Fear, filed carefully, starts to breathe.
The Magnus Archives builds horror out of testimony, research, and the slow pressure of things catalogued too neatly. Its recent feed pairs Magnusverse updates with Rusty Quill showcases, moving from uncanny libraries to vampire danger, magical detective work, and cosmic tabletop dread.
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The Magnus Archives is a horror audio drama about statements, archives, and the cost of paying attention. It does not rush the shadow. The world around it feels organised on paper and rotten underneath, with esoteric libraries, supernatural mysteries, and files that behave less like records than invitations. Recent feed material shows the Magnusverse as both a continuing storyworld and a gathering point for adjacent horror fiction. There is anniversary machinery here: live events, creator appearances, The Magnus Protocol updates, Rusty Fears competition stories, and the novel From the Library of Jürgen Leitner. There are also feed drops that map the network’s taste with unusual clarity. Planet Arcana brings science-fantasy actual play into a casino full of surveillance, risky jobs, androids, tarot gods, and a cowboy hat gag that can turn uneasy in the same breath. Not Quite Dead starts in an overstretched A&E, where exhausted staff, blood, grief, and undead danger crowd the fluorescent light. Welcome to Fosters shifts to an alternative Sydney, following a struggling private consulting wizard through fae trouble, dark energy, and the mournful aftermath of a missing animal case. Hi Nay places supernatural terror inside Toronto, where Mari protects Laura, lies badly to detectives, and senses that the official story has already failed. Push the Roll with Ross Bryant turns used books, dust, improvised dread, and dark comedy into a Call of Cthulhu descent. Malevolent folds the horror inward, binding Arthur to a voice and a book from somewhere beyond his world. Across these pieces, the feed favours slow entrances and sharp reveals. Ordinary rooms matter. A hospital door, a basement symbol, a paperback cover, a library aisle, or a stranger’s expression can carry the threat before anyone names it. The voice is literary without becoming precious, dry without becoming casual, and bleak without sanding away warmth. It is best for listeners who enjoy serial horror with patience, mythic scaffolding, and a tolerance for unanswered questions. The archive is not just a setting. It is the trap.
Made for: For listeners who like atmospheric horror fiction, serial mystery, uncanny institutions, and audio drama that lets dread gather slowly. It also suits fans curious about the wider Rusty Quill horror network.
What sets it apart: Its archive frame gives the horror a procedural chill: every statement, book, interview, and case feels like evidence in a larger pattern. Recent feed drops extend that sensibility across actual play, urban folklore, medical horror, and supernatural fantasy without losing the patient unease.
“Make your statement, face your fear.” The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction audiodrama podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join Jonathan Sims as he explores the archive, but be warned, as he looks into its depths something starts to look back… New episodes every Thursday produced by Rusty Quill, featuring guest actors, short stories, serial plots and more. The long awaited continuation The Magnus Protocol launched in January 2024. Season 2 of the Magnus Protocol is ongoing!This multi-award winning and record breaking epic horror anthol...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Its feed demonstrates how supernatural dread can travel across narrated drama, character dialogue, and actual play without losing its grip.
The Magnus Archives currently uses its feed as a doorway into the wider Rusty Quill fiction world. Cast members introduce other productions before handing over to substantial episode presentations, with selections spanning improvised cosmic horror, supernatural stories, horror…
The archive gives your worst hunch a case number, then dares you to connect the files.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A tense, dry introduction to Planet Arcana's retro-futuristic mystery.
Planet Arcana opens with a clear itch for trouble. The D&D 5e frame gives the science-fantasy setup a loose, playable feel, while the retro-futuristic mix of humans and androids keeps the world off-balance in a good way.
A hospital-night horror-romance keeps its bite in the ordinary details and the slow pull toward the undead.
The episode follows Alfie, a nurse working overtime in A&E, after a patient arrives with her throat torn out, and it folds hospital realism into a horror-romance about the living, the undead, and a mysterious vampire named Casper.
A shaggy fantasy setup that keeps one boot in the mundane and the other in trouble.
Welcome to Fosters settles into its world quickly: a small-time consulting wizard is trying to keep a failing magical detective business alive, and the episode gives that setup enough room to feel concrete instead of dressed up.
A feed drop that turns a police interview into a doorway for Toronto supernatural horror.
Rusty Quill's feed drop introduces High Nigh as an atmospheric analogue style horror drama set in Toronto, where Mari, a Filipina immigrant, gets dragged into supernatural trouble after saving Laura from being killed.
A sharp comic-horror opener that leans on atmosphere, banter, and a slow slide into unease.
The episode folds a Rusty Quill anniversary note into a handoff to Push the Roll with Ross Bryan, an improvised Call of Cthulhu comedy-horror actual-play from the creators of 8th Slade Nobody.
A tense horror debut built around a bound man, a marked book, and a reality with rules that keep tightening.
Malevolent opens with a knotty mix of the visible and the half-known: a bound man, a book marked with the same symbol as the basement door, and a world that keeps shrinking under stranger rules.
Colour codes, spreadsheets, and buried folders turn a tidy investigation into a slow, eerie puzzle.
This episode stays locked on a concrete little puzzle: which mini-discs matter, which one was last heard, and how the laptop's buried subfolders fit the pattern. Its real strength is the pressure that builds through routine.
This episode announces the 10th anniversary celebrations for The Magnus Archives, including a live show, the return of The Magnus Protocol Season 2 Act 3, and the release of a novel set in the Magnus universe.
A Rusty Quill feed drop warms up the room.
First, there is the invitation.
A wizard moves toward Sydney.
A network handoff opens with anniversary logistics, then slips into Hi Nay.
A bookstore waits in darkness.
Arthur wants answers.
This episode features promotional announcements for Rusty Quill's Magnus Archives live show at the Crossed Wires festival, the horror romance podcast Not Quite Dead, and the game Fortuna Diamond by Heist Team.
Jonathan Sims returns as GM for The Magnus Archives tabletop special The Listening Club, with Anusha, Ian Hales, Lowry, and Pip playing Margot, Alphonse Platt, Elodie Jones, and Barry Knapp.
A promotional episode for The Magnus Archives' 10th anniversary live show and a murder mystery podcast Cold Tapes.
A special episode advertising a live show and another podcast, featuring voices from The Magnus Protocol.
This episode is a promotional segment for a live show and another podcast, not a regular story episode.
A special anniversary episode featuring advertisements for a live show and another podcast, with no narrative content.
A promotional episode for a live show and a network podcast, featuring announcements and descriptions.
A promotional episode for a live show and a network podcast, featuring hosts from The Magnus Archives.
A promotional segment for a live show and another podcast within the same network, featuring announcements and descriptions.
A promotional episode for a live show and a network podcast, featuring announcements and dedications.
A promotional episode for The Magnus Archives' 10th anniversary live show and a murder mystery podcast Cold Tapes.
A promotional announcement for a live show celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Magnus Archives horror fiction podcast.
A promotional episode for a live show and other network podcasts, set in the universe of a horror fiction audiodrama.
This episode is a promotional segment for a live show and another podcast, not a narrative episode.
This episode promotes upcoming events and podcasts, including a Magnus Archives live show, the horror romance podcast Not Quite Dead, and a sponsorship for the game Fortuna Diamond.
A promotional episode for the Magnus Archives' 10th anniversary live show and a murder mystery podcast Cold Tapes.
A special live show announcement and advertisements for the Magnus Archives' 10th anniversary.
This episode is a promotional segment for a live show and another podcast within the same network, featuring announcements and descriptions.