Like with past Discover Pods audio drama genre lists, I wanted to give newcomers to the genre and fans a few current horror audio dramas covering the wide range of what horror can be. There’s emotional, comedic, romantic, and supernatural. Not to mention monsters, murder, and mayhem—spooks, splatter, and something that goes bump in the night. Really, there’s just a horror audio drama for everyone on this list … if you dare read on.

Keep in mind that these are all serialized (with one noted exception), so they should all be started from the beginning. This list isn’t arranged in any particular order; it’s just a collection of some of my favorites.

Wrong Station

I’ve written about The Wrong Station a couple of times in the past. If you’ve never listened to this horror audio drama anthology, you’re missing out. The show was initially modeled after radio dramas of yesteryear, but as the years have gone on, The Wrong Station has become something wholly its own. The Wrong Station delivers animated and well-acted storytelling along with heavy themes and storylines that push past simple ghost stories. Each episode is raw and rough and packs an emotional punch. Since The Wrong Station often deals with heavy topics, I want to let listeners know they should check the content warnings on the episodes before diving in if they are curious about what territories and experiences the episode will cover. I’m a fan of the earlier seasons for the way they pull the listener into the story by adding a secondary POV character of ‘you.’ But the newer seasons have more nuanced and original episodes. The Wrong Station is perfect for The Black Tapes and The NoSleep Podcast fans.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Carrier

Carrier is an older horror sci-fi audio drama released in 2019 from QCODE. While there aren’t any more episodes airing, the whole story has already been released, so there’s no worry of an unresolved ending. The horror audio drama follows a truck driver transporting a mysterious cargo that turns out worse than anything she could have imagined. When I first listened to Carrier, it filled that want in me for more stories like Alien and Stranger Things. The bonus of Carrier is that unlike both of those stories, Carrier has a Black woman lead. So, moments and scenes throughout the show connect with my experiences, making the audio drama relatable despite its supernatural horror element. Like a few other horror podcasts on this list, Carrier is perfect for listeners who love Alice Isn’t Dead and Homecoming. 

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The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcasts

The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast is a creepypasta, horror anthology, poetry, and short fiction podcast featuring stories from across the web. That means, while the stories aren’t always the best, there is a lot to choose from. More often than not, you’ll find a new type of story like the types you’d find on Reddit or Tumblr. Each episode is dark and offers that bit of found fiction vibe that makes the stories feel more like Internet folklore. The host reads each story with nice creepy musical undertones that makes up for the less than scary stories featured on The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast. There is usually more than one story featured on each episode, so if you don’t like the first one, give it a couple of minutes, and a new story or poem will start. While listening to a few of the episodes, I got The Wrong Station and Knifepoint Horror vibes. So, if you like either of those two horror audio dramas, you’ll love The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast.

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Pseudopod

Pseudopod is a horror podcast part of the Escape Artist podcast group, including Escape Pod, Podcastle, and Cast of Wonders. Pseudopod releases the best short horror audio fiction up there with Nightmare Magazine Horror Podcast and NIGHTLIGHT Horror Podcast. With episodes dating back to 2016, Pseudopod has an extensive back catalog of all types of horror ranging from classic vampire and werewolf stories to more literary and original tales featuring creatures, characters, and situations that are both terrifying and thoughtful. There are no cheap thrills or screams on Pseudopod. And that’s what I like about the horror podcast. Unlike a lot of horror anthology shows that tend to become one trick or have a wide range of writing levels, Pseudopod delivers well-written and entirely fascinating horror stories about people you feel for every time. A few episodes have brought both chills and tears to me. 

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Believer: A Paranormal Mystery

A new podcast to me was the horror mystery Believer: A Paranormal Mystery. When a fake psychic’s ex-girlfriend goes missing in her strange hometown, the psychic packs up and heads out to find her or at least offer some help. And there’s a solid romance plot to tug at your heartstrings as you quiver in fear. Believer: A Paranormal Mystery is the queer comedy-horror audio drama I didn’t know I was missing in my life. There is a lot of sound production—so make sure to pop those headphones on or in—and the horror is layered and paired well with the humor; that way, both are equally heightened. Sometimes the sound production gets too much, and I had to turn down the volume when there was a bit of sound for something as simple as a shirt ruffling. Believer: A Paranormal Mystery is perfect for listeners of horror audio dramas like Unwell and Less is Morgue.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts 

The Cellar Letters

If you’re into horror with a fair amount of mystery alongside its scares, then The Cellar Letters is going to be your next great listen. After uprooting and moving into a new home, a young man begins to experience strange and unusual happenings in his home. Even though there’s a single narrator, the audio production gives The Cellar Letters a fuller feeling. I loved the story and slow unfolding of the mystery, unraveling new and horrifying experiences for the character. I did find myself guessing what was going to happen next, but it was still satisfying to hear it happen. And a big part of that had to do with the audio production. I couldn’t wait to hear how they brought certain elements and events in the story to life. The Cellar Letters is a great horror audio drama for Malevolent and The Night Post fans. 

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The Way We Haunt Now

The Way We Haunt Now was the most unique and interesting horror audio drama podcast I found while compiling this list. Unlike a few others that felt a bit predictable, though exciting in their own right, The Way We Haunt Now felt specific. Like a lot of the podcasts on this list, The Way We Haunt Now uses humor to lull listeners into false states of security so that they can scare the crap out of you. There were also soft and emotional elements that made me want to know more about the story the horror audio drama was creating. And I only have 13 more episodes until I’m fully caught up. With the emotional and original horror storytelling that The Way We Haunt Now has, I think it’d be a great listen for fans of Palimpsest and Limetown.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | Website | RSS | Transcripts

13 Days of Halloween

13 Days of Halloween initially aired in 2020 during Halloween as a bit of a one-off horror audio drama from a big production company—Blumhouse. But then, last year, they released an all-new season featuring new characters, new storylines, and a whole new spooky setting. Instead of being set at the Hawthorne Manor, listeners are invited to visit the eerie New England village of Direbrook in the second season, ‘The Sea.’ While the first season of 13 Days of Halloween had a great blend of humor and horror, the newer season feels more emotional and steeped in darkness. The latest season of 13 Days of Halloween is a great horror audio drama podcast for fans of Boston Harbor Horror and Deadly Manners. 

