6 Scary Podcasts To Light Up Your Spooky Season

It’s spooky season, and while we’re wrapping ourselves in our favorite fall sweaters, festooning our houses with fake spiderwebs and skeletons, savoring a limited-time-only pumpkin spice latte, and figuring out some kind of Covid-safe candy delivery system for trick-or-treaters, we’re also craving the kind of quality, spine-tingling content that makes us overreact to any bump in the night. Fortunately, these six podcasts are here to scare (and delight) you to death with scripted stories of haunted houses, insane asylums, magical creatures, and a search for a serial killer. Whether you’re looking for ghosties or ghoulies – or even a musical! – these podcasts have some Halloween horror in store for you. Curl up with a fun-size candy bar or three and get ready to feel creeped out. 

Welcome to the remote hotel called Hawthorne Manor. The guests are very strange. The caretaker, played by Keegan-Michael Key, can’t be trusted. And the newest arrival is you. With characters that will live rent-free inside your head forever, and produced with three-dimensional binaural audio that puts you right in the action, 13 Days of Halloween is best listened to through your favorite pair of headphones, with the light on – and maybe with the door locked, too. Just in case.

This rock musical follows musicians Machine Gun Kelly, Dana Dentata, and 24kgoldn as they get sucked into an evil gameshow singing contest to save their souls from Hell. Only Satan – played by rock legend Tommy Lee – decides who will win, and who will burn. Featuring music from all the contestants as well as iann dior and phem, this killer cast and music will have you screaming – and head-banging – along with them as they spend Halloween in Hell.

Tara Hollis and her family are looking for a fresh start when they move into their ancestral home, Light House, on a cold February day in 1963. But there’s a horror already lurking in the house, a darkness that “infects everything it touches” – a darkness eager to work its way into their souls. Featuring a cast of great voice actors, stellar writing, and a spine-tingling story, this spooky and suspenseful ten-part podcast will get you believing in ghosts.

The Central State Hospital at New Canaan has been providing care for patients with mental disabilities for over 75 years. But lately, the doctor has shed some of his ethical restraints to try some experimental treatments, with shocking results. Featuring a fantastic cast, story, and sound design, the historic fiction podcast The Control Group tells a twisted tale of violence, ambition, abuse, experimentation, and obsession that is sure to haunt your nightmares.

Teen detective Tig Torres has returned to her hometown determined to clear her Aunt Beth’s name. Ten years ago, six people were murdered by a serial killer, and her aunt was framed. Now the killer is back, picking off Tig’s friends one by one, staging classic murder scenes from literature. Will Tig figure out who the real killer is? Or will she become just another victim for their books? Find out by hearing the whole six-part series of Lethal Lit: A Tig Torres Mystery.

Powerful. Ancient. Invisible. And terrifying. Sounds like ghosts – but actually, this podcast is talking about djinn. Host Rabia Chaudry takes us into the world of the djinn, tracing ancient legends and lore about these mythical creatures who might be humankind’s most mortal enemy. From what they look like to where they can be found, to retelling legends of lust, scorn, and greed, to tracing the origins of the story of Satan, there’s a lot to fear – and love – about The Hidden Djinn.

If you want to be sure you're listening to the podcasts everyone else is checking out, iHeartRadio has you covered. Every Monday, iHeartRadio releases a chart showing the most popular podcasts of the week. Stay up to date on what's trending by checking out the chart here. There's even a chart just for radio podcasts here, featuring all your favorite iHeartRadio personalities like Bobby Bones, Elvis Duran, Steve Harvey and dozens of others.

Photo: Getty Images


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