The 7 Most Disturbing Podcasts For Those Who Love House Of Leaves

It’s Thanksgiving week, even if it doesn’t feel like it with the pandemic and sickness looming. What better time to creep yourself out than this week when most of America is locked inside their all too familiar family homes. For those that called the infamous dwelling in House of Leaves home, they were anything but safe. Luckily, we don’t live in that endless hallway, forever turning closet, or dimension defying house. When you have had enough of your family and are ready to lose yourself in someone else’s nightmare, here are the 7 Most Disturbing Podcasts For Those Who Love House Of Leaves.

The Last Movie

Tanis podcast host Nic Silver and regular contributor MK, explore the possible existence of “The Last Movie,” an infamous underground feature film, reputed to drive you insane. Legend has it that every screening of this film was surrounded by bloodshed and controversy: one reviewer actually described slipping on blood in the aisle, as he ran through dozens of people trying to tear him apart.

It’s a little bit In The Mouth Of Madness and a little bit Antrum: The Deadliest Film ever made. The talent is good enough that you begin to genuinely believe there is a cursed movie somewhere. It’s not a remarkably fresh concept, but this podcast does it so well it deserves a spot on the Most Disturbing Podcasts lists.

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made Explained Astaroth And Sigils

The Left Right Game

Tessa Thompson stars as an idealistic young journalist trying to make a name for herself by following a group of paranormal explorers, obsessed with a seemingly harmless pastime known as the Left/Right Game. The journey takes her into a supernatural world that she and the other members of the expedition can neither handle nor survive.

This podcast is so good it was picked up for series development by Amazon Studios. The production value can’t be matched, and the acting talent is superb. The story is a banger that sucks you in with subtle creepy moments that sneak up on you. The episodes are relatively short, lasting roughly 30-45 minutes each, which is good because this shit is intense. If you appreciate the bizarre normalcy of House of Leaves, you will love The Left Right Game. Nothing is as it seems, and even the banalest things hide sinister hearts.

Point Mystic

We are Christopher Reynaga, Marguerite Croft, and Fox. Join us as we investigate magic, mystery, and the unexplained to uncover the secrets of Point Mystic.

The narrator is incredible, and Point Mystic deserves a spot on the disturbing podcasts list because the exciting mix of magical realism and horror is unique. It’s a little less scary than some of the other choices but thoroughly enjoyable. Creepy doesn’t always have to be terrifying.

Welcome To Night Vale

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff’s Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide.

If the House of Leaves were going to exist somewhere in small-town America, it would be Night Vale. The podcast, which sounds like a public access radio station in any tiny town in America, ranges from comically bizarre to outright unsettling. The production quality enhances the episodes’ weirdness. The just this side of normal nonlinear story hits all the right existential dread sweet spots. This is my favorite of the Most Disturbing Podcasts.

Within The Wires

Each season of Within the Wires stands alone as its own story, with different narrators and timelines, but they do overlap. You can immerse yourself in the entire universe by listening to the first four seasons. Or start listening to the most recent season. The choice is yours.

The first season finds the listener immersed in a seemingly benign sound therapy session at a mysterious institute. Let’s just say you feel nothing close to relaxed after each episode. If dread is your thing, this entire season is heavy on anxiety-inducing fears. The other three seasons are good, but for sheer anxiety, the first season is the best.

The Magnus Archives

A weekly horror fiction podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organization dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join Jonathan Sims as he explores the archive, but be warned, as he looks into its depths something starts to look back…

There are nearly two hundred episodes, so that you won’t run out anytime soon. It is well written and includes cosmic dread elements and supernatural plot beats, shadow organizations, and wacky people. It is thoroughly engrossing and well worth your time.

Video Palace

When video collector Mark Cambria watches a mysterious VHS tape, he begins talking in his sleep in a language that doesn’t exist. Mark and his girlfriend Tamra set out to investigate the tape’s origin. They find themselves caught up in a web of conspiracy, occult, and dread surrounding a legendary video store with a sinister purpose beyond imagining. Video Palace was created by Nick Braccia and Mike Monello. It was directed by Ben Rock, written by Ben Rock & Bob DeRosa, and stars Chase Williamson and Devin Sidel.

This Shudder Original Podcast is easily the most realistic of the Most Disturbing Podcasts because it literally sounds like a regular dude picked up a microphone and started recording the terrifying things happening to him. That’s not to say it sounds cheap or cheesy, just realistic. The talent is excellent, and the writing is even better. Never did those small video stores from the ’80s look so scary.

If YouTube videos or fan fiction are more of your thing, watch the Alantutorial Channel. This insanely bizarre series will mess you up like nothing else. What starts as just a strange, super-awkward series of how top videos becomes a descent into madness. The only question is did he fall willingly, or was he pushed into psychosis? Creepypastas have been around forever but there are a few hidden gems out there. There are also some tried and true that can’t be missed. Grab some turkey or ham and your earbuds, nothing says family time like disturbing podcasts.