David and returning guest Ben Paddon have a Halloween tale to tell, as an old man recollects his dark experience one October 31st in the swamps of the Deep South. But first, they have to shamelessly plug the 2nd season of Ben’s Jump Leads audio drama.

Story by Dartmouth and Friends.

It’s the final episode of Poe Standards! Allen and David return for one more go at the worst of Poe (according to some rando) with a story set in Venice. Is this a tragic romance, a case of obsession, or something more? And how does it compare to the other stories covered thus far?

Story by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1834. Read along here.

All weird tales must come to an end, even the world’s weirdest criminal’s. We wrap up these serial adventures with the inexplicable return of Bostiff, the reveal of Doctor Satan’s peculiar plot, and a rare moment of humility from Ascott Keane. But we’re not quite done with Doctor Satan yet…

Story by Paul Ernst, first published in Weird Tales, September 1936.

It’s the end of the road for Doctor Satan’s stint in Weird Tales, but was the best saved for last? Abysmii, Allen and David aim to find out as the villain’s plot manifests in a millionaire’s retreat, where Ascott Keane finally gets called out and a sinister new character enters the picture: Madame Sin.

Story by Paul Ernst, first published in Weird Tales, September 1936.

A finale so weird, it had to be done twice! Well, sort of. Abysmii, Allen and David manage to patch together two different recording sessions to put a bow on this finale, where Doctor Satan gets egg on his face, Ascott realizes he doesn’t own a gun, and Bostiff gets an unceremonious sendoff.

Story by Paul Ernst, first published in Weird Tales, May 1936.

Normally reserved for our Patreon audience, we’d like to offer a full-course of Choice Dregs for you to try. These rambling warmups are normally what get us into the show, and due to a technical snafu we’ve got this delicacy as a backup. Topics include Platonic body horror, allegedly-prudish generations, fictionalizing how work kills you, War Planets virus and Date Everything.

The penultimate Doctor Satan story dials things way back after the last entry, leaving David, Allen and Abysmii to wonder again about the logical continuity of the series. Ascott Keane is somehow wowed by Doctor Satan’s ability to hypnotize people, an ability he himself possesses and uses to track his foe; meanwhile, Frank Exposition goes to a kissing party with a 10-cent book.

Story by Paul Ernst, first published in Weird Tales, May 1936.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the debut Five Nights at Freddy’s musical, David and Kaela reminisce with AJ and Gwen and discuss how the initial puppet-based collaboration with Markiplier turned into one of Random Encounters’ biggest undertakings, growing to become an entire series with its own myriad stories, challenges and lore.

Part 4 of Poe Standards takes people-watching to complicated and needless extremes as Allen and David witness a protagonist who has nothing better to do than spend an entire night pursuing an odd-looking stranger throughout London, legitimately for no real reason.

Story by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1845. Read along here.

Part 3 of Poe Standards has an upset: some things in the tier list got moved around, and now there’s an additional story for Allen and David to read! Poe tries his hand at writing a more esoteric fable, and our hosts try to discern what in the world is going on in this narrative of demon headpats, a man on a rock and hippopotami.

Story by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1838. Read along here.