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Rating

★★★★☆

4.4

from

134 reviews

Description

The Elmwood Strain is a psychedelic horror podcast and limited audio drama series in eight parts, from writer Rachel Woolley. Biological horror with Lovecraftian roots, set in the wreckage of a small American town. Paige escaped Elmwood ten years ago. She thought she got out. Then word arrives that one of the three best friends she abandoned has died under mysterious circumstances, and Paige finds herself driving back to the dying hometown she swore she would never see again. She finds the town being slowly swallowed by the forest, and what remains of it is in the grip of a strange new psychosis, lorded over by the friends she left behind. Crystal. Lucas. Jed. The people who knew her before. The people who knew everything. They have been waiting a long time for Paige to come home. And they have plans for her reunion. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Written by Rachel Woolley. A Violet Hour Media production. For fans of I Saw the TV Glow, Color Out of Space, The Invitation, Yellowjackets, The Last of Us, Annihilation, Hereditary, and Midsommar. Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast, biological horror podcast, scripted horror fiction, audio drama horror, fungal horror, cosmic horror podcast, Lovecraftian horror, small town horror, female-led horror podcast, trauma horror, indie horror podcast, folk horror, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like The Last of Us, horror podcast like Color Out of Space, horror fiction podcast, dark fiction podcast, Anthony Ladesich, Rachel Woolley, Violet Hour Media.

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Check latest episodes from The Elmwood Strain podcast

The Fear Archive Presents: Black Christmas vs. Daniel LaPlante

2026/07/10

The Fear Archive is a true crime and horror film podcast — every episode pairs a real case with the horror film it inspired. Following this intro is our Black Christmas episode, currently our top performing episode, approaching half a million listens. A traumatized woman returns to a place she escaped. Something wrong is already living there. It has been there the whole time. If you are deep enough into The Elmwood Strain to understand what Paige walked back into, you are going to understand exactly what those girls in that sorority house were up against. Black Christmas, 1974. The film that wrote the rulebook for killer-in-the-house horror, four years before Halloween. A man who hid himself inside a sorority house before the movie started. He was already in the attic. Already watching. He was never identified. The case was never solved. Hosted by Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip. Introduced by Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This episode contains discussion of murder, violence, and the specific dread of a killer who was never caught. Popular Topics Include: Fear Archive podcast, Black Christmas 1974, Black Christmas true story, Daniel LaPlante, biological horror, trauma horror, return to hometown horror, killer in the house, Lovecraftian horror podcast, horror fiction podcast, horror podcast, true crime horror, Violet Hour Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Violet Hour Presents: Hollow - Episode 1

2022/06/30

Introducing HOLLOW, a new scripted sci-fi horror podcast from Violet Hour Media. A mercenary embarks on a corporate mission to track down a rogue leader and encounters the darkness of space, the darkness of colonization, and ultimately, the darkness within herself. Episode 01 - Leave Battle hardened corporate mercenary, Amelia Wallenrod, travels to the prestigious Luna colonies and is briefed on her mission to recover an important scientist who has been taken hostage on Mars. A Violet Hour Media production. Hollow is airing now for free wherever you listen to podcasts. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes depictions of violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for listeners. Please proceed with caution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gloom - Episode 1

2021/07/02

Introducing THE GLOOM, a new scripted horror podcast from Violet Hour Media. An investigative journalist uncovers clues surrounding a decades-old cold case, where she eventually learns the horrifying truth about a systemic cover-up tied to her own past. Episode 01 - In Medias Res Samantha Williams, an investigative journalist, introduces the infamous unsolved early 1990s cold case of the Filmore Four, a group of teenagers caught up in a ghastly web of murder and destruction, tied to a Queens, New York psychiatric hospital, and quite possibly, their emotionally damaged therapist, Dr. Darlene Harrington. A Violet Hour Media Production. The entire first season of The Gloom is available for free wherever you listen to podcasts. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes depictions of violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for listeners. Please proceed with caution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8. Elmwood Pride — She Has Spent Ten Years Refusing to Remember Her Brother (Series Finale)

2021/03/08

Psychedelic horror reaches its emotional center in the series finale of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige faces the truth she has spent ten years refusing to remember. In the kitchen of Elmwood High School, where the worst thing that ever happened to Paige Johnson ended in 2014, she is finally going to face the person she has spent ten years refusing to remember. She is going to face her greatest sin. She is going to face her brother. And then she is going to walk out of the building. The eight-part limited series concludes. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast series finale, trauma horror, grief horror, identity horror, family horror, ghost horror, survival horror, female-led horror podcast, emotional horror, reckoning horror, haunted school, folk horror, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like The Haunting of Hill House, all episodes available, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7. Barf Powder — The School Is on Fire and Forty-Two Ghosts Have Been Waiting Ten Years for This

