The true crime genre is wildly popular at least partly because it’s pretty straightforward. There’s a violent, horrific crime and the audience hears the true story of what happened, grisly plot twists and all.

But longtime audio producers Josie Holtzman and Isaac Kestenbaum of Portland, Maine, came upon a true crime story a few years ago that raised the question of what truth is and who decides. While working in Alaska they were introduced to the case of Teddy Kyle Smith, an Iñupiaq man arrested after refusing to answer questions about his mother’s death and then shooting two men. He claimed his violence was guided by the Iñukuns, mythical, sinister creatures of Inupiaq folklore.

Collaborating with another Inupiaq man — musician and storyteller James Dommek Jr. — Holtzman and Kestenbau

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