13 Days of Halloween

2,137
Fiction #80

Season Four: Penance

Without warning, Sayuri has been locked up in the Pendleton Rehabilitation Center, and no one is willing or able to tell her why. Actually, getting any information from her fellow inmates or the labyrinthine bureaucracy that runs the facility seems impossible. But is the Pendleton really a prison, or something else? 

Starring Natalie Morales. New episodes air daily from October 19th through Halloween.

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Recent Reviews
  • Erika Bosco 81
    Take care of yiy uand your health is important in the
    Really nice work man you did an amazing job with this
  • THD48
    One of my favorites
    The latest season was excellent! The writing’s specificity gave it a high degree of realism, and the mystery was well crafted throughout. Space exploration gone wrong would be a fun premise for a future season.
  • KnightRyder189851
    Do yourself a favor and just stop after Season 2
    I loved Season 1, it was a great concept that really drew you in with creepy stories. Season 2 wasn’t as good but was definitely worth the listen. I think having the “you” character talk took you out of the story a bit. Season 3 again was not as good as 1 or 2. It really seemed to lose something and was no longer creepy or scary, more so just a mystery story. Season 4 so far has been horrible. I really can’t get into it. Nothing is creepy or scary and the episodes are way way too long. 2 episodes have already been almost an hour…an hour of boring stories does nothing to keep your attention. I’m honestly contemplating not finishing the season and may not even give season 5 a chance (if there is one)… **UPDATE** I finished season 4 and it was just as bad as expected. It started to get slightly better but really fell off again at the end. My rating and review stay the same but I wanted to let readers know that I still think you should skip this season. Save yourself the time and just pass on it. Clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks this as the rating overall has dropped since this season was released. Hopefully Aaron sees this and goes back to the roots of the show for next year.
  • greycatdot
    Love these wee stories
    Didn’t choose this year because prison in real life should scare everyone but it’s a neat way to tell a story. Loved the hotel and seaside ones.
  • Nub ninja
    Skip episode ten. And eleven. S4 utter trash.
    The apple was too much. Lost a star there. Ok the chewing gum in episode eleven was also disgusting. Not sure the point of her microphone being INSIDE her mouth..
  • Sparkey54
    The ending ruins it
    The ending ruined the entire thing. It just was so bad I can’t give this more than one star. The storyline was great until the end too. This was incredible until the last two episodes and they completely destroyed the ground work that had been so carefully placed for a phenomenal story. You truly murdered a fantastic series and story with those two pathetic final episodes.
  • Purity Rae Salon
    Now Aaron, you know better
    Let me first start with saying how much I love just about every production of Grim and Mild that is made, from Noble Blood to Cabinet of Curiosity and even 13th days of Halloween, which I’ve enjoyed up until season four. this was not scary or entertaining. It was boring and I’m so disappointed. I will listen next season but please bring us the quality production. We know you for from Grimm and Mild.
  • Taz4455
    Chewing needs to stop
    Some people love ASMR but I personally cringe everytime I hear someone eat and it drives me crazy listening to her smack and chew gum or bite down on an apple or something, it takes away from the story in my opinion. Story overall is decent. I found it more entertaining than scary to be truthful but I don’t mind that. It’s a huge step up from season 3 in my opinion.
  • ElzaHa
    Loved the first 3 seasons
    I look forward to this production every Halloween! I loved seasons 1-3. So creepy! I cared about the protagonists and was very invested in their well being. I still think about season 2, The Sea 😱😭 Sometimes I couldn’t listen to Season 3 bc I was so scared for Max! Season 4 was not enjoyable, I only stuck around hoping Sayuri (the 1st one we are introduced to) would meet her demise bc she was so unlikeable, selfish and her vibe did not match one of someone who was trapped in a psycho prison. I was not scared and half listened, which is not like the previous seasons where I was terrified. Hopefully season 5 mirrors the first seasons, it’s still a great podcast despite season 4 falling flat.
  • Jwb8888
    Each season is so different - good and bad
    The first season was great--I Re-listened this year it was so good. The second was pretty good but the third season drove me crazy with the annoying kid constantly running away from logical safe places and the whole ubiquitous kid/dog thing. Boring. This season I loved until the end. After all that puzzling it felt rushed to have no answers. I get the Gunslinger reference but it was very vague --we still don't know who is responsible or why. Short exposition after all the character development. Bummer. Voice acting was great, I liked the apple. It wasn't as creepy as the others but I was definitely engaged.
