Dark Heights

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52 episodes listed below

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Literary horror with dread in the walls.

The gist

Dark Heights favors patient dread over easy shocks. Its scenes move through roads, rooms, bridges, medical rooms, forests, and doors until familiar ground begins to feel contaminated by magic, grief, infection, or pursuit.

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About Dark Heights

Dark Heights is a scripted horror audio drama built around dread that arrives by degrees. It does not rush to explain the shape of the threat. Instead, it lets places go wrong. A car on an empty road becomes a pursuit. A medical note becomes evidence of impossible reanimation. A bridge at night turns into a test of survival instinct. A forest path begins with mushrooms and ends with a shadow that may not be a ghost. The show's strongest mode is intimate fear, narrated from close enough that panic, disgust, and memory seem to share the same breath. Its scenes often begin in the practical world: work, family, travel, illness, police procedure, search efforts, meals, doors, machines. Then something enters. Sometimes it is magic or infection. Sometimes it is grief, obsession, or an old violence surfacing through the present. The writing favors concrete images over exposition, with bodies, rooms, weather, and small sounds carrying the weight of the uncanny. Short shocks land harder because the surrounding passages are patient and observant. The effect is grave rather than showy. Dark Heights also understands that horror can be funny in brief, nervous flashes, especially when a narrator recognizes how absurd terror looks from the outside. Those flashes do not soften the danger. They make the people feel more exposed. Across the feed, death, disappearance, family fracture, supernatural pursuit, and bodily transformation recur as forces that pull characters past the edge of ordinary explanation. The show is for listeners who like horror fiction with a strong narrative voice, uneasy pacing, and consequences that stay in the room after the scene ends.

Made for: For listeners who prefer scripted horror that is atmospheric, intimate, and patient, with fear rooted in character as much as in the supernatural. It will especially suit fans of dark audio drama, uncanny mysteries, and grave narration.

What sets it apart: Dark Heights stands apart through its close attention to physical detail and emotional consequence. Rather than leaning on simple scares, it lets ordinary spaces become threatening one object, one memory, and one bodily reaction at a time.

In their own words

A small California town—and three people within it—become the targets of an ancient evil.Tess Bellamy’s return home is anything but triumphant. She’s decided Hollywood isn’t for her, resigned to a normal life of caring for her ailing mother. Linna Severand would be a powerful sorceress...if she could escape her family’s mansion, and usurp their control of her magic. Gabriel Majeaux once tried to save the world from evil. Now he’s the last of his kind, moving from place to place to avoid detection. After a series of horrifying events, their lives collide...and i...

As heard by us

Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Dark Heights turns magical captivity and supernatural danger into an intimate serial about control, guilt, and survival.

Dark Heights keeps its supernatural conflict close to the body. Its serialized audio drama moves through captivity, coercive magic, attempted escape, hostile shadows, and institutions that treat people as expendable.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

An antique elevator descends toward malicious shadows, and suddenly your bedtime has a terrible new plan.

Press play if you want

  • magic with rules cruel enough to make your survival feel like somebody else's death sentence
  • your horror braided tightly with captivity, coercion, and one stubborn thread of possible rescue
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
supernatural pursuithaunted ordinary placesmissing peoplereanimation and infectionfamily pressurememory and griefisolation and escape

Talks about

Best episodes of Dark Heights

Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.

Introducing The Patron Saint of SuicidesJun 2, 2023

A tense story built from recurring shoes, masks, trains, guns, and bodies.

The Patron Saint of Suicides opens with a voice that does not let go. It keeps returning to shoes, masks, trains, guns, and bodies, and those details give the story a hard, physical texture.

Introducing BookburnersFeb 27, 2023

A tense case file where the missing brother problem keeps getting stranger.

Book Burners starts like a case file already in motion. Sal Brooks is tired and rattled, and a museum theft, an Astoria address, and a missing brother push the story into stranger ground.

Against Their Impossible StrengthJan 26, 2023

A drive out of the estate becomes a tense, eerie test of composure.

A drive away from the estate turns into a pressure chamber. Hank takes Severin's car through the front gates, Will keeps his eyes fixed ahead in the front seat, and Tess rides in back with Linna, already knowing the plan is foolish and that the call back is coming.

A Courtyard Open to the SkyJan 19, 2023

An antique elevator drops through the Mercury Thrice Hotel, and each floor number feels like a warning.

The episode starts in the Mercury Thrice Hotel's basements, where an antique wire cage elevator shudders past minus one, minus two, and minus three before the bell turns the whole space alert.

One Last CandleJan 12, 2023

A wakeup scene that turns a bedroom into a threat.

Dark Heights Season 2, Episode 9 opens in a harsh fluorescent haze, with Renner waking disoriented, unable to open his eyes while Hannah stays close and tries to name the room back into order. The scene works because it never lets the viewer settle.

Within the Heart of all the Broken ThingsJan 5, 2023

Tess's one-month mark in captivity turns Jason's persistence into a thin lifeline.

Dark Heights uses Tess's one-month mark in captivity to show how confinement can wear down routine, hope, and even bodily certainty. Jason's persistence outside the gate gives her a thin but real tether.

Kingdom of CorruptionNov 3, 2022

A confession that keeps reaching for nobility while the house burns.

Dark Heights turns this chapter into a confession that keeps sliding between remorse and self excuse. The narrator tries to shape the story of a night at the B&B, where enchanted stones were set in a five point star and the house became tied to death, fire, and ash.

