The best Halloween podcasts for 2026, plus a free Frankenstein
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which leaves a long night for scary stories. These nine podcasts are all publishing right now, and each has a recent episode that suits the night, from the 2 hour 42 minute Halloween special of The NoSleep Podcast to Midnight Radio, the new horror series starring Ethan Hawke.
Every pick has a player, so you can start listening right here.
After the second pick there is a free extra: a full-cast Frankenstein you can hear until November 13.
1. The NoSleep Podcast: Halloween 2026
- Release date: October 25, 2026
- Duration: 2 hr 42 min
Five new stories, a full cast and almost three hours of Halloween.
S25 Ep10: NoSleep Podcast S25E10 - Halloween 2026 10/25/2026 02:42:00
The NoSleep Podcast has been turning short horror fiction into full-cast audio drama for 25 seasons. This year’s Halloween episode holds five stories, from “The Pumpkin Patch” by K.G. Lewis to “A Guide to the Good Candy in the Neighborhood” by Sean M Davis.
Every story comes with a trigger warning, so check it before you press play with kids in the room. Start it after dinner and it will carry you well into the night.
2. Midnight Radio: Phantom Cosmonauts
- Release date: October 22, 2026
- Duration: 39 min
Ethan Hawke plays a late-night AM radio host who takes one call too many.
Phantom Cosmonauts 10/22/2026 00:39:18
Midnight Radio is the newest show on this list: episode 1 came out on October 22. Hawke is the Radio Man, host of a cult call-in show about strange transmissions, and the story plays out in real time on air.
In “Phantom Cosmonauts” his callers trade stories about mysterious NASA transmissions and the myth of the Phantom Cosmonauts, until one man calls to say the transmission was fake, because he was there. The series was created and written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, the writing team behind Sinister and The Black Phone, two horror films that also starred Hawke. iHeartPodcasts distributes it.
A free full-cast Frankenstein
If you would rather spend Halloween night with one long classic, ElevenReader has made its new Frankenstein free for everyone until November 13. It is a cinematic production of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, 5 hours 9 minutes long, with an original score, sound design and a full cast whose voices were all made with ElevenLabs AI voices. Sign up through the box below and you also get a 30-day free trial of the whole app.
AdvertisementFrankenstein, full cast, free to listenA new cinematic recording of Mary Shelley's classic on ElevenReader, free for everyone until November 13. Sign up here and the whole app is free for 30 days.Listen free3. Creepy: Day 27, Rabbits Don’t Speak and Pumpkin Guts
- Release date: October 27, 2026
- Duration: 48 min
A new episode every day in October, all the way to Halloween.
Day 27 - Rabbits Don't Speak & Pumpkin Guts 10/27/2026 48:03
Creepy turned October into a daily countdown. Day 1 came out on October 1 and a new episode has followed every day since, each with one or two narrated horror stories.
Day 27 pairs “Rabbits Don’t Speak” by J.Roc with “Pumpkin Guts” by Jason R Frei, narrated by Nate DuFort. At 48 minutes it fits a weeknight, and if it hooks you, the 26 days before it are waiting in the feed.
4. EnCrypted: In the Confessional by Amelia B. Edwards
- Release date: October 8, 2026
- Duration: 47 min
A Victorian ghost story from 1873, read aloud for a dark room.
"In the Confessional" by Amelia B. Edwards 10/08/2026 00:47:20
EnCrypted: The Classic Horror Podcast is Jasper L’Estrange reading classic ghost and horror stories, along with some he wrote himself.
In “In the Confessional”, first printed in 1873, an English traveler has a strange encounter in a church and becomes fascinated by a terrible incident in local history that still haunts the living. Amelia B. Edwards is better known today as a travel writer and Egyptologist, and she wrote ghost stories too.
5. Knifepoint Horror: Return of the Buffet of the Uncanny
- Release date: October 22, 2026
- Duration: 56 min
Soren Narnia’s Halloween special, served as a buffet.
Halloween Special: RETURN of the BUFFET OF THE UNCANNY! 10/22/2026 00:56:18
Knifepoint Horror is Soren Narnia’s horror fiction show, told in the first person.
The Halloween special is looser, as the title promises. Narnia’s own description calls it “the audio equivalent of the 75%-off aisle at Spirit Halloween on November 2nd”, which tells you the mood. A third of the proceeds from the show’s merch shop goes to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
6. Spooked: The Shadow Guest, Part 1
- Release date: October 16, 2026
- Duration: 36 min
True supernatural stories, told by the people who lived them.
The Shadow Guest Pt. 1 10/16/2026 00:36:06
Spooked comes from the team behind Snap Judgment. Season 11 is called The Spooked Field Guide to the Shadow, and its two-part “The Shadow Guest” is the best fit for Halloween week.
Angelo and his friend Jason could understand each other in a few words, until one night on the Blackfoot Reservation, Jason went quiet. Part 2 came out on October 23, so you can play both back to back.
7. Radio Rental: Episode 112
- Release date: October 23, 2026
- Duration: 37 min
Radio Rental is back from its break, with Vince behind the counter.
Episode 112 10/23/2026 00:36:48
Radio Rental, from Tenderfoot TV, is set in a strange video rental shop whose VHS tapes hold true scary stories, told by the people who lived them. Episode 112 is the first new episode after a summer of Rewind reruns.
Its two tapes are “Do Not Enter”, about two friends who get very lost on a long drive, and “House Cleaner”. Between them, Vince (Tony Cavalero) settles into the store and finds an old relic.
8. Supernatural: Haunted, The Stanley Hotel
- Release date: October 23, 2026
- Duration: 34 min
The Colorado hotel that gave Stephen King the idea for The Shining.
HAUNTED: The Stanley Hotel 10/23/2026 00:34:22
On Supernatural with Ashley Flowers, the host of Crime Junkie turns to hauntings, legends and the unexplained. In its own feed the show now goes by So Supernatural.
This episode follows the Stanley Hotel from its 1909 opening as a playground for the rich, through the night in 1974 when Stephen King stayed there and woke up with the idea for The Shining, to the ghost sightings reported there ever since. Play it before a movie night and you know which film comes next.
9. Let’s Not Meet: Someone Is Living In My Attic
- Release date: September 21, 2026
- Duration: 1 hr 14 min
No ghosts here: 11 true stories about people you hope you never meet.
17x12: Someone Is Living In My Attic 09/21/2026 01:13:32
Let’s Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast narrates true stories of frightening encounters with real people, sent in by listeners and read with the authors’ permission.
This episode packs 11 of them into just over an hour, from “Chased In The Dark” to the title story. Save it for a night when the house is full.
Got through all nine before Saturday? Our horror podcasts page ranks every show in the genre, and Creepy keeps posting daily until Halloween.
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