CLUB FREAK

Enjoy early access and bonus episodes

$7.99/mo or $79.99/yr after trial

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Strange True Stories with Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
  • 4.9 (15)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Weekly

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things is a weekly documentary-style podcast about strange true stories, true crime, dark history, scandals, mysteries and remarkable people. Why listen to three podcasts when you can have it all in one? Hosted by Kyle Risi and Adam Cox, each episode takes one fascinating real-life story and gives you the full thing: the context, the characters, the chaos, the terrible decisions, and the tiny details that make you say, “Wait… how did this actually happen?” From infamous crimes and forgotten history to celebrity scandals, survival stories, cults, frauds and real-life mysteries, The Compendium is smart, funny, curious and thoroughly researched — made for listeners who want the whole story in one satisfying listen, without a ten-part homework assignment. New episodes weekly. Step inside the circus tent.

  1. DashCon 2014: The Failed Tumblr Convention and the Ball Pit Meme

    2d ago

    DashCon 2014: The Failed Tumblr Convention and the Ball Pit Meme

    DashCon 2014 was supposed to be Tumblr’s great real-world fandom convention. Instead, it became one of the internet’s most infamous event disasters: a chaotic weekend of guest cancellations, volunteer confusion, a sudden $17,000 hotel panic, the Welcome to Night Vale fallout, and one tiny ball pit that became a meme so powerful it practically achieved sentience. Today we unpack how DashCon went from sincere community dream to public internet humiliation. We’ll trace the Tumblr culture that made the convention possible, the amateur planning and budget fantasy that made it unstable, and the disastrous decisions that turned a fandom gathering into a cautionary tale about what happens when online enthusiasm meets real-world logistics. Was DashCon a scam, a failure of good intentions, or simply catastrophic incompetence with a ball pit attached? Today, we dive into the failed Tumblr convention that became internet history. Topics Include tumblr culture before it spilled across the wider internet how dashcon went from fandom fantasy to real convention the $17,000 hotel panic and the welcome to night vale fallout why the ball pit became the meme that outlived the event the difference between bad intentions and catastrophic incompetence Resources and Further Reading DisasterCon: how a fan convention’s big dream became a nightmare - The Verge The inaugural DashCon 2014 did not go as planned - The Daily Dot DashCon organizers tell their side of the con disaster story - The Daily Dot DashCon - Fanlore The Story of Dashcon - Youtube (Sarah Z) The Failure of Dashcon - Youtube Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 27m
  2. Taylor Parker: Part 2, Reagan Hancock, Braxlynn Sage, and the Lie That Collapsed

    Jun 16

    Taylor Parker: Part 2, Reagan Hancock, Braxlynn Sage, and the Lie That Collapsed

    Taylor Parker had already been caught in one impossible lie: she claimed she had given birth on the side of a highway, but doctors quickly realised she had not been pregnant at all.  In Part 2 of the Taylor Parker case, we go behind the fake pregnancy and into the years of deception prosecutors said led to the murder of Reagan Hancock and the death of Braxlynn Sage. This is the part of the story where the scattered lies start to form a pattern: invented illnesses, fake inheritances, forged paperwork, spoofed phone calls, false identities, and a relationship with Wade Griffin built inside a world Taylor had manufactured around him.  Then the story moves into the crime scene, the investigation, and the Taylor Parker trial, where prosecutors argued this was not confusion, panic, or a tragic misunderstanding, but calculated deception carried to its most horrific conclusion. A restrained but deeply unsettling true crime story about fantasy, control, and the moment a lie becomes too dangerous to survive.      Topics Include  the Taylor Parker case part two the fake pregnancy and Wade Griffin deception forged paperwork, fake identities, and invented inheritances Reagan Hancock and the final escalation the foetal abduction of Braxlynn Sage Jessica Brookes’ discovery of the crime scene Taylor Parker’s changing explanations after arrest the trial evidence and death sentence jailhouse schemes and fake confession letters why Reagan and Braxlynn remain the centre of the story Resources and Further Reading  Parker v. State of Texas - Justia Taylor-Parker-Probable-Cause-Affidavit - Document Cloud Texas woman sentenced - CNN   Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 10m
  3. Taylor Parker: Part 1, Fake Pregnancy, Inheritance Lies and a Foetal Abduction Case

    Jun 9

    Taylor Parker: Part 1, Fake Pregnancy, Inheritance Lies and a Foetal Abduction Case

