Me Holding A Gun To A Mushroom: Tell Me The Name Of God You Fungal Piece Of Shit

With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept

Home Alone Gothic

You lock all the doors day or night. You tell yourself and others it’s so no person can break in, but you know you’re protecting yourself from something much worse.

The house ghost watches you from the top of the stairs, disappearing when you look in it’s direction.

It’s eerily quiet.

You thought you shut the basement door, but it’s always open when you walk by again.

What is that sound?

Your dog stares down the hallway and whines at nothing.

You know there’s something.

You go down to the basement to get something. There’s a being at the end of the hall. You are paralyzed. Its eyes stare into your soul as it approaches you. When it gets close it disappears.

You feel different and go back upstairs without grabbing your item.

You don’t even bother shutting the basement door.

There’s blood on the kitchen counter. You ignore it.

Suddenly it’s dark out. How long were you in the basement?

You close the curtains and blinds, knowing they don’t stop anything that truly wants to see inside.

The front door isn’t locked anymore.

Your favorite show goes to commercial, so you go to the kitchen to grab a drink. You come back to the TV playing static. The channel hasn’t changed. You sit and watch anyway.

The being from the basement has replaced the house ghost’s spot at the top of the stairs. It doesn’t let you go.

There’s a knock on the door. You realize every door was knocked on at the same time.

You haven’t seen your dog in a few hours, but you hear it whining from a location you can’t get to.

Your family member gets back home, they look different from when they left. An entirely new face.

They shut the basement door.

The dog greets them, tail wagging.

The TV plays the news.

The kitchen counter is blood free.

“Why are the curtains closed?”

They open them. Sunlight pours in.

It’s the middle of the day.

Sleeping at Last - Noble Aim

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it a thousand more times: No piece of dystopian fiction has ever been a prediction of the future. They are observations and criticisms of the present. 

My lover asks me: "What is the difference between me and the sky?" The difference, my love, Is that when you laugh, I forget about the sky.

If you've never given horror fiction podcasts a try...here is my list. Perfect in the dark!

Reposting from this beautiful podcast post on reddit

All credit goes to u/Tinnis_

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As we come into October, you might want to check out some Horror fiction audio podcasts!

Narrated or dramatized fictional stories between 20 mins to an hour, released for free either weekly or more intermittently.

Includes both standalone short story anthologies or continuous series.

Full list below, sorted A-Z, with genre/format notes and show descriptions.

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My personal top suggestions would be:

Short stories: Pseudopod; Knifepoint Horror; Nightmare Magazine; Tales to Terrify

Series: The White Vault; The Magnus Archives

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If new to podcasts, I would recommend using (free): Podcast Addict (Android); Overcast (iOS)

Feel free to share your own favorite shows or specific episodes.

Enjoy!

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Alice isn't dead - sci-fi / horror, series

A truck driver searches across America for the wife she had long assumed was dead. In the course of her search, she will encounter not-quite-human serial murderers, towns literally lost in time, and a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights - horror, standalone

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights is a horror fiction anthology podcast, with each weekly episode featuring several creepy tales from talented authors, brought to life by professional voice actors, and accompanied by SFX and music. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)

Dark Dice - horror / fantasy, series, rpg

Dark Dice is a horror actual-play D&D podcast that uses immersive soundscapes to create an added layer of immersion. Six travelers embark on a journey into the ruinous domain of the nameless god. They will never be the same again. (Features the initial six voice cast from 'The White Vault')

Darkest Night - horror, series

Darkest Night is a binaural audio drama that places you, the listener, at the center of a recovered memory that sounds as though it’s happening around you in real time. Each chapter delves into the last memories of the recently deceased, slowly revealing a horrifying master plan. Who is weaving this master conspiracy, and what is their ultimate goal?

Down Below the Reservoir - horror, standalone

A horror podcast series from creator & writer Graham Tugwell.

