PODCAST · true crime
Monstrous
by Carrie Canny
Monstrous is a true crime and mystery podcast that dives into legends, hauntings, and all things eerie and spine-tingling. Hosted by a Southern-born storyteller now living in the Midwest, the show explores murders, serial killers, cold cases, mysteries, cults, and the unexplained. Along with a regular guest and occasional special guests, each episode unravels the strange, the chilling, and the monstrous. Join us every Monday for new episodes. Listener discretion is advised.
Episodes
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The Greenbrier Ghost
In the winter of 1897, Elva Zona Heaster Shue—known as Zona—was found dead inside her Greenbrier County, West Virginia, home just months after marrying Edward “Trout” Shue. At first, Zona’s death was treated as natural. But her mother, Mary Jane Heaster, did not believe it. She noticed the…
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The Chicago Tylenol Murders
A bottle of pain reliever. A familiar brand. A normal morning. In late September 1982, seven people across the Chicago area took Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules for everyday reasons. But within days, all seven were dead. The capsules had been contaminated with potassium cyanide. Mary Kellerman…
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The Jersey Devil
It’s our first spooky-season bonus episode, and we’re heading into the forests, wetlands, and winding roads of southern New Jersey. For nearly three centuries, people have told stories about a creature said to live in the Pine Barrens. It has been described as a winged beast with hooves, a long...
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The Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblins
It’s officially spooky season, and we’re kicking things off with one of the strangest UFO encounters in American history. On the night of August 21, 1955, a group of people near Kelly and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, claimed that their farmhouse was surrounded by small, strange figures. The beings…
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The Green River Killer Part 5
After nearly two decades of fear, missed opportunities, and unanswered questions, the Green River Killer investigation finally reached its breaking point. In the final episode of our Green River Killer series, DNA evidence brings detectives back to a name that had appeared in their files for…
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The Green River Killer Part 4
Years into the Green River investigation, detectives still did not know the identity of the man responsible—but the discoveries were far from over. In Part 4, we follow the cases of Tracy Winston, Maureen Feeney, Kimberly Nelson, Cindy Smith, Debra Estes, Andrea Childers, Marta Reeves, Roberta...
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We Officially Have A Song!!!
Now debuting: “This is Monstrous” — the official theme song for the podcast. Some stories are buried beneath small-town roads, old houses, forgotten headlines, and the silence left behind. But the truth has a way of lingering. “This is Monstrous” is an eerie tribute to the murders, mysteries,...
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The Green River Killer Part 3
In Part 3 of our Green River Killer series, the discoveries keep coming—and each one reveals more about the scale of the horror unfolding around Seattle. As investigators search wooded areas, airport-adjacent fields, and remote dump sites, more victims are found. Some are identified quickly.…
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The Green River Killer Part 2
The Green River Task Force is reaching a breaking point. As the victim count rises through late 1983, investigators shift from reacting to bodies to flooding Pacific Highway South with undercover surveillance, decoys, and early computer databases. But despite tracking leads on primed pickup…
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The Green River Killer Part 1
Before the Green River Killer became one of the most infamous serial killers in American history, he was just a name no one suspected — while bodies were already beginning to surface. In Part 1 of our Gary Ridgway series, we trace the terrifying early timeline of the Green River case, from the...
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The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway
Natalee Holloway was 18 years old when she vanished on a graduation trip to Aruba, and the nightmare that followed would stretch on for nearly two decades. In this episode of Monstrous, we follow the disappearance, the chaos of the early investigation, the endless lies, and the dark trail that...
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When Mass Hysteria Spreads
In this episode of Monstrous, we’re diving into three real cases of mass psychogenic illness that left investigators searching for answers. It starts in 1962, when a laughter outbreak swept through a Tanzanian boarding school and spread into surrounding communities. Then we move to a North…
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The Meowing Nuns
A convent in France. Silence, ritual, and devotion. And then, according to later accounts, the sound of cat-like cries breaking through the stillness. In this episode of Monstrous, we unravel the eerie story of the meowing nuns — a medieval tale that lives somewhere between legend, historical...
