She had apparently found a possible husband number six in North Carolina based dairy farmer John H. Keel before her arrest and even sent him a cake. Nannies father died and so her mother came to live with the couple, which brought its own series of problems. Harrelson was no different. So youre not the brightest, but your hearts in the right place. This head trauma caused Nannie to suffer from severe headaches, blackouts and depression for many years. It would be an understatement to say that he messed with the wrong person. Doss confessed to killing four of her husbands, her mother, her sister, her grandson, and her mother-in-law. In all, it was revealed that she had killed four husbands, two children, two of her sisters, her mother, two grandsons, and a mother-in-law. As it was, they simply divorced and he would be the only man who married Nannie and lived. Under his orders, an autopsy was performed and they found a large amount of arsenic in his system. The marriage produced four daughters from 1923 to 1927. She was called a "self-made widow" by a newspaper. Nannie was promptly arrested. If that's what happened, this article asks the big question: Why did Lizzie Borden kill her parents? Since women are usual much more emotional and empathetic, it is highly unusual for women to be capable of being serial killers. While Braggs was an attentive father, his relationship with his wife did not improve at all. After a successful treatment regime, the hospital let him go. Bodies of her victims were exhumed and found to contain alarming amounts of poison. Nannie Doss was promptly arrested. They were married soon. The next day, she put rat poison in Harrelson's corn whiskey jar, and he died that evening. Doss then met Arlie Lanning through an advertisement in the local lonely hearts column. Dovie was bedridden and soon after Nannie's arrival she died. After confessing to the murders of four or her five husbands, Nannie Doss leaves the county attorneys office and heads to jail. Then, her two year old grandson died by asphyxiation while in her care. Doss was looking to get married for the fourth time. In all, authorities suspect she killed as many as 12 people, most of whom were blood-related. During her second marriage, Doss is suspected of having killed her newborn granddaughter by stabbing her brain with her hairpin. Richard Morton of Emporia, Kan. was Doss next true love, although he spent a lot of time with other women while married to Doss. But after she took care of her mother and sister, she turned her full attention to her cheating husband. She gave birth to her son Robert Lee Haynes in 1943. She was arrested on October 12th 1954 (Age 48), convicted on May 17th 1955 (Age 49), sentenced to life imprisonment at Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Her parents were Louisa "Lou" (ne Holder) and James F. Hazel. Nannie Doss is credited with killing at least 11 people. Her first attempt to kill him with arsenic-laced prune cake failed, and he spent a month recovering in the hospital. She too met her demise soon after Doss moved in. He did not allow non-educational, non-enlightening TV shows and magazines in the house and disliked the romance novels and stories that his wife adored. Starting in 1927 with the death of two of her children and ending in 1954 with the death of her husband, Samuel Doss, Nannie Doss killed eleven people before being caught by police. He thanks you for reading his content. Imagine you got into a fight with your significant other. This time, it was Doss who would often vanish for prolonged periods. He was a heavy drinker, so doctors attributed the heart attack to alcohol. On December 15, three weeks after Nannie was arrested, the judge at her preliminary hearing decided to turn her over to the state asylum for a ninety-day stay. She wasnt after insurance money. Karla Homolka is one of Canadas most infamous female serial killers. Exhausted from labor and groggy from ether, Melvina thought she saw her visiting mother stick a hatpin into the baby's head. Because after a simple marital spat, that would be weird, right? However, the relationship had several issues right from the beginning, mostly due to Harrelsons alcoholism and violent temper. For years after, she suffered severe headaches, blackouts and depression. Despite this, the marriage lasted 16 years. After a few months, she discovered that he was an alcoholic and had a criminal record for assault. Your partner was a bit less than understanding, and after some unexpected raging, just up and vanished. Despite this, the marriage lasted 16 years. Nannie killed him that very evening with her tried and tested method of arsenic in coffee. Until you do, approximately half an hour later. She was a year older than he was. 1895 December 29, 1895. She was born to Louisa "Lou" (ne Holder) and James F. Hazel. She found Richard L. Morton of Jamestown, North Carolina