Undertow: Trio of Nightmares
Undertow is Realm’s premier showcase of original audio horror. Hosted by audio horror pioneer and creator Fred Greenhalgh, each season presents a spooky standalone story, so you can dive in anytime... if you dare!
Current Season: Trio of Nightmares
Three novellas from Maine-based creators of horror: Chris Bernier, Katherine Silva, and Morgan Sylvia. Brought to life by naturalistic performances and immersive sound design, this season will bring you to a funeral for the magical dead, an estate in Northern England haunted by an accursed art collection, and a world ravaged by unearthly beings after genetic experiments go wildly wrong.
Craving More Frights? Explore Past Seasons:
Season 1: Simpson Falls - A reporter awakens malevolent forces in his haunted hometown.
Season 2: Blood Forest - Every 20 years, werewolves descend for a night of horror. Starring Jack Falahee.
Season 3: Dark Tome - A teen unleashes a terrifying story from a spooky bookshop.
Season 4: The Well - Family secrets resurface, setting loose horror from an old well.
Season 5: The Pulse - A meteorite awakens animalistic instincts in a group of treasure hunters.
Season 6: The Sisters - True events inspire a chilling tale of occult & possession. Starring Mae Whitman.
Season 7: Last Call - A hustler gambles for his life against the Grim Reaper.
Season 8: Narcosis - A rescue dive turns deadly beneath the waves.
Season 9: The Harrowing - A barbaric crime heralds the rise of an ancient evil.
Season 10: Hovering - A police officer is pulled into unimaginable circumstances when he starts investigating calls about an object in the sky.
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76
The Well, E2
Lizzie and her new friend, Kyle the talking goat, have found a portal to the magical land of Fae. Unfortunately this has put them right in the darkest depths of the ghoul tree forest.
40 min
77
The Well, E1
Lizzie returns to her family’s ancestral farmhouse in rural Maine and discovers tapes in the attic that reveal a chilling family secret.
34 min
78
Keeper of the Dead
Teenager Zelle finds herself introduced to her family’s tradition – and amazing power – to hold audiences with the dead. But do the town elders in this remote part of Idaho have Zelle and her mother's best interests in mind? Keeper of the Dead is written by Marguerite Croft, a writer, podcaster, and mother based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose work whose leans towards the intersection of real people and the fantastic. The production is performed by Maiya Koloski, with Shannon Campbell, Christine Marshall, Chris Price, Joe Bearor and Casey Turner.
47 min
79
Dark Tome, E18
Joanna, her brother Oliver, and her dad are all trapped in the upstairs of their house, with a bear prowling downstairs. However, as her father plows deeper into a bottle of whisky, it becomes clear that human beasts may be the most fearsome of all… Meanwhile, the stage is set for the grand finale of the Dark Tome. In the hands of the Parabellum agents, Cassie seems helpless to stop th summoning of a great evil. Can the young enchantress use what she’s learned about the book to stop it?
34 min
80
Dark Tome, E17
Cassie finds herself trapped with several other women in a monstrous situation imagined by a twisted doctor in post-WW1 England. This is the world of ""Sing Me Your Scars,"" by Damien Angelica Waters. In this chilling treatise on subservience and bodies, we meet Victoria, a woman torn between her desire for freedom, and her desire not to rot away.
36 min
81
Dark Tome, E16
Mr. Gussy returns, but what he finds on the other side was not what he expected. We venture to the salt-sprayed shores of New Brunswick, where time has been hard on Sammy. But the promise of three square meals and the hunt for a sea monster makes him believe there might be such a thing as second chances. We head out to sea in search of the Nennorluk, in this sea-splattered adaptation of the short story of the same name by Chris Tarry.
38 min
82
Dark Tome, E15
Cassie faces a choice, and who better to help her understand the importance - and power - of choices than Sudha, a Vishakanya, or poison maiden, a female assassin whose very touch is deadly?
32 min
83
The Point Mystic Investigation, Part 2
Today we follow Point Mystic's second (and final) part of their investigation into the tragic death of Dr. Joseph Ricci, the destruction of his research into doors to other worlds, and of the disappearance of one of the most infamous books in occult history - the Dark Tome. Part 2 of 2
41 min
84
The Point Mystic Investigation, Part 1
Liber Tenebris - aka The Dark Tome - remains an object of great speculation and mystery within occult circles, until now. n a special crossover episode with the podcast Point Mystic, we take a look into the legacy of Professor Joseph Ricci and the disappearance of some of the most important research ever conducted into supernatural doorways. Part 1 of 2
33 min
85
Dark Tome, E14
Cassie returns to her high school guidance teacher's office, looking for answers. Mr. Carter tells his story, about how he first encountered the Dark Tome, and the terrible effects it had on his life. Now, Cassie faces a choice of grace consequence.
24 min
86
Dark Tome, E13
"Cassie's transported to a Caribbean island in the near-future, where a devastating 'duppy tide' caused utter devastation… And has led to a new, perverse form of tourism. But the tourists are in for more than they bargained for when they learned of the mutated fauna in this home that gave birth to zombis. Buckle in for a tour of the underwater Caribbean in ""Inselberh,"" by Nalo Hopkinson."
31 min
87
Dark Tome, E12
"Kim and Cassie hide away at a rich family's home in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town. But, Kim isn't letting Cassie go without learning some of her secrets… And what Cassie reveals, may be as much as Kim can handle. In the world of BIRDS OF AZALEA STREET, by Nova Ren Suma, a monster lurks behind closed doors... A monster tolerated by the sweet neighbors, who will turn a blind eye to monstrosity if it'll help keep property values in check."
