EUGENE, Ore.-- A new podcast called "What Happened in Skinner" has been downloaded more than 40,000 times and is being nominated for an Ambie Award.
The fictional podcast is written by a group of friends from Eugene and takes place on a fictional Skinner Island off the coast from Florence.
It centers around a secret occult group called Auremana.
Aaron Blanton is one of the writers and said the project was originally conceived when his team was shooting a short film and they realized there was much more to tell.
"We kind of made this whole cool world and we wanted to explore that more than the 15 minutes in a short film," said Blanton.Â
Blanton said this podcast also helped them discuss religions and the different views on religion.
Their team made a podcast, short film and alternate reality game at the same time.
 "We shot it ourselves and got some volunteer help," said Blanton. "We should've had twenty more people than we did running the whole thing. It created a lot of work and a lot of all nighters."
Blanton hopes he and his team can expand on their plot.
"We have a worldwide plot that we just sort of touched on," said Blanton. "What we're hoping is that this podcast is our entry into an expanded universe. We've got TV show ideas, movie ideas, we got a graphic novel idea so we hope this podcast gives us more attention."
Those interested in checking out the podcast can click HERE.