Hellfire Fables - horror, arcing, series

A weekly fictional adventure into the weird, tragic, and obscene.

Horror Hill - horror, standalone

A multiple story, horror-themed audio storytelling podcast, spun off from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and its popular YouTube channel of the same name. The show stars voice actor / illustrator Jason Hill, and the hand-picked work of dozens of accomplished independent and previously-published contributing authors. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)

King Falls AM - sci-fi / horror, series

King Falls AM centers on a lonely little mountain town's late-night AM talk radio show and its paranormal, peculiar happenings and inhabitants.

Knifepoint Horror - horror, standalone

Tales of supernatural suspense by Soren Narnia.

Nightlight - horror, standalone

Creepy stories with full audio production written by Black writers and performed by Black actors. So scary it’ll make you want to leave your night light on.

Nightmare magazine - horror, standalone

Edited by bestselling, award-winning anthologist John Joseph Adams, NIGHTMARE is a digital magazine of horror and dark fantasy. In its pages, you will find all kinds of horror and dark fantasy, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror. Every month NIGHTMARE will bring you a mix of original fiction and reprints, and featuring a variety of authors: from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven't heard of yet. When you read NIGHTMARE, it is our hope that you'll see where horror comes from, where it is now, and where it's going. The NIGHTMARE podcast, produced by Grammy Award-winning narrator and producer Stefan Rudnicki of Skyboat Media, is presented twice a month, featuring original audio fiction and classic reprints.

Nocturnal transmissions - horror, standalone

NOCTURNAL TRANSMISSIONS is a fortnightly podcast featuring inspired performances of short horror stories, both old and new, by voice artist Kristin Holland. Short stories and mutterings from the wrong side of midnight.

Old Gods of Appalachia - horror, arcing series

In the mountains of central Appalachia, blood runs as deep as these hollers and just as dark. Since before our kind knew these hills, hearts of unknowable hunger and madness have slumbered beneath them. These are the oldest mountains in the world. How dare we think we can break the skin of a god and dig out its heart without bringing forth blood and darkness? Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror-anthology podcast set in the shadows of an Alternate Appalachia, a place where digging too deep into the mines was just the first mistake.

On a Dark, Cold Night - horror, standalone

On a Dark, Cold Night is the ideal podcast for horror-lovers with insomnia; a creepy friend to tell you bedtime/ghost stories. The podcast involves Your Narrator telling you a spine-chilling yet soothing ghost story every week. Launched in January, 2018, the show is written, performed and produced by Kristen Zaza.

On the Threshold - sci-fi / horror, arcing series

Human understanding of the cosmos is like a tiny, flickering candle. This podcast follows Phil Glazer as he chases down accounts of those who have wandered to the edge of the candlelight, and becomes drawn ever further into the shadows himself.

Pseudopod - horror, standalone

You’ve found the world’s premier horror fiction podcast. For over a decade, Pseudopod has been bringing you the best short horror in audio form, to take with you anywhere. We pay our authors professional rates for original fiction and we reach more people every week than any other short fiction horror market. (Backlog feeds https://redd.it/hx5tp2)

Scary Stories Told in the Dark - horror, standalone

A multiple story, horror-themed audio storytelling podcast, spun off from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and its popular YouTube channel of the same name. The show features master storyteller Otis Jiry, often whimsically referred to by his fans as "The White Morgan Freeman," and the work of dozens of independent and previously-published contributing authors. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)

Shadows at the Door - horror, standalone

From Shadows at the Door Publishing comes a chilling new podcast, bringing to life a collection of macabre tales and spirited debate. Drawing on the haunted landscapes of classic folk horror, the podcast lifts the veil on some of your favourite ghost stories, and presents new fables throughout a series of macabre audio dramas. Shadows at the Door: The Podcast artfully showcases the unsettling, the unearthly, and the uncanny, with new tellings of beloved ghost stories, and spectral yarns created exclusively for the podcast by some of the most exciting writers in modern horror. Join presenter Mark Nixon and voice actor David Ault as they bring you ghoulish dramatisations, and discuss what makes the ghost story such a powerful, enduring force in cultures around the world.

