Limited Investigative Podcasts (No Murders)

I'm a big fan of true crime podcasts. I get into a story and listen to a whole season within a day. Interesting cases, interesting interviews, I can hardly get enough!

But, there are days where I want someone to tell me a riveting story where no one dies. Maybe you do too? Maybe you can't stomach gnarly details of a murdercase, but you still like riveting storytelling? I got you! Here are my favorite, serial, non-murder, podcasts!

Essentially these are all limited documentary podcasts, with an investigative or journalism format. But, enough with technicallities, here is my list!

1. The Dream season 1 (Little everywhere & Witness Docs)

Tagwords: Multi Level Marketing, personal investigation, small town America

I'll start with the one that inspired me to make this post. I'm currently listening to season one, which is about multi-level marketing (also called MLM's, not to be confused by men loving men). This podcast has plenty of interesting characters that are interviewed and the host is easy to listen to.

2. The Immaculate Deception (Somethin' Else)

Tagwords: Spermdonation, infertility, Netherlands, British, donor concieved kids

Even though the topic of this show (a fertility doctor using his own sperm to impregnate unsuspecting women) is somewhat heavy, this show made me laugh a few times as well. The people this story investigates, live in the Netherlands. This gives you a wonderful look into Dutch culture and how people deal with being victimized. The story, which gives a range of perspectives from different victims, is fascinating to hear!

3. Wind of Change (Pineapple Street Studio's, Crooked Media and Spotify)

Tagwords: History, music, cold war, CIA

I love a good harmless conspiracy theory, and if it has anything to do with the CIA writing a metal ballad for the Scorpions, you've got me hooked! Journalist Patrick Radden tries to find out if that rumor has any truth to it. Along the way, you get an interesting picture of the music industry during the cold war and actions by the CIA during that time. The storytelling is top-notch as well!

4. 13 Minutes to the Moon (BBC World Service)

Tagwords: Moonlanding, space, history, original audio recordings

Quite possibly the best podcast I have ever listened to. So, there were 13 minutes between the astronauts leaving the big ship and them landing on the moon. In these 13 minutes, so many things went wrong. Like, seriously. The coolest thing (apart from the astronauts surviving and stepping onto the moon and stuff) is that there are recordings of the communication between the ground and the astronauts. After listening to the first 10 episodes of this show, you'll be able to listen to that 13 minute recording and understand what is going on! I promise you, it's an experience and I loved every minute of it!

5. Last Seen (WBUR)

Tagwords: Art, heist, unsolved

Even though this is a crime podcast, it has nothing to do with murder. Last Seen tells the story of the biggest art heist in history. It plays out in Boston and has many interviews and super interesting information I never got from reading articles. It's so full of facts, that I often rewinded to make sure I heard that correctly. So, be ready to get your mind blown!

6. Uncover: Escaping NXIVM (CBC Radio)

Tagwords: Cult, gruesome, cult escape

I have a slight fascination with cults, so this podcast was right up my alley. Though I have to give a warning as well: this is still a story about a victim who has had terrible things done to her. She is alive to tell the story, but that doesn't make the details any less harrowing to listen to. It's a great introduction to the NXIVM cult, I went on to watch two documentaries about it afterwards. It's truly an insane story, and the podcast tells it very well. 

7. The Missing Cryptoqueen (BBC Sounds)

Tagwords: Conwoman, ponzi scheme, scam, fugutive

This story follows the mystery of Dr. Ruja, a woman who invented OneCoin. Which she presented as a cryptocurrency, but what was essentially a Ponzi scheme. After she got rich off of scamming people, she disappeared before she could get caught. Her life could be a movie and my jaw dropped a few times during the podcast. 

8. Sold a story (American Public Media)

Tagwords: Society, scandal, journalism, scam, education

Are kids being thought to read right? In certain parts of America, the answer turned out to be No. This podcast tells te stories of the kids, their parents and the people who created the curriculum that never taught them how to read. It took me a little while to realize just how crazy this story is, it's hard to imagine this actually played out and is still ongoing while kids are struggling because they can't read.

9. The Great Post Office Trail (BBC Radio 4)

Tagwords: Wrongful convictions, corporate wrong doing, British scandal

You would think that people who are in jail for fraud would have done something extremely wrong. But the people in this story never did. They didn't even understand how the money they supposedly 'defrauded' went missing. This story follows exactly how a company used it's power to prosecute innocent people.

10. Brain on nature (Sarah Allely)

Tagwords: Personal, journalism, medical, nature

After a motercycle accident, Sarah had a rough time recovering. She couldn't handle most stimuli. Slowly, she realised that nature was a stimuli she could handle. It actually made her feel better. In this podcast she tells her story and talks to specialists to find out just how big of an impact nature has on her recovery.

11. Dolly Parton's America (WNYC Studios & OSM Audio)

Tagwords: Music, America, ligh hearted

A deep dive into Dolly Parton's story and how it intertwined with one journalists experience as an immigrant in America.

