What Makes The Criminal Podcast So Hard To Stop Listening To
The Criminal podcast has told stories of people who have done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in between since it launched in January 2014, hosted by Phoebe Judge and produced with the Vox Media Podcast Network.
The New York Times named it one of the best podcasts of 2023 for its range and humanism, and with more than 300 episodes in the archive, it remains one of true crime’s most respected shows precisely because it treats every story, gruesome or strange, with genuine care for the people involved.
Here is a look at ten episodes with some of the most chilling stories in the show’s catalog.
10 Criminal Podcast Episodes With the Most Chilling Stories
1. Money Tree
Axton Betz-Hamilton discovers as a college student that she is a victim of identity theft, only to learn years later that the person responsible was someone inside her own family, making this one of the most personally unsettling episodes in the entire catalog.
2. Deep Dive
LAPD dive supervisor David Mascarenas describes the 2013 murder investigation that sent him into the La Brea Tar Pits, in full hazmat gear, on what was meant to be a nine-minute dive that turned into more than an hour trapped in the tar.
3. Palace Of Justice
This episode follows a 27-year-old prosecutor taking on his first trial, a case that happened to involve 22 high-ranking Nazi officers, offering a rare personal angle on one of history’s most consequential courtrooms.
4. The Skidmore Standoff
Set in a small Missouri town terrorized for years by a local bully named Ken McElroy, this episode traces how residents, unable to get help from police, eventually decided to take matters into their own hands.
5. The Venus Flytrap Heist
One of the show’s earliest and strangest cases, this episode covers the real-world poaching of tens of thousands of Venus flytraps from the wild, a crime most listeners never knew existed.
6. What The Bog Kept
This episode digs into the discovery of human remains in a bog in England, unraveling a mystery that had stayed buried for far longer than anyone expected.
7. The Woman Who Remembered Only Her Name
In 1887, a woman calling herself Nellie Brown showed up at a Manhattan boarding house able to recall almost nothing about herself, setting off a mystery that stretches across the rest of the episode.
8. Bodies In Florida
A retired detective walks Phoebe Judge through one of the most haunting unsolved cases of his career, a string of discoveries in Florida that exposed deep flaws in how the case was investigated.
9. Bump In The Night
Focused on home invasions, this episode has made more than a few listeners double-check their locks before bed, without ever relying on shock value to make its point.
10. The Midnight Slider
This episode profiles a serial burglar who broke into homes while residents were asleep inside, a premise that lands as one of the more genuinely unsettling entries in the show’s history.
Why These Episodes Stand Out
Each entry on this list reflects what makes Criminal different from a typical true crime show. The personal stories like Money Tree and the Nellie Brown mystery focus on the people at the center of the case, the investigative episodes like Deep Dive and Bodies in Florida show the work behind solving a crime, and stranger entries like the Venus Flytrap Heist prove the show can find a gripping story almost anywhere.
That range is exactly why Criminal has stayed essential listening for over a decade.
How to Start Listening to the Criminal Podcast in 2026
New episodes are released weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the Vox Media Podcast Network, with a full archive of past episodes and transcripts available on the show’s website.
Since each episode tells a self-contained story, new listeners can start with any of the titles on this list without needing prior context.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Hosts The Criminal Podcast
Phoebe Judge hosts and co-created the show alongside producer Lauren Spohrer.
How Often Do New Episodes Drop
New episodes release weekly, and the show has grown to more than 300 episodes since its 2014 debut.
Where Can I Listen To The Criminal Podcast
The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and through the Vox Media Podcast Network, with transcripts posted on the official Criminal website.
Final Thoughts
The Criminal podcast has built a devoted following by treating every story, from a decades-old identity theft case to a murder investigation in a tar pit, with the same careful, humane attention.
Whether you start with Money Tree or The Midnight Slider, this list is a solid roadmap for working through some of the show’s most chilling stories in 2026.
