Years ago, when Millennial Lotería was making its rounds as a modernized version of Lotería, I remember feeling thrilled. Someone finally took matters into their own hands and modernized such a classic game. What struck me was the fact that the update kept the spirit of the old game while introducing it to a younger audience. And playing Millennial Lotería at home now generated more fun, cross-generation conversations. We’re doing something similar with the Not So Scary Podcast.

My co-host Chris DeLeon and I wanted to make an entertaining podcast that’d serve as an escape from the doom and gloom that seems to be a part of everyday life now. When I mentioned how silly I thought this Guatemalan folklore, El Sombreron, was and how we could make him scarier today, we both had a Millennial Lotería moment.

Folklore, legends, and scary stories were always around when we were growing up. Most of these stories had a moral, which was often to scare us into behaving or not wandering off too far. For adult men, it was to stop drinking alcohol and cheating on their wives. For women, it was to be careful and not be too sexy. When we began discussing these stories, we realized how they were in dire need of modernization. Not only that, but it was also funny to talk about something that was once so scary to so many people but now wouldn’t even qualify as horror.

Which is how we got to the Not So Scary Podcast, where we do our best to bring all those stories into today’s ever-changing world. We may face change all the time, but we don’t ever change the stories entirely. We add to them to make them more relevant.

We believe nobody is too old for story time – and what better tales than those that make us laugh and have more conversations? Our episodes consist of the original legend, along with our opinion on how it’s dated, and then we discuss how we could update it to fit today’s culture.

For example, the Panamanian folk tale “Maria Chismosa” is about a nosy neighbor who can’t seem to mind her own business. A lost soul visits her, gives her a bone, and tells her that they will take her soul if she doesn’t stop poking her nose in other people’s business. In today’s world, we imagine Maria Chismosa is all over social media, neighborhood watch, and Nextdoor, just posting speculation all over the place. To make it scary, we cast the bone from the lost soul as a warning that if she continues to ruin other people’s lives with rumors, not only will her tongue be ripped away, but her internet will be disconnected. Which is worse? For her, probably the internet.

We also face our childhood fears as adults. In our Cucuy episode, we bring to light how harmful it is for children to think there’s a monster that will kidnap them. Through our comedic retellings, we’re able to expose these stories’ serious consequences. And we’re delighted when we see other people raise their hands and share their experiences with either El Cucuy or other child-stealing monsters.

Laughing through our trauma together is always better than being stuck with it alone. So, for our modernized El Cucuy, it comes after the parents who lie to their kids and think they can get away with it simply because they are adults. Parents shouldn’t be able to escape the horrors of a monster only because they’re grown.

With these tactics, our goal is to form a community where people can share, critique, and modernize their scary stories. With the ever-present threat of A.I., using our human imagination on these stories feels like something that, in a few generations, will be a rarity.

Although we’re a comedy and entertainment-focused podcast, it is still essential for us to preserve our roots through these legends, as many predate colonization. Our indigenous ancestors created some of the most captivating stories, which were later tainted by European beliefs. We’re here to not only keep these stories alive as they once were, but also bring them into our contemporary setting.

A good story sticks with us for our lifetime, and we hope to preserve as many as possible for generations to come, with the option of an upgraded version.