The dog park. One that humans nor dogs should never enter. No one should approach the dog park. If hooded figures are to be spotted, do not look at them for any period of time. The dog park will not harm you. Welcome to Night Vale, a confusing but intriguing podcast.

Welcome to Night Vale is written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor and is not a normal podcast; it has all the same aspects as an audiobook but could never fit into the category of being a book with the way it’s designed. Each episode officially begins with a few seconds of confusing content explained later in the episode, spoken by a very deep and melodic voice. This voice is the made up character Cecil, who works at the local community radio station in a town out in the middle of the desert called Night Vale.

“At first, [the podcast] makes you extremely confused and a little bit scared, because they’re talking about this dog park which you should not enter, which makes you feel uneasy and confused,” Grace Bejnarowicz, sophomore and a regular listener to the podcast, said. “Then Cecil sometimes goes on rants throughout the broadcast about his personal life. It’s very weird, sometimes whimsical, and sometimes make you reconsider your entire life. You can never really predict what’s gonna happen.”

With all of the characters and places described around the town, there is always something unexpected that will happen. Since there is so much plot in every episode, reader’s keep listening and guessing and never feel bored.

At the end of every episode when the plot has just reached its climax, Cecil will announce “and now, the weather.” The weather consists of song written by an aspiring artist that submitted it to Welcome to Night Vale. The song usually have nothing to do with the weather.

Nightvales target audience strangers anywhere from 12 to 80 years old. The concept of the podcast is so versatile that anyone could enjoy listening to it, depending on their interests and their ability to comprehend confusing and complicated plots.

“Most episodes are 20 minutes long, but don’t listen to it when you go to sleep; you’ll have some really weird dreams,” Bejnarowicz said. “All of the characters are really dynamic and even though Night Vale isn’t a real [place], it still creates things you can connect to. The way that they connect things to everyday life is really interesting. I think everyone should try listening to it.”