Over the past several years, we have been highlighting a variety of podcasts through our “For Your Listening Pleasure” series. Installments highlight audio dramas, actual plays, and special interest podcasts that the team (and guests) enjoy. None of these podcasts are sponsors of the site; we genuinely enjoy them and want others to as well. This past year has been no exception, with four installments.

For Your Listening Pleasure – On The Edge of Your Seat
For Your Listening Pleasure – Comedy Keeps us Sane
For Your Listening Pleasure – Dark Recesses
For Your Listening Pleasure – Bump in the Night

Of the twelve podcasts featured in our series during 2022, my favorite has to be Uncanny (For Your Listening Pleasure – On The Edge of Your Seat by Danny Robins. A strong second contender is Katie Hims – Listening to the Dead, detailed below.

Uncanny – Hot on the heel of The Battersea Poltergeist, journalist and podcaster Danny Robins returns to the microphone in this new investigative series investigating real-life stories of paranormal encounters. Unlike The Battersea Poltergeist, which reinvestigates a haunting from the late 1950s through a blend of documentary and drama, Uncanny is far more investigative without any of the drama. Danny uses his skeptical eye on modern hauntings, UFO sightings, and other phenomena in a down-to-earth fashion, using sound journalistic principles and experts in their fields to give an unbiased presentation of the facts.

With our look back nearly complete, let me leave you with two final entries in our 2022 series.

The Witch Farm

The Witch Farm – Danny Robins is back with a new investigation into the paranormal. Danny, the forever skeptic, and his growing team of experts explore a farm many believe to be Britain’s most haunted house. With its old farmhouse, the farm sits in the shadow of the Brecon Beacons mountains in Wales. In 1989, the idyllic countryside became the home of a young Liz Rich, her husband Bill, and Bill’s teenage son Lawrence. Shortly after moving in, strange things happen inside and outside the house. Increasing in frequency and severity, the purported hauntings last for years… leaving the family forever changed. Follow Danny’s investigation and decide for yourself if it is haunted or not; the choice is yours.

Katie Hims – Listening to the Dead

Katie Hims – Listening to the Dead – Katie Hims explores the life and times of five generations of a family whose members can and cannot hear the voices of the dead. Each generation contends with their family’s history and legacy depending on their awareness of this special ability. Each is affected differently as they struggle to find their place in the world and, from time to time, to understand what haunts them. Spanning five episodes, this fictional drama is absolutely riveting. It begs for a second season!

You will appreciate these podcasts if you enjoy dark-themed radio dramas and paranormal investigations. Each is compelling and engaging but in distinctly different ways. Both series are available from BBC Radio 4, accessible via the web or their BBC Sounds app. Each is expertly produced; however, I can’t compare the quality of one to the other, as they are vastly different in their approaches.

If you’re inclined, you could easily dissect these podcasts to use their themes and stories in any number of tabletop roleplaying games. I can see either being adapted to games like Call of Chtulhu, Kult: Divinity Lost, Unknown Armies, and perhaps Delta Green, but this might be a stretch.

Keep an eye out for new installments in this series in 2023.

~ Modoc

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