Spooky Islands

Fri, Oct 9, 2026

Halloween is on the horizon and here I am reflecting on how spooky islands have unexpectedly pervaded these last few months for me. A friend has recently run a TTRPG game he created called “Night Catch”, which he described as being inspired by the cosmic-horror fishing video game, Dredge. The game was utterly unhinged and tons of fun. I created my character shortly after a rewatch of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, so he ended up as a Delmar-esque slack-jaw who sells pomade and can play any instrument you might find in a jug band. Oh, and the party meets him when they rescue him from being eaten by a mad former island mayor turned cannibal. As I said - this game was unhinged.

I’ve asked if he might post the game rules so I can link to it, and if that happens I’ll update this post with the link.

Having enjoyed that game, I had to try Dredge. I found the setting and story to be compelling and the fishing mechanics oddly satisfying. Dredge is one of the handful of games I’ve found that triggered my completionist OCD- though I’ll admit, I’ve largely put it down without completing everything in the game.

Around the time I was finishing up Dredge another friend recommended I watch Widow’s Bay. I said I’d seen previews and avoided it because I do not like horror. He nudged a little and assured me the horror aspect wasn’t too bad… so I gave it a try. The first episode felt Jaws inspired and was OK. I almost bailed out of the second episode, the one about the haunted hotel, because it got just a bit too creepy and even indulged in what I thought was sort of cheap jump-scares. But I stuck with it and was glad I did - I’d say the jump-scare horror hits its high-water mark in the second episode, and from then on I felt a little more confident I could just enjoy the show for its camp-adjacent weirdness. At times it felt like watching The Office or Parks and Recreation if they’d been written by Stephen King. I think my very favorite episodes were the Patricia episodes (e4 and e8).

This leads to the last of my silly observations for this post- while home sick from work last week, I stumbled onto this ridiculous video titled, Which Scooby-Doo Character is the Best? (and why it’s Fred). That wild ride led to two great takeaways. First, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, of which I was completely oblivious, is a wild 80s single-season series with Vincent Price, real ghosts, and Shaggy in a red-shirt. The 13 Ghosts also introduces a character named Flim-Flam, a kid con artist, whose presence overshadows Scrappy Doo as the annoying sidekick. Second, I learned that James Gunn wrote the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo movie. Gunn apparently hated the Scrappy Doo character so much he wrote the surprise villain turn as a character hit-job on Scrappy and it worked! Scrappy hasn’t been seen in a Scooby property since the movie! As it happens that movie was the one set at a horror-themed island resort literally called “Spooky Island”.

Anyways, that’s probably enough spooky island free-association for now.