As we approach our one-year anniversary Squaring the Strange, the podcast I co-host with Pascual Romero and Celestia Ward, I wanted to review early episodes you may have missed!

Episode 9: Until the Light Takes Us 

On the skeptic radar this week, Ben brings us a disturbing story about foreigners allegedly abducting girls in South Africa. No abductions actually took place, but the power of parental fears coupled with xenophobia and rumors on social media resulted in looting and vandalism. Then, after a pedantic discussion on illegible band logos, Ben and Pascual dive into Until the Light Takes Us, a documentary about Norwegiean black metal during the early 1990s. As the Satanic Panic took hold in the US, in Norway the overtly anti-Christian metal scene was propelled to international news as leader of the “black circle” Varg Vikernes was convicted for arson and murder after several churches were burned down. The media was quick to affix Satanism as a motive, though Vikernes himself said he burned the churches down for Odin, which was in line with the stated pagan beliefs of those in the movement. In Norway, as in America, things not connected to Satanism were quickly branded as such for consumption by the masses and to fit with the current moral panic. Pascual shares some insider insight on the Satanic Panic—including how some bands capitalized on it and how some young fans flocked to the shock effect it offered.

You can find more on me and my work with a search for “Benjamin Radford” (not “Ben Radford”) on Vimeo, and please check out my podcast Squaring the Strange!