…Still afraid?

J. Antonio Rivera

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Fiction
Weekly

Gather around the fire and listen closely. "...Still Afraid?" is a storytelling podcast featuring original tales of mystery, suspense, folklore, and the unexplained. Some stories are frightening. Some are strange. All of them will leave you wondering what waits just beyond the light.

Oct 18

Episode 14: Aswang — The Hunger Beneath the Skin Part II

The celebration continues. The fireworks still illuminate the night sky. Champagne flows through the halls of the Bautista mansion. And somewhere behind its gilded walls, something ancient has begun to stir. Angela Bautista has spent her life believing that wealth can protect her from anything. But money cannot purchase safety from a nightmare that knows your name. A disturbing reflection. A forgotten photograph. Whispers of a family debt buried beneath generations of privilege. And above the glittering skyline of Makati, something with wings waits for darkness to finish what daylight could not. The old stories speak of the Aswang—creatures that steal faces, imitate familiar voices, and hunger for what the living cannot bear to lose. But the deeper Angela searches into her family's past, the more terrifying the questions become. What did her grandfather promise? Why has Marites spent seventeen years guarding secrets she cannot bring herself to reveal? And if Angela Bautista is hiding upstairs… Who is entertaining her guests downstairs? Some families inherit fortunes. Others inherit curses. The Bautistas may have inherited something far worse.
Oct 11

Episode 14: Aswang — The Hunger Beneath the Skin...

Some monsters are born hungry. Others are raised to believe they deserve everything. Makati, Philippines. June 12, 2003. As the nation celebrates its independence, Angela Bautista has everything money can buy—and nothing resembling compassion. To Angela, poverty is a weakness, kindness is an inconvenience, and the suffering of others is simply beneath her notice. But on this night of celebration, something ancient has awakened. An unfamiliar woman. Three scratches against glass. A guest who disappears without a trace. And a face that should never have appeared on a security monitor. In a city where fortunes conceal secrets and appearances are everything, an old Filipino nightmare has found its way into the homes of the powerful. They call it the Aswang. It wears familiar faces. It knows the things we hide. And its hunger is older than anyone remembers. But there is something about Angela Bautista that even the darkness seems to recognize. Something waiting beneath the skin. Something that has not yet remembered its name. Because sometimes, the most terrifying part of a nightmare isn't discovering what has come for you… It's discovering why it waited so long. The night has only just begun. Are you… still afraid?
Oct 4

Episode 13: Mothman — The Eyes Before the Fall

Thanksgiving Day, 1982. Deep in the mountains of McDowell County, West Virginia, Christopher Berrios expects nothing more frightening than a service call and a late familydinner. Then he sees the red eyes. A towering winged figure follows his truck through the hollow. Telephones begin ringing without callers. Dead lines whisper warnings. And one impossible time keeps returning: 8:17. Sixteen years after the infamous sightings at Point Pleasant—and the tragedy of the Silver Bridge—the legend of Mothman has found Christopher. But what if everyone misunderstood the creature? What if Mothman does not bring disaster? What if it appears because disaster is already coming? Inspired by one of America’s most enduring cryptid legends, “Mothman: The Eyes Before the Fall” descends into Appalachian folklore, prophetic warnings, electricaldisturbances, impossible sightings, and the terrifying possibility that sometimes the monster in the darkness may be the only thing trying to save you. Because when the red eyes appear… don’t watch the creature. Watch what it’s watching. 🔥 …Still Afraid? Episode 13: Mothman — The Eyes Before the Fall Some monsters hunt us. Others come to warn us.
Sep 6

Voces de Origen: El Cuco de la Avenida Lexington

Durante generaciones, su nombre se ha susurrado como una advertencia: “Duérmete… o viene El Cuco.” En el verano de 1959, entre los edificios, las escaleras de incendio y las calles húmedas de El Barrio, Brenda está a punto de descubrir que las historias más aterradoras no siempre cuentan toda la verdad. Desde la esquina de la Calle 112 y la Avenida Lexington, el segundo episodio de …Still Afraid? regresa completamente en español como parte de Voces de Origen—una serie especial que devuelve nuestras pesadillas a los idiomas, las culturas y las voces que les dieron vida. Esto no es simplemente una traducción. Es El Cuco como debía escucharse: respirando entre las sombras de Spanish Harlem. Escucha con las luces apagadas… y recuerda: Algunos monstruos se esconden en la oscuridad. Otros han sido incomprendidos durante demasiado tiempo. — This special Spanish-language presentation revisits Episode Two in the language of its characters, its neighborhood, and its deepest fears. Some legends are translated. Others are finally allowed to speak.
Sep 6

