The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Strange True Stories with Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
  • 4.8 (123)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Weekly

Love strange true stories, true crime, dark history and real-life mysteries, but not ten-part series that turn listening into homework? The Compendium is a weekly documentary-style podcast that gives you one complete, thoroughly researched story from beginning to end in a single listen. Each week, Kyle Risi takes co-host Adam Cox inside one remarkable real-life story that Adam has not heard before. As Adam asks the questions you are thinking, Kyle unpacks 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 cults, frauds, survival stories, celebrity scandals and remarkable people, the subject changes every week.

CLUB FREAK

Enjoy early access and bonus episodes

$5.99/mo or $59.99/yr after trial

  1. 1d ago

    Unabomber Part 1: The Biggest Manhunt in FBI History

    In 1978, a brown-paper parcel was found between two cars at a Chicago university. It looked ordinary. The professor named as the sender had never seen it before. Then it exploded. That first device began a 17-year bombing campaign that moved from university campuses to an airliner, computer shops and private homes. Sixteen bombs would kill three people and injure 23, while investigators struggled with devices deliberately built from common materials and a bomber capable of disappearing for years. What the FBI did have was strange: scrap-built components, pieces of wood, the initials F.C., a witness sketch and, eventually, a bomber who decided to start writing. Part One follows the creation of the UNABOM investigation, the long silences between attacks, the deadly return in the 1990s and the extraordinary decision to publish Industrial Society and Its Future. Then, after thousands of bad tips, one lead arrived that pointed towards a name already inside the investigation: Ted Kaczynski. Topics Included The mysterious first package bomb found in Chicago in 1978 How the university and airline attacks gave the UNABOM case its name The scrap-built bombs, pieces of wood and recurring F.C. signature The escalation from serious injuries to the first fatalities The 1987 eyewitness encounter and iconic hooded-man sketch The Unabomber’s six-year disappearance and sudden return Freedom Club and the demand to publish Industrial Society and Its Future The manifesto publication and the tip that pointed towards Ted Kaczynski Resources and Further Reading Unabomber case history — FBI Inside the FBI: The Unabomber Case — FBI podcast and transcript The Unabomber Case 25 Years Later — FBI Unabomber Bomb Shrapnel — FBI artifact Unabomber Cabin — FBI artifact The Profile of a Loner — The Washington Post Unabomber's Elusive Trail — The Washington Post To Unabomb Victims, A Deeper Mystery — The Washington Post UNABOM Major Case 75 Task Force Report — digitised 1995 BATF, FBI and USPIS task-force report Project Unabom — Apple Original podcast Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  2. 1d ago

    Unabomber Part 2: The Manifesto That Exposed Ted Kaczynski

    For 17 years, the Unabomber hid behind handmade bombs, false clues and the initials F.C. Then his need to explain himself gave the FBI the break it had been waiting for. Part Two turns from the bombing campaign to Ted Kaczynski himself. We trace the gifted, isolated child who entered Harvard at 16, the controversial psychological study led by Henry Murray, the anti-technology ideas that hardened into violent ideology, and the contradictions of his off-grid life in a tiny Montana cabin. When Industrial Society and Its Future was published, Ted’s brother David recognised something chilling in its language. What followed was a covert investigation, an arrest built around a Forest Service ruse, a cabin packed with evidence and a legal battle over whether any of it could be used. Even with the case closing around him, Kaczynski fought the defence designed to save his life because it threatened the one thing he still wanted the world to respect: his ideas. Topics Included Ted Kaczynski’s gifted but socially isolated childhood Henry Murray’s controversial Harvard psychology study The private crisis Kaczynski called a turning point in his life Jacques Ellul and the roots of Kaczynski’s anti-technology ideology The reality of living off-grid in the Montana cabin The manifesto and the linguistic clues that exposed him David Kaczynski’s decision to contact the FBI The search warrant, mental-health dispute and guilty plea Resources and Further Reading Unabomber case history — FBI case archive and device timeline The Unabomber Case 25 Years Later — FBI account of the linguistic investigation Theodore Kaczynski Indicted in Sacramento — US Department of Justice indictment summary Unabomber Cabin — FBI artefact history and cabin evidence United States v. Kaczynski, 239 F.3d 1108 — Ninth Circuit opinion on the plea and self-representation dispute The Ted Kaczynski Papers: FBI Files and Photographs — University of Michigan Library archive guide Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber — Alston Chase’s archival investigation Responses to Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber — participant and scholarly challenges to Chase’s interpretation Ted Kaczynski dies in federal prison at 81 — Associated Press biography and case overview Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  3. 1d ago

