Horror themed Podcasts

[TJCams]

I thought there was a post about this at some time, but had no luck finding it.

I have decided that I would like to start checking out some podcasts - basically listen at night before/as I go to sleep. I have tried a couple - with varying results. I found these by researching a couple online searches.

Limetown - the premise sounds great - listened to the 1st episode. The narrator impressed me. Will likely continue with this.

Welcome to Night Vale - Probably one of the most hyped? So popular they release a book based on it. Started listening to episode 1, but it felt/sounded a little "cheesy" to me. May revisit it though.

No Sleep - This one had great reviews and was on many lists. Started on Reddit - and basically is the reading of short stories originally posted on their Reddit. Again...listed to episode 1 (last night) and it was a reading of (I think) 3 stories - good narrator again.

Anybody else here into Podcasts like the above? Any suggestions? Obviously mostly into the horror/sci-fi/paranormal genres.

For me it will be mostly listening as I fall asleep (although I know I won't remember much, if anything about them). The above are all about 30-35 minutes long, which is perfect for what I would be looking for.

[slayn666]

Limetown is great, but you should go in knowing that there likely won't be a season two, or it'll be several years coming. The first season was so good and so well-received that the team basically transitioned into trying to option off TV rights.

I liked Welcome to Night Vale for about the first 50 episodes, but it became too self-referential for my tastes. It's a mix of horror, weird, and comedy, so the cheesiness is intentional to some extent.

No Sleep is an absolute crapshoot because for it to work well you need a good story and a good narrator, and usually you're getting one or the other. Also, after two seasons, it goes to a premium model so you only get one or two stories per episode unless you pony up. Episodes also get progressively longer to the point where the newest ones are like 2+ hours long.

One I picked up recently and absolutely tore through is the Magnus Archives. Each episode is about 20-25 minutes long and details an odd occurrence, place, or item recorded by the Magnus Institute, which specializes in the paranormal. Each episode is mostly self-contained, but an overarching narrative begins to merge about ten episodes in. I absolutely love the narrator because he has mastered how to properly convey good, old-fashioned British derision through just his voice. They are working towards their first season finale right now.

Archive 81 is setup in a similar way. A guy is hired to make digital recordings of old tapes from a particular archive in a larger collection. The tapes all concern an investigation into a weird building. It starts off stronger than it ends in my opinion, but it's still good throughout. They finished their first season not too long ago.

Small Town Horror is another good one. It's the story of a guy that returns to the town in which he grew up to investigate the events that lead to his leaving in the first place. It's a bit more slow-paced, but tells a compelling story. They, too, just finished their first season.

The Black Tapes and TANIS I'm grouping together because they're made by the same people and tend to have the same problems. Both start out strong and pretty quickly start petering out. I still listen to both mostly because of inertia, but they do have bright moments here and there. I'd say listen to them until they start to bore you, then drop them.

Alice Isn't Dead is a Night Vale Presents production, though not connected to WtNV. It's the story of a truck driver on the road looking for her wife, and the crazy shit she sees while doing so. A very solid production overall, and at least through the first season (which ended a few months back) it doesn't become the self-referential mess I feel WtNV has become.

For non-fiction horror podcasts, you can't go wrong with the Horror Show with Brian Keene.

[TJCams]

I was going to try The Black Tapes soon - that was also on the couple lists I saw. But I should check out Horror Show too.

[Martin]

Great thread. I will have to check some of these out.

[bugen]

I like this thread too. Thank you guys for posting, and although I'm not an audio book or podcast guy I'm willing to learn and have checked out the first Magnus Archives cast.

[TJCams]

I like this thread too. Thank you guys for posting, and although I'm not an audio book or podcast guy I'm willing to learn and have checked out the first Magnus Archives cast.

Same for me - I don't do audio books - My ride to work is 15 minutes, and at home I can't really get into audio books. Maybe if I drove longer distances or something. As I said above, I like to read a bit before I go to sleep, and figured podcasts might be a change of pace. So far so good. Although I find I am so tired by then I forget the story I listened to! LOL

[Dan Hocker]

I can't really help you out with horror podcasts, but if anyone is looking for Video Game, Movie, Comedy, or (one) Comic Book podcasts I have a few favorites of each of these.

Movie - Schmoes Know Show or for a shorter daily show Collider Movie Talk
Video Games - The Co-Optional Podcast or The Roundtable Podcast
Comic Books - Comics Conspiracy

For the comedy ones my favorites don't really fit in with the typical ones you hear people mention when people talk about comedy podcasts. Both are from Rooster Teeth, the company that made / makes Red vs. Blue. They are essentially a internet production company that makes a lot of web based video content including shorts, animation, live action TV show like series, and even a movie among other things. Their style of humor isn't gonna be for everyone, but I find it pretty funny (most of the time).

Comedy - The Rooster Teeth Podcast and the Off Topic podcast (both from Rooster Teeth)