11 Scary Podcasts for the Spookiest Time of Year

(Image via Sawbones podcast)

1.) Sawbones

Serious question: does visiting the doctor frighten you? Do you quiver and shake at the mere thought of a shot or filling? Then exercise caution when treading into the audio world of Sawbones.

If you need a little pep talk, be assured that the hosts do a good job talking about crazy medical history in a fun, approachable way. Yes, it’s occasionally terrifying, but remember that you’re incredibly unlikely to encounter an actual “sawbones” doctor today.

Sawbones features a married couple, doctors Sydnee McElroy and her husband, Justin. Every Friday, they discuss the history of medical practices throughout the ages, featuring all of the strange and terrifying methods doctors have used to cure their patients. If you can make it through an episode, you’ll be more than grateful for the leaps and bounds modern doctors and researchers have achieved. Who thought we’d be quite this grateful for Novocaine?

Best episode
“Aah, Real Monsters!”, in which Sydnee and guest Rileigh Smirl talk about the diseases that are at the root of monster myths. Sydnee explains the disorders that may have given birth to legends of werewolves, vampires, and more.

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Even a confirmed spooky kid such as myself has a lot to learn from this short episode. For example, clinical lycanthropy is a recognized psychiatric condition in which the affected person genuinely believes that they can turn into a non-human animal. Could this rare disorder have caused a few of the early werewolf legends, such as the medieval Peter Stubbe?