Morbid - Margaret Allen

Episode Date: March 7, 2019

In Ash's mini Mini Morbid, she covers the story of Margaret Allen, who brutally killed her neighbor just because they were feelin' some type of way. This is a quick one but it delivers a punch of scrambled eggs. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is a mini morbid. And it's Ashcentric. Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, morbid. Mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid, mini morbid. I think that should be like my like Instagram name. It's Ashcentric. It's a, it's hard to say though. Ash centric. Ash centric. Plus everybody I know calls me Ash Kelly 3. So, well, it's weird. It's not everyone I know. I'm not going to say that's real weird. All my friends. Well, this is a minisode. It is.

So this means we just barrel on in. 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 going to 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 it. 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 even 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 wish to share. 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 going to go ahead and be crude here. Imagine the pain in your hoo-ha. Oh, my Lord. After 22 kids. My Lord. That woman is a, I don't know what she is. She's a warrior. She's a douger. She's a douger. That's what she is. She's an early

century dougar. 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, and that's fine. Okay. Because this is a long time ago. You don't have her here to tell you what pronoun she prefers. 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, too. Just both communities. That's it. All right, we're digressing a lot, and 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 mine. Yeah, she loaded the coal. She repaired houses, and she also became a bus conductor. Wow. 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 am. I was going to say. Quite honest. I mean, she's just being Margaret. Yeah. Just like, God, are you there?

She is who she is. Exactly. Hey, it's me still. I want to read that book again. It's 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. So. 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 hand cuff them to their seats? Like what that means? I looked into it.

I don't know. Cuffing. 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. She cut her hair, started wearing men's clothing. She hung out with, like, mostly men. Like, she didn't have a lot of, 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. Transition. 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 in the friendship ended. Oh, now that's tough. And I don't know if she was like, bitch about it or like if Anne was or if she wasn't. I don't know. Anne, let us know. 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 Allen, because that's the last name. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's easier, I feel like that. 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. Uh, 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. Which is understandable when you lose somebody, especially a parent. Yeah. So Allen 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. It sounds like rotten stalls. Or maybe like roten stalls. I don't know. Roten 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 to Bacoup. It's Bacoup Street. Go drive onto Bacup Street. Yeah, that sounds right, actually.

Right? I'm normally I'm really good at British accent. That was so bad. I was like, I'm not going to lie. That was pretty tragic. I'm normally so much better. Fuck. Wow.

My brain is just like, woo. You know, you can't always just jump into another accent. Like, bye, pippip to you. Oh, see. Redemption? Nope. Cool, awesome.

We're almost there. But, oh, according to Ann Cook, Alan did try to commit suicide. aside 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 Allen'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 couple sugar. Like, Nancy, you know, I'm going to give you this whole bag of sugar.

And just do it what you will. Yeah. And don't know if on my door again. Yeah. I don't like people. No. Nancy. That's what I would say to Nancy.

And that's what Bill said to Nancy. 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.

All right. Which is honestly like other than the pestering, how I want people to describe me. Disagreable 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. Disagreable and eccentric.

I love that. The Ashkell story. The Ashkel E.3 story. Thank you. And good night. So, yeah, she was pretty much just a fucking annoying neighbor. Apparently, she was also, like, not poor. So everyone was like, why is she always fucking borrowing my sugar in my shit?

Yeah. Like, what's your end game here? And she was known to carry large amounts of cash in a bag, but would like, 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 walking around with a bag of cash with like a dollar sign literally and she's like can't borrow five dollars I'd eat some sugar sugar sugar so anyway the last place that Nancy was seen before she died was at Allen's home that's no good uh it's never good no so the next day her body was found in the

road right outside of Allen's house, which you can remember is the main Bacoup Road. The main Bacoup 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 and lots of wounds and shit. Yeah. But upon further investigation, the wounds showed that they'd been inflicted from the pointy end of a coal hammer. Ooh. Yup. Wow.

Fucking ouch. All right. Like, bye. No, thank you. That's business. Thank you next. Yeah. No. That's business. 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. Anybody knows why that would be pertinent, let us know. Yeah, hit me up.

Who moot? So, for some reason, the Scotland yard detectives were called in, but their investigation pretty much consisted of following the bloody trail from Allen'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 for the brilliant minds.

