Pretty Wicked

A 13-year-old boy walks home from a basketball court in San Antonio and vanishes. Three years later, his family flies across the world to bring him home from Spain. There's just one problem. The young man they pick up isn't their son. He isn't even American. He's a 23-year-old Frenchman with brown eyes, dark hair, and an accent you could spot from across a room. And somehow, for nearly five months, nobody in that family said a word. This is the story of Frédéric Bourdin, the impostor the world came to call the Chameleon, and the missing boy whose name he wore like a coat.

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Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

The New Yorker - The Chameleon

The Scotsman - Interview: The private detective who uncovered The Imposter

The Mirror US - Our missing son returned home after three years, but it was actually a French conman

KSAT - Case of missing San Antonio boy from 1994 remains a mystery

The Charley Project - Nicholas Patrick Barclay

Swallowing The Camel - Fake Teens V: Serial Teen Frederic Bourdin

Grunge - Frederic Bourdin: The Crazy True Story Of A Serial Impostor

📚 BOOKS

David Grann - The Devil and Sherlock Holmes (contains the expanded "Chameleon" essay)

Christophe D'Antonio - Le Caméléon (the authorized Bourdin biography)

🎬 DOCS

The Imposter (2012), directed by Bart Layton
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Forerunners that knock before a death. A fish that spoke the language of the dead. A phantom ship still burning on the same stretch of water two hundred years on. And a woman who walks a beach made of bones. These are the ghost stories of Canada's Atlantic coast, where the sea takes what it wants and sometimes sends it back.

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Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Helen Creighton Folklore Society - Significant Stories

Saint Mary's University - Modernity, Myth and Memory on Nova Scotia's Devil's Island

NS Ghost Stories - Devil's Island, Where Spirits Still Roam

NS Ghost Stories - Peggy's Cove, Ghost of the Lady in Blue

Friends of McNabs Island - Devils Island

MyNewBrunswick.ca - Legend of Money Cove

MyNewBrunswick.ca - A Pirate Ghost on Grand Manan

Maclean's Archive - The Fiery Phantom That Sails Bay Chaleur, 1951

Fox Harb'r Resort - The Ghost Ship of the Northumberland Strait

NUVO Magazine - The Flaming Ghost Ship of Prince Edward Island

PEI Lighthouse Society - West Point

CBC News - Are old lighthouse keepers haunting West Point?

CBC News - Sable Island: Shipwrecks at the graveyard of the Atlantic

Mysteries of Canada - Doppelganger Stories from Canada

📚 BOOKS

Helen Creighton, Bluenose Ghosts (Ryerson Press, 1957)

Helen Creighton, Bluenose Magic (1968)

Julie V. Watson, Ghost Stories and Legends of Prince Edward Island (1988)

Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
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A birthday sleepover. Three best friends. A game of hide and seek in the woods. By the time it was over, one girl was crawling toward a road with nineteen stab wounds, and the other two were walking toward something they swore was real. That was 2014. Eleven years later, one of them cut off her ankle monitor and ran.

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Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

ABC News - Slender Man Stabbing Survivor's Parents: 'She's Meant to Do Something Special'

ABC News - 'Slender Man' Interrogation Tapes Reveal Shocking New Details About Alleged Stabbing Plot

ABC News - Mothers of teens who pleaded guilty in 'Slender Man' stabbing case say there were no warning signs of violence

ABC News - 'Slender Man' teen to be released, survivor's family wishes she served longer sentence

ABC News - Slender Man Stabbing Timeline: Out of the Woods

ABC News - Slender Man stabbing victim speaks publicly for first time: 'Without the whole situation, I wouldn't be who I am'

Newsweek - The Girls Who Tried to Kill for Slender Man

Newsweek - How Slenderman, the Internet's Horror Star, Crawled out of Creepypasta

New York Magazine via Harvard Center for Law, Brain & Behavior - Slender Man Is Watching

NBC News - 911 Call Released in Waukesha 'Slender Man' Stabbings

NBC News - 'Slender Man' Victim's Family Thankful for Special Day

NBC News - The 'Slender Man' stabber made a close new friend — then ran away so they could be together

