Horror Science Olivia Eiler

Episode eight focuses on media effects. The top of the show explores a couple copycat crimes related to the Scream franchise; however, copycat crimes are less common than the news media would have you believe. The episode closes with a look at George Gerbner's cultivation theory, with a focus on mean world syndrome.

Episode seven explores the criminology behind The Silence of the Lambs.
What is life like at the FBI Training Academy at Quantico? How are
serial killers profiled, and what role do modus operandi and signature
play? Which real-life serial killers inspired the characterization
of Buffalo Bill? Finally, would an incarcerated killer ever help with a
current investigation?

Episode six explores several questions raised by the Swedish vampire horror Let the Right One In.
What medical conditions could have lead to the creation of the burning
in sunlight myth? Have children ever been part of a serial killing team?
How have animals adapted to survive on blood? What do the history books
leave out about the creation of Morse Code? What are the side effects
of hydrochloric acid spills? Finally, how long can humans hold their
breath underwater?

Episode five covers the science behind John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween.
Is Halloween more dangerous than any other day of the year? What
happened in the case of the Liske family murders? Could Michael's
parents have been warned about his violent tendencies by the MacDonald
Triad? Why does Michael wear a mask? Finally, would Michael really have
been able to escape from Smith's Grove? Ask John Straffen, who escaped
from a mental hospital for the criminally insane in England.

Episode four differs from the usual content of the podcast; it begins by
providing historical context for the film. Who is Pan, and how does the
translation of the film's title from Spanish to English affect its
meaning? What was life like for the Republicans in Francoist Spain?
After this, we get back to the usual science. What are the uses of and
symbolism behind labyrinths? Is there any truth behind the myth of the
mandrake root?

Episode three looks into the medical science of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
and offers a case study. Could the weather be to blame for Jack's
mental decline? What impact would alcoholism have upon the father? Is
there any scientific basis for the shining abilities, including
precognition, telepathy, and retrocognition? The end of the episode
offers a case study of Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, who
claimed to have experienced something like the shining.