Top Documentary Podcasts

In 2021, anonymous user Carl92 uploaded a 17-second sample of a song that changed lost media forever.

The catchy tune sounded familiar to so many people. But for years nobody could find it.

Was it an unreleased demo from a major artist? An AI generated hoax? The beginning of an alternate reality game?

Everyone Knows That: The Search for Ulterior Motives is a five-part miniseries about the history of the song, the theories pursued, the hoaxes created, and the song's shocking discovery.

New episodes air every Monday starting June 17.

Follow Everyone Knows That: The Search for Ulterior Motives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Named 2025 Ambies© Podcast of the Year, Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.

From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Hysterical ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.

Casey Kasem is best known as a radio icon and legendary voice behind America’s Top 40 who left an indelible mark on pop culture. But many don’t know the saga of Kasem’s oldest children and second wife. In 2014, Casey Kasem is dying, and about to leave behind an estate worth up to 100 million dollars. His family goes to war, with both sides accusing the other of going after his money and killing the man who changed American radio. But this battle is only the climax of a tragic and dramatic family feud that began decades before. Bitter Blood: Kasem V Kasem is an exclusive look at what really happened inside this famous family and what drove them to the brink, told through exclusive interviews and archival audio materials.

Inheriting is a show about Asian American and Pacific Islander families, which explores how one event in history can ripple through generations. In doing so, the show seeks to break apart the AAPI monolith and tell a fuller story of these communities.

In each episode, NPR's Emily Kwong sits down with one family and facilitates deeply emotional conversations between their loved ones, exploring how their most personal, private moments are an integral part of history. Through these stories, we show how the past is personal and how to live with the legacies we're constantly inheriting.

Learn more at LAist.com/Inheriting

The Jack Hopkins Show Podcast; where stories about the power of focus and resilience are revealed by the people who lived those stories

Jack Hopkins has been studying human behavior for over three-decades. He's long had a passion for having conversations with fascinating people, and getting them to share the wisdom they've acquired through years of being immersed in their area of expertise, and overcoming the challenges and obstacles that are almost always part of the equation.

Conversations with people who have lived through extreme events. Some stories are dark and twisted, others are light and funny. In all cases, we get an intimate portrait of 'what it was like' to be there.

Find us on TikTok: @whatitwaslikepodcast

Find us on Youtube: @whatitwaslikepodcast

Follow us on Instagram: whatitwaslikepodcast

Hosted by Julian Morgans

This is a Superreal production

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Let the Kids Dance! is a seven-part series documenting the rise and fall of Seattle's Teen Dance Ordinance — a local law that for nearly two decades made it illegal for young people to attend concerts. 

New Season "We Keep Us Safe" starting September 21, 2026.

In the summer of 2020, sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to join the racial justice movement of his generation. He arrived in Seattle during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, known as CHOP. Less than a week later, he was shot and killed there. The case remains unsolved. In this eight-part series, first published on NPR’s Embedded, KUOW’s Will James and The Seattle Times’ Sydney Brownstone track down key figures and eyewitnesses from the night of the shooting and surface crucial evidence that has never been made public.

We Keep Us Safe is a joint production of KUOW, The Seattle Times, and NPR’s Embedded.

Focus is KUOW’s home for immersive audio documentaries. Each season zooms in on a single story that challenges commonly held narratives about life in the Pacific Northwest and reveals something bigger about American society. Series include Adults in the Room and the Peabody-nominated Lost Patients.