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The Other Stories

The Other Stories is a horror audio drama podcast aimed at delivering listeners a mix of stories from emerging or struggling writers and experienced professionals. Like The Wrong Station, The Other Stories is an anthology horror podcast. One thing it does different, though, is offer listeners a wide range of horror genres like Pseudopod. Also, like Pseudopod, The Other Stories accepts listener-submitted short stories that they choose from for their episodes. For listeners interested in contributing to the show, check The Other Stories submission guidelines. With fantastic audio production and sound effects accompanying every episode, The Other Stories crafts new experiences for listeners each week. I like that there are characters that show up throughout The Other Stories long back catalog of episodes. 

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Come Join Us by the Fire

Tor Nightfire is the new horror imprint of Tom Doherty Associates that’s been releasing seasons of their horror anthology podcast, Come Join Us by the Fire, since 2020. The second season ran last year in March—and I hope there’s a new season coming out this spring, too! Listeners can dive into original stories from horror writers like Nibedita Sen, Cassandra Khaw, and more. Like other horror anthology audio dramas on this roundup, Come Join Us by the Fire allows listeners a comprehensive sampling of horror stories outside the typical horror tropes. With 18 episodes, horror listeners are sure to find a tale or two to keep them up at night. Come Join Us by the Fire is similar to horror podcasts like NIGHTLIGHT: A Horror Fiction Podcast and The Wrong Station. (Disclaimer: I write for Tor Nightfire’s blog.)

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Vampires of White Chapel

Vampires of White Chapel is a full-cast horror audio drama about a group of vampires and their evil pursuits. Season three recently started in October 2021 with The Blood Reaper Chronicles. For fans of the original seasons, the newer one focuses on the vampire clan Blood Reapers. I’m a long-time vampire lover and fan, and I found Vampires of White Chapel to be a great vampire audio drama that clung close to many vampire conventions while still presenting an interesting story reminiscent of Vampire the Masquerade and Vampire High. With only one episode out of the new season, I’m curious to see where the vampire audio drama goes in the new year and how they wrap in the new bit of information given in the first episode. Vampires of White Chapel would be great for horror audio drama fans of Victoria’s Lift and We’re Alive.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Boston Harbor Horror

Boston Harbor Horror is a full cast eldritch horror and weird fiction audio drama about a coast guard investigating an emergency on an island in Boston Harbor. It’s got atmosphere, character, and monsters all set in a location that feels like something straight out of a Stephen King novel. Season three started in December 2021, with nearly 50 episodes for new listeners to catch up on. I’m not always a fan of eldritch or Lovecraftian horror, but I really like how Boston Harbor Horror unfolds, developing new mysteries and uncovering horrors. And as a coastal baby, I enjoy the sea theme and connection to water horrors. Fans of The Leviathan Chronicles and Archive 81 will enjoy the storytelling and horror featured on Boston Harbor Horror.

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The Town Whispers

Out of all the horror audio drama podcasts on this list, The Town Whispers has my favorite opening song. It’s beautiful and perfectly sets the vibe for the narrative horror audio drama. Along with the narrative storytelling, sound effects and music accompany each episode, giving it that audio drama lure. The Town Whispers delivers stories about the fictional town, The Fort, and its occupants. Some of the stories are directly related; others simply happen within the town, but no matter what, the stories are creepy and packed with dark events that plague the town and the folks who live there. While being an audio drama, I loved that it also felt like an anthology horror podcast. Fans of Old Gods of Appalachia and Welcome to Nightvale will enjoy the darkness of The Town Whispers.

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America After Midnight

I was on the fence about adding this horror audio drama to the list, but then I figured even though it was too much for me, there are a lot of listeners who would love this type of horror. America After Midnight is a revenge horror anthology audio drama, so there are trigger warnings for each episode because there is a lot of racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and other offensive types of characters and situations at the beginning of the episodes, but by the end those people get what’s coming to them, whether or not it makes up for the opening moments, you’ll have to judge for yourself. It can be entertaining and cathartic for some, but use caution when going into the episodes and stories. American After Midnight is the first revenge horror audio drama podcast I’ve ever listened to. Still, it did remind me of horror audio dramas like Campfire Radio Theater and The NoSleep Podcast. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | RSS 

A Voice from Darkness

I’ve been searching for A Voice from Darkness for months! The first time I heard it, I was working on an article on podcasts for stoners and listened to it on another person’s account. I attributed my forgetfulness to the content I was writing about and tried to find the horror audio drama with no luck for months. Until now! A Voice from Darkness is part supernatural call-in and part American spooky folklore. I instantly fell in love with the creepy storytelling, strange events, and the way A Voice from Darkness tries to bridge a dark path into our world. There are national warnings, folktales, scary stories, and more all happening around the United States. It made it seem like the perfect blend of Welcome to Night Vale and The Town Whispers.

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Whether you’re looking for humorous horror, remakes, anthology shows, or any of the other horror audio drama subgenres, hopefully you’re able to find one new podcast to fill your ears. Keep the fright alive by considering going beyond listening to these horror audio dramas and supporting them by sharing, pledging, and reviewing them.

Haunted House Flippers

Haunted House Flippers is a hilarious audio drama that blends horror and comedy with an unlikely theme. That theme being a couple inheriting an old haunted house and deciding to flip it. The husband is one of those “YouTube ghost hunters” with a spotty grasp on reality and a real lack of self-preservation. The couple is cringe-worthy and adds another layer of tension to the story with their constant bickering and passive-aggressive communication style. It would be like if Paranormal Activity were a comedy and audio drama. Haunted House Flippers is perfect for the listener who doesn’t like a lot of gore, scares, and other intense materials but still wants a good ghost and monster mystery. Its first season is currently airing with nine episodes out, so now is a perfect time to hop on the fan wagon. 

Eastmouth

Eastmouth is packed with spooky and strange audio effects that make the audio drama really stick in your ear. The show follows a broadcaster stationed in a town with lots of secrets and hidden passages and a town council that’s been up to more than community services. The first time I listened to this horror audio drama podcast was while playing a horror survival game. If you like to game and listen to their podcasts, I super recommend this one to heighten scary games. Eastmouth puts out a new episode every month or so with episode 14 scheduled for a late July release. Another great thing about Eastmouth is that while it reminded me of other horror audio drama podcasts like Malevolent, it didn’t feel derivative or like I had experienced the story before.

