In 1950s Greece, a hilltop monastery promised healing, holiness, and hope for the desperate. But inside its whitewashed walls, Mariam Soulakiotis—known to her followers as Mother Mariam—was running something far darker. Torture disguised as penance. Starvation sold as salvation. With nearly 500 deaths linked to her cult-like regime, Soulakiotis remains one of history’s most sinister religious figures. In this episode of The Man-Eating Toaster, we peel back the veil on the so-called “Nightmare Nun”—a woman who wore the cross like armor and turned faith into a weapon.
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The Dancing Toaster is a weekly podcast that wrestles with the intersection of faith and the unexplained. I release new episodes every Tuesday wherever podcasts are found.
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