If you’re an avid podcast listener, you’ve undoubtedly hit up This American Life multiple times – if not weekly, listening to every episode that drops.
TAL was one of the first ever podcasts, and easily the first to hit the big time. It’s where Sarah Koenig honed her skills before branching out and creating a little podcast wonder, you might have heard of it – Serial?
This American Life isn’t in any way meant to be creepy or true crimey or anything like that. But, given Ira Glass and his team tell a MEAN story and look at such a wide array of tales from across the USA, every now and then there’s an episode that sees the hair stand up on your arms, or has you parking your car just to get to the conclusion.
Given Halloween‘s around the corner and all you freaks (bless ya) love a scary podcast series, we figured we’d round up the creepy TAL eps you should binge on this weekend.
Abandoned houses – creepy. Abandoned houses with literally everything still inside as though abandoned in a rush? Holy hell, get out and run and don’t look back. Luckily for our ears, Adam Beckman didn’t run – he investigated. The story unravels slowly, and there’s plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments. But really, the brilliance of this episode comes down to the description of the house and its contents. It’s like you’re there.
A grand-daughter discovers her family history – specifically, the history concerning her grandfather, Bobby Dunbar – isn’t what it seems. Her grandfather was kidnapped as a child, but the tale she had been told is not at all the actual truth. Hot damn, does this podcast know how to unravel a tale – this episode is iconic for its brilliant mastering of storytelling.
AND THE CALL WAS COMING FROM THE BASEMENT
You can’t talk about creepy TAL episodes without mentioning their Halloween special. While these stories are shorter – This American Life is known primarily for it’s “3 Act” setup, although it’s their deep dive episodes that are usually most famous – the raccoon one is particularly WTF.
Two children are switched at birth – the twist? One mother knew she had taken home the wrong baby. You’d think that giveaway would ruin this episode from a chill-factor, but it really doesn’t. This story is possibly the least creepy of the lot, but damn if it doesn’t freak you out a bit.
Ahhh, fuck. This episode is FUCKED UP, guys. Sarah Koenig (Serial fame) heads this one up about a doctor (Dr. Gilmer) who moves to a rural town to replace a man (ALSO called Dr. Gilmer, I told you this was a weird one) that had gone to prison after killing his own father. As the patients of the OG Dr. Gilmer start telling him wonderful stories of their old doc, the new Dr. Gilmer digs deep to find out how this supposedly nice guy turned evil.
You wouldn’t think the story of a head maintenance man in New York State would be creepy, but this guy is… well… a TYRANT. The real creepy factor here is just how much power Steve Raucci manages to get – his acts go from casual bullying to full-on crimes.
The first Penn State podcast episode, #1 Party School, is creepy in a way – it covers the absolute maniacal level of school spirit the college elicits, and their deeply ingrained drinking culture. But it’s Back To Penn State that truly gives the chills, because after they produced the first episode, a horrific sex abuse coverup was revealed centring on ex Penn State Defensive Co-Ordinator Jerry Sandusky. Sarah Koenig returns to the school to speak to students. It’s not creepy in the “ghosty” sense, it’s creepy in the fucked-up, how-the-hell-did-continue-for-so-long sense.
