We’re the Boo-Foons, two paranormal obsessives with a mic, a mission, and a mildly haunted sense of humour.

Steve and Dan met over a decade ago, when Dan was a temp at Steve's place of work. A friendship formed incredibly fast, as they began talking about films, video games and other nerdy/geeky similar interests. It was almost like they had known one another their whole lives. They spoke about starting a YouTube channel, or a Podcast where they would review horror and thriller films they had watched but this never came to light. Steve is the creative side of the duo, a talented digital artist with experience of making short films. Dan is the orchestrator, finding and researching the stories with a background as a radio presenter.

Steve and Dan both have a love of the unknown and the creepy, often sending each other videos or links to stories about ghosts, aliens or even cryptids. Today, they make notes and research their favourite finds before sitting down to record a discussion around the story. The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators can be best described as being like two blokes in the pub that welcome you to sit with them, as they bring you into conversations of the unusual. So far, they have covered ghost stories, myths and legends, UFO sightings, folk stories, witchcraft, cryptids and even a ghost hunt they were invited to join. In some episodes they invite guests to share their stories and thoughts.

The Boo-Foons have a wonderful fan base across a range of social media platforms. Some of them share stories for the duo to research and cover, some offer to be guests to share their personal stories and others are encouraged with saying kind words, interacting with the posts and telling people to listen. This is not a traditional paranormal podcast, this is designed for anyone that has a slight interest in the unknown who enjoys having a laugh along the way. One fan told the duo they hated ghost stories until they listened to the Boo-Foons, another had never listened to a podcast before and is now hooked. Join them for an episode whether you like the paranormal or not.
 

The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators has its roots in a radio show. Dan needed to put together something special for his Christmas Day radio broadcast, so he decided upon a Christmas movie theme (Yes, Die Hard was included) and asked Steve to join him. The duo had a lot of fun working together to create such a special show, that they both started to have the same thought... "We should start a podcast!" It seems a lot of friends have that thought at some point in their life, it either never happens or it begins and they give up too soon. The only issue Steve and Dan had was what should be the basis of the podcast, which reminded them of the horror film idea from a decade ago. However, they wanted something different, something for everyone, something interesting... ghosts! Everyone knows at least one ghost story, and the duo have come to learn that a majority of people when asked will say "I don't believe in ghosts... but..." then recall a ghost story. This grew to a larger net of the unknown in general. Thus The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators were born.

From that point it took the duo around six months to gather stories, research and purchase tools, record and edit drafts to find what worked and what didn't. They eventually got the hang of it and on the 27th August 2025 their first episode was released. They could see the numbers rising as people were listening and they hoped it was being enjoyed. After a few episodes, people started contacting them to share their feedback and it was positive! They had their first fans! Since then, the podcast has continued to grow with more listeners each week and more fans following on social media. Steve and Dan aim to entertain whilst sharing stories that some people may find scary, the motivation is to make the paranormal feel less creepy and allow people to comfortably learn more about the unknown. The main challenge is navigating through their jokes and random tangents... one day, they will just tell the story and move on... today is not that day.
 

Steve and Dan both have demanding jobs that take up a lot of their time and energy. Which is why it was important for them both to find a release, something creative they had full control over that wasn't stressful. For them, this podcast is that perfect hobby as they each get to spend time with a close friend, they research the stories they are interested in retelling, they both enjoy recording sessions as they have a laugh and joke and they know that other people are enjoying it.

In order to utilise their limited spare time as efficiently as possible, the Boo-Foons will typically record a batch of episodes over a weekend. Often aiming for around four episodes to ensure that they can continue to release episodes once a week on a Wednesday. The episodes are then edited sporadically in the evenings after work. Once episodes are edited, they are able to create and release social media clips from the episodes. Steve and Dan each aim to spend at least two hours a week working on the podcast.

It is the Boo-Foons dream to eventually start generating an income from the podcast, as Steve and Dan have found their bank accounts losing money each month to the podcast. It would be wonderful if the cash flow started to move in the opposite direction. As they could then turn this into their day job and finally achieve that dream of enjoying every work day.
 

