Hunt A Killer’s production company, Skylark Media, just launched a brand new podcast called The Long Hallway, written by two members of the same crazy crew that writes Hunt A Killer’s mysteries!

The first episode called The Pledge, by Hannah Tsiopanos and Elinor Haney, is a about a college student who tries to warn his fellow coeds about a frightening fraternity on campus. There are creative nods to folklore stories peppered throughout the six-and-a-half-minute long podcast.

From Hannah and Elinor:

The Pledge is a short horror story about a college student trying to warn his classmate about a dangerous fraternity on their campus. Like many characters in horror, his good intentions end up backfiring on him in a way he doesn’t expect. 

Writing the episode was a collaborative process that took place mostly on Hannah’s roof and couch, but also over google docs. It involved a fair amount of research on fraternities, since neither writer has ever actually set foot in a frat house. 

In writing the episode, we wanted to think about the almost supernatural power and deeply-ingrained secrecy that can permeate prestigious organizations, as well as the appeal that self-same power can have to certain people. 

An implication we tried to maintain throughout the episode was that of a non-human status of the fraternity. The specific “rules” that our protagonist mentions having for interacting with them are the same as those that, in folklore, are used for interaction with the fey. Break one of their rules, and they own you. The resonance there with the types of rules and rituals that a lot of Greek organizations maintain interested us. This folkloric connection is referenced more specifically within the episode in a couple of ways. First off, the last name of one of our characters — Korrigan— refers to a spirit in Breton mythology known for luring people to their deaths. Even the title of the fraternity, Phi Epsilon Upsilon, (фΕΥ) was designed to resemble the word “fey” when sounded out in Greek.

On it’s first day of its soft launch, The Long Hallway reached #9 on Apple Podcast’s Arts chart.

You can listen to The Long Hallway wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether that’s on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, or TuneIn.