Explore every episode of the podcast The Midnight Seminar

Get ready to finally meet the modern werewolf, who lurks in our legends and literature and scares us on the big screen. Your hosts share the stories that link the last major vestiges of public werewolf panic in centuries past to the rise of the archetypal character we know and love today.   Resources for Series:   A Lycanthropic Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture edited by Charlotte F. Otten   "Battling demons with medical authority: werewolves, physicians and rationalization" by Nadine Metzger in History of Psychiatry (2014) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4090416/)    "Clinical Lycanthropy, Neurobiology, Culture: A Systematic Review" by Sélim Benjamin Guessoum, Laelia Benoit, Sevan Minassian, Jasmine Mallet, and Marie Rose Moro in  Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8542696/?utm) The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   De la Demonomanie des Sorciers by Jean Bodin   Daemonologie by James I   "Le loup-garous" in Les Petit Choses de Notre Histoire by Pierre-Georges Roy   "Meet the Mysterious Beast of Gévaudan, France's 18th-Century 'Werewolf'" by Madeleine Muzdakis in My Modern Met (2024) (https://mymodernmet.com/beast-of-gevaudan-werewolf/)    The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould   "The Medieval Werewolf" by Amanda Hopkins (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/researchcurrent/researchblog/werewolf/?utm)   The Metamorphoses by Ovid   The Satyricon by Gaius Petronius (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm)   The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   The Werewolf: Past and Future: Lycanthropy's Lost History & Modern Devolution by Maegan A. Stebbins   Wolf: Legend, Enemy, Icon by Rebecca Grambo  

Tara and Doug cover the history of the changing relationship between people and wolves, a soured connection that helped give rise to the belief in werewolves. Whether merely outsiders to a community or, if one interpretation is to be believed, sadistic serial killers, accused werewolves went to court and suffered the gruesome consequences.

  Resources for Series:   A Lycanthropic Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture edited by Charlotte F. Otten   "Battling demons with medical authority: werewolves, physicians and rationalization" by Nadine Metzger in History of Psychiatry (2014) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4090416/)    "Clinical Lycanthropy, Neurobiology, Culture: A Systematic Review" by Sélim Benjamin Guessoum, Laelia Benoit, Sevan Minassian, Jasmine Mallet, and Marie Rose Moro in  Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8542696/?utm) The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   De la Demonomanie des Sorciers by Jean Bodin   Daemonologie by James I   "Le loup-garous" in Les Petit Choses de Notre Histoire by Pierre-Georges Roy   "Meet the Mysterious Beast of Gévaudan, France's 18th-Century 'Werewolf'" by Madeleine Muzdakis in My Modern Met (2024) (https://mymodernmet.com/beast-of-gevaudan-werewolf/)    The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould   "The Medieval Werewolf" by Amanda Hopkins (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/researchcurrent/researchblog/werewolf/?utm)   The Metamorphoses by Ovid   The Satyricon by Gaius Petronius (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm)   The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   The Werewolf: Past and Future: Lycanthropy's Lost History & Modern Devolution by Maegan A. Stebbins

Your hosts embark on their biggest exploration yet, and it's all about werewolves! This episode introduces the topic and explores the early mythology behind werewolf lore. Stops include Ancient Greece, Rome, Medieval Scandinavia, and Metal House.

  Resources for Series:   A Lycanthropic Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture edited by Charlotte F. Otten   "Battling demons with medical authority: werewolves, physicians and rationalization" by Nadine Metzger in History of Psychiatry (2014) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4090416/)    "Clinical Lycanthropy, Neurobiology, Culture: A Systematic Review" by Sélim Benjamin Guessoum, Laelia Benoit, Sevan Minassian, Jasmine Mallet, and Marie Rose Moro in  Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8542696/?utm) The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   De la Demonomanie des Sorciers by Jean Bodin   Daemonologie by James I   "Le loup-garous" in Les Petit Choses de Notre Histoire by Pierre-Georges Roy   "Meet the Mysterious Beast of Gévaudan, France's 18th-Century 'Werewolf'" by Madeleine Muzdakis in My Modern Met (2024) (https://mymodernmet.com/beast-of-gevaudan-werewolf/)    The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould   "The Medieval Werewolf" by Amanda Hopkins (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/researchcurrent/researchblog/werewolf/?utm)   The Metamorphoses by Ovid   The Satyricon by Gaius Petronius (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm)   The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers   The Werewolf: Past and Future: Lycanthropy's Lost History & Modern Devolution by Maegan A. Stebbins

Tara and Doug usher in Spooky Season with another round of Which is Scarier, the game that asks you...which is scarier...