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Episodes

  1. 1

    Introducing The Heresies of Radulf Burntwine

    Hidden gem

    This short addendum episode from The Heresies of Reidolf Burntwine follows a physician locked in a quarantine room by contractual obligation as he observes a man named Varnal Dinch progress through infection with a fictional virus called Mavetaviridae Rivericon over approximately 51 hours.

    Jun 6, 2024·12m·1 clip
  2. 2

    Introducing Undertow: Narcosis

    Undertow: Narcosis opens with professional diver Veronica being offered a major promotion before she learns her estranged childhood friend Sophia has been declared dead after going missing on a solo dive in the Bay of Fundy.

    Feb 2, 2024·19m·1 clip
  3. 3

    Introducing The Sisters

    Oct 20, 2023·30m
  4. 4

    Introducing The Patron Saint of Suicides

    Hidden gem

    Stay with me, the voice says.

    Jun 2, 2023·32m·2 clips
  5. 5

    Introducing The Subjective Truth

    Apr 20, 2023·32m
  6. 6

    Introducing Fear

    Mar 10, 2023·27m
  7. 7

    Introducing Bookburners

    Sal Brooks refuses the official calm.

    Feb 27, 2023·42m·2 clips
  8. 8

    Introducing Leaving Corvat

    Feb 3, 2023·20m
  9. 9

    Against Their Impossible Strength

    The gates open.

    Jan 26, 2023·31m·2 clips
  10. 10

    A Courtyard Open to the Sky

    The elevator drops below zero.

    Jan 19, 2023·29m·1 clip
  11. 11

    One Last Candle

    A fluorescent light snaps on.

    Jan 12, 2023·32m·3 clips
  12. 12

    Within the Heart of all the Broken Things

    Tess has been captive for a month.

    Jan 5, 2023·32m·2 clips
  13. 13

    Because I could not stop for death

    Dec 22, 2022·33m
  14. 14

    The Path That Returns

    Dec 15, 2022·32m
  15. 15

    At Zero Hour

    Dec 8, 2022·30m
  16. 16

    Still Looking Out for Him

    Dec 1, 2022·31m
  17. 17

    Ysrafel

    Nov 17, 2022·29m
  18. 18

    Ward of the Watchers

    Nov 10, 2022·30m
  19. 19

    Kingdom of Corruption

    A confession cracks the frame.

    Nov 3, 2022·35m·3 clips
  20. 20

    Introducing Undertow: Blood Forest, starring Jack Falahee

    Oct 28, 2022·47m
  21. 21

    Dark Heights Season 2 is coming soon!

    Oct 25, 2022·5m
  22. 22

    Introducing Blood & Gold, starring Richard Cabral

    Oct 20, 2022·40m
  23. 23

    Introducing Zaya

    Oct 6, 2022·18m
  24. 24

    Introducing ElfQuest

    Sep 15, 2022·28m
  25. 25

    Introducing Echo Park, starring Harry Shum Jr.

    Sep 1, 2022·36m
  26. 26

    Introducing Power Trip, starring Tatiana Maslany

    Jul 28, 2022·25m
  27. 27

    Introducing Hollow

    Jul 14, 2022·27m
  28. 28

    Introducing Tales Beyond Time

    Dec 20, 2021·58m
  29. 29

    Introducing Memory Lane

    Dec 17, 2021·32m
  30. 30

    Introducing Born to the Blade

    Nov 28, 2021·1h 10m
  31. 31

    Introducing Episode 1 of Black Friday, starring Fred Armisen

    Nov 26, 2021·19m
  32. 32

    Introducing Black Friday, starring Fred Armisen

    Nov 15, 2021·3m
  33. 33

    Introducing Orphan Black: The Next Chapter Season 2, starring Tatiana Maslany

    Nov 5, 2021·35m
  34. 34

    Introducing Roanoke Falls

    Oct 29, 2021·23m
  35. 35

    Introducing If I Go Missing the Witches Did It, starring Gabourey Sidibe

    Sep 28, 2021·24m
  36. 36

    Tess

    Sep 7, 2021·1h 8m
  37. 37

    Nightfall, Part 3

    Aug 31, 2021·42m
  38. 38

    Nightfall, Part 2

    Aug 24, 2021·36m
  39. 39

    Nightfall, Part 1

    Aug 17, 2021·52m
  40. 40

    Out of the Mockingbird’s Throat

    Aug 10, 2021·34m
  41. 41

    The Girl in the Mirror

    Aug 3, 2021·45m
  42. 42

    Arcyn and Absence

    Jul 27, 2021·45m
  43. 43

    The Teacher

    Jul 20, 2021·42m
  44. 44

    Convergence

    Jul 13, 2021·39m
  45. 45

    Coma Jump Confessions

    Jul 6, 2021·43m
  46. 46

    After the War

    Jun 29, 2021·42m
  47. 47

    101 Wing

    Jun 22, 2021·33m
  48. 48

    Late Night at Crazies

    Jun 15, 2021·38m
  49. 49

    The Girl in the Mansion

    Jun 8, 2021·55m
  50. 50

    Shadow of the Sorrow

    Jun 1, 2021·49m
  51. 51

    What to Do in Park Heights

    May 25, 2021·45m
  52. 52

    Introducing Dark Heights

    Apr 26, 2021·1m