The Black Tapes
The Black Tapes is a mystery-horror pseudo-documentary podcast created by Paul Bae and Terry Miles. Published by Pacific Northwest Stories, it is part of their series of podcasts set in the same fictional universe which, despite being works of fiction, are presented as legitimate true stories both within the podcast and outside of it; the podcast has no credited writers or performers, as the events and characters are framed as real.
In-universe, The Black Tapes is hosted by Alex Reagan and produced by Nic Silver. Reagan narrates a serialized story exploring the life and work of paranormal investigator Dr. Richard Strand, an "evangelical skeptic" on a mission to debunk all claims of the supernatural, and his collection of unsolved cases, the eponymous "Black Tapes".
The show started on May 21, 2015 and concluded with the sixth episode of its third season on November 7, 2017; the next year, the creators would announce an upcoming fourth season, and in 2020 the final episode was re-released with a description labelling it a "mid-season finale"; however, no follow-up was released, and Pacific Northwest Stories has not published new audio material since 2021.
Production
Episodes vary in length, from thirty-five to fifty minutes. New episodes were originally available weekly, but partway through the first season the schedule was revised to every other week.The original run of The Black Tapes was from May 21 2015 to September 7 2017. The show ended with a six episode wrap-up and the creators stated that was the end. Then on March 20 2018 it was announced on the official Twitter account for The Black Tapes that the show would return for another season.
On January 13 2020 season 3 of The Black Tapes was re-released with no changes to the audio. However, the episode description of the final episode "Into the Black" was changed to denote that it is the "Season Three Mid-Season finale".
The show uses investigative journalism as a framing device, having Alex Reagan document her investigations into the paranormal and the work of Richard Strand; the template is used by other by other Pacific Northwest Stories podcasts such as Rabbits and Tanis.
Episodes
The first season of The Black Tapes premiered May 21, 2015. The last episode, the mid-season finale, was released November 7, 2017.Season 1
| Episode | Title | Release date | Production code |
Season 2
| Episode | Title | Release date | Production code |
Season 3
This season was re-released on 13 January 2020 with changes to the description of episode 6 "Into the Black" to describe it as the "mid-season finale".| Episode | Title | Release date | Production code |