Scared To Death
The paranormal comes to life as husband-wife duo Dan Cummins (acclaimed standup comedian and true horror fan) and Lynze Cummins (costume and wardrobe stylist for numerous film and television productions) share terrifying stories that will leave you sleeping with the lights on. Dan’s goal? To scare Lynze with creepy accounts of demonic possession, shadow people, and other eerie phenomena. And when he’s done, Lynze fights back with chilling fan-submitted tales of true horror. Together, they explore the darkest corners of the web, dusty old books, and even their own eerie surroundings—a studio filled with occult objects and locate...
He Was Really There
Five new tales of horror this week!! The first four are definitely creepy while the last one is a great confirmation tale. We begin with a story that revolves around a young boy getting the biggest basement bedroom in his family’s new house. He's excited about it until he's not. Then comes the story of a child seeing something under her bed that terrifies her. Was it just in her imagination? If so, then why decades later, did something else happens that makes her question what she saw as a kid? Next up, some a young man receives a...
Nightmare Fuel #55: Resurrection Final Chapter: Ashes of Faith
In this fifty-fifth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we reach the Children of Abraham's day of resurrection. When Abraham is to take the body of his son, return to the land of the living, and kick off a Biblical apocalypse. Will any of those currently trapped in Belial's underground chapel survive?
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The House That Never Empties
Dan has some older tales for us this week. We start our journey of horror at the Ferry Plantation House where not just one but many ghosts seem to be hanging around, especially one accused witch, Grace. Then we go explore seances with Daniel Dunglas Home- was he a fraudster or were his seances real, you tell us! Lynze has four different ghosty tales this week. From catching something creepy on a sleep app to a spirit caught in a couch to the spirit of a man who insists he must come in and ending with a little boy...
The Ibadan Forest of Horror
Dan considers a creepy question in his first story this week. We’ll explore the strange phenomenon of some people seeming to have known in advance exactly when they were going to die. Is that something you want to know if you had the chance? Then, we’ll head to Nigeria to look at the disturbing claims that came from a forested area just outside the big city of Ibadan. Are people still being sacrifice to something ? Lynze has two awesome stories! The first explores a local Kentucky legend, Hatchet Harry's. When a group of young kids test their limits...
Nightmare Fuel #54: Resurrection Chapter Five: Father Knows Best
In this fifty-fourth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, the walls are closing in on Zander as the clock ticks closer to December 6th, 1999. More of our characters storylines converge in this penultimate episode, and one of them is severely punished by the Children of Abraham in such a brutal and humiliating way...
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Belmez Faces
Dan starts with the story of a man, who has gotten sober in the last year, wondering if he's seeing things due to his drug use or something else. Next, we travel to Spain to learn about the Belmez Faces. Then, Lynze has two truly incredible tales to share. The first takes some attention- get your white board ready. A family curse that goes on for years takes stage in this tale. Lastly, someone is eating the leftovers, but who? You will be surprised!
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The Man On The Gate
A ton of stories this week! Dan has six tales from all across the globe! A faceless man in Dublin, a possession in Mexico and more! Lynze also takes us away from the US to Japan! Enjoy this weeks smattering of tales!
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Nightmare Fuel #53: Resurrection Chapter Four: Smile. Nod. Play Your Part.
In this fifty-third installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we return to Jonesberg, Idaho. Sammy Alvarez is wrestling with his response to what he saw in the underground chapel. Joey Sherman gets a surprise late night visitor. And Zander asks Tissie some long-awaited questions before having one seriously f*cked up dream...
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It Prayed With Us
What if some demons aren’t repelled by scripture but are attracted to it? After a minor car accident, a husband in suburban Iowa becomes more devout than ever. At first, it feels like some sort of spiritual awakening. But what if he opened a door that something stepped through. Then, we head to a small English parish in 2006, when a devoted family allegedly watched their son grow closer to God after a youth retreat. But when he began reciting scripture backwards, praying throughout the night, and knowing things he shouldn’t know, his parents began to wonder if his new...
The Toyol
First, we’ll go to Malaysia to hear about the Toyol this week. When cash starts vanishing, a young family assumes stress, forgetfulness or maybe even betrayal are at the root. Then their six-year-old points to the ceiling and whispers about “the little boy” who comes at night and whole new series of possibilities unfolds. Then we travel to Japan to learn about the Nure-Onna. An American couple follows the sound of cries to find a bundled infant on a lonely riverbank. Or did they? Lynze has three tales this week. Her first is full of sorrow and strange moments...
