17 Storytelling Podcasts To Binge-Listen

Everyone loves a good story; whether it be by movie, book, or, maybe not as popular but just as entertaining, by podcast. In the age of binge watching series on Netflix, comes the medium of podcasting where stories can be told to listeners while driving, running, working out, or relaxing at home. Today we bring you some of our favorite story telling podcasts for your binge-watching enjoyment!

1. Serial

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Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial unfolds one story – a true story – over the course of a whole season. The show follows the plot and characters wherever they lead, through many surprising twists and turns. Sarah won’t know what happens at the end of the story until she gets there, not long before you get there with her. Each week she’ll bring you the latest chapter, so it’s important to listen in, starting with Episode 1. New episodes are released on Thursday mornings.

2.Radio Lab

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A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder.

3. The Truth

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THE TRUTH makes movies for your ears. They’re short stories that are sometimes dark, sometimes funny, and always intriguing. Every story is different, but they all take you to unexpected places using only sound. If you’re new, some good starting places are: Silvia’s Blood, That’s Democracy, Moon Graffiti, Tape Delay, or whatever’s most recent. Listening with headphones is encouraged!

4. Welcome to Night Vale

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Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide. Never listened before? It’s an ongoing radio show. Start with the current episode, and you’ll catch on in no time. Or, go right to Episode 1 if you wanna binge-listen.

5. Dirty John

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Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.

6. My Favorite Murder

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Lifelong fans of true crime stories Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark tell each other their favorite tales of murder and hear hometown crime stories from friends and fans.

7. Casefile True Crime

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Fact is scarier than fiction. Casefile, a new true crime podcast. Each episode explores a new case. We cover the shocking, the terrifying, the strange, and the unsolved.

8. A Murder On Orchard Street

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Follow the breakneck twists and turns of a strange, unsolved 2003 homicide where our reporter delves into her original recordings in an attempt to change the course of the case completely. Experience the case from every angle — from the perspectives of the initial suspect, detectives, witnesses and the determined family of the victim, Burke O’Brien. New episodes post Tuesday mornings.

9. The Moth

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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.

10. Up and Vanished

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Up and Vanished is an investigative podcast that explores the unsolved disappearance of Georgia beauty queen and high school teacher, Tara Grinstead. The 11-year-old cold case is the largest case file in the history of Georgia. Follow along as host Payne Lindsey, a film director turned amateur investigator, examines old case evidence and re-interviews persons of interest. What happened to Tara Grinstead?

11. The Butterfly Effect

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Join bestselling author Jon Ronson as he traces a very strange butterfly effect. A teen in Brussels had an idea – to make porn free and easy to stream online. The consequences of that idea are mysterious, delightful, surprising, and sad. This 7-part series takes you on a journey to places you’ll never expect.

12. Unexplained

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Unexplained is a bi-weekly podcast about strange and mysterious real life events that continue to evade explanation. A show about the space between what we think of as real and what is not. Where the unknown and paranormal meets some of the most radical ideas in science today. When something is inexplicable, that mystery in itself can become the story. In many ways, it is often the lure of the mystery that keeps us coming back for more… And maybe, ultimately, some things are just better left unexplained…

13. Crimetown

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Welcome to Crimetown, a new series from Gimlet Media and the creators of HBO’s The Jinx. Every season, we’ll investigate the culture of crime in a different American city. First up: Providence, Rhode Island, where organized crime and corruption infected every aspect of public life. This is a story of alliances and betrayals, of heists and stings, of crooked cops and honest mobsters—a story where it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Hosted by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier.

14. Hollywood & Crime

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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 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.

15. Alone: A Love Story

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Alone: A Love Story, is a memoir about love, the bomb, and the fallout. With raw honesty, over 10 episodes, Michelle Parise takes you along on her winding journey from lust to heartbreak, through loneliness and despair, to eventually finding the courage to face the question mark of life, alone.

16. Strangers

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From Lea Thau, Peabody award-winning producer and creator of The Moth Podcast and The Moth Radio Hour, comes her new storytelling baby, Strangers, part of KCRW’s Independent Producer Project. Each episode is an empathy shot in your arm, featuring true stories about the people we meet, the connections we make, the heartbreaks we suffer, the kindnesses we encounter, and those frightful moments when we discover that WE aren’t even who we thought we were.

17. Myths and Legends

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Jason Weiser tells stories from myths, legends, and folklore that have shaped cultures throughout history. Some, like the stories of Aladdin, King Arthur, and Hercules are stories you think you know, but with surprising origins. Others are stories you might not have heard, but really should. All the stories are sourced from world folklore, but retold for modern ears. These are stories of wizards, knights, Vikings, dragons, princesses, and kings from the time when the world beyond the map was a dangerous and wonderful place.