Death by Dying

Do you like your horror with a bit of humor? Think Haunted House Flippers meets the TV show Bored to Death with a hint of Ian’s Gone Postal. An obituary writer goes above and beyond his duty and investigates the odd deaths in his town, leading him down a road of bizarre and sometimes supernatural involvement. Each episode dives into new mysteries that connect the main character and the mysterious town of Crestfall, Idaho. Originally aired in 2018, the dark comedy horror audio drama Death By Dying is written with a noir style, heightening both the mystery and humor. So far, there is only one season out, but the second is fully funded and on its way. New listeners can check out the first ten episodes and a few bonus ones while they wait for the drop of the new season, though.

Unwell, A Midwestern Gothic Mystery

Unwell is a horror audio drama following a young woman as she moves back to her small-town home in Ohio to look after her estranged mother. While there, she lives in her family’s boarding house that’s filled with ghosts lurking in the shadows and mystery around every bend. The full cast audio drama has aired since 2019 and is towards the end of its third season now, which means there are over 30 episodes for new listeners to catch up on as this season comes to a close. I think this horror audio drama is perfect for listeners who like Palimpsest and The Bright Sessions. There’s enough intrigue to make the scary seem tempting. Just listening to the show makes me feel haunted. 

The Dark Tome

The Dark Tome is a dark fantasy or speculative fiction audio fiction podcast that uses voice acting and sound effects to create a rounder experience for the reader. The horror audio drama uses a framing device wonderfully to make an audio fiction show within an audio drama, an audio drama within an audio fiction podcast. A teen finds The Dark Tome, a magical dark book that transports her to other worlds and stories, and the podcast unfolds from that premise. Each episode is a horror or dark fantasy story from classic horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe and contemporary writers like Catherynne M. Valente, Tananarive Due, and Martin Cahill. A full-cast production brings to life each story, truly creating another world for the listener to fall into alongside the character as she flips through the pages of The Dark Tome. With three seasons, there are over 30 episodes of The Dark Tome for fresh listeners to horrify and amaze themselves with. This horror audio drama podcast is perfect for listeners who enjoy horror anthology shows but want them to be more attached and connected. 

Old Gods of Appalachia

Similar to The Dark Tome, Old Gods of Appalachia is a cross between an audio drama and an audio fiction podcast. There’s a common setting and characters that crop up throughout the horror anthology podcast that makes this more than just a string of horror stories unrelated. Since its airing back in 2019, Old Gods of Appalachia has amassed a large and loyal following along with a lot of respect in the horror and audio drama world. It conjures a sense of place, heavy and thick, bringing readers to the southern reach of Appalachia, where ghosts, monsters, and other dark beasts wreak havoc in the woods. With 30 episodes and more on the way, this is a great horror anthology podcast for listeners interested in modern southern gothic tales. 

Read more: Old Gods of Appalachia Creates An All-American Horror

A Horror Borealis

Begun as bonus content for The Cryptid Keeper, A Horror Borealis has grown into its own audio drama show. Following three women in 1996 Revenant, Alaska, as they bond over the horrors of their life and town, A Horror Borealis is an emotional horror audio drama podcast great for listeners hungry for mystery, friendship, and monsters. The original series has over 60 episodes for new-time listeners to check out while the spinoffs or bonus stories, A Horror Borealis ’76 and LOSERS, add another few episodes and history onto the town of Revenant. Currently, the audio drama is doing a remix of Stephen King’s IT in an actual play retelling using the one-shot mystery Back to Derry by Christine Prevas. It’s AWESOME. 

The White Vault

An audio drama in collected records that sounds like found video footage for the ears, The White Vault follows the mystery surrounding an outpost in the artic. This horror audio drama podcast stands out because The White Vault features diverse voices and languages. Using such a range of a cast creates a story with greater depth and emotions. We can hear how each odd and horrific occurrence affects a greater population. The White Vault is perfect for people who love an excellent artic horror like The Thing and piecing together a mystery from various recordings and accounts. Lots of subtext and intrigue mixed with the horror! First aired in 2017, The White Vault celebrated six years and is still growing strong with a loyal fan base and over 60 episodes. 

The Grey Rooms

The Grey Rooms follows a man cursed with living someone else’s death every day, only to wake up and have it happen all over again. To say this show has lots of death would be an understatement. But death a protagonist that dies every episode isn’t the coolest feature of this horror audio drama. It’s the mystery surrounding why the character is dying over and over again like some rancid dark Groundhog Day. Started in 2018, The Grey Rooms is on its third season of scaring and terrifying listeners. The finale aired back in April, but there are several bonus episodes and other content. 

Victoria’s Lift

I actually found Victoria’s Lift through The Grey Rooms. There was a bonus episode recently released that promoted the show and offered a taste of the supernatural horror audio drama. Victoria’s Lift is about a girl who uses a mysterious elevator to help people reach their ‘transformations’. Emotional and creepy, Victoria’s Lift has over 50 episodes of travels through dark and meaningful realms. Victoria reminds me of the evil AI little girl in the 2002 Resident Evil movie. Don’t let the fact that a little girl is the protagonist of Victoria’s Lift fool you; this is not a show for young listeners. But it is perfect for fans of anthology horror audio dramas like Old Gods of Appalachia and The Dark Tome.

What’s the Frequency

What’s the Frequency has been described by creator James Oliva as “psychedelic noir” and only “horror-adjacent,” both of which are true–but this strange, innovative, form-breaking audio drama is known for sending chills down listeners’ spines. What’s the Frequency follows several stories, but primarily that of Troubles, a PI, and Whitney, his assistant, as they try to find a missing radio play writer whose work is the only thing playing on the radio stations. This podcast is riveting and throws the listener directly into the actions with gorgeous, unsettling sound design and very little explanation. It’s an intense listen that demands paying close attention but always rewards listeners with how strange, immersive, terrifying, and often funny it is.

