The Magnus Archives

By: Rusty Quill
  • Summary

  • “Make your statement, face your fear.” A weekly horror fiction podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join Jonathan Sims as he explores the archive, but be warned, as he looks into its depths something starts to look back… New episodes every Thursday produced by Rusty Quill, featuring guest actors, short stories, serial plots and more. The Magnus Protocol launches in January 2024.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Rusty Quill
    Show more Show less
Episodes
  • Rusty Fears 6 - The Last One to Speak by James Thomasos
    Jan 16 2025

    This week’s short horror story, The Last One to Speak, inspired by the prompt "Game Show", is written by James Thomasos and read by Billie Hindle

    Once all six short horror stories have been released, there will be a public poll for listeners to vote for their favourite. The overall winner will get the opportunity to write a case that will be featured in The Magnus Protocol, so be sure to listen to every story and keep an eye out for the voting form in a few weeks’ time.


    Content Notes

    - Kidnapping/restraint

    - Harassment/emotional abuse

    - High Frequency

    - Uncanny


    Directed by Nico Vettese

    Produced by April Sumner and Nico Vettese


    Edited, Music and SFX by Nico Vettese

    Additional SFX by Meg McKellar

    Music by Nico Vettese

    Mastering by Catherine Rinella


    Join our community:

    WEBSITE: rustyquill.com

    FACEBOOK: facebook.com/therustyquill

    X: @therustyquill

    EMAIL: mail@rustyquill.com

    The Magnus Protocol is a derivative product of the Magnus Archives, created by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share alike 4.0 International Licence.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show more Show less
    17 mins
  • RQ Network Feed Drop – Hi Nay: Episode 1 – Bulok
    Jan 6 2025

    We are featuring a feed drop from a brilliant show on the RQ Network: Hi Nay.

    Hi Nay” is an atmospheric, analog-style horror audio drama, featuring Folk Horror, mythology and chilling supernatural terrors in an urban setting.

    Hi Nay, literally translated to “Hi Mom”, follows Mari, a Filipina immigrant who lives in Toronto.


    Mari first gets roped into Toronto’s supernatural crises after saving their neighbor Laura from being killed. From then on, she assists Detectives Donner and Murphy in dealing with supernatural threats using her upbringing as a babaylan (Shaman).


    Mari finds herself dealing with a multitude of supernatural issues in Toronto, tied to cursed artifacts and the sinister order behind their creation. She has a great aptitude for magic, though her abilities seem to have a price she’s not forthcoming about. She calls her Nanay (mother) often and recounts her experiences over the phone.


    This exciting audio drama is filled with Mystery, Suspense, and most importantly, Horror.


    Introduction and outro by Billie Hindle. Listen to Hi Nay on The Rusty Quill website, on Acast, or wherever you get your podcasts, or learn more about Hi Nay on its official website.

    If you want to support Hi Nay and its creators, until January 31st, head to www.rustyquill.com/fundraiser

    Credits:

    Motzie Dapul (Creator, writer, director, editor, voice actor for Mari)

    Reg Geli (Co-creator, editor)

    Yoyi Halago, Alyssa Gimenez (Editors)

    Abigayle Rhodes as Laura, Leon Johnson as Donner, Edward Boxler as Murphy, Adil Ramchurn as Ashvin (Main Cast)

    Content Warnings: Injury and bruising, Blood, Vomit, Animal remains, Human remains


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show more Show less
    36 mins
  • Rusty Fears 6 - Canned Lights by Autumn Olson
    Jan 2 2025

    This weeks short horror story, Canned Lights, is written by Autumn Olson and read by Ryan Hopevere-Anderson.


    Once all six short horror stories have been released, there will be a public poll for listeners to vote for their favourite. The overall winner will get the opportunity to write a case that will be featured in The Magnus Protocol, so be sure to listen to every story and keep an eye out for the voting form in a few weeks’ time.

