The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

Michael Jackson allegations sit at the centre of his legacy. We all know what we are talking about. In this episode, we examine the Chandler case that first ignited the scrutiny which would come to define the final phase of the King of Pop’s life. We explore the testimonies, settlements, media storms, and contradictions behind one of pop culture’s most disputed legacies, all circling the question that still divides fans to this day: did Michael Jackson do it? Topics Include Resources and Further Reading Michael JacksonPop Star Michael Jackson Not Guilty of Child MolestationMichael Jackson Acquitted of Child Molestation ChargesMichael Jackson’s Trials and TribulationsMichael Jackson Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: A Timeline10 Undeniable Facts About the Michael Jackson Sexual Abuse AllegationsNeverland's Lost BoysMichael Jackson's Legacy Under Microscope in New Sex Abuse FilmLeaving Neverland Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music:Alice in dark Wonderland Community & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonWe’re Hiring: Find the perfect job at the circus Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Michael Jackson didn’t just become the King of Pop — he was built into him. Today we follow Michael Jackson from Gary, Indiana and the Jackson 5 to Motown, Off the Wall, Thriller and the iconic moonwalk. But we will also revisit the thing that broke him, Neverland, and the first allegation that changed his life forever. This is a story of child stardom, family pressure, pop reinvention, and the cracks already forming beneath the most famous man in music. Topics Include Resources and Further Reading Michael JacksonThe Jackson 5Michael JacksonPepsi fire left Michael Jackson in pain Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music:Alice in dark Wonderland Community & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonWe’re Hiring: Find the perfect job at the circus Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favourite takeaway. Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Peter the Dolphin became the centre of a radical experiment that blurred science, intimacy, and ethics in ways no one was prepared for, thats right, this is a groomer story! In the 1960s, neuroscientist John C Lilly and researcher Margaret Lovatt set out to teach a dolphin to speak English inside a flooded house in the Caribbean. What followed was an intense, isolated experiment in dolphin communication that drew the attention of NASA and raised unsettling questions about boundaries, consent, and scientific obsession. As Dolphin House collapsed under funding cuts and ethical scrutiny, Peter’s fate would haunt everyone involved.Topics include Resources and Further Reading Margaret Howe Lovatt The dolphin who loved meJohn C. LillyThe Girl Who Talked to Dolphins Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Julia Child celebrated household name, started as a wartime OSS desk jockey who later conquered Le Cordon Bleu and American TV - loudly, brilliantly, and without apologising. Starting with Julie & Julia, we follow her late-in-life Paris awakening, the brutal Le Cordon Bleu learning curve, and the obsessive testing that became Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There’s OSS shark repellent, Paul Child’s steady love, and then the moment she turns a TV omelette into a second career. Suddenly it’s The French Chef - and dinner becomes comedy. Topics include Resources and Further Reading Julia ChildJulie & JuliaSNL The French ChefShark Repellant Workcia.govJulias Kitchen Mastering the Art of French Cooking Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Dr. H. H. Holmes built murder into architecture, designing a hotel that functioned as a machine for sadistic pleasure, profit, and death. During the chaos of the Chicago World’s Fair 1893, Holmes constructed a building that blurred the line between business and violence. Behind locked doors and false walls, guests vanished while insurance schemes quietly paid out. As bodies mounted and stories unravelled, the Pinkerton Agency closed in on a man who treated murder as logistics rather than impulse. This story cemented Holmes into infamy as one Americas first serial killer. Topics include Resources and Further Reading H.H. HolmesThe Devil in the White CityAmerican Horror Story: Hotel Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Biosphere 2 was meant to prove we could build a world from scratch. Instead, it became a fight to keep the air breathable and the story from turning toxic. In 1991, eight people sealed themselves inside a vast Arizona terrarium designed to test whether a closed ecosystem could sustain human life and one day help us survive on Mars. What followed was not just a biosphere experiment under glass, but a slow collision between science, survival, collapsing oxygen levels, and a press narrative determined to call it a joke. This week, we dig into what really happened inside Biosphere 2, why the project began to unravel, and whether it was ever the failure people still think it was. Topics include Resources and Further Reading Biosphere 2Life under the bubbleThe Human Experiment Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

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 home. This is a chilling story of gaslighting, coercive control, psychological abuse, and the case that later inspired Gaslit by My Husband. Topics include Resources and Further Reading Gaslit by My Husband: The Morgan Metzer StoryGeorgia man who attackedFrom hero to villainSaved by Her Ex-Husband Host & Show Info Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action SpotifyApple Podcasts @theCompendiumPodcastthecompendiumpodcast.comSign up to PatreonApply to join the CircusShare 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.

