Beth’s Spooky Story Time: Turn Off The Lights & Lock The Doors

Beth’s Spooky Story Time combines psychological terror, supernatural elements, and immersive sound design to create a truly unsettling listening experience.

“Horror works uniquely well in an audio-only format. The listener’s imagination fills in the blanks in ways far more terrifying than any visual could,” says Liam Heffernan, Showrunner and Founder of Mercury. “With Spooky Story Time, we’re creating a reliable twice-weekly destination for horror enthusiasts who want quality original fiction that genuinely disturbs.”

The podcast’s format features self-contained ten-minute, first-person stories. Unlike many horror podcasts that release monthly or seasonally, Beth’s Spooky Story Time promises to release episodes consistently twice a week, delivering a regular horror fix to its listeners.

“Our strategy with Spooky Story Time is all about building a community”, continues Liam, “so we’ve launched a Patreon page where we really want to encourage our supporters, both free and paid, to engage with the show, be part of it, and help it evolve into something huge.”

Paying followers currently benefit from exclusive forums and ad-free content, and listeners can sign up here: patreon.com/bethsspookystorytime

In early February, Mercury, a new UK-based podcast network, officially launched. It is designed to support the unique needs of independent creators looking to grow and monetize their podcasts.

Its offering differs from other networks, with a strong focus on ensuring podcasters keep full control of their content. Benefits include direct involvement in advertising and sponsorship decisions. Mercury also promises a more personalized approach than other networks, prioritizing value over volume.

Mercury tells us: “Delivering chilling original stories every Sunday and Wednesday, the series promises to redefine audio horror for the modern listener.”

It is the first of several original podcasts to be launched on the Mercury network, and champions a strong female-led show in a largely male-dominated arena (Creeps McPasta, Dr. NoSleep, Last Podcast on the Left, etc.).

Liam adds: “The reason we created the show is that we noticed a lot of the top horror fiction podcasts are narrated by men, whereas the listener demographic is very female-skewed. So we wanted to create something that felt more relatable and real, like Beth is sitting next to you under the covers, reading a scary story.”

The sound design of the show is rich, luscious, and full of the creepiest sounds you can imagine. The sound design is, in a way, a second narrator. It regulates the listeners’ fright thermostat and knows when to raise or lower the temperature on the spookiness.

What’s also a little perplexing and in line with the spooky vibe of the show, is that I can find nothing about Beth, the narrator / host. No last name. No work resume. No images in Google Search. She’s a mystery, just like the show. From her accent, we can assume she’s English, but who knows. After all, actor Gillian Anderson was superb as Margaret Thatcher in Netflix’s The Crown, and she was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Moreover, the show is structured to maximize listener participation. Beth asks for listeners to “Submit your own spooky stories to bethsspookystorytime@gmail.com.” In the episode, Beth then credits the listener who submitted the tale. This is a genius method for engaging listeners and forming a loyal base. In addition, Beth’s Spooky Story Time has an engaging and feature-laden Patreon page: patreon.com/bethsspookystorytime.

Finally, the episodes are so…create such a…I admit it. They scare the shit out of me.

The latest episode — Cabin 7: The Summer Camp from Hell — captures a trope of American life that’s existed for decades. That is sending kids to summer camp. The second part of that mythology is that camp counselors tell scary stories around the campfire. My parents sent me to summer camp, and the counselor's stories like The Purple Ghost scared me so bad that I zipped up my sleeping bag so tightly that just enough air reached me throughout the night.

The plot of the episode goes like this: “Some summer camps hold more than just memories — they hold secrets that should never be disturbed. This is my true story of Camp Wildwood, where Cabin 7 sat empty for a reason I was too young to understand.”

Take my word for it. Don’t go into Cabin 7!

If you’ve ever felt something watching you from the darkness, this spooky story will make you check every corner of your room. Because some camps never let their secrets go.

There are so many episodes like this one. The house with whispers in the night — soft voices calling your name when everyone was asleep. Or the one with the nightmares that, when the narrator investigates the source of their terror, they discover that some fears are all too real. Or the episode with the creature standing seven feet tall with burning pale eyes and too many sharp teeth. This creature of shadow and bone has been watching, waiting, and hunting.

Damn, where’s my sleeping bag!

From creepy ghost stories to true tales, these are the perfect scary bedtime stories for grown-ups. Fall asleep to creepy tales narrated by Beth. These are not for kids!

So turn off the lights, lock the doors, and wrap up tight… It’s time to begin Beth’s Spooky Story Time.