Pretty Wicked

By Megan AldaSociety & Culture True Crime

Pretty Wicked episodes

April 29, 2025 86. Fear on the Frontier: The Bloody Benders
People were vanishing along the Osage Trail, their fates swallowed by the unending Kansas plains. At the center of it all stood a seemingly ordinary family, their small inn offering tired travelers a hot meal and a place to rest. But behind their smiles lay something far more sinister.
Inside the Benders’ cabin, trust turned to terror, and the innocent fell prey to unspeakable acts. What drove this family to darkness, and how did they carry out their gruesome deeds unnoticed? This is the chilling story of the Bloody Benders, the family who turned hospitality into horror.
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
Keepers of the Devil’s Inn by Wayne Hallowell
The Bloody Benders – Serial Killers of Kansas by Kathy Alexander for Legends of America
The Bloody Benders by Beverly Roath
Unsolved mysteries in Kansas: the bloodbath Bender family escapes into thin air by Jennifer Silvay

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1 hr 18 min
April 29, 2025 From the Archive: The Bloody Benders
🗄️ 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 early 1870s, a family ran a small inn on the Kansas prairie, offering hot meals and a place to rest for travelers heading down the trail. But one by one, people who passed through that stretch of country started to disappear, and after a missing doctor's brother came knocking in the spring of 1873, the family quietly vanished. Today we're looking at what the neighbors found buried on that land, how the family carried out their crimes, and why no one has ever been able to say for sure what became of them.
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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 - Bloody Benders
Kansas Historical Society - Kate Bender
Kansas Historical Society - Bender Knife
Kansas Memory - Governor Thomas Osborn's correspondence on the Bender case
Library of Congress - The Bloody Benders: Homestead of Horrors
Humanities Kansas - True Crime in Kansas: The Mystery of the Benders
Mental Floss - The Bloody Benders, America's First Serial Killer Family
HistoryNet - The Bloody Benders' Grim Harvest
CrimeReads - The Bloody Benders: America's First Family of Serial Killers
Legends of America - The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas
A&E - Who Were the 1870s Serial Killing 'Family' Known as the 'Bloody Benders'?
📚 BOOKS
Publishers Weekly - Hell's Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier by Susan Jonusas (Viking, 2022)
🎬 DOCS
TheTVDB - The Bloody Benders: American Serial Killers (Investigation Discovery, 2017)

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1 hr 17 min
April 27, 2025 85. Lore & Legends | The Chain-Bound Grave: The Witch of Yazoo
In Yazoo City Mississippi, there is a grave surrounded by odd oval chains and a headstone claiming the grave’s resident is responsible for a devastating fire that destroyed the town in 1904, calling them a witch. Who is buried there? Why were they called a witch? This episode imagines the possible details of the witch’s arrival in Yazoo, her demise, and her vengeance.

* Community note: a previous version of this episode contained misproninciation of the name of Yazoo City. Thank you to our community for the catch!

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

Witch of Yazoo - Visit Yazoo

The Witch of Yazoo - Hinds Community College Library Guide

The Witch of Yazoo - Mississippi Folklore Register

Witch of Yazoo Still Haunts Town She Burned - Clarion Ledger

Yazoo City, Mississippi - ISJL Encyclopedia

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36 min
April 22, 2025 84. Deadly Defiance: Serial Killer Mary Cotton
The fire crackled softly as Mary Ann Cotton sat by the hearth, her hands smoothing the edge of a quilt with care. She looked every bit the grieving mother, the sorrowful widow. Those around her saw a woman beaten down by tragedy, her life marked by loss after loss. But they couldn’t see the truth hiding behind her gentle smile.

Wherever Mary Ann went, death seemed to follow. Husbands, children, and lovers all fell, one by one. People whispered about bad luck, but the shadows in her wake told a different story. Was it just fate, or was something far more deliberate slipping unseen into the lives of those closest to her?

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

Women Who Kill by Katherine Ramsland

Mary Ann Cotton and Arsenic Poisoning in the Victorian Era by Rose Stavely-Wadham

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54 min
April 20, 2025 83. Lore & Legends | The Girl Who Fell for a Krasue
A young woman named Siri falls in love with a quiet outsider named Phan, and their relationship quickly deepens into a promise of marriage. But as their wedding approaches, his strange behaviour raises suspicions. Her mother grows wary, warning her of an old curse that has haunted the region for generations. Faced with growing doubt and a deep emotional bond, Siri is forced to confront what she truly believes—and what she’s willing to accept.

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!

Episode Inspiration Material

Chronicles of Jinn

Mythical Creatures

Lost Abroad

Wikipedia - Ghosts in Thai Culture

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42 min
April 15, 2025 82.Doomed to Die: The Mystery at Dyatlov Pass
The wind howled through the Ural Mountains, a cold, relentless force sweeping over the silent peaks. Under the blanket of a starless February sky, nine hikers pitched their final camp, unaware that each step of their trek had been carrying them closer to a chilling enigma. By dawn, the snow would erase their tracks, but what remained behind would bewilder rescuers and spark decades of unanswered questions.