    Content Notes

    - Overwork

    - Darkness

    - Infestation (cockroaches)


    Directed by Nico Vettese

    Produced by April Sumner and Nico Vettese


    Edited, Music and SFX by Nico Vettese

    Additional SFX by Meg McKellar

    Music by Nico Vettese

    Mastering by Catherine Rinella


    Join our community:

    WEBSITE: rustyquill.com

    FACEBOOK: facebook.com/therustyquill

    X: @therustyquill

    EMAIL: mail@rustyquill.com

    The Magnus Protocol is a derivative product of the Magnus Archives, created by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share alike 4.0 International Licence.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show more Show less
    14 mins

Featured Article: The Best Fiction Podcasts


Audio dramas and scripted fiction podcasts are as varied as novels. They come in every genre imaginable, including mysteries and thrillers, contemporary drama, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy. And as we are living in a Golden Age of podcasts, whether you're craving aliens, romance, humor, family drama, suspense, magic, or something else altogether, there’s bound to be something that fits your interests. This list includes some of the best story podcasts out there. Once you start listening, you're never going to want to stop.

What listeners say about The Magnus Archives

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    60
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    59
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Something for Everyone

Listening will add to the list of your worst nightmares. LGBTQ+ inclusive with diverse casting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I could be listening to Magnus Archives

I’ve been listening to audiobooks/podcasts every day for six years while at work and on drives (9+ hours a day) and I’ve never relistened to something as much as this
the writing, ambience, and performance are some of the best I’ve herd

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Podcast, audible sucks at it though

Okay so first things first:

This podcast is incredible. The Magnus Archives is a horror fiction podcast of unparalleled story, narration, ambience, and just all around tremendously well done. The characters are incredible, the plot is sublime, and the voice acting is too notch in all but 1 or 2 places where it's just slightly (and I mean very very slightly) hammy. Overall this podcast is one of my favorite fiction stories that there are.

HOWEVER:

Audible is a bad platform to listen to it on. Audible has an appalling habit of treating podcasts as constant livestreams, where "next" episode means "latest" episode, and so trying to listen to this series in order means you will have to manually select each new episode yourself, or risk being sent to the very last episode that there is when each episode ends.

You will also have to deal with your Audible App freezing and glitching out when you try and swap from a podcast episode to an actual audiobook, or vice vursa, because Audible treats them differently. If you try and swap back and forth, the app with slow down so much and eventually freeze altogether, and the only way I have found to fix the issue is to turn your phone to Airplane Mode just to stop it from dropping into a permanent loading lock.

Downloading each canonical episode seems to help a little, but even then: if you want to have a playlist of Magnus Archives episodes in order, you'll have to play around with turning airplane mode on and off to "reset" your audible apps loading. This app is a terrible way to listen to them, don't do it unless you are willing to open your phone every 20-30 minutes to manually select the next episode, because:

YOUR PHONE WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY GO TO THE NEXT EPISODE, EVER, AT ALL, IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, AT ALL, EVER, when using audible.

Now, all that being said, this podcast is still absolutely a 10 out of 10 podcast if you love horror, fiction, complete stories, or just good writing and voice acting in general.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rapturing!

I got into this to bond with my niece, and stayed for the storytelling and suspense. The story is well thought out, the acting is great, and it’s actually impressively somewhat unpredictable (not entirely, but better than most). I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that as a 31-year-old who lives alone, I didn’t check my locks more than usual some nights while being unappreciative of my noisy house.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

wait, what's going on?

this story sadly is one of the more distracting episodes. this one requires the listener to have their undivided attention I can't recall what just happened other than this person is dreaming of an alternate London or something.
since I drive a lot more these days I've been currently listening to these archives and some have grabbed my attention more than others some have given me a WTF what was going on?
the story is probably more for those who read dreams and stuff.

my only critique would be that if you're going to talk about something that's obscure having some audio cues or something to help fill in the imagination or something would probably help out more for those of us who are not strong

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Life changing

This is single-handedly, one of the best podcast with storytelling that I’ve ever listen to.
When I say that, I’ve been fully satisfied with this podcast, I can’t even begin to tell you how satisfied and wonderful the storytelling and the characters are. It leaves you on just the edge at the very end, but you know exactly what happened.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Depth rarely seen in other horror podcasts.

Amazing, intense, exhilarating. I stumbled into this from a clip on tiktok from episode 93, I am so happy to have found such an intriguing depth of story and horror. From the first episode completely pulling me in, to when the story starts to take on a life of its own. Truly fascinating and thrilling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

the best story podcast I've ever listened to

It starts out a bit slow, but picks up quickly. I would recommend this to anyone who has the time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Um 5 stars

I give it 5 stars because it is a good podcast that you should listen to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best ever

I have never in my life listened to a better written and executed podcast. It has an amazing plot and characters. I got so attached to each and every one of them. I’ve been recommending this to everyone I know. It is phenomenal!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!