Ding Dong Darkness Time Podcast

Hey hey hey! Guess what?

I'm recording an episode of Ding D**g Darkness Time tonight with a special guest you all know and love.

The topic?

Well, let's just say if you don't like sleeping without a nightlight, this topic might not be for you. But you should totally listen anyway. :)

Stay tuned.

It's here, friends! Better late than never!

In 1957, Ed Gein's gruesome crimes of murder, grave robbing, and co**se abuse shocked the the tiny town of Plainfield, Wisconsin as well as the rest of the world, giving rise to a cottage industry of horror franchises, and serving as a grim reminder of how deep isolation, illness, and an unshakable Oedipus complex can drive some to commit the most depraved acts. Take a whirl in the time machine to learn more about the world in which Gein lived and operated, and perhaps separate a little bit of the fact from the fiction his story continues to inspire more than 65 years later.

Listen on whatever app you get your podcasts, or at the following:

Buzzsprout Link:
https://vintagevillains.buzzsprout.com/2315822/14965776-7-ed-gein

Transcripts and more available at the website:
https://www.warpedcortexmedia.com/vinta.../episode-7-ed-gein

7: Ed Gein - Vintage Villains In 1957, Ed Gein's gruesome crimes of murder, grave robbing, and co**se abuse shocked the the tiny town of Plainfield, Wisconsin as well as the rest of the world, giving rise to a cottage industry of horror franchises, and serving as a grim remind...

Dear Mandy,

I broke contact with you in October of 2023, when after many months of fielding problematic behavior from you personally and in the form of many complaints from members of a community in which we were both a part, I couldn't take it anymore.

I won't detail that behavior here, because one, I won't tell those people's stories. And two, I don't have the time it would take to detail it all in a way that would do the lunacy of it justice for our readers here.

Suffice it to say, after I attempted to ameliorate your many grievances with honesty and compassion in the form of a letter that honestly I'm pretty damn proud of for what it was attempting to express, you not only turned on me, but you had your husband send a letter back excoriating me instead, proving to me you were firmly lodged in your bedrock of denial, obsessive behavior, and instability.

I unfriended you after that. You were then banned from the FB group due to your appalling behavior re: another group member (though there were several others with stories). You continued to hang out in other ways, despite knowing you'd become persona non grata with several people for all the s**t you did. Nevertheless, I ignored you the best I could.

I started Vintage Villains and the associated Patreon in March of 2024, 5 months after the final debacle that had me throw down the iron curtain between you and me.

And lo and behold! You joined that Patreon! Once I got over the sheer amount of audacity you displayed in doing so (it only took a few seconds, because goddamn have I been experiencing a lot of audacity from a lot of motherf**kers recently), I immediately refunded your money and blocked you from Patreon.

Because guess what? You don't get to have a piece of ownership in yet another community after you spent so much energy spoiling the last one we were in together, ESPECIALLY after our last communication. Remember when I said you had a way of treating relationships transactionally? Here's a prime example of that. You so think you're entitled to buy access to people, even from those who set a firm boundary with you months ago. And when you can't buy that piece of them, you do this. You go into the reviews of my podcast, which only has 12 damn reviews and is barely getting started, and write petty, self-serving half-truths. In a place I can't reply. And you think you have the upper-hand somehow.

You say you're not vengeful? Oh I disagree. I have receipts. But you don't get to f**k with my bottom line without consequences.

So here I am now, setting it all straight in front of the world (don't worry, my response is on both of my Instagram accounts too and I might put it on Twitter for good measure, because f**k it). You were "blocked from supporting me" because you're a problematic person who stalks and harasses people. And you're apparently still a problematic person. I'm not even going to tag you, because I know you'll see this.

So let me just tell you one last thing to make it so super clear that you can't misinterpret it:

Leave me alone. Pretend you never heard of me. I don't want your patronage. And I hope to God whoever earns your fascination next has a really strong sense of boundaries, for both their sake and yours.

This week on VINTAGE VILLAINS, part one of a two part episode on John Wilkes Booth with special guest Jayson Blair! This story ended up being way more fascinating and wild than I ever imagined when I decided to give it the proper deep dive. So many strange coincidences and intersections between Lincoln and Booth before the assassination. Then add in the attempts to kill the VP and Sec of State that same night! So much more...

3: John Wilkes Booth -- Part 1: Setting the Stage - Vintage Villains In this two-part historical odyssey, Allison and her guest Jayson Blair of the Silver Linings Handook podcast weave through the transformative year of 1865, where the final throes of the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment are onl...

Episode 2 of Vintage Villains is live! Do you know who has the Guinness World Record for Most Prolific Mass Murderer?

Look no further than Vasily Blokhin, Joseph Stalin's chief executioner and evil bastard who put more than 7000 bodies into the ground all himself during the Katyn Massacre.

