History Podcast / TheBlackTapes

* MutuallyFictional: TANIS is a podcast Nick is working on in-universe. And Black Tapes is fictional in the TANIS-verse.

* TheSlenderManMythos: Not officially connected and never mentioned by name, but the descriptions Alex gives of the entity that's stalking Robert Torres and his son share a lot of similarities with the Slender Man himself, mixed with more traditional shadow person lore. It even has an association with children, with its first appearance being in the background of a video of a children's birthday party:

* ArtisticLicenseTechnology: Like a lot of other media, the series conflates the Deep Web with the Dark Web, and treats it as that mysterious place where people store evil or mysterious things online.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Geoff Went, the leader of a band called Hastur Rising openly admits to using FauxSymbolism and satanic imagery in order to get attention during an interview in episode three.

''The Black Tapes'' is a scripted podcast, following the exploits of journalist Alex Reagan as she talks with and researches the exploits of Doctor Richard Strand, an avid paranormal researcher and skeptic, on the handful of cases he has yet to debunk. The information on these cases are held in a series of black VHS cases, hence the podcast title, ''The Black Tapes.''

[[http://theblacktapespodcast.com/ Website]]

* AdultFear: In the first two episodes Alex looks into the case of Robert Torez, who has video evidence suggesting a shadowy apparition followed him throughout his life. After interviewing him, Alex and Strand find out that it's seemingly been passed onto his son.

* BigBad: While it's unclear exactly what is going on, it's clear that something big is coming, and a lot of it is connected to [[spoiler: the Shadow Man who's been haunting the Torez family]] who may or may not also be [[spoiler: the Archdemon responsible for killing anyone who's heard the Unsound. And also Pazuzu.]]

* ChekhovsGun: The Archdemon mentioned in episode three and "sacred geometry" (essentially Satanic numerology) from episode six, ''and'' the shadow man from the first two episodes all come back in episode seven. [[spoiler: They're all somehow connected to the disappearance of Sebastian Tores, who went missing for a time but was found during the second half of the episode.]]

* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: In episode seven, when Tannis visits the cabin [[spoiler: the once-missing Sebastian Torez was found in]], he examines the writing found on the walls. He then says something is with them and promptly leaves the building. Strand then says that [[spoiler: the thing Tannis was afraid of was a demon.]]

* {{Agent Scully}}: Doctor Richard Strand. Doctor Strand always provides a logical explanation for the contents of the Black Tapes and anything else that appears supernatural within the show, even when he's not able to provide proof. Alex calls him out on it in episode two.

[[Website]]

* {{Agent Scully}}: Doctor Richard Strand. Doctor Strand always provides a logical explanation for the contents of the Black Tapes and anything else that appears supernatural within the show, even when he's not able to provide actual evidence. Alex calls him out on it in episode two.

* {{Agent Scully}}: Doctor Richard Strand. Doctor Strand always provides a logical explanation for the contents of the Black Tapes and anything else that appears supernatural within the show. However, many of his explanations rely on the assumption that coincidences can occur (no matter how unlikely), and that everyone involved seems to suffer from a mental illness or apophenia, the tendency for the human mind to create connections from random/meaningless information. If Strand can't find a logical explanation, then the event was staged. Alex calls him out on it in episode two.

* {{Agent Scully}}: Doctor Richard Strand. The show all but confirms that the contents of at least some of the black tapes are genuinely supernatural, but Doctor Strand always has a "logical" explanation. Alex calls him out on it in episode two.

* {{Agent Mulder}}: The podcast host, Alex Reagan, is like this, as a counter-part to Richard Strand's {{Agent Scully}} role. At the beginning of the project, when she takes part in a late-night ghost communication session with alleged ghost hunters, she's shown to take all of their words at face value and is easily convinced of the existence of spirits, which Richard Strand quickly and abruptly tears apart with little effort in their first meeting. While she slips into instances of {{Agent Scully}} at times, thanks to Strand's explanations, she's definitely more open to the idea of the supernatural.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Invoked in universe on the Charlesworth ghost from episode 104. Most people assume that the ghost is Catherine Williams because the original founder of the Festival of the Upside Down Face said so, and because it makes sense logically; Catherine wants everyone to know of the tragedy she suffered. In universe, the alternate interpretation is [[spoiler:that the ghost is actually the killer Sarah Benning, who cut off Catherine's face and stitched it onto her own, but upside down. She goes around terrorizing the descendants of the original group of Catherine's friends. Only the native Charlesworth citizens agree with this interpretation.]]

** Made blatant in Episode 105. The Black Tape Strand shows Alex in this episode depicted an exorcism of a 12-year old girl who makes the four men (all quite strong) attempting to hold her down and her bed levitate off the ground while she herself screams demonic, inhuman sounds. Alex reasons that simple film tricks would easily debunk this case, until Strand informs her he directly witnessed this event in person, having been the man recording the event. Still, he is convinced that actors and stage tricks were used to fool him.