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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk, and I am absolutely loving it.
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Visit audible.com slash morbid. Some cases fade from headlines.
Some never made it there to begin with. I'm Ashley Flowers and on my podcast, The Deck.
I tell you the stories of cold cases featured on playing cards distributed in prisons designed to spark new leads and bring long-overdue justice.
Because these stories deserve to be heard, and the loved ones of these victims still deserve answers.
Are you ready to be dealt in? Listen to The Deck now. wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this...
Is a mini morbid. And it's ash centric. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini morbid.
Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. I think that should be my Instagram name.
It's Ash-centric. It's hard to say, though.
Ash-centric. Ash-centric. Plus, everybody I know calls me Ashkel83, so.
Well, all my friends. Not everyone I know.
I was going to say that's real weird. All my friends.
Well, this is a mini-sode. It is. So this means we just barrel on in.
Yeah. I don't think you're going to know this case because it's very obscure and I had to go on.
I'm pretty obscure though. You are pretty obscure.
I have like a fucking spider bite on my shoulder.
Cool. You seen that? Yeah. Look at that shit.
Anyways. so this is the case of i think i was gonna say first that i went on murderpedia to find it did i say that out loud don't know I did go on Murderpedia to find this.
So Margaret Allen was born in 1906 in the UK. and she grew up, and I'm going to butcher this name, Lancashire?
There you go. Lancashire, England. Oh, so many people have, hold on, people have messaged about this from the UK about the Shires.
Oh. Worcestershire. It's sheer. Because they told me it's like we say Worcestershire.
Okay, so I'm going to say she grew up in Lancashire, England.
Thank you, UK listeners. She was the 20th of 22 children.
Bye. I'm like offended by that. Yeah. You know that time when you thought that you'd never been shooketh before?
I'm shooketh. Yeah. Like you told me I would know what it felt like.
I know what it feels like. That's what it feels like.
Woof. 22 kids. I'm gonna go ahead and be crude here.
Imagine the pain in your hoo-ha after 22 kids.
My lord, that woman is a... I don't know what she is.
She's a warrior? She's a dugger. She's a dugger.
That's what she is. She's an early century dugger.
She legit is. We'll get through this. We will.
So, yeah, from childhood, she didn't identify as being a girl, although she was born a girl.
Okay. So at one point in this, I, just so it's not confusing for anybody, I wanted to be respectful of the trans community.
And I don't know what she would have wanted.
So I started referring to her as they. Oh, that's smart.
A little later on. Yeah, that's smart. Just so you know.
Yeah, that's a good way to do it. So I don't do it in the beginning just because...
I'm talking about her when she was like first born.
Yeah. Later on I switch. Yeah, then that's fine.
Okay. Because this is a long time ago. You don't have her here to tell you what pronoun she prefers.
Right, and I don't know what she would have preferred.
So just so everybody knows, I'm trying my best to be very respectful of both communities. so or all the communities just all of them i said both like i was talking about two communities that that's it all right we're digressing a lot it's my fault So yeah, she liked to hang out with the guys in her town and she worked jobs that were pretty much like only given to men in those days.
She loaded coal, repaired... Oh my God, I was just going to say coal mining.
Yeah, she loaded the coal mine. She repaired houses and she also became a bus conductor.
So... Apparently though, she was like really intense and she swore a ton and she was really aggressive.
And she had a bad temper. I mean, Margaret, you know?
Which sounds like every bus driver I ever had. to say quite honest i mean she's just being margaret yeah just like god are you there hey it's me still I want to read that book again.
Still me. Anyways, she, like I said, was super intense and... when she was working as a bus driver, she eventually got fired because of her bad attitude. and apparent abuses toward passengers.
Oh, I mean, yeah. People, if they didn't sit down in their seats quickly enough, she would yell at them or shove them. or cuff them which i don't know exactly what that means but i was like did she straight up handcuff them to their seats like what does that mean i looked into it I don't know.
What is early century cuffing? English listeners, let me know. i might look this up while you talk yeah feel free so yeah but you could see why it didn't work out for her to be a bus driver Yeah, I feel like that might not have been her calling, you know?
