Podcaster Lottie (Visa Vie) in an interview: True crime is no longer a passion

If you like true crime, you can’t ignore Lottie, known to many as Visa Vie (37). With the podcast “Weird Crimes” (2021 to 2024), she created one of the great German true crime podcasts and was awarded the German Prize for it. She has now launched a new project called “Plot House”: In it she takes various guests on a journey through true stories about life and death. For the first time, Lottie invited her husband Leon, known as rapper Savvy, on December 12th.

In an interview with the news agency spot on news, the podcaster reveals how she perceived this premiere collaboration. She also tells how a mysterious fox has accompanied her for 20 years, why true crime is now more of a profession than a passion for her and how she learned to deal with her Long Covid illness.

Lottie: “Plot House” is even more diverse in content than my previous podcasts. It’s not just about true crime, but about stories of all kinds. In addition, many episodes are closer to the people and their experiences. It’s important to me not only to entertain, but also to educate and shed light on social issues that need more attention and thus perhaps even be able to make a difference with an episode, as was the case recently after the episode “Deadly School Trip” over 20,000 euros for Emily Diabetes Foundation to get together.

Lottie: It came very naturally. As I said, there are no limits when it comes to topics and genres in this podcast. And I find it incredibly exciting how supposedly paranormal events often reveal more about our fears, hopes and need for answers than it initially seems. These cases are not always just about the scary and frightening moment and inexplicable phenomena, but also about psychological and social aspects that are related to such phenomena. You will also hear this in the episode with my husband, which was of course a challenge for both of us, but sometimes you have to face your greatest fears.

Lottie: After my grandma died, we were cleaning out her basement and I stepped on a rusty nail that got stuck in my foot. I had the distinct feeling that my foot was bleeding, but after I pulled the board out again and went upstairs and took off my shoe in front of the door, there was nothing there. Neither a hole in the shoe nor in the foot and no blood either. At that moment I saw a fox on the other side of the street, in the middle of a new development, just standing there and looking at me. Since then, a fox has appeared again and again when important things happened in my life or when I wasn’t feeling well. And every time I had the clear feeling – that was my grandma Hanni. This phenomenon, at least seemingly supernatural, has accompanied me for 20 years now.

Lottie: It was clear to me even before the concept was finished. I love watching series and films with my husband and then talking about the craziest plot twists. But we also talk a lot about politics and general world events, so it made sense to do it in a podcast. But we were both even more excited than we had previously thought, because of course it’s something different to put the whole thing into practice, but in the end we both had a lot of fun. But it was also a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Lottie: Before we got together, not at all. This has changed a bit because of me. But he still wouldn’t listen to a true crime podcast or watch a documentary from the area on his own. But that’s okay too. By the way, I would no longer speak of a passion in relation to myself, but rather of a fascination.

Lottie: I always seek his advice when I’m unsure about a story. At past live shows he has even supported me live on stage with small singing or acting parts. But at the end of the day, we both just have each other’s backs in everything we do, like a good team does. I to him, just as he to me. Fortunately, since my Long Covid illness hardly impairs my cognitive abilities, I do not need any specific help with research or writing in this regard.

Lottie: After three years I have come to terms with a lot of things. I have built up a lot more resilience, but there is also a bit of resignation. I no longer read every study on the topic and no longer write five emails a week to all possible experts in the field to ask for help. I mourn my health and my energy and my old life less often than I did at the beginning of the illness and I try to make the best of everything within the scope of my new possibilities. And I do it quite well, I would say. But I would be lying if I said that every few months I wasn’t desperately sending a wish to the universe that a miracle would happen or that someone would finally develop a cure for Long Covid.

Lottie: In a professional sense I would choose true crime, in a personal sense I would choose trash TV. Trash TV is my big distraction, my soul plaster, my little head-off island in the sea of ​​my own, real problems. I love watching trash TV and I love talking about it every Monday with my colleague Max Richard Leßmann and various reality stars. I hardly consume true crime anymore since I got sick, only for selected cases. Also to take care of my mental health. But if we expand this again – to true stories – then I would say that I have finally understood that this is my profession: finding, researching, writing down and telling incredible stories. And I would definitely never want to let that be taken away from me.