Sibling Horror - horror, standalone

Short horror stories written by The Fradd Siblings (Emma and Matt Fradd). A big thanks to Soren Narnia of Knifepoint Horror who inspired us to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) (Read by Kifepoint Horror's Soren Narnia)

Tales To Terrify - horror, standalone

Welcome to Tales to Terrify, a weekly horror fiction podcast that gets under your skin, lays eggs and hatches writhing baby horrors nursed on your darkest fears. We're unique in our simplicity, bringing pure tales of terror to your ears audiobook-style – unadulterated and unadorned.

The Dark verse - horror, standalone

Short stories of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep.

The Drabblecast - sci-fi / fantasy / horror, standalone

The Drabblecast is a weekly audio fiction magazine that offers strange stories for strange listeners.

The Hidden Frequencies - sci-fi / horror, standalone

Love the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside? You'll enjoy this science fiction horror anthology of audio dramas.

The Liberty podcast - sci-fi / horror, series & standalones

Welcome to the world of Liberty – serialized sci-fi tales told audio drama podcasts. For centuries the colony of Atrius has been cut off from humanity and endured generations of civil war. What remains is a gleaming city and beyond its walls, a lawless expanse known as the Fringe.

The Lost Cat podcast  - horror, standalone

The entirely true adventures I have had while trying to find my cat.

The Magnus archives - horror with arcing series

“Make your statement, face your fear.” A weekly horror fiction podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join Jonathan Sims as he explores the archive, but be be warned, as he looks into its depths something starts to look back… New episodes every Thursday produced by Rusty Quill, featuring guest actors, short stories, serial plots and more.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality - scifi / horror, arcing series

Human understanding of the cosmos is like a tiny, flickering candle. This podcast follows Phil Glazer as he chases down accounts of those who have wandered to the edge of the candlelight, and becomes drawn ever further into the shadows himself.

The Night Bulletin - horror, standalone

The Night Bulletin is a monthly podcast featuring original short stories written and narrated by author TF Ahmad.

The NoSleep Podcast - horror, standalone

The NoSleep Podcast is a multi-award winning anthology series of original horror stories, with rich atmospheric music to enhance the frightening tales.

The Other Stories - sci-fi / horror, standalone

These aren't the stories your mother used to tell you ... no, these are The Other Stories. The Other Stories is a weekly short story podcast. A modern take on The Twilight Zone, Tales From The Crypt, or The Outer Limits. Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller, WTF stories delivered right to your podcast feed every Monday morning.

The White Vault - horror, series

Explore the far reaches of the world’s horrors in the audio drama podcast The White Vault. Follow the collected records of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed in the vast white wastes of Svalbard and unravel what lies waiting in the ice below. This Fool and Scholar production is intended for mature audiences.

The Wicked Library - horror, standalone

The Wicked Library is a Parsec Award winning show featuring horror fiction stories from upcoming, new, independent and bestselling authors. Our Tales of terror are read by Host / Producer, Daniel Foytik and other popular voice actors and feature custom music to bring the stories to life. Each episode features the work of some of the best voices in independent horror fiction. Authors of all types have contributed stories, like Jessica McHugh, KB Goddard, C. Bryan Brown, Stephanie Wytovich, and bestselling authors like Neil Gaiman and Owl Goingback.

Twilight Zone Radio Dramas - sci-fi / fantasy / horror, standalone

All 176 episodes of the Twilight Zone Radio Dramas which were produced and aired on radio during the 2000's. Each episode presents a stand-alone story in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone," often with a surprise ending and a moral. Although predominantly science-fiction, the show's paranormal and Kafkaesque events leaned the show towards fantasy and horror. The phrase “twilight zone,” inspired by the series, is used to describe surreal experiences.

