CLUB FREAK

Enjoy early access and bonus episodes

$5.99/mo or $59.99/yr after trial

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Kyle Risi & Adam Cox, Bleav
  • 4.8 (96)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A weekly variety podcast giving you just enough information on a topic to stand your ground at any social gathering. We explore stories from the realms of true crime, history, and incredible people.

  1. Julia Child: Mastering The Art Of Being Loud, Brilliant, And Right

    MAR 30 • SUBSCRIBER EARLY ACCESS

    Julia Child: Mastering The Art Of Being Loud, Brilliant, And Right

    Julia Child celebrated household name, started as a wartime OSS desk jockey who later conquered Le Cordon Bleu and American TV - loudly, brilliantly, and without apologising. Starting with Julie & Julia, we follow her late-in-life Paris awakening, the brutal Le Cordon Bleu learning curve, and the obsessive testing that became Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There’s OSS shark repellent, Paul Child’s steady love, and then the moment she turns a TV omelette into a second career. Suddenly it’s The French Chef - and dinner becomes comedy. Topics include Julie & Julia and what the film gets right (Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci) Le Cordon Bleu, French cuisine, and learning late Mastering the Art of French Cooking and why it mattered OSS shark repellent and the strangest pre-chef CV The French Chef, cooking show chaos, and the Dan Aykroyd SNL skit

    1h 22m
  2. Peter the Dolphin: A Love Story That Science Wasn’t Ready For

    MAR 17 • SUBSCRIBER EARLY ACCESS

    Peter the Dolphin: A Love Story That Science Wasn’t Ready For

    Peter the Dolphin became the centre of a radical experiment that blurred science, intimacy, and ethics in ways no one was prepared for, thats right, this is a groomer story! In the 1960s, neuroscientist John C Lilly and researcher Margaret Lovatt set out to teach a dolphin to speak English inside a flooded house in the Caribbean. What followed was an intense, isolated experiment in dolphin communication that drew the attention of NASA and raised unsettling questions about boundaries, consent, and scientific obsession. As Dolphin House collapsed under funding cuts and ethical scrutiny, Peter’s fate would haunt everyone involved. Topics include The Dolphin House experiment and its unconventional design John C Lilly’s theories on dolphin communication and sensory deprivation Margaret Lovatt’s role and the emotional reality of long-term isolation Why NASA funded dolphin research during the space race What happened to Peter the dolphin after the experiment ended

    50 min
  3. Nellie Bly: 10 days in a mad house to 72 days around the world

    MAR 10 • SUBSCRIBER EARLY ACCESS

    Nellie Bly: 10 days in a mad house to 72 days around the world

    Nellie Bly the woman who check herself into a madness to expose the grim realities inside, but that was only the start for this plucky young stunt reporter. Elizabeth Cochran, practising a thousand-yard stare in a gaslit mirror, because the only way to report the truth is to be locked up with it. What follows is ten days inside the Blackwell Island asylum, where neglect, cruelty, and bureaucracy do their worst behind closed doors. Back in print, the fallout forces uncomfortable questions and real pressure for reform. And just when you think she’s done risking her life for a byline, Joseph Pulitzer hands her the kind of assignment that turns journalism into spectacle: an around-the-world dash that dares Jules Verne’s fiction to keep up. Topics include Her early bylines and the making of a stunt journalist Getting committed on purpose and what she finds inside Blackwell Island asylum Investigative journalism as performance, and as a weapon New York World, publicity, and the machinery behind the story 72 days around the world and the cultural frenzy that follows

    1h 18m
  4. The 2019 eBay Stalking Scandal: When Tech Giants Become Stalkers

    18H AGO

    The 2019 eBay Stalking Scandal: When Tech Giants Become Stalkers

    In 2019, eBay went full villain in one of Silicon Valley’s biggest cyberstalking scandals. Today we’re diving into the fragile ego at the top, and the lengths the CEO went to in a harassment campaign against a wholesome suburban couple in Boston. After critical posts hit a nerve, eBay’s CEO instructed their Global Security team to take down nay sayers at any cost. Today we track the emails, fake accounts, doorstep packages, and the FBI investigation that drags the whole operation into the light. Topics include EcommerceBytes, Ina and David Steiner, and the criticism eBay could not ignore eBay cyberstalking tactics, fake accounts, and a harassment campaign gone rogue Threat Matrix, private dossiers, and what Global Security thought it was doing How the FBI traced the stalking back to eBay executives and DOJ charges 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 PatreonCircus Job Board: Submit your job DescriptionsShare 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
  5. West Memphis Three: Paradise Lost, Justice Lost, Innocence Lost