Nightmare Fuel #52: Resurrection Chapter Three: Mayberry Above/Hell Below
In this fifty-second installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we continue with a story about Jonesberg, Idaho's Cult of Abraham. The cult comes for Sammy Alvarez now, trying to silence him before his big, revealing broadcast. Will they be successful? Also, Joey Sherman returns to try and convince Tissie that she's not trapped in the life she's been brought up in, and Zander continues to try and figure out just what the Hell is going on with everyone around him.
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The Man In My Reflection
This week, Dan tries a new way of telling stories, which was so fun! He gives us SIX small stories, all of them uniquely creepy, although one might be comforting. A mirror story, a ghost claim, a very disturbing voicemail, a story problematic door, another voicemail, and a final story about a chair that won’t stay put. Then Lynze has really different approach to her tales this week with some personal experience and set up about Peggy The Doll, followed by two creepy tales about Peggy. Be sure to let us know what happens after you stare at Peggy...
The Ghost of Roland Edwards
We start this week in New Zealand where a man goes ghost hunting in the supposedly very haunted former Napier Prison. Did he have an intense encounter with building’s most infamous spirit? Then, Dan shares three smaller tales: first involves two people hanging out alone in a park at night, having a very strange, dangerous, and disturbing encounter. Then we get a creepy baby monitor story. And the lastly, a series of confusing and disturbing texts between two people freaks us out! Lynze has her usual two tales this week. The first takes us to the middle of nowhere...
Nightmare Fuel #51: Resurrection Chapter Two: Everybody Knows Something
In this fifty-first installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we return to the fictional town of Jonesberg, Idaho where a mystery that Zander Reid seems to be in the center of deepens. A fresh murder reveals what the Children of Abraham are capable of. The source of Tissie's evasiveness is revealed. And a mysterious woman's appearance gives Sammy the clue to connect dots he's been staring at for years.
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The Offering
A quiet housesitting job in the Danish countryside is nothing but peace and silence until two strange visitors ringed the doorbell in Dan's first story of the week. Then, we travel to the small town of Fouke, Arkansas. Is the Fouke Monster just folklore… or something very real that’s still around?A call to a pest company regarding some flies leads to a very creepy realization in Lynze's first story this week. Then she takes us to a college campus for a modern encounter and the lore of the faceless nun.
Crime Wave At Sea 2.0!
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Brunckow's Bloody Cabin
We head to the Arizona desert, just a few miles outside of Tombstone, where there sits a small adobe ruin with a body count that defies belief. More than twenty men are thought to have been murdered on this small, dusty patch of land - and according to decades of witnesses, some of them have never stopped killing each other. This is the story of Brunckow Cabin. Then we head to South Carolina - to the Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort, located next to the Preserve at Verdae Golf Course. A place where one of our longtime researchers, Olivia L...
Nightmare Fuel #50: Resurrection Chapter One: The House Across the Highway
In this fiftieth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins (how are we already at fifty episodes!?), we travel to the fictional town of Jonesberg, Idaho. A town full of secrets, disappearances, and mysteries, where a series of strange events in the mid-1970s set a plan in motion that is still mysteriously in place in 1999.
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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How Could I Help Her?
Dan brings us one, long tale today. We meet a young woman who moved into an old San Francisco house with roommates and then began to hear things. The more she hears, the creepier and more disturbing things get. I don’t want to give away any more than that. No lore, no historical set ups, just a deeply disturbing story. Lynze balances out the show with three tales the go from creepy, to creepier, to creepiest! We begin with two young kids creeping out their mom, then we go on to an uninvited visitor and wrap up with three...
Samoa’s Ghost Sickness
Dan shares tales of two islands this week. We’ll head to the remote Pacific Samoan island of Ofu, where there’s a stretch of beach so feared that many locals refuse to walk it after dark. A place believed to be a gathering ground for spirits who’ve never crossed over. A place where ghosts can do more than just scare you. Next, we’ll head to the other side of the world to the Azores. High above a volcanic crater on São Miguel, an abandoned luxury hotel looms out of the fog - a five-star dream that collap...
The Demonic Possession of Julia Melis
We begin this week in 1970’s Sardinia, where a quiet, deeply devout teenage girl began to wake up every night at exactly 3:00 a.m., convinced something terrible was standing next to her bed… watching her… and waiting to enter her. Then we head to Christmas Day, 1929, when a well-liked North Carolina farmer committed the unspeakable. Has it spawned paranormal activity? Then we find ourselves visiting the same house, ten years apart, both times the home is for sale and empty... or is it? Lastly, a sweet, sad and comforting tale of a couple so deeply connected, not even death can kee...
