Pretty Wicked

By Megan AldaSociety & Culture True Crime

Pretty Wicked episodes

March 30, 2025 77. Lore & Legends | The Kelpie: A Dark Celtic Fable
Deep in the mist-laden glens of Scotland, where the lochs stretch dark and mysterious, a malevolent force of nature broods in wait under the inky waters. When a young man crosses the path of a creature both beautiful and terrible, the echoes of an older tragedy stir beneath the water’s surface. In this chilling retelling of a classic kelpie legend, the past does not rest, the loch does not forget, and those who seek to claim power may find themselves bound by it instead.

Macabrium is produced by Macabrium Creative and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Inspiration Material

Historic UK: The Kelpie

Scotland's Stories: Scottish Kelpie Legend

Folklore Friday: The Kelpie

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33 min
March 25, 2025 76. Unbound: The Moors Murders Part Two: Wicked Beyond Belief
Ian leaned over a map spread across the table, marking places with unsettling precision. Myra stood nearby, watching silently, her complicity etched into her steely gaze. Together, they had already taken lives, but their thirst for control and cruelty was far from sated.

Outside, their neighbors carried on with their daily lives, unaware of the evil living among them. Ian and Myra’s polite facades masked the horrors they orchestrated.

This chapter follows their final acts of violence and the unraveling of their plans. It tells the story of the dogged pursuit of justice, the cracks in their armor, and what it took to hold them accountable.

Macabrium is produced by Macabrium Creative and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Reference Material

Tribute to remember the victims of the Moors Murders by Moors Murders: A True Crime Deep Dive via Medium

Book by Moors Murders witness David Smith recalls horror by Naomi Cornwell

Murder on the Moors: The Ian Brady and Myra Hindley Story by Fiona Steel

The Guardian - The victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley

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48 min
March 23, 2025 75. Lore & Legends | The 13th Child: The Jersey Devil
In the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, where the trees grow dense and the roads give way to tangled wilderness, something stirs. The locals say you can hear it on the coldest nights—a high-pitched shriek, something not quite human, not quite beast.

The stories go back centuries. Some say it was a curse, an omen of misfortune that slithered into this world on a storm-wracked night. Others claim it was the child of a mother who, in her desperation or her rage, called upon the Devil himself. The details shift with time, but the warning remains the same: stay out of the pines after dark.

Because if you listen closely, past the rustling leaves and the distant howl of the wind, you might just hear the beat of leathery wings.

And by then, it’s already too late.

Macabrium is produced by Macabrium Creative and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Inspiration Material

Jersey Devil - Fact or Fiction?

The Jersey Devil and Folklore

The Legend of the Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil

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42 min
March 18, 2025 74. Unbound: The Moors Murders Part One: The Glove
The wind whipped across the barren moors, carrying a silence that felt heavy, unnatural. The ground was hard, unyielding, but as the police worked, a sickening truth began to reveal itself. The first body was found. A young girl. The weight of that discovery settled in like a stone, each officer grappling with the horror of what lay before them.

Staring out across the desolate expanse, they couldn’t yet fathom the depths of cruelty buried beneath that soil. But one thing became clear as the cold air pressed close around them—this wasn’t the end. It was only the beginning of uncovering a crime that would scar a nation and haunt generations to come.

Macabrium is produced by Macabrium Creative and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Source Material

Ian Brady Obituary by The Guardian

Crime Stories Extended: Glasgow roots of sadistic Moors murderer. by Norman Silvester

The link is established between serial killers and animal cruelty by The Independent

EXCLUSIVE: 'Myra was as ruthless as I was': Ian Brady's chilling beyond-the-grave confessions reveal for the first time how his peroxide-blonde 'soul mate' drew the first blood - and how the pair were 'surprisingly in tune' in their sheer enjoyment of kill by The Daily Mail

Coroner Commends Police After Moors Verdict by The Glasgow Herald

Ian Brady Death: The Five Victims of the Moors Murderers by the BBC

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47 min
March 16, 2025 73. Lore & Legends | Hatred That Won't Rest: The Jiangshi Curse
In Qing Dynasty China, when a revered general's life comes to an abrupt and unceremonious end, his soldiers desperately attempt to bring him back with a dark ritual. But his is not the only restless soul haunting the blood-soaked battlefield that wants to return to the living world to complete its unfinished business. General Wei Cheng's body becomes inhabited by all the hatred of centuries of battle, turning him into a horrifying, undead monster and unleashing the legend of the jiangshi - the Chinese hopping vampire that terrorizes the lands.

Macabrium is produced by Macabrium Creative and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Inspiration Material

Gutenberg.org

Wikipedia

PBS

Ancient Origins.net

History Answers

Reddit

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59 min
March 11, 2025 72. Permission to Kill: The Jolly Black Widow
Laughter is supposed to be a comforting sound—warm, familiar, a reminder of love and home. But not all laughter is kind. Some laughter drips with something darker, a chilling undercurrent that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

They called her the Giggling Granny. A sweet-faced woman with a gentle Southern drawl, she charmed neighbors, doted on her grandchildren, and had a penchant for romance magazines. But beneath the floral dresses and the grandmotherly smile lay something monstrous. A woman who spun wedding vows into funeral hymns, who turned love into poison.