Scotland's yard detectives. the world's finest. They did, though, have to treat it like a regular investigation and carry out the usual steps. Of course. You can't just be like, oh, look. That blood trail. He did it. But, you know, 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. But, you know, people like that, like murderers. Yeah, they're narcissistic. They always think that they're.

Exactly. One step ahead of everybody. Like, I killed someone and I'm going to get away with it. Yeah. 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 Teen B. Deal with it. The team dream. Teen Dream, right. I don't know why I said. The team B. I think I was thinking Queen B.

Yeah, you were. But like, what if somebody just used that audio of me being like, I killed someone, I'm going to get away with it to like frame me. for something. They could, no. 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. 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 going to, 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 announce that to everybody. I would be like, you know what, that guy looks like he's the last one to see her life in my opinion. I'd be like, I am positive that like a dozen more people saw that person alive after me. 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. Rucky move. You know, just here you go. Moravid telling you how to get away with murder.

That's not where we're doing. Bye. So, Ellen became extremely overconfident and even told people that Nancy Chadwick had a hidden pocket in her underskirt that, and said, quote, she was an old fool to sit on a roadside bench counting her money. Oh, that's saucy. Because, like, I think that's what they were trying to say. Like, she was counting her money and then she was attached or something. Yeah, she got, like, 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 Allen.

Yeah. Actually, three strikes for Allen. Also, I read in one article, I forgot to put it in here, my bad, that during the police investigation, he was just like, or 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 Allen'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, things are not looking great. Alan was charged with murder.

No way. Yeah, I know. You didn't see it coming, didn't you? Wow. Yeah. Shocked. Crazy. Shocked.

And you know what? They admitted to it. I mean, at that point, you 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. But, like, I'm laughing at, like, these two, 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 will stop her. There's a hammer. I mean, that's pretty much it. She yelled at me a little, and that's, 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. So 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. Alan was really aggressive. Because Ellen was like super chill about that. There was no way they were getting insanity there. 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 Alan was going to. Yeah I agree with that but I still they would still never get the insanity plea oh no no I'm not saying that. They were very aware of what they were doing. I'm saying like maybe like Alan wouldn't have been a murder today because maybe they would have got a help they needed before it came yeah yeah but you know they're still. 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, uh, I feel like there's an underlying issue here. Yeah, as with most murderers. 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-Kralton. No, it's definitely not. I don't know if you thought that, but... Yeah, it's like, no. Sorry, it's not. I'm going to burst your bubble alone. 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 heard of. I mean, I love scrambled eggs.

I don't like scrambled eggs. I love eggs from my head down to my legs. I'll play 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. Some will remember it, I'm sure. Some 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. Babe. No, I love eggs from my head down to my legs, but I would not want eggs as my last meal. No, especially scrambled. I don't even know what I wouldn't 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 serve? good question. I would say either over easy or sunny side up. I would say eggs Benedict over hash browns extra hollandays. Oh girl I didn't know we could add more shit on the end. You can only add like one other breakfast item. Then I would throw some hash browns in there. Yeah. Yeah. Or no, no, no. If I was actually going to do it, I'd take it back. I would put it over corned beef hash. 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 for a request. 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 is like, whoa, you're... 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 going to 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, so far we're not nailing the like 30 minute marking the one of us, but it's fine. It's okay. It's cool. Other podcasts have 25 minute episodes.

Hey, this is a quick little one that you can get Zook to work listening to. Yeah, go to the Dunkin' Donuts Drive-Thru. Yeah, and 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 going to also be getting a full length this week, and we're going to 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 going to be exciting. Alina assigns me my research every week. I do. She's like, look up this and look up this. 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 of us here. All of us are important. And so yeah, so. 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 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. And in the meantime, we hope that you follow us on Instagram.

at morbid podcast. We hope that you send us some g-mails at morbidpodcast.gmail.com. We hope that you tweet at us. A morbid 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. W.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 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 then you ask for scrambled eggs and then you kick them right across the floor like spoiled ass brat. not that weird don't do it oh eat your scrambled eggs damn it don't kick them kick rocks not eggs kick rocks that's a great t-shirt bye