Episode 91: Season Six Prologue

Summary

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Old Gods of Appalachia

Episode 91: Season Six Prologue ("Long Shadows")
Host: DeepNerd Media (Narrator/Host voiced by Steve Schell, joined by Cam Collins)
Release Date: January 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

The Season Six Prologue of Old Gods of Appalachia, titled "Long Shadows," ushers listeners back into the haunting shadows of alternate Appalachia. The episode serves as an atmospheric invocation and narrative overture, blending poetic prose, dark folklore, and hints at the dire events and secrets waiting in the hills. With both nostalgia for eldritch family tales and the promise of new, deeper horrors, the hosts prepare listeners for another chilling journey into the mountains.

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Key Discussion Points & Narrative Themes

1. Invocation to Appalachia and the Power of Storytelling

• Opening Prayer and Warning (02:29):
  • The narrator speaks directly to "O Appalachia," describing her as both a nurturing mother and a holder of dangerous secrets. There's reverence for the wisdom passed down by elders—mamaws, papaws, uncles, and parents.
  • Stories and legends are described as both guide and warning, shaping survival in dark lands:
    • "Both feet on the path, one in front of the other, eyes locked, never once looking off into the trees, never following that voice calling from the throat of night.” (03:04)
  • The prologue asks for deeper knowledge:
    • “Take us off the milk and put us on to the meat so that we might hear true and be stronger for it.” (03:19)
• Purposeful Descent into Darkness:
  • The episode invites listeners to confront hard truths:
    • "Fill our bellies with this bitter brew of blackened roots and hard truths. Show us why we should fear the dark once more." (05:03)
  • The theme of illumination and protection is questioned:
    • “Show us that not even the Promethean kiss of fire promises safety within its wavering ring of warmth.” (05:10)
  • The thin safety of light against an unknowable darkness is a central metaphor.

2. Shifting Shadows and Unseen Dangers

• Description of the Darkness:
  • The narrator paints Appalachia as a land where what is familiar can harbor the monstrous:
    • “Dusty furniture cluttering the landscape of our late mamaw’s living room. Uncertain shapes shift in the gloom. One moment, an armchair... the next, the hulking outline of a vast and shapeless beast.” (06:00)
  • The threat watches and waits just beyond perception:
    • “Pale eyes watch from the gathering dark outside the window, finding us more by sin than sight and fear. Smells like the richest supper and finest of wines to them.” (06:23)
• Confronting Old Myths and Hard Realities:
  • The prologue suggests that previous seasons only skimmed the surface of the region’s true horrors.
  • Invites listeners to hear truths lurking beneath familiar tales:
    • "Beneath the familiar lies lay truths we have dared not look in the eye before." (07:02)

3. Setting the Stage for Season Six

• Personal and Cosmic Consequences:
  • The prologue hints at dire aftermaths following a “great victory” and complex, morally fraught choices:
    • “A slip of a girl is carried to a place of rest... but what healing can come when shame clings like a monarch’s blood to one’s hands?” (07:48)
    • The fate of individuals becomes tied to the fate of the world.
  • The return of legacy characters and the weight of prophecy:
    • “A lost and forgotten place... an elder of a long, tainted bloodline kneels at a forbidden altar to break an ancient promise.” (08:23)
    • “There are prophecies and promises here, but is any of it worth the cost?” (08:49)
• A Collector, a Puzzle, and the Path to Deeper Darkness (09:03):
  • The introduction of a mysterious collector who “calls in markers” and sets other characters afoot to retrieve “pieces of a puzzle that only one such as he would seek to solve.”
  • Hints at a gathering place where “the darkest of our tales begin, a place that is not a place where sits a house that is not a house.”

