Novel

Gripping Tale Of A Multi-Generational Cult And Crime Ring Revealed

Host Jesse Hyde (Vanity Fair, GQ) Delivers An All-New Approach To True Crime in this Highly Stylized And Epic Saga

First Two Episodes Launch May 4 Listen To The Trailer HERE

NEW YORK (April 27, 2022) — Today iHeartMedia, the No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, and Novel, the ascendant UK podcast studio behind the ambitious global Apple #1 Harsh Reality: The Story Of Miriam Rivera, announce their new show Deliver Us From Ervil. In the new investigative series, host Jesse Hyde (Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, GQ) descends into the Mexican desert to unearth a murderous tale of truly Biblical proportions as a Utopian safehaven turns into the birthplace of a cold-blooded cult.

As he plunges into cartel country, Hyde reveals the story of Colonia LeBaron, a town that quickly spun from its vision of a utopian Mormon community into a brutal legacy of belief, familial betrayal, and cult-driven crime. Hyde collects extraordinary, never-before-heard accounts from former cult followers, alongside their victims and the cops, journalists, and prosecutors who tried to chase them down — including direct testimony from the cult’s most shocking assassin: leader Ervil LeBaron’s teenage wife.

Colonia LeBaron was first formed as a safe haven for Mormon fundamentalists, a Zion for those who wished to continue the practice of polygamy. Organized by Joel LeBaron — a self-proclaimed prophet — the community believed itself to be the next Kingdom Of God on Earth. But as Joel's following grew, so did the wrath of his co-leader and younger brother Ervil, the brother who would ultimately betray him in cold blood. 

Following Ervil’s ascent to power, the story rapidly escalates as the cult evolves into organized crime, from stealing cars to order for the Mexican mafia to smuggling drugs across the border into the US. But while working alongside the Mexican mafia, the cult leaders enact a series of evermore elaborate assassinations, following a blueprint their father Ervil laid out in his relgious Opus The Book of the New Covenants.

Told through powerful first-person reporting from the 1950s to the present day, Deliver Us From Ervil places its host at the center of the story. Along the way, Hyde speaks directly to those carrying out these killings, the remaining LeBarons, the relatives of their many victims, and the law enforcement officers who’ve spent decades attempting to halt the decades-long cycle of violence passed down from Ervil to his children. As Hyde sifts out mythology from truth as he constructs an epic, winding narrative, building a tale that is highly stylistic and novelistic in approach — the sonic equivalent to the Coen’s brothers’ fatalistic filmmaking. 

Deliver Us From Ervil officially launches with its first two episodes on May 4, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday on iHeartRadio and all other platforms. Deliver Us From Ervil is distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network. Listeners can visit iHeart.com/apps to download iHeartRadio and listen to the trailer and premiere episodes on their favorite device. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: 

Embed the podcast’s audio player directly into your article using the code below:

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Access the cover art here: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4uxv50ius1jxj1k/DeliverUsFromErvil-1200x628.j…

About Jesse Hyde

Jesse Hyde is a writer based in Salt Lake City whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic and GQ. Raised as a Mormon himself, in this series Jesse navigates an often personal path as he tells a controversial tale about the community in which he still lives, confronting taboos that many members of his Mormon family would shy away from.

A graduate of the journalism school at Columbia University, he has reported from Haiti, Ethiopia, Rio de Janeiro and many other spots around the globe. Several of his stories are currently in development for film or TV, including a series for Showtime.

About Novel

Novel is the largest independent podcast production company in Europe. The company produces ambitious original podcasts and award-winning shows for brands like Spotify, Audible, Wondery and iHeart, including an Apple Global #1 (Harsh Reality: The Story Of Miriam Rivera), multiple UK Apple #1s (Fantasy Premier League Podcast, The Bellingcat Podcast), and successful forays into avant comedy (Futile Attempts), music (Charli XCX’s Best Song Ever), and LGBTQ+ culture (Call Me Mother). They have launched over 40 shows, produced over 400 hours of content, and have won 25 awards. 

The Complicated Rise & Fall of Phoenix Jones, Seattle’s Real-Life Crime-Fighting Vigilante

Download Cover Art HERE

Listen To the Trailer HERE

First Two Episodes Launch on April 5

NEW YORK (March 29, 2022) — Today iHeartMedia, the No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, and Novel, the ascendant UK podcast studio behind the ambitious global Apple #1 Harsh Reality: The Story Of Miriam Rivera, announce their remarkable new podcast The Superhero Complex. The podcast tracks the enigmatic rise and fall of Phoenix Jones, Seattle’s real-life crime-fighting vigilante, as he goes from beloved local icon and leader of The Rain City Superhero Movement to a dejected and humiliated figure waiting for a verdict on a charge of selling cocaine to undercover cops. 

Was he a super villain all along? Host David Weinberg enters the unbelievable world of Phoenix Jones - and the universe of costumed crusaders – to find out the truth.

Listen to a trailer for The Superhero Complex here.

When Phoenix Jones first comes into the public eye, he seems a true American original: By day, he’s Ben Fodor: a semi-pro MMA fighter. By night, Ben slips through a secret door in the back of a comic book store and emerges, clad in a black and gold suit and mask, to patrol the streets of Seattle alongside a crew of fellow oddballs: former soldiers, ex-cops, recovered drug addicts and reformed criminals. 