And the effects of that event are still very much reverberating through modern history.

You can subscribe and listen anywhere you get your podcasts. Transcript and more at the link:

Vintage Villains Episode 2: Vasily Blokhin and the Katyn Massacre — Warped Cortex Media This week's episode is crammed with enough villains to last several lifetimes, but Vasily Blokhin gets the title spot, because he still reigns as the current Guinness World Record holder for most prolific executioner/mass murderer, with more than 7000 killings to his name. And that's only for the Ka

The time machine has finally arrived, friends! The first episode of my historical true crime podcast, VINTAGE VILLAINS, is now live and available everywhere you can get your pods, so subscribe and get episodes as they come in!

Putting this podcast together has been a monumental effort on the part of everyone who made it possible. We have Nathaniel Rowan Dickson, who made amazing graphics. We have Ken Dickson who made the main theme music. And I can't help but give a special thanks to Jayson Blair, who has been instrumental in keeping my enthusiasm and momentum going in recording episodes, doing research, and discovering new topics. He's also going to be on some pretty epic episodes I have coming up over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those!

But in the meantime, why not get to know our first Vintage Villain, a sweet little lady in LaPorte, Indiana who was just looking for love...Belle Gunness...

Vintage Villains Episode 1: Belle Gunness — Warped Cortex Media Welcome to my time machine! The debut episode of my new historical true crime podcast is here, and it features a story that has long held my horrified fascination. The year 1908 brought a lot of marvels and advancements, and the discovery of dozens of bodies buried on a lonely widow's pig farm in L

If you REALLY love this show, this is the shirt for you.

Check out the other merch while you're there!

https://www.bonfire.com/infamous-quote-shirt/

All right, so I guess this is actually happening. The very first episode of the Vintage Villains Podcast is up a week early over on my brand new Patreon!

If you want to be up on all the latest updates, you can either join there for $3/mo (one tier gets you everything), or you can join the new Facebook group The Vintage Villains Soiree to get more updates as they become available, as well as discuss topics related to the show or what you would like to be on said show.

The debut episode is on one of my all-time favorite historical true crime cases, Belle Gunness.

1. Belle Gunness | The Vintage Villains Podcast (And More) Get more from The Vintage Villains Podcast (And More) on Patreon

A lot of people have been asking for podcast merch. Well, the wait is over. I've opened a Bonfire store, with shirts, hats, mugs, and totes for both Vintage Villains and Ding D**g Darkness Time!

I'm a big fan of the Vintage Villains silhouette design! It looks great on everything. More will be added soon! Feel free to let me know some designs you'd like to see, and I can harass the in-house art department!

Warped Cortex Media Merch | Buy All The Things! | Bonfire The official spot for all goodies related to Allison Dickson's books and the Ding D**g Darkness Time and Vintage Villains Podcasts!

The final, GORGEOUS artwork for Vintage Villains by Nathaniel Rowan Dickson is in! I couldn't love it more if I tried.

Subscribe on Apple and be ready for the first episodes when they begin to drop on March 1st!

‎Vintage Villains on Apple Podcasts ‎True Crime · 2024

Hear ye hear ye! The Ding D**g Darkness Time podcast is now on both YouTube and YouTube Music!

Currently all episodes are available, and there will be a lot more happening over here going forward. Possibly even some actual videos (rather than just a static thumbnail)?? Particularly for the Ding D**g Ditch episodes. We shall see....

Meantime, check it out and give a like and a subscribe!

Ding D**g Darkness Time Podcast - YouTube The official YouTube presence for the Ding D**g Darkness Time podcast. Hosted by author Allison Dickson, each episode brings a conversational dive on a varie...

Better late than never, getting started in 2024! But we're back!!

And we begin the year talking about the book that changed everything.

The topic of GONE GIRL was an inevitable for this show. The 2012 bestselling phenomenon by Gillian Flynn blew millions of readers away with its stunning plot twist, but it also caused one of the biggest plot twists in Allison's own life.

This episode, featuring Jayson Blair of the Silver Linings Handbook Podcast, explores the dark and faceted marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne, and they discuss the way so many of its themes resonate in real human psychology and relationships.

40: It's Time to Talk About 'Gone Girl' by Ding D**g Darkness Time The story of Gone Girl was an inevitable for this show. The 2012 bestselling phenomenon by Gillian Flynn blew millions of readers away with its stunning plot twist, but it also caused one of the biggest plot twists in Allison's own life. This episode, featuring Jayson Blair of the Silver Linings Han...

The show had a lot of growth this year thanks to you!

And the episode on Amway was by far the most downloaded and shared.

Expect to see more coverage on MLMs and other scam companies in 2025. If you know one you want me to cover, hit me up!

And thanks again so much for listening. There are some biiiig things coming next year!