  • shadykellly
    Stick to stories, not narratives
    I really enjoyed the first season but did not care much for the third and even less the fourth. The actors are excellent across the board, but the writing- oof. The first season of this and the first season of 13 Ghosts were strong in that the overall structure supported 13 separate stories that tied in together. The last two seasons of 13 Days has leaned into one-off narratives that never quite connect, to me the listener or the main character we’re meant to be following. The final episodes of the third and fourth seasons were disappointing, unclarified, and muddled by preceding episodes that are full of unnatural sounding monologues and disjointed plot points. I’m hopeful future seasons will have multiple solo stories that tie into the bigger world building rather than one protagonist.
  • leland
    Season 4 13 days of Halloween
    Just absolutely magnificent the storylines were amazing incredible. The acting was first rate the music just added to mood of the episode. You guys did awesome job! Cannot wait till next year
  • Pedrolr1123
    Seasons 1-3 are fire
    Seasons 1-3 are good enough to excuse season 4. Nuff said.
  • littlest frost giant
    Amazing
    Amazing as usual.
  • SCUBAMAN666
    Fantastic. Never stop making this series
    While S4 felt out of place with the lack of a spooky Halloween theme, it was incredibly engaging and a true treat. S3 is the best imo. Season 2 close behind. And for those parents complaining about language, your kids have heard far worse on TikTok. And seen far worse on the news. This is fiction. It’s fine.
  • Bhoelle1809
    Okay start, fast decline
    I’ve never understood how artists can ignore what makes their product so unique and special with each subsequent iteration. It’s why most sequels fail. It’s why the MCU is running aground. This show had an amazing premise, with an outstanding first season. The second season was good, but not nearly as good as the first. But this third season has nothing of what made the show so special to begin with. It’s really unfortunate. I hope they go back to basics in the future. S4 Update: So many mouth sounds! It’s infuriating! God, she’s always chewing and talking with her mouth full. It’s disgusting! She’s already the most annoying and unsympathetic protagonist in a story I’ve ever heard, but she can’t stop slapping her lips and chewing stuff. I hate it!!!!! This season is so off the rails I don’t understand how it got published. Is every episode written in complete isolation? There is absolutely nothing connecting one episode to the next. Which would be fine, if this were an anthology show. But the premise suggests a larger story connecting all the disparate episodes. Not only is this proving to be flimsy in season 4, but I get the impression that there IS NO larger story. Rather, the only thing connecting these episodes on a narrative level is the protagonist (which we never learn anything about) and the setting (which we either learn nothing, or get contradicting information about). This could work, if it were done well, but it’s not done well here. I’m only on the 5th episode, but I have absolutely no sense that I’d miss something vital if I skipped an episode. There are no clues given to us from one episode to the next, only more questions. And the answers we do get point to a complete mish-mash of concepts. Based on previous episodes, I don’t believe any of the questions posed will have satisfying answers. To be honest, this entire show feels like a collaborative effort to bring to life one person’s idea. There’s no cohesion. There’s no overarching plot or story thread. There are no established rules in this world, so any questions raised can be conveniently swept away with magic at any time. At first I was curious and had tons of questions about this “prison,” the people in charge, and how the protagonist got there. But very quickly I realized that none of that mattered in the slightest. As soon as they started talking about memory-wiping drugs, paradoxical architecture, and making people vanish with a whisper, I realized anything can happen just because the writers want it to. There will never be a satisfying reason/answer/conclusion to any of this because there are no rules to any of this. And that’s very frustrating. S1 was a great template for how a show like this can be produced effectively, but every other season has been falling way short. Of course, I know this is probably an unpopular opinion. There are tons of fans of this show, myself among them. I just think there’s a lot of lost potential. This show could be so much better. It’s frustrating to see (hear) it become almost a parody of itself. For those that want a well-produced anthology of creepy sounds and nonsensical stories to fall asleep to, this is the show for you. But for those who want a richer narrative experience, with established rules, mysteries you can take part in and try to solve, and a larger plot unfolding while connecting a dozen or so short stories about interesting characters, look elsewhere. Nothing but disappointment lurks here these days.
  • Ohiapo001
    I
    Tee
  • Wifflenipples
    Season 4 was a major letdown
    I don’t write reviews, but, felt compelled to express my disappointment in season 4. It was bad. Really bad. And boring. Yuck. Always look forward to 13 Days of Halloween, but maybe not anymore. Very disappointed and hope you manage to turn things around.
  • starhips79
    Season 4… meh
    Loved the earlier seasons, but this last one was boring and hard to follow. It’s not spooky or scary at all and just fell flat. It stinks because the first 3 seasons were so enjoyable.
  • Alopex 732
    Chewing noises
    The chewing noises in the latest season are absolutely horrendous; and the story is not really compelling or well written enough to make up for it.
  • ~Sjr~!!!
    Amazing!!
    Love the story’s. If you also love them try listening to 12 Ghosts from him as well.
