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Best True Crime Podcasts?

Posted on 10/25/22 at 7:31 am
Posted by Joe Cigar
Breaux Bridge
Member since Mar 2021
426 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 7:31 am
I binged The Devil Within last week and wow! Are there any others as good?
Posted by Civildawg
Member since May 2012
10151 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 7:54 am to
Bear brook
Gone south
Finding warhead
Posted by muttenstein
Member since Oct 2012
2990 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 8:10 am to
Sword and Scale - The GOAT, IMO
Case File - Incredible amount of detail in each episode
Posted by gringeaux
DFW
Member since Oct 2008
1992 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 8:31 am to
These are some good series:
Doctor Death
Mind of a Monster
Deliver Us From Ervil
Piketon Massacre
Tom Brown's Boddy

These are some good ones where it's a different killer/story ever podcast:
The Casual Criminalist- he covers some of the more unknown crimes/murders
Disgraceland
Insomniac
Badlands

Enjoy
Posted by rebelrouser
Columbia, SC
Member since Feb 2013
12728 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 8:38 am to
I listened to the one about Woody Harrelson's dad and was disappointed. It was like they had a poor story and realized that but needed to crank out content.
This post was edited on 10/25/22 at 9:34 am
Posted by ILurkThereforeIAm
In the Shadows, Behind Hedges
Member since Aug 2020
727 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:04 am to
The Piketown Massacre
The Execution of Bonny Lee
Unraveled (Season 1, the Long Island Serial Killer)
Hooked
Project Unabom
Posted by Miganey
Austin, Tx
Member since Feb 2013
3781 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:06 am to
Sword and scale has a good weekly podcast

Morbid when they talk about serial killers is good

Cold season 1 is about Josh and Susan Powell and is really well done
Posted by kballa6
Houston
Member since Mar 2009
4155 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:07 am to
Serial - Season 1 specifically
Up and Vanished - Season 1 again, but others are good too
Posted by bamabenny
Member since Nov 2009
15375 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:30 am to
Up and Vanished S1 is the best true crime podcast ever made
Posted by paperwasp
2x HRV 2025 Poster of the Year
Member since Sep 2014
28806 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:31 am to
quote:

Bear Brook

Agreed.

And if you liked that one, check out Your Own Backyard (The Disappearance of Kristin Smart) — one of the more well-produced investigative podcasts out there, IMO.
Posted by VinegarStrokes
Georgia
Member since Oct 2015
14045 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:33 am to
I remember starting up S-Town thinking it was going to be a true crime/murder mystery and it ended up being a deep dive into the life of a gay white trash dude who built a maze lol.

All that to say I appreciate this thread and the suggestions within it.
Posted by GeauxldMember
Member since Nov 2003
5386 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 9:47 am to
I thought the ones below were all really well done.

Bear Brook
Up and Vanished Season 1
Your Own Backyard
Missing in Alaska (local tie ins)
Gone South Season 1 (Margaret Coon)

Some of the Murder Sheet episodes on the Delphi murders have been pretty good as well, if that case interests you.
Posted by Cenlabration
The Ville of Pine
Member since Apr 2021
1344 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 10:36 am to
True Crime Garage
Sword and Scale
True Crime all the Time
Last Podcast on the Left(haven't listened to them in a while though)
The Vanished
Up and Vanished Season 1
CounterClock
Morbid
Posted by Abraham H Parnassis
Member since Jul 2020
2639 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 10:56 am to
quote:

I remember starting up S-Town thinking it was going to be a true crime/murder mystery
Right? With the family of bluebloods and no one wants to get on their bad side.

Then it went left.
Posted by Josh Fenderman
Ron Don Volante's PlayPen
Member since Jul 2011
6990 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 11:38 am to
quote:

Up and Vanished S1 is the best true crime podcast ever made

That dude got led on a wild goose chase a lot that went nowhere. Then after the big break by the GBI he wanted to act like he got the case solved
Posted by iwyLSUiwy
I'm your huckleberry
Member since Apr 2008
40471 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 12:29 pm to
Dr. Death is one of the greatest podcasts of all time. Season one is just nuts, and seasons two and three are really good as well.

Serial is one of my favorites. Just 30 minute episodes and it's a new story for each one. Plus you get quite a few light hearted/funny/petty crime episodes mixed in as well. It's not just about murders.
Posted by Hot Carl
Prayers up for 3
Member since Dec 2005
61929 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 1:34 pm to
quote:

Up and Vanished S1 is the best true crime podcast ever made


Probably, but only because it got solved in real time, and he was there to capture it (Payne Lindsey (?), the producer/host). And the timing could not have been more perfect—Payne had already laid the groundwork and told the story (to his credit, he is a good story-teller), introduced all the players (even if it wound up not being one he focused much on), and had pretty much finished an unsolved case podcast when it broke. Then he just got to keep going with the aftermath. His kicking around some hornets nests probably helped, but he mostly just ran into some good luck and was there to capture the perfect storm afterwards.

Like another poster alluded to, he probably thought he had more to do with it than he did (though I think the podcast likely contributed to some unmeasurable degree) and thought himself a Sherlock Holmes that would just pick out interesting unsolved murders/disappearances every year and go kick over a few rocks, interview some folks, and they would all get solved. (Season 2 was terrible). I’m not sure he realized at the time just how much the stars had aligned for him during Season 1. Still, I’ll give him credit for:

—being a good story-teller

—choosing a really good unsolved story, set in creepy, backwoods Georgia, Deliverance-land

—having the balls to go out and do some in-person interviews with some shady characters

—getting some really good interviews from people in positions that would normally turn them down

—maybe most importantly, putting and featuring that lawyer from Atlanta on it—he was probably the real star of the pod (can’t remember his name, but he’s got his own podcast—is it Sword and Scale?); anyway, he was fricking awesome and a big part of what made it all work.

TLDR; yes, Season 1 of Up and Vanished may be the best true crime podcast ever—and I do think Payne deserves more credit than some give him—but it was more just lightning in a bottle that will be almost impossible to replicate.

(**I was listening to it in real-time, downloading each episode as he put them out, and I think a lot of others were too. It may not be as good after-the-fact, though I’m sure it’s still good).
Posted by nvasil1
Hellinois
Member since Oct 2009
17371 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 2:01 pm to
I have really gotten into Most Notorious in the last year.

The host is a little dry, but I like his format because he reads a book about a crime or unsolved mystery, then interviews the author for the podcast, so it stays on topic, and I usually learn something new and interesting from their research, even for the more famous crimes.

He did a 3-part episode with an 80-something year old professor and author who began researching the Villisca axe murders when he was a teenager. He had actually met some of the old investigators and neighbors from the time of the crime and shared some fascinating things I had never heard before.
Posted by Josh Fenderman
Ron Don Volante's PlayPen
Member since Jul 2011
6990 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 4:31 pm to
quote:

maybe most importantly, putting and featuring that lawyer from Atlanta on it—he was probably the real star of the pod (can’t remember his name, but he’s got his own podcast—is it Sword and Scale?); anyway, he was fricking awesome and a big part of what made it all work

Definitely not sword and scale. That guy was good on U&V, but iirc Payne gave him his own podcast and it didn’t last longer than a season. If it did I gave up on it. I got the impression both that guy and Payne got bigger heads than was really deserved from season 1 of U&V
Posted by m57
Flyover Country
Member since May 2017
2490 posts
Posted on 10/25/22 at 7:46 pm to
Down the Hill, about the Delphi/Snapchat murders.
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