Back in October, I appeared on the Silver Linings Handbook Podcast with Jayson Blair to discuss our collective fascination with darkness. You can now listen to it in the main feed here if you happened to miss it before!

Links to both listen and/or read the transcript are here!

39: Our Fascination with Darkness — A Discussion w/ Jayson Blair on the Silver Linings Handbook — Warped Cortex Media Recently, Allison appeared on the Silver Linings Handbook with Jayson Blair to discuss our collective fascination with darkness. Why do some of us love things like horror stories and true crime? And are we doing ourselves disservice by avoiding those things entirely? All that and more in this talk.

Some things are changing!

Most of you who listen to this show probably already access it through Apple, Spotify, or some other app. But I just migrated hosting from Buzzsprout to Spotify for Podcasters, so the main site link for the show has changed, and the Buzzsprout links I've been posting here will no longer be active.

Buzzsprout has been good to me, and I have nothing but great things to say about them. But I'm going through the process of revamping my entire online presence and changing the way I produce podcasts, and this move is a vital part of that strategy.

It might take a few days for the wrinkles to work themselves out, but the show should still be live on all the same platforms and you probably won't notice a thing. The hope is to make it even more widely available, in fact.

Soon, you'll see the show on YouTube (static images, though video is also in the works for future episodes) as well as YouTube Music. I'm also working on having transcripts available for every episode, as well as a formal website that will contain everything having to do with my podcasting as well as my fiction writing.

But if you happen to be Spotify members, now that my show is hosted over there, you'll notice there are transcripts currently available for every episode in the Spotify app! Spotify generates them automatically, so accuracy is probably not going to be 100%, but it provides a level of accessibility the show had previously been missing, and I look forward to building upon that.

There are more BIG announcements forthcoming, but for now just mind the dust as construction commences!

For the ultimate Halloween celebration, it seemed an opportune time to discuss another well-known trope of the season. This week we're joined by Nathaniel Rowan Dickson, the eldest spawn of our host! Nate has dabbled in the craft for the last several years and is here to bring all their practical knowledge and insights into things like tarot cards, crystals, spells, divination, manifestation, Dungeons & Dragons, and yeah, maybe that one time they hexed their ex. Don't worry, it was warranted. Also, Satan might have a new fiancé.

Happy Halloween everyone!

37: On Hexing Your Ex and Other Witchcraft - Ding D**g Darkness Time For the ultimate Halloween celebration, it seemed an opportune time to discuss  another well-known trope of the season. This week we're joined by Nathaniel Dickson, the eldest spawn of our host! Nate has dabbled in the craft for the last seve...

I'm being 44 in public now!

Thank you all SO MUCH for the birthday wishes. They have meant the world to me. Feeling incredibly blessed.

Now bring on some prime rib!!

Love yall.

This week of spooky month, Allison and Jayson Blair of the Silver Linings Handbook Podcast podcast sit down for a thoughtful discussion on the long history and complex culture surrounding another one of our universal monsters: the werewolf.

From symbolizing the harmony between person and beast in various indigenous cultures, to the fear of our own animalistic natures in Ancient Greek and European history and folklore, the werewolf offers us a chance to confront not only our anxieties regarding change and control, but a chance to embrace transformation and potentially even make friends with the parts of ourselves we're afraid to confront. And how in the pursuit to understand this world and each other, the stories we tell about our monsters are vital to maintaining our humanity.

36: Werewolves and the Other Shapes We Take -- A Discussion with Jayson Blair - Ding D**g Darkness Time This week of spooky month, Allison and Jayson Blair of the Silver Linings Handbook podcast sit down for a thoughtful discussion on the long history and complex culture surrounding another one of our universal monsters: the werewolf. From symbolizi...

Last year, friend of the show Brett from The Prosecutors Podcast came on to talk with Allison about ghosts and his time as a paranormal investigator. This time, they're going all in on a discussion of a different form of the restless dead: ZOMBIES, those flesh-craving ghouls that have a lot more going on with them historically and culturally than meets the eye.

From folklore born during the enslavement of West Africans in Haiti to the shambling, flesh eating automatons of George Romero lore and so much more in between, the zombie is the perfect mirror of the social anxieties of the time.

Also stick around to hear their picks for the perfect zombie apocalypse weapons and vehicles.

(Edit: Sorry for posting the wrong link the first time...)

35: Allison and Brett Talk Zombies - Ding D**g Darkness Time Last year, friend of the show Brett from The Prosecutors podcast came on to talk with Allison about ghosts and his time as a paranormal investigator. This time, they're going all in on a discussion of a different form of the restless dead: ZOMBIES...

It's TIME to get down to October Spooky Time! And what better way to do that than with a series on classic creepy tropes?

And no such event would be complete without a comprehensive discussion on everyone's favorite bloodsuckers, VAMPIRES!