12. Bed of Lies Season 1 (The Telegraph)

Tagwords: Journalism, British, scandal

Several woman find their partners vanish. They aren't dead, the woman aren't even sure whether they are really missing. But when they realise they aren't the only ones with a suspiciously missing partner, a bizarre story unfolds. I did not see the plot of this podcast coming and the story still makes my mouth drop whenever I think of it!

13. Believe in Magic (BBC Radio)

Tagwords: Medical scam, family fraud, death

A young woman and her mom start a charity to make the wishes of sick kids reality. Since the young woman is also very sick, this is an extraordinary achievement. Or is it? When people start to doubt her story, things don't seem to add up. But when people start to believe they are being scammed by the woman and her mother, tragedy strikes and the woman dies. What happend? Was the charity really a scam? Was she sick at all? What did she die from? The podcast does an amazing job answering these questions and it brings new information to light about the story! Of course I have to warn you that there is death in this story and it's a tragic one for sure.

14. Sympathy Pains (IHeartPodcasts)

Tagwords: Medical fraud, scammer

This is a story about the tragic life of a young woman. She got cancer, muscular dystrophy and many other illnesses that left her in a wheelchair and struggling to take care of herself. She was in an abusive relationship and had lost her childeren. Or not. After recieving years of sympathy, this podcast tells the story of how all those tragic things turned out to be fake. I loved the interviews and personal stories in this podcast, it really brought something to the story you just don't get from reading an srticle.

15. Articles of Interest, season on American Ivy (Radiotopia)

Tagwords: Culture, fashion, trends, Japan, America, college

An amazing deep dive into a trend you may not have noticed before: American Ivy College Fashion. How Japan made it 'a thing' and who has played a role in the changes over the years. The podcast has many fascinating interviews and goes deep into this story in 7 episodes. I ended up listening to this over the course of a few days, as it wasn't quite as 'bingable' as others on this list. But the quality is high and the story worthwhile, so I couldn't leave it off the list!!

16. Unravel True Crime, season 'Snowball' (ABC Listen)

Tagwords: Scammer, forgiveness

Ollie's older brother was scammed by his wife. Years after the crime occured, Ollie pieces together the story of how the scammer nestled her way into the family, only to steal their money and flee. While piecing together the story, Ollie also tries to find out where the scammer is living now and what has become of her. The absolute best thing about this podcast is Ollie and his family, they are so empethatic and kind to oneanother and the women who stole their money. It's amazing to hear how they dealt with everything and just what an affect a scammer like this can have on people's lives!

17. 9/12 (Pineapple studios, Amazon music and Wondery)  This podcast is currently behind a paywall.

Tagwords: Culture deepdive, interviews, storytelling

Over 7 episodes this podcast pieces together what happend to the world (mainly America) after 9/11. From a satire newspaper that suddenly had to scramble to make up satire news about a tragedy to people who were suddenly looked at differently because of the way they looked.

When I listened to this podcast I realised this was a piece of the story I was missing. I've learned all about 9/11 and I live in a post 9/11 world. But never realised that it took time for the post 9/11 world to develop and just what that entailed. I appreciated hearing so many stories and this podcast was still amazingly easy to follow. It is really treated as one story throughout the 7 episodes.

18. A Very British Cult (BBC Radio 4)

Tagwords: Cults, guru's, victims

A deep dive into a British self help cult that is keeping it's victims isolated, right in front of their loved ones. 

Don't get me wrong, this story is quite heartbreaking. But I found the interviews with both the family of the victims as some escaped victims themselves and extraordinary listen. A fascinating look at how cults work and how it affects its member and the people on the outside.

19. Love, Janessa (CBC and BBC World Service)

Tagwords: Scammers, Catfishing

This podcast does a deep dive into organized catfishing scams from Ghana, that use all sorts of fake identities to scam victims from all over the world. The podcast looks at the people being scammed, the people whose identities have been stolen AND even gets in touch with the perpetrators in Ghana. 

Just from the coverart and the title, I did not expect this podcast to be so full of interesting information and perspectives! It's a quality production absolutely worth a listen.

20. Brainwashed (CBC)

Tagwords: Conspiracy, CIA, USA, mind control, experiments

This podcast provides a look into the victims of the mind control experiments the CIA organized. They focus on a specific Canadian hospital and it's story. 

I appreciated how this podcast brought forth personal stories around MK Ultra that I didn't know about yet. It's not as much of a deepdive as I hoped, but it's a captivating listen nonetheless!

21. Hoaxed (Tortoise Media)

Tagwords: Hoax, satanic panic, child abuse, conspiracy 

This podcast is about a hoax that kids were victims of ritual child abuse in Hampstead, in the UK. Two kids told the story in detail to police in 2014, but they weren't the only victims of the hoax. 

Who really started the hoax? Who has been affected and maybe most importantly: who has been trying to fight this hoax? The podcast investigates all these angles and tells the story in 6 somewhat short episodes. I am hoping there will be more episodes if new details come to light, because the way this hoax became such a huge case is fascinating.

