‘It’s hell being famous’: second violent death of Serial podcast character raises ethics questions

Tyler Goodson, 32, was killed by police in Woodstock, Alabama, after public radio mega-hit brought fame - but not much else

That fame can come with a price is a truism most associated with stars of film and screen or other arts. But the inhabitants of one small town in rural Alabama, deep in the American south, have discovered the truth of that notion via one of the most popular mediums of the internet age: the podcast.

Woodstock, a speck on the map halfway between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, was the subject of the hit 2017 podcast S-Town, which followed the often bizarre goings-on, and even more complex relationships, in a small American community where nothing was ever quite as it seemed.