Bundyville was a two-season, fourteen episode nonfiction podcast created by

Leah Sottile Leah Sottile is an American journalist, writer, and podcast host who lives in Portland, Oregon. Education Sottile graduated from Gonzaga University in 2003. Career Sottile is the author of the book " When the Moon Turns to Blood," about the ...

based on nine longform stories written and reported by Sottile. The series was produced by

Longreads Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company which was founded in August 2005 and is most notable for WordPress.com (a freemium blogging service), as well as its contributions to WordPress (an open source blogging software). The com ...

in partnership with

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

Background

The show is a

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

podcast hosted by

and produced by

and

with episodes available on

NPR One National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

. Production was done by Ryan Haas. Leah Sottile was the writer and host of the show. It was co-written by Ryan Haas, Peter Frick-Wright and Robbie Carver. Carver created the music for the show. Anna Griffin of OPB and Mike Dang of Longreads provided creative oversight. Sottile spent over two years reporting on the Bundy family. The podcast has limited audio design and is instead focused on reporting.

Season one

The first season of the podcast is seven episodes long and focuses on

Cliven Bundy Cliven D. Bundy (born April 29, 1946) is an American cattle rancher who was charged and underwent pre-trial detention for his role in the 2014 Bundy standoff. Bundy vocally advocated a philosophy opposed to what he views as federal government ov ...

and his family. The Bundy family are notorious Western ranchers that fought the government twice and won both times. The first episode of the season introduces the Bundy family from the perspective of national media and discusses the family's conflict with the

Federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

over grazing fees. The second episode discusses how the US government tested nuclear bombs at the

Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of th ...

in the 1950s. The podcast discusses how Cliven Bundy owed

grazing fee A grazing fee is a charge, usually on a monthly basis, for grazing a specific kind of livestock. Australia In New South Wales, Australia, maximum grazing fees have been set by regulation at $1.00 per head of large stock or per 10 (or less) head of ...

s to the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

for grazing his cattle on federal land. In 2014,

lead the

Bundy standoff The 2014 Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between supporters of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and law enforcement following a 21-year legal dispute in which the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) obtained court orders directin ...

because Cliven argued that the federal government cannot legally own land and therefore cannot charge him grazing fees. Cliven stood trial for the standoff, but the case ended as a mistrial because the judge decided the prosecution withheld evidence. Ammon and Ryan followed their father's example two years later. The

Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge On January 2, 2016, an armed group of far-right extremists seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, and continued to occupy it until law enforcement made a final arrest on February 11 ...

in 2016 was more thoroughly covered in the news so the average American became aware of the Bundys. The occupation was led by

Ammon Bundy Ammon Edward Bundy (born September 1, 1975) is an American anti-government militant and activist. A car fleet manager by profession, Bundy gained widespread attention by leading the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. He is t ...

and

Ryan Bundy Ryan C. Bundy (born 1972) is an American cattle rancher and former Independent candidate in Nevada's 2018 Gubernatorial Election. He is the brother of Ammon Bundy and the son of Cliven Bundy, who was a central figure in the 2014 Bundy standoff i ...

with support from the

sovereign citizen movement The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose grouping of litigants, activists, tax protesters, financial scheme promoters and conspiracy theorists, who claim to be answerable only to their particular interpretati ...

. The 40 day occupation culminated with a standoff and shootout with the police. One of the members of the occupation,

LaVoy Finicum Robert LaVoy Finicum (January 27, 1961 – January 26, 2016) was one of the activists that staged an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016. After it began, the group organized themselves as the Citizens for ...

, was shot by police while reaching for a gun. In the end, 27 people were arrested, including Ammon and Ryan. During the occupation, the occupying force desecrated sacred artifacts belonging to the

Burns Paiute Tribe The Burns Paiute Tribe of the Burns Paiute Indian Colony of Oregon is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute Indians in Harney County, Oregon, United States. Sottile and Haas traveled to the abandoned town of Bundyville to explore the family's history. The podcast discusses how the Bundy family ancestors moved to the American West where they established the town of Bundyville in the 1890s to escape the

persecution of Mormons Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed against the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term is often used to describe people or liter ...

