Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful, but Inside It’s Even Worse
December 23, 2023 6:12 PM Subscribe
It’s Solstice 2023, the dark nights are at their peak (at least in the northern hemisphere) and The Magnus Protocol has crowdfunded and is forthcoming. Anyway, here’s another roundup of weird audio dramas! They may help you spend time while doing chores, or coping with personal, global, or holiday stress, or simply ease the pain of living in this terrible world with stories about even more terrible worlds. Most of the series are audio dramas with paranormal elements, but anthologies, fantasy, and science fiction are included.
Stories with LGBTQ characters and elements are identified when possible. Podcasts with frequent or severe content warnings are noted as are those which provide transcripts. Lately, audio dramas seem to be experimenting more with “chaotic action” – fights, headlong flight, etc. This often doesn’t work all that well; it is noted when significant. All the podcasts are accessible via most podcast apps and aggregators (although, weirdly, some apps seem to not catch entire seasons of some of the shows). Average running time of episodes is indicated, although many series will violate this from time to time.
As there has been demand in previous posts, anthologies are now included. Shows are identified as:
• audio drama – stories with continuing plots and casts, either open- or closed-ended
• anthology – stand-alone stories with no continuity
• anthology with frame – stand-alone stories with some kind of continuity that ties the series together but (usually) does not affect the stories
Acephale (anthology)
A horror anthology read by the author. Often set in the American Southwest, especially Utah. Themes of isolation and unreality.
Frequency: monthly-ish
Length: 30-60 minutes
Tone: Southwestern US horror
LGBTQ: none
One season (41 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Agent Stoker (audio drama)
Part Raymond Chandler, part Philip K. Dick, and all macabre all the time. An alcoholic agent of a possibly imaginary agency works with and against a rogue AI to stop the apocalypse. Also includes baseball trivia and descriptions of cocktails.
Length: 25-30 minutes
Tone: noir and apocalypse
LGBTQ: none significant
Two seasons (24 episodes; ongoing?)
They have an X account, but I’m not linking to it.
The Armitage Account (audio drama)
The Armitage Account is a narrative audio drama inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and is set in the fictitious city of Arkham, Massachusetts. Isaac Andrews, plagued with guilt over the events of the last year, begins to search for a connection to his supposed great-grandfather, and the long-deceased head librarian of Miskatonic University, Henry Armitage. Some reading and acting issues. Website has supporting material.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 30-40 minutes
Tone: weird books, growing conspiracy
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (8 episodes + shorts; ongoing)
Website
Badlands Cola (audio drama)
Badlands Cola is a cinematic mystery/horror audio drama about eldritch fossils, hate-flirting, and liminal nightmares that yawn wide in the night. In a desert town full of strange fossils and even stranger people, a hard-hearted PI and a broken-down radio DJ attempt to dig up the skeletal past of a cult before it can reform. The story seems complete, but they may be planning a second season. Transcripts available on their website. Episodes also on YouTube.
Length: 25-35 minutes
Tone: small towns, cults, and time/space distortions
LGBTQ: none significant
Complete story (12 episodes)
Website
Blum (audio drama)
Art History student Clara Torres disappears while working on her thesis about Ursula Blum, a avant-garde painter from the 20th century. Five years later, journalist Emma Clark decides to travel to Switzerland to continue Clara’s investigation and narrate in a podcast what she discovers about the mystery surrounding both women. Originally made in Spanish, the program was created in concert with Switzerland Tourism, so there are a surprising number of descriptions of attractions and amenities in the many Swiss cities Clark visits in her investigations.
Length: 20-25 minutes
Tone: weird conspiracy
LGBTQ: none significant
Complete story (9 episodes)
Website
Burning Rock Radio (audio drama)
Burning Rock Radio is a fictional audiobook podcast about Ivy Romeo, a grad student living in the creepy coastal town of Burning Rock, Washington. Follow Ivy as she dodges monsters and searches for the truth about her missing friend. This is a very slow-moving story, almost meditative in places, but the plot moves forward regularly.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 15-25 minutes
Tone: creepy small town and maybe cosmic horror
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (32 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Campfire Radio Theatre (anthology)
Usually full-cast, single episode stories released a few times a year, with a few double episode stories, since 2011. Mostly written by John Ballentine, the organizer.
