Looking for a new podcast like ‘Lore’? Here’s your next obsession
With our days stuck inside due to the quarantine, people are turning to a variety of media to keep their spirits up and brains distracted: television, movies, books, and, of course, podcasts. In your podcast exploration, you’ve probably found the old standby recommendations: My Brother, My Brother, and Me, Welcome to Night Vale, Criminal, and Lore.
Running over 130 episodes for five years, the Lore podcast follows host Aaron Mahnke as he goes into the darker side of history to show how it influenced folklore: vampires, werewolves, legends about famous historical figures. Lore covers it all in fascinatingly creepy detail. It makes it a unique experience.
Say, however, you’ve finished all those 130+ episodes and are looking for things similar to the Lore podcast. Good news! Here are some excellent recommendations of shows to listen to when you’ve finished up Lore.
Unobscured
Love the darker side of history and Aaron Mahnke’s voice? Do you wish the Lore episodes could go a bit deeper into its topics? Good news! You’re the perfect person to check out Unobscured. Each season of Unobscured goes into the social, political, economic, etc reasons that some major point in history happens, giving audiences a clear and complete picture of the who, what, when, where, and how.
Season one of Unobscured focuses on the Salem Witch Trials with season two about the rise of spiritualism in the 1800s. Mahnke includes interviews with historians who provide further context on the topic and explanations for why things went the way they did. It’s great for when you want a fuller picture of the history rather than what you got in school.
Noble Blood
Co-produced by iHeartRadio and Aaron Mahnke’s production company Grim & Mild, Noble Blood has author Dana Schwartz lead listeners through tales of nobles throughout the years. From the tragic abdication of Hawaii’s final queen to the mysterious death of a valet to an unpopular Duke, each episode is a fascinating dive into the history of the elite throughout the centuries.
Schwartz herself has a rich voice, injecting a deep well of emotion into each story. Sometimes, she’s the dry voice of sarcasm. Other times an empathetic teller of tragedy. Either way, she always delivers on a fascinating and compelling history lesson and how these decisions of the nobles are still felt in the modern world today.
Revisionist History
Revisionist History hails from Malcolm Gladwell and asks the question “did we get this right the first time around” when looking at an idea, an event, a person, even a song. Gladwell examines major historical events with a critical eye covering such topics as McDonald’s french fries to different types of innovation to how an unknown artist could take a country by storm.
Gladwell is a fantastic host to listen to, very engaging. The topics are always interesting, exploring things that we thought we know from different angles. It shows how stories shaped the world and how, maybe, we should reconsider our history in a new way.
Tales
If you listen to Lore because you love the dark history that makes its way into our collective consciousness, then Tales is a perfect companion for you to dive into. Each episode dives into a fairytale such as Bluebeard, Donkeyskin, Br’er Rabbit to explore the dark origins of some of the world’s most beloved stories.
Host Vanessa Richardson leads you through this twisty navigation as she traces the path of these stories and how they evolved over the years. More importantly, Richardson shares what they meant to their time period and how we can relate them to us with this nuanced understanding.
Myths and Legends
Myths and Legends follow host Jason Weiser as he tells stories of myths, legends, folklore that have shaped culture over our history. We go over the ones that we already know such as Hercules, Aladdin, Robin Hood, but Weiser also introduces lesser-known stories as well. These stories are retold by Weiser for a modern audience, giving us an appreciation for those tales passed from our ancestors.
There are dragons, wizards, kings, princesses, and more all from when the world seemed to be more magical than it is today. Weiser is more than happy to be that guide over the course of 200+ episodes for you to enjoy.
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