By JM Cozzoli
As a card-carrying member of the The Ghost Club in London (though, bummer, can’t really attend meetings because I’m over here in the U.S.), I’ve had a long-standing interest in the paranormal, the glaringly unusual, and the bewitchingly unexplained parts of life. When the American Society for Psychical Research was still located in New York City, I would visit to peruse their library. Up front, let me tell you I’m a skeptic. Which, granted, may seem at odds with my love for the chills of the unknown tapping at my shoulder while an obtuse universe insistently winks at me with mystery. There is just something so primally enticing about trying to winnow anything that is without easy answers, especially if that something gives you goosebumps in the process.
Podcasts provide a good medium for telling spooky tales. They are this generation’s old time radio shows with the only light in the room the glowing radio dial. Okay, sure, I was just being nostalgic; just pop in some earbuds and listen while working out at the gym, like I do. Through voice and sound effects, a podcast can really sell the mystery and weirdness. My go to listen is The Whispering Woods: Real Life Ghost and Paranormal Stories. They spun out another podcast called Obscurata at one point, but that chrysalis turned into The Whispering Woods: After Dark. Right now they’re running their The Whispering Woods Summer of Fear, fourteen days of chilly stories. I’m waiting for them to do an episode on this weird situation of multiple titles, which would be really meta in scope, maybe with, like, a multi-dimensional element or something equally confounding but still cool.
The podcast launched on October 2022. Its subjects come from “the darker side of life,” including scary stories of the paranormal from ancient folklore to modern hauntings, covering everything from poltergeists and cryptids to The Hat Man, nasty clowns (even though nice clowns are creepy too), gateways to hell, skinwalkers, bleeding houses, and cursed movies. They also feature listener-submitted stories (so Reddit is good for something after all!), which are my favorite shows. Sarah Powell is the co-host, writer, editor, and researcher, with Tobie Jones, her son and other co-host. Rog handles the music. Maisey created the podcast’s theme tune, and Molly is the assistant researcher.
Powell tops in the logos because it is her very measured British voice that tones each listen, no matter whether the story is sinister, scary, or just mysteriously weird. The subdued, looping background music that would normally signal the hairs raising on the back of your neck followed by a pell-mell run-out-of-there survival instinct, sells the mood. The scripting is razor-sharp too. When I first started listening I found the British accent and the pacing difficult. After a few episodes, the accent no longer presented a problem for my two American ears (though Doctor Who still challenges me); as for the pacing, I came to realize it was perfect. After listening to many podcasts that pell-mell — yeah, I just started using this nifty word so I need to practice — through the spoken word, her delivery is like a meditative mantra as you’re rowing along the shores of the weird.
Notable shows for movie buffs like you and me are: The Omen Curse; The Ghost of Superman (the still lingering mystery surrounding George Reeves death); The Poltergeist Curse; and More Demons in the Movie. If clowns are your kryptonite, I strongly recommend beginning with Zombie Clown, Sandown Sam and Paranormal Encounters. That one gave me nightmares. Follow that one up with Nosferatu, The Lights, Haunted and The Clown in the Closet.
Look, you can be a skeptic like me and still shiver in a cold spot as you listen. These shows would quicken anyone’s pulse and make you double-check that the front door is locked, again and again. Go ahead. Pretend you’re Mulder or Scully and have at it.