Podcasts
What
A collection of the podcasts that I listen to and recommend. I may not be actively listening to all of these currently, but if it is on this page, then I have listened to more than a few episodes. I always try to start at the beginning and go from there.
Why
I wanted an easier way to share my love of podcasts with others. My hope is that people who already love podcasts will be able to find new shows that are similar to ones they already love, and that people new to podcasts will be able to find some that best appeal to them.
Where
I use the Overcast app to listen to podcasts because I like its features and ease of use. There are a number of other podcast apps, including Downcast, Stitcher, Spotify, and iHeartRadio, so I recommend downloading a couple of them and testing them all out. The only app I can't recommend is Apple Podcasts, as it just wasn’t user friendly the last time I tried it.
Disclaimer:
This page is not meant as a top picks list or podcast review page, but more as a record of the podcasts that I regularly subscribe to. I do not write negative responses, mainly because listening preferences are so subjective. So if a podcast disappears from the Coming Soon list and is not added to a category, it simply means that I did not subscribe to it.
Radiotopia
"A curated network of extraordinary, cutting-edge podcasts" - Radiotopia.fm
99% Invisible
"Roman Mars’s 99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. With over 150 million downloads, 99% Invisible is one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Based in beautiful, downtown Oakland, CA."
The Allusionist
"The Allusionist scratches the surface of why we say the things we say. English is a big messy mutt of a language, formed by military invasion after military invasion, plus countless tiny idiosyncratic decisions made by its users along the way. The Allusionist is the latest from award-winning host Helen Zaltzman. Based in London, UK."
Criminal
"Criminal is a podcast about crime. The show tells stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle, from Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer. Based in Durham, NC."
Ear Hustle
"Ear Hustle brings you stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it. The podcast is a partnership between Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, and Nigel Poor, a Bay Area artist. The team works in San Quentin’s media lab to produce stories that are sometimes difficult, often funny, and always honest, offering a nuanced view of people living within the American prison system."
The Memory Palace
"The Memory Palace is a storytelling podcast about the past. Hosted by Nate DiMeo, it was named a finalist for a Peabody Award in 2016. Based in Los Angeles, CA."
Radio Diaries
"Radio Diaries presents first-person diaries, sound portraits, and hidden chapters of history. Episodes tell the extraordinary stories of ordinary life, from teenagers to octogenarians, prisoners to prison guards, gospel preachers to bra saleswomen. Based in Brooklyn, NY."
Radiotopia Showcase
"A new podcast from Radiotopia featuring original series of all stripes, from emerging and leading producers around the world."
Strangers
"Strangers features stories about the people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we suffer, the kindness we encounter, and the frightful moments when we discover we aren't who we thought we were. Based in Los Angeles, CA."
The Truth
"The Truth features dramatic short stories that combine great writing with authentic-feeling performances and rich sound design. Host and producer Jonathan Mitchell works with a team of screenwriters and actors to create each original episode, revitalizing the craft of audio fiction for a new generation."
What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
"Elizabeth Joh is an Intro to Constitutional Law professor and most of the time this is a pretty straight forward job. But with Trump in office, everything has changed. Hosted by acclaimed podcaster Roman Mars (99% Invisible, co-founder Radiotopia), this show is a weekly, fun, casual Con Law 101 class that uses the tumultuous and erratic activities of the executive branch under Trump to teach us all about the US Constitution."
True Crime
All the crime, gore, and mysterious happenings you could ever want.
Hollywood & Crime
"Elizabeth Short was a star-struck young woman whose body was found completely severed at the waist in January 1947 in Los Angeles. She would be forever remembered as the Black Dahlia, and her murder remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world to this day. But few people know that more than a dozen other women died in similar circumstances in Los Angeles around the same time. In this ground-breaking serialized docu-drama, host Tracy Pattin investigates these sensational cases, uncovers new evidence, and immerses listeners in both the glamour and the underbelly of 20th century Hollywood."
In the Dark
"For 27 years, the investigation into the abduction of Jacob Wetterling in rural Minnesota yielded no answers. Reporter Madeleine Baran reveals how law enforcement mishandled one of the most notorious child abductions in the country and how those failures fueled national anxiety about stranger danger, led to the nation's sex-offender registries and raise questions about crime-solving effectiveness and accountability."
