#ffye modern

[fears-for-your-ears]

The Holmwood Foundation

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Georgia Cook & Fio Trethewey Aired: 2024-2025 Episodes: 7

A modern day sequel to the gothic novel Dracula, we follow Maddie Townsend (Rebecca Root) and Jeremy Larkin (Seán Carlsen), two co-workers at the Holmwood Foundation: a secret organisation that has been maintaining and studying the remains of Count Dracula over the last 130 years, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker, and embark on a road trip across the country in an effort to achieve their ghost's wishes: stop Dracula once and for all.

This is a story about identity and self discovery, family loyalty and devotion, all wrapped around a nightmare of a road trip with a rejuvenating severed head, incredibly sincere Victorian ghosts and an analogue recorder.

In the spirit (HA!) of the original Dracula, The Holmwood Foundation is told in a semi-epistolary fashion: a mix of audio recordings that the characters leave for each other, along with other found audio like news reports, security cameras etc. It's a fun and effective way of juggling what are essentially four protagonists, where only two can be active at a time. Each of the combinations interacting offer their own unique dynamics, even more so when more characters are added in. There's a lot going on as the group stumbles through their attempts to safeguard the world from vampires, but the characters really shine and keep everything grounded and affecting. By ep 3 I was fully sold on all of them.

If you haven't read Dracula, I recommend checking it out before listening, since you'll get a lot more out of Jonathan and Mina's story if you're familiar. The recent Re: Dracula podcast is a good place to start for that!

EDIT: No word yet on when/if we'll get season 2, but the team says they still want to do it!

Perfect if you're a Dracula fan, 1000%, or if you're interested in a deftly-paced, found-audio adventure with heartfelt character work. It's only 7 eps so far, so now's a good time to get caught up and see if you're interested in supporting the Kickstarter for season 2.

[fears-for-your-ears]

The Beating Heartland

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Denver Baughman Aired: 2024- Episodes: 40

"The Beating Heartland" is a bi-weekly Midwest horror audio drama. Follow the story as radio show host Denver Baughman, with the help of a mysterious agency, tries to piece together the puzzle of his horrifying past through his radio show, therapy sessions, and interrogations.

If you've ever listened to horror fiction podcasts you're going to be familiar with the basic format here: individual spooky stories told by a protag that over time prove to be connected. So far so TMA. HOWEVER, TBH has it's own unique take here. There are three levels to the story from the get go: the stories protagonist Denver reads as part of his spooky radio show; the stories about his own life Denver tells to his therapist; and the interrogation interviews Denver gives to the "mysterious agency" as mentioned in the official synopsis. The cutting between them helps keep things fresh, and the connection between the stories are for the most part more immediately apparent than in some versions of this trope. Halfway through season 1 things start to open up and branch out considerably, as the cast fills out and character interactions intensify. I'm not fully caught up so I'm not sure where season 2 ends (it did so just recently) but I'll update once I know.

Perfect if you're looking for something in a similar vein to Magnus or Ghost Wax, or if you're interested in a midwest take on the classic supernatural conspiracy horror.

[fears-for-your-ears]

Silentium

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Arcane Canvas Aired: 2025- Episodes: 6.5

A solo-narrator horror fiction podcast following Vatican linguist Father Tommaso Lanza as he investigates deaths for the Custodia Ultimae Vocis. Each episode documents a new case as he attempts to translate an ancient, impossible language that appears only at the moment of death.

This may be another "man speaks furtively into his recorder" podcast, but it's not one you're gonna want to miss. The focus on history and religion is really interesting as it asks, what if God's "miracles" were cosmic horror?

Perfect if you're looking for moody, academic horror, of if you have an interest in linguistics particularly.

[fears-for-your-ears]

SCP: Find US Alive

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Anna MaGuire, Hodgepodge Audio Aired: 2019-- Episodes: 67

Find Us Alive follows the strange developments at Site-107, a small Foundation research site trapped inside dimensional anomaly SCP-6320, as narrated by the site’s radio operator, Dr. Harley.