30 min
88
Dark Tome, E11
"Cassie's saved by a friend, but learns that her world has changed more than she could have imagined while she's been gone. Worlds gone wrong turns out to be a theme, when she goes on her next trip, to the world of THE BACCHAE, by Elizabeth Hand. In a world where environmental destruction has poisoned life to a breaking point, what consequence will fall on those who were implicit in its demise?"
34 min
89
Dark Tome, E10
"""I'm not a ghost!"" -- ""All ghosts say that."" Cassie is flung to a world where body modifications are routine and one daughter of a Chinese immigrant is prepared to make an unbelievable sacrifice to save her own skin. This is the world of Alyssa Wong's NATURAL SKIN, a harrowing tale of distorted ideas of beauty in a near-future dystopian Toronto, Canada."
23 min
90
The Floodgates of Willowhill
"""Everybody whose grown up in Faulkesville, well, they’ve always guessed there’s something wrong with the woods on the edge of town, the ones that border Willowhill, something people don’t like to bring up in polite company."" Teenage Samantha keeps her nose in her books and her head in the clouds - in lands far beyond the borders of the small town of Faulkesville where she's grown up. It's not just boredom Samantha's escaping - Willowhill is where her parents mysteriously died two years ago, and where her Uncle Ted and buddy Hank Jedsoe are about to discover the real horrors that lurk in the haunted woods."
38 min
91
Dark Tome, E9
Gussy and Cassie learned they've "Gone sideways" - the Dark Tome has returned them to the world, but not *their* world. As Cassie struggles to understand the predicament the book has put her in, Gussy recounts the heartbreaking tale of how he got his hands on the Dark Tome, and the cost the book has caused him.
64 min
92
Dark Tome, E8
Young Lettie can see things through her magic eye - things that might be better if she not see. Grownup's secrets. Grownup's true intentions. But when she learns of her brother's unjust arrest and sham trial, it's her seeing eye - and some conjure magic from her Mama - that may help change the fate of her big brother. We experience the flip side of folk magic in Trial Day, by Tananarive Due.
51 min
93
Dark Tome, E7
Cassie returns from her traumatic trip to a haunted - and haunting - family reunion. As she attempts to re-align her world, Gussy stumbles out of his and into the world of Jonathan Maberry's INK. Gerald 'Monk' Addison is a skip-tracer and P.I. on Boundary Street, down the hill from where the good people go. He’s on the side of the angels, but he’s not very nice. Most of Monk’s clients are bail bondsmen and bad lawyers, but every now and then he takes a special case. He’s hired by the ghost of a murder victim to solve their untimely death and exact justice. But hiring Monk comes with a price, even for the dead.
56 min
94
Dark Tome, E6
Cassie returns home after the wondrous night at the prom and instead finds her dreams shattered. She splits, and seeks refuge in Mr. Gussy's bookshop... and the Dark Tome. This time, the book calls out for her. She finds herself outside a foggy farmhouse alongside an estranged son returning home. But the homecoming is replete with family secrets, and the demons the father sought to hide will make themselves known.
48 min
95
Dark Tome, E5
Quick witted but unlucky in love, Jana is dragged by her friend Erin to attend an 'eye gazing party,' a new age phenomenon run by a couple of hucksters on the far edge of a small Texas town. Jana's skepticism turns to confusion when Erin - and all the girls at the party - are entranced by an unremarkable man ""Thirteen."" As part of ""Dark Duets,"" mojo storyteller Joe R Lansdale paired up with his daughter, Kasey Lansdale, to pen this tale of a monster whose power is through the eyes. Featuring a special performance and selections of music by Kasey Lansdale.
47 min
96
Dark Tome, E4
It's the night of the Senior Prom, and rather than show up awkwardly, Cassie has decided to stay home with the Dark Tome. But, she soon meets a mysterious stranger with an invitation.
36 min
97
Dark Tome, E3
Being a miner is like playing Russian roulette every day of your life. Any morning you might wake up, and find the chamber with the bullet. Tommy - the youngest in a long proud line of West Virginia coal miners - finds out what it feels like to have your card be up when an explosion traps him and a dozen other souls two miles beneath the earth. With oxygen growing thin, their only prayer might come from an old ghost story.
51 min
98
Dark Tome, E2
Cassie knows better but can't escape the temptation to return to Mr. Gussy's bookshop. She finds the old man frustrated that he can't make the magical book work. It's take someone younger - someone for whom the walls between this world and the next are a little thinner. They catch a whiff of fresh bread, and are transported to the world of Catherynne M. Valente's fable ""The Bread We Eat in Dreams,"" where a certain personable demon named Agnes will recount the story of her ejection from hell and the little hamlet that grew up around her.
68 min
99
Dark Tome, E1
We meet teenager Cassie Pinkham, who grudgingly is reading books for the cantakerous bookkeeper, Mr. Gussy, as he recovers from surgery. Gussy sends Cassie back to his bookstore, warning Cassie that there is a particular book - The Dark Tome - that is not to be opened. Cassie, naturally, decides to open up the cover and see what it's all about. This flings Cassie into the world of acclaimed writer Joe Hill's chilling fable, ""The Devil on the Staircase,"" narrated by a man who walks crooked steps for a living, before discovering a door that leads him straight to hell.
52 min
100
Curious History of the Dark Tome
We transition from the Blood Forest to the world of the Dark Tome via an apocryphal internet essay written in 1999 by a rare book specialist in Simpson Falls, Maine. We learn all about the Dark Tome's strange origins, its connection with lycanthropy, and its weird journey from Mesopotamia to rural Maine.
21 min