Missing Richard Simmons
"On February 15, 2014, fitness guru Richard Simmons disappeared. He stopped teaching his regular exercise class at Slimmons, cut off his closest friends, and removed himself from the public eye after decades as one of the most accessible celebrities in the world. Nobody has heard from him - and no one knows why he left. Filmmaker Dan Taberski was a Slimmons regular and a friend of Richard’s. Missing Richard Simmons is Dan’s search for Richard - and the deeper he digs, the stranger it gets."
My Favorite Murder
"Ready yourself for a murder adventure hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, two lifelong fans of true crime stories. Each episode the girls tell each other their favorite tales of murder, and hear hometown crime stories from friends and fans. Check your anxiety at the door, 'cause Karen & Georgia are dying to discuss death."
Serial
"Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial tells one story—a true story—over the course of a season. Each season, we follow a plot and characters wherever they take us. We won’t know what happens at the end until we get there, not long before you get there with us."
Serial Killers
"Every Monday, Serial Killers takes a psychological and entertaining approach to provide a rare glimpse into the mind, methods and madness of the most notorious serial killers with the hopes of better understanding their psychological profile. With the help of real recordings and voice actors, we delve deep into their lives and stories."
Someone Knows Something
"On December 31, 1997, at a New Year's Eve party broadcast on live TV, Sheryl Sheppard accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Michael Lavoie. Two days later, she disappeared. In Season 2 of SKS, documentarian David Ridgen joins Sheppard's mother Odette on her search for answers."
The Trail Went Cold
"A true crime podcast hosted by Robin Warder."
Non-Fiction
Astonishing Legends
"Scott & Forrest have been called the 'Click and Clack of esoterica' by their listeners. Their mission is to take a look at legendary strange and unusual events from throughout history and interview people who've had close encounters with the unexplained. They strive to bring you everything that's entertaining about those stories and remind you that it's ok to laugh at scary stories and respectfully, even the people that tell them. Put your headphones on, settle in for your commute and get ready to experience a show like nothing you've ever heard before. Our new show schedule is roughly 3 weeks of new shows and then 1 week off. "
The Dollop
"The Dollop is a bi-weekly* American History Podcast. Every week, Dave Anthony reads a story to his friend, Gareth Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about."
Good Job, Brain!
"Good Job, Brain! is a free weekly clean* audio podcast that's part quiz show & part offbeat news. It's the ultimate nutrition for your brain. So eat up!
*no explicit language. But poop does come up sometimes all the time."
Last Podcast On The Left
"The Last Podcast On The Left covers all the horrors our world has to offer both imagined and real. From demons and slashers to cults and serial killers, The Last Podcast is guaranteed to satisfy your blood lust."
Guys We F*CKED
"GUYS WE FUCKED is a weekly self-produced podcast during which CORINNE and KRYSTYNA interview men they’ve slept with and titans in the comedy and sex industry (i.e.: comedians JIM NORTON & ARTIE LANGE, porn star STOYA & sex advice guru DAN SAVAGE), discuss sexual taboos, and create a sex-positive environment for their million plus listeners worldwide."
Invisibilia
"Invisibilia (Latin for invisible things) is about the invisible forces that control human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Co-hosted by Lulu Miller, Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, Invisibilia interweaves narrative storytelling with scientific research that will ultimately make you see your own life differently."
Stuff You Should Know
"How do landfills work? How do mosquitos work? Join Josh and Chuck as they explore the Stuff You Should Know about everything from genes to the Galapagos in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com."
Lore
"Lore is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed podcast about true life scary stories. Our fears have roots. Lore exposes the darker side of history, exploring the creatures, people, and places of our wildest nightmares.
Because sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction.
Each episode examines a new dark historical tale in a modern campfire experience."
The Moth
"Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Since 2008, The Moth podcast has featured many of our favorite stories told live on Moth stages around the country."
Stuff Mom Never Told You
"Tune in to Stuff Mom Never Told You to hear co-hosts Emilie Aries and Bridget Todd keep it real with a research-driven rundown of the ever-evolving challenges facing women today and throughout history, paired with smart, strategic solutions to further women’s lives, careers, and activism. New episodes come out every Wednesday and Friday."