Uncanny County - sci-fi / horror, standalone

Mystical truck drivers. Robots gone haywire. Killer clown demons. And pie. So. Much. Pie. This quirky, darkly comic, Southwestern-flavored anthology brings you a new paranormal audio play every month. Sit back, open your ears, and hold on tight. Because you're about to take a quick detour...through Uncanny County.

Welcome to Nightvale - sci-fi / horror, series

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide.

Well told tales - sci-fi / horror, standalone

Every Monday, the Well Told Tales podcast brings you an original short story — either sci-fi, horror or hardboiled. Think of them as audiobooks, only shorter — 15 to 35 minutes, the perfect length for your commute, workout, whatever. And did we mention they’re FREE?

Westside Fairytales - horror, standalone

Books that kill whomever reads them, strange dolls that bring death wherever they go, and tales from men and women driven to the edge by madness, poverty, and guilt. These strange and varied stories are guaranteed to stay with you long after you've finished listening. New episodes the first Friday of every month.

Wrong Station - horror, standalone

"Come on in, have a seat. It's been a while since I've seen you. There's this story I've been dying to tell you. Maybe you'll find it interesting..." The Wrong Station is a radio horror series in the tradition of Quiet Please and Lights Out, created by Alexander Saxton and Anthony Botelho.

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From my larger cross genre google sheet list, which also includes Sci-Fi & Fantasy specific suggestions and subtabs for genre & format sorting too.

Audio fiction podcast list (horror, sci-fi, fantasy)

favorite video essays:

Why the Shining is terrifying

Why Perfect Blue is Terrifying

The VVitch explained

What makes a movie scary?

Decolonizing Games

Everything ACTUALLY wrong with Silent Hill 2: Revelation

The naked Lady that changed the rules of art

Rogue One vs Star Wars: the fault in our Star Wars

Sandra Bullock & the White Savior trope

Why the costumes in Little Women did NOT deserve an oscar

Why the music in the live action disney remakes is worse than you thought

Coco's feel-good oppression

Disney Princess: reality through fantasy

Pan's Labyrinth: the disobedient fairytale

The mythology of Princess Mononoke

Slate Magazine

I’m the TikTok Couch Guy. Here’s What It Was Like Being Investigated on the Internet.

The invasive TikTok sleuthing I experienced was not an isolated instance, but rather the latest manifestation of a large-scale sleuthing cul

Posted without commentary:

On Sept. 17, 2021, my long-distance girlfriend, Lauren, paid a surprise visit to me while a friend filmed my reaction. Three days later, she set the 19-second clip to a hokey Ellie Goulding song and posted it to roughly 200 TikTok followers. The first commenters—Lauren’s close friends—had positive things to say. But soon strangers—among whom the video was less well received—began commenting, criticizing my reaction time or my being seated on a couch next to friends who happened to be of the opposite sex. “Girl he ain’t loyal.” “Red flag! He didn’t get up off the couch and jump up and down in excitement.” “Bro if my man was on a couch full of girls IM WALKING BACK OUT THE DOOR.”

As comments accusing me of infidelity rolled in, the video quickly became the topic of fierce online debate, à la “The Dress.” I, an ordinary college sophomore, became TikTok’s latest meme: Couch Guy. TikTok users made parody videos, American Eagle advertised a no-effort Couch Guy Halloween costume, and Rolling Stone, E! Online, The Daily Show, and The View all covered the phenomenon. On TikTok, Lauren’s video and the hashtag #CouchGuy, respectively, have received more than 64 million and 1 billion views.

While the Couch Guy meme was lighthearted on its surface, it turned menacing as TikTok users obsessively invaded the lives of Lauren, our friends, and me—people with no previous desire for internet fame, let alone infamy. Would-be sleuths conducted what Trevor Noah jokingly called “the most intense forensic investigation since the Kennedy assassination.” During my tenure as Couch Guy, I was the subject of frame-by-frame body language analyses, armchair diagnoses of psychopathy, comparisons to convicted murderers, and general discussions about my “bad vibes.”