The biggest thing the duo have gained from podcasting is a positive mental health. Steve and Dan have so much fun in the recordings, that they sometimes lose track of time and end up spending more time than they planned chatting to one another. Additionally, the Boo-Foons try to go out to real places to gather stories. Towards the start of the podcast, they were invited on a ghost hunt which they thoroughly enjoyed as an event (Hitchin Ghost Hunt Special) but as a bonus, they left with new friends. These friends have supported them in a variety of different ways in making The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators the wonderful show it is today.

When they started this project, the aim was simply to have fun. What they didn't expect was to see a community grow around them, with many people worldwide listening and enjoying each episode.
 

An average episode starts in the same way, by logging onto our computers and starting a video call. After having a catch up, Steve and Dan look at their curated gallery of stories that have been researched to the best of their abilities and decide which one takes their fancy on the day of recording. Do they want a ghost story? A folk story? An alien sighting? A creepy cryptid? Something else entirely? After making this choice, they pull up the notes about the story and click record... What happens after this point is anyone's guess as the floodgates of madness open. These recordings are then edited, and scheduled onto Podbean for distribution to a range of podcast providers on a Wednesday ready for their fans to enjoy.

Sometimes, one of the Boo-Foons will find an interesting place to visit, either a themed museum, haunted building, or links to something paranormal. Steve and Dan will find a weekend where they can travel to the location. For these episodes, they prefer to do minimal research beforehand so that they can experience everything with unbiased eyes. Afterwards, they will then delve into reports and stories from others about the location they visited. Then a recording of the episode will happen.

For the guest episodes, Steve and Dan like to be given a brief synopsis of what is going to be discussed so they can be mentally prepared. This makes these episodes unique, as Steve and Dan are simply reacting to whatever their guest is discussing, whether it's ghost sightings, alien encounters or something else that is slightly unusual. They like how comfortable their guests tend to be, and how open they are with speaking about their experiences.
 

The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators is released once a week, on a Wednesday through a distribution software that uploads each episode on pretty much every podcast provider you can name e.g. Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, YouTube, Listen Notes etc. It is also uploaded onto their own website. This has enabled people to discover them naturally, as well as being able to easily find the Boo-Foons on their favourite podcast platform. At the time of participating in this interview, the majority of listeners tend to be through the Boo-Foons website rather than any other platform. The website is the jewel in the Boo-Foons crown, as it is updated regularly with news and bonus content for each episode, this means that fans tend to visit the site regularly then click play when they are ready to listen.

The Boo-Foons Mystery Investigators can be found on a range of social media platforms, where they try to post content on a daily basis. Their favourite social media platform is TikTok, as they do the occasional live stream to speak to their fans. This is where listeners tend to give them ideas for new stories to research.
 

Before starting out, figure out what theme you want your podcast to be about. Then go out there, find other podcasts of that theme and listen to them. From this point you will then have an idea of the "norm" of your genre. What can you do to be unique? For the Boo-Foons it is simply a long term friendship and a great chemistry. This will give you your selling point and use that selling point to find your fanbase and encourage them to listen.

Research which tools are best for you, not what others tell you are the best... the ones that are the best for you. The editing software that Dan uses is designed for making videos and films, not for audio however it is a premium software that he is comfortable with using and the listeners have no idea at the end of the day. The tools Steve uses to maintain the website are ones that the average person may find difficult to use, but to him it's second nature. No-one out there would recommend these tools the Boo-Foons use to someone starting out, which is why it's important to find what is best for you.

Ensure you have a bank of episodes that are edited and ready to go before uploading your first episode, that way if you need a holiday or a break you can schedule episodes and have enough to not worry about recording for a while. The Boo-Foons always try to have at least a month worth of episodes in reserve, this takes the pressure off a bit.

To start with, ignore the figures. Unless you are starting out with a huge following like a celebrity, or an endless bank account to spend on marketing and advertising, you are not going to have thousands listening to the first episode as soon as it is released. It will take time to grow. Just keep working on the episodes, making them as good as you possibly can with the skills and equipment you have, keep releasing them and drop the links on social media. Eventually, people will discover you and will start listening. Don't be afraid to tell everyone you know or meet that you have a podcast, they may listen.
 

For news and extra information, visit the website: https://boo-foons.co.uk/

For bonus content, such as full unedited video versions of the podcast, a blog and other exclusive items, sign up to the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BooFoons

For all of our links, here is our LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/BooFoons