But throughout The Superhero Complex, listeners will learn the complicated truth beyond the tall tales and myth-building: The challenges of running a real-life ring of wannabe superheroes, betrayals among friends, a failed return to MMA, and hitting rock bottom when he’s brought down on a drug charge. It’s a story of outsized ambition, the allure of unconventional charisma, and the unclear motivations of someone trying so desperately to be something bigger than themselves. 

Told with a balance of in-depth reportage and empathetic character study, The Superhero Complex interrogates not only the mysteries of Phoenix Jones but our society’s fascination with superheroes, and what it means to take the law into your own hands. With outsized personalities that would make Joe Exotic blush and a twisting narrative that confounds at every turn, The Superhero Complex is a daring new limited podcast series. 

The Superhero Complex launches with its first two episodes on April 5, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday on iHeartRadio and all other platforms.The Superhero Complex is distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network. Listeners can visit iHeart.com/apps to download iHeartRadio and listen to the premiere episode on their favorite device. 

About David Weinberg

Host and reporter David Weinberg’s work is a constant presence on ‘best of the year’ podcast lists with his character-driven stories for KCRW, All Things Considered, Press Play, Radiolab, Love+Radio and Unfictional. He is the producer of Below the Ten and Welcome to LA and he has won multiple journalism awards, including a national Edward R. Murrow award for feature reporting.

About Novel

Novel is the largest independent podcast production company in Europe. The company produces ambitious original podcasts and award-winning shows for brands like Spotify, Audible, Wondery and iHeart, including an Apple Global #1 (Harsh Reality: The Story Of Miriam Rivera), multiple UK Apple #1s (Fantasy Premier League Podcast, The Bellingcat Podcast), and successful forays into avant comedy (Futile Attempts), music (Charli XCX’s Best Song Ever), and LGBTQ+ culture (Call Me Mother).

iHeartMedia’s partnership with the leading UK podcasting company will include eleven new podcast docuseries over the next three years, focused on stranger-than-fiction true stories

NEW YORK – February 24, 2021 – iHeartMedia, the No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, today announced a new partnership with Novel, one of the UK’s leading independent podcast companies, to co-produce a series of narrative, in-depth investigative podcasts. Together, iHeartMedia and Novel will launch eleven new, original podcast series over the next three years, starting with “The Assault on America” and “Deliver Us From Ervil.”           

The expansive new slate features a collection of ambitious audio docuseries aimed at giving listeners access to worlds they never knew existed. From the real-life superheroes appearing at Black Lives Matter protests to a violent fundamentalist Mormon cult installed near the US-Mexican border, these new iHeartRadio Original Podcasts feature in-depth, narrative investigations of unexplored subcultures and stranger-than-fiction true stories.

"We're thrilled to be entering into such an exciting partnership with iHeartMedia,” said Sean Glynn, CEO of Novel. “Pairing Novel's best-in-class storytelling credentials with iHeartMedia's excellent editorial judgment and global distribution is an incredibly compelling combination.”

“This new partnership will allow us to produce deeply researched, narratively rich investigative series at scale that grip listeners right off the bat,” added Max O’Brien, Head of Content at Novel. “We couldn't be more proud to be the first UK-based podcast company to sign a slate deal with iHeartMedia."

In addition to announcing the deal, the companies also shared details on the first two podcast series set to debut as part of the partnership. 

“The Assault on America” tells the inside story of the insurrection at the Capitol like you’ve never heard before. Working with open-source investigative journalists Bellingcat, Novel painstakingly collected thousands of hours of smartphone footage, including 1,200 videos that directly incriminate protestors. Scouring the darkest corners of right-wing websites like 8chan, Parler and Gab, this series uncovers chilling, never-before-heard footage and comments posted by mob members. Much of this exclusive material has since been deleted from the web, but has been preserved by Bellingcat. Now, we’ll hear the events of January 6th brought to life in 360-degree detail.

“Deliver Us From Ervil” is an investigative true-crime series in which a groundbreaking team of journalists enters a lawless town on the border of Mexico run by a secretive religious sect living in exile and outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. government since 1924. The journalists will speak to the inhabitants of this strange town and uncover the secrets behind the surreal desert fortress with a murderous past that continues to haunt all who enter.     

“We’re eager to collaborate with the brilliant minds at Novel to bring listeners an incredible new lineup of history, true-crime and documentary podcasts,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network. “Novel has a penchant for producing award-winning docuseries, and we couldn’t be more excited to join forces and bring their storytelling talent and expertise to the iHeartPodcast Network.”

The new slate of co-produced podcasts will be distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network, which is home to more than 750 original podcasts with over 253 million downloads and streams each month.

About Novel

Novel is one of the UK’s leading independent podcasting companies. The team is made up of 13 members of full-time in-house staff and two board members, one of whom is the former CEO of VICE UK. Recent highlights include: The Bellingcat Podcast (Audio Production Award Gold winner, two-time ARIA winner, British Podcast Award winner, PSA Political Podcast Of The Year — Financial Times: “Extraordinary in detail, tenacity and execution;” Esquire: “Clear-eyed original reporting … dramatic”); Kim Noble’s Futile Attempts (At Surviving Tomorrow) (The Observer: “Wilder and more interesting than almost everything else out there;” The Sunday Times: “Brutal and deeply compelling;” Financial Times: “Unlike anything else you’ve heard;” The Guardian: “Darkly comic and beautiful”); The Political Butterfly Effect (Sunday Times: “Neatly, briskly, sharply produced;” New Statesman: “Fun, forensic hypothesizing ;” Politico “Essential listening”) and Remembering Christopher Hitchens. Visit we-are-novel.com for more company information.