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Simon Michael: Barrister Turned Author
In this special bonus episode of Monstrous, Carrie sits down with Simon Michael—a former criminal barrister turned novelist, often called the “British John Grisham”—for a conversation rooted in real cases, courtroom tension, and the darker corners of human nature. After 37 years practicing law in...
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The Dancing Plague of 1518
In 1518, the city of Strasbourg witnessed an event that still defies explanation. A woman known as Frau Troffea began dancing in the street—and continued for days. Within a week, dozens had joined her. Within a month, that number may have reached into the hundreds. There was no music. No clear...
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Ted Kaczynski Part 2
In Part 2 of our two-part Unabomber series, we continue the story of Ted Kaczynski — the man who terrorized the United States for nearly two decades with a bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 more. From the first bomb at Northwestern University in 1978 to the final fatal...
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Two Podcasters. One Unsolved Case.
Amy Bradley’s disappearance is one of those cases that never really lets go. Nearly three decades later, the questions are still there. The sightings. The theories. The gaps that don’t quite make sense. And the reality that no one has ever been able to fully explain what happened aboard that…
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Ted Kaczynski Part 1
This is the story of how a math prodigy became the Unabomber. Born in Chicago in 1942, Theodore Kaczynski was a brilliant but isolated child who skipped grades, spent months in hospital isolation as an infant, and never learned how to connect with other people. By 16, he was at Harvard studying...
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Lizzie Borden
Did She Do It? Fall River, Massachusetts. August 4, 1892. A hot summer morning. 69-year-old Andrew Borden and his 64-year-old wife Abby are found dead inside their home at 92 Second Street. Both were struck dozens of times with a hatchet — Abby 19 times, Andrew 10-11 times. Their skulls smashed....
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Coming Soon: Two Podcasters. One Unsolved Case.
A special bonus episode is coming to Monstrous on June 19th. In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Hall from Midnight Mystery Archive to talk about the Amy Bradley case, a disappearance that has stayed with people for nearly 30 years. We both spent months researching this case at the same time,...
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The Alaskan Triangle
Hey y’all, this week on Monstrous, we’re heading north to one of the most mysterious places on Earth—the Alaskan Triangle. A vast, unofficial region where over 20,000 people have gone missing since the 1970s, and nearly 70% are never found. From planes disappearing without distress calls to…
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The Murder of Tracie McBride
In this week’s episode of Monstrous, we cover the heartbreaking murder of 19-year-old Army private Tracie McBride. Stationed at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, Tracie should have been safe on base, but her life was stolen in a case that would lead to a federal trial, years of...
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Invisawear: A Way to Be Heard
A dark, cinematic trailer from Carrie about why Invisawear stood out as a partnership, focusing on timing, instinct, and everyday safety accessories designed to help you stay connected when it matters most. Includes the listener discount and a reminder that sometimes having one more way to be…
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The Murder of Lana Clarkson
In 2003, Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson walked into the Alhambra, California, mansion of music‑industry legend Phil Spector — and never walked out. On this episode of Monstrous, we unravel the story of Lana Clarkson, a woman with her own dreams, career, and family, whose life became forever...
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Junko Tabei
This week on Monstrous, we step away from the usual darkness and into the thin air of the Himalayas for a story about quiet courage, not chaos. We’re telling the life story of Junko Tabei—a Japanese schoolteacher and mother who became the first woman to climb Mount Everest and one of the first...
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The Giggling Granny
In this episode of Monstrous, we meet Nannie Doss — The Giggling Granny — the sweet, grandmotherly figure who baked cookies, giggled through interrogations, and poisoned everyone who got in the way of her idea of “true love.” She looked like everyone’s favorite grandmother: wire‑rimmed glasses,...