Participate in the fun by playing along at home and looking for polls on Instagram (@themidnightseminar), or write in to tell us why we're wrong or right!

Award-winning author J.W. Ocker joins Tara (a long-time fan) to talk about traveling to strange places, writing about horror and history, and his forthcoming book on Sleepy Hollow, a place (and legend) they both love!   Check out Ocker's books! He has written middle-grade and adult horror fiction as well as non-fiction essential for any spooky soul.   Author's Website: https://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/   Where to Buy the Books: https://bookshop.org/shop/jwocker   Pre-order a copy of Chasing the Headless Horseman: The History, Hijinks, and Halloweens of the Real Sleepy Hollow, and, if you can make it to Sleepy Hollow, stop by his book signings or get your tickets to one of Ocker's upcoming events:    Book Talk @ Lyndhurst Mansion (9/19): https://lyndhurst.org/events/ocker-book-talk/   Sleepy Hollow Fact & Fiction @ Tarrytown Music Hall (10/10): https://tickets.tarrytownmusichall.org/eventperformances.asp?evt=3227

Take a trip down memory lane to reminisce about cursed email chains, creepypastas, and the ghosts in our machines. Doug and Tara discuss how the Internet has spawned and spread horror stories as digital folklore and, more recently, in mainstream media and entertainment. Some movies come up, but they're not spoiled! Click the links below at your own risk.

  Pop-up video that broke Tara: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYTrbDLSy_w The Rake: https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Rake Slenderman: https://theslenderman.fandom.com/wiki/Slender_Man Russian Sleep Experiment: https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/The_Russian_Sleep_Experiment The Chair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhazCS14Tas   Other References: "Bored at Work? Try Creepypasta, or Web Scares" by Austin Considine, New York Times, Nov 12, 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/fashion/14noticed.html?searchResultPosition=1   "How Slender Man Became a Legend" by Gabe Cohn, New York Times, Aug 15, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/movies/slender-man-timeline.html    "Talk to Me Is Horror Made by and for the Internet Generation" by Eric Ravenscraft, WIRED, July 19, 2023. https://www.wired.com/story/talk-to-me-movie-review/

Tara is joined by Dr. Christopher Smith (christopherclaytonsmith.com)--friend, colleague, and horror buff--to discuss the enduring tradition of campfire tales and even tell some of the classics. Pull up a log and enjoy a story that involves spooks, slashers, and the Boy Scouts of America. 

  There's some "movie talk" in this episode, particularly about the Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp franchises. Spoilers are signaled in the dialogue, mild for Friday the 13th(s) and major for Sleepaway Camp(s). If you want to learn more about the politics and implications of the movies we discuss here, we recommend the podcasts You Are Good with hosts Alex Steed and Sarah Marshall, and This Ends at Prom with hosts BJ Colangelo and Harmony Colangelo. The Midnight Seminar does not have an association with these shows, although if the hosts ever see this and want to be friends, please get in touch.  

Our New Website: https://themidnightseminar.com/

Our New Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themidnightseminar

  Other References:   "How Conversations Around Campfires Came To Be" by Robin I. M. Dunbar, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1416382111.    See links on the Wikipedia page for "Campfire Story" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campfire_story), specifically "Campfire Stories: Sleeper Tells of Release," The Delta Independent (Colorado), June 7, 1912: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86063206/1912-06-07/ed-1/?sp=7&r=-0.036,-0.275,1.223,0.586,0    Boy Scouts Handbook, first edition (1911): https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29558/pg29558-images.html    Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria   "URBAN LEGENDS" and the Urban Legend Hotline episodes of the American Hysteria podcast with host Chelsea Weber-Smith   "Urban Legends Spectacular!" and "Urban Legends and Urban Legend (1998) with Chelsea Weber-Smith" on theYou're Wrong About podcast with host Sarah Marshall   The Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand   "The Hook and Other Teenage Horrors" in The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by Jan Harold Brunvand   Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (Drawings by Stephen Gammell)   Meatballs (1979) campfire story scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuWjXrFh1qQ

Tara tells Doug about her favorite American monster while also delivering a Crash Course on cryptids. If you thought monster legends were all about conspiracies and hoaxes, think again!