22. The Gift (BBC Radio 4)

Tagwords: DNA, gyneology, journalism

This podcast covers the stories of people whose online DNA results had a significant impact on their lives. Learning about health risks in your genes, learning about your parents secret identity or finding out you are a different race than you thought. 

Even though there isn't really a big overarching question that covers all six episodes, I listened to them all in one day! I felt like the podcast did a great job of highlighting all the angles of the story, in a way that was super easy and interesting to listen to!

23. The Missing Madonna (BBC Radio Scotland)

Tagwords: art heists, personal story, thiefs

A Davinci painting is stolen from a Scottish castle and Olivia's father is determined to get it back. In this podcast, she retraces the story of both the painting and what happend when her dad went after it.

I know this sounds almost like fiction but this actually happend and the story is fascinating! I won't spoil too much, as it's a fun journey to go on with no prior knowledge! I loved hearing about artdetectives and the world of stolen art in general! Make sure to also listen to the bonus episode to get a fascinating look into the crazy story of a stolen Van Gogh that was recently returned.

24. An Absurd Result (Mopac Audio and Glassbox Media)

Tagwords: Sexual assault of a minor, DNA, wrongful conviction

Based on the tagwords, I'm sure you understand that this is not an easy listen. This story has two victims whose lives were forever altered by one horrific crime. 

The reason why I do recommend this podcast is firstly that the journalistic approach is amazingly done and I appreciate the non- sensationalizing way the podcast approached the story. But also because both victims were interesting, amazingly strong and empethatic people, when I honestly wouldn't blame them if they were angry and rotten from what has happend to them. And, maybe most importantly, they wanted their story to be told.

25. The New Gurus (BBC Radio 4)

Tagwords: Gurus, cults, culture, internet

A deep dive into the world of internet guru's and their followers. 

This podcast had some jaw dropping moments (I won't spoil it but maybe don't listen to this one while eating...) as well as some nice journalism. It is a nice light and entertaining podcast but with enough depth and proper research that it kept my attention super well!

26. Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen (CBS News)

Tagwords: Cold war, FBI, CIA, spying

I haven't found many good limited spy related podcasts yet, even though I love a good spy story, so I was really happy finding this one!

The podcast covers one of the biggest Russians spies, working within the FBI. It's a fascinating story with a lot of engaging first hand accounts that give you a look behind the curtain of the cold war! 

27. Dead Man Running (BBC Radio Scotland)

Tagwords: Faking death, on the run, sexual assault

If you've lived in a small town, there are always a couple of 'characters' that everyone knows. But how well do we really know them? The host of this podcast reads a news report that one of the characters from his hometown has gone missing in America. What was he doing here? And why do the cops suspect he has faked his own death?

The storytelling in this podcast kept me completely hooked to the story! Everytime I thaught: this must be the last of it, they had more! I do have to warn you: there are some heavy description of sexual assault, rape and abuse in this podcast.

28. The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scandal (BBC & CBC)

Tagwords: Scam, suicide, fraud, possibly partly unsolved

You know you are in for some good reporting if a podcast is backed by both the BBC and CBC! This podcast pieces together the story of one of the biggest gold deposits ever found, or was it? The podcast tells both the business side of the fraud, as well as the impact on the different parties involved. 

I would recommend this one if you want to dive into a new topic (the business of gold mining) and are looking for a podcast that you can listen to more spread out. I didn't end each episode wanting more, but whenever I started another episode: I was sucked back into the story within minutes.

29. Come by Chance (CBC)

Tagwords: Canadian, documentary, scandal, medical malpractise

This podcast's storytelling and audiodesign is just gorgeous! It whisks you away to Newfoundland to meet several families whose lives were forever changed when their babies were switched at birth. Focusing more on the impact on the victims than the crime itself, it's a heartwrenching, beautifully told story. And I thought it was amazing how honestly all the people involved recounted what happend! Absolutely recommend this one if you are looking for something human, personal and immersive.

30. Dangerous Memories (Tortoise Media)

Tagwords: Wellness industry, brainwashing, cult, British

This podcast gives an amazing look into how vulnerable people can get brainwashed and how it can take years for them to be able to return to normal life. It covers the case of Anne Craig, an unlicenced wellness guru who brainwashed several young woman into believing they had been sexually assaulted as children. The most amazing thing about the podcast is that the victims openly talk about what happend to them. I was amazed hearing them detail step by step of how they got sucked in and how they escaped.

31. Split Screen: Thrill Seekers (CBC)

Tagwords: Reality TV, low stakes, conspiracy, low level mind control

If you are looking for a story that has low stakes but is still highly entertaining I recommend this podcast! It dives into the behind the scenes of a one season reality TV show where contestents were convinced they were in Russia and then... space. All while being safely on the ground in the UK. It tells the story of how the show was set up as well as the story of the contestents, how they ended up on the show, how they experienced the deception and the aftermath. I found every angle of the story interesting and I bingelistened the whole thing in one day!

That's it for now, but I'll be updating this list whenever I have new things to add! Oh, if you have any recommendations of your own, please leave a comment! 

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