Palimpsest

An often-overlooked genre in horror are the creeping, contemplative, psychological stories–think, for instance, of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (or even the Netflix show based on it, as different as those two are). Palimpsest takes this tone and mindset, giving the listener a slow-building, creeping terror instead of jump scares. The horror here isn’t just in the ghost story, both with the protagonist’s new house or the ghost of her sister, which she keeps asserting she’s seen. The horror is also in trying to find out whether the protagonist is an unreliable narrator or not. It’s a podcast that plays with your mind more than with just loud noises or gore, and weaves a gorgeous, delectably literary story along the way. The second season of Palimpsest is a completely different story–one of a circus, a family, and the fae. Make sure to read our interview with its creators for more insight on what makes Palimpsest tick.

Station Blue

Station Blue follows protagonist Matthew Leads as he accepts the position of caretaker for an Antarctic research facility and quickly finds he’s bit off more than he can chew. This audio drama is masterful in its command over atmosphere. Between its minimalist score, its unobtrusive sound design, and its downright visceral foley sound effect work, Station Bluetransports the listener to the station, filling the listener with as much dread as Matthew feels. Station Blue dabbles in gore more successfully than just about any audio drama I’ve ever heard, but its real horror focus is the feeling of sheer isolation it evokes. The loneliness in Station Blue is tangible, and so are its effect, slowly wearing away at the protagonist while the stakes get higher and the worries get deeper.

The Magnus Archives

Initially, The Magnus Archives feels like a collection of spooky short stories, some of which land harder than others. The production quality is lo-fi and performed by a single, unflinchingly dry narrator. The framing device here is that the narrator is tasked with turning the paper archives of a paranormal investigation business into audio files–and it isn’t long before this task starts to gain its own over-arching plot. Each episode of The Magnus Archive plays on different fears, making them more vivid and effective than expected. You’ll go into an episode about a scary doll, for instance, thinking, “Oh, this is silly”–but by the time the episode’s ended, you’ll be avoiding the toy aisle next time you hit up Target.

Janus Descending

Janus Descending is podcasting’s answer to the Alien franchise–or, at least, you know, the good movies in that franchise. Told from the perspectives of two explorers on an alien planet, Peter and Chel, the listener hears the story unfold from opposite ends of the timeline. Chel’s story progresses linearly, while Peter’s perspective is told in reverse, starting with his last audio log moving back to his first. Janus Descending is about love–the love Peter and Chel have for each other, but also the love of exploration, the love of knowledge, and the love of who we think we know. A terrifying tragedy, Janus Descending is one you won’t soon forget.

A World Where

What makes fiction anthology podcast A World Where terrifying isn’t just its sci-fi setups, pulling inspiration from works like Black Mirror. It’s how easily it can trap you in those setups, both by how narratively close to home they hit and by its stunning binaural sound design. With each episode, you’re trapped both in concept and in audio, existing fully in the scene. Whether it’s an even more nightmarish version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or an absurdist, darkly comedic take on Chopped, A World Where is stunning, upsetting, and existentially horrific.

The post Our Favorite Horror Audio Drama Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

But I don’t think that mentally ill characters should never exist in horror at all. As a mentally ill person who loves horror, I would never say that absolutely nobody is ever allowed to represent me in one of my favorite genres. I just, y’know, wish that people would work with us instead of against us and portray their mentally ill characters kindly. If you’re interested in doing that, here are some tips on how to do it well.

Don’t…

… make your villain mentally ill.

I’m sorry, I’m just gonna put a big ol’ stop sign here. There’s a history here that cannot be ignored: mentally ill people—particularly those with “scary” disorders like schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (commonly known as multiple personality disorder)—have long been stereotyped as evil and violent, and this stereotype has formed the basis of a huge swath of popular horror. But this is an incredibly harmful stereotype that contributes to mentally ill people being discriminated against by a society that views them as inherently dangerous. (Editor’s note: Mentally ill people are 16 times more likely to be the target of police violence, which is additionally compounded by factors like race, gender expression, class, etc.)

In addition to being harmful, it’s also just plain inaccurate. Being mentally ill is far more likely to make you a victim of abuse than a perpetrator of it, as abuse against mentally ill people—in forms like institutionalization, forced sterilization, and parents/spouses being given the legal right to control our lives—is socially acceptable because it’s considered a way to keep those Scary Evil Crazies from hurting Good Normal People. 

(“But this mass shooter was mentally ill—” no, he was racist/homophobic/sexist, thanks for your time.)

A caveat: if you yourself are mentally ill, I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do. But I am going to tell you that if you don’t have the specific mental illness that you want to give your villain (or something very similar), that’s probably not your story to tell. Dealing with anxiety doesn’t mean that it’s okay for you to give your serial killer dissociative identity disorder. 

… bait and switch “mentally ill” characters who are actually neurotypical. 

Alright, work through a thought experiment with me.

You’re queer. You hear about a movie released by a major studio that has a lesbian character in it. You think, “Oh boy! A queer character in a big movie? That never happens. I should go watch it.” So you go watch it, and you’re all excited at the start of the movie because hey, lesbian character! But then the twist comes: the character isn’t actually a lesbian, she was just being haunted by ghosts who made her think she was a lesbian, and she’s actually straight and ends the movie in a relationship with a man.

… Yeah, okay, it’s not a perfect metaphor. But you get what I’m going for, right? The bottom line is this: when you’re part of any marginalized group, it really sucks to see a character who you think is going to be like you until the big twist reveals that they were never like you at all.

… make your mentally ill characters helpless victims.

Okay, so, you have a character who’s actually mentally ill and who isn’t a villain. Great first steps! The next one: do they have agency? Do they get to do cool, interesting things—or, if that’s not really the kind of story you’re telling, do they have some say in the actions they take? Or do they just exist to be helplessly brutalized without ever getting a chance to fight back? If it’s the latter, please reconsider that. 

A writing tip I see frequently is that your character’s actions should have actual effects on the plot—both good and bad. A character who just deals with things happening to them is nowhere near as interesting as a character who’s given the room to make actual choices, take actions, and then deal with both the positive and negative repercussions of them. I think that’s good writing advice in general, but I think it particularly applies to mentally ill characters.

I would love to see a mentally ill horror protagonist who actually gets to do cool things. A character with dissociative identity disorder who saves the day. A schizophrenic Final Girl. Mentally ill characters who get to actually do things instead of just having things done to them. 

