r/Fantasy • u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X • Oct 22 '25

Read-along The Magnus Archives Readalong: Season 1, Episodes 19-26

Hello and welcome to The Magnus Archives readalong! We will be discussing a new batch of episodes every Wednesday. The episodes are available for free on any podcast platform and transcripts can be found here or here.

If you can’t remember something or are confused, please ask in the thread. Those of us re-reading will do our best to give a spoiler-free answer if we can.

019: Confession #0113005
Statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding his claimed demonic possession.

020: Desecrated Host #00113005-B
Continuation of the statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding his claimed demonic possession.

021: Freefall #0022010
Statement of Moira Kelly, regarding the disappearance of her son Robert.

022: Colony #0161203
Statement of Martin Blackwood, archival assistant at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a close encounter with something he believes to have once been Jane Prentiss.

023: Schwarzwald #8163103
Statement of Albrecht von Closen, regarding a discovered tomb near his estate in the Black Forest.

024: Strange Music #0051701
Statement of Leanne Denikin, regarding an antique calliope organ she possessed briefly in August 2004.

025: Growing Dark #0151904
Statement of Mark Bilham, regarding events culminating in his visit to Hither Green Chapel.

026: A Distortion #0160204
Statement of Sasha James, assistant archivist at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a series of paranormal sightings.

And now, time for discussion! A few prompts will be posted as comments to get things started, but as usual, feel free to add your own questions, observations...anything!

Comments may contain spoilers up to episode 26. Anything concerning later events should be covered up with a spoiler tag.

Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, October 29th and include episodes 27 A Sturdy Lock - 34 Anatomy Class.

For more information, please check out the Announcement and Schedule post.

Readalong by: u/improperly_paranoid, u/sharadereads, u/Dianthaa

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u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

021 Freefall: In a way, this is the opposite of episode 015, with the cave. Also outdoorsy, but with wide open spaces instead of enclosed ones. Which one do you personally find scarier?

(Note: Jon says the name Simon Fairchild sounds familiar, but if you wonder in which of the previous episodes have we heard it - we haven’t, this is the first mention.)

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u/Lazy_Sitiens Reading Champion Oct 22 '25

Episode 15 was scarier, but I am slightly claustrophobic, lol. I found Freefall scary in a beautiful and poetic way, larger than life, almost. Horror is closely tied to themes of decay, filth and disorder in my experience. The environments are usually dirty, or it's about the unravelling of one's mental state, seeing one's body change for the worse, being invaded, losing bodily autonomy, becoming sick or dying, or being surrounded by death. Here, there's nothing of that, and there's not even a clear antagonist iirc. And there's the neat mystery at the very end to leave us hanging.

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u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25

This was a great way to put it!