CNN - What we know about Morgan Geyser's 24-hours on the run more than a decade after the 'Slender Man' stabbing took place

Courthouse News Service - Slender Man stabber loses conditional release after escape

WBAY/AP - Conditional release of Morgan Geyser upheld by judge

WTMJ - Conditional release plan moves forward for accused "Slenderman" stabber Morgan Geyser

WTMJ - Conditional release finally approved for Slenderman stabber Morgan Geyser

TMJ4 News - Judge approves conditional release plan for woman convicted in Slender Man stabbing

TMJ4 News - Morgan Geyser arrested in Illinois after cutting off ankle bracelet, fleeing group home

TMJ4 News - Slender Man trial: Jury finds Anissa Weier mentally ill, won't face prison

FOX6 Milwaukee - Slenderman stabbing case: Court learns what private investigator found in Morgan Geyser's bedroom

FOX6 Milwaukee - Slender Man stabbing: Morgan Geyser escapes, group home neighbors react

ABC7 Chicago - Morgan Geyser 911 calls detail Slender Man attacker's escape from Madison group home

ABC7 Chicago - Where is Morgan Geyser now? Wisconsin judge sends suspect in Slender Man stabbing back to mental health institution

ABC7 Chicago - Morgan Geyser waives extradition after escape from Wisconsin group home

WKOW - DOC places three staff on leave during investigation into Morgan Geyser's escape from group home

WMTV - Despite escape, state finds no supervision violations at Morgan Geyser's group home

CBS 58 - The Latest: Jury finds Anissa Weier not criminally responsible for stabbing classmate due to mental illness

CBS News Minnesota/AP - Wisconsin Judge Orders Release Of Anissa Weier In Slender Man Stabbing

Court TV - Judge approves conditional release plan for Morgan Geyser

Patch.com - Slenderman Trial: Anissa Weier Sentence Is 25 Years

Inverse - Mr. CreepyPasta Explains the Problem with 'Slenderman'

Biography.com - Slender Man Attacker Morgan Geyser Is Back in Custody After Sparking a Brief Manhunt

A&E - The Slender-Man Inspired Attempted Murder of a Sixth Grader

Heavy - Payton Leutner's Injuries in the Slender Man Stabbing

Heavy - Morgan Geyser's Parents: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Crime + Investigation UK - The Slender Man stabbing: Attempted murder inspired by an urban legend

All That's Interesting - Who Is Payton Leutner, The Girl Who Nearly Died In The Infamous Slender Man Stabbing?

Jezebel - There's More Than One Boogeyman in the Slender Man Doc

Inside Edition - Slender Man Fan Who Tried to Kill Friend at 12 Gets Release Hearing

Good Morning America - Cyclist Recalls Finding Slender Man Stabbing Victim

LegalClarity - Anissa and Morgan Case: Charges, Mental Health, and Release

📚 BOOKS

Slenderman: A Tragic Story of Online Obsession and Mental Illness - Kathleen Hale, 2022

Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology - Shira Chess and Eric Newsom, 2014

Slender Man Is Coming: Creepypasta and Contemporary Legends on the Internet - edited by Trevor J. Blank and Lynne S. McNeill, 2018

🎬 DOCUMENTARY & FURTHER LISTENING

Beware the Slenderman - HBO, 2016, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky

20/20: Out of the Woods - ABC News, September 2014, with David Muir

20/20: 'Out of the Woods' - ABC News, October 2019, Payton Leutner's first interview, with David Muir
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Some stretches of ocean don't give people back, and the Bermuda Triangle is the most famous one. Navy squadrons. Cargo giants. A cabin cruiser that called for a tow on a calm December night and was gone before the Coast Guard could get there. This week we're going into the lore. The famous cases. The ghost ships. And what science actually thinks is happening out there, because the real answers might be stranger than the myth.

SHOW NOTES

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If you loved this episode, leaving a review means the world and helps other listeners find the show.

Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Naval History and Heritage Command - H-057-4: The Disappearance of Flight 19

National Archives - The Official Record and the Loss of Flight 19

History.com - The Mysterious Disappearance of Flight 19

Naval History Magazine (USNI) - USS Cyclops, The Deadliest Unsolved Mystery in the Navy

History.com - Bermuda Triangle Mystery: What Happened to the USS Cyclops?

