11 Scary Podcasts for the Spookiest Time of Year

(Image via NoSleep podcast)

5.) The NoSleep Podcast

In 2010, a Reddit forum called “NoSleep” was begun. In it, users could share their original creepy tales in an effort to scare the pants off their readers. Stories were meant to be plausible (with perhaps a little suspension of disbelief thrown in from time to time) and often sounded like they could be read around a campfire in a dark, deserted forest. The forum became massively popular and eventually led to a dedicated podcast just a year later.

NoSleep is now one of the most popular horror podcasts. Given that the open forums of Reddit are its main source of horror tales, the quality of the episodes can sometimes vary. That said, when NoSleep gets scary, it gets really, honestly scary.

A quick warning: some of the episodes can be particularly affecting. Showrunners don’t shy away from gore or explicit horror, either. Be sure to read the episode description before you dive in. Just remember: it’s only a story.

Best episode
“The Whistlers”. In the season 5 finale, written by Amity Argot, the narrator must survive the physical and psychological perils of her time in a rural forest. Though we never see the titular Whistlers, we certainly hear them and see their effects on other people throughout the episode. Perhaps monsters are all the more frightening when you can’t see them.