Kinder, gentler horror: ‘Scary Stories’ with a dose of humanity

Spectrum News March 2022, story and photo by Sean Murphy 3.5.22

It seems fitting that to visit horror writer and podcaster Brigitte Emmons at her home in Rangeley, one must first drive up a mountain road that gets narrower and narrower, through deeper and deeper snow that threatens to bog down even an SUV. All the while, the trees close in overhead, and cellphone reception is sketchy at best.

Emmons writes and records her own stories as an ongoing series for a podcast that now has thousands of downloads from multiple countries. 

Upon arrival, however, it’s immediately clear that neither Emmons nor her home are nearly as scary. She lives in a cabin converted into a rustic year-round dwelling, cozy and inviting with gorgeous views out of tall living room windows. Emmons herself came to the door dressed in a flannel shirt, jeans and a warm smile. She has a down-to-earth persona, laughing when asked why she lives so far away from busier parts of the state such as Scarborough, where she grew up.

“I just need my space,” she said.

The words “friendly” and “horror” don’t often go together, but that dichotomy is reflected in Emmons’ work. Her podcast, “Time for a Story: Scary Stories from a Small Town in Maine,” features tales written and read aloud by Emmons. Her stories, which dabble in the supernatural and explore depraved human behavior, clearly belong in the horror genre, but she made a face when asked about the slasher movies of old or the jump-scare style of storytelling that is so common in modern horror films.

“Gore for the sake of gore is not my thing,” she said.

Instead, Emmons described her stories as “nuanced horror,” based on well-established characters with plenty of humanity. 

“They’re nerds who do amazing things,” she said.

A post-retirement pursuit

Within the first few months, Emmons said, the podcast had more than 4,000 downloads, and her fans are as far away as Poland, France and Vietnam.

“It is mindblowing,” she said.

Now 55, Emmons said she started podcasting after she and her husband, Tony Touchette, retired in 2018 – she from a job leading large recruiting teams for companies such as Wex and Unum, her husband from a career in IT. The two had bought the Rangeley property in 2010, and after extensive renovations and expansions decided to live there full-time. She said she at first spent a lot of time in reflection.

“You start revisiting your values and you start revisiting your passions,” she said.

Within months of moving, Emmons said, she began exploring her creative side, something her corporate job had never given her the freedom to do. She remembered how much she liked to tell tales as a child, and she wrote and recorded her first story, “Remote Cast,” as a favor to friends at local radio station WRGY, for broadcast around Halloween in 2020. The station liked it so much, she said, that it pressed her to record three more.

“Once I did it, I gotta say, I was hooked,” she said. 

Emmons’ first four stories are now tied together in a multi-part, ongoing tale. They begin with “Remote Cast,” the story of a widow who lost her husband in a freak accident, now living in the mountains and encountering a ghostly being while driving along a dark road at night. 

Where it comes from

Emmons draws on her own life for her work. The widow in “Remote Cast,” like Emmons, is a fly-fisher. Emmons’ husband is alive and well, but she still knows the pain of loss — her brother died in a fire in Portland in 1985. 

“I have a deep respect for those quiet, stoic, still-waters-run-deep kind of people,” she said.

Emmons said she also uses the landscape of the western Maine mountains for inspiration. She is aware that the natural beauty belies the risk of spending one’s time so far away from civilization, not to mention help during an emergency. 

“It’s so beautiful here, but it’s also so terrifying,” she said.

Emmons is a fan of other horror works, but prefers written stories to films. She cites Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” among her influences, but also mentioned “Batavia’s Graveyard” by Mike Dash, a dramatized account of the true story of a sociopath aboard a 14th century Dutch spice merchant ship. She said she has read it three times, and it frightens her anew every time.

“It’s such a page-turner. It’s so creepy,” she said.

Emmons said she makes sure to base her stories on characters the listener can identify with.

“If you can relate to that person and feel like you are that person, and then something horrible happens to that person, that’s scary,” she said.

Relating to listeners

Emmons said her stories are short, about 15 to 20 minutes each, but she takes even that small demand on listeners’ time seriously.

“I act like I have to pay for the words,” she said.

Emmons isn’t getting paid herself, however. She distributes the podcast for free, content to write and perform for the love of doing it. 

“I don’t need the pressure. I don’t need the money,” she said.

That doesn’t make her immune to her audience’s reactions, however. She posted on her website a positive comment from a listener she read on one of the podcast platforms, the first such comment from a stranger she had ever seen. 

“I loved that because I don’t know who that person is, and I think she gets it, and I love that,” she said. 

Like anyone diving into a new venture, Emmons acknowledged feeling self-conscious, but noted that living with just her husband in the mountains meant that she could also isolate herself from critics. Were she still working full-time, she said, she could imagine worrying about what her colleagues would think. Now, she said, her isolation makes her braver.

“I’m very energized by that,” she said.

Emmons said she has no plans to slow down, and hopes she will continue to be surprised by the level of interest in her work.

“I’m just gobsmacked. I can’t believe it,” she said.

Listen to ME is a biweekly series published on Saturday exclusively for Spectrum News Maine.  http://specne.ws/yU2yFn