    A woman is pulled over on a Texas highway with a newborn baby in her lap, covered in blood, claiming she has just given birth behind the wheel. But when Taylor Parker reaches hospital, the story begins to fall apart.  In part one of the Taylor Parker case, we follow the strange and escalating trail of fake pregnancy claims, inheritance lies, family sabotage, burner phones, alleged threats, arson, a multimillion-dollar ranch deal and a relationship with Wade Gryphon that becomes tangled in one impossible story after another. At the centre of it all is Parker’s need to keep the people around her believing that her fantasy life is real.  But while Taylor and Wade are counting down to the arrival of “Clancy Gale”, another young woman, Reagan Hancock, is preparing for her own baby. And by the time the truth emerges, this true crime story has already crossed into something far darker: a foetal abduction case that no one around Parker saw coming.  Topics Included  Taylor Parker and the fake pregnancy claim Wade Gryphon and the relationship at the centre of the story The alleged Blackburn Syrup inheritance Shona Prior and the mother-daughter sabotage narrative Fake documents, messages, phone calls and threats The Pecan Point ranch deal Pregnancy doubts, ultrasounds and the gender reveal Reagan Hancock and her connection to Taylor The roadside birth claim on Highway 82 The discovery that the baby was not Taylor’s Resources and Further Reading  Parker v. State of Texas - Justia Taylor-Parker-Probable-Cause-Affidavit - Document Cloud Texas woman sentenced - CNN   Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 2m
  4. Marilyn Monroe: Dark History of How Hollywood Built and Broke an Icon

    Jun 2

    Marilyn Monroe: Dark History of How Hollywood Built and Broke an Icon

    Marilyn Monroe is one of the most recognisable women who has ever lived, but the version the world fell in love with was, in many ways, built in a studio.  Today, we trace how Marilyn Monroe emerged from Norma Jean’s unstable and abusive childhood to become the Hollywood icon everyone thinks they know. We follow her early modelling career, her studio-made voice, and the blonde bombshell image she spent years trying to outrun. But there is a darker side to this story too: the marriages, the power struggles, and the myths that shaped her final years. Marilyn Monroe’s story is what happens when public fantasy grows far bigger than the woman forced to carry it.  Topics Include  norma jean’s childhood, foster homes, and abuse how marilyn monroe was made by hollywood the breathy voice, the bombshell image, and studio control joe dimaggio, arthur miller, and public fascination jfk, conspiracy theories, and the final unraveling Resources and Further Reading  Marilyn Monroe - Encyclopaedia Britannica Marilyn Monroe - FBI Vault Marilyn’s Method - The Criterion Collection Host & Show Info  Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox Intro Music:Alice in dark Wonderland Community & Calls to Action  Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast Website: TheCompendiumPodcast.com Support us: Sign up to Patreon We’re Hiring: Find the perfect job at the circus Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 51m
  5. Zodiac Killer: Unsolved Mysteries, Ciphers and the Dark History of the Hunt

    May 26

    Zodiac Killer: Unsolved Mysteries, Ciphers and the Dark History of the Hunt

    The Zodiac Killer did not just murder people; he turned the case into a public game of fear, symbols, letters and unsolved ciphers. This episode follows the Zodiac Killer from the first lovers’ lane attacks in Northern California to the murder of taxi driver Paul Stine, tracing how a string of true crime cases became one of America’s most enduring unsolved mysteries. We unpack the Zodiac Killer murders, the taunting newspaper letters, the coded messages, the Z340 cipher, surviving witnesses, and the strange public performance that made the case feel bigger than the crimes themselves. We also look at the suspects and theories that have kept the case alive, including Arthur Leigh Allen, Lake Berryessa, Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs, and the haunting question of why the Zodiac Killer was never caught. This is dark history, historical true crime, real life mysteries and true crime stories at their most unnerving: a serial killer podcast deep dive into what really happened, what remains unknown, and why the hunt still fascinates listeners decades later. Topics Include  zodiac killer murders zodiac killer letters and ciphers z340 cipher and the unsolved codes arthur leigh allen and other suspects why the zodiac killer was never caught Resources and Further Reading  The Zodiac Killer Part 01 - FBI Vault The Zodiac Killer Part 02 - FBI Vault Zodiac Killer - Wikipedia Who Is the Zodiac Killer? - Biography The Solution 340-Character Cipher - Wolfram Blog Host & Show Info  Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox Intro Music:Alice in dark Wonderland Community & Calls to Action  Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast Website: TheCompendiumPodcast.com Support us: Sign up to Patreon We’re Hiring: Find the perfect job at the circus Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 24m
  6. MKUltra: The Dark History of CIA Mind Control and Frank Olson

