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In this episode of Drawn to Darkness, we pivot back to true crime with Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story, a three-part docuseries about the kidnapping of Steven Stayner and the traumatic ripple effect. We’ll discuss Steven’s story, how he was abducted at age seven while walking home from school and held captive for seven years by Kenneth Parnell. What makes the story even more unsettling is how “normal” his life appeared from the outside. Steven attended school, played sport, and yet could not free himself from his abuser until Parnell kidnapped five-year-old Timmy White. Refusing to let another boy endure what he survived. Steven heroically escaped, saving Timmy and himself. We discuss the psychological barriers that kept him from escaping sooner, the media’s obsession with a “happy ending” and its impact on Steven’s recovery, and the tragic fatal motorcycle accident that ended Steven’s life. Just when you think the story must be over, the Stayner curse delivers one more twist: Steven’s older brother Cary becomes the Yosemite Killer, turning this into a story not only about captivity, but about generational trauma and murder.

Content & Spoiler Warning:

This episode includes discussion of child abduction, pedophilia and child sexual assault, intergenerational trauma, serial murder, and a fatal motorcycle accident. We also spoil Captive Audience and the made-for-TV miniseries I Know My First Name Is Steven.

Palate Cleanser:

After something this bleak, we recommend something more fun: Derry Girls, Caroline’s comfort-watch of choice, Heated Rivalry, and The Mummy, because Evie and Rick are adorable.

Recommendations:

Adolescence - mandatory viewing if you’re raising a boy

Wild Crime -another national park–focused docuseries

Park Predators -for more on crime in wilderness spaces

Murdoch Murders: A Southern Scandal - another cursed-family true crime saga

Six Schizophrenic Brothers - a different kind of family horror

Bloodline and The Perfect Couple - fictional family darkness

My Favorite Murder Episode 30 - their early coverage of this case

Media Pressure (Julie Murray’s podcast) -on family tragedy and public obsession

I Know My First Name Is Steven — the original 1989 miniseries that shaped the family’s story

Untamed with Eric Bana for a Yosemite murder mystery. Also Free Solo and The Dawn Wall for that stunning Yosemite setting.

Stephen King’s The Dead Zone because Parnell is giving Greg Stillson as a Bible salesman.

The 1990s The Stand mini-series, with Corin Nemec as Harold

All Around The Town by Mary Higgins Clark

Weapons because of a scary gas station scene and a child keeping a secret at school

California True Crime, Timesuck, Casefile, and Last Podcast on the Left if you want to know more about these crimes.

Homework:

Next episode, we continue our run of cursed families, but through gothic fiction rather than documentary. Read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Special thanks to Nancy Azano for the podcast cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and Harry Kidd for the opening and closing score (Instagram: @harryjkidd, Spotify).

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In this episode, we dive into Trainwreck: Poop Cruise, Netflix’s lowbrow, sensational documentary about the 2013 Carnival Triumph disaster, when an engine room fire left more than 4,200 passengers and crew stranded in the Gulf of Mexico with no power, no air conditioning, no refrigeration, and, most importantly, no functioning toilets.

We begin with discussion about losing power during floods, blizzards, hurricanes, and honeymoons gone wrong, but end up discussing human behaviour under extreme stress. As we discuss the "characters", we unpack how quickly civility can erode when basic systems fail, why some people balk at the the red biohazard bags, and how entitlement, privilege, and desperation collide in confined spaces.

We also discuss the heroism and exploitation of cruise ship staff, the cruise industry’s fine print and lack of accountability, the shift from news to spectacle in media coverage, and how this situation never quite tips into Lord of the Flies, but comes disturbingly close. Along the way, we link Poop Cruise to other maritime disasters, cruise ship disappearances, and the deeper horrors lurking beneath the glossy promise of “all-inclusive” leisure.

Content & Spoiler Warning:

Bodily waste, unsanitary conditions, vomiting, public urination, extreme hangovers, fire at sea, societal breakdown, hoarding, cruise ship disasters, corporate negligence, environmental harm, assault risks, disappearances, and capitalism behaving exactly as expected. We also spoil Trainwreck: Poop Cruise and briefly discuss Amy Bradley Is Missing.

