Healthy Fears

The electric chair was once the go-to method of execution in the United States, and "the chair" still holds a unique position in America's history of capital punishment. In aftermath of more than a decade of debates about how "cruel and unusual" execution may or not be, four horror movies emerged over the course three years in the 1980's. Prison, Destroyer, The Horror Show (aka House III), and Shocker are all films about criminals who die in the chair, only to come back to life newly empowered to kill. One of those movies, however, stands apart from the others in an important way...

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga aka NikNPhaser, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode: "Heightened Tensions" by Zeonium, licenced through Shutterstock

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

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Placing someone in a world that doesn't make sense to them--that operates on its own, unpredictable form of "logic"--creates ideal conditions for comedy (Looney Tunes), absurdist fantasy (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)... or horror. Which can range from tales as impossible as Octavia Butler's Kindred, to stories that are more terrifyingly plausible than some may realize, such as Kafka's absurd nightmare The Trial.

Matt Robinson Liquefaction videos:

Example of Liquefaction - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBqD8Hm2Ak

Example of Liquefaction 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ht6SSWQMs

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga aka NikNPhaser, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode: "Graves" by Arenas, licensed through Shutterstock.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga aka NikNPhaser, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode:

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For something we have relatively little of in the first place, control is something many of us dread losing. Maybe that initial scarcity of it is the root of the degree of our fear. After all, you'd be more afraid of spilling a cup of water if it was all the water you had, than if you could easily draw more from a well. One character I focus on this week, Truman Burbank from The Truman Show, spends most of his life unaware of being controlled and manipulated by others. Another, Bodie Broadus from The Wire, is painfully aware of how little control he has, but futilely dreams of gaining more.

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode: "Alien Autopsy" by Robert Ashbridge, licensed through Shutterstock.

Sources: 

• Cave, Stephen. “There's No Such Thing as Free Will.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 3 Jan. 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/theres-no-such-thing-as-free-will/480750/. 

• Mark, Griffiths D. “The Truman Show Delusion.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 10 Aug. 2016, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201608/the-truman-show-delusion. 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Generally speaking, societies across the world agree that our beloved dead ideally belong in a certain, final resting place, and that place is out of sight. The idea of people who are dead--or who should be dead--remaining among us is a consistent source of horror. In this episode I talk about our fear of dead bodies that aren't at rest, either because they never were buried or, in the case of Timothy Baterman, from Pet Sematary, because they returned to us.

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode: "Grey Smoke" by Mocha Music licensed through Shutterstock.

Sources:

Sayer, Chloë.

The Day of the Dead: A Visual Compendium. Laurence King Publishing, 2021.

“Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.” Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park by Diego Rivera, https://www.diegorivera.org/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp.

Romelus, Yvana. “Your Favorite Haitian Lwa - Baron Samedi | Thee Voodoo Family.” Chronicles of a Zoe, YouTube, 28 Nov. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIgxo45ApGQ. 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the three hints for the classic coffin riddle indicates that the person "using" the coffin--the person within it--doesn't know it. This isn't always the case, however. In this episode I explore the long-held fear of premature burial, from real world safety coffins, to the frequent appearance of this horrific fate in Golden Age horror comics.

For episode sources, scripts and more, visit healthyfears.com.

For my publication credits, visit JohnnyCompton.com

The opening theme for Healthy Fears: “Dark Game Background Loop” by Claudiu D. Moga, licensed through Envato.

The closing theme for Healthy Fears: “Hitchcock Thriller” by JBlanks, licensed through Envato.

Other music for this episode: "Grey Smoke" by Mocha Music licensed through Shutterstock

Sources:

• ArteLeonardo School - Florence, Italy, https://www.arteleonardo.com/en/blog/159/the-story-of-ginevra-degli-almieri.

• University of Michigan Library online - A Full and True Relation of a Maid Living in Newgate Street in London Who Was Buried on Saturday the 27 of This Instant December, and Taken up (Supposed to Be Alive) the 30 of the Same, Being Buried near Christ-Church Hospital in the Church-Yard of the Same., https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A40585.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1%3Bview.

• Angelone, Caitlin. 'To Be Buried Alive Is, beyond Question, the Most Terrible of These Extremes Which Has Ever Fallen to the Lot of Mere Mortality.', 12 Apr. 2016, https://histmed.collegeofphysicians.org/to-be-buried-alive-is-beyond-question/.

• Karswell. THE HORRORS OF IT ALL, http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/search/label/buried%20alive.

• “Premature Burial.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 2250, BMJ, 1904, pp. 386–386, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20279516.

• Sharry. “My Name Is Anna, but Call Me Annie.” A Haunting Legacy: The True Story of Annie Mary Twente, 30 Sept. 2018, https://ahauntinglegacy.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/call-me-anna/.

• “A Young Lady Buried Alive.” Daily Telegraph, 31 Mar. 1884, p. 4.

• “News Notes.” The Dayton Herald, 5 Feb. 1884, p. 3. 

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Sonny Liston to a couple of iconic 80's film heroes, multiple people and characters have provided examples of how fear can motivate you to win a fight.

HealthyFears.com

JohnnyCompton.com

Opening theme for Healthy Fears - "Dark Game Background Loop" by Claudiu D. Moga. Licensed through Envato Elements.

Closing theme for Healthy Fears - "Hitchcock Thriller" by JBlanks. Licensed through Envato Elements

Other music for this episode - "Dread" by Tenacious Orchestra. Licensed through Shutterstock Inc.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2 of Healthy Fears will begin in earnest starting February 15th, 2022, and continue with weekly episodes through a 20-episode season.

Also, with this announcement, I explain what's been going on with my writing, and anything else that kept me from the podcast through all of 2021.

HealthyFears.com

JohnnyCompton.com

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/healthy-fears.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.