Maybe…

… refrain from using psychiatric hospitals as a setting.

I am ducking tomatoes right now from other mentally ill people who think that this should be under the “don’t” list because they don’t think that horror should ever, under any circumstances, be set in a psych hospital. But I disagree! 

There’s an episode of The Magnus Archives, “MAG 177: Wonderland”, that takes place in a mental hospital. I actually loved that episode, because it’s very clear in the way it’s portrayed that the horrifying thing is not the patients. Rather, the horror comes from the doctors who abuse the mentally ill patients under their care. I, personally, am fine with horror like that.

Read more: How The Magnus Archives Helped Me Love Horror Again

Because the truth is that there’s a lot of abuse that goes on in psych hospitals, both historically and presently. And it is genuinely horrifying. To me, the issue with how psych hospitals are portrayed in most horror isn’t that they’re portrayed at all. Rather, it’s that the horror usually comes from the “crazy”, violent, evil patients who were locked up for good reason, because if they weren’t locked up, they would hurt people. 

In the smaller number of portrayals where the doctors are portrayed as abusive, the main character of the story is usually a neurotypical person who is mistakenly locked in the hospital despite not being mentally ill at all. The implication is that the abuse happening to them is only bad because they’re not really mentally ill, which itself carries the inherent implication that if they were mentally ill, they’d deserve it.

But in real life, there is a lot of abuse that happens in psych hospitals to patients who are genuinely mentally ill and absolutely do not deserve abuse. It happens, it’s scary, and it’s worth talking about. Dare I say, it’s even worth making horror about. So, yeah, I am actually okay with psych settings where the horror comes from the abuse that the mentally ill patients face.

… avoid giving your villain trauma.

Yes, yes, we all love a good tragic backstory for a villain. Done right, it can serve to humanize them a little, to show that they’re hurting the world because the world hurt them first. Done wrong, it can come across like the creator is trying to justify the villain’s unjustifiable actions. Done really wrong, it can imply that the very act of experiencing trauma turns you evil.

I’m not saying that you can never give your villain a tragic backstory. But if your villain has undergone some form of trauma (whether that’s sexual assault, abuse, the death of a loved one, or anything else traumatic) and your heroes have not, that carries some bad implications. When your villain is the only primary character who’s undergone trauma—especially when that trauma is a key part in what turned them villainous—the implication is that the very act of experiencing a traumatic event makes you evil. 

But in real life, trauma does not make you harm people. On the contrary, it can actually make you more likely to experience further harm: if you’ve been abused before, that can affect your baseline standards for how other people should treat you, which can make you more likely to stay in future abusive situations because you think you don’t deserve better. 

This is in the “maybe” section because, like above, I don’t want to say that you can never have a villain who underwent something traumatic. But I am saying that if you give your villain trauma, you should give at least one of your heroes trauma, too. And really, doesn’t giving both your hero and villain trauma and showing their different reactions to it just make them better foils?

Do…

… write mentally ill protagonists, not just side characters.

I can think of a very small number of protagonists in any genre who are canonically mentally ill, and an even smaller number who have “scary” mental illnesses like personality disorders, schizophrenia, and DID. Let us be the heroes instead of just the side kick or the one-off character intended to teach a Very Special Lesson.

… show how it affects their life.

I’m not saying that you have to write your character experiencing ableism—you don’t—but mental illnesses do, by definition, affect some part of your life. How does your character’s mental illness affect their hygiene, their eating habits, their sleep schedule? Are there certain things they avoid because they trigger depression/psychosis/anxiety/etc? How does this affect them? How does it affect the story? If a character avoids being in total darkness because it’s a psychosis trigger, that’s going to become an issue real quick if they’re facing a demon who thrives in light and can only be avoided by being in the dark.

… research.

Any time you write a character in a marginalized group that you’re not in, it’s imperative that you do a lot of research to make sure you’re writing them correctly. Research the specific mental illness you’re writing, focusing primarily on resources written by people who have that mental illness themselves—not medical professionals who have worked with people who have it, not neurotypical people whose family members/friends have it, but actual mentally ill people who really have that illness. 

Research the symptoms, but don’t just read dry bullet point lists on medical websites—read personal accounts of what it’s actually like to experience them. Read nonfiction by us, but read fiction, too. Read the stories that we write about ourselves. Research stereotypes, things to do avoid. Ideally, you’ll also hire a sensitivity consultant—someone who has the mental illness you’re writing who can look over your work and verify that it’s accurate and not harmful.

Yep, that’s a lot of work. You know what else is a lot of work? Writing. You didn’t burst from your father’s head like Athena, fully-formed and with a perfect knowledge of everything you’ll ever want to write about. You practiced writing. You got feedback on your work. You researched how to write well. When you started writing fiction about things you weren’t familiar with, you did more research—whether that was looking into how long it takes someone to bleed out from a bullet wound, what people wore in medieval Europe, or how long it takes to drive across a country. You researched what it’s like to be a doctor, a firefighter, a lawyer. 

You’ve done research for your writing before. Do it again. And if you really, truly have some reason why you cannot do extensive research on this topic, don’t write mentally ill characters. I’m serious. Just don’t do it. No representation is better than harmful representation.

The post How to Audio Drama 202: Writing Mentally Ill Characters in Horror (Without Ableism) appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

The year is 2009. It’s a weeknight, maybe one or two in the morning, and I’m sitting at the family computer in my pajamas. The computer is just off the kitchen, which is just off all of the bedrooms in the house, so I’m sitting in the dark out of a worry that lights would wake my mom up.

(I am, technically, supposed to be asleep right now. Oops.)

I have maybe six or seven tabs open. There are several Wikipedia pages for different creatures in folklore and urban legend, which are always fun to read. But the thing that’s really holding my interest are these strange little websites I’ve found that collect horror stories and urban legends. They’re hosted on Angelfire or something similar, lovingly designed by some horror aficionado somewhere in the world. The background is black or dark brown, sometimes with patterns of bats or skulls; the buttons are shaped like tombstones or look like they’re dripping with blood.

I read about a hook-handed man murdering a young man walking to get help for his broken car.

A strange creature that looks like a human but contorted in ways that humans cannot, rushing through a cornfield towards a horrified college student.

