Podcasts

Mothman pops up in so many damn podcasts it’s absolutely ridiculous. Here’s a list for your listening pleasure:

What we (okay, Kaidan) were really interested in as far as Mothman podcasting is a podcast called The Adventure Zone, produced by Justin, Travis, Griffin, and Clint McElroy. In the second season of this RPG podcast, the brothers McElroy use the Monster of the Month system to weave the tale of three monster hunters living in a fictive West Virginia town called Kepler. Mothman appears in this podcast not as a monster to be hunted, but as a friend to the hunter characters. Disguised as a human and going by the name Indrid–an homage to Indrid Cold, a bizarre and haunting figure associated with the Mothman sightings as well as other US-based cryptidic mysteries–the Mothman helps the characters hunt down a sinister, uh, tree. And its evil goatman sycophants. Chill, it’s a fantasy podcast.

Duck, Ned, and Aubrey meet the Mothman in this fan-made animatic.

The Adventure Zone had already amassed a huge following with its first season, TAZ Balance, which utilized the Dungeons & Dragons system. The podcasts’s second season reads as something of a love letter to the McElroys’ home state, where oldest brother Justin and father Clint McElroy still reside. Mothman’s appearance on the show wasn’t just thrilling to TAZ’s loyal listeners, but also attracted flocks of new cryptid enthusiasts to the McElroy family of podcast products. Which is great, because all those boys have kids to feed.

What this Mothman-based public drives home for me is the way Mothman is deeply connected to a certain place. The Adventure Zone takes care to render West Virginia as the brothers know and love it–the food, the accents, the values, the small businesses, the wilderness, and the homey-yet-spooky vibes that are so intrinsic to West VA take dominant roles in the story, and by the time we meet Mothman as a character, we really can’t imagine him cropping up anywhere else. His identity revealed, Mothman decides to flee Kepler at the end of the arc, which was a heartbreaking turn of events for listeners, who are already harassing GM Griffin for an encore performance.

And, yes, Mothman makes an appearance in  TAZ fanfiction. Usually in an erotic capacity. Because of course he does.