The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Strange True Stories with Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
  • 4.8 (125)
  • Documentary
  • 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.

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  1. 1d ago

    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 word carved into a wooden post: CROATOAN. In 1587, the colonists were stranded on Roanoke Island instead of reaching their intended home in Chesapeake Bay. Governor John White sailed back to England for supplies, leaving behind his daughter Eleanor and newborn granddaughter Virginia Dare. War, privateering and disaster kept him away for three years. By the time he returned, everyone was gone. What did Croatoan mean and where did the settlers go? Did they move inland, reach the Indigenous communities around Chesapeake, survive through trade and assimilation, or meet a more violent end? From Sir Walter Raleigh’s collapsing colonial scheme and England’s brutal relationship with local communities to hidden map symbols, hammerscale, Jamestown accounts and the infamous Dare Stones, this is the strange history behind one of America’s most enduring unsolved mysteries and the possibility that the colonists were never truly lost at all. Topics Included What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke The real meaning of the Croatoan carving John White’s three-year delay and return Virginia Dare and the 117 settlers English conflict with the Roanoac and Croatoan communities The planned move to Chesapeake Bay Archaeological evidence at Croatoan and Salmon Creek Jamestown accounts of surviving colonists The Lumbee connection and assimilation theory The Dare Stones and the hoax that followed 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. Oct 27

    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. Within months, more than a third of Salem Village had been accused, imprisoned and were awaiting trial. Nineteen people were hanged. One man was pressed to death under stones for refusing to plead. And a four-year-old girl sat in custom-made shackles while her accusers watched. But this is not really a story about witches. It is a story about mass hysteria, and how a Puritan community primed by centuries of European witch hunting, religious paranoia and moral surveillance convinced itself to kill its own neighbours on the strength of spectral evidence: testimony that someone's ghost attacked you in the night. We trace the strange true story from Cotton Mather's witchcraft playbook to the witch cake, the Devil's book, the confessions that saved lives, and the moment the accusations reached the governor's wife and the whole thing collapsed. Plus the surprising link between Salem and our home town of Norwich. Topics Included what caused the Salem witch trials Tituba's confession and why it changed everything spectral evidence and why no alibi could save you the witch cake ritual and the first three accused the arrest of four-year-old Dorothy Good Giles Corey's death by pressing and his final strategy how the accusations reached the governor's wife and ended the trials the 330-year fight to clear every victim's name the Norwich connection to Bridget Bishop Resources and Further Reading Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions - Cotton Mather, 1689, Salem Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, Massachusetts - Memorial site opened 1992 Salem witch trials - Encyclopaedia Britannica The last Salem witch has been exonerated - CNN 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. Oct 20

    The Aberfan Disaster: The Day the Mountain Came Down

    On the last morning before half term, 240 children walked into Pantglas Junior School beneath a mountain of coal waste. Minutes after lessons began, Tip 7 collapsed above Aberfan, sending liquefied spoil through homes and classrooms and killing 116 children and 28 adults. But the Aberfan disaster did not begin with the slide, and it did not end when the rescue stopped. The warning signs had been there: natural springs beneath the tip, earlier slips on the mountainside and concerns that failed to produce action. The tribunal later placed responsibility on the National Coal Board and concluded that the disaster could and should have been prevented. Told through the experiences of survivors including Phil Thomas, Karen Thomas, Jeff Edwards and Gerald Tarr, this is a story of rescue, grief, institutional failure and the lives shaped by what happened on 21 October 1966. It also follows the fight to remove the remaining tips, the controversy surrounding the disaster fund and the long silence that made healing even harder. Topics Included The final morning at Pantglas Junior School Why water beneath Tip 7 triggered the collapse The warnings and earlier slides on Mynydd Merthyr The children and teachers trapped inside the school The rescue effort and its system of whistles and silence The tribunal's findings against the National Coal Board The compensation and disaster-fund controversies The lasting trauma carried by survivors and families Resources The Aberfan Tribunal — Glamorgan Archives Aberfan Disaster 1966 — National Library of Wales digital archive The Aberfan Disaster, 1966 — British Geological Survey case study Aberfan Disaster: Lessons Learned — Institution of Civil Engineers explainer Aberfan: No End of a Lesson — History & Policy research paper Aberfan Disaster Debate, 26 October 1967 — UK Parliament Hansard Death of a Black Mountain: How the Aberfan Disaster Unfolded — HistoryExtra survivor history The Psychological Effects of the Aberfan Disaster — 33-year follow-up study Guidance to the Disused Tips Authority for Wales — Welsh Government consultation This Year Marks the 60th Anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster — Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council 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. Oct 13

