The Alexandria Archives: Ia! Ia! Wendigos!

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big H.P. Lovecraft fan. This love has transcended his literature and found itself engrossed in board games, video games, artwork, and music. There is one venue that has eluded my love of Lovecraft. Audio Dramas. Maybe it’s just where I’ve been looking, but I haven’t been able to find ANY podcasts that deal with the Cthulhu Mythos or any of Lovecraft’s works, besides a few playthroughs of the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game. The only one that comes close would be The Magnus Archives, which would be why it is so near and dear to me. This is a horrible shame, as the Mythos is absolutely RIPE for stories and interpretation. After quite some time digging through Pocket Casts, I found an AD that hit as close as I ever saw to Lovecraft, with some good comedy thrown in.

It looks like we’re going back to school, everyone. This is The Alexandria Archives.

The Alexandria Archives is quite unique, yet you’ve seen the basic premise before. The show is broken into two parts. The first segment is about a college radio station for AU, Alexandria University. Morning Wood, the early morning talk show host on this station, cleverly named WHAU, the “WHAU” signal, kicks off the show with clever quips and a genuinely funny rapport with some of the residents of this fine college, one of which is a true vampire to give you a taste. Rival school of the Miskatonic University itself, AU really makes you feel like it’s a radio station ran by college students. That’s not to say the quality is bad at ALL, but you do catch yourself sometimes slipping and believing this to be a real broadcast from time to time.

The second part of this show is readings from “The Alexandria Archives”, where people have written down some of the crazy experiences they’ve had. These segments show a great and powerful creative mind behind them, somewhat deranged and yet able to draw you in with great storytelling. I won’t give them away, but they are well worth the listen.

As for my thoughts, I find this a welcome relief to standard “radio” shows. WTNV, while innovative and responsible for bringing ADs into the mainstream, does tend to wear on you after a while. There are other shows like it out there, but The Alexandria Archives pays great homage to Lovecraft, and that automatically puts it high on my list. The voice acting is great, the laughs are truly genuine. What I mean is that this show got genuine laughs out of me, something that only a few ADs have been able to do. If you have any interest in Lovecraftian literature, goofy spooks and specters, or just enjoy a creepy story or two, you couldn’t do much better than The Alexandria Archives.