound was so bad they I gave up. I mean why listen to a podcast you can’t hear???!
  • kyneeq
    Good content, terrible audio
    I want to to finish this podcast, but the terrible audio made it impossible. Gave up after 3 episodes The volume variations between the narrator and the audio clips make it necessary to change the volume repeatedly. Most of the audio clips are unintelligible.
  • Hard2listen
    Audio
    This podcast is SO hard to hear, the audio from court are impossible and the rest of it is so low you have to turn it way up, but then the commercials blast! It’s very frustrating bc the story seems interesting .
  • Me1991!
    The guys voice is annoying.
    This would be sooooooo good if the podcaster didn’t use that weird, condescending voice. Like just talk normal. When you’re interviewing ppl with your normal voice it’s great. Idk why it needs to be so slow and weird. Made it hard to listen to.
  • Podmodgodrod
    Infuriating
    God I wanna hear this story so bad but what on EARTH is the narrator doing speaking SO SLOW. I cannot pay attention and when I do for a moment, I want to throw my phone across the room. I would listen at a faster speed but the courtroom recording are such terrible quality that it would make them inaudible.
  • ianjwp
    Has so much potential
    I really wanted to love this, and the story telling is phenomenal, however the court hearings are impossible to hear I’ve had to rewind multiple times to try and understand what is being said. The narrator’s volume also seems super low, I’m having to turn my volume all the way up, and when an ad comes on it is WAY too loud. Overall, I think the production and sound engineering could be better, otherwise this is a super intriguing story, but it’s hard to understand what is being said and I can’t get past episode 1 :(
  • brucklynn
    Slooooooow speech
    I can’t get past the host delayed commentary I tried but it’s a no!
  • RowanandReggie
    Why all the Keyes references?
    Failed to lay groundwork to explain the endless references to Israel Keyes, making the assumptions that every listener is familiar with Keyes, and cognizant of narrator’s relationship to Keyes. I didn’t finish listening.
  • iosonosenzatitolo
    The worst ads ever
    Podcasts aren’t the radio. The ads are so disruptive. I’m ok with ads but these are loud and noxious
  • Crice7272
    Great story - terrible narration
    After listening to people like Mr. Ballen it is painful to listen to this host. I also think it’s lazy to have so much of the content be from hard to hear court proceedings.
  • Ironnoteyeron
    Why do you say iron that way?
    Do you eye-Ron your clothes? Do you call the metal eye-Ron? It’s so distracting.
  • Young buttplug
    It’s I-ern river! 😒
    Title
  • Ellen0779
    The Pact/Josh Hallmark
    Josh does all his podcasts with sensitivity to victims unlike some others. He does not overly condone these killers. Always a class act, he does a thorough job getting the story across. Thank you Josh.
  • Carolabbycharlie74
    Wow
    Amazing, heart-wrenching story.
  • ISpankEm
    Very distracting
    He says “iron” in a very strange way, and it’s super distracting.
  • Foxtail pine
    Episode 4 cut off at the end?
    I love Josh’s podcasts! Thoroughly researched and expertly produced. I was disappointed when the end of episode 4 cut off what Josh was saying and the music came on in the middle of his sentence. Did Rizzo start her own investigation? What else did we miss at the end of this episode?
  • cubkntrttrrg
    Great Podcast!
    I’m a huge fan of Josh! He’s curious and analytical at the same time.
  • alex373773
    Josh is rad.
    I actually, also, tried to inquire about where these episodes were. And here they are.
  • Hoola dancer
    HALLMARK HAPPY
    I started this podcast on True crime Bullsh**t and it was so good! I actually messaged Josh about where the rest of it went… didn’t hear back from him, but this is just as good😍😍 You are awesome! Thanks for all of your hard work!!
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