Nannie Doss wasn’t just a widow—she was a widow many times over. Husbands, children, even her own mother, all fell ill under her roof. And yet, when the authorities finally caught up with her, she never shed a tear. She simply laughed.

Macabrium is produced by SoundBite Studios and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Reference Material

Season 1 - Episode 11 – The Giggling Granny by Murderous Minds

Nannie Doss: Lonely Hearts Lady Loved Her Man to Death by Joseph Geringer

Nannie Doss by The Encyclopedia of Alabama

Deadlier Than the Male by Terry Manners

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1 hr 17 min
March 11, 2025 From the Archive: Romance, Marriage and Arsenic
🗄️ This episode originally aired on Haunted History / Macabrium, a co-hosted dark history podcast. The show has since been rebranded as Pretty Wicked, a solo true crime and mystery podcast hosted by Megan.

SHOW NOTES
In the fall of 1954, a man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, came home after a stay in the hospital, and he died soon after. His doctor was suspicious enough to order an autopsy, and what it found led police straight to his wife, a cheerful, smiling grandmother who had already buried three husbands before him. Today we're looking at how she got away with it for so long, the family members who died around her, and the giggle that earned her one of the most famous nicknames in true crime.
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This episode was written by Chloe Kibbe and hosted by Megan Alda.
🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Here is everything used to research this episode.
🔗 WEB SOURCES
Wikipedia - Nannie Doss
Encyclopedia of Alabama - Nancy "Nannie Doss" Hazle
Alabama Heritage - The Giggling Granny
Tulsa World - Only in Oklahoma: Black widow enjoyed the limelight
Oklahoma Gazette - Have you ever wondered why violent, suspicious, unusual, and unnatural deaths are investigated in Oklahoma?
Crime Library - Nannie Doss the Lonely Hearts Husband Killer: Recipe for Death
All That's Interesting - Nannie Doss, The Giggling Granny
The Line Up - Nannie Doss: The Giggling Granny Next Door Who Wiped Out Her Family
Albuquerque Journal - Holy Cow! History: The ghastly tale of the Giggling Granny
📚 BOOKS
Valpo Press - Black Widow: The True Story of Giggling Granny Nannie Doss by Ryan Green (2019)
🎬 DOCS
Apple TV - Murderous Minds: Nannie Doss, The Giggling Granny

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1 hr 16 min
March 09, 2025 71. Lore & Legends | The Terror of Madam Koi Koi
Madam Koi Koi is an extremely harsh, cruel boarding school teacher in 1970s Nigeria who terrorizes her students with verbal and physical abuse. One day, the children have had enough and take matters into their own hands. But they accidentally unleash an immortal hatred that will haunt them forever, unless they can break Madam Koi Koi’s supernatural tie to the very soil where she lies.

Macabrium is produced by SoundBite Studios and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Reference Material

Madam Koi Koi

Scary Nigerian Urban Legends- Madam Koi Koi

The legend of the dead teacher who haunts secondary ...

Madam Koi Koi: School Urban Legends | Newman Media

The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi

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56 min
March 04, 2025 70. Blood and Brass: The Axeman of New Orleans
The year is 1918, and New Orleans trembles under the weight of unseen terror. A figure moves through the night, targeting innocent families with brutal precision, leaving only questions and fear in his wake. They call him the Axeman, a killer who claims to be more than mortal—a demon from hell.

Then comes the letter. A chilling promise to spare those who fill their homes with the sound of jazz on a designated night. The city's response is unprecedented, its streets alive with music and panic as the Axeman's legend deepens.

Who was he? Why did he kill? And how has his story lingered in the city’s dark memory for over a century? The answers remain elusive, but the tale begins here.

Macabrium is produced by SoundBite Studios and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Reference Material

The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 (The Influenza Encyclopedia) by The University of Michigan

The Axeman of New Orleans by Crime + Investigation

Fresh light on the Axeman of New Orleans by Mike Dash

The Axeman of New Orleans Preyed on Italian Immigrants by The Smithsonian

Axeman of New Orleans by Criminal Minds

The Axeman’s Letter by Tristan Zimmerman

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1 hr 6 min
March 02, 2025 69. Lore & Legends | The Legend of Tamamo-No-Mae: The Killing Stone
The story of Tamamo-no-Mae, the basis for the Japanese legend of the "killing stone" and nine-tailed fox. Tamamo-no-Mae is a woman of extraordinary beauty and charm who becomes the center of a conflict in the imperial court when her true nature is called into question. Yasuchika, a skilled onmyōji, is tasked with investigating her mysterious origins, leading to escalating tension and danger.

Macabrium is produced by SoundBite Studios and hosted by Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown, with writing and research by Chloë Kibbe, Megan Alda and Derek Stephen Brown.

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Episode Reference Material

Sessho-seki

Japan's 'killing stone' splits in two, releasing superstitions ...

Sesshō seki

Tamamo no Mae

https://yokai.com/sesshouseki/

https://yokai.com/tamamonomae/

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55 min