Here Be Monsters
Studio: Jeff Emtman & Bethany Denton
Category: Philosophy
What It Is
A highly produced podcast that explores strange & unusual topics.
Technical Details
The show’s schedule has never adhered to any very predictable plan, partly because it kind of functions on the premise of seasons, something podcasts are starting to do more and more. In 2017, we’ve gotten one to two shows a month. Episodes tend to run fifteen to thirty minutes, give or take. The entire archive of 83 regular episodes and a variety of other mini-episodes is available on iTunes. Or check out the official homepage.
What About It
I really, really love this show. It’s a really high polish of production on it and the sound design is excellent. The creators find interesting stories to focus on, everything from faith healing to audio editing cricket noises to juggalo events to a Satanic prayer line to personal experiences of everything from hitchhiking, being born and being demonically possessed. The show is really compelling and the episodes are short enough that they go by really quickly and always leave you with interesting things to think about. And what a great icon.
3 ½ stars.
Essential If
You like personal stories outside the mainstream.
Avoid Like the Plague If
You’re afraid of monsters.
Best Entry Point
I’ve really been hitting the “check out the latest one” recommendation a lot lately, so let me give you two really cool episode recs for this show. Episode 29: Do Crickets Sing Hymns? is a really cool episode about audio theory and sound-stretching and other things and it has some really cool audio effects in it. It’s a breezy 22 minutes, so check it out. A bit longer, but extremely atmospheric is Episode 59: When Cthulhu Calls in which we follow a journalist on a trek to New York state to try to discover why exactly Lovecraft’s most famous creation has such an enduring appeal. It’s really clever and really atmospheric and creepy. And it’s only 24 minutes. Check these out and see what you think! I bet you’ll love them.