Ain't It Scary? with Sean & Carrie

04/02/2025

Huge friends of the pod, including Thou Shalt Not Suffer: The Witch Trial Podcast (now known as Witch Hunt) and CT WITCH Memorial have made some huuuuge steps in exoneration for the Connecticut Witch Trial victims - with a memorial on the way! We are so happy that these people are finally getting justice, and so proud of all the hard work done to get there.

12/12/2024

An Important Message from Carrie:

Hi, Scary Squad! As you’re probably noticing, there was no new episode in your feed today, and no announcement we were skipping this week previously. That’s because we had a rather unexpected emergency - as you listeners may have heard on the show, I’m currently pregnant with our first little gremlin, and he’s decided to make things quite dramatic by having my water break at only 25 weeks. Though luckily I have not gone into labor, I will be in the hospital until I deliver - and best case scenario, we’re hoping to keep him “on the inside” until 34 weeks, which brings us to mid-February.

We had mentioned beginning a “parental leave” of sorts for the show sometime in early 2025, but it looks like the time has come much sooner than we’d hoped or, obviously, expected. At this point, hospital life - with its many comings and goings and beeps and boops - is not super conducive to recording quality content. However, since I am stuck here for the near future, at least, I am hoping to still engage with you all and perhaps we can even get some little recordings up here and there to check in.

Both Sean and I apologize for this unexpected break, and it’s open-ended nature. But, please know, no matter how long we may need, the show is simply on a hiatus of sorts - we will be back, because we love making Ain’t it Scary? and, especially, interacting with all of you. So it’s certainly not goodbye, but just see you later - with some check-ins along the way, hopefully.

Much love to all of you listeners, our Patreon family, and our own families and friends and care team, who have been so supportive and wonderful during this time. Everything is currently going as best it could in this situation, and otherwise, we’re doing well.

Love to you all!
-Carrie (and Sean) 🖤💚

06/12/2024

**LATE POST!**

We returned to the autumn of 1885 last week where, in Austin, Texas, six victims - most of them Black domestic servants - have already been claimed by a killer who has successfully eluded police for nearly a year. On Christmas Eve, the midnight murderer's fury reaches its deadly peak.

In the shocking conclusion to our two-parter on this case, Sean details the brutal "double event" that makes the end of the killing spree before delving into the details of the investigation...such as it was. With hundreds of arrests and zero convictions that stuck, police seemed to be at a dead end by 1886...and yet, the murders still stop cold. This episode, we try to figure out why.

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 💚🖤

We return to the autumn of 1885 this week where, in Austin, Texas, six victims - most of them Black domestic servants - have already been claimed by a killer who ha…

20/11/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

Beginning in late 1884 and throughout 1885, Austin, the boomtown capitol of Texas, was terrorized and sensationalized by a series of horrific murders. One man, six women and a young girl would be claimed by the spree before the year was out. Most of the victims were Black, and many of them worked as domestic servants. Despite over 400 arrests, the crimes remain to this day... Officially, that is.

In the first of a two-parter, Sean introduces the growing city of Austin in the late 19th century and takes us through the details of the Annihilator’s early attacks. Footprints are analyzed, police are baffled, and a famed short story author makes a surprise cameo.

Tune in next week for the final murders, the investigation, and the thrilling conclusion of our series!

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 🖤💚

Beginning in late 1884 and throughout 1885, Austin, the boomtown capitol of Texas, was terrorized and sensationalized by a series of horrific murders. One man, six …

29/10/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

A topical storm washes over the podcast this week as we wade into the controversy and around weather modification. As conversation online takes a turn for the unhinged in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we take a quick look at the reality of changing the , Ain't It Scary style. ⛈️

Sean does his best with the science (and pseudoscience) as he takes us through attempts at including Wilhelm Reich's orgone cannons and government cloud seeding programs like Skywater, Operation Popeye and Project Stormfury. It's...not as much of a Roland Emmerich movie as you might think. 🌪️

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 💚🖤

A topical storm washes over the podcast this week as we wade into the controversy and conspiracy around weather modification. As conversation online takes a turn fo…

29/10/2024

**LATE POST!**

In this pre-Halloween special edition of “Spooky Chat,” Sean and Carrie run down announcements ranging from the mundane to the life-changing before discussing the flicks we’ve been watching this , and the best and worst possible Ain’t It Scary party guests.