    VAULT - Aileen Wuornos: The True Story Behind Monster

    Aileen Wuornos killed seven men along Florida's highways between 1989 and 1990, but the question at the centre of her story has never been quite as simple as whether she was a serial killer. Wuornos said her first victim, Richard Mallory, violently attacked and raped her before she shot him in self-defence. She later gave dramatically different accounts of what happened, eventually claiming that robbery, not survival, motivated the killings. Even then, her story continued to shift. Behind those contradictions was a life already shaped by abandonment, alleged childhood abuse, homelessness, sex work, violence and an intense relationship with Tyria Moore. We follow Wuornos from her brutal childhood in Michigan through the Florida highway murders, the investigation that finally identified her, Moore's role in obtaining her confession, the trial that sent her to death row, and the questions that remained when she was executed in 2002. This is the true story behind the woman Charlize Theron portrayed in Monster. Topics Included Aileen Wuornos's childhood, abandonment and allegations of abuse Her relationship with Tyria Moore Richard Mallory and Wuornos's self-defence claim Seven killings across Florida between 1989 and 1990 The fingerprint and vehicle evidence that helped identify Wuornos How Tyria Moore helped police obtain a confession Wuornos's changing explanations for the murders Her trial, death row years and execution Resources and Further Reading Aileen Wuornos – Wikipedia Monster (2003) – directed by Patty Jenkins Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) – directed by Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill Monster: My True Story - by Aileen Wuornos & Christopher Berry-Dee Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  4. 5d ago

    Lizzie Borden: What Netflix’s Monster Got Wrong

    In a respectable Massachusetts household in 1892, two people were hacked to death in broad daylight, and nobody in the house heard a thing. This episode traces the Borden family from Andrew's rise from nothing to a $10-million-in-today's-money fortune he refused to spend, through the locked doors, the pigeon massacre, and the property dispute that split the household in two. Then: the morning of August 4th, the two-hour gap between the murders, the botched police investigation, the burnt dress, and the trial that put actual human skulls in front of a jury. Lizzie Borden walked free. Whether that was justice or a masterclass in reasonable doubt is still argued over more than 130 years later — and we give you the evidence to decide for yourself, including how you can go and spend the night in the room where it happened. Topics Included Andrew Borden's fortune, and his refusal to spend a cent of it on his own family The 1891 house robbery and the household's growing paranoia and distrust The pigeon massacre and the Ferry Street property dispute that split the family in two The morning of August 4, 1892, and the unexplained two-hour gap between the murders The Fall River police's botched investigation and their first, wrongful suspect Lizzie's shifting testimony, the burnt dress, and the poison purchase ruled inadmissible The 1893 trial, the skulls brought into court, and the fast acquittal What happened to Lizzie, Emma and Bridget Sullivan afterwards — and what you can actually do at the house today Resources and Further Reading Lizzie Borden — Wikipedia Lizzie Borden House — Wikipedia Was Lizzie Borden Guilty? — Britannica Famous Trials: Lizzie Borden Famous Trials: The Inquest The Lizzie Borden Society chronology How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder — Smithsonian The Forgotten Borden: Who Was Emma Borden? — Lizzie-Borden.com I Slept in the Murder Room — Fodor's Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  5. Sep 15

    Nasubi: The Real Life Truman Show

    Nasubi thought he had agreed to a private television challenge. What he didn’t know was that millions of people were already watching him, alone, hungry and completely naked. In 1998, the aspiring comedian was taken to a bare Tokyo apartment and told he had to survive entirely on prizes won through mail-in sweepstakes. No food. No clothes. No running total. To finish A Life in Prizes, he had to win goods worth one million yen. And while the door to the apartment was technically unlocked, what was keeping Nasubi hostage was the fact producers had taken his cloths and the belief that leaving would destroy his only chance at a television career. As the weeks became months, producers broadcast his most private and vulnerable moments, They published his diary and more shockingly they kept moving the finish line. The wild part is Nasubi had no idea millions of people were watching. all while he remained unaware that he was famous. This is the story of Japan’s so-called real-life Truman Show, the ethics of early reality television, and how Nasubi rebuilt a life after an experience that left him struggling to trust other people. Topics Included How Nasubi was selected for A Life in Prizes Surviving entirely through mail-in sweepstakes The weekly broadcasts and 24-hour livestream Why an unlocked door did not necessarily make Nasubi free Toshio Tsuchiya and the constantly moving finish line The live studio reveal and “My house fell down” Nasubi’s psychological recovery after the programme Fukushima, disaster relief and Mount Everest Resources and Further Reading The Contestant — Hulu documentary overview Japanese Reality Star Nasubi Recalls the Traumatic True Story Behind The Contestant — TIME interview Nasubi Explains Why He Didn’t Sue — Decider interview Human Spectacle — This American Life transcript Documentary Focuses on Man Behind a Cruelly Bizarre Japanese Reality Show — Associated Press Was This the Most Unsettling Reality TV Show Ever? — The Guardian How The Contestant Director Earned Nasubi’s Trust — Salon interview Fukushima’s Famous Actor and Entertainer, Nasubi — Fukushima and Everest interview Nasubi’s Ask Me Anything — First-person Q&A Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  6. Sep 8

