History Podcast / TheBlackTapes

* WholePlotReference: The format of the show is rather blatantly modeled after Podcast/{{Serial}}, right down to having similar transitional music.
* XMeetsY: Combines the two most popular narrative podcasts into one package. It has the storytelling, layout, and general premise of ''Podcast/{{Serial}}'' with the atmosphere, tone, and subject matter matching ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale''

* Belligerent Sexual Tension: There are traces of this between Richard and Alex. She is very interested when Richard reveals he is pouring through research with a female colleague.
** Possibly between Alex and Nick. [[spoiler: She is upset when Nick gets back together with Amalia without telling her.]]

''[[http://theblacktapespodcast.com/ 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.''

* QuoteMine: The second season opens with Strand accusing Alex of misrepresenting him in this way, citing her leaving out revisions he made to an initial statement of omitting everything he said to try and explain the Simon Reese case. Alex justifies her decisions as judgement calls made to keep views balanced and leaving out instances of Strand being too didactic by either leaving too much room for coincidence or having "logical explanations" she felt were just as far-fetched as any paranormal theory would be.

** Dr. Strand disagrees, feeling that the attention to his background is [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowing]] his efforts to educate people about the paranormal. However, his publisher wants to send Alex a fruit basket.[[Invoked]]

* MonsterOfTheWeek: How the format of most episodes are structured. Strand introduces Alex to one of the Black Tapes, Alex (and sometimes Strand) interviews people related to the incident and has them describe their experiences, Alex gets surprised and relays her knowledge to Strand, and Strand hand-waves the black tapes with a logical, real-world explanation but leaving the tape unsolved, ultimately creating more questions than answers.

* XMeetsY: Combines the two most popular narrative podcasts into one package. It has the storytelling, layout, and general premise of ''Podcast/{{Serial}}'' with the atmosphere, tone, and subject matter matching ''Podcast/{{WelcomeToNightVale}}''

* CriticalResearchFailure: One ghost hunter InUbiverse notably claims to have run into Lovecraftian entities. Remembering the hunter's reaction to any skepticism of ghost hunting, Alex kindly doesn't point out that Creator/HPLovecraft wrote fiction.

* CriticalResearchFailure: One ghost hunter notably claims to have run into Lovecraftian entities. Remembering the hunter's reaction to any skepticism of ghost hunting, Alex kindly doesn't point out that Creator/HPLovecraft wrote fiction.

* AdultFear: In the first two episodes Alex looks into the case of Robert Torres, 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.

* BrutalHonesty: Dr. Strand falls into this.
* BrownNote: Episode three, the episode about the eponymous Unsound. It's said to be the sound of an Archdemon beckoning the listener to invite it into their world. Anyone who listens to it is supposed to die within a year.

* 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 Torres, who went missing for a time but was found during the second half of the episode.]]

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: InUniverse. 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.
-->'''Went:''' They'll see what they want to see. We're just trying to put on a show. It's entertainment for f--[[BleepDammit BLEEP.]]
-->'''Interviewer:''' So that was a real cat you killed on stage?
-->'''Went:''' Killing cats is illegal and subject to prosecution in the state of Washington.
-->'''Interviewer:''' So is that a no?
-->'''Went:''' What do you think?
-->'''Interviewer:''' I don't know, that's why I'm asking. You don't think that using satanic images and symbols on your album covers might be encouraging people to view your band through that lens?
-->'''Went:''' I'm just glad that people are ''looking'' at the album covers.
** Dr. Strand disagrees, feeling that the attention to his background is [[OvershadowedByControversy overshadowing]] his efforts to educate people about the paranormal. However, his publisher wants to send Alex a fruit basket.
* PsychicPowers: Episode seven is about Tannis Brawn, a successful psychic detective.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: They warn you in advance so you can skip it, but you get to hear the Unsound at one point. Anyone known to have listened to it has died within a year's time.

* WholePlotReference: The format of the show is rather blatantly modeled after Podcast/{{Serial}}, right down to having similar transitional music.

Also, they produce another podcast in the [[SharedUniverse same universe]] called Podcast/{{TANIS}}.

* {{Agent Mulder}}: The podcast host, Alex Reagan, is like this, as a counterpart to Richard Strand's {{Agent Scully}} role. 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.

* CriticalResearchFailure: One ghost hunter notably claims to have run into Lovecraftian entities. Remembering the hunter's reaction to any skepticism of ghost hunting, Alex kindly doesn't point out that HPLovecraft wrote fiction.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: They warn you in advance so you can skip it, but you get to hear the unsound at one point. Anyone known to have listened to it has died within a year's time.
** Later on they bring a book belonging to the Order of the Senaphis to a translator, who says that it contains instructions on how to summon demons. Some of the methods include saying the demon's name out loud, others simply require that you think about their name to summon them.
* TheSlenderManMythos: Not officially connected and only ever referred to as the Tall Man, 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:
-->'''Alex:''' It’s a man. More specifically, the shadow of a man. Sort of. It’s a dark shadow in the background. It’s standing right next to an old shed by a wire fence. It looks like a tall man wearing a hat, but its proportions are all...wrong. It’s impossibly thin. It could almost be mistaken for the shadow of a tree if it didn’t have arms and legs.
** Then later, while watching a video of Robert's wedding:
-->'''Alex:''' Okay, that shadowy figure I just described at that kid’s birthday party? It was there by the stage in the church, behind the organist. It had the tall, skinny outline. The hat. And I swear, this time I could see something like fingers. But maybe...not. They were as long as my forearms.

** [[spoiler: It seems that the Order of the Seniphis has a lot of people doing this to kids.]]

* AncientConspiracy: The Order of the Seniphis.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: All signs point to [[spoiler: the Order of the Seniphis being very dangerous and having machinations on ending the world. Simon Reese claims that his mother worked for them and used him and other children at the daycare he worked at to further their plans, and that he killed his parents to stop them.]]

Also, they produce another podcast in the [[SharedUniverse same universe]] called TANIS.

* RunningGag: Most interviewees don't seem to understand what a podcast is.