True crime podcasts
Anyone have recommendations for good true crime podcasts? The format I'm most interested in would be something documentary-style, similar to Darknet Diaries (easily one of my top 3 podcasts in general), but covering a broader range of crime instead of just technology/internet-based ones. I've given a few podcasts a try, but there are so many true crime podcasts I don't really know where to start. Here are some I've already given a shot and why I like or don't like them:
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My Favorite Murder - I could stomach it OK in the early episodes, but once they started dong all the live shows and I had to listen to crowds laughing and cheering at what I thought were wholly inappropriate and disturbing moments it really turned me off. I don't mind approaching crime with a bit of humor (we laugh so we don't cry), this one takes it a bit too far for me at times.
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Crime in Sports and Small Town Murder - Lumping these together since they're by the same guys. It's another one where they take the comedy a bit too far for my taste at times. I originally learned about these guys from the Timesuck podcast (which I'm enjoying as I'm listening through older episodes and does sometimes cover crimes).
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Predators I've Caught - I actually kinda like this one. I watched and enjoyed all the TCAP stuff with Chris Hansen way back in the day, and even though I've come to realize that a lot of it is kind of problematic I can look past most of that for the purposes of entertainment. My biggest issue with this podcast and why I don't bother with it anymore is the insufferable number of ads they slot into each episode (and no option like patreon to get an ad-free feed). It's basically unlistenable.
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I did listen to Serial while it was actively airing, and it's great, but I'm more interested in one that covers something new each episode as opposed to longer multi-episode arcs.
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I Met My Murderer Online - This one scratched the itch pretty well, but it seems to be done now (no new episodes for over a year and the website doesn't seem to be up anymore). It had decent production value and covered a lot of interesting subjects.
I usually listen to podcasts in chronological order, so I'm totally open to recommendations of podcasts that are no longer producing new episodes if there's a decent backlog to go through.
S-Town - A great podcast from the same people that did Serial. Won’t go into too much detail, but it has a few twists and turns and surprises. As with all True Crime, there are some content advisories and delicate subject matter, namely deaths and self-harmish stuff.
Hunting Warhead - Excellent podcast that details the efforts to track down and bust up an international CSAM ring. Content warnings should be obvious from that.
Your Own Backyard - Amateur/indie podcast that actually led to a murder case being reopened and prosecution of the ultimate offender. Probably the gold standard for this type of podcast.
Bear Brook - Another long dive into some weird murders that wound up being connected and revealed a serial killer that was responsible for several cold cases.
Scamanda - A bit of a lighter subject, a woman going through massive efforts to defraud people by claiming she has various diseases and is on the brink of death. Not quite as dark as the rest.
Casefile - I can’t stand the crime-of-the-week podcasts that are glib and laugh at victims and crimes. Casefile does a good job with research and typically presents the cases in a factual, straightforward, serious, and respectful manner.
These are the ones that came to mind immediately, and the ones that left the biggest impressions on me. Hope you find some you like!
Bear Brook will leave your jaw on the floor. Fantastic reporting and storytelling of a truly wild story. Extra points for being a contained, completed-ish podcast.
I ended up having a long day of travel today and listened to pretty much the whole Bear Brook podcast. Thanks for the great recommendation!
Thanks for all the recommendations! I gave Casefile a listen last night, it's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I'll probably give the rest a shot at some point too.
If you liked "Hunting Warhead", there's also "The Children in the Pictures". Some consider it a sequel, but not nearly as good. Be aware that both are very hard to listen to.
Thanks for the rec! I’ve been looking for a new longform, so I’ll check it out.
You could try Criminal https://thisiscriminal.com/
The episodes listed about halfway down the page are like their greatest hits, and a great place to start.
This was going to be my suggestion also. I figured someone would have already mentioned it. 👍
I enjoy Swindled, which covers accidents and disasters that killed people and were due to negligence.
Seconding Swindled, but its selection of stories is much more diverse than you describe: there have been episodes about refereeing corruption, cover ups of defective health products, and serial con artists running infomercials, for example.
Its breadth is one of its major selling points, for me.
That's true, and I guess I'm using negligence as an overly broad term for irresponsibility driven by greed. I meant to set it aside from murder mysteries by clarifying there's no specific malice towards the dead - just apathy towards their survival.
Thank you, Swindled looks great. I'm looking forward to giving it a listen.
Nothing beats finding a new podcast with a nice big backlog that you can get ad-free through Patreon. Sometimes I feel guilty only paying for one month, downloading hundreds of episodes, then canceling membership; but I justify it since if it's good enough I'll usually re-subscribe once I've caught up.
All episodes are written, researched, published, and hosted by a concerned citizen. Swindled is a completely independent production, which means no network, no investors, no bosses, no shadowy moneymen.
In all seriousness, it's a great show. The only podcast I support through Patreon because I think it's worth it. His extras are simply more of what he's good at.
He's in a niche in the true crime podcasting world by taking a look at malpractice, malfeasance, swindles, cons, and more rather than covering murder mysteries.
It's rare that I hear a swing and a miss, nearly all episodes are bangers.
So I don't do real True Crime but I wanted to recommend two podcasts, one serious, one decidedly less so.
You're Wrong About
The current version of the show doesn't cover as many of the true crime things, but back when Michael Hobbes was on it, they'd talk about famous criminal cases among other things and how the narrative has been distorted. Along with multiple episodes covering different individuals from the OJ Simpson Trial. It's how I learned that the Kitty Genovese case was heavily about racism and homophobia, and that there were in fact people that called the police. Worth a listen!
A Very Fatal Murder*
Produced by The Onion, it's a parody of true crime and it's hilarious. If you've seen American Vandal on Netflix which is about a teen accused of drawing dicks on faculty vehicles, this is similar but it sticks to be true crime/murder genre. One of the things that sold it to me was the host handing the sobbing mother of the victim an ad read so he didn't have to cut to a commercial.
So yeah hope these are fun. I struggle with some of the ways TC podcasts approach the material, so these have been more interesting for me.
Fixed the title because I'm a dumb
I'm definitely interested in The Onion one and had a little trouble finding it. Looks like it's actually A Very Fatal Murder.
Oh no I even looked it up and my brain betrayed me! Thank you, I'll update my post. Glad you found it regardless of my mistake!
Seconding Casefile, I stopped listening to the genre altogether as I felt it was a little uncouth (no judgement on anyone else just something I decided for me), but Casefile is super respectful and well done without sensationalistic tendencies and other stuff.
I'll be honest I don't know much about this genre. But I listen to Red Web. They focus more on unsolved mysteries, particularly internet ones, but branch out to real world ones later on and nowadays have a pretty healthy mix of real world to Internet discussions.
I used to listen to Morbid before Google nuked it's podcast app. But then I also heard some not so nice comments made about the hosts after the fact.
RedHanded is one I enjoy. They do have some live episodes but those are easy to skip. They try not to redo the most "popular" things which I find more interesting than rehashing things that were done to death by the media when they happened.