A teenage girl whose house is broken into when her parents go out for the night.

I’m autistic with a special interest in horror, and I’m having the time of my life.

The year is 2014. I’ve dealt with hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions for as long as I can remember. As a child, when I lacked the words to fully describe what I was experiencing, my experiences were dismissed as insomnia, as anxiety. Nothing serious. Nothing anyone needs to help me with. I just need to stop bothering my parents so they can get a good night’s sleep. So for as long as I’ve been dealing with these issues, I deal with them on my own. I have my systems and they work for me. It’s fine. I’m fine.

Except it’s getting worse.

I have trouble being at home alone at night. I convinced my dad to get a pit bull so that I’d have someone at home with me when he’s away on business trips and my siblings are at our mom’s house, and having her helps, but not completely. I’m jumping at the voices of people passing outside, nearly crying at the sights of shadows that I’m convinced are moving. I try to find refuge in my favorite genres of media. But after watching a horror movie on Netflix leads to another week of sleepless nights, I come to a horrible conclusion:

Whatever is going on in my brain, horror is making it worse.

So I set horror aside. I try very hard to forget my old love, to pretend that I don’t miss it at all. I still have fantasy, still have sci-fi. I can read those. It’s fine. It’s fine.

The year is 2018. I talk to professionals about everything I’ve been experiencing and get a diagnosis, get medication, get coping techniques that make it manageable. I tell my therapist that I’m going to start trying to watch horror movies again, and I do try, but I get too freaked out by the visuals. I don’t want to prompt more issues, so I stay away from horror.

I am furious with myself for this decision. Horror has been one of my greatest loves since I was a small child; I have a distinct memory of being maybe seven or eight and telling my mom everything I had just read about the history of vampires. I’m angry at my brain—angry at myself, by extension—for not being able to handle horror anymore. The meds and therapy are helping me heal, but I still feel fundamentally broken.  

The year is 2020. I’ve been slowly dipping my toes back into horror—reading an occasional short story here, a blog post there—but I haven’t fully dived back into it. Now, everyone I follow on Tumblr is talking about a horror podcast called The Magnus Archives. The Magnus Archives is a podcast made by creator Jonathan Sims about a man (also named Jonathan Sims, otherwise known as The Archivist) who discovers something sinister lurking beneath the polished academic facade of the paranormal research institute he works at. One night, as I’m relaxing in bed with my partner, I open Spotify and start playing the first episode.

Eerie string music plays, raising the hairs on my arms. A voice begins to speak.

“Rusty Quill presents: The Magnus Archives.”

The music is unsettling, setting me on edge in a familiar way that I’ve missed like a fish missing water.

“Episode One: Angler Fish.”

My heart is racing already—not from fear (yet) but from excitement.

“Test, test, test. One-two-three. Right. My name is Jonathan Sims. I work for the Magnus Institute, London: an organization dedicated to academic research into the esoteric and the paranormal.”

Read more: The Magnus Effect: how Tumblr contributed to the success of The Magnus Archives

The episode terrifies me. It unnerves and unsettles me in a way that I find, strangely, comforting and familiar. This first episode of The Magnus Archives features a monster (the eponymous Angler Fish) that dangles a humanoid lure in the shadow of a back alley and asks drunk passersby for a cigarette. When the hapless victim approaches and holds the cigarette out, the Angler Fish strikes. 

That night, when the lights are off and I’m waiting for my meds to knock me out, that familiar paranoia comes creeping back in: my mind says, the Angler Fish is in your doorway. If you look up, it will be there, and it will kill you.

I tell my mind Shut the fuck up, I’m going to bed, and I fall asleep.

In the morning, I turn over the events of the previous night. I was scared, yeah, but I got past it. I realize that Magnus is exactly what I’ve been needing: it’s more immersive than written horror, but doesn’t freak me out the way that visual horror does. I eagerly devour the rest of the season.

In season two, The Archivist is—to put it gently—having a really fucking bad time. He’s discovered that his predecessor was murdered and her body left in the tunnels beneath the Magnus Institute (the reason for the title of The Magnus Archives), implying that her murder had something to do with her work. As The Archivist spirals down paranoia and delusions, I’m blindsided by how much I relate to him. I mean, I’ve never stalked my coworkers to their house, but the paranoia? Being convinced that someone wants to harm you? Knowing with total certainty that if you make one wrong move, someone will kill you? I’ve been there.

I feel really, really bad for The Archivist! He makes bad decisions and harms the people around him, for sure, and I’m not excusing that. But I understand where he’s coming from. I don’t know if the creator intended for him to be read this way or not, but I start to see myself in The Archivist: someone dealing with a mental illness that makes you predisposed to thinking that everyone is out to get you. For The Archivist, that’s greatly exacerbated because he has actual proof that somebody really is.

I come up with a lengthy headcanon for The Archivist, giving him my own backstory: delusions and paranoia from a young age, finally getting a diagnosis and meds as a young adult. I try viewing his actions in season two through the lens of someone who stops taking his meds, and suddenly everything clicks into place. I don’t excuse the harm he does to his coworkers, but I sympathize with him.

And that makes me realize something: if I can sympathize with The Archivist, why can’t I sympathize with myself? If I can give him my exact history and treat him gently, why can’t I treat myself gently, too? 

Maybe The Archivist and I aren’t that dissimilar. Maybe we’re both just people trying to get through life even though our brains are against us. Maybe it’s not his fault that his brain makes things hard for him. Maybe it’s not my fault, either.

In 2009, I open a page on a horror story website and start reading a story about vampires.

In 2020, I start playing The Magnus Archives episode “MAG 56 Children of the Night” and listen to a vampire hunter talk about his life.

I love horror.

I am happy.

I am at peace. 

The post How The Magnus Archives Helped Me Love Horror Again appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

My relationship with horror is an odd one. I’m the kind of person who can recall the events of Harlan Ellison short stories and will pass a compliment to any cute girl I see in a Junji Ito sweatshirt while in the same breath admitting I couldn’t sit through SAW. 

One of my favorite books is House of Leaves and I’ve got a massive soft spot for Perfect Blue, Black Swan, and the 2018 remake of Susperia but even I still need to use my phone flashlight to walk to the bathroom at night. And it’s just not Halloween until I’ve had a back to back marathon of The Love Witch, The Craft, and Jennifer’s Body but throw Tusk in the mix and the night is ruined.