Nightmare Fuel #49: The Long Dark Morning
In this forty-ninth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we travel to Tromsø, Norway, where during the small, vibrant city's long, dark winter, a morning meeting at Kessel Technologies AS has been interrupted by violence. And soon, a few executives will learn that the man coming for them is not what they should fear the most...
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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Room 1009
Dan takes us to downtown Dallas, across from Union Station, to an old hotel that’s changed names so many times it’s like it keeps trying to hide from its past. Room 1009 doesn't seem to care what the hotel is called, though. Stories of encounters with its ghosts remain unchanged. The room allegedly has a long, sordid history of murders and suspicious deaths tied to it. Then we explore the lore of the elegant Adolphous Hotel. It’s been collecting tragedy since the first month it opened. On the nineteenth floor, guests still report hearing a woman sobbing like h...
The Woman of the Woods
Dan gets us going with an unsolved paranormal mystery double headed this year! A nursing student who crashed her car on a lonely New Hampshire highway in the middle of a winter night seemingly vanished . Locals whisper that Route 112 is haunted by “the Woman of the Woods,” a figure seen walking the tree line before other strange crashes and disappearances. Did Maura Murray step into the forest that night to somewhere the living can’t follow? Then we explore the story of Barbara Bolick, who took a short day hike and in less than a minute she was simply… gone. Then...
Nightmare Fuel #48: The Liminal Lodge (4 of 4)
In the conclusion to this story, Ellen, Marco, and Cal come up with a plan to save Ned's soul and imprison Dr. Blackwell. Will they free him? Or will Dr. Blackwell now not only possess Ned's soul, but Ellen's as well? What will become of the Liminal Lodge if the plan doesn't work? And what will become of it if it does?
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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The Face Peelers Of Peru
Dan takes us to Peru for our last stories of 2025. We begin in the Amazon, where indigenous villagers say seven-foot-tall armored beings with glowing yellow eyes drift through the trees at night, freezing their victims in place and taking “samples” of skin, fat, and organs. Then we go beneath the city of Lima, to a maze of tunnels stacked with the bones of tens of thousands of colonial dead, arranged in spirals and pits like macabre artwork. Tourists and locals alike report getting lost in the darkness of the San Francisco Catacombs - hearing whispered prayers from sealed passageways and m...
The Mortal Immortal
It's our seventh annual holiday episode where Dan shares a classic tale! This year, he picked a tale from the amazing Mary Shelley! We hope you enjoy this modern telling of an old story from the mother of horror! Then Lynze has three tales to give us. The first is about an unknown haunted doll, the second is a beautiful confirmation tale from the other side and ends with a topsy turvy tale of a ghost named Genevieve.
December Charity: This year, with your help, we were able to support 91 kids in having a wonderful holiday season...
Nightmare Fuel #47: The Liminal Lodge (3 of 4)
In this chapter, Ned nearly dies when he previews Dr. Blackwell's "Quiet Room" right before his sister Ellen brings a team the Liminal Lodge to save him. Will they be able to rescue him? Will they take him to Tacoma General Hospital and have him committed to the psychiatric ward? Or will Dr. Blackwell keep him in the Liminal Lodge, and finally remove him from his "shell"?
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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The Hushed House of Borgvattnet
Like always, Dan has two awesome tales this week! We are headed to Sweden! The first story is about Borgvattnet Vicarage. For nearly a century, this remote, rural house has terrified priests, guests, and paranormal investigators with apparitions, phantom voices, and a grieving woman known only as the Gray Lady. Then we go deep in the forests of Värmland. Frammegården is an 18th-century parsonage so haunted that priests, investigators, and overnight guests have all fled in terror. From crawling shadow figures to violent attacks and the infamous “Black Hallway,” this house’s spirits seem less interested in communicati...
The Brewer's Box
A really fun show this week with stories that are somewhat traditional and somewhat not! We hope you enjoy the variety. Dan takes us to Ohio for a dybbuk box tale, which is wildly interesting. Then we head to North Carolina to explore the Duke mansion. Lynze has three short stories this week. She covers a new kind of fear based coping mechanism, then takes us to Myrtle's Plantation and lastly, we fist fight a ghost together!
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Nightmare Fuel #46: The Liminal Lodge (2 of 4)
In this chapter, Ned pushes further into his troubling pursuit of previewing the afterlife and contacting Courtney, guided by the spirit of Dr. Blackwell herself, who Ned's sister Ellen does not believe has her brother's safety and wellbeing in mind. She and her mother look to have Ned involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility before he completely sheds his "shell." (Also - I explain why this switched from a two-parter to a four-parter in the intro.)
