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In the parlors of Victorian England, a boy branded "the Beast" by his own mother defies the chains of piety, embarking on a forbidden odyssey that will shatter the boundaries of the soul. Aleister Crowley—mountaineer, poet, and self-proclaimed prophet—unearths ancient secrets in Cairo's shadowed temples, conjures ecstatic rites amid London's glittering scandals, and builds a utopian abbey in Sicily where love and will collide in rituals of transcendence... or damnation. Accused of presiding over Black Masses that mock the divine and summon infernal forces, Crowley dances on the edge of ecstasy and abyss, his Thelemic creed—"Do what thou wilt"—igniting a firestorm of blasphemy, betrayal, and tragedy. From blood-soaked invocations to a funeral hymn that echoes like a curse, this tale unveils the man behind the myth: a visionary seeker whose quest for ultimate freedom exposes the darkest corners of human desire. But in the shadows of Thelema, where gods and demons blur, can one truly escape the specter of the Black Mass?
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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Show Notes & Further Reading
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley
Magick in Theory and Practice
London Sunday Dispatch 1933 article on Black Mass
The Great Beast by John Symonds
1934 libel trial records (Crowley v. Hamnett)
John Bull magazine 1923 article
The Times 1934 trial report
The Book of the Law
The Equinox
The Vision and the Voice
Tiger Woman by Betty May
Laughing Torso by Nina Hamnett
The Magician by Somerset Maugham
The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley
The Book of Thoth
Religion and the Arts special issue March 2024
Marco Visconti's The Aleister Crowley Manual
Marco Visconti's Aleister Crowley's Mysticism: A Practical Guide
Warburg Institute's "Tarot: Origins & Afterlives" (January–April 2025)
Lecture "Embracing the Impossible: Arthur Conan Doyle, Aleister Crowley, and the Occultural Turn in Detective Fiction" (July 24, 2025, Green College)
Magick in Theory and Practice entering U.S. public domain in 2025
Harry Ransom Center Aleister Crowley manuscript
Warburg Institute Yorke Collection
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Blending historical scandal with supernatural dread, this gothic legend unfolds as a tale of desire, deception, and the restless dead. From lavish banquets to moonlit gardens, Charlotte's story weaves a web of suspense, ultimately giving rise to the spectre known as the Green Lady—who roams the fortress, her emerald gown a shroud of eternal grief.
Dare you uncover the truth that binds love to the grave? A chilling oral legend retold by candlelight, perfect for fans of atmospheric horror and medieval intrigue.
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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Show Notes & Further Reading
The Château de Brissac In The Loire Valley, France
Castles and Chateaux of Old Burgundy - Project Gutenberg
Old Touraine; the life and history of the famous chateâux of France
Castles and chateaux of old Burgundy and the border provinces
Historic Buildings - Project Gutenberg
The home and court life of the Emperor Napoleon and his family
Loire Valley
Saint-Lô - Wikipedia
A conspiracy under the Terror : Marie Antoinette, Toulan, Jarjayes
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In the fog-draped streets of 1849 Boston, the disappearance of a prominent Brahmin landlord unravels upon Harvard’s medical college. George Parkman, a meticulous financier, and John White Webster, a charismatic but debt-ridden professor, collide in a shocking crime that grips the city. From gaslit alleys to crowded courtrooms, this episode traces the investigation, groundbreaking forensic discoveries, and trial that exposed class divides and ethical dilemmas, captivating the city with suspense while probing the human cost of ambition in a rapidly changing America.
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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Show Notes & Further Reading
The Parkman-Webster Murder: A Uniquely Boston Case
The Parkman Murder: Evidence at the MHS
The Parkman-Webster Murder - A Case For Forensics - Boston Ghosts
The Murder of Dr. Parkman | American Experience | Official Site - PBS
The 1850 Webster/Parkman Trial: Dr. Keep's forensic evidence
Nathan Cooley Keep and the Parkman-Webster Murder Trial
The Parkman Murder - Massachusetts Historical Society
Murder in the medical school: the Parkman-Webster case, Boston ...
Just One Kind of Murder in the 1850 Parkman-Webster Case
The Harvard Medical School Janitor Who Solved a Murder
Harvard Murder Mystery: Parkman-Webster Case & Forensic ...
The Murder of a Wealthy Boston Physician by a Harvard Professor ...
The Parkman-Webster Murder Case - Boston - The West End Museum
Murder at Harvard Medical School - iBoston
THE DISAPPEARANCE DR. PARKMAN - Maryland State Archives
The Infamous Tale of the Murderous Chemistry Professor
The Webster Charge | American Experience | Official Site - PBS
The 1850 Webster/Parkman Trial: Dr. Keep's Forensic Evidence
The 1850 Webster/Parkman Trial: Dr. Keep's forensic evidence.
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Two buildings. Two legacies. One shaped by compassion, the other marked by violence.