4. Thematic Refrains: Light, Darkness, and Memory

• Family and Story as Survival (09:54):
  • The finale of the prologue implores the Appalachian “family”—literal and figurative—to gather and press their old stories into new hands:
    • “Press them like bloody coins into our hands so we might come a little closer to understanding. The night that surrounds us threatens to swallow us.” (10:22)
  • The ancient battle between the green (life, nature) and the ravenous dark continues:
    • “Recite the ancient litany of how the green stood against the ravenous dark and remind us that clinging to the light only makes us easier to find and consume.” (10:49)
  • The perilous safety of light, and the long shadows it casts:
    • “Candles burned against the darkness provide the very light that casts the longest shadows.” (11:09)

5. Musical Interlude and Season Declaration

• Song: "Land Where the Light Don't Reach" by Landon Blood (11:15 – 12:09):
  • Sets the haunting, mournful, ritualistic tone for the season.
  • Lyrics and music evoke the themes of proximity to danger, memory, and the cost of confronting the darkness.
• Season Six Title Announcement (12:09):
  • The host welcomes listeners back and introduces the season:
    • “Well, hey there, family, and welcome to Old Gods of Appalachia, season six, Long Shadows. It is with great delight we welcome you back to the hills of our Appalachia.” (12:09)

6. Banter, Teasers, and Listener Appreciation

• Host & Cam Collins Reconnect (12:59):

  • Friendly and familiar banter between the hosts, with Cam teasing:
    • “I’m just fine, old man. Are you ready to get this show on the road?” (12:59)
  • They tease deeper, darker trails and the return of old faces:
    • “Old questions may be answered, but even more vexing queries could be posed. You might think you have the final piece of the puzzle, only to find the picture on the box has changed.” – Cam Collins (13:21)
  • A promise of unsolved mysteries and evolving stories.

• Host Gratitude to Listeners & Patrons (13:44):

  • Heartfelt thanks to the supportive community, especially those subscribed to “the Holler” for exclusive content.

• Production & Credits (14:21):

  • Confirmation of the prologue’s writers and the introduction of the new season’s theme music.

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Memorable Quotes & Significant Moments

• On embracing bitter truths:
  “So fill our bellies with this bitter brew of blackened roots and hard truths. Show us why we should fear the dark once more.” – Narrator (05:03)

• On the fragility of light:
  “Show us that not even the Promethean kiss of fire promises safety within its wavering ring of warmth. Make us see at last how little that illumination truly does to protect us from the barely glimpsed beasts and monstrosities that lumber just outside the edges of the light.” – Narrator (05:10)

• On legacy and responsibility:
  “Now, we may have known that the folks in these tales walked in our world. But now we must meet them face to face, invite them in for supper. And pretend not to notice the blood beneath their fingernails or the strands of gristle between their teeth.” – Narrator (07:24)

• On family and memory:
  “Let us sit at the feet of those who raised us and pay heed to the secrets they’d promised they’d share when we were older. Oh, Mother, we are older now. Years like whetstones, both sharpen and grind us away in the same smooth motion.” – Narrator (04:15)

• On the function of stories:
  “Press them like bloody coins into our hands so we might come a little closer to understanding. The night that surrounds us threatens to swallow us.” – Narrator (10:22)

• On the season’s darker promise:
  “Clinging to the light only makes us easier to find and consume. Help us remember, O Appalachia, that candles burned against the darkness provide the very light that casts the longest shadows.” – Narrator (10:54)

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Important Timestamps

• Prologue starts: 02:29
• Poetic invocation & warnings: 02:29 – 08:58
• Collector and puzzle introduction: 09:03
• Community/family emphasis & dark rituals: 09:54
• Haunting musical interlude: 11:15
• Season Six (“Long Shadows”) title and welcome: 12:09
• Banter and teasers with Cam Collins: 12:59
• Listener appreciation and preview of exclusive content: 13:55
• Credits and outro: 14:21

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Tone and Style

• Language: Engages listeners with ritualistic, gothic, story-rich prose; poetic and folkloric, invoking images of Appalachian kin, haunted roots, and mythic darkness.
• Atmosphere: Ominous, intimate, reverential, and mysterious. The episode leans heavily on second-person address and ancestral language to create a sense of communal dread and anticipation.

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Summary

The Old Gods of Appalachia Season Six Prologue, "Long Shadows," is a beautifully unsettling curtain-raiser. It calls listeners—described as family—deeper into the old, dark mountains where myth and reality bleed together. Through evocative storytelling and music, the episode revisits the Appalachian tradition of oral history, warns of new and old horrors, and promises answers that may only lead to greater mysteries. Returning hosts Steve Schell and Cam Collins promise challenging journeys ahead, ensuring that even seasoned listeners will find themselves surprised, chilled, and enthralled once more.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

Well, hey there family. If you love Old Gods of Appalachia, I want to help us keep the home fires burning, but maybe aren't comfortable with the monthly commitment. Well, you can still support us via the ACAST supporter feature. No gift too large, no gift too small. Just click on the link in the show description and you too can toss your tithe in the collection plate. Feel free to go ahead and do that right about now.

