Select Page

Episode 34 – Totem

Jan 26, 2024 | Season 3

Follow the show on:
Apple Podcasts  |  Spotify  |. Google Podcasts  | or your favourite podcast player

The Cat gets spooky and kooky with a very special guest: author, screenwriter, living encyclopedia of all things Halloween, the one and only, the delightful, Lisa Morton. While Aaron dreams of Hal Bodner, and Kaaron writes about four hairdressers, Joseph drinks whisky, eats haggis, and invokes the spirit of the dead Rabbie Burns. Lisa brings a totem. Curses are discussed, and cursed objects, with an aside concerning the online cursed doll market. Also ritual as a language, the foundations of comedy, and the sadness of dead shopping malls. That terrible moment you realise you’re part of a folk horror ritual you didn’t consent to. Kaaron remembers Marilyn Monroe’s grave. Aaron discovers a cursed cabinet. Joseph hurls his body out into the void. Lisa finds her old teacher’s book. Everyone wonders about dread mechanisms.

Snips and snails mentioned in this episode include:

  • Lisa Morton’s Life On The Edge (1988)
  • The origins of Burns Night
  • Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
  • Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man

Check out the episode page for more pics and bits.

Smiling Halloween figure on a shelf of knick knacks