In this episode of Macabrium, we step inside the Grey Nuns Motherhouse in Montreal. Once a convent, now part of a bustling university, it remains heavy with silence and memory. Students and staff have reported ghostly figures in long habits, disembodied footsteps, and the unmistakable sense of being watched. Within these stone walls, the dead seem to linger alongside the living.
We then travel across continents to the Gran Viena Hotel in Argentina. Once an opulent retreat, this now-abandoned relic hides more than just dust and decay. Guests have vanished, lights flicker in sealed rooms, and whispers fill the night air. Local lore ties the hotel to fugitives, secrets, and a past too dark to fade quietly.
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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Show Notes & Further Reading
The Ghosts of Grey Nuns | News - The Link – Concordia’s Independent
Sisters and spooks: Grey Nuns and other Montreal haunts | CBC News
Grey Nun Ghosts And A Murderer’s Grave | The Concordian
Montreal’s Haunted Student Residence - YouTube
Montreal’s Grey Nuns rife with history and tragedy
The Ghosts of Grey Nuns - the haunted attic
The 6 most haunted places in Montreal
Six Haunted Places in Ontario and Québec Where History Might Still …
Haunted Canada: 14 creepy places that will scare your socks off
7 haunted places in Montreal that are bound to get you spooked
Montreal’s most haunted | CBC News
21 Feb 1918 - Tragedy at the Grey Nunnery, Montreal. - Trove
Haunted Montreal Blog #54 – Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Infobae Article on Gran Hotel Viena
Atlas Obscura Entry on Gran Hotel Viena
YouTube Video on Ghost Hunters International
Wikipedia Page on Mar Chiquita (Córdoba)
Clarín Article on Gran Hotel Viena
La Nación Article on Gran Hotel Viena
Voces Anónimas Episodes
Haunted Rooms Page on Gran Hotel Viena
Paranormal Investigators Report on Gran Viena
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In the blistering August heat of 1990, the quiet college town of Gainesville, Florida, was paralyzed by a series of brutal slayings. Over just four days, five students were murdered—each crime more horrifying than the last. Doors were bolted. Campuses emptied. Fear became a living thing.
But beneath the surface terror lay something even stranger: the killer seemed to be performing for an unseen audience, staging scenes like a director crafting a horror film. His spree would go on to inspire one of the most iconic slasher villains of all time—Ghostface.
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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Show Notes & Further Reading
FL v. ROLLING (1994) – Officer Barber’s Testimony by CourtTV
Prosecution chips away at Rolling’s case for mercy by David K. Barstow
Rolling’s Mother Testifies by The South Florida Sun Sentinel
The Gainesville Serial Killer by ABC’s 20/20
Danny Rolling, The Gainesville Ripper by the Department of Psychology at Radford University
Rolling v. State (1997) by The Florida Supreme Court
How a woman in Louisiana helped break the case of 5 student murders in Florida by Glenn Ruppel, Sean Dooley, and Anthony Rivas
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🗄️ 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 late August 1990, college students in Gainesville, Florida, were just settling in for a new semester when five of them were murdered over a few short days. The killings sent the whole town into a panic and set off a huge manhunt. Today we're looking at what happened, how the man responsible was finally caught, and how this case went on to help inspire the horror movie Scream.
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New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.
Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast
If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.
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 - Danny Rolling
A&E - How Danny Rolling, the 'Gainesville Ripper,' Was Caught
News4Jax - Louisiana Drifter Became Known As 'Gainesville Ripper'
Tampa Bay Times - Gainesville killer set to die
NBC News - Serial killer Danny Rolling executed in Florida
WUFT - August Marks 25th Anniversary of Danny Rolling Murders
News4Jax - Gainesville reaches 30th anniversary of student murders
Oxygen - The Twisted Tale Of 'Gainesville Ripper' Killer Danny Rolling, Who Murdered And Mutilated College Kids
The Line Up - The Gainesville Ripper Terrified the University of Florida in 1990
Oxygen - How Much Of The Horror Classic 'Scream' Is Based On The Real Crimes Of The Gainesville Ripper?
/Film - The Real-Life Serial Killings That Inspired Scream
📚 BOOKS
Goodreads - Beyond Murder: The Inside Account of the Gainesville Student Murders by John Philpin and John Donnelly (Onyx, 1994)
ThriftBooks - The Gainesville Ripper by Mary S. Ryzuk (1994)
🎬 DOCS
JustWatch - Lights, Camera, Murder: Scream (Tubi, 2022)
IMDb - FBI: Criminal Pursuit, "The Gainesville Ripper" (2011)
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In the heart of rural Victoria stands the shell of a grand institution—Aradale Asylum. Once home to thousands of patients, many never left. This episode traces the fog-drenched corridors of a place built on the promise of care, but haunted by the reality of confinement. What lingers in the shadows of Australia’s largest abandoned asylum… and who’s still listening?
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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Visit us at www.macabriumpod.com to learn more!