Frequency: 2-4/year
Length: 30 minutes
Tone: variety
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (40 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Cicatrix (audio drama)
Paul Harmon is a Chicago area music producer whose father has gone missing. The father, a retired cartographer, has left behind some mysterious and unsettling notes, and Harmon uneasily begins to unravel the threads of his father’s secret life. This takes him into surprisingly weird parts of small-town Illinois.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 40-50 minutes
Tone: cult and small town horror
LGBTQ: none
One season (4 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Dark Dead Things (anthology)
A small press fiction and poetry anthology with an attached podcast. The stories tend to be short and weird rather than horror, and read by a single voice. Weirdly, their website is very cagey about the podcast, so use an app of some sort.
Frequency: irregular
Length: ~10 minutes, except for one 40 minute episode
Tone: weird fiction
LGBTQ: none so far
One season (4 episodes; ongoing)
Website
The Department of Variance of Somewhere Ohio (audio drama)
A shady governmental group that deals with the supernatural experiences a containment breach at its main office. One new hire and one mid-level employee from the Bureau of Transnatural Resources are stuck on different floors when the lockdown begins. Not all is as it seems in the Department, however… Part of the “Somewhere, Ohio-verse.” Transcripts available on the website.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: SCP Foundation-ish
LGBTQ: queer characters
Two seasons (17 episodes + supplements; ongoing)
Website
Dupont Investigations (audio drama)
Torsten Somersby is a private investigator with a deep knowledge of the occult and a dubious reputation because of the strange cases his expertise attracts. When a handsome tobacco heir dies mysteriously, Torsten agrees to assist Nigel Clemmons, an out-of-town insurance investigator, in uncovering the truth behind the young man’s fate. Torsten and Nigel discover the heir’s troubled past and obsession with an ancient occult conspiracy. They must navigate a dangerous landscape to thwart the plans of those responsible. The first story appears to be intended to be six parts. Sometimes excessively self-conscious use of period slang.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 25-30 minutes
Tone: noir and cultists? Demons?
LGBTQ: gay (possibly bisexual) leads
One season (3 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Eeler’s Choice (audio drama)
"No respect for the sea, for the living things in it, for what's owed. They're fishing in the eel breeding grounds now, the fools." A maritime horror fantasy podcast set in Eskmouth, a small coastal town whose economy has lived and died on the hunting of the Great Eels for generations. As demand for product has increased, so have the catches... but even the generosity of the sea has its limits, all debts must come due, and the ocean never gives back what it takes unchanged. Part fantasy, part horror, with a fair number of voices familiar from other podcasts.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 25-35 minutes
Tone: maritime fantasy and horror
LGBTQ: queer characters and a general aura of queerness
One season (6 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Ethics Town (audio drama)
A man sits in a shack, trying to transit his concerns about the town where he lives. The town, assuming it exists, is an experiment in governance, and it is afflicted by reification of philosophical puzzles like the Trolley Problem. He is joined in his exile by a teenage girl and the two argue, begin to believe that the place they are in is abnormal, and then they start questioning if they even exist.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 20-25 minutes
Tone: weird town and ethical problems
LGBTQ: none so far
One season (8 episodes + supplements; between seasons)
Website
Ghost Wax (audio drama)
Owen Voncid is the last Reclaimer. The last person able to wake the dead and hear their tales. To combat the darkness of the realms beyond, even the black art of necromancy is a line worth crossing. Voncid and his associates hunt ghosts, monsters, demons, and other supernatural beings. Transcripts available on the website.
