Happy Halloween!

Editor’s note:
This episode was recorded by myself, Dan Patterson, and Dan Andrlik, and lovingly edited by Quentin Lewis and Dan Andrlik. The shownotes were composed by Mr. Andrlik. The three of us have been friends since the early-1990′s and we’ve worked on many personal creative projects together. This episode was another great collaboration between old friends. We recorded this episode a week prior to Halloween. Due to Hurricane Sandy, electricity and internet access in New York City have been rare commodities. Dan and Quentin fearlessly (yeah, pun intended) jumped in to action, learned to edit audio on the fly, and cut this beautiful episode sans my editorial or technical input. I couldn’t be more grateful of their work or proud of their creation! – DHP

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• Audio editing by Quentin Lewis with pre-production assistance by Dan Patterson
• Shownotes by Daniel Andrlik

We’re starting an annual tradition here at KoPoint to celebrate this most spooky of holidays. One of the best parts of this season is gathering together to tell scary stories and share the creepy things that make our skin crawl. This year, KoPoint invited archaeologist Quentin Lewis, resident storyteller Daniel Andrlik, and our own Dan Patterson to talk about our favorite scary stories, and what they mean to us.

We start off discussing one of our favorite horror writers, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, then broaden our discussion to horror in media and fiction. Along the way we discuss the stories that matter to us, the link between scary stories and urban myth, as well as our favorite Halloween traditions.

We would love to hear about your favorite scary stories, your favorite scary movies, and all about your personal Halloween traditions. Share them with us in the comments below, or use the hashtag #spooktacular on your social media site of choice.

Topics of discussion

Intro: About Halloween

• Wikipedia entry on Halloween
• How Stuff Works: Halloween

Segment One: H.P. Lovecraft (but of course!)

• H.P. Lovecraft: History and Influence
• The dark side of Lovecraft: racism
• Lovecraft Stories Discussed:
  • “Pickman’s Model”
  • “The Temple” (also available in audio from KoPoint here)
  • “The Rats in the Walls”
  • “The Music of Erich Zann”

H.P. Lovecraft short stories as recorded by Quentin Lewis:

Segment Two: Horror in Fiction

• History of the E.C. Comics horror series
• Why is Halloween so personal, and why do all these stories matter?
• Dread and Tension in Horror
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
• Urban Myths and Slenderman:
  • MarbleHornets
  • Ranker’s list of the 13 scariest internet memes of all time
• Dan Patterson shares his own personal Halloween story

Segment Three: Traditions

• The gang shares their personal Halloween traditions and a few of their favorite spooky bits.
• The Ring
• “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” by Neil Gaiman. A free audio short story (until Halloween, after which it goes away). Audible donates to charity whenever it is downloaded. UK version here.
• Pseudopod: Audio horror podcast.
• Audible Horror Collection