Wisconsin

In December 2015, a Netflix documentary triggered a global movement. Making a Murderer demonstrated how streaming services could become platforms for legal activism—and set the template for every true crime series since.

A years-old death in Milwaukee has drawn the attention of true crime podcasters determined to find answers where official investigations hit a wall. The case of Janie Pendleton—found dead in her own home with no identified suspects—exemplifies the power and reach of modern podcast investigations in reopening cold cases.

Edward Theodore Gein, known as the "Butcher of Plainfield," murdered at least two women in 1950s Wisconsin while secretly exhuming dozens of corpses to fashion grotesque artifacts from human remains. His 1957 arrest exposed one of America's most disturbing crime scenes and inspired some of cinema's most iconic villains.

Between 2013 and 2015, a British political consulting firm called Cambridge Analytica systematically harvested personal data from 87 million Facebook users without consent. When exposed in March 2018, the scandal triggered a global reckoning over tech platform accountability that continues today.

On May 11, 2011, six-year-old Timmothy James Pitzen was withdrawn from his Illinois school by his mother, Amy Fry-Pitzen, who claimed a family emergency. Three days later, Amy was found dead from suicide with a note stating the boy was safe but would never be found. More than a decade on, Timmothy remains missing.

Creepypodden i P3, produced by Sveriges Radio and described as 'Sveriges kusligaste podd' (Sweden's creepiest podcast), has built a devoted following by curating the internet's most unsettling horror stories and urban legends. With over 300 episodes available through the Sveriges Radio Play app, the Swedish-language show invites listeners to submit their own spine-tingling tales.

In December 2015, Netflix premiered Making a Murderer, a documentary series that chronicles Steven Avery's journey from wrongful conviction to murder suspect in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. The series sparked worldwide debate about justice, evidence, and investigative procedures.