Length: most 25-40 minutes
Tone: ghost hunting agency
LGBTQ: some LGB characters
One season (45 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Ghosts in the Burbs (audio drama)
Liz Sower (the character, not the author) moved to Wellesley, MA, an upscale suburb of Boston where people are obsessed with brands, their new houses, their house renovations, and no one ever talks about the ghosts. Except, apparently, to Liz, who keeps getting sucked deeper into danger as the ghosts and worse things begin to notice her. Fairly Catholic in its outlook. No transcripts, but it started as a blog (linked form the website) and some of the stories have been turned into ebooks.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: most 20-30 minutes
Tone: suburban horror, ghosts, and demons
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (74 episodes + supplements; ongoing)
Website
House Call (audio drama)
A three-person crime scene clean up crew sent to a house where… something happened. Soon, they begin to suspect that the house has no end and does not want them there. Student created and produced.
Length: 10-15 minutes
Tone: haunted house
LGBTQ: none
Complete story (8 episodes)
Website
Liars and Leeches (audio drama)
Grief. Anxiety. Terror. Tonya Wright felt it all after the tragic murders of her sister and brother-in-law in a random act of gun violence. Struggling to travel outside of her home, she now lives constantly on edge about perceived threats that seem to surround her.
Retreating to the house her sister and brother-in-law once shared to process her grief, Tonya soon discovers that someone — or something — has followed her there. With the help of her best friend Natalie, and others she meets along the way, can Tonya overcome her fears before they completely consume her? CW: the first half is very heavy on gun violence trauma and stalking. Trascripts available
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: stalking and trauma
LGBTQ: none
Complete story (10 episodes)
Website
Mayfair Watchers Society (anthology with frame)
Mayfair is a small town with unusual problems. The episodes are stories inspired by the artwork of creepypasta artist Trevor Henderson. Loosely connected with a few recurring characters, most of the stories can be read in isolation.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: 20-35 minutes
Tone: creepypasta
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (26 episodes; ongoing)
They have an X account, but I’m not linking to it.
Night Shift (audio drama)
Echor City is a trailblazing neon metropolis. The city is dominated by the Augur Corporation and their ALPHAs, the world’s first bioengineered superhumans, as they work to recreate the dwindling magic of the past. Dangerous narcotics and ancient arcane relics move on the black market, leaving chaos in their wake. The terrifying power of the Veil transforms those it touches into the stuff of nightmares, bizarre mutants forced to hide among society. Sebastian Fen hates Augur. He’s determined to unravel the mysteries that seem to permeate every corner of his city and figure out what the company is hiding. After a chance encounter with Dr. Angelo Volta, the enigmatic head of Augur’s bioengineering department, Sebastian soon finds himself tangled in the heart of it all. Kind of X-Men meets Nightbreed meets a slightly hapless reporter engaged in an excessively dramatic flirtation. Transcripts available.
Length: 50 minutes
Tone: weird superpowers and nightbreed
LGBTQ: gay protagonist and general queerness
One season (16 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Not Quite Dead (audio drama)
Follow Alfie a nurse working overtime on the night shift in A&E when a patient comes in with her throat torn out. The girl on the gurney is the first of many, baffling staff and horrifying the public. Eventually, Alfie almost becomes another victim of the walking, rotting dead things which have been attacking his patients, but is saved by the same man he saw dripping blood into his patient’s eye. He’s Casper, and he’s a vampire, and now he’s saved Alfie’s life the two of them are inescapably bound together. Neither of them are happy about it, but the draw of each other’s blood is irresistible. Another brush with death later, Alfie must make a choice: death or undeath. He’s not sure which is worse, but whatever he chooses, there’s bound to be blood. Another production by Eira Major, the force behind Spirit Box Radio and Clockwork Bird. Transcripts available on the Hanging Sloth Studio website.
Frequency: weekly
Length: most 25-30 minutes
Tone: vampires
LGBTQ: gay protagonist
Two seasons (20 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Out Cold (anthology)
A new horror anthology out of Minneapolis. The first podcast to capture the real horror of the skyway during the lunch rush.
Frequency: weekly?