    FEB 24

    West Memphis Three: Paradise Lost, Justice Lost, Innocence Lost

    The West Memphis Three story is a nightmare of panic, pressure, and vanished evidence, where a confession mattered more than truth. In 1993, three eight-year-old boys vanished in West Memphis, Arkansas, then turned up murdered in Robin Hood Hills. As the Satanic Panic crept into the investigation, police chased a satanic ritual narrative and built a case around Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley, fuelled by a false confession and courtroom “experts” who should never have been there. Years later, the hair evidence in a ligature knot and the Alford plea that freed them leave one brutal question hanging: if they walked out, who never got caught? Topics include Satanic Panic hysteria and a wrongful conviction built on fear Jesse Misskelley’s false confession and the interrogation tactics behind it Paradise Lost and West of Memphis, and how the documentaries shifted the case The Alford plea, the hair evidence in the knot, and why the case stayed unresolved DNA testing and the long fight for full exoneration Resources and Further Reading West Memphis Three - Wikipedia The Satanic Panic - Wikipedia Paradise Lost (1996) - Documentry West of Memphis (2012) - Peter Jackson Devil's Knot - Mara Leveritt 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 PatreonCircus Job Board: Submit your job DescriptionsShare 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 32m
  6. McMillions: When America’s Biggest Game Stopped Being a Game

    FEB 17

    McMillions: When America’s Biggest Game Stopped Being a Game

    McMillions exposed how McDonald’s Monopoly was quietly hijacked, turning “random” winners into a pattern the FBI could not ignore. It started with a tip that sounded like sour grapes, but then the FBI noticed something odd: all the winners were connected. The lead led to the realisation that the McDonald’s Monopoly game was rigged, and had been for most of its existence. And the man behind it was Uncle Jerry, Jerry Jacobson. What emerged was a secret FBI initiative dubbed Operation Final Answer, and a co-ordinated national sting. Topics include Jerry Jacobson and the inside job at the heart of McDonald’s Monopoly How game pieces were stolen, swapped, and funnelled to “winners” The St Jude prize story and why it made perfect cover Operation Final Answer and the FBI’s plan for simultaneous arrests Simon Marketing and the blind spots that let it run for years Resources and Further Reading McMillions (2020) - TV Mini Series McDonalds Monopoly Scam - 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 PatreonCircus Job Board: Submit your job DescriptionsShare 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 14m
  7. H. H. Holmes: The Man Who Built Murder Into Architecture

    FEB 15 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    H. H. Holmes: The Man Who Built Murder Into Architecture

    Dr. H. H. Holmes built murder into architecture, designing a hotel that functioned as a machine for sadistic pleasure, profit, and death. During the chaos of the Chicago World’s Fair 1893, Holmes constructed a building that blurred the line between business and violence. Behind locked doors and false walls, guests vanished while insurance schemes quietly paid out. As bodies mounted and stories unravelled, the Pinkerton Agency closed in on a man who treated murder as logistics rather than impulse. This story cemented Holmes into infamy as one Americas first serial killer. Topics include The design and purpose of the Murder Castle Holmes’ life as Herman Mudgett and his talent for reinvention Insurance fraud, false identities, and calculated killings The role of the Chicago World’s Fair 1893 in hiding the crimes How the Pinkertons finally caught H. H. Holmes

    1h 13m
  8. Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping: The Day a School Bus Vanished

    FEB 10

    Chowchilla Bus Kidnapping: The Day a School Bus Vanished

    The Chowchilla bus kidnapping began like any school run, then veered into a buried alive ordeal no one could have imagined. One moment a group of kids are arguing about snacks, the next they are being marched off a bus by men who clearly skipped Kidnapping 101. While the town panics, the abductors bungle their own plan and promptly disappear, leaving 27 people trapped underground with no idea what happens next. What unfolds is a mix of fear, grit, and surprisingly resourceful thinking as the captives take matters into their own hands.   Topics include Chowchilla Michael Marshall Ed Ray Buried alive schoolchildren Largest child kidnapping case in US history Resources and Further Reading   1976 Chowchilla kidnapping -  Wikipedia Edward Ray - The City Of Chowchilla They’ve Taken Our Children, 1993 - by Vern Gillum The ballad of the Chowchilla bus kidnapping - Vox Chowchilla bus kidnapping - Rare photos CBS 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 PatreonCircus Job Board: Submit your job DescriptionsShare 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
See All (159)

Trailer

4.8
out of 5
96 Ratings

About

A weekly variety podcast giving you just enough information on a topic to stand your ground at any social gathering. We explore stories from the realms of true crime, history, and incredible people.

Information

You Might Also Like