Few conflicts of interest, I would say. I feel like that's no good.
So in 1935, some years later, she told people that she underwent like this operation.
And nobody really knew what it was for, but she said it was like, you know, like a casual like thing, whatever.
Yeah. But later she explained that the operation was to change from a woman to a man.
So it's unknown whether or not this is true, because at the time, those operations, like, weren't super common at all.
Yeah, I was going to say. So it is possible.
But either way, after telling people that she had had this operation, she cut or excuse me, she lived her life as a man. uh she cut her hair started wearing men's clothing uh she hung out with like mostly men like she didn't have a lot of uh like, woman friends.
And she also started referring to herself as Bill.
Oh, okay. So from this point on, I'm going to switch today.
Margaret is Bill. Okay. Because just to, you know.
Because that seems to be a win. Yeah. So Bill also took up drinking in bars and surrounded themselves with mostly men for friends, like I said.
And they apparently did have one female friend named Ann Cook.
But it's rumored that on vacation, Margaret slash Bill... made advances and wanted Anne Cook to be his girlfriend, but Anne wasn't interested and the friendship ended.
Oh, now that's tough. And I don't know if she was like, bitch about it or like a fan was or if she wasn't i don't know and let us know hey were you a bitch about it were you a bitch about it or were you nice because it's important to let people down easy it is So, yep.
So that all happened. And then actually, you know what?
I said that I was going to start referring to. them as Alan, because that's the last name.
Oh, okay. Yeah, that's easier, I feel like.
Alan, and then if I need to use a pronoun, I'll say they.
Okay. So in 1943, Alan's mother passed away and Alan's mental health rapidly declined.
They started smoking excessively, eating less, not taking care of themselves.
They stopped going out with friends. And basically they just experienced, like, a pretty big depression.
Yeah. Which is understandable when you lose somebody, especially a parent.
Yeah, for sure. So, Alan took all their savings and used it to buy a pretty much abandoned... building that used to be, I'm also going to ruin this name, Rotten Stalls Police Quarters.
I like it. Okay. Rotten stalls. It's R-A-W-T-E-N-S-T-A-L-L. sounds like rotten stalls or maybe like roten stalls i don't know rotten stalls seems better either way the building that they bought used to be that police headquarters It was located on the town's main street, which was Backup Road. or Bacoup, or however you say it when you're in England.
I don't know. Alan lived alone, and according... I really hope it's Bacoup.
It's Bacoup Street. Go drive onto the Coop Street.
Yeah, that sounds right, actually. Normally. i was like i'm not gonna lie that was pretty tragic I'm normally so much better.
Fuck. Wow. My brain is just like... you know you can't always just jump into another accent like bye oh see redemption nope cool awesome we're almost there but oh according to ann cook Alan did try to commit suicide at least once using gas.
Like, inhalation, I'm assuming. Yeah. So on August 28th, 1948.
68 year old Mrs. Nancy Ellen Chadwick knocked on Alan's door.
Apparently I read one place to borrow a cup of sugar because Nancy was a neighbor.
Nancy's always borrowing a cup of sugar, I feel like.
Yeah, she definitely is. If Nancy's your neighbor, she's going to borrow a cup of sugar. nance you know why don't you just i'm gonna give you this whole bag of sugar and just do with it what you will yeah and don't knock on my door again yeah i don't like people no that's what i would say to nance uh and that's what bill said to nance oh okay no i'm just kidding i was like wow So let's get back to like who Nancy was.
Okay. She was a widow. She was described as disagreeable, pestering, and eccentric.
Okay. All right. Which is honestly like other than the pestering, how I want people to describe me.
Disagreeable and eccentric. Yeah, I am disagreeable and I am eccentric.
That should be like your bio. The name of your autobiography.
Oh, that would be a great autobiography.
Disagreeable and eccentric. I love that.
The Ashkel story. The Ashkel83 story. Thank you, and good night.
So, yeah, she was pretty much just a fucking annoying neighbor.
Uh, apparently she was also like not poor.
So everyone was like, why is she always fucking borrowing my sugar and my shit?