Length: 15-20 minutes
Tone: various
LGBTQ: lesbian protagonist in one story
One season (5 episodes; ongoing)
Apparently, no website
The Pantaloon Society (audio drama)
Roll up, roll up, come to the show! But dear audience, be warned - the things you hear therein may haunt your dreams... The Pantaloon Society is a supernatural audio-novella about an ancient and clandestine society of clowns with unusual abilities, and the eldritch threats they are called to investigate. Jen is a clown working in a hospital to entertain sick children. They have access to a gift that lets them animal small figures. This comes to the notice of forces friendly and hostile, and Jen is brought into the diminished ranks of the Pantaloon Society, an ancient society of clowns with unusual powers. A bit of monster of the week mixed with an overarching narrative with a single narrator. Transcripts available through links in the show notes.
Length: most 25-30 minutes
Tone: clowning and monsters
LGBTQ: nonbinary protagonist
Complete story (12 episodes)
Website
Petrified (anthology)
An Irish horror anthology podcast with some episodes singe-voice and others full-cast. Quite a variety of tones, settings, and themes.
Length: most 30-40 minutes
Tone: variety
LGBTQ: occasional characters
Three seasons (24 episodes; between seasons)
Apparently, no website
The Rat King (audio drama)
The Shrill Collective is a feminist theater group focusing on work by women and non-binary people. They have made a story about Daphne, a woman dealing with a long-term stalker and a rat problem. after she and her partner have moved into a new apartment. The story is set against the COVID pandemic and the sense of isolation and helplessness that caused. Without giving away too much, the story keeps the listener guessing as to whether there is something supernatural going on or not. CW: Stalking is a very prominent theme, and the emotional impact of it is very much centered in this story.
Length: 30-45 episodes
Tone: urban horror and stalking
LGBTQ: bisexual female protagonist
Complete story (7 episodes)
Website
Regina Prime (audio drama)
This is extremely hard to summarize. An urban explorer stumbles onto… something. Later, her genetic material may have been used to create many embryos, who grew up to be normal women. However, a mysterious group has decided that their genetics are a danger and are hunting them down, isolating them, and eliminating them. It’s a mostly one-woman production and is surprisingly engaging and harrowing, given the relatively short running time. Yes, it’s science fiction, but also very much horror.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: 10-20 minutes
Tone: generic manipulation and conspiracy
LGBTQ: unclear
One season (11 episodes; ongoing)
Apparently, no website
Samite (audio drama)
This story is connected the podcast Weeping Cedars. Each season is a separate story about the investigation of a series of murders orchestrated by BBS and, earlier, by letters. It stands somewhat on its own, although the creator, J.W.G. Wise, likes to tie all of his works together. This is a slow burn take on true crime podcasts, per-internet communication, and groups of supportive friends doing monstrous things for unguessable purposes. There is a third season planned.
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: analog horror
LGBTQ: none significant
Two seasons (8 episodes; ongoing?)
Website
Tell No Tales (audio drama)
They say dead men tell no tales, but what if someone gave them a voice? Leo Quinn works for Better Place, the premier ghost removal company. They develop a system which can record the voices of ghosts and discover, to their horror, that not all ghosts want to be removed. Leo and a small group of friends try to figure out how to convince a company, whose bottom line depends on not understanding the point, that ghosts are still people and the status quo is inhumane. However, this does not mean that all ghosts are friendly or welcome Leo’s investigations. Season 2 will start with the new year.
Length: 15-25 minutes
Tone: ghosts and corporate misdeeds
LGBTQ: generally queer
One season (25 11 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Wrought of Amber (audio drama)
In 2009 Emily Carmichael, star of the children's show Virtue Vista Valley, was kidnapped and murdered. Now, in 2023 her sister Alex is challenging the official narrative of her sister's tragic loss. Set in the world of Weeping Cedars, Wrought of Amber explores a mystery more horrific than Alex could ever imagine. Another J.W.G. Wise production. It sounds like there is a second season planned. CW: child abduction and murder.
Length: 45-55 minutes
Tone: weird murder
LGBTQ: none
One season (4 episodes; ongoing?)
Website
Stories with LGBTQ characters and elements are identified when possible. Podcasts with frequent or severe content warnings are noted as are those which provide transcripts. Lately, audio dramas seem to be experimenting more with “chaotic action” – fights, headlong flight, etc. This often doesn’t work all that well; it is noted when significant. All the podcasts are accessible via most podcast apps and aggregators (although, weirdly, some apps seem to not catch entire seasons of some of the shows). Average running time of episodes is indicated, although many series will violate this from time to time.
