If you’re anything like me quarantine/self isolation has gone on long enough that things are starting to get a little crazy. We’re somewhere between “I ran out of books to read,” and “I’m about to make my cats reenact a Broadway musical.” Like many other folks out there I’ve been filling my time by binging series, playing video games and trying not to go stir crazy. Recently I’ve started listening to podcasts to help keep my mind active while I virtually fish for hours on end in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Does it help? No- fishing apparently has an audio cue! But it does keep my mind active, keeping me one more hour away from annoying my cats and/or family members. As my last article, I had to stay on brand so here are the 4 Spooky Podcasts- that are keeping me sane during quarantine!
- My Favorite Murder
-
Hosted by stand-up comedian and TV writer Karen Kilgrariff and Cooking Channel writer and host Georgia Hardstark, My Favorite Murder has been iring since 2016. This true crime podcast recounts the hosts’ favorite murders with comedic undertones, offering a fresh and personal take on the true crime genre. Kilgariff and Hardstark cover everything from current deaths, to historical accounts (such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy), and even fan-submitted stories. The podcast has 221 episodes, not counting their Minisodes of which there are 173. Many of the original episode titles contain puns which offer a drastically different tone than the stories they tell. The link above is to one of my favorite episodes: their 2017 Halloween special. The linked youtube video and profile doesn’t have all of their episodes, but they can be found on Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
- Welcome to Nightvale
-
Created by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor, Welcome to Nightvale debuted in 2012 as the town of Nightvale’s radio show. Nightvale is unlike any other town, inside it’s boarders time doesn’t work, science is strange, mountains aren’t real and the townsfolk encounter Lovecrafitan horrors on a daily basis. The occasional references to space wars, black magic, bloodstone based religons, and an odd man in a tan jacket carrying a briefcase full of flies, earns Nightvale a spot on this list. I’ve been listening to this podcast for years and own the novels, script collections and have listned to most of the live shows off of bandcamp. Their website encourages new listeners to just jump in anywhere (time is weird), but I’ve linked the first episode above. Even with thime skipping horror shows, I like to start at the beginig. All episodes are currently avilable on youtube, but can also be listened to anywhere podcasts are streamed. The live shows are avilable on their bandcamp for pay-what-you-can.
- She Kills
-
An original podcast from new horror streaming service, Shudder, She Kills debuted in 2019 and explores the horror genre from a female perspective. Adrienne Barbeau hosts the podcast, cultivating conversations between women who have written, acted in, or written about some of your favorite horror movies. The podcast is touted as an “exclusive” for Shudder, but can also be found on Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, (there might be other platforms but it is not on youtube or spotify).
- The Black Tapes
-
Produced by Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale, The Black Tapes is the best docudrama I’ve ever listened to. It debuted in 2015 and is hosted by Alex Reagan. The podcast covers Alex’s relentless persit of the trust, and her investigation into an enigmatic sceptic and his strage collection of tapes that allegedly offer proof of the supernatural. The podcasts’ original three seasons has 30 episodes, and in 2018 a fourth season was announced, as well as a TV show for NBC. There’ve been no updates on the TV side of things, but this past January season three’s six episodes were rereleased with no changes in audio, just the denotation that “Into the Black,” the once cliff-hanger conclusion for the entire podcast, is now the ‘mid-season finale’. I’ve binged the entire first season of this podcast in two days, and I cannot reccomend it enough. The podcast is avilable on spotify and anywhere podcasts are streamed.