7:11 - Urban Legend
11:11 - Halloween (1978)
18:55 - The Addams Family
21:20 - Casper
23:41 - IT Chapters 1 & 2
33:24 - Final Destination
38:30 - Hocus Pocus & Under Wraps
43:25 - Best/Worst Halloween Party Guests (from the AIS archives)

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy! 🖤💚

In this pre-Halloween special edition of "Spooky Chat," Sean and Carrie run down announcements ranging from the mundane to the life-changing before discussing the f…

19/10/2024

Thanks to our friends over at Spooky Little Halloween for featuring the show on their roundup of Halloweeny podcasts! 🖤🎃

Looking for a new Halloween podcast?

My list: https://www.spookylittlehalloween.com/blog/podcasts-for-halloween-lovers

14/10/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

Here on the show we love to get in the spooky season spirit by gathering around the virtual bonfire, throwing some sand into the flames, and getting into some famous urban legends. This year is no different - and now, along with our past explorations into the folklore surrounding tainted candy and the Bloody Mary ritual, we’re adding three more legendary deep dives into the mix, all around the theme of “Teens in Trouble.”

First, we take a drive down Lovers Lane and try to avoid the Hook-Handed Man - but The Boyfriend’s Death just might be inevitable...

Next, we enroll in college to find out why the dorm life might not be the safest life with The Roommate (and also check out the creepy story of The Licked Hand)...

And, finally, we return to a classic and a reminder of why babysitting was so dang stressful with the tale of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs...

Join us for frights, folklore and the surprising truths behind these classic American legends!

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 🖤💚

Here on the show we love to get in the spooky season spirit by gathering around the virtual bonfire, throwing some sand into the flames, and getting into some famou…

06/10/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Over one million acres of sparsely populated, occasionally-on-fire wilderness, where the soil isn’t good for growing anything but legends. Join us on a tour of Jersey’s and all the creepies and that supposedly make them their home, from to the famed .

Go easy on Sean, Jersey-ites! He meant to say “pork roll.”

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 💚🖤

The New Jersey Pine Barrens: Over one million acres of sparsely populated, occasionally-on-fire wilderness, where the soil isn't good for growing anything but legen…

28/09/2024

**NEW EPISODE!!**

On June 18th, 2023, the underwater tourism company launched its Titan submersible, which was heading down with five passengers - billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, deep-sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and the CEO of OceanGate itself, Stockton Rush - to nearly 2.5 miles beneath the ocean's surface to visit the wreck of the legendary doomed ocean liner, .

None of them would make it back alive.

What has unfolded in the last year since the entire world waited with bated breath to see what happened to the is a story of hubris, particularly surrounding OceanGate's founder and the pilot of the sub, . Descended from wealth and innovation, Rush believed that he knew better than just about anyone else in the deep-sea exploration industry when it came to the construction of submersibles...and would pay for that confidence with his life, along with those of 4 more innocent victims.

Why did the Titan implode? Was this loss of life simply a tragic accident, or an absolutely avoidable incident? Much information has come out in the last year to try and answer these questions, leading up to and including these most recent hearings - and Carrie takes us through it all to try and find some answers.

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 💚🖤

On June 18th, 2023, the underwater tourism company OceanGate launched its Titan submersible, which was heading down with five passengers - billionaire adventurer Ha…

22/09/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

Satanic Panic is back, baby, in the second of two parts on the murders.

Sean takes us to the scenes of the last few shootings committed in the summer of 1977, before covering Berkowitz’s tumultuous transition to incarceration and eventual (inevitable?) cellblock conversion to evangelical Christianity. Oh, yes, and a talking dog.

Looming like a conspiratorial shadow is the question: Did Berkowitz act alone? Or was the “Son of Sam” actually an interstate cabal bent on wreaking havoc? Sean has opinions.

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 💚🖤

Satanic Panic is back, baby, in the second of two parts on the Son of Sam murders! Sean takes us to the scenes of the last few shootings David Berkowitz committed i…

17/09/2024

**NEW EPISODE!**

Trigger warnings for death and disco this week as we had back to mid-1970s New York to explore the “Son of Sam” that left the city in panic for one frantic year.

From July 1976 to July 1977, David Berkowitz embarked on a string of cold-blooded murders with a .44 caliber pistol, killing six innocent people and wounding another seven more. This week, Sean gives us a quick tour of the life and times of the sad-sack slayer before sketching out his of ‘76 and ‘77, along with his pretty cringey bid to make a (literal) name for himself.

Subscribe, rate/review, enjoy. 🖤💚

Trigger warnings for death and disco this week as we had back to mid-1970s New York to explore the "Son of Sam" murders that left the city in panic for one frantic …