As there has been demand in previous posts, anthologies are now included. Shows are identified as:
• audio drama – stories with continuing plots and casts, either open- or closed-ended
• anthology – stand-alone stories with no continuity
• anthology with frame – stand-alone stories with some kind of continuity that ties the series together but (usually) does not affect the stories
Acephale (anthology)
A horror anthology read by the author. Often set in the American Southwest, especially Utah. Themes of isolation and unreality.
Frequency: monthly-ish
Length: 30-60 minutes
Tone: Southwestern US horror
LGBTQ: none
One season (41 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Agent Stoker (audio drama)
Part Raymond Chandler, part Philip K. Dick, and all macabre all the time. An alcoholic agent of a possibly imaginary agency works with and against a rogue AI to stop the apocalypse. Also includes baseball trivia and descriptions of cocktails.
Length: 25-30 minutes
Tone: noir and apocalypse
LGBTQ: none significant
Two seasons (24 episodes; ongoing?)
They have an X account, but I’m not linking to it.
The Armitage Account (audio drama)
The Armitage Account is a narrative audio drama inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and is set in the fictitious city of Arkham, Massachusetts. Isaac Andrews, plagued with guilt over the events of the last year, begins to search for a connection to his supposed great-grandfather, and the long-deceased head librarian of Miskatonic University, Henry Armitage. Some reading and acting issues. Website has supporting material.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 30-40 minutes
Tone: weird books, growing conspiracy
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (8 episodes + shorts; ongoing)
Website
Badlands Cola (audio drama)
Badlands Cola is a cinematic mystery/horror audio drama about eldritch fossils, hate-flirting, and liminal nightmares that yawn wide in the night. In a desert town full of strange fossils and even stranger people, a hard-hearted PI and a broken-down radio DJ attempt to dig up the skeletal past of a cult before it can reform. The story seems complete, but they may be planning a second season. Transcripts available on their website. Episodes also on YouTube.
Length: 25-35 minutes
Tone: small towns, cults, and time/space distortions
LGBTQ: none significant
Complete story (12 episodes)
Website
Blum (audio drama)
Art History student Clara Torres disappears while working on her thesis about Ursula Blum, a avant-garde painter from the 20th century. Five years later, journalist Emma Clark decides to travel to Switzerland to continue Clara’s investigation and narrate in a podcast what she discovers about the mystery surrounding both women. Originally made in Spanish, the program was created in concert with Switzerland Tourism, so there are a surprising number of descriptions of attractions and amenities in the many Swiss cities Clark visits in her investigations.
Length: 20-25 minutes
Tone: weird conspiracy
LGBTQ: none significant
Complete story (9 episodes)
Website
Burning Rock Radio (audio drama)
Burning Rock Radio is a fictional audiobook podcast about Ivy Romeo, a grad student living in the creepy coastal town of Burning Rock, Washington. Follow Ivy as she dodges monsters and searches for the truth about her missing friend. This is a very slow-moving story, almost meditative in places, but the plot moves forward regularly.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 15-25 minutes
Tone: creepy small town and maybe cosmic horror
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (32 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Campfire Radio Theatre (anthology)
Usually full-cast, single episode stories released a few times a year, with a few double episode stories, since 2011. Mostly written by John Ballentine, the organizer.
Frequency: 2-4/year
Length: 30 minutes
Tone: variety
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (40 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Cicatrix (audio drama)
Paul Harmon is a Chicago area music producer whose father has gone missing. The father, a retired cartographer, has left behind some mysterious and unsettling notes, and Harmon uneasily begins to unravel the threads of his father’s secret life. This takes him into surprisingly weird parts of small-town Illinois.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 40-50 minutes
Tone: cult and small town horror
LGBTQ: none
One season (4 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Dark Dead Things (anthology)
A small press fiction and poetry anthology with an attached podcast. The stories tend to be short and weird rather than horror, and read by a single voice. Weirdly, their website is very cagey about the podcast, so use an app of some sort.