Horror is such a subjective topic with audiences often leaning one direction or the other on what they consider good, let alone scary so confronting someone with the question of what scares them can vary from the inevitability of death and the possible bleakness of the afterlife or being rampaged by skeleton pirates. 

As a fan of consuming multiple pieces of fictional media I can say I’ve never seen more ups and downs than I have with the horror genre and I can confirm the same goes for podcasts. 

The Usual Suspects

We’ve all heard it at least once: A crackly found audio occult study done by an ambitious twenty-something exploring some sort of mysterious rural area. Along the way they come across a batch of eclectic strangers, some foes but mostly friends who either encourage or discourage our protagonist’s belief in the supernatural. 

Because this abandoned town could be host to a multitude of demons/ghosts/cults/serial killers/monsters or possibly all five because a town with multiple secrets is always better than one.

This is the setup of the typical horror docudrama, something of a stalemate in the podcasting world. And my, how stale it truly is.

It’s Small Town Horror, it’s The Black Tapes, it’s The Last Movie, it’s TANIS, it’s Diary of a Madman, it’s Limetown and Rabbits and it’s making me very bored.

The Public Radio Alliance podcasts (Rabbits, TANIS, The Last Movie) pretty much cornered the market on these types of shows and though I’m always a fan of a juicy mystery, something about their content, as well as those who try to emulate their style, just fails to be scary–which I imagine is a major thorn in the side of something in the horror category. No matter how polished, no matter how expertly produced, the horror docudrama setup has always been such a slog to experience. 

Not to be a snob about these things, but something about the formula just reeks of a sort of Blair Witch Project level of predictability, even if you want to liberally call it a homage to the found footage genre. 

Trends are inevitable in art no matter the medium and even audio drama is no stranger to piggybacking off established success.

Do you remember that time when all horror video games were about zombies and then after PT (the playable trailer for a since-canceled Silent Hill game to be titled Silent Hills) made a splash before getting erased from play stores worldwide, indie developers were renting out one endlessly looping childhood home after the next? And don’t even get me started on horror movies by directors who have only seen Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity in the last ten years and still think the next big thing is haunted houses and creepy kids possessed by demons. 

Horror podcasts don’t have many zombies but they certainly have the mysterious identity/mysterious town/mysterious mystery routine down pact. I just feel like horror can be more than just amnesiac discoveries of oneself, of waking up in abandoned rooms with blood under your your fingernails, or creepy strangers and fuzzy, mic interference. 

Why is it almost always places heavy with fog and rain and big lumbering trees that have all the ghosts and ghouls? Ever been to a suburb? Wouldn’t the contrast of an idyllic picnic spot or luxurious golf course be all the more interesting if there was a gory murder mystery hidden beneath the surface? A bit of narrative contrast can go a long way and frankly one show taking place in Oregon and the other in Nowhere, Washington is a road trip certainly not worth my gas money. 

Give me details about the corpse floating in a fountain at a California strip mall then we’ll talk.

Die Laughing

While still on the topic, I can’t help but mention shows that are still nestled into the horror genre but are defined more as comedies inspired by the aesthetics of slasher films and ghost stories. Combine gore with good laughs and you can produce some interesting results.

Why do you think things like Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Addams Family, and Scooby Doo still thrive even in this climate? If you can’t be the next new scary movie, you can always try to be the next Scary Movie.

Horror is scary, but horror can also be stupid, campy fun, just ask anyone whose seen a Christopher Landon movie. We wear rubber masks and eat our fill of candy not because it freaks us out but because it’s a good time and honestly it’s the shows with spooky hosts rather than spooky circumstances that’s really caught my attention as of late. 

Kind of like the second coming of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, it feels like a commentary on horror tropes while still embracing why exactly we even like this kind of stuff in the first place. (Editor’s note: I simply cannot see an Elvira reference in 2021 without taking time to say congratulations to Elvira for coming out and sharing 12 years with her girlfriend. We queers have always loved you and we love you all the more now.)

Less is Morgue has a kitchen sink of undead and otherworldly beings, Haunted House Flippers combines Extreme Home Makeover with Ghost Hunters, and Death by Dying and Brimstone Valley Mall places a lot of the perspective on the titular monsters. If anything, I’ve found I’ve been deeply enamored with horror shows that take the perspective off of the usual human everyman and works to humanize the beasts we’d normally be avoiding all together. And the results are often just so hilarious that you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

How to do Horror 

Long time readers might know about a past article of mine where I discussed scary moments in otherwise non-horror based audio dramas. 

Even podcasts that don’t specifically focus on horror can utilize common fears to generate more authentic stakes. Wolf 359 deals with the psychological effects of isolation and paranoia, I honestly really enjoyed the bite-sized thrillers done by The Long Hallway and the ways the tension just absolutely grabs you in stuff like The Penumbra or Girl in Space is unbeatable.

Then there are more traditional horror shows like I Am in Eskew and The Magnus Archives that approach their concepts from an angle of existential dread with a nice sprinkling of body horror to keep things interesting. 

I feel found audio horror podcasts have tried and tried again to zero in on the horror of discovery, of man knowing things man simply shouldn’t know, but it always falls flat as it’s dragged from lab to home to empty town to recording booth over and over again instead letting the impact of the reveal do the talking for them.

And with the primary usually being some sort of monster or event that the whole series is building up to, it often runs into the problem of over-explaining and ruining any potential for a gray area for our imagination to wander. 

This breaks such a big rule in audio storytelling where the lack of visual input is entirely the point. Nothing is scarier than nothing, after all.

Read more: The Parapod: The Haunted House Investigation That Lied

For example, one of my favorite minimalist horror shows to this day is SAYER which is nothing like a docudrama but a sci-fi story characterized by its dense, oppressive atmosphere and told from the perspective of an A.I. And though it starts off as this self-contained glimpse into the future, it’s growing cast of characters and world building serves to develop a conflict of conflicting powers, devising a sort of mechanical Cold War.

There are so many ways to create authentic tension and fear that you may not even need the horror label to sink your narrative claws into listeners. After all, not all horror media needs a big scary monster pushed into the forefront, there are already plenty of human fears lurking around our everyday lives.

