Time to wrap up the Babysitter & the Man Upstairs, now focusing on the symbolism within the urban legend. Who is the man upstairs, and why is he even there? We also go back to a few crimes in the 40s and 50s that certainly fanned the flames of the story, if not outright creating it.

After this, we’ll have 1 more episode in our season on urban legends.

True crime #1 starts: 7:52

True crime #1 ends: 9:15

True crime #2 starts: 20:04

True crime #2 ends: 33:17

TW: sexual assault, murder, child assault, child murder

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

We owe a good deal of Halloween as we know it to the babysitter and her terrifying night of phone calls. On today’s episode, we cover versions of the legend itself, track the history of babysitting, and follow the effects of a turbulent society — all to understand how we ended up with the Halloween classics that we watch today. All that and more, on the third Halloween of Back Away Slowly.

The Sitter (1977)

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(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)

It’s time to track down this Hookman, this Murderer of Boyfriends. Most of our explorations will take us down to the border of Texas and Arkansas, just after World War II. But this murderer has created one hell of a legacy in the horror zeitgeist. We’ll talk about all that and more, in this episode.

TW: murder, sexual violence, child (teen) death

Support the show

Support the show on Ko-Fi
Official Website (sources, artwork, shop, etc)
Follow on Instagram & TikTok

(The entirety of the show is made without the use of AI; not to write the scripts, research for the episodes, or to create visual. Everything is done by hand, by me. I do not consent for any part of Back Away Slowly to be used to train AI models, or in any other AI use. I do not consent for my voice to be used in training AI models, or in any other AI use.)