Frequency: irregular
Length: ~10 minutes, except for one 40 minute episode
Tone: weird fiction
LGBTQ: none so far
One season (4 episodes; ongoing)
Website
The Department of Variance of Somewhere Ohio (audio drama)
A shady governmental group that deals with the supernatural experiences a containment breach at its main office. One new hire and one mid-level employee from the Bureau of Transnatural Resources are stuck on different floors when the lockdown begins. Not all is as it seems in the Department, however… Part of the “Somewhere, Ohio-verse.” Transcripts available on the website.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: SCP Foundation-ish
LGBTQ: queer characters
Two seasons (17 episodes + supplements; ongoing)
Website
Dupont Investigations (audio drama)
Torsten Somersby is a private investigator with a deep knowledge of the occult and a dubious reputation because of the strange cases his expertise attracts. When a handsome tobacco heir dies mysteriously, Torsten agrees to assist Nigel Clemmons, an out-of-town insurance investigator, in uncovering the truth behind the young man’s fate. Torsten and Nigel discover the heir’s troubled past and obsession with an ancient occult conspiracy. They must navigate a dangerous landscape to thwart the plans of those responsible. The first story appears to be intended to be six parts. Sometimes excessively self-conscious use of period slang.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 25-30 minutes
Tone: noir and cultists? Demons?
LGBTQ: gay (possibly bisexual) leads
One season (3 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Eeler’s Choice (audio drama)
"No respect for the sea, for the living things in it, for what's owed. They're fishing in the eel breeding grounds now, the fools." A maritime horror fantasy podcast set in Eskmouth, a small coastal town whose economy has lived and died on the hunting of the Great Eels for generations. As demand for product has increased, so have the catches... but even the generosity of the sea has its limits, all debts must come due, and the ocean never gives back what it takes unchanged. Part fantasy, part horror, with a fair number of voices familiar from other podcasts.
Frequency: biweekly
Length: 25-35 minutes
Tone: maritime fantasy and horror
LGBTQ: queer characters and a general aura of queerness
One season (6 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Ethics Town (audio drama)
A man sits in a shack, trying to transit his concerns about the town where he lives. The town, assuming it exists, is an experiment in governance, and it is afflicted by reification of philosophical puzzles like the Trolley Problem. He is joined in his exile by a teenage girl and the two argue, begin to believe that the place they are in is abnormal, and then they start questioning if they even exist.
Frequency: weekly
Length: 20-25 minutes
Tone: weird town and ethical problems
LGBTQ: none so far
One season (8 episodes + supplements; between seasons)
Website
Ghost Wax (audio drama)
Owen Voncid is the last Reclaimer. The last person able to wake the dead and hear their tales. To combat the darkness of the realms beyond, even the black art of necromancy is a line worth crossing. Voncid and his associates hunt ghosts, monsters, demons, and other supernatural beings. Transcripts available on the website.
Length: most 25-40 minutes
Tone: ghost hunting agency
LGBTQ: some LGB characters
One season (45 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Ghosts in the Burbs (audio drama)
Liz Sower (the character, not the author) moved to Wellesley, MA, an upscale suburb of Boston where people are obsessed with brands, their new houses, their house renovations, and no one ever talks about the ghosts. Except, apparently, to Liz, who keeps getting sucked deeper into danger as the ghosts and worse things begin to notice her. Fairly Catholic in its outlook. No transcripts, but it started as a blog (linked form the website) and some of the stories have been turned into ebooks.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: most 20-30 minutes
Tone: suburban horror, ghosts, and demons
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (74 episodes + supplements; ongoing)
Website
House Call (audio drama)
A three-person crime scene clean up crew sent to a house where… something happened. Soon, they begin to suspect that the house has no end and does not want them there. Student created and produced.
Length: 10-15 minutes
Tone: haunted house
LGBTQ: none
Complete story (8 episodes)
Website
Liars and Leeches (audio drama)
Grief. Anxiety. Terror. Tonya Wright felt it all after the tragic murders of her sister and brother-in-law in a random act of gun violence. Struggling to travel outside of her home, she now lives constantly on edge about perceived threats that seem to surround her.