At times, the investigation even transcended the digital world—for instance, when a resident in my apartment building posted a TikTok video, which accumulated 2.3 million views, of himself slipping a note under my door to request an interview. (I did not respond.) One viewer gleefully commented, “Even if this guy turned off his phone, he can’t escape the couch guy notifications,” a fact that the 37,600 users who liked it presumably celebrated too. Under another video, in which hall mates of mine promised to confront Couch Guy once they reached 1 million likes (they didn’t), a comment suggested that they “secretly see who’s coming and going from his place”—and received 17,800 approving likes. The New York Post reported on, and perhaps encouraged, such invasions of my privacy. In an article about the “frenzy … frantically trying to determine the identity” of the “mystery man” behind the meme, the Post asked, “Will the real ‘couch guy’ please stand up?” Meanwhile, as internet sleuths took to public online forums to sniff out my name, birthdate, and place of residence, the threat of doxxing loomed over my head.

Exacerbating these invasions of my privacy was the tabloid-style media coverage that I received. Take, for example, one online magazine article that solicited insights from a “body language expert” who concluded that my accusers “might be onto something,” since the “angle of [my] knees signals disinterest” and my “hands hint that [I’m] defensive.” This tabloid body language analysis—something typically reserved for Kardashians, the British royal family, and other A-listers—made me, a private citizen who had previously enjoyed his minimal internet presence, an unwilling recipient of the celebrity treatment.

Mercifully, my memedom has died down—interest in the Google search term “Couch Guy” peaked on Oct. 5—and I have come to tolerate looks of vague recognition and occasional selfie requests from strangers in public. And my digital scarlet letter has not carried much weight offline, given that Lauren and the other co-stars of the now-infamous video know my true character. Therefore, my anxiety rests only in the prospect that the invasive TikTok sleuthing I experienced was not an isolated instance, but rather—as tech writer Ryan Broderick has suggested—the latest manifestation of a large-scale sleuthing culture.

The sleuthing trend sweeping TikTok ramped up following the disappearance of the late Gabby Petito. As armchair TikTok sleuths flexed their investigative muscles, the app’s algorithm boosted content theorizing about what happened to Petito. Madison Kircher of Slate’s ICYMI podcast noted how her “For You page just decided I simply needed to see” TikTok users’ Gabby Petito videos “over and over again.” It appears that a similar phenomenon occurred with my lower-stakes virality, as I found myself scrolling through countless tweets bemoaning the inescapability of “Couch Guy TikTok.” One user despairingly reported seeing “five tik toks back to back on my [For You page] about couch guy.” (I assure you, though, that nobody despised Couch Guy’s omnipresence more than myself.)

The most recent target of the app’s emerging investigative spirit was Sabrina Prater, a 34-year-old contractor and trans woman, who went viral in November after posting a video of herself dancing in a basement midrenovation. The video’s virality began with parody videos, but quickly veered into the realm of conspiracy theory due to (you guessed it) the video’s apparent “bad vibes”—at which point I got a dreadful sense of déjà vu. As Prater’s video climbed to 22 million views and internet sleuths came together to form a r/WhosSabrinaPrater community on Reddit, Prater faced baseless murder accusations, transphobic comparisons to Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs, and overzealous vigilantes who threatened to go to her neighborhood to investigate further. This incident reveals the harmful potential of TikTok sleuthing. One expert aptly summed up the Prater saga to Rolling Stone: “It was like watching true crime, internet sleuthing, conspiracy theories, and transphobia collide in a car crash.”