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
"Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin welcome you to Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. Every Friday, they dig through the annals of medical history to uncover all the odd, weird, wrong, dumb and just gross ways we've tried to fix people over the years. Educational? You bet! Fun? We hope!"
Audiofiction
Alice Isn't Dead
"Alice Isn’t Dead follows a truck driver in her search across America for the wife she had long assumed was dead. In the course of her search, she will encounter not-quite-human serial murderers, towns literally lost in time, and a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman."
Archive 81
"Dan Powell is missing. He is lost in another world. Archive 81 is a podcast about horror, cities, and the subconscious."
ars Paradoxica
"When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there's no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe."
The Black Tapes
"The Black Tapes is a weekly podcast from the creators of Pacific Northwest Stories, and is hosted by Alex Reagan. The Black Tapes Podcast is a serialized docudrama about one journalist's search for truth, her subject's mysterious past, and the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt them both. Do you believe?"
The Bright Sessions
"The Bright Sessions is a science fiction podcast that follows a group of therapy patients. But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright."
Cthulhu & Friends
"Cthulhu & Friends is a podcast! We play the Call of Cthulhu tabletop roleplaying game using a modified version of the d20 system. Listen as we fight unimaginable beasties and try to maintain our very sanity! Featuring superior role-playing and high production values, we turn actual play into a radio drama experience."
Darkest Night
"Darkest Night is a binaural audio drama that places you, the listener, at the center of a recovered memory that sounds as though it’s happening around you in real time. Each chapter delves into the last memories of the recently deceased, slowly revealing a horrifying master plan. Who is weaving this master conspiracy, and what is their ultimate goal?"
The Deep Vault
"From the creators of Archive 81 comes The Deep Vault, a serialized audio drama set in an almost-post-apocalyptic United States. The story follows a group of longtime friends as they journey from the uninhabitable surface world into a mysterious underground bunker in search of safety and shelter."
Hello from The Magic Tavern
"Arnie Niekamp fell through a dimensional portal behind a Burger King into the fantastical land of Foon. He's still getting a slight wifi signal, so he uploads a weekly podcast from the tavern the Vermilion Minotaur where he interviews wizards, monsters and adventurers. It's a major discovery!"
King Falls AM
"King Falls AM centers on a lonely little mountain town's late-night AM talk radio show and its paranormal, peculiar happenings and inhabitants."
The Liberty Podcast
"Welcome to the world of Liberty – serialized sci-fi tales told in comic books and audio drama stories. The colony of Atrius has been cut off from humanity and endured generations of civil war. What remains is a gleaming city and beyond its walls, a lawless expanse known as the Fringe. Liberty features many tales from this world such as the harrowing Fringe expedition series Critical Research and standalone horror stories of Tales from the Tower.
LifeAfter
"The 10 episode series follows Ross, a low level employee at the FBI, who spends his days conversing online with his wife Charlie – who died eight months ago. But the technology behind this digital resurrection leads Ross down a dangerous path that threatens his job, his own life, and maybe even the world."
Limetown
"Ten years ago, over three hundred men, women and children disappeared from a small town in Tennessee, never to be heard from again. American Public Radio reporter Lia Haddock asks the question once more, "What happened to the people of Limetown?""
The Message
"The Message is a new podcast following the weekly reports and interviews from Nicky Tomalin, who is covering the decoding of a message from outer space received 70 years ago. Over the course of 8 episodes we get an inside ear on how a top team of cryptologists attempt to decipher, decode, and understand the alien message."
The Orphans
"A tale of survival on an unknown world. The Orphans is a cinematic audio drama chronicling the castaways of downed starship, The Venture - Stranded on a hostile planet, struggling to remember how they arrived and who they are. Mysterious creatures hunt them, and in this seemingly unpopulated world, a tower looms. The survivors: Nora, Richard, Olivia, Baz, William, Valerie and the artificial intelligence, GeoFFRy, must learn to live with one another and work together as they fight for their lives in this alien wilderness."