Josh from Press Play and Scream joins the show and together, he and Allison cover the vamp gamut, beginning with the origins of the lore and mythology before delving into the popular culture and discussing some of their favorite vampire movies and theories about what real vampirism might look like in this wild modern world of ours.

34: Let's Talk Vampires - Ding D**g Darkness Time We're getting tropey with it this October, with a series of episodes on some core spooky creatures and lore. And no such event would be complete without a comprehensive discussion on everyone's favorite bloodsuckers, VAMPIRES! Josh from Press Play...

This week, Allison sits down with famed author Ed Kurtz to discuss his new anthology, IN THE COLD, COLD GROUND coming soon from Cemetery Dance, but then he sticks around a little longer to open up about his love affair with cinema, and in particular the never-seen low/no budget weird wonders of yesteryear and today. What makes us love "bad art?" What even does that mean? And what is behind his drive to scour through the depths of Tubi and even VHS in search of hidden treasures?

All that and more in this riveting discussion you won't want to miss.

https://dingdongdarknesstime.buzzsprout.com/1871782/13697119-33-a-love-letter-to-bad-art-pulpy-movies-and-the-wonders-of-tubi-feat-ed-kurtz

Better late than never! Back in Episode 29, Allison and her fellow cinephile Josh Bremont discussed director Martin McDonagh's amazing debut crime film, IN BRUGES, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Now you can listen to the rest of that discussion, as they dig into the latest film by this legendary trio, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, which came out in 2022.

Unlike In Bruges, which is a contemporary story about two assassins holed up in a very storybook medieval town, Banshees takes place in 1923 on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, and involves an odd feud between two old friends. Yet somehow, the two make perfect bookends on a thematic level.

And similarly, be sure to check out the In Bruges discussion if you haven't already!

https://dingdongdarknesstime.buzzsprout.com/1871782/13513091-32-ding-dong-movie-time-the-banshees-of-inisherin

There's been a small hiatus, but you may now rejoice. The finale of our coverage on multi-level marketing companies is here, you're going to want to stick around for the final take. No punches were pulled here.

31: A Murderous Mic Dropping Finale -- The Cult of Multi-Level Marketing Companies - Ding D**g Darkness Time In the last episode of their coverage on multi-level marketing companies, Allison and Beverly delve into the darkest of the dark side of these schemes, selecting several personal accounts found online as well as talking a little bit about one part...

Hey look! I still have a podcast!

The show took a brief hiatus to get through a big event, and we are now back to the Ding D**g grind. Some pretty great things in the pipeline, but first let's continue our coverage of Multi-Level Marketing Companies, beginning with this short bonus episode on Amway!

We needed to dissect an entertaining review left for us by someone who is, let's just say, not a fan. And we also go further into the ties Amway has had with the government, going all the way up to the Oval Office.

And if you think the show is getting too political as we talk about this topic, we have something to say about that as well.

DDD18: Amway is STILL a Scam, Bae -- A Short Follow-Up - Ding D**g Darkness Time Allison and Beverly are BACK to tie up some loose ends from the original Amway episode with this first Ding D**g Ditch episode that has a guest! We dissect an interesting listener review as well as further flesh out the political influence of...

It was a billed as the biggest sensation of its time in 1986 when famed TV journalist Geraldo Rivera brought us a 2 hour live special all about the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone and the secret tunnels and vaults discovered beneath one of his old hotels. The idea was Capone had stashed away some of his ill-gotten gains down there, and the world was going to all to witness together a time capsule from a bloody era of American history being opened with the help of a team of excavators and dynamite.

And well... you can learn all about what happened in this episode Allison joined on the totally tubular 80s High podcast hosted by Ben and occasional Ding D**g Darkness Time Co-host Chris (aka King Ding D**g). Once you've enjoyed this one, stick around and listen to everything else they have to offer!

https://dingdongdarknesstime.buzzsprout.com/1871782/13039041-30-allison-goes-back-to-80s-high-to-talk-the-mystery-of-al-capone-s-vaults

Allison and Josh from the Press Play and Scream podcast are back yet again to jibjab about some wacky flicks! This time, they're taking on the brilliant playwright turned cinematic auteur, Martin McDonagh's brilliant 2008 bleak comedy film, In Bruges. Starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hitmen who, after a job gone horribly wrong, are ordered to await their fate in the picturesque medieval Belgian village. But while they're there, they find some very unexpected ways to reflect on and redeem themselves of a life of crime.

Also, you don't want to miss Josh's various accents.

29: Ding D**g Movie Time -- In Bruges - Ding D**g Darkness Time Allison and Josh from the Press Play and Scream podcast are back yet again to jibjab about some wacky flicks! This time, they're taking on the brilliant playwright turned cinematic auteur, Martin McDonagh's brilliant 2008 bleak comedy film, In Bru...