  References:  The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters by J.W. Ocker The Untold Story of Champ: A Social History of America's Loch Ness Monster by Robert E. Bartholomew  "New Information Surfaces on 'World's Best Lake Monster Photo,' Raising Questions," by Robert E. Bartholomew (Skeptical Inquirer, 2013) Champ: Beyond the Legend by Joseph W. Zarzynski  Plesiosaurs 101, National Geographic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkw593Qa19U) Nessie Photos: "The Loch Ness Monster Turns 83: The Story of the Surgeon's Photograph" by Kat Kiernan (Don't Take Pictures, 2017) (https://www.donttakepictures.com/dtp-blog/2017/4/19/the-loch-ness-monster-turns-83-the-story-of-the-surgeons-photograph)    Recommendations: Frogman (2023), directed by Anthony Cousins Wild Thing (a Foxtopus podcast), Season One with host Laura Krantz

Doug and Tara jump back into trying to decipher Third Man Syndrome, plus related matters of material and mind. This part includes a discussion of the scientific theories that psychologists have presented to help explain sensed presences and the particular case of the mysterious so-called Third Man. 

  Sources: The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible by John Geiger  "Belief in Angels and Heaven is More Common Than Belief in the Devil or Hell," from the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago They Survived: A Study of the Will to Survive by Wilfrid Noyce Peter Suedfeld and John Geiger, "The sensed presence as a coping resource in extreme environments," in: Miracles God, Science, and Psychology in the Paranormal, edited by J. Harold Ellens Presence: The Strange Science and True Stories of the Unseen Other by Ben Alderson-Day The Voices Within: The History and Science of How We Talk to Ourselves by Charles Fernyhough "The Science of the Voices in your Head--with Charles Fernyhough," from the Royal Institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95otBlepVHc&t=1754s  Olaf Blanke, Polona Pozeg, Masayuki Hara, Lukas Heydrich, Andrea Serino, Akio Yamamoto, Toshiro Higuchi, Roy Salomon, Margitta Seeck, Theodor Landis, Shahar Arzy, Bruno Herbelin, Hannes Bleuler, Giulio Rognini, "Neurological and Robot-Controlled Induction of an Apparition," Current Biology 24.22 (2014): https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(14)01212-3   For More on Third Man Syndrome, see also: Astonishing Legends Podcast (with Scott Philbrook and Forrest Burgess): The Third Man Syndrome, Parts 1 and 2 (episodes 279 and 280)

In this first part, Tara tells Doug about a strange phenomenon colloquially called "Third Man Syndrome," in which experiencers sense a helpful presence at their side in extreme survival scenarios. The presence helps them out of trouble and then vanishes as quickly as it came. You might not see it or hear it, but you'll feel it. But is it real?

  Tara and Doug use a few stories of so-called "Third Men" to open up questions about the nature of reality and the power of the human mind. Part 2 will introduce the leading scientific theories about what causes this high-stakes imaginary friend to visit in the most desperate circumstances...   Sources: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot  Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing South: The Endurance Expedition by Ernest Shackleton The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James Camp Six: The 1933 Everest Expedition by Frank Smythe Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible by John Geiger  "Third Man Syndrome," EBSCO: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/psychology/third-man-syndrome    This site reproduces many of the pictures from the Shackleton Expedition: https://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/Ernest_Shackleton_pictures.php

To the Cold War and beyond! In Part 2, Doug and Tara cover the iconic plant monsters of the midcentury and ponder the meaning of the plant-human hybrid trope, what it's like to be a plant, and what might be coming next in plant horror.   Sources:   T. S. Miller, “Lives of the Monster Plants: The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies,” The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 23.3 (2012): 460-479.   Victoria Brown, "The Roots of Evil: Botanical Horror" at https://www.thefrightclubni.com/post/the-roots-of-evil-botanical-horror    Peter V. Minorsky "The 'Plant Neurobiology' Revolution" at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11085955/#abstract1

Your hosts start discussing killer plants in mythology, history, and popular culture. Part 1 covers the roots (literal and figurative) of the genre of "botanical horror" as it developed from ancient times through the nineteenth century. There's much to ponder about the possibilities, perils, and power of plants! Part 2 will pick up with the iconic Cold War literary and silver screen plant monsters. 