2021/03/01

Ghost horror reaches its climax in the seventh episode of The Elmwood Strain, as the school burns and the dead of Elmwood High finally move. The school is on fire. Paige is inside it. Lucas is inside it. The ghosts are inside it. And somewhere in the smoke, Crystal and Jed are still hunting her. Forty-two of them have been waiting in this building for ten years. They are not interested in being forgotten. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: ghost horror podcast, haunted school horror podcast, survival horror, female-led horror, fire horror, psychedelic horror podcast, atmospheric dread, trauma horror, grief horror, Lovecraftian horror, biological horror, folk horror, cosmic horror, horror podcast like The Haunting of Hill House, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like The Magnus Archives, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6. Little Shop — She Decides It Ends Tonight If She Can Survive Long Enough to End It

2021/02/22

Survival horror accelerates in the sixth episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige stops running and starts fighting back. Whatever her friends were trying to do at the school, Paige has decided that it ends tonight. She just has to survive long enough to end it. She is high out of her mind on a drug she did not consent to take. The town is moving against her. The forest is moving against her. The ghosts of Elmwood High are waiting in the dark. And somewhere underneath all of it, the small voice of a boy she used to know is calling her name. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: survival horror podcast, female-led horror podcast, ghost horror, hallucination horror, trauma horror, psychedelic horror podcast, biological horror, haunted school horror, atmospheric dread, folk horror, grief horror, identity horror, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like The Haunting of Hill House, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5. Johnny F*cking Appleseed — The Drug Has Not Worn Off and the Abandoned School Is Waiting

2021/02/15

Psychedelic horror returns to its source in the fifth episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige is taken back to the one place she has spent ten years trying to forget. Lucas, Crystal, and Jed take her on quad bikes through the dead forest, past the dying trees, and back to the boarded-up shell of Elmwood High School. The place she has not seen in ten years. The place her friends say has been waiting for her to come home. Inside, something old and wrong has been growing in the dark. And her friends finally tell her the real reason they pulled her back to Elmwood. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: haunted school horror podcast, psychedelic horror podcast, biological horror podcast, abandoned places horror, ritual horror, folk horror, ghost horror, cosmic horror, Lovecraftian horror, fungal horror, hallucination horror, friend group betrayal, horror podcast like Color Out of Space, horror podcast like Annihilation, horror podcast like The Last of Us, horror podcast like The Haunting of Hill House, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4. Triple Fudge Slumber Party Style — A Reunion, a Cookie Tin, and Something She Did Not Consent To

2021/02/08

Psychedelic horror crosses into something darker in the fourth episode of The Elmwood Strain, as a reunion among old friends becomes something Paige never agreed to. She agrees to one night at Jed's basement with the people who used to know her best. A few drinks. A few cookies. A storm outside, the four of them in the same room for the first time in a decade. Crystal opens Paige's purse while she is in the bathroom. Lucas talks about fairy rings. Jed sits very still in the corner. And by the time Paige realizes what is in the cookies, her friends have already forced open the door to her higher consciousness — and there is something on the other side of it waiting for her. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. CONTENT NOTE: This episode depicts non-consensual drugging. Listener discretion advised. Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast, hallucination horror, betrayal horror, friend group horror, dinner party horror, folk horror podcast, cult horror, drug horror, paranoid horror, atmospheric dread, slow burn horror, horror podcast like Midsommar, horror podcast like The Invitation, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3. Dope and Drive — Her Friends Are Alive and Dealing a Drug That Came Out of the Rot

2021/02/01

Folk horror and paranoid betrayal drive the third episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige discovers the truth about why she was called back. Crystal and Jed are alive. Paige finds them holed up in the wreckage of Jed's parents' house. Lucas, it turns out, is also alive — the call to her office was a lie, an invitation, a hook. Her friends are dealing a drug that came out of the rotting forest. They are also selling it. Half the town is on it. And the more Paige learns about why they brought her home, the more she realizes that leaving may no longer be an option. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: folk horror podcast, drug horror, cult horror, friend group horror, paranoid thriller, slow burn horror, biological horror podcast, fungal horror, betrayal horror, psychedelic horror podcast, small town horror, atmospheric dread, horror podcast like Midsommar, horror podcast like The Invitation, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like Hereditary, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2. ElmRot — A Dying Town Being Swallowed by the Forest and the Rot Growing at Its Edge