  • RoccoLu12
    Bring Back Season 1 Structure
    The first season is solid, contained stories, each compelling in different ways. As each season goes by, it becomes just a lot of sound effects and too many character voices, lots of noise that is difficult to follow. The stories of Season 3 and 4 are not meant for an audio format. Give your listeners a little credit, we don’t need bells and whistles to be engaged. Just strong writing and voice talent.
  • Cygirl7576
    Season 4…can we talk?
    I’ve loved this series for the last 3 years, but season 4? There’s too much vagueness. I tried to follow along as best I could and the individual stories of the other…inmates? patients? Those were good, but when it came down to the final episodes and the strange experiment with the compound, I’m lost. And the final episodes with switching bodies and all that? I don’t need my entertainment that deep. Maybe bingeing the last ones to listen to them straight through will help, but there was too much implied and not enough direct for me. The creepy was lost to confusion. Looking forward to next year.
  • Frozenfears
    Quality gone down
    Season 4 is just all over the place and so bad. It made no sense and was hard to follow.
  • oricatd
    Seasons 1-3 all the stars, but skip season 4
    Love what Grim and Mild puts out and was super excited for season 4 of this series, but it was not that great. Very meandering storyline without any clear resolution to the overall story. Season 3 was by far the best yet and should have re-listened to that instead.
  • MsTimory
    Season 4 lost me
    Have been a fan of Aaron’s content for years and have always looked forward to the Halloween special series. But season 4 lost me. First few episodes held some promise but ending was disjointed and pointless.
  • Ryleighroooo
    Some of these reviews man…
    I absolutely love this podcast, all 4 seasons! The reviews degrading this podcast is absolutely astounding. I love how different each season is and how confusing they can be. Everyone saying “it’s not horror, blah,blah,blah” but not every horror is violent and scary. Horror can simply be confusion, especially in this last season. You know that if put in a situation like that regardless if it’s not real, it would feel like a horror scene. Just like real life people who are innocent and locked up. Like honestly how scary would that be. Then people complaining about profanities and it’s not needed, boo you! Like honestly you don’t use profanities when life gets stressful, scary, exhausting, ect? I think it adds to the story and situations that the host is in. All in all, I absolutely love the show and I can’t wait for season 5, hopefully!(:
  • rebet39
    Maybe a better explanation?
    You might want to do a better job giving a better caption to your episodes than: Error 5016fbcccf92f0f63cd4b04b9ada09e4 Entry Not Found The entry you are looking for does not exist. Not great.
  • Hey this is Chad, Chad, Chad
    Season four is awful and not spooky
    I really like seasons 1-3 of this series. They’re well written, engaging, keep you wanting to hear more, and are themed well for a Halloween series. Season 4 is boring. My wife and I aren’t listening because we want more but out of a sense of obligation to finish. The stories don’t have that eerie ghoulish trademark of the franchise. It doesn’t seem like a Halloween series at all. The main character is awful. I’m actively rooting for her to die, that’s how unlikeable the protagonist is. The boat sweepstakes cult episode is good, because it’s like the other seasons. A scary story is told by a character the main character meets. The rest of the season is someone whining in a prison episode in and out. If you haven’t listened to any of season 4 yet, don’t. Seasons 1-3 definitely worth it.
  • Ky.ll.e
    13-snippets for spooky season
    I heard about this podcast while listening to Fruit Loops. Just finished season one. It’s great that each episode is super short. I really appreciate that. Aaron Manhke has capitalized on his unique sound/style and sadly that’s all I hear when I listened to this. Just sitting and waiting to hear his signature tag line from Lore. I doubt I’ll give the other episodes a listen, but I can see this being entertaining for some. So while it’s not 5/5 for me, it’s probably a 4.5 for the story lover in your life.
  • mind chatterings
    Just shrugging my shoulders
    I loved the first season, but as another reviewer stated, the show has slowly been declining in story content. Season 4 is all over the place as to what is going on. The existential discourse is way out there and hard to follow as to how it fits in the plot. I just don’t care for this last season.
  • The Nicholas
    Oof
    I love listening to this show every year and the quality is always top notch (no exception this season), but man, skip episode 10 if you don't like eating sounds. That was really hard to get through.
  • candria57
    Episode 12….
    It’s silent 😳😳😳 where is it…. Help me.
  • Umm Isa
    Chewing noises
    I enjoy the stories quite a bit, but I am giving it one star because of the repulsive chewing sounds. Who in their right mind says “headphones recommended” then fills two consecutive episodes with chewing noises? It’s so gross.