    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 fully explain. Over the following week, the family scattered across two states. One son, Mitchell, abandoned the journey and caught a train home. Two daughters, Riana and Ella, stole a car near the Jenolan Caves before reporting their own parents missing more than 100 miles away. Riana was later found catatonic in the back of a stranger's pickup truck. Their mother, Jacoba, turned up wandering the streets of Yass, while their father, Mark, disappeared into bushland. Today, we retrace the family's bizarre road trip, examine the many theories—from contaminated water and cults to supernatural cave spirits—and explore the explanation psychologists keep returning to: “folie à deux”, the rare condition in which one person's delusions spread to those closest to them. It's a remarkable true story about just how fragile—and contagious—the human mind can be. Topics Included what happened in the Tromp family disappearance the empty farm, the abandoned passports and the missing Peugeot the frantic drive north and the phone thrown from the window the Jenolan Caves and the folklore surrounding them why the family scattered one by one across two states Riana found catatonic in a stranger's pickup the theories, from farm chemicals to cults to cave spirits folie à deux and the science of shared psychosis the Eriksson twins and other real cases of shared delusion how the Tromps were found and what they said afterwards Resources and Further Reading Riana Tromp speaks about bizarre roadtrip in first interview - news.com.au Transcript of Mitchell and Ella Tromp speaking to the media on Sunday - The Age Folie à deux - Wikipedia Ursula and Sabina Eriksson - Wikipedia Tromp family - The Daily Telegraph Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

  7. Sep 2 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Ruth Ellis: The Last Woman Hanged in Britain

    Ruth Ellis was the last woman hanged in Britain, but the six shots she fired outside a Hampstead pub were only the final act of a life shaped by violence, class and men who controlled the choices around her. On Easter Sunday 1955, the 28-year-old nightclub manager shot racing driver David Blakely in front of witnesses. She confessed, told the Old Bailey that she had intended to kill him and was convicted in minutes. Yet behind that clean legal answer sat years of domestic abuse, a miscarriage, a trial with no modern defence of diminished responsibility and another man whose possible role would remain disputed for decades. The Ruth Ellis case became a defining story in British true crime and the debate over capital punishment. In July 2026, King Charles III granted her a posthumous conditional pardon, replacing the death sentence with life imprisonment without overturning her conviction. Seventy-one years after the hanging, the question is no longer whether Ruth pulled the trigger. It is whether Britain ever understood what brought her to that pavement, or who may have helped put the gun in her hand. Topics Included Ruth Ellis’s life in post-war London’s nightclub scene Her violent relationship with racing driver David Blakely The Easter Sunday shooting outside The Magdala in Hampstead Ruth’s confession and rapid murder trial at the Old Bailey Desmond Cussen and the disputed origin of the murder weapon Why domestic abuse did not provide an effective defence in 1955 The case’s place in Britain’s debate over capital punishment The meaning of Ruth Ellis’s 2026 conditional pardon

    Ruth Ellis: The Last Woman Hanged in Britain

  8. Sep 1

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

    A man falls from a New York hotel window. The CIA calls it suicide. Decades later, the story starts to look much darker. MKUltra is one of the most disturbing secret programmes in CIA history: a Cold War attempt to find out whether drugs, hypnosis, interrogation, sensory manipulation, and psychological pressure could break the human mind and reshape it. At the centre is Frank Olson, a biological warfare scientist who was secretly dosed with LSD at a CIA retreat and died days later after falling from Room 1018A of the Hotel Statler. But Olson’s death is only one part of the story. This dark history moves from Nazi research and Operation Paperclip to Project Bluebird, Project Artichoke, Sidney Gottlieb’s LSD experiments, Donald Ewen Cameron’s psychic driving, Operation Midnight Climax, destroyed records, congressional hearings, and the questions that still refuse to die. Because MKUltra was not just about mind control. It was about secrecy, power, and what governments are willing to do when “national security” becomes the magic phrase that makes human rights disappear. Topics Include what MKUltra was and why the CIA created it Frank Olson’s death at the Hotel Statler Cold War brainwashing fears and Project Bluebird Project Artichoke and CIA interrogation experiments Sidney Gottlieb and CIA LSD testing Donald Ewen Cameron and psychic driving Operation Midnight Climax destroyed MKUltra records and surviving financial files Rockefeller Commission and Church Committee revelations the unresolved questions around modern influence and control Resources and Further Reading Project MKULTRA, Research in Behavioral Modification - U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence MKUltra - Wikipedia Operation Paperclip - Wikipedia Sidney Gottlieb Testimony - National Security Archive DNI Denies CIA Raided Tulsi Gabbard’s Office - Newsweek James E. Erdman III Testimony - Homeland security Host & Show Info Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam CoxEditor: Giordanno Bottezini Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonSuggest a Topic: Freaky RegisterShare 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.

See All (156)

Trailer

4.8
out of 5
123 Ratings

About

Love strange true stories, true crime, dark history and real-life mysteries, but not ten-part series that turn listening into homework? The Compendium is a weekly documentary-style podcast that gives you one complete, thoroughly researched story from beginning to end in a single listen. Each week, Kyle Risi takes co-host Adam Cox inside one remarkable real-life story that Adam has not heard before. As Adam asks the questions you are thinking, Kyle unpacks 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 cults, frauds, survival stories, celebrity scandals and remarkable people, the subject changes every week.

Information

  • Creator
    Strange True Stories with Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    157
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Show Website
    The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Provider
    Kyle Risi