About This Episode
What is this episode about?
The episode "The Midnight Slider" from Criminal covers the 2013 discovery of a small boat, the Midnight Slider, found floating empty in the waters off Isle Madame in Nova Scotia. The vessel's unexplained abandonment raises unsettling questions in a region where violent crime is rare.
As one voice in the episode puts it, "Murder is not something that occurs in this neck of the woods very often. There's always been a tradition of taking care of families, watching out, looking out for one another." That sense of close community runs through the episode, framing how the disappearance connected to the boat disrupted the fabric of a place built on watching out for one another.
The episode traces what is known and unknown about the empty boat's journey, exploring how a small, tight-knit coastal community grapples with an event that doesn't fit its usual rhythms. Rather than offering a tidy resolution, the episode sits with the uncertainty surrounding the Midnight Slider and what its empty drift might mean for the people who knew the water it was found in.
Hosts and release
Phoebe Judge hosts Criminal, a true crime podcast exploring stories of people who have done wrong, been wronged, or found themselves somewhere in the grey area in between. The show is produced by Lauren Spohrer and has aired weekly, every Friday, since its first broadcast in January 2014. This episode, number 383, runs 36 minutes and was originally released in 2022, with this version released on October 2, 2026.
