Ding Dong Darkness Time

Latest Episodes:

6: Dancing Plagues and Other Shared Madness Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

This week, Allison and Chris dig deep into their own shared love and education in psychology to talk about the Dancing Plague of 1518, one of many such mass hysteria events that occurred during medieval Europe. In doing so, they also relate those events to the current day, where humanity remains no stranger to psychogenic illnesses. Why did so many people choose to dance themselves to death? Was it ergot, ego, or FOMO?
This is the season finale of the show, and we hope you'll be back for season 2, coming very soon!
Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock
Additional Info:
The Dancing Plague of 1518 Wiki
The Great Mortality by John Kelly
A List of Other Mass Hysteria Events

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson
Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: dddarknesstime@gmail.com

5: The Twilight Zone Movie Incident (aka Eff John Landis) Apr 02, 2022

Show notes

We're joined on this episode by two of the coolest cats in the movie podcasting realm, Joshua and Kelly from Press Play and Scream, to dissect and discuss not only the Twilight Zone movie, but the tragic on-set disaster that killed one of the film's stars along with two young children. Additionally, we walk the odd, visceral, and sometimes cringey landscape of each of the film's segments, as well as talk a little about our experience with anthology TV, of which The Twilight Zone is the granddaddy of them all.
Additional Information:
Press Play and Scream Podcast
The Twilight Zone Incident Wiki
Outrageous Conduct book

4: Darkness on Canvas -- Strange Paintings Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Bust out the oils, canvases, doilies, existential dread, and brawling swords, because it's time to talk about dark paintings and painters!
First, Allison breaks apart all the details and subtext in Jan Van Eyck's haunting Arnolfini Portrait. Then Chris dives into the story surrounding one of the most famous scary paintings of all time, Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Then they converge on a shared discussion on the shocking works and violent life of Italian baroque painter Caravaggio, whose works include many bloody scenes and beheadings.
Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock
Additional Information:
Caravaggio: The Only Great Artist to Commit Murder
The Arnolfini Portrait -- Great Art Explained
Edvard Munch

4: Very Strange Paintings Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

3: The Sarah Winchester Mansion and Other Strange Buildings Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

Allison and Chris take an expansive journey to some of the human built structures that have haunted their minds.
Beginning in California with the Winchester Mystery House, learn the story of Sarah Winchester, who inherited a large chunk of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company after the death of her husband, and used that fortune to build a sprawling, surreal mansion whose mystifying (and some say mystical) construction continued unabated for nearly forty years.
From there, we jump to the other side of the globe to Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit the strange towering edifice, the Ryugyong Hotel. Built in the 1980s to attract travelers from around the world, the project quickly fell apart around the same time as the Soviet Union and became instead a beacon of propaganda that continues to this day.
Then it's back to the States for a tour of the infamous Dakota Building in Manhattan, site of the murder of John Lennon as well as a potential nexus for all sorts of cursed events for the elites that have passed through its Gothic doors.
We then wrap up this rollercoaster ride with an actual roller coaster, the Crystal Beach Cyclone, which promised its riders a thrill unlike any they'd experienced before, and then delivered in the form of vomit, fainting, and in a couple instances -- death.
Additionally, we establish a whole new unit of measurement: The Olive Garden (not a sponsor).
Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock
Winchester Mystery House
Ryugyong Hotel
Dakota Building
Crystal Beach Cyclone

2: Blucifer and the Denver International Airport Conspiracies Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

Bathed in searing cobalt blue paint and gazing at the world through glaring red eyes, the 30-foot tall horse statue known as Mustang (or Blucifer to the locals) has welcomed travelers to the American West via the Denver International airport for more than a decade. But there is a lot more to the story of this horse than its striking looks. It comes with a melancholy and deadly history all its own, which Allison and Chris discuss in depth.
Not to be outdone, however, the Denver Airport itself is a conspiracy magnet and comes packed with all sorts of strange artwork that many believe to contain code about the New World Order.
Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson
Music -- Spencer Morelock
Additional Info:
The Blue Mustang Statue
Wonderland of the Weird Video on Mustang
The Chatty Gargoyle

1: The Devil's Interval Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

For the first episode of our season on the dark arts (no Harry Potter), join Allison and Chris as they literally and figuratively set the tone for this show and discuss a piece of musical theory known as the Devil's Interval. More formally known as the tritone, this discordant series of notes has added a unique flavor to music throughout the centuries, and according to some historians, was banned by the Catholic church during the medieval period for the sound’s tendency to inspire lasciviousness, perniciousness, and could possibly even summon Lucifer himself. And as a couple of middle-aged folks are wont to do, they spend a little time reminiscing about ska and Gregorian chants.

Additional Info:

Adam Neely's Video on The Devil's Interval⁠

NPR: The Unsettling Sound of Tritones