  References:  The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird The Occult, Witchcraft & Magic: An Illustrated History by Christopher Dell A History of Magic, Witchcraft & the Occult by Suzannah Lipscomb, Sophie Page, Thomas Cussans, John Farndon, Ann Kay, and Philip Parker Library of Congress Blogs: Green Man (https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/category/green-man/?loclr=blogflt)  The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847, with Notices of Earlier Irish Famines by the Rev. John O'Rourke, P.P., M.R.I.A. (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14412) 

Doug is out but will return soon; Tara is instead joined by her awesome friend Jesse, who knows all about caves. They discuss what makes caves creepy for loads of people, from mummified bats and myths of monsters who lurk in the dark to the realities of complicated rescue missions. They also talk about why caves should be appreciated and respected as places of awe and wonder, inspired science, and longstanding cultural importance. Don't listen to this one in a cramped, dark space (or do)! Resource:

https://nckri.org/caves/ (National Cave and Karst Research Institute)

This time, Tara and Doug talk about cannibalism. It's a topic filled with myth and misunderstanding, but there are important lessons along the way. The meandering conversation covers ritual cannibalism, so-called medicinal cannibalism, survival cannibalism, criminal cannibalism, and what might be considered "curious" cannibalism, plus gray areas you probably haven't pondered. 

  References: Books: Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home by Nando Parrado (with Vince Rause)   Podcast: You're Wrong About (with host Sarah Marshall): Flight 571: Survival in the Andes with Blair Braverman

Join Tara and Doug for a game of "Which Is Scarier?" Highlights include Doug's diatribe on snakes and Tara's admission of donating a potentially haunted doll. Play along for maximum enjoyment!

Doug is sick and January is weird, so please enjoy this stitched-together bonus episode made from some odds and ends from your hosts' recent conversations about ghosts! Tara walks you through clips from the cutting room floor that will give you more to think about when it comes to imagining and encountering departed spirits over time...

  We'll be back with a regular episode soon!

In Part 2, Tara tells Doug about the history of holiday "ghost panics," public ghost sightings that had revelers out and about, hunting ghosts with clubs and rifles. Your two hosts play the role of reporter and even share some pranky histories of their own. Doug teaches everyone a thing or two about attracting apparitions.

  Happy Holidays from the Midnight Seminar!    References:   History's Haunted Headlines: Hauntings and Ghostly Encounters Throughout the United States as Reported in American Newspapers, Volumes 1 and 3 by Adam Shefts   Phantoms of Christmas Past: Festive Ghosts Hoaxes, Ghost Hunts and Ghost Panics by Paul Weatherhead

This series is all about ghosts—Christmas ghosts! In Part 1, Tara and Doug discuss some ghost basics and geek out about the English tradition of fireside holiday ghost stories. Equal parts Charles Dickens and love letter to all apparitions.

 

References:

 

"Introduction" in The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories edited by Tara Moore

 

The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens

Tara and Doug are not always deep in reflection about the wistful carousel of eternity; sometimes, they just want to talk about horror movies. In this strange holiday special, they cover the 2023 slasher movie Thanksgiving, directed by Eli Roth. Spoilers abound. In fact, it’s an episode dedicated to spoiling the whole movie.

 

They talk through elements of the movies that inspired this one–some classics that include Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the Final Destination franchise–so there are some small spoilers about those decades-old movies, too.

 

It all amounts to horror movie talk, with questions such as: How does axe murder differ from stabbing? Do you need to like characters? What the hell even happened in this movie?

In part two, Tara tells Doug about the history of some harvest season holidays of yore. Rumination on death continues.

As the nights get longer and the breeze gets colder, Tara and Doug get philosophical on death, decay, and life in the darkest time of year. Part 1 takes a look at some cataloged reflections from historical commentators. Tara has a hard time saying goodbye to October but Doug has some peculiar remedies that just might help!

From the depth of dark folklore to the glow of the silver screen, vampires reflect the fears, questions, and concerns of the living. Long the object of scientific inquiry and philosophical debate, then forever emblazoned in iconic literature, the story of the vampire over time has forced us to confront disease, desires, and the darkness. Tara and Doug tackle the history of vampirism and the big questions it still raises from the grave.

 

References:

The Vampire: A New History by Nick Groom

Food For the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires by Michael E. Bell