RABBITS
"When Carly Parker’s friend Yumiko goes missing under very mysterious circumstances, Carly’s search for her friend leads her headfirst into a ancient mysterious game known only as Rabbits. Soon Carly begins to suspect that Rabbits is much more than just a game, and that the key to understanding Rabbits, might be the key to the survival of our species, and the Universe, as we know it."
Sayer
"SAYER is a narrative fiction podcast set on Earth’s man-made second moon, Typhon. The eponymous SAYER is a highly advanced, self-aware AI created to help acclimate new residents to their new lives, and their new employment with Ærolith Dynamics."
TANIS
"Tanis is a bi-weekly podcast from the creators of Pacific Northwest Stories, and is hosted by Nic Silver. Tanis is a serialized docudrama about a fascinating and surprising mystery: the myth of Tanis. Tanis is an exploration of the nature of truth, conspiracy, and information. Tanis is what happens when the lines of science and fiction start to blur..."
Welcome to Night Vale
"Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide."
The Strange Case of Starship Iris
"In 2189, Earth narrowly won a war against extraterrestrials, but at a tremendous price. Two years later, in a distant patch of space, a mysterious explosion kills nearly the entire crew of the science vessel Starship Iris. The only survivor is Violet Liu, an intrepid, sarcastic, terrified biologist. But as Violet struggles to readjust to life after the Iris, questions abound. Was that explosion really an accident? If not, just what is going on? And why does every answer seem to get more bizarre and more dangerous? If Violet and her newfound allies want to untangle the truth, they'll need courage, brilliance, and luck - and honestly, a couple of drinks."
The Tesla Frequencies
"A Space Comedy in 963 Parts. A vanished astronaut, a space station filled with global eccentrics, strange radio frequencies received by the Tesla module. 15 minute episodes first broadcast as part of the Currently Off Air podcast and UK radio show.
We're Alive
"We’re Alive is an ongoing series, packing performances and sound effects that rival movies and prove that modern audio drama is undead and well. Join our survivors as they band together, struggle to fortify a safe haven known as the Tower, and discovers that zombies are far from the worst thing in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles where the rules of human decency no longer apply."
Wolf 359
"Wolf 359 is a radio drama in the tradition of Golden Age of Radio shows. Take one part space-faring adventure, add one part character drama, and mix in one part absurdist sitcom, and you get Wolf 359."
Fictional Short Stories
Audio Anthologies
The NoSleep Podcast
"The NoSleep Podcast is a multi-award winning anthology series of original horror stories, with rich atmospheric music to enhance the frightening tales."
Coming Soon
New podcasts are added as I discover them or they are recommended to me, and are added to the page above as soon as I get the chance to listen to them. I always start from the beginning, so it can be slow going. If you have any recommendations or questions, please feel free to contact me!
36 Times
Aaron mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities*
Accused
Actual Innocence
Adulthood Made Easy
The Age of the Swords
All Crime No Cattle
Bear Brook*
Benjamin Walker’s Theory of Everything
The Big Loop*
Black List Table Reads
Blackwood*
Bless This Mess
The Classic Tales Podcast
Cortex
Crimetown
Crime Junkie*
Cults*
Cults, Cryptids, and Conspiracies
Deep House Archives
The Drabblecast
Generation Why
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text
Heads of Sierra Blanca
The Heart
Hidden Brain
Homecoming
Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad
Killers, Cults, and Nutjobs
The Kitchen Sisters Present
Knifepoint Horror
The Lively Show
The Lovecraft Tapes
Love + Radio
Mean Old World
Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast
Monocycle with Leandra Medine
The Mortified Podcast
Mystery Show
Noble Blood
Ologies*
Pod Save America
Pseudopod
Reading Aloud
Real Crime Profile
Reveal
Revisionist History
RTE - Language Bites
S-Town
Secret Transmission
Someone Knows Something
Station to Station
Surreal Talk - Cults, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal
Sword and Scale
They Walk Among Us
Thin Air
True Crime Garage
Under Pressure
Undisclosed
The Vanished
What The Crime?!
The White Vault
Who Goes There
World Religions, Cults, and the Occult
You Must Remember This
zealot*
* These are podcasts that I am currently listening to.