Introducing Our New Show: Tiny Terrors!

September 19, 2022·11 min·1 clip

Cole launches Tiny Terrors, a nostalgic horror anthology for long autumn nights.

The episode opens with a brief promotional message from Cole, creator of The Town Whispers, announcing the launch of Tiny Terrors as an autumn horror anthology podcast. Cole then delivers a longer introduction, noting that Patreon members already know about the new show. The main episode begins with a theatrical narrator welcoming the listener to the Tiny Terrors Scary Story Exchange before the recording is interrupted by an apparent dispute between Cole and two colleagues about scripting and production choices. Cole then delivers an in-character explanation of the exchange's backstory. He describes Bulletin Board Systems as pre-internet dial-up communities where users could access files, chat rooms, and games. He names several historical BBSs including Plovernet, Mindvox, and Demon Roach Underground, and notes there were over 150,000 operating in the United States at their peak with 17 million users. Cole says no one knows for certain that Tiny Terrors started on a BBS, but that the theory holds that horror story sharing on one of these systems eventually grew into the exchange. When long-distance phone charges made cross-state participation expensive, the exchange moved to postal mail, with stories circulating on cassette tapes or written submissions small enough for cheap postage. This shift made the exchange more exclusive and underground. The number of mailing addresses a member held corresponded directly to their seniority. Long-time members tracked the provenance of stories across states and countries, and the only firm rule was that stealing another member's story would result in community exclusion enforced through the network itself. Cole explains that the exchange now has only a few hundred members and is shrinking. He describes the podcast as a preservation project and revival effort. The episode ends with a comedic argument between Cole, Mark, and James about whether to ask listeners explicitly for reviews and subscriptions.

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