Tonight, the lanterns burn low and the fog presses close.

Across Maine's long spine of forests, rocky coastlines, and forgotten towns, eight voices have answered the call: storytellers who spend their nights walking the boundary between the real and the uncanny. In this special edition of The Fogcast, the Lantern-Lit Symposium brings together Maine horror authors Michael Lowell Wright, Nomar Slevik, Amber Hathaway, Samantha Eaton, Zak Cowell, Arwyn Sherman, Morgan Sylvia, and Fox Emm, writers who have carved their names into the darker corners of Maine's imagination. Together, we explore what draws people to horror, how Maine shapes a writer's perspective, and what truths about life in the Pine Tree State outsiders often miss. Along the way, the conversation drifts through fear, folklore, storytelling, and the strange gravity that seems to pull so many dark tales from Maine's woods, waters, and shadowed places.

Welcome to the Lantern-Lit Symposium, a gathering of voices shaped by Maine's mysteries. Settle in. The lanterns are lit.

This episode is sponsored by Pro Libris, an independent bookstore in Bangor specializing in horror, folklore, occult works, regional history, and hard‑to‑find treasures. Stop in, browse the shelves, and tell them Acadia After Dark sent you. www.prolibrisbangor.com

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises.

Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails.

Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

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Tonight on the Fogcast, I’m joined by Maine horror author Katherine Silva, creator of the Deadlands series and one of the most distinctive voices in New England dark fiction. Silva’s work blends grief, uncanny wilderness, and existential dread into landscapes that feel both ruined and strangely alive — places where the world has ended, yet something still breathes beneath the quiet.

We talk about her writing process, the influences that shaped her style, and the craft techniques she’s developed across novels like The Wild Dark, Where the Soul Goes, and the Deadlands trilogy. Katherine also shares a real story of eerie coincidence here in Maine.

There’s a strange beauty in a wasteland: the stillness, the silence, the reminder that our time here is temporary. Silva channels that truth into fiction that is dark, whimsical, and deeply human.

This conversation is a look into how she builds her worlds, how she approaches horror as a writer, and how Maine’s shadowed corners continue to shape her work. If you’re drawn to existential horror, uncanny landscapes, or the craft behind building dead worlds that still feel alive, this episode will pull you in.

Find Katherine SIlva here https://www.katherinesilvaauthor.com/

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails. Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Fogcast, reverend Redbeard sits down with Maine author Michael Lowell Wright to reflect on the first year of his breakout novel The Golden Road — a book that climbed to #1 on Amazon Mystery and earned repeated Best Seller placement on Audible. Michael shares how his years working in mills, logging, and public service shaped the realism and moral pressure in his writing, and how his work in the mental health field continues to influence his understanding of authority, responsibility, and resilience.

Together, we explore the dark folklore of Maine, the psychological edge of survival, and the ways isolation and endurance carve themselves into the stories born from this place. Michael also discusses his nonprofit work, community advocacy, and the lived experiences that inform both his fiction and his public service. A conversation about craft, responsibility, and the haunting beauty of Maine’s wilderness.

Find Michael's work here https://wheremaineturnsdark.com/

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails. Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maine has a way of claiming people as its own. Some arrive chasing clean air and quiet trails; others come for work, for family, or for the pull of a coastline that feels older than memory. Whatever the reason, this place keeps those who wander into its pine‑shadowed forests and jagged, sea‑bitten shores — and Zak Cowell is one of them.

Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Zak drifted north after graduating from Appalachian State University and found himself rooted in the shadow of Derry, Maine. His creative work spans the uncanny fiction of The Obsidian Mirror to the intimate, visceral poetry of In Flesh, Enshrined. An HWA Affiliate writer, his stories have appeared in Alien Buddha Press, Flittermouse Press’ Postmortems series, Suburban Witchcraft Magazine, Dark Harbor Magazine, and even on The NoSleep Podcast.

Tonight, Zak joins us to talk about his life, his influences, and why Maine is the perfect crucible for the kind of horror he creates. He’ll also be stepping into the Lantern‑lit Symposium this October alongside eight other authors as we gather for an evening of stories, shadows, and shared dread.

Find Zak's work here https://www.zakcowell.com/

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises.

Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails.

Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Fogcast, we explore a realm of horror which has languished in antiquity but is finding new life in the modern era. From whispers in empty rooms to the creak of old floorboards, audio has a way of slipping past your defenses, and tonight’s guest has spent his career mastering that uncanny power.

We’re joined by Fred Greenhalgh, Maine‑born audio dramatist and pioneer of on‑location recording. Growing up in East Machias, Fred’s childhood was shaped by eerie encounters and rural folklore that later fueled his approach to sound‑driven storytelling. Together, we talk about the landscapes that linger, the history of audio drama, and how real environments can become characters in fiction through sound design.

If you’re fascinated by immersive horror, field recording, or the strange magic of stories carried on the wind, this conversation cuts straight to the heart of it.

Find Fred's work here https://finalrune.com

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises.

Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails.

Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the fog-drenched streets of Bangor to the quiet stacks of an independent bookstore where stories and stranger things tend to gather, tonight’s episode brings you a conversation steeped in creativity, hauntings, and the peculiar magic of Maine.

Reverend Redbeard sits down with author and bookseller Fox Emm, co-owner of Pro Libris, whose work blends sensuality, fear, and the uncanny with a voice that feels right at home on this coast. Together they wander through Fox’s writing, the life of running a bookstore, and the odd moments that come with it, including a childhood encounter with a ghost and the unsettling discovery of cremated remains tucked quietly among the shelves.

If you’re drawn to spooky tales, strange happenings, and the people who keep Maine’s literary lanterns burning, this conversation will feel right at home.

You can find Fox Emm and their work here https://foxemm.com/

The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot. New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises.

Finally, if you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails.

Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good evening hikers,

Tune in for a special live Fogcast where I will be playing The Holyburn Witches, a horror game set right here in Maine. I will also be sharing some news about the channel, talking about the upcoming Lantern-lit Symposium, and discussing Maines ties to the Salem witch trials.

Once a month we will host a special live edition of the Fogcast where listeners can chat live, ask questions, and step a little further into the woods. The Fogcast is an Acadia After Dark production. Our title theme is written and performed by local Maine legends, Pine Tree Riot.

New episodes of the Fogcast go up every Monday. If you want more, you can find us on social media or head over to acadiaafterdark.com, where you’ll find info about all of our shows, news, and other surprises.

If you’d like to support the show and help keep the lights on, there are a few ways to do that. You can join us in the darkness over on Patreon and become a Lantern Holder, which gets you early access to ad‑free episodes, digital bonuses, and exclusive content like The Lantern Logbook. If a monthly commitment isn’t your thing, you can visit our merch store and pick up something nice before you hit the trails.

Keep those lanterns lit and stay safe out there.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.