The Compendium Podcast

An Assembly of Fascinating Things

The Compendium is a weekly podcast exploring strange true stories from the worlds of true crime, weird history and extraordinary people.

If you love a story that makes you ask, “How have I never heard this?”, join Kyle and Adam. Every week, discover something unexpected, have a laugh with us, and leave with a story you can’t wait to tell someone else.

Illustrated portraits of The Compendium hosts Kyle Risi and Adam Cox
WeeklyNew episodes every Tuesday
Hosted byKyle Risi & Adam Cox
1M+DownloadsAs of September 2026
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NEW THIS WEEK
Lost Colony of Roanoke: The Mystery of How England Lost Its First American Colony
The Compendium PodcastNovember 03, 2026
172
01:27:5380.47 MB

Lost Colony of Roanoke: The Mystery of How England Lost Its First American Colony

An entire colony of 117 men, women and children vanished without leaving behind a single body. There was no blood, no sign of an attack and no ruined settlement. Their homes had been carefully dismantled and taken away. All they left behind was one w...

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Three listener favourites. No commitment ceremony required.
Bob Lazar: Area 51, Element 115 and the UFO Claims
The Compendium PodcastJune 30, 2026
159
01:26:3079.2 MB

Bob Lazar: Area 51, Element 115 and the UFO Claims

Bob Lazar claimed he worked at Area 51’s hidden S-4 facility reverse-engineering alien craft powered by Element 115. This episode follows the 1989 George Knapp broadcast, Lazar’s story, the credibility questions and the UFO lore it helped send mainst...

Morgan Metzer: What Really Happened in the Gaslit by My Husband Case
The Compendium PodcastMarch 17, 2026
144
00:48:2044.27 MB

Morgan Metzer: What Really Happened in the Gaslit by My Husband Case

Morgan Metzer’s story begins as a terrifying home invasion and unfolds into something even darker: a case of coercive control, gaslighting, and an ex-husband trying to cast himself as both monster and saviour. It is a brutal, deeply personal story ab...

Frida Kahlo: Famous Women in History, Pain, Politics and Iconic Self-Portraits
The Compendium PodcastDecember 02, 2025
129
01:26:3779.3 MB

Frida Kahlo: Famous Women in History, Pain, Politics and Iconic Self-Portraits

A devastating accident and a turbulent love life shape one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century. This episode explores how Frida Kahlo transformed pain, politics, and identity into revolutionary art.

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Why the compendium?

Stories worth
losing an hour to.

The best stories do something to you.

They make you laugh. They make you angry. They send you down a rabbit hole. They leave you thinking, how the hell did I not know about this?

That’s what we’re always chasing.

Remarkable people. Strange moments in history. Scandals, disasters, mysteries and stories that sound completely made up until you realise they actually happened.

We go deep enough to make them matter, but never so deep that they stop being fun.

No padding. No dragging one story across ten episodes. Just fascinating stories, told with curiosity, humour and all the strange little details that make you want to immediately tell someone else about them.

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LATEST EPISODES
Salem Witch Trials: The Dark History of America's Deadliest Witch Hunt
The Compendium PodcastOctober 27, 2026
171
01:28:1380.77 MB

Salem Witch Trials: The Dark History of America's Deadliest Witch Hunt

In 1692, an enslaved woman named Tituba told a Salem courtroom that the Devil had come to her and bid her serve him. Her confession lit the fuse that would become known as the infamous Salem witch trials, the deadliest witch hunt in American history.

The Aberfan Disaster: The Day the Mountain Came Down
The Compendium PodcastOctober 20, 2026
170
01:19:5673.19 MB

The Aberfan Disaster: The Day the Mountain Came Down

A rain-soaked coal tip collapsed above Aberfan and erased part of a school within minutes. Through the people trapped beneath the wreckage and the families waiting outside, this account reveals how a preventable disaster kept shaping the village long...