Episode 12: Krampus — The Last Name on the List

Kerstin Müller has spent thirty-five years perfecting the art of not getting involved. But on a frozen Epiphany morning in Favoriten, Vienna, three patient knocks leave an antique Krampus card outside her door—and her name is underlined twice. Krampusnacht ended a month ago. Yet this is the final Rauhnacht, when winter’s borders remain dangerously thin. A bell rings beneath Kerstin’s apartment. A thirteen-year-old stair appears in a twelve-step cellar. And a boy punished for a crime he did not commit vanishes into the darkness. To save him, Kerstin must enter an impossible corridor and confront the ancient pact between Saint Nicholas and the chained beast who follows him. There, she discovers that Krampus’s ledger records more than wicked deeds. It also remembers every moment someone witnessed cruelty—and chose to look away. Explore the chilling mythos of Krampus in a folk-horror tale about truth, mercy, cowardice, and the terrible cost of doing nothing.
Aug 23

Episode 11: La Ciguapa- The Footprint That Lied

On Restoration Day, Santiago celebrates freedom beneath a beautiful Caribbean sky—but in the mountains beyond the city, Rafael León is about to discover something that was never meant to be captured. When reports of backward footprints lead him into the Cibao with a camera, a nearly full moon, and a black-and-white dog with extra toes, Rafael begins following one of the Dominican Republic’s most enduring legends: La Ciguapa. Long-haired. Elusive. Hauntingly beautiful. Her feet point the wrong way, her cries drift through the forest, and no one can agree whether she is predator, protector…or something far older. But Rafael’s greatest mistake isn’t finding her. It’s believing that finding something gives him the right to prove it exists. Because some footprints don’t show you where a creature went. They show the creature how to find its way back to you. Episode Eleven: La Ciguapa — The Footprints That Lied Listen carefully. And if you hear a lonely jipío beyond the trees… don’t answer.
Aug 16

Episode 10: The Kindest Lie- The Pontianak/ Kuntilanak

Jakarta, March 24, 1974. Rain comes and goes over the city as Sumiati Joko prepares to welcome her first grandchild. She has lived a blessed life—generous, respected, and certain that she knows what is best for everyone she loves. But beneath her family’s happiness lies a secret preserved by one carefully chosen lie. When an iron nail is pulled from an old banana tree, frangipani begins to rot, an unseen infant cries inside the walls, and a beautiful woman’s laughter drifts across the water. The louder it sounds, the farther away she may be. When it grows soft…do not turn around. In Episode Ten, “…Still Afraid?” journeys into the rain-soaked mythos of Indonesia’s Pontianak—a spirit born from interrupted motherhood, buried agony, and truths that refuse to remain silent. Sumiati once believed a lie could be an act of love. Tonight, the woman erased by that lie has returned to collect her name. Episode Ten: The Pontianak — “The Kindest Lie”
Aug 9

Episode 9: Baba Yaga-The Unfinished Count

On Halloween night in 1997, a lavish masquerade unfolds at the Sokolov estate—but beyond its thirty-two locked gates, a thirty-third post has appeared. When a child vanishes into the forest, Vanya Sokolov must follow her through paths that rearrange themselves toward a hut standing on enormous chicken legs. There, Baba Yaga offers him the one thing his family’s wealth could never buy: a quiet mind and a world without uncertainty. Her price is only a child. Check the lock once. Ignore the scratching beneath the floor. And whatever happens…do not finish the count.

Gather around the fire and listen closely. "...Still Afraid?" is a storytelling podcast featuring original tales of mystery, suspense, folklore, and the unexplained. Some stories are frightening. Some are strange. All of them will leave you wondering what waits just beyond the light.

Creator

J. Antonio Rivera
Years Active

2026
Episodes

16
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© J. Antonio Rivera
Show Website

…Still afraid?