  • Hhgreger
    Awesome series
    I love it but why does every female in the show have to be gay? Not that’s there’s anything wrong with that but why EVERY one
  • Rolth
    Definitely OK
    Season 3 wasn’t bad at all, but season 4 is just boring! Season 1 was mostly good. There were only a couple stories I disliked. The one that sticks out is the baby story. It wasn’t horror, it was just kind of depressing? Season 2 so far is different. Story 1 is good. Story 2 was just bad though. It was boring and didn’t really have a plot. Also the narrator talks in season 2 so it doesn’t draw you in the same way. Season 3 is the one that was nominated so we’ll see how that goes…
  • Doug897
    Great series
    I’m so glad they continue to release new seasons every October! Well written and has great effects. Definitely listen with headphones. Creepy fun.
  • BWilde92
    Love the 1-2season
    Absolutely love the first 2 seasons! 5stars The new 3rd season kinda lost me wasn’t a fan. Felt like it just jumped around and there wasn’t really a end. Tried to get into season 4 and stopping at ep 7…
  • CmeB1
    Great stories
    Love the series. Listen to them every year. Keep it up!
  • GoForIt236890
    Wish I could listen
    Ever since the trailer came out I have been trying to listen to anything, but nothing in season four is working ,for me anyway. It’s always saying episode temporarily unavailable. Really want to listen. And Hi. Because you like it when people say hi.
  • Phinsup
    A+ For Production, Voice Acting...C- For Stories
    I'm a bit surprised to see so many 5 star reviews on this. While the production, KMK and other voice actors are very good, these stories are just odd, and not in a good way. They are on the creepy side, but that's about it. Like just creepy for the sake of being creepy. There's no real context to the storie and just feel lacking. The only one I have found so far have a decent story to is the "Black Eyed Children" episode. I'll continue to listen, as they are short and don't consume a lot of time. Hoping maybe the stories all tie together somehow at the end. ***Updated after Day 11**** This pod gets worse. These stories are completely disjointed and make no kind of sense. The only episode that I've found to be creepy and held my intereste was the "Sunrise Lounge". The other stories aren't even creepy, they are just bizarre. Like they were written by 12 year olds. Still give the sound effects and KMK high marks. I will finish this off since I've only got 2 episodes left and they are short. If you haven't started it, I'd advised just giving this a pass. Shocked at all the 5 star reviews. Absolutely shocked. ***Final Update 10/31**** Downgraded all the way down to 1 star after finishing this utterly subpar podcast. Kept listening in the hopes it would get better and have some payoff at the end. Spoiler alert: it didn't. How in the world this is getting 5 star review is mind boggling. ***updated season 4, 4 episodes in*** Gets worse with each season. This season is especially disjointed. Nothing spooky about it at all. More sci fi than horror. Voice acting has declined as well which was once a high point of the series.
  • Used to be a fan 12345
    Commercials
    Totally fine that some people like creepy podcasts- to each their own. For those of us that don’t, the commercials on other podcasts can be terrifying if you’re a child listener, or triggering if you’ve had trauma in your life. iHeartMedia, this seems irresponsible. Have normal podcast commercials where people aren’t abducted or restrained. Do better.
  • Edyer87
    Cool premise, lazy profanity
    My whole family loves Lore. And love spooky stories. But the lazy addition of f words makes it so kids or others who would enjoy listening to these stories can’t. They don’t add to the store at all and would be super easy to omit! Hopefully next year. Plus the rating states it’s clean…
  • Kespo the Blind
    A great countdown
    A fun way to get into Halloween! Good story, nice acting. I listen every year!
  • cmcullen73
    Such a fan of this series
    I’m starting to look forward to these Halloween and Christmas ghost stories just as much as It’s the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown Christmas. High praise.
  • Designer Skyline
    Look forward to it every year!
    I looove listening to these every year when they come out! It's such a fun Halloween story for my commute. Each season is unique and creepy and had me guessing what was going to happen next.
  • bkkbkbbk
    Love this!!!!!!
    Keep them coming 🎃
  • Kjenne71
    Great Halloween tradition
    Update for season 4: I’ve been wondering since August if we’d be getting a fourth season, and I was so thrilled when I saw this!!! In the tradition of the old masters, this is creepy and disturbing. Love it! And for the people downvoting because of the swears: um, listen to the disclaimer?
  • starrylibra
    Love this podcast! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
    Always a good storyline…great actors! Wish there was more podcast like this.
  • zombie0651
    Incredibly unscary
    Why do they put so much time and money into such non-scary podcasts? And I’m not saying this as like a 15 year old who watches a scary movie and says “I’m too cool, this wasn’t scary!”, I’m saying this as a mom who’s bar is set incredibly low on the “this wasn’t terrifying, but still sent a chill down my spine” scale. Last season straight sucked… and this season can’t even be categorized as horror, maybe just sci-fi nonsense. Talk to these kids who are writing horror, like “Acephale”, or the guy who does the “we weren’t meant to know” shows, they are creepy, intelligent, original. This is just famous voices taking the place of good plot and creepy vibes.
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