This podcast is based on the infamous internet mythos of the SCP Foundation, but you don't have to be familiar with any of that backstory to jump in here, as the show sets everything up fresh. Told in semi-found audio format, the story follows a small, core group of voiced characters as they navigate the challenges of living in a pocket dimension with very little hope of rescue surrounded by several dozen coworkers. It's a long-running show that covers a lot of ground: science fiction scenarios, interpersonal conflicts, trust and betrayal, trauma and camaraderie. The tone is very lighthearted for the most part, sometimes bordering on slapstick, but it knows when to turn up the drama.

Perfect if you're looking to bite into a longer show that knows how to balance humor and drama, and/or a found family story where everyone is actually allowed to be messy from time to time and still deeply care for each other.

[fears-for-your-ears]

Alice Isn't Dead

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Joseph Fink, Night Vale Presents Aired: 2016-2018 Episodes: 30

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.

This is a classic from one of the creators of Welcome to Night Vale. It's told entirely from the POV of a singular narrator (whose name you don't learn until almost the end of season 1) as she travels the country as a truck driver, searching for her missing wife, broadcasting her travels via CB. It's eerie, it's heartfelt, and the conspiracy is as weird and dreamlike as you might expect from Joseph Fink. And apparently now is a great time to get into it, like I did, because a sequel is coming in April 2026.

Perfect for fans of slow burn, weird horror, with a quiet, tense atmosphere, and especially if you're looking for a really good female and/or queer and/or POC protagonist.

[fears-for-your-ears]

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: REDSHIFT, Aired: 2026 Episodes: 5/8

The world will fall apart in eight days, at the hands of an impossible monster.

That is, according to a mysterious letter trusted by biologist Kieran Grimshaw, almost-PhD. To prove it, they’re on a trek across Colorado with the only person who believes them: their cousin Vic, local bike mechanic/farmer/part-time musician. But proving the apocalypse is coming isn’t the same thing as stopping it, and when the truth takes a turn towards folkloresque beasts, phantom railways, and old rivalries, the cousins realize they’re matched up against something far more than they bargained for. And every night at sunset, they can hear a train whistle.

The Sunfall Train is a full cast audio drama, emphasis on the drama: the production value is very good, and every actor is really firing on all cylinders to convince you the end of the world is nigh. There's a lot crammed into a small number of eps, with emotions very high. I'm very curious to see where this train is going.

Perfect if you're looking for a short, emotional supernatural/folk horror thriller.

[fears-for-your-ears]

Shelterwood

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Stephen Indrisano, Bloody FM Aired: 2024-- (ongoing, though there may be a delay before S2 releases) Episodes: 16

Shelterwood: A Suburban Gothic is a 16-part Docu-Horror Podcast centered around one man’s quest to find his long-lost sister in an infinite, monster-infested suburb beyond the veil. With primary inspirations like The Black Tapes, Silent Hill 2, and Limetown, Shelterwood will be one part Gothic, one part Found Footage, and one hundred percent terrifying.

The show follows podcaster Nicholas DeRoso, who stumbles upon an endless expanse of nightmarish suburbia as he searches for his long-lost sister. Will he find her or be lost to the development beyond the veil? What other secrets does the impossible neighborhood hold?

Shelterwood is a podcast within a podcast, with a mix of live audio and the two hosts providing voiceover commentary on it. It's a good balance, allowing for the protagonist's in the moment reactions while also providing an excuse to have someone describe the things that don't show up in the audio. Like the blurb says, protagonist Nicholas slips into the sunnier, "everything is fine and wonderful here!" hyper-Americana version of Silent Hill, where nothing is more sinister than the HOA, hoping to find his sister who disappeared as a teenager.

Perfect for fans of uncanny alt worlds, where the smiling faces are as scary as the monsters.

[fears-for-your-ears]

Mabel

Official Website Listen on Spotify Created by: Becca De La Rose and Maybell Marten Aired: 2016-2022 Episodes: 48

Mabel is a podcast about ghosts, family secrets, strange houses, and missed connections.

Mabel is one of the better known f/f podcasts out there, and for good reason. It's mysterious and atmospheric, with dreamlike writing and emotive acting. It starts as a series of voicemails left on an answering machine, and for much of season one feels like a psychological horror in the making. But over time the fae creep in, and it becomes something more intimate and fantastical. It's a very vibes-driven show, somewhat abstract plot-wise. But it's the emotional connection between these two messy women that are the heart of it.

Perfect if you're a fan of unconventional love stories, the dark weirdness of faeries, and all the aesthetic that comes with that.