2021/01/25

Biological horror takes hold in the second episode of The Elmwood Strain, as Paige discovers the town she remembers no longer exists. Paige checks into the Elmwood Motel and finds the streets empty, the trees dying, and the few residents who remain looking at her like she is something they are trying to remember. Something is growing in the forest at the edge of town — pale, fleshy, expanding fast. The locals call it the rot. They speak about it the way you would speak about a god. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Popular Topics Include: biological horror podcast, fungal horror, ecological horror, cosmic horror, Lovecraftian horror, body horror, dying town horror, small town horror, folk horror, atmospheric dread, nature horror, slow burn horror, psychedelic horror podcast, horror podcast like Color Out of Space, horror podcast like Annihilation, horror podcast like The Last of Us, horror podcast like Old Gods of Appalachia, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1. Mighty Sabertooths — A School Shooting Survivor Returns to the Dying Hometown She Escaped

2021/01/18

Psychedelic horror and survivor grief collide in the opening episode of The Elmwood Strain. Paige Johnson built her life around getting out of Elmwood. New city, new apartment, new locks on every door. Ten years ago a sixteen-year-old named Hunter Zedrow walked into her high school's graduation assembly with a homemade vest and a semiautomatic rifle and killed forty-two people. Paige and her three best friends — Crystal, Lucas, and Jed — skipped the assembly that morning. They were the lucky ones. Today, on what would have been Lucas's birthday, Paige gets a phone call at her office. Lucas is dead. And she is about to find herself driving back to a town she swore she would never see again. Written by Rachel Woolley. Directed and produced by Anthony Ladesich. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. CONTENT NOTE: This episode opens with the depiction of a school shooting. Listener discretion advised. Popular Topics Include: psychedelic horror podcast, school shooting survivor horror, trauma horror, survivor guilt, PTSD horror, small town horror, return home horror, female-led horror podcast, slow burn horror, atmospheric horror, grief horror, biological horror podcast, folk horror, horror podcast like I Saw the TV Glow, horror podcast like Hereditary, horror podcast like Yellowjackets, horror podcast like The Last of Us, Rachel Woolley, Anthony Ladesich, Violet Hour Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Elmwood Strain - Trailer

2020/12/24

Introducing THE ELMWOOD STRAIN, a new scripted horror podcast from Violet Hour Media. A traumatized woman reluctantly returns to her dying hometown to find the stoner friends she abandoned are hooked on a strange new drug—with bizarre, seemingly supernatural qualities. Subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes depictions of violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for listeners. Please proceed with caution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast reviews

Read The Elmwood Strain podcast reviews

4.4 out of 5

134 reviews

★★★☆☆

RhodesKill✌🏼 2026/04/28

Meh

It’s an interesting story/concept but it could’ve been compressed into a single long-form story presented in an anthology style podcast rather than an...

★★★★★

Hunt2072 2023/08/21

Binge worthy

This is one of the better shows I’ve listened too. It’s intense and emotional. The acting is great along with the sound effects. There are triggers me...

★☆☆☆☆

Akila77 2023/01/11

Potential

I wanted to like this podcast based off the premise but it was a definite miss. Starting with the good: The voice actors and sound effects were great...

★★★★★

Ashley_551 2022/10/17

Wow

Amazing. The last episode had me in tears.

★★★★★

internets 2022/08/13

Another Excellent Violet Media Production

The writing, the acting, the sound, the effects, and OH THE TRAUMA, *chef's kiss*. The story is intense, fast, and disturbing. Episode 1 presents a...

★★☆☆☆

Ebeep9743 2022/07/23

School Shooting

Just a massive trigger warning that the plot centers around a school shooting with mass fatalities. Would’ve been nice to see an official trigger warn...

★☆☆☆☆

LeanneDerThal 😝 2022/05/17

Felt dumber every minute I listened to it!!

Had to give up at the beginning of episode 3. I couldn’t get hooked and the actors limited vocabulary makes me feel stupid that I’m actually trying to...

★★★★★

Woozy woowoo 2022/04/06

Wow!!

One of my top 5, edgy, suspense, good and bad, it’s really good, acting is excellent and premise is really good and I am only on episode 5. I been bin...

★★★★★

driven2review 2022/02/22

Really good!

This show is great! Blasted through all eps in 1 day. Really impressed and gonna tell as many folks about it as I can.

★★★☆☆

maggie_lc 2021/11/07

Starts good, turns weird

Started out very promising but then the sound effects completely overwhelm the narrative experience. There are so many squishing gushing splattering s...

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