Spoop Hour

We're celebrating our 69th official episode by getting to know some NICE ghosts! Learn how the Nutt family found their pot o' silver, meet Olive Thomas, the flirtiest chorus ghost, heed the warnings of South Carolina's Gray [weather]Man, and always trust the advice of ghostly butlers in old English manors. Also a ghost solves her own murder, which is pretty NICE!

Scary for kids, scary for Sashas, it's the right time for a new episode! What time is it? The witching hour! We're talking spooky times like midnight and 3AM. Learn some explanations for the witching hour (from the religious to the scientific), meet La Mala Hora, find out the connection between the witching hour and the Amityville horror, and more.

Happy almost Valentine's Day! We're celebrating this sweet holiday with the sour side of love: the ghosts and haunting tales of jilted lovers. Learn why we don't deserve Anne Boleyn, the similarities between roosters and women scorned, the upsetting circumstances around Evelyn Nesbit's love triangle, the legend of La Llorona, and more.

Courtney is back from Japan! She recaps her adventures, both spooky and otherwise, to Sasha. Learn about probable haunted spots like Nijo Castle and Kinkakuji, secretly haunted places like Fushimi Inari and Gridley Tunnel, and the spoopiest restaurant in the world, Yurei Izakaya. Also find out why Sasha has to dethrone Courtney as the queen of Kingdom Hearts.

Wash your brain, we're talking about cults this week! We give the skinny on MK Ultra, the Family, and more. Join us for a discussion of why Courtney gets mad about cults and what happens when we forget the word hypnotist.   (CW/TW: Child abuse discussion from 35:07 to 44:16)

Better late than never! It's the recap you've been waiting for: Courtney details her trip to California, including her time with the ghosts of the Queen Mary, like Jackie the pool ghost, Henry the scratcher in the boiler room, and Linzi of 33% Pulp. Then get the details on the ongoing feud between Sasha and psychics, why Courtney needs new friends, and why you might need a candle for an unexpected...

While Sasha recovers from a nasty sinus infection, enjoy this sneak preview of Courtney's California adventures! Here, listen to Linzi (of 33% Pulp) and Courtney attempt to contact the spirits on the notoriously haunted Queen Mary, discuss the appliance most likely to be haunted, and more. (We're hoping to release a proper episode later this week!)   [please note: towards the end of the episode th...

We tried a new kind of spoopy self care this week: sound energy massage! Learn some of the history behind the practice of sound healing, discuss the joys of 111 Hz, and hear about our first hand experience of the magic chair.

We're spilling the tea on each other's tea leaves this week! Find out what 2019 holds for your Spoop hosts, meet our new (temporary) intern Rachel, and learn a little bit about how to read loose leaf tea. Happy New Year!

Join us on a festive joy ride through the world of fairies this week! We explore both naughty and nice fairies from the sugar plum fairy to all the ones that want to eat you (spoiler alert: it is many). With a listener story exploring a near miss at the Coconut Grove, a quiz to see which Christmas monster we are, a game about what is or is not a bloodthirsty fairy, unwrap some fun this holiday. Ha...

We're unwrapping tales of horrible dolls this week Find out why you should keep the gift receipt on dolls Robert, Charley, and Mandy, the pros and cons of wara ningyo, and more.

It's time to take a closer look at those tiny creatures that help Santa maintain his reputation: get to know elves this week! We discuss early Norse mythology surrounding the mythical beings, including why you shouldn't pee in an elf circle, before traveling to Japan to peek in trees and see who lives in there.

Grab your disco tent and bundle up for an exploration of weird and spooky winter holidays from around the world! Get festive for Frozen Dead Guy Days, throw some beans for Setsubun, find out why people strip for Japan's Naked Festival, and more.

Still recovering from Thanksgiving? Kick back with this week's minisode in which we answer a listener question and some of the 36 questions that lead to love. We talk dream dinner party guests, embarrassing body stories, phoning it in in Japanese class, and more.  

Let's spoop it up this Thanksgiving! We're talking turkey with an episode on toilet potatoes and other Thanksgiving horror stories and spooky harvest festivals from around the world. Have a safe and happy holiday!

A new episode? Why, there hasn't been a new episode here in 47 years...this week, we're exploring the phenomena of ghost towns, from the unsettling, like Hashima Island and Rhyolite, Nevada, to the haunted like Catawba and Goldfield. Get ready to pan for gold!

Looking for another reason to avoid the forest? You're in luck with this week's episode! We're talking creepy and unsettling woods, including those home to unruly pirate ghosts, those housing a frantically spinning gorilla/horse centaur, and those overrun with dolls. Grab your favorite lumberjack and venture into the woods with care...

Happy Halloween! We're celebrating our favorite holiday with a monster mash of fun stuff, like a Mad Lib (spoiler alert: Zachary Levi makes a guest appearance), a spooky sweet story from listener Augie Peterson, and hot trends to look for this Halloween. Then hold on to your sparkly pumpkin butts: we explore the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horsemen around the world!

It's a Mad Lib creepypasta minisode this week! We take turns with spooky Halloween Mad Libs before revisiting a previously discussed creepypasta newly rewritten by Courtney.   Want to do a Mad Lib with us, tell us a creepypasta, or share a spooky story in time for Halloween? We've opened up submissions at spoophour [at] gmail [dot] com to include any creepy campfire stories for the month of Octobe...

It's the birthday season for your favorite spoopy hosts! We talk creepy celebrations and birthday traditions from around the world, including the superpowers you might have if you're born on Halloween, some otherworldly party crashers to watch out for, and why you just shouldn't have a birthday in Switzerland. Grab your Cake Man and settle in for another hour of spoop!

It's spoopy story hour on this week's episode! We take turns reading each other spooky campfire stories, folk tales, and creepypastas and rank them on a scale of one to five ghosts. Dive into Ted the Caver, the urban legend of the killer with the hook hand, and the legend of the disappearing innkeepers...and remember, if you see something spooky, say something spooky!

Get your B.O.O. degree with this week's episode! We're joined by very special ghost Dr. Alysa Lucas of the podcasts Best Forevers and Fatal Friends to talk haunted colleges and universities. Learn about Penn State's "ghost trail", the slowest burning man in Scotland, and why you shouldn't try astral projection at Ohio University.

We get WILD this week with a discussion of spooky animals! Learn some fun facts about the most commonly held animal phobias, like sharks, bears, and snakes (oh my!) Then listen to a pilot episode for Courtney's spinoff podcast Spoop Owl with an exploration of the mythology behind everyone's favorite murder bird. With a listener story about ghostly laughs in the shower and spooky dreams, there's so...

Shhh, if you aren't quiet, you might scare the ghosts in the haunted libraries of this episode! We browse the shelves of history for spooky tales of ghostly bibliophiles, including the ghost of Lord Combermere, Phyllis Parker at the Bernardsville Library, and the butter churning dog enthusiast of Cra at the Houston Public Library.

What do the Berenstein Bears, Avril Lavigne, and Nelson Mandela have in common? They're all the subjects of conspiracy theories! We get to the bottom of what is an actual historical event and what is just a conspiracy theory, like the Denver Airport, the defenestration of Prague, and more.