Short Synopsis
Lara Campbell used to believe in ghosts. Now she pretends to believe in them for money. But when her ex-partner goes missing in a town with some very mysterious issues, she may have to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew. BELIEVER is a paranormal fiction podcast about ghosts, cryptids, demons, cosmic entities, and the fake psychic who doesn't believe they exist. New episodes every other Tuesday beginning March 3, 2020.
Long synopsis
Lara Campbell doesn’t believe in ghosts. But that doesn’t mean she can’t make money from those who do. She’d never call it scamming - you're afraid of a ghost, she helps you not be afraid of the ghost. If pretending to be psychic gets her there, so be it.
When she receives word that her ex-girlfriend, Rose, has gone missing, Lara travels to a small Oregon town to help find her. But things quickly get...weird. People are getting sick, reality is hard to grasp, and there's a strange presence in the woods (which is definitely not Bigfoot. Right? It couldn’t be Bigfoot). Soon, even Lara has trouble distinguishing between reality and dreams...and that confusion could threaten everything she thinks she knows.
An atmospheric, somewhat self-aware horror story, BELIEVER looks at not just what we believe, but why. Woven into the season are real-world paranormal stories and elements, which inform and contrast with the action of the show.
Each season is 10 episodes long, and each will feature a different setting (so season 2 will not be set in Charity, Oregon). The first season features a Lovecraftian mystery with a Bigfoot twist, grounded in a melancholy queer love story.
Oh, and there’s a dog in it.
single-line synopsis
A biweekly scripted drama about a fake psychic who meets real ghosts (well, maybe).
overview
Title: Believer
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Release schedule: Every other Tuesday
RSS feed: https://believer.libsyn.com/rss
Website: www.believerpodcast.com
Twitter/Instagram: @believerpod
Facebook: facebook.com/believerpod
Email: believerpod@gmail.com
Available on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, and more
Transcripts available on the website the same day as release.
Annotated transcripts with references and further reading will be available to Patreon subscribers.
Content Notes
The horror in Believer is largely existential and psychological, with minimal violence or gore. We try to keep it at about a US PG-13 rating. That said, it does contain content like:
Mental and physical illness
Injury, harm, and death of both humans and animals
Cult activity, occultism, and religious rhetoric
Manipulation, grief, and mild homophobia
Episode-specific content warnings are available in each episode's show notes.
What’s it like?
TV: Twin Peaks, Evil, Castle Rock, X-Files
Film: Annihilation, The Mothman Prophecies, The Conjuring
Authors: HP Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Jeff VanderMeer, Stephen King
Games: Anchorhead, Unavowed, Kathy Rain
Podcasts: Unwell, Cryptids, Call of the Void, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Black Tapes, Astonishing Legends, Unexplained
crew
Bios available at BelieverPodcast.com/crew
Writer, Director, Sound Design: Julie Saunders
Composer: Aaron Ferenc
Cover art by: Corinne Ellsworth Beaumont
Emotional Support: Seth Ellsworth
Studio recordings conducted at Comedy Pop-Up Studio
cast
Bios available at BelieverPodcast.com/cast
Lara Campbell: Julie Saunders
Rose Boone: Mara Hernandez
Jake Talbott: Jason Markoff
Mayor Terri Boone: Rosa Delgado
Rev. Mitchell Boone: David Pinion
Dr. Penelope Simmons: Samantha Ronceros
Camille Simmons: Sara Gorsky
Sheriff Tate: Regen Wilson
Sodapop: Basil Archimedes Hornberger
What People Are Saying About Believer
The A.V. Club, Alma Roda-Gil: “This first episode of Believer feels like the first 30 minutes of Get Out or Hereditary in pure audio form: There’s an unshakable sense that something is wrong and intends to stay that way.”
5 out of 5 Stars on Podchaser: “Lara Campbell is just the kind of paranormal investigator, I’ve missed: Sceptic, somewhat cynical, straight forward and not easy to convince.”
5.0 out of 5 on Apple Podcasts: “There are a lot of supernatural-adjacent podcasts clamoring for your ears right now, but perhaps none so worthy as Believer.”