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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The Lament Box
Dan begins with a little known case of the Warren's about a grieving family heirloom and a century-old pact. Then, we’ll examine what many consider to be America’s first documented ghost story. Was Sullivan, Maine really home to America’s first documented ghost? Then, Lynze gives us two unsettling tales this week. Her first takes us to a prison infirmary for a both a paranormal and very real life set of fears. She wraps up this week with a teacher and a student both experiencing something rather bizarre.
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Jenny Greenteeth
We head to Northern England for Dan's first tale and meet the creepy bog hag, Jenny Greenteeth. She’s the monster kids went to sleep fearing for centuries there, worried the next time they strayed to close to a pond’s edge, they might get sucked in and never return alive. Then we go to Japan for more water horror. We’ll meet the kappa a river monster who might come for your butthole if you don’t give him a cucumber. Finally, we’ll head to Australia and meet a billabong-haunting cryptid called the Bunyip. Lynze is sharing a creepy...
Nightmare Fuel #45: The Liminal Lodge (1 of 4)
In this forty-fifth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, tech millionaire Ned Watkins becomes dangerously obsessed with resurrecting a century-old sanitarium’s occult legacy after uncovering the hidden journals of its founder, Dr. Mildred Blackwell. When his sister Ellen visits, she fears the lodge isn’t just haunting her brother… it’s consuming him.
** originally envisioned as a two-parter at the time of this recording, it is now a four-parter **
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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The Science Of Poltergeists
Dan offers us a poltergeist double header this week! We start with some wild, cool and interesting science that explores these strange occurrences. From Zimbabwe to Kentucky, poltergeists know no bounds. Then, in response to Lynze's request for widow tales, she brings us just that. Lastly, a very detailed encounter from one man on his daily run and the strange, out of date character he runs into.
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The Ceiling Man
We head to South Africa to start this week. Two South African men vanished from separate hospitals in recent years - only to be discovered days later, their bodies found in the strangest of places. Official explanations have never added up. Were they murdered? And if so… was their murderer human? Or something else entirely? Then we’ll head to England, where, perched high above the sea on the island’s northeast coast, the ruins of Whitby Abbey have stood for nearly fourteen centuries - silent, watching, and supposedly haunted.Then, a Veteran shares with us his tale of something...
Nightmare Fuel #44: The Curse of Captain Bannister’s Gold
In this forty-forth installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we head back to 1921, when sixteen year-old Tommy Calloway is discovered as the sole crew member aboard a shipwreck near North Carolina's Cape Fear Lighthouse. The story of what happened to the rest of the crew will strongly test the head keeper's skepticism of the supernatural... before it smashes it to pieces.
For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com
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The Man Across The Street
Dan has a modern encounter claim revolving around a man and his friend seeing something across the street from his house when he was a kid. the events that occur years later make him think what they thought they saw wasn’t just in their heads. Then, we return to extraterrestrial lore, and explore a series of sightings in Scotland in the 1990s. Lynze tells the story of a long known haunted college campus with a specific tale of dorm room visitor who just won't go away. Then, we explore the possibility that we might have a Scared To De...
Nightmare Fuel #43: The Dead House
In this forty-third installment of fictional horror written and narrated by Dan Cummins, we head back to 1985, when ten year-old Ryan Mellard and three friends went trick-or-treating for the first time without parental supervision. When they passed by The Dead House, a site supposedly haunted by the ghost of a woman who used to live there, they dared Ryan to enter. And what he found inside changed him forever. Happy Halloween!
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NF Halloween Re-Release: Sleep Paralysis
Hello Creeps and Peepers! Welcome to one last Halloween revisiting of a few of my favorite Nightmare Fuels as we lead up to tomorrow's special new Halloween Nightmare Fuel release. Today, we look back (or take a first look if you're new!) at a story set in San Francisco, where a monster from Hmong horror lore, the Night Hag known as Dab Tsog, shows the young members of one Hmong family how it is anything but harmless superstition.
This episode is scored by Logan Keith. We recommend listening with headphones to get the full effect of all...
NF Halloween Re-Release: The Disruptor
Hello Creeps and Peepers! Welcome to yet another Halloween revisiting of a few of my favorite Nightmare Fuels as we lead up a special new Halloween Nightmare Fuel release. Today, we look back (or take a first look if you're new!) at when Claudia Nelson's life is changed forever by a shooting star that lands on her property outside of the fictional town of Dillon. What cosmic horror does the cursed meteorite bring? And what Hell will it unleash on Claudia and the other residents of her small, remote town?
This episode is scored by Logan Keith...