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An exploration of the strange, dark, and obscure tales of Texas history, horror, true crime, and the curious intersections between. Tex Arcana combines in-depth research with atmospheric storytelling to shed light on the forgotten, overlooked and misunderstood; to unearth the truth beneath the lore, legends and lies; and trace the strange and surprising connections that bind them all together.
A church burns comic books; Ryan Sheffield and Brad Dewar show you where the smoke went.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp post-Cold War panic story about bad evidence and the long lives it can make for itself.
After the Cold War, the episode asks what happens to public panic once its familiar enemy drops out of view. It follows that anxiety into economic uncertainty, then into the war on drugs and anti-D&D crusading, where old fears found new targets.
A legal-turn episode about occult fear, testimony, and memories being remade into meaning.
This installment follows the Fran Keller case as it moves into its legal phase, where testimony, occult claims, and revised memories start reinforcing one another.
A Twilight Zone nightmare becomes a lens on the history of a child-abuse panic.
Texarkana starts with Rod Serling's 1960 Twilight Zone story about Maple Street and uses it to trace what fear does when ordinary systems stop working. The power fails, phone lines die, cars will not start, and a quiet suburb begins to feel strange.
A contested county-seat fight slides into an accidental death ruling and the rumor mill's second wind.
The episode treats a disputed county-seat election as a window into the messy afterlife of Texas history. A county named for George Campbell Childress, remembered for the Texas Declaration of Independence and for a gruesome death by Bowie knife, becomes the setting for a…
A Texas bonfire opens onto a missing-person case shaped by one detective's contested telling.
Texarkana follows the story from religious panic into media-made myth, opening with a 1972 Halloween bonfire outside San Antonio, where Castle Hills Baptist congregants burned books, comics, pornography, and rock and roll albums as spiritual warfare.
Black Hills history, told on location.
Vegas history with a barstool pulse.
Connecticut history with national echoes.
Texas history, sourced and road-tested.
Maine history, widened through public talks.
Tex Arcana examines how post-Cold War America replaced the Soviet Union with new folk devils, including immigrants, welfare recipients, gamers, and Muslims.
Tex Arcana’s “[PART 4] And He Doth Appear” follows Suzanne Chaviers and three-year-old Christy after Suzanne leaves Rick in July 1991 and begins recovered memory therapy with “Amber.” Christy’s behavior, a daycare allegation against Dan Keller, and Dr.
Tex Arcana uses Rod Serling’s 1960 Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” to examine how uncertainty turns neighbors into scapegoaters.
Tex Arcana examines the 1988 death of 17-year-old Tate Rowland in Childress, Texas, where Sheriff Claude Lane initially accepted a suicide explanation despite two rope burns on Tate’s neck.
Texarkana examines the 1972 Castle Hills Baptist book burning, the 1979 disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, and the Satanic Panic surrounding Dungeons and Dragons.
Tex Arcana traces Indian Hot Springs from Apache-held mineral springs and the 1929 resort to Jewel Babb’s work as a curandera in the 1950s.
Carr P.
The Lynch family's perilous journey to Texas in 1877, facing illness and danger on Christmas Eve.
This episode explores the origins of mesmerism and its influence on Texas history and folklore.
A five-part miniseries about a historical epidemic in Texas, drawing parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This episode explores the violent process of land surveying and settlement in 1830s Texas, blending historical narrative with atmospheric storytelling.
A poetic reflection on autumn in Texas and the magic of Halloween, setting the stage for exploring strange and dark tales.
The episode tells the story of Minnie Rayford Williams, a young orphan who inherited property in Fort Worth and pursued a career in elocution and acting.
This episode explores the unlikely friendship between Bonnie Nettles and the long-dead saint Brother Francis, delving into her journey from nursing to occult practices and UFO sightings in 1970s Texas.
This episode explores a mysterious case of crop theft and strange footprints in 1836 Texas, blending history and folklore.