[Raj]

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[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror anthology podcast and therefore may contain Material not suitable for all audiences, so listener discretion is advised. O Appalachia. O Mother, who has filled our heads and hearts with maps and legends to keep us on the straight and narrow iron edge, Truth wrapped in the softness of your stories, teaching us the lessons that keep us safe. Both feet on the path, one in front of the other, eyes locked, never once looking off into the trees, never following that voice calling from the throat of night. We have learned so much from what you have spun for us, O teller of tales and weaver of endless yarns. We have grown tall in the shade of the green and are eager to be fed, but we know there is much more to learn. Take us off the milk and put us on to the meat so that we might hear true and be stronger for it. Let us wander now the stacks of that labyrinthine library held in the minds and tongues of our mamaws and mamas, our papaws and daddies. Let us sneak into the deepest root cellar where the stories our youngest uncle told us when nobody else would, are stacked like jars of pickled go. Let us gather now and speak the bones of those stories best left unspoken into the thick air of this place. Let us make it heavy with the weight of the things we were, until now, unprepared to carry in our hearts like blood clots made of memories. Let us sit at the feet of those who raised us and pay heed to the secrets they'd promised they'd share when we were older. Oh, Mother, we are older now. Years like whetstones, both sharpen and grind us away in the same smooth motion. Our skin is thicker, our stomach stronger. So fill our bellies with this bitter brew of blackened roots and hard truths. Show us why we should fear the dark once more. Show us that not even the Promethean kiss of fire promises safety within its wavering ring of warmth. Make us see at last how little that illumination truly does to protect us from the barely glimpsed beasts and monstrosities that lumber just outside the edges of the light. O Appalachia, wake us from our dreaming and bid us bear witness to the truth that lies before us, veiled and still. Unclear. Dusty furniture cluttering the landscape of our late mamaw's living room. Uncertain shapes shift in the gloom. One moment, an armchair in the good china cabinet, the next, the hulking outline of a vast and shapeless beast. Pale eyes watch from the gathering dark outside the window, finding us more by sin than sight and fear. Smells like the richest supper and finest of wines to them. They stand stock still in the lightless parlor daring us to move. To switch on the light and prove that all is safe and well. And that they're only a trick of the light. But we won't. There is comfort in that darkness. To a degree. And anyway, it was probably only a bad dream, now, wasn't it? Oh, Mother. We have rippled the edge of your pages like a preacher looking for the perfect verse to pull out of context. But beneath the familiar lies lay truths we have dared not look in the eye before. Now, we may have known that the folks in these tales walked in our world. But now we must meet them face to face, invite them in for supper. And pretend not to notice the blood beneath their fingernails or the strands of gristle between their teeth. In the wake of a great victory, a slip of a girl is carried to a place of rest and convalescence in the shadow of the Blue Ridge. The sick have come to breathe deep and be healed. But what healing can come when shame clings like a monarch's blood to one's hands? Who can forgive the unforgiven, the forsaken? Who can carry her forth to walk in the light of the green once more? And if they even should. Because choices have consequences. And it is difficult to maintain balance. Walking with one foot in the shadow and the other in the light. Knowing that if she falls, so falls the rest of her kind. And maybe the world. In a lost and forgotten place. At the end of an iron road that no mortal man can safely travel an elder of a long, tainted bloodline kneels at a forbidden altar to break an ancient promise. In an effort to save what's left of his family. He's learned that lost boys can grow into men with hardened hearts. And little girls who disappeared into the ocean of night can wash up on the shore to stand between the rise of wicked kings. There are prophecies and promises here, but is any of it worth the cost? Once that train leaves the station, there's nowhere to go but.