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Amusement Park Disasters
Strap in for our wildest ride yet—Carrie takes you behind the scenes to uncover the dark history of amusement park disasters that turned summer fun into tragedy. From the 1930 Big Dipper derailment at Krug Park that killed four and banned coasters in Omaha, to Action Park’s decade-long reign of...
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The Sleeping Sickness
In this episode of Monstrous, we dive into the terrifying and baffling history of encephalitis lethargica, the mysterious sleeping sickness that swept the world in the early 1900s. What began as flu-like symptoms soon turned into a nightmare of extreme sleepiness, paralysis, violent spasms, and a...
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The 1916 Jersey Shore Shark Attacks Part 2
In the conclusion of our series on the 1916 Jersey Shore shark attacks, the nightmare moves where no one thought it could go: inland. Last week, we saw the terror unfold on the beaches of Beach Haven and Spring Lake. This week, we travel 11 miles away from the ocean to the quiet, murky waters of...
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The 1916 Jersey Shore Shark Attacks Part 1
Before there was Jaws, there was July 1916. In this episode, Carrie and MawMaw take you back to a sweltering summer on the New Jersey coast. While the country is gripped by a polio epidemic and a record-breaking heatwave, thousands of families flee to the "safety" of the ocean. But a deadly...
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The Sallie House
It starts with a flickering light. A misplaced toy. A child’s laughter echoing from an empty nursery. For Tony and Debra Pickman, the haunting of their Atchison, Kansas, home felt like a tragedy—until the mask began to slip. In this episode of Monstrous, Carrie and MawMaw explore the terrifying...
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The Leongatha Mushroom Murders
On a quiet Saturday in July 2023, in the Victorian town of Leongatha, an invitation to lunch was extended as an olive branch. Erin Patterson—a former air traffic controller—hosted her estranged in-laws and a local pastor’s family for a homemade Beef Wellington. But what was presented as a gesture...
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The Dark History of St. Patrick's Day
This bonus episode of Monstrous peels back the layers of green glitter to reveal the 1,600-year cold case at the heart of Saint Patrick’s Day. From the teenage kidnapping of Maewyn Succat to the "Triple Death" of the Irish peat bogs, Carrie and MawMaw explore how a holiday of "parades and pints"...
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The Disappearance of Brittanee Drexel
"I don’t think you’re coming back." Those were the haunting final words Dawn Drexel said to her daughter before Brittanee slipped out of her New York home for a Spring Break trip she wasn’t supposed to be on. In April 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel vanished into the neon-lit humid air of…
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Megan Alert Update
When a college student goes missing, every second counts—but for too long, a legal "gray zone" has treated 18-year-olds like they have no expectation of being looked for. In this high-stakes update, we dive into the breakthrough of Colorado’s Senate Bill 120, better known as the "Megan Alert."...
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The Kentucky Meat Shower
In March 1876, the residents of Bath County, Kentucky, stepped outside into a cloudless sky only to find it raining raw, red meat. What began as a quiet Friday morning for farmwife Mary Crouch quickly devolved into a global scientific puzzle and a localized nightmare. In this episode of…
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Danielle and Kennedy Hoyle
In February 2022, the "village" of Whitehaven in Memphis, Tennessee, was shattered by a crime that defied the natural order. When 27-year-old Danielle Hoyle was found in a roadside ditch next to her idling Chevy Cruze, the city's heart stopped—not just for the loss of a devoted mother, but for…
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Cari Farver: The Digital Ghost
How can a woman be in two places at once? For four years, Cari Farver was a ghost. To her mother, she was a series of cruel and erratic text messages. To her boyfriend, she was a voyeuristic nightmare watching from the shadows. To the police, she was a "runaway" whose digital footprint suggested...
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The Smiley Face Killers Theory: Accidents or M.O?
