Even if the first day of school is but a dim memory, and all September logistically means is that the subway is more crowded and you no longer get off work early on Fridays, there’s still something about fall that feels like a new beginning. Maybe we can all start fresh, now that it’s socially unremarkable to wear a jacket! Maybe things will be okay, due to the fact that there’s a pyramid of pumpkin beer at the grocery store! Or maybe not, but either way, this fall’s new and upcoming podcasts constitute a beginning of their own.
Whereas there was a time when crime podcasts focused almost exclusively on murder, 2019 is has seen a profusion of podcasts taking a second look at the many faces of crime—what it looks like, how far it spreads, and what we can learn from it. We’re also seeing more podcasts bringing crime to our front doors, interrogating its effect on our daily lives, whether or not we ever end up in a courtroom, or in an episode of I Survived.
So whatever this fall holds in store, find comfort in the fact that there are at least eleven outstanding podcasts that can help you start it off right.
Culpable
It’s no exaggeration to say that Culpable is one of the strongest true crime podcasts to come out in recent years. Host Dennis Cooper takes a step-by-step look at the case of Christian Andreacchio, who died five years ago at the age of 21, in what Mississippi police very rapidly ruled a suicide. To this day, Christian’s family insists that he was murdered—and while their theory might initially seem to be borne from the trauma of suicide loss, it becomes increasingly clear with each episode that they seem to be…right. The mountain of evidence pointing to homicide rather than suicide, almost all of it ignored in a 45-minute investigation conducted by police with questionable motives, is carefully examined one piece at a time, with the help of lawyers, forensic experts, and a team of crack private investigators who assemble to not only discover what really happened to Christian, but to prove it. As PI Sheila Wysocki tells Christian’s mother, “There are so many problems with this case. I hate this for you. I can’t tell you how much I hate this—it just makes my blood boil. Rae, we will get this done. I have no doubt. I have absolutely no doubt.”
70 Million
In the US, 70 million adults have a criminal record. That amounts to nearly one in three Americans over 18, so that having a criminal record is more common than having a cat—yet people who’ve been shuffled through the courts often find themselves ignored, their experiences minimalized, even as their records follow them every day, on every job application. 70 Million, which recently returned for its second season, takes a close look at the catastrophically flawed correctional system in this country, on a case-by-case, story-by-story basis. In tandem with local reporters across the US, host Mitzi Miller shares the experiences of those who’ve been in and out of prison, as well as those steadfastly working to fix a system that can’t even be called broken, because it was never whole. The result is a polished, empathetic, and absorbing podcast with a similar appeal to This American Life—except 70 Million takes up the unique mission of showing just how American, far-reaching, and personal criminal records are, whether you have one or not. As Miller puts it, “In so many ways, we’re all in the 70 million. These stories from around the country bear witness to that.”
Web Crawlers
Web Crawlers is a new podcast co-hosted by Melissa Stetten and Ali Segel, who delight in exploring unsolved mysteries on the internet. From MK Ultra to the Cecil Hotel, from Yetis to invisibility cloaks, Melissa and Ali investigate one mysterious occurrence after another, with a gleeful focus not only on the cases themselves, but on the online community feverishly trying to solve them. With a jokey, self-deprecating style (“We love getting emails, because we have lots of time to respond to emails”), Melissa and Ali leave no conspiracy theory unturned, before giving their own hypotheses on what actually took place. They also find time to speculate that 23 and Me is a government conspiracy, that their two one-star reviews were left by the FBI, and to give shoutouts to “our thriving community of tens of listeners” on the Web Crawlers subreddit. For anyone who’s ever suddenly noticed that it got light out while you were reading message boards about the Dyatlov Pass, Web Crawlers is here for you. It understands.
Uncover: Sharmini
In June 1999, 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel cheerfully said goodbye to her family, left her house for the first day of her new job, and vanished. When her remains were found in a ravine four months later, a bewildered Toronto community was overcome with grief. Twenty years later, no one has ever been charged for Sharmini’s murder, and CBC Podcasts – led by journalist Michelle Shephard, who first covered Sharmini’s story as a cub reporter—has taken up the case, in the newest season of their Uncover series. As with all of CBC’s podcasts, the thread of the investigation is carefully woven, in a polished and gripping narrative—but perhaps what’s most special about Uncover: Sharmini is the time taken to reconstruct Sharmini’s unique world. Shephard hears from not only detectives, journalists, and even the chief suspect; she also speaks with the parents who adored Sharmini, the friends who belted out The Backstreet Boys with her, the teacher who still has trouble referring to her in the past tense, the smitten boy who sat next to Sharmini in home room. It’s a poignant portrayal of community, mystery, and loss, and of a remarkable young woman whose life was cut senselessly short.
Forest 404
Forest 404 is more of a thriller than a crime podcast, but it’s easily as disturbing as anything about the Bloody Benders or the Golden State Killer. This impeccable BBC production takes place in a glittering urban dystopia several hundred years into the future, where buildings have 4,000 floors, nature isn’t a thing, and the majority of human history has been wiped out in a catastrophic data loss. Pan, a 28-year-old librarian who specializes in deleting things, spends her days ruthlessly erasing audio files that we treasure as cultural touchstones today—until she stumbles upon a recording of a rainforest and becomes entranced by it, even though she doesn’t know what it is. Pan’s discovery sets off a chain of irreversible events in a tautly written, brilliantly acted, and flawlessly produced podcast–which also serves as a dogged reminder of the forest-free globe that really could be our future. In a world where the Amazon is burning before our eyes, Forest 404 is not just a riveting drama; it’s an urgent call to action.