Facebook's Social Reckoning: Whistleblowers Frances Haugen & Sarah Wynn-Williams
The Compendium PodcastOctober 13, 2026
169
01:32:4784.96 MB

Facebook's Social Reckoning: Whistleblowers Frances Haugen & Sarah Wynn-Williams

Two women worked inside Facebook years apart, and both tried to warn the world about the exact same harms. One of these women became a household name, the other got a gag order. This episode tells both stories side by side, and asks whether Meta's $1...

Centurians of Rome: The Heist Behind the Most Expensive Gay Porno Ever Made

Centurians of Rome: The Heist Behind the Most Expensive Gay Porno Ever Made

In 1980, a young straight-porn director called Chris Covino walked into a New York City fetish club and met a man who introduced himself as J.R. Lewis. Over the course of that conversation, Lewis agreed to fund something Covino had always fantasised ...

Unabomber Part 1: The Biggest Manhunt in FBI History
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 26, 2026
167
01:07:3361.85 MB

Unabomber Part 1: The Biggest Manhunt in FBI History

Before Ted Kaczynski was a name on the news, the Unabomber was an anonymous figure who could vanish for years and return with a more lethal device. Part One follows the hunt from the first 1978 package bomb to the manifesto that finally made his anon...

Unabomber Part 2: The Manifesto That Exposed Ted Kaczynski
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 26, 2026
168
01:11:3365.52 MB

Unabomber Part 2: The Manifesto That Exposed Ted Kaczynski

Ted Kaczynski stayed hidden for 17 years, but the manifesto he believed would justify his crimes ultimately revealed him. Part Two follows the man behind the Unabomber from Harvard and the Montana wilderness to his arrest, legal battle and guilty ple...

Aileen Wuornos: The Murders, the Self-Defence Claims and the Woman Behind Monster
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 26, 2026
166
01:20:1773.51 MB

Aileen Wuornos: The Murders, the Self-Defence Claims and the Woman Behind Monster

Aileen Wuornos admitted killing seven men, but spent years changing the explanation for why she did it. Behind the woman portrayed in Monster lies a complicated story of trauma, murder, contradictory confessions and a first killing that remains centr...

Lizzie Borden: Did She Get Away With Murder?
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 22, 2026
165
01:08:5063.02 MB

Lizzie Borden: Did She Get Away With Murder?

In 1892, two people were hacked to death in a respectable Massachusetts home, and the only real suspect walked free after a trial that still divides opinion. Kyle and Adam dig into the evidence, the myths, the rhyme that got the numbers wrong, and th...

Nasubi: The Real Life Truman Show
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 15, 2026
164
01:16:4570.28 MB

Nasubi: The Real Life Truman Show

An aspiring comedian enters a sweepstakes challenge and unknowingly becomes one of Japan’s biggest television stars. Nasubi’s 15-month ordeal reveals how an unlocked door, an unseen audience and a desperate hope for fame can turn entertainment into e...

The Tromp Family Mystery: The Australian Family Who Fled Their Own Minds
The Compendium PodcastSeptember 08, 2026
163
01:05:5760.39 MB

The Tromp Family Mystery: The Australian Family Who Fled Their Own Minds

In 2016, five members of the Tromp family fled their farm in a single car, leaving behind their passports, credit cards and mobile phones. Why they fled remains one of Australia's greatest modern mysteries—a mystery that not even the Tromp family can...

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Meet the freaks responsible.

Kyle Risi
Kyle RisiThe RingmasterDoes the research.
Adam Cox
Adam CoxThe WildcardHears it for the first time.

One brings the story. One brings the reactions.
Nobody brings adequate supervision.

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“The Compendium has done a good job establishing itself among a growing number of nerdy British buddy podcasts.”

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“A perfect mix of knowledge, storytelling and genuine curiosity. More of this, please.”

Richard Cox

“I binged the entire back catalogue in a week. Completely hooked from the first episode.”

Sarah Flaxman

“Brilliantly researched and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. A rare combination.”

Jill

“The only podcast my whole family agrees on. Endlessly interesting every single week.”

From the Compendium Gift Shop

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Some legends are born.
Others dangle.

Behold the legendary Crotch Dangler. Part keychain, part running joke, and entirely more important than it has any right to be.

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