The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Morgan Metzer survived a home invasion that ended with a far darker truth: the man who came to save her may have known exactly what happened.

On New Year's Eve in Canton, Georgia, a masked attacker entered a locked home, used intimate knowledge of the house, and left one woman bound, beaten, and terrified. The first person to find her was the ex-husband she still trusted, but the details of the night pointed somewhere far closer to...

Nellie Bly faked madness to enter Blackwell's Island asylum, then turned fearless reporting into a 72-day race around the world.

Before she became a legend, Elizabeth Cochran was a young reporter trying to force her way into a profession that barely made room for women. This episode follows her rise from sharp-tongued columnist to daring undercover journalist, as she exposes the cruelty inside Blackwell's Island, builds her reputat...

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...

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 ...

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 e...

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 mi...

The Suffolk Strangler turned Ipswich into a locked-door city. Five women vanish from the red light district and the road home becomes a crime scene.
In December 2006, the Ipswich murders unfold at terrifying speed as five women are found dumped on rural roads outside the town. Panic turns the streets silent, while the women at the centre of the story are reduced to headlines instead of humans. Inside Operation Sumac, detectives cha...

In June 2002, a Federal Heights neighbourhood wakes to panic as the investigation stalls and fractures. With suspicion falling on handyman Richard Ricci, the Smart family turns to the spotlight and America’s Most Wanted. The search may end, but the legal fight begins, with an insanity defence and Elizabeth forced to reclaim her voice. 

Topics include

• Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, and the belief system behind the cont...

Two men stalk Los Angeles at night, dumping bodies across the hills as police scramble to understand a pattern of terror unfolding in plain sight.

This episode examines the Hillside Stranglers case, following Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono as their murders gripped Los Angeles in the late 1970s. We explore how victims were selected, the pressure mounting on investigators, the bizarre multiple personality defence attempt, and the V...

A missing child returns under suspiciously perfect circumstances, sparking a decades-long battle over identity and truth.

This episode traces the disappearance and reappearance of four-year-old Bobby Dunbar, the contradictions that muddied the investigation, and the families pulled into the fallout. Through contested identifications, clashing testimonies, and the revelation of a century-late DNA test, we explore how a single child’...

A neonatal unit descends into crisis as accusations of murder, medical error, and systemic failure collide around nurse Lucy Letby.

This episode examines the events inside the Countess of Chester’s neonatal unit, where unexplained collapses and conflicting evidence fuelled one of the NHS’s most divisive scandals. We explore the debates over air embolisms, ventilator failures, and hospital negligence while asking whether this traged...

A bitter rivalry spirals out of control as two palaeontologists race to outdo each other and rewrite the story of the dinosaurs.

This episode explores the Bone Wars, the feud between Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh that pushed American palaeontology to new heights and embarrassing lows. From sabotage and rivalry to genuine scientific breakthroughs, we trace how their obsession uncovered extraordinary fossils while nearly destroying t...

A man is found dead in a locked hotel room with no signs of a struggle, leaving investigators with a mystery that makes no sense.

This episode follows the case of Greg Flanagan, whose death in Room 348 seemed straightforward until private investigator Ken Brennan uncovered evidence hiding in plain sight. We trace the overlooked clues, the chain of small mistakes that derailed the initial inquiry, and the reasoning that finally reve...

A quiz show champion reaches the million-pound question, only for suspicious coughs to spark a scandal that grips the nation.

This episode revisits the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire coughing scandal, tracing how Charles Ingram, his wife Diana, and Tecwen Whittock became the centre of a media storm and courtroom battle. We explore the evidence, the trial, the role of Chris Tarrant, and the twists that inspired ITV’s Quiz, all while ...

A failed explosion beneath Parliament ignites a chain of treason, torture, and myth-making that still echoes every Bonfire Night.

This episode traces the real story of Guy Fawkes, from Robert Catesby’s radical plot to the brutal aftermath that shaped Britain’s most famous annual ritual. We explore whether Fawkes was the mastermind or the perfect scapegoat, and how a botched act of rebellion became a national night of fire, memory, ...

A young artist survives unimaginable pain and transforms it into paintings so bold and intimate they redefine what art can be.

This episode explores Frida Kahlo’s turbulent life, from the accident that reshaped her body to the politics, passion, and creative defiance that fuelled her work. We trace her self-portraits, her fractured relationship with Diego Rivera, and the way she turned personal suffering into a visual language that...

A luxury music festival in the Bahamas collapses into chaos, leaving celebrity hype, empty promises, and bewildered guests in its wake.

This episode unpacks the rise and ruin of Fyre Festival, from Billy McFarland’s glossy vision of a VIP paradise to the cascading failures that exposed a web of lies. We follow the influencers, the investors, the infamous cheese sandwich, and the fallout that turned a marketing fantasy into a modern...

A family lunch ends in three deaths, one near miss, and a swirl of suspicion as police uncover a tale stranger than fiction.

This episode examines the Mushroom Murders, where Erin Patterson’s Beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms triggered one of Australia’s most sensational criminal cases. We trace the shifting stories, the courtroom revelations, and the web of deception that turned a family meal into an international hea...

A reality show convinces its contestants they’ve been launched into space, creating one of the strangest deceptions in British television history.

This episode revisits Space Cadets, the 2005 Channel 4 hoax that used fake cosmonaut training, a shuttle simulator, and an entire “Russian base” built in Ipswich to sell an impossible illusion. We explore how the production pulled it off, why the contestants believed it, and how this biz...