Yeah. Like what's your end game? And she was known to carry large amounts of cash in a bag, but would, like, ask people for things that she like they're like nancy go buy it with all the fucking cash you have in your pocket She's just walking around with a bag of cash with like a dollar sign.
Literally. And she's like, can I borrow five dollars?
I'd eat some sugar. So anyway, the last place that Nancy was seen before she died was at Alan's home.
That's no good. That is no good. It's never good.
No. So the next day, her body was found in the road right outside of Alan's house. which you can remember is the main Bacoop Road.
The main Bacoop Road. Yeah, that's where it was.
So it's just out there for everybody to see.
Straight up out there. When the police first discovered the body, they assumed that it was a hit-and-run case because, like... Right in the middle of Main Street.
You know, right on the middle of Main Street.
I would. Lots of wounds and shit. But upon further investigation, the wound showed that they'd been inflicted from the pointy end of a coal hammer.
Oh, yeah. Wow. Fucking ouch. All right. Like, bye.
No, thank you. That's business. Thank you.
Next. Yeah. No. And I don't know why this is important, but it was in the article.
So also they believed that the hammer was coated with ashes.
Oh. Like, I don't know if... They were using it for fire.
I don't know. I don't know what ashes would do.
I'm trying to think of a reason that that would be pertinent.
It wasn't ever brought up again later. If anybody knows why that would be pertinent, let us know.
Yeah. Hit me up. So for some reason, the Scotland Yard detectives were called in.
But their investigation pretty much consisted of following the bloody trail from Alan's apartment to the dead body in the middle of the street.
So like, I don't really know if they needed to call in the detectives, but you know what?
They did the damn thing. Oh, wow. Another case solved.
Yeah, Scotland's Yard Detectives. The world's finest.
They did. though i have to treat it like a regular investigation and carry out the usual steps because you can't just be like oh look that blood trail he did it but you know uh Because they were kind of treating it like a regular investigation, Alan kind of believed that they were going to get away with it.
Because they were like, oh, I fucking outsmarted them.
I don't know how. Of course you did. You really covered your tracks, you know?
Yeah. But, you know, people like that, like murderers.
Yeah, they're narcissistic. They always think that they're one step ahead of everybody.
Like, I killed someone and I'm going to get away with it.
I'm smarter than everybody. That's stupid.
Yeah. Even though I dumped them outside of my house on a main street with blood leading up to my apartment.
I just like had like a moment to a flashback to Jawbreaker, that movie.
And she's like, I killed Liz. I killed the team B. Deal with it.
The team dream. teen dream right i don't know why i said teen b i think i was thinking queen b yeah but like what if somebody just used that audio of me being like i killed someone i'm gonna get away with it To, like, frame me for something.
They could now. Don't do that. Be loyal listeners, even if you leave a one-star review.
It's true. Just don't take us to prison, man.
No, I'm not. I would not survive. No. Clearly.
No. So Alan was like, I'm going to get away with it.
Bye. And then for the next few days, they went to like their usual bars and they bragged that they were the last one to see Chadwick alive. oh which um if you're gonna like try not to be a suspect I would definitely say it's probably not in your best interest to say that you're the last person to see that person alive.
Yeah, I feel like that's kind of like... murder 101 yeah like they teach you i think that's like the second day in For sure.
They teach you, like, okay, so don't be the last person to see people alive.
And if you are... Maybe don't go to a bar and tell anyone.
Announce that to everybody. I would be like, you know what?
That guy looks like he's the last one to see her alive, in my opinion. i'd be like i am positive that like a dozen more people saw that person guys didn't you see that and then everyone at the bar is drunk and they're like whoa they're like yeah we did yeah So that's how you do that.
Rookie move. You know, just here you go.
Morbid telling you how to get away with murder.
That's not what we're doing. Bye. So. Ellen became extremely overconfident and even told people that Nancy Chadwick had a hidden pocket in her underskirt. that uh and said quote she was an old fool to sit on a roadside bench counting her money Oh, that's saucy.
Because I think that's what they were trying to say.
She was counting her money and then she was attacked or something.
Yeah, and then she got mugged or something.
Like, maybe, like, don't condemn or make fun of the victim either.