Sources & Further Reading
Aradale Asylum – Dark Tourism
Inside Australia’s Haunted Aradale Asylum – Ranker
Ghosts of Aradale: What Lurks in Australia’s Largest Abandoned Asylum – Australian Geographic
Aradale Mental Hospital: The History – OnlyMelbourne
Haunted Places: Aradale Lunatic Asylum – HauntedPlaces.org
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In Victorian England, beneath the smog-choked skies and soot-stained bricks, a quiet horror was unfolding. Amelia Dyer a former nurse turned baby farmer, promised desperate mothers care and comfort for their infants… but what she delivered was death. With white tape as her calling card and the Thames as her accomplice, Dyer became one of history’s most prolific serial killers, hiding in plain sight as London’s population boomed and its poorest slipped through the cracks.
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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Visit us at www.macabriumpod.com to learn more!
Show Sources & Further Reading
Bastardy and Baby Farming in Victorian England
Baby Farming, A Victorian Horror Story
Victorian Baby Farming
Baby farming - Wikipedia
Nineteenth-Century Baby-Farming and the Demonisation of Working-Class Mothers
Social Life in Victorian England
The Victorian women forced to give up their babies
Single, Unwed, and Pregnant in Victorian London
Amelia Dyer - Wikipedia
Amelia Dyer Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life
Amelia Dyer | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
The Grisly Story Of How 'Baby Farmer' Amelia Dyer May Have Slaughtered As Many As 400 Children
Amelia Dyer: The Victorian nurse who strangled babies - BBC News
Amelia Dyer: The Victorian Baby Farmer - Owlcation
Amelia Dyer: Baby Killers | Gresham College
Amelia Dyer "The Reading Baby Farmer" - Crime Museum
The Baby Farmer | Thames Valley Police
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🗄️ 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.
In the spring of 1896, a bargeman on the River Thames near Reading, England, pulled a parcel out of the water and found the body of a baby girl inside. That one discovery led police to Amelia Dyer, a woman who had spent years taking in unwanted babies for money and promising their mothers a loving home. Today we're looking at the woman later known as the Angel Maker, how she was finally caught, and why no one will ever know exactly how many children she killed.
🖤 FOLLOW PRETTY WICKED
New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.
Instagram: @prettywickedthepodcast
If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.
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 - Amelia Dyer
BBC News (via AOL) - How a Victorian serial baby-killer was caught
History Today - The Baby Farmer of Reading
Gresham College - Amelia Dyer and Baby Killing, a lecture by Professor Joanna Bourke (2021)
BBC History Magazine (via PressReader) - The chilling crimes of a 'baby-farmer'
Angela Buckley - A notorious Victorian baby farmer
Visit Heritage - Amelia Dyer, the Ogress of Reading
All That's Interesting - The Grisly Story Of How 'Baby Farmer' Amelia Dyer May Have Slaughtered As Many As 400 Children In Victorian England
The Line Up - Amelia Dyer: Victorian England's Cruelest Baby Farmer
Executed Today - 1896: Amelia Dyer, baby farmer
📚 BOOKS
Goodreads - Amelia Dyer, Angel Maker: The Woman Who Murdered Babies for Money by Alison Rattle and Allison Vale (André Deutsch, 2007)
Goodreads - Amelia Dyer and the Baby Farm Murders by Angela Buckley
🎬 DOCS
Apple TV - Angel Maker: Serial Killer Queen (2014)
Prime Video - Lady Killers with Martina Cole, "Amelia Dyer" (2008)
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In 1728, the fledgling city of New Orleans welcomes the Casket Girls, young women sent from France to marry colonists, their pale faces and coffin-shaped chests sparking whispers of mystery. Among them is Marie-Claire de Laval, whose beauty hides a dangerous secret. As strange deaths plague the colony and shadows move in the night, Sister Agnes, a compassionate nun, and Lucien Dubois, a rugged trapper, are drawn into a web of intrigue at the Ursuline Convent. In a city where faith clashes with the supernatural, their choices will shape New Orleans’ future.
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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Visit us at www.macabriumpod.com to learn more!
Sources & Further Reading
NewOrleans.com - The Casket Girls of New Orleans
Pelican State of Mind - Myth, Legend, and History
Ghost City Tours - Truth About the Casket Girls
New York Historical Society - The Casket Girls
Locations of Lore - The Casket Girls
New Orleans Legendary Walking Tours - The Casket Girls
Very Local - My Granny was a Vampire-Smuggling Casket Girl
NOLA.com - A Lot to Unpack
New Orleans Ghosts - The Casket Girls
Fodors - Unveiling New Orleans’ Vampire Legends
Horror Obsessive - 18th Century Mail Order Brides or Vampire Smugglers
Terrebonne Parish Library System - Vampires in the Deep South
New Orleans Legendary Walking Tours - Phantoms of the Ursuline Convent
Old Ursuline Convent Museum
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