Palate Cleanser:

• TikTok trends including a man attempting (and failing) to learn how to Dougie
• Museums pairing classical art with modern film and TV audio
• People doing owl impressions in regional accents (including Moira Rose as an owl)

Recommendations:

• Wine & Crime – “Cruise Ship Disappearances” (Episode 7) for an unsettling overview of nightmares at sea
• Other episodes of Netflix’s Trainwreck, especially Astroworld, Balloon Boy, and Mayor of Mayhem
• Amy Bradley Is Missing (Netflix) – watch with a critical eye
• Titanic and the Titanic: Ship of Dreams podcast for deep dives into hubris at sea
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• Yellowjackets, FantasticLand, The Platform, Under the Dome, The Mist, and The Shining for enclosed-space psychological breakdowns
• Better Call Saul for class-action lawsuits and legal cynicism
• Sudden Storm, about the Galveston hurricane
• The 30 Rock episode “Double-Edged Sword” for plane-based claustrophobic comedy
• And, always, Andor

Homework:

Next episode, we pivot back into true crime cursed family, with Captive Audience: The Abduction of Steven Stayner, examining his kidnapping and the devastating ripple effects on his family.

Coming up soon:
Start reading Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

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In this episode, we tackle Hereditary, Ari Aster’s devastating 2018 debut and one of the films most often credited with launching a new era of “elevated horror.” After the death of her estranged mother, miniature artist Annie Graham struggles to process her complicated grief. When her daughter Charlie dies in a shocking accident, the family fractures under the weight of blame, guilt, and unbearable loss. What begins as a family drama about grief, resentment, and inheritance curdles into something far darker as supernatural events occur and Annie Graham and her family discover that their suffering may have been orchestrated long before the story even begins.

We unpack the film as both a supernatural horror and a deeply human tragedy about motherhood, blame, intergenerational trauma, and the corrosive effects of grief. We discuss Annie’s ambivalence toward motherhood, Peter’s unbearable guilt and trauma, Charlie’s unsettling presence, and the way Ari Aster traps his characters inside a dollhouse world where something is playing with them. Along the way, we explore fate versus agency, cult manipulation, spiritualism and grief exploitation, and why this film hurts as much (or more?) than it scares.

Content & Spoiler Warning:

This episode includes discussion of child death, grief, suicide and suicidal ideation, self-harm, decapitation, anaphylaxis, possession, cults, toxic parent–child relationships, intergenerational trauma, mental illness, body horror, animal death (a dog, shown after the fact), disturbing sound design (including tongue clicking and wet mouth noises), and graphic emotional distress. Also, as usual, we fully spoil Hereditary. You might want to your eyes around 33 and half minutes. Listener and viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Here’s a link if you want to know more: https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3535054/hereditary-hidden-clues/

Palate Cleanser:

After something this bleak, we recommend:

• Heated Rivalry (HBO) - Caroline is obsessed!
• Watching TikToks of people reacting to shows they love

Recommendations:

If Hereditary got under your skin, you might want to explore:

• Other Ari Aster films, especially Midsommar (grief, cults)
• The Sixth Sense (and our Episode 12) for another Toni Collette performance as a mom dealing with the supernatural.
• Rosemary’s Baby which is clearly an inspiration
• The Babadook — motherhood, grief, and a difficult child
• Pet Sematary (book) — Stephen King’s bleakest exploration of parental grief
• The Shining for slow-burn dread
• The Haunting of Hill House for more family trauma wrapped in horror
• Unobscured (Season 2) by Aaron Mahnke, for historical context on spiritualism
• Sleepwalk With Me by Mike Birbiglia, for a funnier and safer take on dangerous sleepwalking
• United States of Tara, for more Toni Collette navigating fractured identity
• The Yellow Wallpaper (see our earlier episode), for women, madness, and being trapped inside domestic spaces

Homework for Next Episode:

Watch: Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story

We pivot back to true crime with the story of the Stayner family—another exploration of family trauma, captivity, and the long-term consequences of violence.

But before that watch:
Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (yes, really), followed by reading Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Special thanks to Nancy Azano for the podcast cover art (Instagram: @n