And also don't point out that she has a hidden...
Pocket under her skirt. Keyword. That everybody wouldn't know about.
Hidden. Wow, so Alan's really just like...
Yeah, doing the damn thing. Not the quickest.
Yeah, so far two strikes for Alan. Yeah.
Actually three strikes for Alan. Also, I read in one article, I forgot to put it in here, my bad.
That during the police investigation, he was just like, excuse me, during the police investigation, they were just like trying to distract the police.
And they pointed at like a pond like close by or like whatever, like a river.
And they were like, oh, look, there's her bag. but they were like how did you just spot that from like all the way over here yonder look over yonder i spot a bag and i'm sure it belongs to her and they were like yeah you're fucking wow alan this is great they weren't doing the damn thing they were not So on September 1st, 1948, the police visited Alan's home again.
And that's when they noticed, which like really bloodstains on one of the walls inside by the doorway, more bloodstains in the cellar.
And they also matched hairs from Nancy Chadwick's head to those found on Alan's clothing.
Wow. And on top of that, they found multiple belongings of Chadwick's.
So... So things are not looking great. Alan was charged with murder.
No way. Yeah, I know. You didn't see it coming, did you?
Wow. Yeah. Shock. Crazy. Shocked. And you know what?
They admitted to it. I mean, at that point, they basically have already.
This is what they said. Oh, God. I was in a funny mood.
She seemed to insist on coming into the house.
I just happened to look around and saw a hammer in the kitchen.
On the spur of the moment I hit her. She gave me a shout that seemed to start me off more and I hit her a few more times.
I don't know how many. I mean, I'm not laughing that someone died.
That's horrific. I'm laughing at these...
I was, I felt some type of way. I was in a mood.
She came to my door. She was being annoying.
She wanted to come in. I look over to my left.
I'm like, this'll stop her. There's a hammer.
I mean... What was I to do? She yelled at me a little, and that was it.
And I just didn't know how many times. Wow, what a confession.
So, yeah. What a confession. That's one for the books.
After five hours of deliberation, like barely, barely five.
The jury found Alan guilty and came up with a sentence of the death penalty.
Whoa. Alan's attorneys tried to get them off with a plea of insanity, but it didn't work out.
No. Ellen was really aggressive. Ellen was, like, super chill about that.
There was no way they were getting insanity there.
Yeah. It seems to me, to be honest with you, that like in their background, they definitely struggled with mental issues.
And I think today they would have been... more addressed, but I think back then it wasn't, it was like taboo to talk about the things that I agree with that, but they would still never get the insanity plea.
Oh, no, no, no. I'm not saying that. Because they were very aware of what they were doing.
I'm saying, like... Maybe, like, Alan wouldn't have been our murderer today.
Because maybe they would have got the help they needed before it came to that.
Yeah. But, you know, they're still a murderer, so you can't feel too bad.
And also, they were just... Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
Just like all the things that they do, you're like, I feel like there's an underlying issue here.
Yeah, there definitely is. As with most murderers.
Yeah. so yeah like i said they were pretty aggressive throughout their last days uh they complained about the lack of comfort in the prison Because, you know, it's not super comfy.
Isn't that what it's for? To be super comfortable in your last few days?
Like, it's not the Ritz-Carlton. No, it's definitely not.
I don't know if you thought that, but... Yeah, it's like, no.
Sorry, it's not. Sorry to burst your bubble, Ellen.
Bye. And also when they got served a last meal, which was scrambled eggs per request.
Wow, that's your last meal? Can I just say that's like literally the shittiest last meal I've ever had.
I mean, I love scrambled eggs. I don't like scrambled eggs.
I love eggs. I love eggs from my head down to my legs.
Okay, Dr. Seuss. No, that used to be the commercial for it.
Maybe you're too young for that. Maybe I just aged myself.
I'm 22. I don't remember when that commercial was out, but it was like, I love eggs from my head down to my legs.
Someone will remember it, I'm sure. Someone will remember it.
I don't want to call you old because I'm not ageist. oh I forgot somebody got mad at us about that yeah she's probably not listening though so it's cool she listened to two minutes remember and then she was done yeah bye Karen because we were bitches Bye.