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

    A trillion-dollar company. Two women who worked inside it, years apart. And the exact same warnings, ignored twice.   This episode traces Frances Haugen, the Facebook product manager who walked out with a phone full of leaked documents and wiped six billion dollars off the company's share price in a single day, and Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook's former global policy chief, whose tell-all memoir Careless People landed her in emergency arbitration and a gag order so strict she's legally barred from discussing her own book. We cover the Instagram research on teenage girls, the Myanmar crisis both women separately flagged, China, Cross-Check, the Capitol riot, and the 2026 courtroom reckoning that's cost Meta over seventeen billion dollars so far. One whistleblower built a legal shield before she ever spoke. The other found out, too late, exactly how exposed she'd left herself. Coincidence, or exactly the pattern you'd expect from a company this size?   Topics Included Frances Haugen's path from Google and Pinterest to Facebook's Civic Integrity team The leaked internal research on Instagram's effect on teenage girls' body image Cross-Check (XCheck) and the rules that didn't apply to Facebook's most powerful users The Capitol riot, the Facebook Files, and Facebook's rebrand to Meta Meta's 2026 courtroom reckoning: Section 230, the New Mexico and Los Angeles verdicts, and the $17.1 billion settlement Sarah Wynn-Williams' six years as Facebook's global policy chief, and the Myanmar and China allegations in her book The arbitration order and gag order that followed her memoir, Careless People Arturo Bejar's testimony, and what happened to Meta's stock price after the settlement Resources and Further Reading Frances Haugen — Wikipedia Frances Haugen's Written Testimony – the Senate Commerce Committee Sarah Wynn-Williams — Wikipedia Ex-Meta executive: — CNN Sarah Wynn-Williams accuses Meta of colluding with China — TechCrunch What the Wall Street Journal Got Wrong — Meta's official response 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. Oct 7 · Subscribers Only

    The Great Oil Sniffer Hoax: A Count, a Con and a National Secret

    In the 1970’s an Italian TV repairman and a Belgian count claimed they had invented a machine that could find oil from an aeroplane. Desperate to get an in, France handed them a fortune. The Great Oil Sniffer Hoax sounds like something a few basic checks might have prevented. But wait until you hear how long it lasted. During the 1970s oil crises, Aldo Bonassoli and Alain de Villegas offered France a way out: a machine that supposedly spotted oil deep underground. No expensive surveys. No drilling in the wrong place. With well-connected lawyer Jean Violet making introductions, Elf Aquitaine and senior figures in the French government were soon taking the invention very seriously. The demonstrations looked impressive. Actually finding oil proved rather more difficult. But every empty well came with an explanation. And somehow, those explanations kept coming with requests for more money. From a failed water project to a secretive oil exploration scheme, this strange true story follows a scam into the highest circles of French power. It’s weird history with an extraordinary cast, a growing political scandal and the sunk cost fallacy at work. Because once you’ve spent a fortune believing something, how much would you spend to avoid admitting you’ve been fooled? Topics Included The oil crises and France’s search for energy security Aldo Bonassoli and Alain de Villegas’s failed water venture Jean Violet’s connections and the route to Elf Aquitaine The supposed capabilities of Delta and Omega Demonstrations, secrecy and unsuccessful drilling The sunk cost fallacy and escalating commitment Jules Horowitz’s test of the oil sniffer The auditors’ report and the political scandal

    The Great Oil Sniffer Hoax: A Count, a Con and a National Secret

  6. Sep 26

    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.

  7. Sep 26

    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.

  8. Sep 26

    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.

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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
    161
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Show Website
    The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things
  • Provider
    Kyle Risi

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