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Nannie Doss

Murderer

Name at birth: Nannie Hazle

Nannie Doss was a serial poisoner responsible for eleven murders between the 1920s and 1954, when she finally confessed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Doss's fifth husband died in October of 1954, and an autopsy found that he'd been poisoned with arsenic. More investigations revealed that in all Nannie had killed four husbands, two children, her two sisters, her mother, a grandson and a nephew. She admitted that she had killed her husbands because they didn't measure up: "I was searching for the perfect mate, the real romance of life." She became infamous for appearing amused while recounting her crimes, and the papers dubbed her "The Giggling Granny" and "The Jolly Black Widow," as well as "Arsenic Annie." Sentenced to life in prison, she died in 1965 of cancer.

Other serial killers include Gary Ridgway and Aileen Wuornos.

Four Good Links

Nannie Doss

A distant relative recounts the tale

Lonely Hearts Lady

The Crime Library's slightly embroidered version makes a good story

Nannie Doss

Morbid retelling of her deeds

Nannie Doss

The Discovery Channel has a brief profile and a good photo

Vital Stats

Birth

1906

Birthplace

Blue Mountain, Alabama

Death

1965
(cancer, age 59)

Best Known As

"The Jolly Black Widow" serial killer