Sweet Child Of Time: Recaps Of Time Related TV Shows And Movies · Steve Barnes hosts; cohosts James McCollum, and Lindsey Dunn

IT: Welcome To Derry Recap Primer

October 23, 2025·1 hr 24 min·5 clips

Steve describes the Black Spot as a Black soldiers' club that was burned down by racists.

Steve Barnes and Lindsay Dunn start by greeting each other in a playful, unhurried way and noting that it has been a while since they last podcasted together. The episode is framed as a setup for their upcoming series, Welcome to Dairy, and they settle into a casual history of Derry and how often it has shown up in his work. Lindsay walks through the town’s timeline, starting with its founding in 1741 as Derry Township and the disappearance of 340 people. The discussion then jumps to 1851, where John Markson killed his entire family with poison before killing himself with a mushroom described as causing muscle paralysis and a very painful death. They joke about the missing population and compare it to the lost colony story from North Carolina. Next they move to 1864, where 120 people, including 50 children and 70 adults, were shot by a gang called the Derry Padrinos, said to be run by Confederate sympathizers. The hosts treat that as part of the town’s ugly political history. The conversation then turns to 1879 and the remains found of a crew of nine lumberjacks who were snowed in at a camp in the upper Kanduskiig and hacked to pieces, a story that helps explain the town’s lumberjack statue and lumber-town identity. The episode also nods to the larger universe, including a mention of The Running Man and the fact that it was written under the Richard Bachman name. By the end, they are back in listener-friendly mode, teasing notes, joking about family comments, and inviting emails. The setup is clearly meant to get listeners ready for the series rather than to serve as a formal history lesson, and the tone stays conversational even when the material gets gruesome.

As heard by us

A conversational primer that lets Derry's lore unfold without turning it into a lecture.

This episode works as a loose, conversational way into Welcome to Derry. It moves between Stephen King references and the town's history without getting too stiff, and that gives the discussion a steady pace.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

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Want a chatty primer on Derry's fictional history?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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