Bye. No, I love eggs from my head down to my legs, but I would not want eggs as my last meal.
No, especially scribbled. I don't even know what I would want as my last meal, to be quite honest.
Okay, but if you had to have eggs as your last meal, how would you have them served?
That's a good question. I would say either over easy or sunny side up.
I would say... eggs benedict over hash browns extra hollandaise oh girl i didn't know we could add more shit on you can only add like one other breakfast item Then I would throw some hash browns in there.
Yeah. Yeah. Or no, no, no, no. If I was actually going to do it, I'd take it back.
I would put it over corned beef hash. Ugh.
Only from a can though. I only like corned beef hash from the can.
That shit to me is like worse than dog food.
I've said it once I'll say it again. I'm trash.
Anyways. I love it. Yeah, so, oh, okay, so they got their scrambled eggs That's where we were.
And when they got the scrambled eggs, they kicked it across the room and said, at least no one will enjoy that last meal.
Oh, damn. Which like, whoa. That's so saucy.
You're so mad. Why are you mad? Why are you mad?
Like, why are you kicking your eggs, man?
If I'm getting eggs, I'm going to eat them. i'm not gonna kick eggs i wouldn't want them scrambled if they were scrambled i'd kick them i would not just like i would say kick rocks buddy That's my new thing that I like to say.
Like, okay, kick rocks. So on the morning of January 12th, 1949, legally the name, Margaret Allen. expressed no remorse, and went to the scaffold in the execution chamber quietly without any exclamation of the crime or any evident remorse.
Wow. And that is the quick story of Margaret Allen.
That's a crazy one. I had not heard of that one.
Yeah, it was just on Murderpedia. That's crazy.
Well, we gave you a long one last week. Well, that's it.
You usually give the short ones, and I give the overly long ones.
So far, we're not nailing the, like, 30-minute marking, the one of us. fine it's okay it's cool other podcasts have 25 minute episodes hey this is a quick little one that you can get zoop to work listening to yeah go to the dunkin donuts drive-thru yeah You'll get there.
Yeah. And this was a good one. Thank you.
Margaret slash Bill is something else. Yeah.
Maybe my new thing will be like kick scrambled eggs. kick scrambled eggs a la margaret i dug it i'm glad and you're gonna also be getting a full length this week and we're gonna be covering Elizabeth Bathory.
Oh, damn. Which is one of my favorites. I did a whole project on her in early high school I don't know a ton about her but I'm stoked you'll learn all kinds of shit I will it's gonna be exciting alina assigns me my research every week i do she's like look at this and look Look at this.
And it's normally the very small, minute things that don't matter, but it's okay because everybody has a part in this podcast.
We're all important here. We're all mad here.
All of us here. All two of us here are important.
And your dog. And my dog, who, if you heard any snores or weird, like, snarfs in the middle of this.
It was Elena. It was me and also my dog who is snoring and slumbering happily next to us.
And she's so cute. We just didn't want to move her.
Yeah, she's just so beautiful. So, yeah.
So stay tuned for Elizabeth Bathory, probably coming out on, like, Friday, I would say.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And... In the meantime, we hope that you follow us on Instagram at morbidpodcast.
We hope that you send us some gmails at morbidpodcast at gmail.com.
We hope that you tweet at us. Amorbid Podcast.
We hope that you join our Facebook page that we just realized that we have to let people into and we're sorry it took so long. morbid colon a true crime podcast and again I will start letting people into the group more regularly I forgot I had to do that so thanks we're all learning here we are and you can also go to www.morbidpodcast.com To check out the lovely website that Elena so greatly designed.
Yeah. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you.
Keep it weird. But not so weird that you just like murder a lady because she comes to your door and asks for sugar and then you get... sent to jail and then you're like, yeah, I did it and I don't know how many times I even did it.
And then you ask for scrambled eggs and then you kick them right across the floor like a spoiled ass brat.
Not that weird. Don't do it. Eat your scrambled eggs.
Damn it. Don't kick them. Kick rocks, not eggs.
Kick rocks. That's a great t-shirt. Bye.
Bye. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or the Wondery app.
