Weekly Spooky | Scary Stories for Halloween

The Ritual (2017) is a modern folk-horror favorite that transforms a memorial hike through the Swedish wilderness into a terrifying combination of survival horror, psychological horror, occult worship, mythology, and creature-feature terror. In this spoiler-filled episode of Cutting Deep into Horror, filmmaker Henrique Couto and Rachael Redolfirevisit director David Bruckner’s rain-soaked forest nightmare and explain why it belongs in any horror fan’s Halloween-season watchlist and spooky-season podcast queue.

After Rob is murdered during a robbery, Luke joins Hutch, Dom, and Phil on a hiking trip intended to honor their dead friend. What begins as a painful memorial becomes a fight for survival when the men take a shortcut through an isolated forest, discover a ruined cabin containing a disturbing wooden effigy, and awaken with nightmares that feel dangerously real.

Henrique and Rachael examine how The Ritual uses Luke’s survivor’s guilt to blur the line between memory and reality. The convenience store where Rob died begins appearing inside the forest, the group’s exhaustion turns into resentment, and every strange sound in the darkness becomes evidence that something enormous is following them.

The conversation also explores the film’s gradual evolution from a wilderness survival thriller into folk horror and eldritch horror. Henrique and Rachael discuss the buried tent, Hutch’s disappearance, Phil being dragged into the darkness, Dom’s terrifying sacrifice, and the discovery of a hidden village whose residents worship an ancient being in exchange for unnatural immortality.

They dig deeply into the movie’s unforgettable monster design and the idea that the creature uses each victim’s strongest trauma, fear, desire, or belief to force them into submission. Why does it recreate Luke’s worst memory? Why does it tempt Dom with a vision of his wife? What makes Phil immediately kneel before it? And why is Luke ultimately able to resist its command?

Henrique and Rachael also discuss David Bruckner’s horror career, Rafe Spall’s performance as Luke, and the film’s origins in Adam Nevill’s 2011 novel. They break down the burning of the preserved worshippers, Luke’s refusal to kneel, his final confrontation with the creature, and the significance of escaping beyond the forest’s tree line.

Along the way, they compare the movie’s lost-in-the-woods paranoia and deteriorating friendships to The Blair Witch Project, while contrasting its approach to trauma, cult belief, and Scandinavian folk horror with Midsommar. As Halloween approaches, this is a perfect horror podcast deep dive for fans of frightening forests, occult villages, survival thrillers, ancient monsters, and slow-burning supernatural dread.

Inside this episode:
David Bruckner’s horror career and the film’s origins
Rob’s murder and Luke’s crushing survivor’s guilt
The memorial hike and disastrous shortcut through the forest
The abandoned cabin, wooden effigy, and invading nightmares
Hutch, Dom, Phil, and the collapse of the group’s friendship
The hidden village, ritual worship, and promise of immortality
The Jötunn-inspired creature and its psychological control
Luke’s refusal to kneel and final escape from the woods
Comparisons with The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar
Full spoilers throughout.

Next on Cutting Deep into Horror: The Cell (2000).

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🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com

Kyoto's legendary underworld well is receiving a rare public viewing. On September 4, Rokudo Chinno-ji begins a three-day special opening tied to the launch of Capcom's Onimusha: Way of the Sword, whose director says the real Kyoto temple is central to the game's world. But the place did not need a video game to become one of Japan's eeriest crossroads.

At Rokudo Chinno-ji, visitors pull a rope through a small opening to ring a bell hidden behind a wall. Temple tradition says the Mukaegane, or welcoming bell, can be heard in the realm of the dead. Behind the main hall waits an even stranger object: a well said to have carried the ninth-century courtier Ono no Takamura to his second job in the underworld.

Takamura was a real scholar, poet, and imperial official whose refusal to join a diplomatic mission led to exile and an unlikely return to power. Medieval legends made that résumé considerably stranger. By day, he served Kyoto's court. By night, the stories say, he worked beside Enma as an official among the judges of the dead - and used the temple well as his commute.

Henrique follows the old road toward the Toribeno funerary grounds, through the Crossroads of the Six Realms, and down into the legend of Takamura's entrance and return wells. Along the way, an impatient decision costs Kyoto a self-ringing supernatural bell, a dead official recognizes a colleague already working below, and a frightening doorway becomes a loving road home during Rokudo-mairi ancestor-remembrance rites.

This atmospheric Thursday Thrills separates documented history from medieval tale and living Buddhist tradition without draining the fun from the mystery. It is a spooky-season trip for listeners who love Japanese folklore, eerie travel stories, haunted places, underworld legends, Halloween podcasts, and the unsettling discovery that even the afterlife may have office hours.

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com

Scary Halloween stories meet analog horror in “I Do Not Know You” by Tyler Belmont, a supernatural horror tale about a vintage tape recorder that knows its listener’s secrets—and announces the exact moment he is going to die.

Jerry Scott runs a consumer-electronics store and collects the analog machines the modern world has left behind. Then an unmarked package appears inside his shop. The tape recorder within greets him by name, recalls private details from his life, and warns that an inhuman visitor will arrive in five minutes. When a tall figure in a fedora and long coat begins tapping at the glass, Jerry locks the doors and reaches for a baseball bat—but the recording insists that his fate cannot be avoided.

This narrated horror story blends analog horror, cursed technology, cassette tapes, supernatural prophecy, shadow monsters, forced entry, psychological suspense, and a terrifying countdown to death. It is made for listeners searching for spooky stories, scary stories, Halloween horror, creepy stories, retro horror, cursed-object fiction, and unsettling horror narration.