Naval Historical Foundation - The Unanswered Loss of USS Cyclops

Library of Congress - The Mysterious Disappearance of Ghost Ship Carroll A. Deering's Crew

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources - The Carroll A. Deering, Ghost Ship

National Park Service - The Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks

PlaneHistoria - BSAA Star Tiger coverage and inquiry summary

PlaneHistoria - BSAA Star Ariel coverage

Bernews - Plausible Solutions To Bermuda Triangle Mysteries (Tom Mangold reporting)

Civil Aeronautics Board / USDeadlyEvents - Report on DC-3 NC16002

Coast Guard Inquiry Findings, summarized - USDeadlyEvents on Marine Sulphur Queen

Porchlight International - Burack and Father Horgan / Witchcraft case file

NOAA Ocean Service - What is the Bermuda Triangle?

National Geographic - Gas Craters Off Norway Linked to Bermuda Triangle Theory

Live Science - Could Gas Explosions Explain Bermuda Triangle Mystery?

Fox News - Bermuda Triangle Rogue Wave Theory (Dr. Simon Boxall, Channel 5 documentary)

Britannica - What Is Known (and Not Known) About the Bermuda Triangle

Smithsonian Magazine - How the Disappearance of Flight 19 Fueled the Legend

ElectronicFog.com - Bruce Gernon's account of his 1970 flight

📚 BOOKS

The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved - Lawrence David Kusche, 1975

The Bermuda Triangle - Charles Berlitz, 1974

Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea - Vincent Gaddis, 1965

Beyond the Bermuda Triangle: True Encounters with Electronic Fog, Missing Aircraft, and Time Warps - Bruce Gernon and Rob MacGregor, 2017

Sailing Alone Around the World - Joshua Slocum, 1900

Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering - Bland Simpson, UNC Press, 2005

🎬 DOCS

The Bermuda Triangle Enigma - Channel 5 documentary featuring Dr. Simon Boxall of the University of Southampton

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In a quiet Italian town, there was a woman everyone trusted. She baked. She welcomed people in. She was the kind of person no one questioned. And then people started disappearing. When she finally confessed, it wasn’t just what she had done… it was why.

SHOW NOTES

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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.

Pretty Wicked is hosted by Megan Alda.

🖤 SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Here is everything used to research this episode.

🔗 WEB SOURCES

Weird Italy - Leonarda Cianciulli, the Soapmaker of Correggio https://weirditaly.com/2013/04/25/leonarda-cianciulli-the-soapmaker-of-correggio/

All That's Interesting - The Chilling Story of Leonarda Cianciulli https://allthatsinteresting.com/leonarda-cianciulli

Utterly Interesting - The Crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/the-crimes-of-leonarda-cianciulli-the-soap-maker-of-correggio

Cardinal Points Online - Soap Maker of Correggio https://cardinalpointsonline.com/cardinal-sins-soap-maker-of-correggio-murders-three-women/

Medium - Mother Dearest: The Crimes of Leonarda Cianciulli https://medium.com/@rocknrollgeek1975/mother-dearest-the-crimes-of-leonarda-cianciulli

Museo Criminologico, Rome - The Correggio Soap-Maker http://www.museocriminologico.it/correggio_uk.htm

Life in Italy - Italy During the Second World War https://lifeinitaly.com/italy-second-world-war/

History Rise - Italy Under Mussolini https://historyrise.com/italy-under-mussolini-fascism-propaganda-and-world-war-ii/

Chapman University - Italian Society During World War II https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=history_books

Working Class History - Italian Resistance https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e77-80-italian-resistance/

Baltimore Sun - "Rendered Her Friends to Wax, She Says" (April 28, 1946) Referenced in multiple secondary sources above - original print archive only.

📚 BOOKS

The Curse: A Shocking True Story of Superstition, Human Sacrifice and Cannibalism - Ryan Green (2019)

Confessioni di Un'Anima Amareggiata (Confessions of a Bitter Soul) - Leonarda Cianciulli
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