The Magnus Archives
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free The Magnus Archives trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Magnus Archives began as an anthology of unsettling statements read aloud by a sceptical archivist, and grew over five seasons and two hundred episodes into one of the best-loved horror stories in audio. Its world runs on a simple, chilling idea: every fear people feel has something behind it, and those powers have servants. This quiz covers the whole story. Expect questions on the entities and the avatars who serve them, the staff of the Institute, the statements and episode titles that fans remember, and the moments everyone talks about, described rather than recited. There are also questions on the cast, the prizes and the projects that grew out of the podcast. It is written for listeners who have finished the run and want to see how much stuck, and for newer fans who want a guided tour. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which city is home to the Magnus Institute, the paranormal research body in The Magnus Archives?
London
London is home to the Magnus Institute, whose neglected archive new Head Archivist Jonathan Sims sets out to record.
Q 02In The Magnus Archives, which medium captures the statements that resist digital recording?
Cassette tapes
Cassette tapes are the only way Jonathan Sims can record some statements while he tries to digitise the archive in season 1.
Q 03Which company produces The Magnus Archives, the horror podcast written by Jonathan Sims?
Rusty Quill
Rusty Quill makes the podcast, which has won more than 40 awards and led to live shows, books and games.
Q 04Which ghost-story writer's tale 'Count Magnus' gave the podcast The Magnus Archives its name?
M. R. James
M. R. James wrote the favourite story of Jonathan Sims, who grew up reading his collected ghost stories and credits them for his narrative style.
Q 05Which entity, one of the Dread Powers, does the Magnus Institute serve in The Magnus Archives?
The Eye
The Eye is the fear the Magnus Institute serves, a truth Jonathan Sims only learns at the end of season 2.
Q 06Which former New Age shop assistant becomes a living hive of worms in The Magnus Archives?
Jane Prentiss
Jane Prentiss became a hive after finding a wasps' nest in her attic, and she goes on to stalk the Magnus Institute for several weeks.
Q 07What is the name of the cat owned by fearless podcast host Georgie Barker in The Magnus Archives?
The Admiral
The Admiral lives with Georgie Barker, who dated Jonathan Sims when the two of them were at university.
Q 08On which social platform did The Magnus Archives build the substantial fan community noted in a 2018 BBC report?
Tumblr
Tumblr hosted the fan community that a 2018 BBC report on drama podcasts singled out, and the podcast ranked among the site's most talked-about web series for years.
Q 09Which crowdfunding site hosted the record-breaking 2022 campaign for a Magnus Archives sequel?
Kickstarter
Kickstarter hosted the campaign, which asked for £15,000 and went on to raise more than any podcast had in crowdfunding before.
Q 10Which 2024 podcast co-written by Jonathan Sims follows civil servants Alice Dyer and Sam Khalid?
The Magnus Protocol
The Magnus Protocol is set in a separate timeline, one where the Magnus Institute burned to the ground in 1999.
Q 11Which director of The Magnus Archives also voices archival assistant Martin Blackwood?
Alexander J. Newall
Alexander J. Newall directs the podcast and also plays Jared Hopworth, the monstrous avatar known as the Boneturner.
Q 12Whose remains does Martin Blackwood find in secret tunnels beneath the Magnus Institute in season 1?
Gertrude Robinson
Gertrude Robinson, the previous Head Archivist, had been missing since March 2015 and turns out to have been shot.
Q 13Which archival assistant in The Magnus Archives is killed and replaced by the Not-Them?
Sasha James
Sasha James is replaced by a creature that wears her identity, and Melanie King, who had met the real one, later spots the change.
Q 21What name is given to the ritual meant to let the Stranger fully manifest in The Magnus Archives?
The Unknowing
The Unknowing is stopped at the end of season 3, when the archive team blows up the ritual site with C-4.
Q 22Which living mannequin leads the Stranger's forces and plans to use Jonathan Sims's skin?
Nikola Orsinov
Nikola Orsinov abducts the Archivist in season 3, and he escapes only because the Distortion suddenly decides to help him.
Q 23Whose form does the Distortion take in The Magnus Archives after it rejects its Michael persona?
Helen Richardson
Helen Richardson was one of the Distortion's earlier victims, and in her shape it helps Jonathan Sims escape instead of killing him.
Q 14Which book collector in The Magnus Archives goes into hiding after monsters destroy his library?
Jurgen Leitner
Jurgen Leitner kept hundreds of supernatural books until 1994, then lived in the tunnels under the Magnus Institute.
Q 15What is the title of the first episode of The Magnus Archives, built on a statement by Nathan Watts?
Angler Fish
Angler Fish launched the podcast on 24 March 2016, and three episodes a week followed during the launch period.
Q 16Which episode, numbered MAG 200, brings the five-season run of The Magnus Archives to an end?
Last Words
Last Words was released on 25 March 2021, almost exactly five years after the podcast began.
Q 17Which captain of the Tundra takes over the Magnus Institute after Elias Bouchard's arrest?
Peter Lukas
Peter Lukas runs the Institute as interim head through season 4 and takes Martin Blackwood on as his personal assistant.
Q 18Into which entity's realm is Martin Blackwood banished before Jonathan Sims rescues him in season 4?
The Lonely
The Lonely swallows Martin Blackwood after he admits he only played along to keep attention away from Jonathan Sims, whom he loves.
Q 19Which degree does Martin Blackwood falsely claim to hold to land his job at the Magnus Institute?
Parapsychology
Parapsychology is the subject Martin Blackwood lied about, and he later narrates the podcast briefly while Jonathan Sims lies in a coma.
Q 20Which archival assistant in The Magnus Archives dies in the explosion that closes season 3?
Tim Stoker
Tim Stoker had worked with Jonathan Sims in the research department, and grew bitter at being unable to leave the Institute.
Q 24Which servant of the End wakes Jonathan Sims from his six-month coma at the start of season 4?
Oliver Banks
Oliver Banks can see people's life force as black tendrils, and his statement in the episode Far Away opens season 4.
Q 25Which ghost does Jonathan Sims free by burning his page from the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead?
Gerard Keay
Gerard Keay died of a brain tumour in 2014, and as a ghost he explains to Jonathan Sims that the entities are fear itself.
Q 26Who speaks the closing line of The Magnus Archives, addressed to a recorder left running in rubble?
Basira Hussain
Basira Hussain ends the podcast after she, Georgie Barker and Melanie King search the rubble and find no trace of Jonathan Sims or Martin Blackwood.
Q 27Which YouTube series did Melanie King host before she came to work at the Magnus Institute?
Ghost Hunt UK
Ghost Hunt UK took Melanie King to places like the abandoned Cambridge Military Hospital, the setting of her first statement.
Q 28What does Elias Bouchard release through the Magnus Institute's fire system to end the worm attack?
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide from the fire suppression system kills the worms and their host, whose body is cremated soon afterwards.
Q 29To which piece of furniture in artefact storage is the Not-Them bound in The Magnus Archives?
A table
A table holds the Not-Them, and when Jonathan Sims smashes it hoping to kill the creature he sets it free instead.
Q 30Which emerging new entity does Martin Blackwood help research in season 4 of The Magnus Archives?
The Extinction
The Extinction is feared as a new power on the rise, and the plan is to learn all about it using the Panopticon hidden in the tunnels.