The Elmwood Strain

Psychedelic horror crosses into something darker in the fourth episode of The Elmwood Strain, as a reunion among old friends becomes something Paige never agreed to.

She agrees to one night at Jed's basement with the people who used to know her best. A few drinks. A few cookies. A storm outside, the four of them in the same room for the first time in a decade. Crystal opens Paige's purse while she is in the bathroom. Lucas talks about fairy rings. Jed sits very still in the corner. And by the time Paige realizes what is in the cookies, her friends have already forced open the door to her higher consciousness — and there is something on the other side of it waiting for her.

Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode depicts non-consensual drugging. Listener discretion advised.

Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast, hallucination horror, betrayal horror, friend group horror, dinner party horror, folk horror podcast, cult horror, drug horror, paranoid horror, atmospheric dread, slow burn horror, horror podcast like Midsommar, horror podcast like The Invitation, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media.

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Folk horror and paranoid betrayal drive the third episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige discovers the truth about why she was called back.

Crystal and Jed are alive. Paige finds them holed up in the wreckage of Jed's parents' house. Lucas, it turns out, is also alive — the call to her office was a lie, an invitation, a hook. Her friends are dealing a drug that came out of the rotting forest. They are also selling it. Half the town is on it. And the more Paige learns about why they brought her home, the more she realizes that leaving may no longer be an option.

Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production.

LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners.

Popular Topics Include: folk horror podcast, drug horror, cult horror, friend group horror, paranoid thriller, slow burn horror, biological horror podcast, fungal horror, betrayal horror, psychedelic horror podcast, small town horror, atmospheric dread, horror podcast like Midsommar, horror podcast like The Invitation, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like Hereditary, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media.

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Biological horror takes hold in the second episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige discovers the town she remembers no longer exists.

Paige checks into the Elmwood Motel and finds the streets empty, the trees dying, and the few residents who remain looking at her like she is something they are trying to remember. Something is growing in the forest at the edge of town — pale, fleshy, expanding fast. The locals call it the rot. They speak about it the way you would speak about a god.

Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production.

LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners.

Popular Topics Include: biological horror podcast, fungal horror, ecological horror, cosmic horror, Lovecraftian horror, body horror, dying town horror, small town horror, folk horror, atmospheric dread, nature horror, slow burn horror, psychedelic horror podcast, horror podcast like Color Out of Space, horror podcast like Annihilation, horror podcast like The Last of Us, horror podcast like Old Gods of Appalachia, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media.

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Psychedelic horror and survivor grief collide in the opening episode of The Elmwood Strain.

Paige Johnson built her life around getting out of Elmwood. New city, new apartment, new locks on every door. Ten years ago a sixteen-year-old named Hunter Zedrow walked into her high school's graduation assembly with a homemade vest and a semiautomatic rifle and killed forty-two people. Paige and her three best friends — Crystal, Lucas, and Jed — skipped the assembly that morning. They were the lucky ones.

Today, on what would have been Lucas's birthday, Paige gets a phone call at her office. Lucas is dead. And she is about to find herself driving back to a town she swore she would never see again.

Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production.

CONTENT NOTE: This episode opens with the depiction of a school shooting. Listener discretion advised.

Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast, school shooting survivor horror, trauma horror, survivor guilt, PTSD horror, small town horror, return home horror, female-led horror podcast, slow burn horror, atmospheric horror, grief horror, biological horror podcast, folk horror, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like The Last of Us, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media.

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Introducing THE ELMWOOD STRAIN, a new scripted horror podcast from Violet Hour Media.

A traumatized woman reluctantly returns to her dying hometown to find the stoner friends she abandoned are hooked on a strange new drug—with bizarre, seemingly supernatural qualities.

Subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

LISTENER WARNING: This program includes depictions of violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for listeners. Please proceed with caution.

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