Nellie Bly the woman who check herself into a madness to expose the grim realities inside, but that was only the start for this plucky young stunt reporter. Elizabeth Cochran, practising a thousand-yard stare in a gaslit mirror, because the only way to report the truth is to be locked up with it. What follows is ten days inside the Blackwell Island asylum, where neglect, cruelty, and bureaucracy do their worst behind closed doors. Back in print, the fallout forces uncomfortable questions and real pressure for reform. And just when you think she’s done risking her life for a byline, Joseph Pulitzer hands her the kind of assignment that turns journalism into spectacle: an around-the-world dash that dares Jules Verne’s fiction to keep up. Topics include Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: thecompendiumpodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCircus Job Board: Apply to join the CircusShare 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.

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 FBI investigation that drags the whole operation into the light. Topics include Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCircus Job Board: Submit your job DescriptionsShare 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.

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 confession and courtroom “experts” who should never have been there. Years later, the hair evidence in a ligature knot and the Alford plea that freed them leave one brutal question hanging: if they walked out, who never got caught? Topics include Resources and Further Reading West Memphis ThreeThe Satanic PanicParadise Lost (1996)West of Memphis (2012)Devil's Knot Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 emerged was a secret FBI initiative dubbed Operation Final Answer, and a co-ordinated national sting. Topics include Resources and Further Reading McMillions (2020) McDonalds Monopoly Scam Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 mix of fear, grit, and surprisingly resourceful thinking as the captives take matters into their own hands. Topics include Resources and Further Reading 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping Edward Ray They’ve Taken Our Children, 1993The ballad of the Chowchilla bus kidnappingChowchilla bus kidnapping Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 chase CCTV footage, a Ford Mondeo, DNA evidence and forensic fibres to close in on Steve Wright. Topics include Resources and Further Reading Ipswich serial murdersWright guilty of Suffolk murdersMurder in the Red Light Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 Veronica Compton plot that nearly derailed justice before the case finally collapsed in on itself. Topics include Resources and Further Reading The Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi Angelo Buono Jr. Biography & Crimes Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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’s return became one of America’s most enduring mysteries. Topics include Resources and Further Reading A Case for SolomonThe Ghost of Bobby DunbarThe Strange Case of Bobby DunbarDisappearance of Bobby Dunbar Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 tragedy points to deliberate harm or a system buckling under pressure. Topics include Resources and Further Reading The Nurse Who Hated Babies, 2023 – Channel 4Lucy LetbyThe Thirlwall InquiryLucy Letby International Expert Panel Press ConferenceThree bosses at Letby hospital arrested for ‘manslaughter Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music: Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on: SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram: @theCompendiumPodcastWebsite: TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport us: Sign up to PatreonCertified Freaks: Submit your job Descriptions Share 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.

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 their reputations. Topics include Resources and Further Reading The Bone WarsThe Bone Wars That Made Dinosaurs So Popular Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music:Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on:SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram:@theCompendiumPodcastWebsite:TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport usPatreonShare 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.

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 revealed what happened inside that locked room. Topics include Resources and Further Reading Body in room 348Body in room 348 Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music:Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on:SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram:@theCompendiumPodcastWebsite:TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport usPatreonShare 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.

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 asking whether the Coughing Major was truly guilty. Topics include Quiz Resources and Further Reading Charles Ingram Fraud Scandal FootageCharles IngramQuiz Miniseries 2020Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major Reasonable doubt: was ‘the Coughing Major’ innocent? Host & Show Info Hosts:Intro Music:Alice in dark WonderlandCommunity & Calls to Action Review & follow on:SpotifyApple PodcastsInstagram:@theCompendiumPodcastWebsite:TheCompendiumPodcast.comSupport usPatreonShare 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.