Retreating to the house her sister and brother-in-law once shared to process her grief, Tonya soon discovers that someone — or something — has followed her there. With the help of her best friend Natalie, and others she meets along the way, can Tonya overcome her fears before they completely consume her? CW: the first half is very heavy on gun violence trauma and stalking. Trascripts available
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: stalking and trauma
LGBTQ: none
Complete story (10 episodes)
Website
Mayfair Watchers Society (anthology with frame)
Mayfair is a small town with unusual problems. The episodes are stories inspired by the artwork of creepypasta artist Trevor Henderson. Loosely connected with a few recurring characters, most of the stories can be read in isolation.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: 20-35 minutes
Tone: creepypasta
LGBTQ: none significant
One season (26 episodes; ongoing)
They have an X account, but I’m not linking to it.
Night Shift (audio drama)
Echor City is a trailblazing neon metropolis. The city is dominated by the Augur Corporation and their ALPHAs, the world’s first bioengineered superhumans, as they work to recreate the dwindling magic of the past. Dangerous narcotics and ancient arcane relics move on the black market, leaving chaos in their wake. The terrifying power of the Veil transforms those it touches into the stuff of nightmares, bizarre mutants forced to hide among society. Sebastian Fen hates Augur. He’s determined to unravel the mysteries that seem to permeate every corner of his city and figure out what the company is hiding. After a chance encounter with Dr. Angelo Volta, the enigmatic head of Augur’s bioengineering department, Sebastian soon finds himself tangled in the heart of it all. Kind of X-Men meets Nightbreed meets a slightly hapless reporter engaged in an excessively dramatic flirtation. Transcripts available.
Length: 50 minutes
Tone: weird superpowers and nightbreed
LGBTQ: gay protagonist and general queerness
One season (16 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Not Quite Dead (audio drama)
Follow Alfie a nurse working overtime on the night shift in A&E when a patient comes in with her throat torn out. The girl on the gurney is the first of many, baffling staff and horrifying the public. Eventually, Alfie almost becomes another victim of the walking, rotting dead things which have been attacking his patients, but is saved by the same man he saw dripping blood into his patient’s eye. He’s Casper, and he’s a vampire, and now he’s saved Alfie’s life the two of them are inescapably bound together. Neither of them are happy about it, but the draw of each other’s blood is irresistible. Another brush with death later, Alfie must make a choice: death or undeath. He’s not sure which is worse, but whatever he chooses, there’s bound to be blood. Another production by Eira Major, the force behind Spirit Box Radio and Clockwork Bird. Transcripts available on the Hanging Sloth Studio website.
Frequency: weekly
Length: most 25-30 minutes
Tone: vampires
LGBTQ: gay protagonist
Two seasons (20 episodes; ongoing)
Website
Out Cold (anthology)
A new horror anthology out of Minneapolis. The first podcast to capture the real horror of the skyway during the lunch rush.
Frequency: weekly?
Length: 15-20 minutes
Tone: various
LGBTQ: lesbian protagonist in one story
One season (5 episodes; ongoing)
Apparently, no website
The Pantaloon Society (audio drama)
Roll up, roll up, come to the show! But dear audience, be warned - the things you hear therein may haunt your dreams... The Pantaloon Society is a supernatural audio-novella about an ancient and clandestine society of clowns with unusual abilities, and the eldritch threats they are called to investigate. Jen is a clown working in a hospital to entertain sick children. They have access to a gift that lets them animal small figures. This comes to the notice of forces friendly and hostile, and Jen is brought into the diminished ranks of the Pantaloon Society, an ancient society of clowns with unusual powers. A bit of monster of the week mixed with an overarching narrative with a single narrator. Transcripts available through links in the show notes.
Length: most 25-30 minutes
Tone: clowning and monsters
LGBTQ: nonbinary protagonist
Complete story (12 episodes)
Website
Petrified (anthology)
An Irish horror anthology podcast with some episodes singe-voice and others full-cast. Quite a variety of tones, settings, and themes.