Is a "simple, taunting, circle" the signature of a cross-country serial killer cell, or is it just statistical noise? This week on Monstrous, Carrie and MawMaw dive into the chilling and controversial Smiley Face Killers Theory. Since 1997, hundreds of college-aged, athletic men have vanished…
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The Circleville Letters
In a small town nestled in Ohio, a series of poison pen letters unleashed chaos and fear that would linger for decades. The Circleville letters represent a dark chapter in American history, showcasing the lengths one individual would go to in order to destroy lives and reputations. This week we...
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The Vanishing Skyjackers
In our final, decisive flight of 2025, Carrie and MawMaw are strapping on detective hats and analyzing technical blueprints to close the year on the most audacious acts of air piracy in American history. We’re stepping away from typical horrors to explore a brief, terrifying era when the sky…
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The Missing Sodder Children
In the chill of Christmas Eve 1945, a tragedy unfolded in Fayetteville, West Virginia, that would haunt a family and a community for decades. The Sodder family, preparing for a joyful holiday, faced an unimaginable horror when five of their children vanished without a trace in a fire that raised...
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Dyatlov Pass: The Mountain of the Dead
In the frigid winter of 1959, a group of experienced hikers embarked on a challenging expedition in the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union. Despite their skills and preparation, the group faced an inexplicable tragedy that has led to numerous theories, including natural disasters, human...
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The Keddie Cabin Murders
The Keddie Cabin Murders, a tragic event that occurred in 1981, involved the brutal killing of a family in a remote California resort. The investigation was marred by errors and a lack of resources, leading to multiple theories about the motive and identity of the killer. Despite overwhelming...
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The Christmas Tree Lady
The holiday season is often filled with joy and togetherness, but sometimes it can also bring to light profound stories of isolation and despair. In this episode, we delve into the haunting mystery of a woman known only as the "Christmas Tree Lady," whose tragic end raises questions about…
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The Thanksgiving Day Murders
Thanksgiving is often a time for family gatherings filled with laughter and joy, but for the Sitton family in 2009, this holiday would become synonymous with horror. In this episode, we will delve into the tragic events that transpired during their Thanksgiving dinner, exploring the underlying...
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The Yuba County Five
In the quiet town of Gridley, California, a tragedy unfolded that would haunt families and communities alike for decades. The story of five friends, known as the Yuba County Five, takes us through the labyrinth of friendship, adventure, and the chilling unknown. Their disappearance remains one of...
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The Hartford Circus Fire
This week Carrie tells us the story of The Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. A tragic event that claimed 167 lives and injured over 700 people. The fire was a result of negligence. The chaos that ensued during the fire led to a devastating stampede, resulting in many deaths. The aftermath saw a...
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The List Family Murders
This week Carrie and her co-host delves into the chilling case of John List, a man who meticulously planned the murder of his entire family in a bid to save them from what he perceived as disgrace and ruin. They explore the facade of the List family, the psychological turmoil of John List, and…
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Halloween Special Double Feature
In this episode Carrie and MawMaw delve into the chilling legacy of the Candyman, exploring two notorious figures who earned this sinister nickname. They begin with a Halloween special, transitioning into a discussion about the fear that has permeated Halloween traditions due to the actions of…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Monstrous is a true crime and mystery podcast that dives into legends, hauntings, and all things eerie and spine-tingling. Hosted by a Southern-born storyteller now living in the Midwest, the show explores murders, serial killers, cold cases, mysteries, cults, and the unexplained. Along with a regular guest and occasional special guests, each episode unravels the strange, the chilling, and the monstrous. Join us every Monday for new episodes. Listener discretion is advised.
HOSTED BY
Carrie Canny
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Monstrous have?
Monstrous currently has 124 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Monstrous about?
Monstrous is a true crime and mystery podcast that dives into legends, hauntings, and all things eerie and spine-tingling. Hosted by a Southern-born storyteller now living in the Midwest, the show explores murders, serial killers, cold cases, mysteries, cults, and the unexplained. Along with a...
How often does Monstrous release new episodes?
Monstrous publishes regularly with 124 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Monstrous?
You can listen to Monstrous on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Monstrous?
Monstrous is created and hosted by Carrie Canny.
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