Ding Dong Darkness Time

Join Allison and her special guest, author and teacher Terri Lynn Coop, as they dissect pretty much every single story in Stephen King's legendary debut collection of short stories, Night Shift. Highlights are Children of the Corn, The Ledge, Battleground, The Mangler, Quitters Inc, and so much more. Terri also gives her insights as a teacher offering up some of these works to her high school English students, and we also take a little time to nerd out over other amazing short fiction and general writer geek stuff.

Additional Info:

Terri Lynn Coop's Books and Stories
Terri Lynn Coop's Stories on Shotgun Honey
Stephen King's Night Shift Wiki

Credits:

Show Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Show Music -- Spencer Morelock

Socials:

Ding Dong Darkness Time on Twitter: @DDDarknessTime
Ding Dong Darkness Time on Instagram: DDDarknessTime
Allison's Website: http://allisonmdickson.com

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Our journey into the heart of Stephen King's darkness takes a distinct Lovecraftian turn. And joining us for the discussion this week is the always splendid Brett from the hit true crime podcast, The Prosecutors! Brett has always been a big fan of horror, particularly the cosmic variety, and we are so thrilled he joined us to give his very astute viewpoints on one of King's most horrifying novellas, The Mist!

But the discussion includes so much more. If it's even tangentially horror, we pretty much went there. Allison, Chris, and Brett also come at Frank Darabont's 2007 movie adaptation from three distinct points of view. Which one loved it unconditionally? Dive in and find out!

Additional Info:

The Prosecutors Podcast: https://prosecutorspodcast.com/
80s High Podcast: https://the80shigh.podbean.com/
The Mist Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mist_(novella)

Credits:

Graphics: Nathaniel Dickson
https://ndickson.com/

Music: Spencer Morelock

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Welcome to the premier of Season 2! We're devoting this entire season to the works of Stephen King, and right out of the gate, we have Allison and Chris, joined by Josh and Kelly from Press Play and Scream, to discuss the story that made them number one fans. What makes this claustrophobic tale so special? What does it say about the possibly redemptive power of art? Is this the origin story of toxic fandoms? Let the book club commence!

Listen to the Press Play and Scream Podcast: https://pressplayandscream.buzzsprout.com/
Listen to the 80s High Podcast: https://the80shigh.podbean.com/

Follow Press Play and Scream: https://twitter.com/PressPlayScream
Follow 80s High: https://www.instagram.com/80shighpodcast

Purchase Misery: https://www.amazon.com/Misery-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B018ER7K76
Follow Stephen King: https://twitter.com/StephenKing

Additional Credits:

Show Artwork -- Nathaniel Dickson
https://ndickson.com/

Show Music -- Spencer Morelock

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

In this bonus episode that was originally intended to be part of Haunting Architecture, Allison and Chris talk about their adventure in the sweltering summer of 2006, when they visited the once abandoned mental health facility known as Ashmore Estates in central Illinois. Nowadays, it is very much not abandoned and serves as a beacon for budding paranormal researchers, but on the day they explored the place, it was little more than a debris-filled husk of its former self. In other words, they got in there before it was cool!

Listen and learn more about their crazy little adventure as well as the background of this interesting site, and why you should carve out little moments of exploration magic for yourself. Albeit, more safe and legal ones if possible!

Credits:

Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock

Additional Info:

Ashmore Estates Wiki
Haunting History: Ashmore Estates (Video)

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

This week, Allison and Chris dig deep into their own shared love and education in psychology to talk about the Dancing Plague of 1518, one of many such mass hysteria events that occurred during medieval Europe. In doing so, they also relate those events to the current day, where humanity remains no stranger to psychogenic illnesses. Why did so many people choose to dance themselves to death? Was it ergot, ego, or FOMO?

This is the season finale of the show, and we hope you'll be back for season 2, coming very soon!

Credits:

Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock

Additional Info:

The Dancing Plague of 1518 Wiki
The Great Mortality by John Kelly
A List of Other Mass Hysteria Events

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

We're joined on this episode by two of the coolest cats in the movie podcasting realm, Joshua and Kelly from Press Play and Scream, to dissect and discuss not only the Twilight Zone movie, but the tragic on-set disaster that killed one of the film's stars along with two young children.  Additionally, we walk the odd, visceral, and sometimes cringey landscape of each of the film's segments, as well as talk a little about our experience with anthology TV, of which The Twilight Zone is the granddaddy of them all.

Additional Information:

Press Play and Scream Podcast
The Twilight Zone Incident Wiki
Outrageous Conduct book

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Bust out the oils, canvases, doilies, existential dread, and brawling swords, because it's time to talk about dark paintings and painters!

First, Allison breaks apart all the details and subtext in Jan Van Eyck's haunting Arnolfini Portrait. Then Chris dives into the story surrounding one of the most famous scary paintings of all time, Edvard Munch's The Scream.

Then they converge on a shared discussion on the shocking works and violent life of Italian baroque painter Caravaggio, whose works include many bloody scenes and beheadings.

Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock

Additional Information:

Caravaggio: The Only Great Artist to Commit Murder
The Arnolfini Portrait -- Great Art Explained
Edvard Munch

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Allison and Chris take an expansive journey to some of the human built structures that have haunted their minds.

Beginning in California with the Winchester Mystery House, learn the story of Sarah Winchester, who inherited a large chunk of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company after the death of her husband, and used that fortune to build a sprawling, surreal mansion whose mystifying (and some say mystical) construction continued unabated for nearly forty years.

From there, we jump to the other side of the globe to Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit the  strange towering edifice, the Ryugyong Hotel. Built in the 1980s to attract travelers from around the world, the project quickly fell apart around the same time as the Soviet Union and became instead a beacon of propaganda that continues to this day.

Then it's back to the States for a tour of the infamous Dakota Building in Manhattan, site of the murder of John Lennon as well as a potential nexus for all sorts of cursed events for the  elites that have passed through its Gothic doors.

We then wrap up this rollercoaster ride with an actual roller coaster, the Crystal Beach Cyclone, which promised its riders a thrill unlike any they'd experienced before, and then delivered in the form of vomit, fainting, and in a couple instances -- death.

Additionally, we establish a whole new unit of measurement: The Olive Garden (not a sponsor).

Credits:

Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock

Winchester Mystery House
Ryugyong Hotel
Dakota Building
Crystal Beach Cyclone

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Bathed in searing cobalt blue paint and gazing at the world through glaring red eyes, the 30-foot tall horse statue known as Mustang (or Blucifer to the locals) has welcomed travelers to the American West via the Denver International airport for more than a decade. But there is a lot more to the story of this horse than its striking looks. It comes with a melancholy and deadly history all its own, which Allison and Chris discuss in depth.

Not to be outdone, however, the Denver Airport itself is a conspiracy magnet and comes packed with all sorts of strange artwork that many believe to contain code about the New World Order.

Credits:

Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock

Additional Info:

The Blue Mustang Statue
Wonderland of the Weird Video on Mustang
The Chatty Gargoyle

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

For the first episode of our season on the dark arts (no Harry Potter), join Allison and Chris as they literally and figuratively set the tone for this show and discuss a piece of musical theory known as the Devil's Interval. More formally known as the tritone, this discordant series of notes has added a unique flavor to music throughout the centuries, and according to some historians, was banned by the Catholic church during the medieval period for the sound’s tendency to inspire lasciviousness, perniciousness, and could possibly even summon Lucifer himself. And as a couple of middle-aged folks are wont to do, they spend a little time reminiscing about ska and Gregorian chants.

Additional Info:

Adam Neely's Video on The Devil's Interval⁠

NPR: The Unsettling Sound of Tritones