Start your Halloween prep with a five-minute countdown to death. As spooky season closes in, Weekly Spooky turns a familiar piece of retro technology into a supernatural trap, making this an eerie addition to any scary Halloween stories playlist before October arrives.

🎂 Celebrate Henrique's 40th Birthday!
Henrique's 40th birthday is coming up, and as mentioned in the episode, listeners who would like to help him celebrate—or spoil him a little—can check out his Amazon birthday wishlist here. The upcoming milestone is part of the conversation at the beginning of this month's show. Henrique's Amazon Birthday Wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/LRQQR0M18M4T

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com

September opens the door to Halloween as IT Chapter Two, Suspiria, Outlast, The Possession, and Pontypool mark major horror anniversaries from August 31 through September 6. This Week in Horror History becomes a pre-Halloween horror primer packed with Pennywise and Derry, witchcraft and bloody dance, survival-horror gaming, haunted-object folklore, demonic possession, infected language, and a supernatural war among angels.

This weekly horror release-date roundup revisits the films, games, creators, and dark legends that shaped the genre while giving Halloween fans an early-September watchlist for spooky season: supernatural horror movies, witch films, Stephen King adaptations, found-footage scares, survival horror games, cult classics, and fall horror listening.

Inside this episode:
• August 31, 2012 - The Possession - A Sam Raimi-produced supernatural horror movie transforms a yard-sale box and fabricated dybbuk legend into a demonic possession nightmare.
• September 1, 2018 - Suspiria - Luca Guadagnino rebuilds the witchy dance academy in divided Berlin, turning choreography, control, and bodily transformation into ritual horror.
• September 4, 2013 - Outlast - Red Barrels sends journalist Miles Upshur into Mount Massive Asylum, where night vision, dying batteries, and hiding replace combat.
• September 6, 2019 - IT Chapter Two - The adult Losers Club returns to Derry to face Pennywise and the childhood promise waiting twenty-seven years later.

Deep-Cut Spotlight - Pontypool - A snowbound radio host discovers that language itself may carry a violent infection, turning every microphone into a doorway.

Plus: a horror birthday roll honoring Keanu Reeves, Michael Keaton, Rose McGowan, and Naomie Harris; and a Weekly Recommendation for The Prophecy, the 1995 supernatural thriller where Christopher Walken's Gabriel brings an angelic civil war to Earth. 

From a supposedly haunted dybbuk box and a witch-controlled ballet to Pennywise, a night-vision asylum, and a broadcast plague hidden inside words, this August 31-September 6 horror history roundup is built for Halloween podcast listeners, spooky season bingeing, fall horror discovery, cult-movie fans, and anyone assembling an early Halloween watchlist of scary movies and horror games.

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com

Halloween season is almost here, and Monthly Spooky is kicking off the countdown with haunted houses, Bigfoot, UFOs, cryptids, unexplained mysteries—and bat people living on the Moon.

In the August 2026 edition of Monthly Spooky, Henrique Couto and Michelle are getting ready for Halloween with another strange trip through paranormal news, ghost stories, cryptid sightings, UFO and UAP reports, weird history, unexplained phenomena and creepy mysteries before diving into one of the most wonderfully bizarre media sensations of the nineteenth century: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835.

Beginning in August 1835, newspaper readers were treated to astonishing reports supposedly describing life discovered on the Moon—including extraordinary landscapes, animals, beavers and winged bat people. Henrique and Michelle dig into how the Great Moon Hoax spread, why people believed it, and how an outrageous piece of fiction became an early example of a sensational story going viral. But first, there is plenty of fresh spooky news to get everyone into the Halloween spirit.Inside this episode:
A new haunted renovation series sends designers into a reportedly haunted Ohio mansion, where they have to live and work inside the property while confronting its supernatural reputation.
The possible “Croc Ness Monster” causes a stir after what appears to be a crocodile is photographed near an Italian lake.
Officials in Brussels receive and examine unusual UFO and UAP reports, including material submitted by amateur astronomers.
A reported Bigfoot sighting in Connecticut gets the attention of cryptid investigators.
Scientists find a mysterious molecular signature associated with both Pluto and Titan.
A mysterious large cat sparks discussion near Dundee, Scotland.
An extremely strange planetary system raises questions about a possible enormous exomoon.
Seattle embraces Hot Jimothy Summer as an exceptionally round raccoon becomes an internet celebrity.
Sailor Matt Rutherford attempts the dangerous feat of navigating the Arctic Ocean alone.
Henrique shares a spoiler-free look at the dinosaur horror adventure The End of Oak Street.
And Michelle brings a perfectly timed Halloween haunted-house mystery involving two college students, a strange room and an archive extension that the library later claims it knows nothing about.
Then it is off to the Moon for the main event: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, complete with lunar wildlife, bizarre civilization and the unforgettable image of humanoid bat creatures soaring across the lunar landscape.Whether you're already building your Halloween podcast playlist, looking for scary stories for spooky season, or just love ghosts, paranormal mysteries, Bigfoot, UFOs, cryptids, folklore, weird history and unexplained encounters, this month's Monthly Spooky is your early ticket into Halloween.Follow Monthly Spooky on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio or your favorite podcast app so you don't miss the next round of spooky news, strange history, paranormal stories and creepy discoveries as the countdown to Halloween continues.

🎂 Celebrate Henrique's 40th Birthday!
Henrique's 40th birthday is coming up, and as mentioned in the episode, listeners who would like to help him celebrate—or spoil him a little—can check out his Amazon birthday wishlist here. The upcoming milestone is part of the conversation at the beginning of this month's show. Henrique's Amazon Birthday Wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/LRQQR0M18M4T

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!
Twitter: @WeeklySpooky
Facebook: facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
Email: WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com