Given the apparent tendency of the TikTok algorithm to present viral spectacles to a user base increasingly hungry for content to analyze forensically, there will inevitably be more Couch Guys or Praters in the future. When they appear on your For You page, I implore you to remember that they are people, not mysteries for you to solve. As users focused their collective magnifying glass on Lauren, my friends, and me—comparing their sleuthing to “watching a soap opera and knowing who the bad guy is”—it felt like the entertainment value of the meme began to overshadow our humanity. Stirred to make a TikTok of my own to quell the increasing hate, I posted a video reminding the sleuths that “not everything is true crime”—which commenters resoundingly deemed “gaslighting.” Lauren’s videos requesting that the armchair investigation stop were similarly dismissed as more evidence of my success as a manipulator, and my friends’ entreaties to respect our privacy, too, fell on deaf ears.

Certainly, noncelebrities have long unwillingly become public figures, and digital pile-ons have existed in some form since the dawn of the digital age—just ask Monica Lewinsky. But on TikTok, algorithmic feedback loops and the nature of the For You page make it easier than ever for regular people to be thrust against their wishes into the limelight. And the extent of our collective power is less obvious online, where pile-ons are delivered, as journalist Jon Ronson put it, “like remotely administered drone strikes.” On the receiving end of the barrage, however, as one finds their reputation challenged, body language hyperanalyzed, and privacy invaded, the severity of our collective power is made much too clear.

The Morning After I Killed Myself

The morning after I killed myself, I woke up.

I made myself breakfast in bed. I added salt and pepper to my eggs and used my toast for a cheese and bacon sandwich. I squeezed a grapefruit into a juice glass. I scraped the ashes from the frying pan and rinsed the butter off the counter. I washed the dishes and folded the towels.

The morning after I killed myself, I fell in love. Not with the boy down the street or the middle school principal. Not with the everyday jogger or the grocer who always left the avocados out of the bag. I fell in love with my mother and the way she sat on the floor of my room holding each rock from my collection in her palms until they grew dark with sweat. I fell in love with my father down at the river as he placed my note into a bottle and sent it into the current. With my brother who once believed in unicorns but who now sat in his desk at school trying desperately to believe I still existed.

The morning after I killed myself, I walked the dog. I watched the way her tail twitched when a bird flew by or how her pace quickened at the sight of a cat. I saw the empty space in her eyes when she reached a stick and turned around to greet me so we could play catch but saw nothing but sky in my place. I stood by as strangers stroked her muzzle and she wilted beneath their touch like she did once for mine.

The morning after I killed myself, I went back to the neighbors’ yard where I left my footprints in concrete as a two year old and examined how they were already fading. I picked a few daylilies and pulled a few weeds and watched the elderly woman through her window as she read the paper with the news of my death. I saw her husband spit tobacco into the kitchen sink and bring her her daily medication.

The morning after I killed myself, I watched the sun come up. Each orange tree opened like a hand and the kid down the street pointed out a single red cloud to his mother.

The morning after I killed myself, I went back to that body in the morgue and tried to talk some sense into her. I told her about the avocados and the stepping stones, the river and her parents. I told her about the sunsets and the dog and the beach.

The morning after I killed myself, I tried to unkill myself, but couldn’t finish what I started.

The Big Dipper Never Sets ✨

Look up on a clear night in the Northern Hemisphere, and chances are you’ll spot the Big Dipper — one of the most recognizable star patterns in the sky.

It’s not a constellation, but an asterism: a prominent shape made of stars that’s part of a larger constellation — in this case, Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

What makes the Big Dipper special is that it’s circumpolar — it never dips below the horizon at mid to high northern latitudes. Instead, it appears to rotate around Polaris, the North Star, staying visible all year long. As Earth spins and the seasons change, the Dipper slowly pivots through the night sky, pointing in different directions depending on the time of year.

For centuries, sailors, travelers, and stargazers have used the Big Dipper to find true north and navigate by the stars. Its reliability makes it both a celestial compass and a familiar anchor in the ever-shifting sky.

So the next time you’re under the stars, find the Big Dipper and know that you’re looking at a cosmic constant that has guided humans for generations.