. The Bundy family claim they have legal rights to the land because the land has been in the family for generations, but Sottile was unable to find any evidence that the land is the inheritance of Cliven Bundy. The podcast addresses the fact that the family's religious beliefs are based on the

White Horse Prophecy The White Horse Prophecy is the popular name of an influential but disputed version of a statement on the future of the Latter Day Saints (popularly called Mormons) and the United States. It was given by Edwin Rushton in about 1900, and supposed ...

—a fringe

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

belief that is not officially recognized by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. The show suggests that the religious beliefs of the family are cult-like, radical, and obsessive. The show discusses how the Bundy family came to their extremist views and how their ideology is rooted in

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

and the historical omission of the

Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

who lived on the land before the Bundy family. The show also addresses the family's white supremacist beliefs directly by mentioning direct quotes from Cliven and Ryan. In 2014 Cliven said "

lack people Lack may refer to: Places * Lack, County Fermanagh, a townland in Northern Ireland * Lack, Poland * Łąck, Poland * Lack Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, US Other uses * Lack (surname) * Lack (manque), a term in Lacan's psychoanalyti ...

abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton," and in 2016 Ryan said "Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim... the current culture is the most important." The show addresses how the Bundys' claim they are representative of rural ranchers in America but demonstrates that they are not. Journalism since the 2016 presidential election has attempted to understand current events and needlessly sympathizes or justifies terrible people. The show tries to understand why the Bundy family would do what they do but does not excuse or justify their actions. Sottile spent two years reporting on the family and extensively researched the Bundy family ideology, and when Sottile interviews Cliven and Ryan they confirm Sottile's research. The show requires an intimate look at the Bundy family and attempts to balance between explaining extremism and unintentionally providing a sympathetic light for the Bundy family. For instance, Sottile compares Cliven to a grandfather that you might feel affection for during her interview with him. The quotes from Cliven and Ryan help balance the reporting. However, Ann-Derrick Gaillot from ''

The Outline ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' criticizes the podcast for how much Sottile focuses on the Bundy's side of things claiming that Sottile inadvertently humanized the family. The podcast argues that the success of the Bundy standoff and the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were not accidents or coincidence but are the sign of shifting perspectives on public land and protests. The show anticipates that bad things will happen if people like the Bundys continue to gain political power.

Season two

Season two was a seven part series. The second season was released in July 2019. Season two explores anti-government extremism more broadly. Sottile notes that the

patriot movement In the United States, the patriot movement is a term which is used to describe a conglomeration of non-unified right-wing populist, nationalist political movements, most notably far-right armed militias, sovereign citizens, and tax protester ...

contributed to the

2021 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...

Episodes

Season trailers

Season one: Bundyville

Season two: The Remnant

Reception

The podcast had over one million listens in early October 2019 and three million listeners by late October 2019.

Nicholas Quah Nicholas Quah is a journalist for Vulture and is the creator of the Nieman Lab newsletter Hot Pod News. Career Quah was the creator of the ''Hotpods'' newsletter. Quah worked for BuzzFeed in 2015 while writing the newsletter. Vox Media acquir ...

wrote in ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' that the show was "tenacious, shedding light on an unsettling, often under-covered slice of American society" and the findings of the show were "surprising and surreal." Toby Ball wrote in ''

'' that the show was a "fascinating and harrowing listen." Mitch Ryals wrote in ''

Inlander The ''Inlander'' was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada, from 1910 until 1912. She was owned by the Prince Rupert and Skeena River Navigation Company which was a syndicate of Skeena River businessmen who p ...

'' that the show was "deeply reported and totally bingeable." Angela K. Evans wrote in ''

Boulder Weekly ''Boulder Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that publishes every Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. The paper is a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) and is owned and published by Stewart Sallo. Overview Following the L ...

'' that the show is a "long-winding journey of discovery, ending with prescient questions and observations" that are relevant to current events. Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade wrote in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' that "the podcast succeeds as an indispensable document on the clashes between ranchers and the feds."

Laura Krantz Laura Krantz (born 1978) is an American journalist, podcaster and author. She is the host of the podcast ''Wild Thing (podcast), Wild Thing'', was an editor at NPR, National Public Radio for ten years, has a series of illustrated children's books ba ...

commented on the podcast saying that Sottile "is a great storyteller hogoes in and has conversations that are hard to have."

Awards

References

External links

* {{podcast platform links 2018 podcast debuts 2019 podcast endings Audio podcasts Crime podcasts