The podcast I chose to watch for this assignment was Spooked’s Real Haunted House Story episode. The podcast follows an aspiring filmmaker, whom we know as Chase, during the production of a short film, who decides to film at the Arx Mortis Haunted House in Alabama. Multiple strange events occur in the beginning, such as when the animatronics are triggered, the lights inexplicably turn off, and Chase and the other team members are followed by footsteps, only to realize there is no one around. Eventually, it is revealed that the staff of the haunted house know that these hauntings are caused by the trick-playing ghost of a janitor who had previously died of a heart attack.
Though the actual story was made rather uninteresting by his delivery, which felt very one-note and as though he were directly reading off a script, the team at Spooked did a tremendous job creating a fitting atmosphere that enhanced my listening experience and pulled me into the story. This made the overall experience tolerable, especially because the setup had some intrigue. The payoff was unfortunately rather weak.
For one, sound was used very effectively in this podcast. Horror is a genre that depends heavily upon using the listener’s senses against them, and in the podcast medium, sound is obviously the most principal tool in doing so. This podcast used a combination of ambient sound and discrete effects to mould the environment around the viewer. For example, as the narrator describes his initial impression of the haunted house, the sound effects reflect what he describes: the clanking of chains, the layering of a scream, and the screech of a chain link fence as an animatronic is triggered. My favorite moment is much simpler: footsteps on gravel and the sounds of the night air.
The strongest aspect of the production is the music. In my experience with horror in film, music is one of the best tools in a director’s shed. It can really bring life to scenes and lift the tension dramatically. The iconic shower scene from Hitchcock’s Psycho comes to mind. The music here is dark, bass-heavy, and often surreal and psychological. This effectively ramps up tension throughout the story, utilizing the inherent momentum of the anecdote that Ira Glass mentioned previously. The music also changes, reflecting tone or topic: moments of discovery, shock, terror, and suspicion have their own independent sounds.
Overall, I found this podcast to be very well-designed and effective as an example of audio storytelling. Give it a listen. What do you think? Do you have any scary ghost stories? Let me know in the comments box below!