When the search teams arrived, they didn’t find what they expected. The campsite was ripped open, scattered with oddities that defied explanation. Bare footprints led away into the frozen wilderness, leading to discoveries both tragic and deeply unsettling. What force, natural or otherwise, could have disrupted such skilled adventurers in the dead of night?

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

Has science solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries? by Robin George Andrews for National Geographic

Has an old Soviet mystery finally been solved? by Douglas Preston for the New Yorker

Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959 by Johan Gaume and Alexander M. Puzrin for Communications Earth & Environment

Dyatlov Pass Incident: The Only Mystery Guide You’ll Ever Need by VULDAR (Youtube video)

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1 hr 10 min
April 13, 2025 81. Lore & Legends | The Tiyanak's Torment
In a quiet village in the Philippines, at a time and place where old customs still guide daily life, Aling Rosa is known as the midwife who helps bring children safely into the world. She follows every tradition—guiding the mother, and ensuring no soul is forgotten.

But one night, a stranger comes to her door with a dying baby and a plea for help. What follows tests everything Aling Rosa believes about duty, life, and what happens when the proper rites are left undone.

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

Tiyanak – Wikipedia by Wikipedia

Tiyanak: The Demon Baby by Mythlok

Tiyanak – Myth and Folklore Wiki by Myth and Folklore Wiki

Tiyanak: The Demonic Baby of Philippine Folklore by YouTube

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34 min
April 08, 2025 80. Villain By Nature: The Cannibal Boone Helm
The wind whipped through the empty Montana wilderness, carrying the name that made even the toughest folks shudder—Boon Helm. His story wasn’t like the usual tales of outlaws chasing riches or revenge. Helm was different, something darker. He didn’t just cross the line; he destroyed it, carving a brutal path through the Wild West. Wherever his shadow fell, fear and death weren’t far behind.

He wasn’t the kind of legend you admire. Helm was the kind you prayed you’d never meet. Cruel and ruthless, his actions tore away any sense of decency, leaving only horror in their place. Now, we’re stepping straight into his nightmare. Beneath the screams and the smoke lies a story of survival, violence, and the kind of darkness that lingers long after the fire’s gone out. And at the center of it all is Boon Helm, waiting.

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

Vigilante days and ways; the pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho by Nathanial Pitt Langford

Kentucky Cannibal in Cariboo by Ron Young

Levi Boone Helm – Murderer, Cannibal & Thief by Emerson Hough

Wrath of the Kentucky cannibal by Marc Hoover

Kentucky’s Jeffrey Dahmer: Chronicling the ‘Kentucky Cannibal’ by Matthew Duckworth

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1 hr 15 min
April 06, 2025 79. Lore & Legends | Blight of the Sea: The Nuckelavee
On the wind-scoured isle of Greymoor, where the sea is both a lifeline and a threat, the old ways have been forgotten. The folk once honored the tides, whispering prayers to the unseen forces that kept darker things at bay—but time breeds arrogance, and tradition fades into memory.

Then the blight begins.

The waters turn foul, the fields wither, and a sickness creeps through the village. Cattle are found stripped to the bone, the air thickens with the stench of rot, and whispers rise of something moving in the mist—something that should not walk the land.

As fear tightens its grip, the people of Greymoor must confront the truth they have long ignored: the sea does not forget, and debts left unpaid will always come due.

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

Wikipedia. Nuckelavee — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuckelavee

Ronel the Mythmaker. The Nuckelavee – Folklore — https://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/the-nuckelavee-folklore

Mythus Wiki. Nuckelavee — https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Nuckelavee

Lewis Twiby. Myths, Legends, and Faith: Nuckelavee — https://lewisrhystwiby.wordpress.com/2023/10/01/myths-legends-and-faith-nuckelavee

Folklore Scotland. The Nuckelavee — https://folklorescotland.com/the-nuckelavee

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44 min
April 01, 2025 78. Small Town Murder: Love, Lies, and a Swing of Fate
The scene inside the house was a clash of the ordinary and the horrific. The living room, filled with the signs of a typical Texas suburban life, was now a crime scene. Forgotten toys rested in corners, mundane household objects sat untouched, but the floor told a different story.

Blood had dried in erratic patterns, the result of a violent, frenzied act. An axe lay nearby, its purpose unmistakable.

Outside, the neighborhood carried on in the usual rhythm of summer days, unaware of what had unfolded within those walls. Questions filled the silence that followed the discovery: who had done this, and how had violence so brutal found its way into a place like this?

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!

Episode Reference Material

Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomery's Affair". Texas Monthly

The True Story of Candy Montgomery People

Where Is Candy Montgomery Now? Biography

Bloom, J., & Atkinson, J. (2018) Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs Open Road Media

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55 min