Over My Dead Body: Season 2
In the second season of Over My Dead Body, the podcast moves away from rival ex-spouses to focus on Joe Exotic: flamboyant widower, eccentric showman, and so-called “King of Tigers” who shifted by degrees from exotic animal rescuer to exotic animal abuser. Joe’s growing frustration with Carole Baskin—the equally fascinating animal breeder turned conservationist who led a crusade to close Joe’s roadside zoo—eventually pushed Joe into his most notorious role yet: attempted murderer, who hired a hitman to (try to) eliminate Carole. With precision, finesse, and mounting tension, journalist Robert Moor introduces listeners to characters too colorful to be real, except they are, in a story too over-the-top to be true, except it is. Wondery truly shines when—as with Dirty John and Doctor Death — they widen the true crime net beyond the kinds of stories that listeners expect, and you certainly won’t find many podcasts covering the bitter but not quite fatal rivalry between two personalities who started at opposite ends of the exotic animal welfare spectrum, only to gradually switch places. Oh yeah, and before I forget, Carole’s stepkids think she murdered her husband and fed his body to her tigers.
Invisible Choir
Michael Ojibway, who’s worked as a discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault investigator, created Invisible Choir to lend a voice to those who can’t speak for themselves—the missing, the dead, the unseen and unseeable. With a sympathetic voice and a focused, single-narrator style that will appeal to listeners of Casefile and True Crime Enthusiast, Ojibway guides the listener through an array of cases, like the baffling death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, who allegedly died in a freak accident in his high school gym. It’s a case that’s been covered by more and more crime podcasts, but nowhere more exhaustively than here. Ojibway also makes particularly deft use of first-hand audio—from interviews, news footage, and a variety of other sources—so that even though Invisible Choir technically has one host, each episode contains a multitude of voices.
Noble Blood
Noble Blood, hosted by author Dana Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mahnke, examines the frequently grisly history of royalty, focusing on a different regal figure every episode. The podcast opens with perhaps the most famous bloodied royal of all—Marie Antoinette—but even if you think you know the story well, Noble Blood’s precision and visual detail makes it fresh, and probably sadder than it seemed when you answered essay questions about it in high school. Though Schwartz is largely known as a humor writer, she brings a sense of gravity to the tales she tells here, with pacing that seems neither to rush or to drag–so that whether the topic is a long-lost heir, the final days of Anastasia, or entering your 20s as the son of a beheaded king, the podcast manages both to dwell on particulars and keep the story moving. Buoyed by first-rate production and a fantastic use of music, Noble Blood is perfect for anyone fascinated by history, royalty, or—you know—blood.
Today in True Crime
Today in True Crime has a simple concept: Every episode covers a crime that took place on that date. Skipping across decades and centuries from one episode to the next, the podcast takes the listener on a guided tour through criminal history, so that soon you too can be asking your long-suffering loved ones: Did you know that on August 21st, the Mona Lisa was stolen, and nobody noticed for more than a day? Or that August 26th is the birthday of a notorious mob queen? Parcast’s Vanessa Richardson will tell you all this and more, in brisk, 15-minute episodes that also find time to consider the cultural impact of that day’s crime. Historical events gain a new, sharp immediacy when you stop to think that they happened on an exact date—this exact date—which most people at the time likely saw as unremarkable. It makes you think of those little desk calendars where you tear off a new page each day, to find a factoid or an inspirational quote underneath. Remember those? So cute! Not like this. Not like this at all.
Hunting Warhead
Hunting Warhead deals with a topic that hasn’t been frequently covered in the podcasting world, probably because it’s so upsetting. This joint production with the CBC and Norway’s VG newspaper follows police, journalists, and hackers as they chase down the criminals behind the largest child porn site on the dark web. It’s a subject that many may choose to skip past, as they have every right to do, but host Daemon Fairless is quick to explain the podcast’s philosophy in the opening episode: “It’s natural to turn away from repulsive stories. The problem is, you can’t change what you don’t understand, and you can’t possibly understand the stories you avoid.” At heart, Hunting Warhead is a story not just of unforgivable atrocities, but of courage, ingenuity, and hope—of the desperate efforts made to take victims out of harm’s way. Instead of fedora-clad detectives chasing bad guys down a dark alley, Hunting Warhead gives us hackers chasing bad guys in the corners of the dark web–a fitting substitution in our terrifying modern times. The first episode drops worldwide on November 5th.
Friends & Felonies
Megan Kaiser and Chloe Blackman are best friends who started a podcast to discuss crime of all kinds—as well as the mysterious, the baffling, and the theories and conspiracies that might provide some explanation. Bolstered by solid audio quality and a subtle use of background music, Megan and Chloe (and sometimes Chloe’s dogs) have a natural rapport and are genuinely fun to listen to—the episode where they discuss the moon landing conspiracy is particularly entertaining—with a spontaneous back-and-forth that stops short of horizonless digressions. In addition to focused case summaries, Megan and Chloe give their thoughts on the ethics and plausibility of the ideas they discuss, which keeps the podcast fresh and funny. (“What teenage girl would go and try to go and rob an adult man?” “I know! I can’t even talk to the pizza guy.”) For fans of conversational podcasts like True Crime Garage and RedHanded, Friends & Felonies deserves a spot in your feed.