[Cam Collins]

Forward.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

A collector of sorts calls in markers and sends his unwitting emissaries into the world to retrieve pieces of a puzzle that only one such as he would seek to solve. Curiosity killed the cat, but it ain't killed him yet. Once his pockets are full and his smile secure he'll meet an old friend to trade these treasures for something he holds more dear than black gold or precious gems. These jigsaw keys will unlock the path to where the darkest of our tales begin. A place that is not a place where sits a house that is not a house. And what lay within it. Damn. Not once, not twice, but thrice so. Come, O mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, mamaws and papaws, and all those who came before, we ask that you gather around our fire and offer up a full recounting of these tales. Press them like bloody coins into our hands so we might come a little closer to understanding. The night that surrounds us threatens to swallow us. Whispers to us gently from the trees caution us that we are never far from the talons of what sleeps beneath these mountains and that their bellies quiver and quake with the hunger for what we call our own. Recite the ancient litany of how the green stood against the ravenous dark and remind us that clinging to the light only makes us EAS easier to find and consume. Help us remember, O Appalachia, that candles burned against the darkness provide the very light that casts the longest shadows.

[Singer/Vocalist]

When the fire dies down and the woods go quiet and you think you told every tale you know and the old flame blooms to reshape the darkness so you lock your eyes on the trembling glow the faces you find are so familiar at almost speaking the stories fall where the light won't reach.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

And.

[Singer/Vocalist]

You can feed the fire to curse the darkness when the voices call.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

But.

[Singer/Vocalist]

In the end, long shadows.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

Fall. Well, hey there, family, and welcome to Old Gods of Appalachia, season six, Long Shadows. It is with great delight we welcome you back to the hills of our Appalachia. We missed you all. I hope y' all missed us, too. Now, I am not alone here in the void at the start of this dark and lonely road. Joining me this season in the old well behind your mamaw's house is my Boone, companion and favorite mistress of the dark, Cam Collins. How are you, witch?

[Cam Collins]

I'm just fine, old man. Are you ready to get this show on the road?

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

Indeed I am, family. Indeed I am. We're gonna be walking some of the deepest and darkest trails that wind back through these ancient mountains of ours and reveal some things that have been long hidden, as well as pointing out some horrors that have been staring us in the face this entire time.

[Cam Collins]

Old questions may be answered, but even more vexing queries could be posed. You might think you have the final piece of the puzzle, only to find the picture on the box has changed. You never know with us, now, do you, family? There are fresh, new horrors to experience, along with a disturbingly familiar face or two, all of whom have cast their own long shadows across our beloved Appalachia.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

We promise you are in for one heck of a ride. This time around, y', all and we want to thank each and every one of you that has stuck by us for the past six years. We truly could not be here without you.

[Cam Collins]

As always, we want to show some extra love to those family who make their home over in the Holler, our paid subscription service where we have hours and hours of exclusive storylines like Build Mama Coffin, Blackmouth, Dog Familiar and Beloved and more, along with other special benefits for those who cast their lot into the collection plate. Join us [e-mail] theholler today and this.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

Is your yes, every first episode of almost every season is always around 13 minutes long reminder that Old Gods of Appalachia is a production of Deep Nerd Media distributed by Rusty Quill. Today's prologue was written by Steve Schell and edited by Cam Collins. Our brand new intro and outro music the Land where the Light Don't Reach verses is of course by brother Landon Blood. We'll talk to you soon family.

[Cam Collins]

Talk to you real soon.

[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

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[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

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[Raj]

Hey, it's Raj and Noah. And we're back with a new season of Am I Doing It Wrong? The show that explores the all too human anxiety we have about trying to get our lives right.

[Noah]

Because we're still doing a lot of stuff wrong.

[Raj]

But who isn't? That's why each week we're talking about the topics that we could all use a little helping hit with. Whether it's making new friends as an adult, managing our emotions, or even dreaming.

[Noah]

We'Ll be talking to experts in their fields who are definitely doing things right so the rest of us can be a bit wiser and a lot better equipped to handle whatever life throws at us.

[Raj]

Subscribe now and listen to new episodes of Am I Doing It Wrong? Dropping every Thursday starting January 1st, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Noah]

And for the first time ever, we're gonna have full video episodes on YouTube. Because as long as there are things to get wrong, we're gonna be right here to help you do them better.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

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[Narrator/Host (Old Gods of Appalachia)]

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