11 Scary Podcasts for the Spookiest Time of Year

(Image via Night Vale Presents)

11.) Within the Wires

From the creators of Welcome to Night Vale, one of the premiere weird podcasts on the net, comes another feature that is at least as strange as its predecessor, if not more so.

Within the Wires is presented as a series of instructional audio programs. You, the listener, are in the place of a patient of sorts in a medical facility known only as The Institute. However, as you listen, the audio becomes more and more menacing. What are you doing at The Institute, anyway? Who is the narrator? Is she really only teaching you relaxation techniques, or is there something more to the messages she is relaying via cassette tapes? Are those subliminal messages being played in the music?

Janina Matthewson plays the mysterious narrator. She is also the co-writer of the show, along with Welcome to Night Vale’s Jeffrey Cranor. Her even, insistent voice contributes greatly to the growing sense of unease as you delve deeper and deeper into Within the Wires.

Best episode
Like many of the fiction podcasts on this list, I urge you to start at the beginning. Within the Wires relies on the slow burn to establish its mood and to steadily reveal the true purpose of the tapes. Since the first season is only ten episodes, you’ll have plenty of time to savor and ponder each installment.