Horror is Not Hopeless 

I’m not implying horror shows can’t accomplish what they set out to do, it’s just that the avenues horror podcast writers take can feel so trodden and overdone to the point it all starts to blend together. 

Serial killers and cults and memory loss-those are inherently freaky concepts, but when one show after the other is playing that same tune we’ve heard a million times before it’s not even worth dimming the lights for. 

Pacific Northwest Stories makes good, high quality work but it’s reliance on comfort zones has created a template too many people are eager to fill. Horror is hard to pull off but people aspiring to be the next Stephen King need to stop borrowing overused tropes and start looking deep into the kind of scary ideas that will leave listeners speechless, not asleep. 

And besides, a lack of originality? Well, that’s simply terrifying.

(Editor’s note 10/15/21: Edits have been made to distinguish the differences between Pacific Northwest Stories, or PNWS, and the Public Radio Alliance, or PRA.)

The post The Stale State of Horror Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

The short answer would be that The Magnus Archives is simply an excellent series with solid writing, great world building, and compelling characters, not limited to a brilliant take on the narrator, but  to leave it at that would be doing its impact a disservice. 

The Magnus is gory and grim in all the ways that are fun and honestly wouldn’t be as effective in any other format besides audio, making it one of my favorite horror shows to date. And when you’re sharing company with Archive 81 and SAYER, that’s a compliment to take with good merit.

As much as I want to, going into extreme detail about the things that make The Magnus Archives work would include a long list of spoilers. Given the plot setup of the individual episodes and how things really start to pick-up in later seasons, that would make things so much less impactful for anyone willing to give it a listen so expect vague but meaningful praise from here on out.

Upon digesting a fair amount of the episodes, I can best describe The Magnus Archives as the audio drama variant of those particularly good SCP: Containment Breach entries. Each episode catalogues a sort of supernatural entity or occurrence being narrated by Jonatahn Sims, head archivist of The Magnus Institute, and like a British Twilight Zone, we’re given a number of engaging short stories about strange neighbors, creepy books, and self-proclaimed vampires.

Scary creatures are there own special category that almost anyone can accomplish and my comparison to SCP doesn’t come without meaning as the same draw is there. A ghost is just a ghost and a monster is just a monster, but a decoy human man lurking in an alleyway asking for a cigarette in a monotone voice is where creepy and creative collide. 

The Magnus Archives prides itself on its razor sharp tension and fear of the unknown. As an avid fan of psychological horror, that sense of creeping suspension is something I’ve grown to appreciate in my podcasts and The Magnus definitely relies on that approach. 

It also doesn’t hesitate from characterizing it’s densely detailed world as overtime we don’t only get to know more about the residents and their individual problems with a supernatural force, but the morbid secrets of The Institute and what it truly means to be an archivist. And it’s here that I realize just what has been the main draw of the show: it’s narrator. 

And yes, Jonathan Sims, the voice of the character of the same name, does have a very rich and soothing speaking voice but how he changes and why is something I’ve rarely seen explored in audio drama. It’s such a dramatic turn and an excellent shift in the show’s status quo it was enough to keep me coming back just to see what new quirks Jonathan had in store. 

Much like my Lovecraft statement earlier, there’s nothing better than feeling that our main character is as unstable and bizarre than the world he occupies but going into detail would say too much.

Despite this huge shift that the Rusty Quill was willing to tackle, If there’s anything Tumblr likes its a taste of the familiar with a sort of zest that sets it apart from everything else. A few popular tropes I’ve come to recognize over the years do appear in The Magnus but never once did I feel like it was cribbing off someone else. 

Night Vale seems to have set the standard and has still left a massive footprint in its wake, quietly prompting a number of Internet creatives to fill in the hole they’ve made. Hence the podcast boom in 2015 where we got a few favorites like The Bright Sessions, Ars Paradoxica, and, the most promising contender and fellow Tumblr Trender, Wolf 359. 

Each show brought something new to the table and has really inspired content creators to push their limits to make the best possible product. Thus a show about time travel, a show about space exploration, and a show about superhero therapy can all stand shoulder to shoulder as far as positive fan reception goes.

Though less of a traditional narrative set up than the ones listed, The Magnus is definitely a nice follow up to the format Welcome to Night Vale popularized and a still relatively new one at that, having it only be three years old as of this writing. 

Wolf 359 and The Bright Sessions have drawn to a conclusion and so far The Magnus Archives is not only ongoing, but going very strong. The thing that makes Maguns so distinct and able to capture the imagination of its audiences the same way these podcasts did is its sense of progression.

A common gripe of mine with serialized podcasts is the sterile nature they adopt, never willing to step out of the comfort zone they’ve carved for themselves and caused me to quickly lose interest and drop them immediately. Much like poor editing or bad acting, a series afraid to step outside of its own box may as well be episodic and becomes hollow and not worth investing in.

Even SAYER that starts off as nothing short of a little sci-fi book of horrors has adopted a single narrative with more characters, more conflict, more terrible, terrible things to happen to its human subjects  and it’s only gotten stronger for it.

A man talking in a chair is a template that the writer must branch off of. Wolf 359 did this transition seamlessly from having a single narrator who bounced off the other crew members until it became a full fledged third person sci-fi somewhere around the midpoint of season one.

While Magnus has yet to delve into a full solid narrative, let alone a three act structure, it’s definitely working its way to an arc, providing the sort of unease and sanity shift in its main character that Lovecraftian works are especially fond of. The Magnus is a story made of many other, equally interesting stories and even if you have a favorite, it’s bound to have some new juicy details spring to life on their designated episode.

Subjects of old stories can come back, Johnathan starts to question his own beliefs on the supernatural, and active conflict within The Institute itself starts somewhere around episode thirty eight and just keeps escalating from there.

And that’s what sets it apart from the always popular “man in chair” lineup. The Magnus pulls a bait and switch in which “man in chair” is the starting point, not the end-all-be-all. A podcast that is willing to branch out and become part of its universe instead of blindly observing it is a status quo that seems to be breaking. If there’s anything that personally scares me, it’s the threat of a monotonous audio drama world.

The post The Magnus Effect: how Tumblr contributed to the success of The Magnus Archives appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.