Length: most 30-40 minutes
Tone: variety
LGBTQ: occasional characters
Three seasons (24 episodes; between seasons)
Apparently, no website
The Rat King (audio drama)
The Shrill Collective is a feminist theater group focusing on work by women and non-binary people. They have made a story about Daphne, a woman dealing with a long-term stalker and a rat problem. after she and her partner have moved into a new apartment. The story is set against the COVID pandemic and the sense of isolation and helplessness that caused. Without giving away too much, the story keeps the listener guessing as to whether there is something supernatural going on or not. CW: Stalking is a very prominent theme, and the emotional impact of it is very much centered in this story.
Length: 30-45 episodes
Tone: urban horror and stalking
LGBTQ: bisexual female protagonist
Complete story (7 episodes)
Website
Regina Prime (audio drama)
This is extremely hard to summarize. An urban explorer stumbles onto… something. Later, her genetic material may have been used to create many embryos, who grew up to be normal women. However, a mysterious group has decided that their genetics are a danger and are hunting them down, isolating them, and eliminating them. It’s a mostly one-woman production and is surprisingly engaging and harrowing, given the relatively short running time. Yes, it’s science fiction, but also very much horror.
Frequency: intermittent
Length: 10-20 minutes
Tone: generic manipulation and conspiracy
LGBTQ: unclear
One season (11 episodes; ongoing)
Apparently, no website
Samite (audio drama)
This story is connected the podcast Weeping Cedars. Each season is a separate story about the investigation of a series of murders orchestrated by BBS and, earlier, by letters. It stands somewhat on its own, although the creator, J.W.G. Wise, likes to tie all of his works together. This is a slow burn take on true crime podcasts, per-internet communication, and groups of supportive friends doing monstrous things for unguessable purposes. There is a third season planned.
Length: 20-30 minutes
Tone: analog horror
LGBTQ: none significant
Two seasons (8 episodes; ongoing?)
Website
Tell No Tales (audio drama)
They say dead men tell no tales, but what if someone gave them a voice? Leo Quinn works for Better Place, the premier ghost removal company. They develop a system which can record the voices of ghosts and discover, to their horror, that not all ghosts want to be removed. Leo and a small group of friends try to figure out how to convince a company, whose bottom line depends on not understanding the point, that ghosts are still people and the status quo is inhumane. However, this does not mean that all ghosts are friendly or welcome Leo’s investigations. Season 2 will start with the new year.
Length: 15-25 minutes
Tone: ghosts and corporate misdeeds
LGBTQ: generally queer
One season (25 11 episodes; between seasons)
Website
Wrought of Amber (audio drama)
In 2009 Emily Carmichael, star of the children's show Virtue Vista Valley, was kidnapped and murdered. Now, in 2023 her sister Alex is challenging the official narrative of her sister's tragic loss. Set in the world of Weeping Cedars, Wrought of Amber explores a mystery more horrific than Alex could ever imagine. Another J.W.G. Wise production. It sounds like there is a second season planned. CW: child abduction and murder.
Length: 45-55 minutes
Tone: weird murder
LGBTQ: none
One season (4 episodes; ongoing?)
Website
Thank you and WOW! Flagged as fantastic, and forwarded to someone who will appreciate it!
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:48 PM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:48 PM on December 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I love these posts. Thank you. So much more to listen to.
posted by my-username at 5:27 AM on December 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by my-username at 5:27 AM on December 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Holy cow. Such bounty! Thank you!
posted by pepcorn at 6:34 AM on December 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by pepcorn at 6:34 AM on December 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is great . My daughter got me into the Magnus Archives, and long after she finished it, I’m still chugging along at episode 83 … but I really like this genre. I’ve listened to the Black Tapes (decent) and all the Lovecraft Investigations (mixed bag, but great in parts ) and have been looking for other things that aren’t politics or current events. I think we’re all going to need an escape with the 2024 election season coming on.
posted by caviar2d2 at 8:41 AM on December 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by caviar2d2 at 8:41 AM on December 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Mod note: [btw, this post has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog]
posted by taz (staff) at 3:37 AM on December 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 3:37 AM on December 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 PM on December 23, 2023 [16 favorites]