Our Favourite Podcasts to Get You in the Halloween Spirit
BY EILEEN BERNARDI
So this is my first Halloween back in the States in close to 13 years (well, second, but last year was a wash, cause you know COVID), and I’m struck by a couple things: one, come September things get pretty intense with all the pumpkin spice business. When I left the US all those years ago, there was definitely a contingent that would get all in a tizzy over pumpkin spice maple lattes or whatever. But now, there is pumpkin spice everything: ramen, tortilla chips, soda water and dog treats (wtf?). The second thing I’ve noticed, and maybe it has been here for a while but this is my first proper Halloween in the US with kids, is that people are really hyper about their Halloween decor. Admittedly, I’m in the suburbs full of escapees from Brooklyn who are likely both shocked and delighted with all of their garden space and its infinite possibilities...and they are full-on embracing the spooky, creepy and gnarly side of Halloween, and I’m here for it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin pie and I’m down with some pumpkin-spiced whatever if someone’s offering, but I wouldn’t say I spend much time counting down to the day it becomes socially acceptable to gorge on gourds. But what I can get behind are houses replete with skeletons creeping out of coffins, baby-eating spiders and an abundance of witches ceremoniously cursing their brew (and this is just on my block!). I guess in general I’ve been a little more drawn to the goth side I never knew I had. Listening to an unseemly amount of Sisters of Mercy, following macabre instagram accounts, rereading Edgar Allen Poe (do it!) and Charlotte Bronte and consciously incorporating Southern Gothic design elements into my Victorian house. Let’s just say I’m indulging my dark side, which leads me to the point of this little rant, podcasts. I’m so grateful to have discovered this little genre of podcasts focused on doom and gloom...providing the perfect antidote to my suburban Jersey existence and the countless hours spent on nondescript highways winding through even more nondescript towns. Of course you don’t have to live in the suburbs or be waxing nostalgic for a gothic youth you never actually had to enjoy these little gems. They’re spooky, fascinating and thoroughly entertaining, and we’ve compiled a list of our favorites just in time for Halloween, though we strongly believe that tapping into your dark side has a seasonless appeal.