500 episodes listed below
Myths, monsters, drama, and side-eye.
Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore mixes folklore, ancient epics, urban legends, and historical material with brisk banter. Episodes move from campfire scares to Yoruba creation stories, Greek myth, Arthurian drama, and Roman festivals without sanding off the weird parts.
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Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore makes ancient and uncanny stories feel like active conversations instead of sealed artifacts. It is quick on its feet. The show can start with a joke about summer campfires, a Christopher Nolan movie, or reality-TV levels of Arthurian drama, then slide into a curious tour of mythic structure, cultural context, and character reputation. The range is broad but coherent. Recent episodes cover urban legends, Yoruba creation story material, The Odyssey, Lancelot, Guinevere, Roman April festivals, and queer history around witchcraft through a feed drop. Greek myth gets handled with both affection and suspicion. The Odyssey becomes a way to talk about homecoming, Penelope, double standards, Lotus Eaters, and why modern audiences keep recasting Odysseus as a romantic hero. The Arthurian episodes lean into the mess. Lancelot is not just a famous knight; he is a narrative engine for desire, madness, violence, loyalty, and catastrophe. Guinevere is treated as one of the tradition's complicated women, not simply a plot device in somebody else's legend. The show also keeps returning to who gets to tell these stories now. In the Felicia Day conversation, mythology and storytelling are tied to reclamation, gender, queer readings, and the importance of making older texts answer to newer audiences. Guest episodes can widen the lens without losing the house rhythm. The Yoruba creation story episode brings in Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi and shows the podcast's interest in stories beyond the usual Greek and Arthurian canon. Its humor is casual, sometimes dry, and often useful. A joke lands, then the episode gets back to the thread. That balance is the appeal: scholarship that does not behave like homework, and comedy that does not flatten the material. Spirits is best for listeners who enjoy mythology as culture, gossip, inheritance, and argument all at once.
Made for: For listeners who like mythology, folklore, spooky stories, and ancient literature explained with warmth, jokes, and critical curiosity. It especially suits people drawn to queer feminist and pop-culture-aware readings of old stories.
What sets it apart: The show keeps folklore accessible without stripping away complexity. It can treat Lancelot like high drama, The Odyssey like a living text, and urban legends like campfire ritual, all in the same recognizable conversational mode.
A boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week we pour a drink and dive into a new story from around the world. Hear fresh takes on classic myths and learn new stories, served over ice, every Wednesday!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Amanda and Julia trace how myths and ghost stories change in the telling, with humor, close questions, and attention to inherited assumptions.
Amanda and Julia treat mythology and folklore as stories with histories, asking how each tale has been transmitted, revised, and recruited for modern purposes. Their range runs from Odysseus and Yoruba creation traditions to Japanese chicken lore and New York ghost stories.
Odysseus meets a vengeful chicken, and Amanda and Julia make sure you know the backstory.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A too-hot campfire opens into a wry, reflective setup for spooky stories and mortality.
Summer heat opens into a campfire-style conversation about mortality, meaning, and the old pleasure of telling spooky stories together. The hosts lean into the ritual even when the fire is just a photo on a phone, using the gap between atmosphere and absurdity as part of the…
A warm Spirits conversation frames mythology and folklore through African history and careful guest selection.
This Spirits episode works best when it treats the guest invitation as part of the story. Amanda and Julia set out why so many pitches miss the show's purpose, then explain why this guest's focus on African history, corrective history, and the global diaspora felt like the right…
A warm, funny Spirits conversation about Greek myth, queer feminist storytelling, and reclaiming stories that once pushed people aside.
Spirits turns Greek mythology into a question of inheritance: who gets to hold a story, challenge it, and make it useful now. Felicia Day's visit has an easy rhythm, helped by the cold-call jokes up front, but the episode is most interested in how her graphic novel reframes myth…
A lively route from Nolan's big boat summer to the Odyssey's complicated pull toward home.
Christopher Nolan's announced The Odyssey gives Spirits a timely reason to return to the myth before the film arrives. Amanda and Julia use the movie as an entry point into what audiences may meet there, from the scale Julia thinks Nolan can handle to the famous hazards on…
Lancelot's love, madness, and divided loyalties make him both romance icon and engine of Arthurian ruin.
Lancelot arrives with the full weight of his romantic legend already attached to him. Amanda and Julia follow that reputation into the messier parts of the story: his love for Guinevere, her fury over Elaine and Galahad, and the forest madness that only the Holy Grail can…
A grudge-filled chicken tale that moves from cockfighting to the afterlife.
Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore leans into chickens and roosters as a natural fit for Amanda and Julia's folklore curiosity. It opens on the long companionship between chickens and humanity, then moves into a Japanese story from around the 1800s in which Takazuru wins a…
A Cloisters conversation about medieval desire, saints, and the body.
A light caveat: the episode's more specialized medieval material can feel dense at moments. Still, it follows Spirits through Spectrum of Desire, Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages at the Met Cloisters, curated by Nancy Tebow and Melanie Holcomb, with a clear editorial…
A clear, playful look at how one lake figure can carry several Arthurian roles.
The Lady of the Lake episode keeps Arthurian legend focused on identity rather than plot mechanics, tracing how one figure can appear under more than one name and role.
Loose talk from the weird edge.
Folklore with shadows and a human pulse.
Spooky stories with sharp, chaotic company.
Old stories, modern timing, stranger monsters.
Amanda and Julia host Greg Young from The Bowery Boys Podcast to explore New York City ghost stories and urban legends.
This is the final episode of an Egyptian mythology series on Spirits Podcast, where the hosts discuss several gods of the Nile.
This episode of Spirits Podcast explores urban legends submitted by listeners, with hosts Amanda and Julia sharing personal anecdotes about travel anxiety and superstitions before diving into the main topic.
Amanda and Julia alternate four listener-submitted supernatural stories, including a grandfather hiding in a South Chicago crawl space wearing a Jason mask.
On Spirits, Amanda and Julia interview Chinene Ebuna Ikwemesi about African history, Yoruba mythology, and the Afro Deities Institute’s effort to recover knowledge erased or misattributed through colonial histories.
Felicia Day discusses The Lost Daughter of Sparta, a graphic novel built around Philanoe, a scarcely documented daughter of Tindarius and Leta whom Artemis makes immortal.
Amanda and Julia of Spirits explain what to expect from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, including its connection to Emily Wilson’s translation.
Spirits: Mythology, Legends, & Folklore examines Lancelot as Arthur’s champion whose ideals of chivalry conflict with his love for Guinevere.
This episode features an interview with Isaac Sanders exploring trickster figures in mythology and folklore as anti-fascist practice, with personal anecdotes about their introduction to these stories through Aesop's Fables.
The hosts discuss their idea to create a calendar of Greek and Roman festivals to revive ancient traditions, focusing on how many festivals were celebrated in ancient Rome and its influence on the modern calendar.
This episode explores the appeal of the Arthurian legend, focusing on the drama, love triangles, and the complex character of Guinevere.
This episode of Historical Homos explores the queer history of witchcraft, delving into LGBTQ figures and stories from historical archives.
The hosts of Spirits podcast share a fresh urban legend about a ghost in a Subaru car that interferes with music playback, specifically favoring Nirvana.
Spirits opens with chickens and roosters.
Amanda and Julia welcome Nancy Tebow and Melanie Holcomb to Spirits Podcast.
Spirits turns back to Arthurian legend for the Lady of the Lake.
Amanda and Julia open their Urban Legends episode with Etang Etow.
Two best friends discuss fashion choices and introduce a spooky story about a girl with a green ribbon, tying it to their podcast's theme of mythology and folklore.