    May 24 • Subscribers Only

    MKUltra: The Dark History of CIA Mind Control and Frank Olson

    MKUltra was not a fringe conspiracy theory. It was a real CIA programme built to test whether drugs, fear, interrogation and psychological pressure could break the human mind. In this episode, we follow MKUltra from Cold War panic to one of the darkest hidden histories in American intelligence: Project Bluebird, Project Artichoke, Sidney Gottlieb, CIA LSD experiments, Operation Midnight Climax, Donald Ewen Cameron and the death of Frank Olson. What began as a fear of communist brainwashing became dark history on a government budget, with unwitting civilians, prisoners, patients and students pulled into experiments they often did not understand and could not consent to. We look at what really happened inside the programme, why so many MKUltra files were destroyed, and how national security became the phrase used to bury the evidence. Along the way, we separate the documented scandal from the conspiracy theories, asking why this weird history still feels unfinished today. MKUltra was not the clean mind-control weapon the CIA wanted, but the damage it caused was real — and the questions around Frank Olson still refuse to go quietly. Topics Include MKUltra and CIA mind control Frank Olson’s death LSD experiments on unwitting subjects Operation Midnight Climax Donald Ewen Cameron and psychic driving destroyed CIA files and modern transparency claims

    1h 32m
  7. John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown Case and the Dark History Behind It

    May 19

    John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown Case and the Dark History Behind It

    John Wayne Gacy was never just the killer clown; he was a trusted local man hiding sexual violence, murder, and years of missed warnings in plain sight. Today we explore the real story of John Wayne Gacy, starting with 15-year-old Robert Piest’s disappearance and the police work that finally broke the case open. We trace Gacy’s public image as a contractor, community figure, and Pogo the Clown, then follow the darker pattern behind the headlines: earlier assaults, parole failures, ignored red flags, victims lured into danger, and the horrifying crawl space discoveries beneath his house. Rather than treating John Wayne Gacy as a simple monster-myth, we ask what really happened, why the killer clown label became so sticky, and how a man with such a visible life kept offending for so long. It is a dark history episode for listeners drawn to true crime stories, true crime cases, famous trials, serial killer podcast deep dives, and strange true stories about the people who hide in plain sight.   Topics Inclued  robert piest and the disappearance that broke the case the truth behind the killer clown myth john wayne gacy’s double life and public image police failures, parole failures, and missed warnings the crawl space discoveries, confessions, and trial Resources and Further Reading  John Wayne Gacy - Encyclopaedia Britannica John Wayne Gacy's Artwork - Encyclopaedia Britannica John Wayne Gacy - FBI Vault John Wayne Gacy - Biography.com John Wayne Gacy: A Timeline  - Biography.com Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes - Netflix John Wayne Gacy - Wikipedia Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 34m
  8. Room 1046: A Kansas City Hotel Murder and One of True Crime’s Unsolved Mysteries

    May 12

    Room 1046: A Kansas City Hotel Murder and One of True Crime’s Unsolved Mysteries

    A man checks into the President Hotel under a false name — and Room 1046 becomes a locked-door nightmare. The death of the man known as Roland T. Owen remains one of the strangest true crime stories of 1930s Kansas City. Behind the name was a deeper mystery: Artemis Ogletree, a false identity, a hotel room filled with unanswered questions, and a cast of names that still feel like pieces from a puzzle no one has ever fully solved. This historical true crime episode follows the eerie Room 1046 case through the President Hotel, the Kansas City murder investigation, the mystery letters, and the people connected to the story, including Eugene K. Scott, Mary Soptic, Don Kelso and the elusive “Louise”. Was Room 1046 the scene of a planned hotel murder, a meeting gone wrong, or something even stranger? For listeners drawn to unsolved mysteries, real life mysteries, cold case podcast stories and dark history, this is a chilling look at how one hotel room became a lasting legend. Room 1046 is not just a murder case. It is a strange history of aliases, silence, fear and unanswered questions that still refuses to stay buried. Topics Include The President Hotel in Kansas City in January 1935 Roland T. Owen and the false identity trail The note to Don and the name Louise The attack inside room 1046 Artemis Ogletree and the letters sent after death Why the Room 1046 case remains unsolved Resources and Further Reading Murder of Artemus Ogletree - Wikipedia The Creepy Murder In Room 1046 - Youtube The Man Who Locked Himself In - Criminal The Owens Case - Kansas City Mag   Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxIntro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonShare this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    1h 18m
See All (154)

Trailer

4.9
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things is a weekly documentary-style podcast about strange true stories, true crime, dark history, scandals, mysteries and remarkable people. Why listen to three podcasts when you can have it all in one? Hosted by Kyle Risi and Adam Cox, each episode takes one fascinating real-life story and gives you the full thing: the context, the characters, the chaos, the terrible decisions, and the tiny details that make you say, “Wait… how did this actually happen?” From infamous crimes and forgotten history to celebrity scandals, survival stories, cults, frauds and real-life mysteries, The Compendium is smart, funny, curious and thoroughly researched — made for listeners who want the whole story in one satisfying listen, without a ten-part homework assignment. New episodes weekly. Step inside the circus tent.

Information

  • Creator
    Strange True Stories with Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    154
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Show Website
    The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Provider
    Kyle Risi

You Might Also Like