Horror podcast

A horror podcast is one that covers fiction, non-fiction, or reviews of the horror genre generally.

"Staircase", an episode from Knifepoint Horror (29:52)

History

Horror podcasts are typically created and run by volunteers in their free time.^[1] As some podcasts such as Archive 81 and The Deep Vault have grown they have been able to attract advertisers.^[2] The world's longest running, active horror podcast is WithoutYourHead.com which has been going since August 2006 as a semi-regular weekly series with celebrity interviews.^[3] Horror podcasts have featured in the Parsec Awards, and in 2013 The NoSleep Podcast won the award for "Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team" while in 2014 a story from Pseudopod won the award for "Best Speculative Fiction Story: Small Cast (Short Form)" and We're Alive won "Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama (Long Form)".^[4][5]

Reception

Horror fiction is the most popular type of audio drama podcast and drives much of the growth and interest in the medium. Horror Fiction podcasting continues to grow rapidly attracting mainstream success with some shows reaching very large audiences. As of July 2020, popular podcast The Magnus Archives recently achieved 4 million monthly downloads and signed with major talent agency WME.^[6] We're Alive achieved 200 million lifetime downloads as of 10 April 2020.

Amongst responses to the 2020 Audio Verse Awards, horror was the second-favourite genre of fiction podcast. With notable podcasts The White Vault receiving 14 awards, The Magnus Archives receiving 9 awards, and Old Gods of Appalachia receiving 6.^[7]

Notable examples

• Alice Isn't Dead
• The Black Tapes
• The Call of the Void
• Lore
• The Magnus Archives
• The NoSleep Podcast
• Pseudopod
• Rabbits
• Tanis
• Welcome to Night Vale
• We're Alive
• The White Vault

See also

•  Speculative fiction/Horror portal

• Horror fiction
• Horror film
• Psychological horror
• List of horror fiction writers
• List of horror podcasts

References

1. "Inside the Insomnia-Inducing World of Horror Podcasting". WIRED. Condé Nast. 20 February 2015. from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
2. Locke, Charley (24 August 2016). "Fiction Podcasts Are Finally a Thing! Thank You, Sci-Fi and Horror". WIRED. Condé Nast. from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
3. "Without Your Head".
4. "2013 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists". Parsec Awards. 3 September 2013. from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
5. "2014 Parsec Awards Winners & Finalists". Parsec Awards. 2014. from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
6. "Rusty Quill signs with WME". Podcast Radio. 23 July 2020. from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
7. "2020 Winners". The Audio Verse Awards. Retrieved 29 March 2021.

Further reading

• Hancock, Danielle (1 October 2016). "Welcome to Welcome to Night Vale: First steps in exploring the horror podcast". Horror Studies. 7 (2): 219–234. doi:10.1386/host.7.2.219_1.
• Hancock, Danielle; McMurtry, Leslie (1 August 2017). "'Cycles upon cycles, stories upon stories': contemporary audio media and podcast horror's new frights". Palgrave Communications. 3: 17075. doi:10.1057/palcomms.2017.75.

External links

 

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Portal: Horror

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horror podcasts.

• Discussion panel on horror podcasting, recorded at PodUK 2020