in a dating service called the Diamond Circle Club. Doss died of leukaemia on June 2, 1965, in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was subsequently laid to rest in Oak Hill Memorial Park in McAlester, Oklahoma. So the doctor convinced Doss, who was to receive two life insurance benefits after the fifth husbands death, to let him perform an autopsy. They married in 1952 in Emporia, Kansas and not long after that, Morton started to spend night after night with other women in the town. Though Lanning also was an alcoholic, unlike second husband Frank Harrelson, Lanning was not violent. One newspaper went as far as calling her a self-made widow. She had four siblings, including a brother named William Roscoe Hazel and a sister named Dovie Frances Hazel Weaver. Nannie Doss, under arrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 1954. Reverend Samuel Luther Doss's Timeline. Exhausted from the labour and still groggy from the ether, Melvina thought that she saw her mother kill her daughter by sticking a hairpin into the newborns head. He also did not allow them to attend any dances or other social events. Because of the stress of raising four children, Mrs. Braggs, and an adulterous husband, Doss began drinking and smoking heavily, and soon, she too began indulging in adulterous acts. Exhausted from labor and groggy from ether, Melvina thought she saw her visiting mother stick a hatpin into the baby's head. The physician said it was a good idea because the autopsy would save lives. In the years after, she had bouts of depression, headaches, and blackouts. Nannie's Early Life A native of Alabama, Nannie grew up with four siblings in a town near Jacksonville. Nannie moved in with her parents and took her two still living daughters with her. TruTv Crime Library. Doss was looking to get married for the fourth time. Joyce Meyer is a Christian author and speaker. Doss, Nannie - Encyclopedia of Alabama The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. They married three days later. The Story Of Nannie Doss, The 'Giggling Granny' Serial Killer She was also suspected of killing her granddaughter, and two of her four children with Braggs. You sigh contentedly and wash it down with a large thermos of coffee. Edmund Kemper is a convicted serial killer from America who murdered ten people. Instead, after she pleaded guilty on May 17, 1955, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. She topped it off with rat poison, and Frank died on Sept. 15, 1945 just hours after Doss filled his liquor bottle. It didnt take long before shed found her next victim. Three months later Morton died of similar symptoms. Nannie met her third husband, Arlie Lanning, through another lonely-hearts column while travelling in Lexington, North Carolina, and married him three days later. After a successful treatment regime, the hospital let him go. He was neither a drunk nor abusive. For years to follow, she suffered with depression, headaches, and blackouts. Nannie then moved in with her sister Dovie. When she asked if she could work in the kitchen, she was politely told no. She soon confessed to killing four of her five ex-husbands, but not her family members. You miss your spouse and are looking around the room. She married five times. Doss could not provide any reasonable explanation. He simply made the mistake of telling his wife that she could only read magazines or watch television shows that were for educational purposes. Nannie Doss, otherwise known as the Giggling Granny, or Lady Bluebeard, was an elderly woman who poisoned and killed up to 11 members of her family, including four husbands.She blamed early head trauma and an unrealized dream of a romance novel-style marriage as the impetus behind her coldhearted murders, the crimes of Nannie Doss will shock even the most hardened true crime lovers. Victims and Suspects - Nannie Doss Before she left with her spoils, Nannie is suspected of doing one more terrible deed. She laced some cake and coffee with poison and served it to her fifth husband. In 1947 she met Arlie Lanning, and just two days later they married. Then at the age of seven, she suffered a traumatic head injury on a train, which changed her life. Instead of going to school, all five of Jim and Louisa Hazles children stayed at home to work on household chores and tend to the family farm. Black Widow: The True Story of Giggling Granny Nannie Doss Nannie then had four children. Just eight weeks after Lanning died, the house he and Doss lived in burned to the ground. Nannie was just seven when she was riding a train that came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Two children died under mysterious circumstances that same year. What did you do right before you started feeling sick? is one he asks more than once. A Drunk Man In Mexico Just Injured Himself On The Sword Of A St. Michael Statue While Trying To Steal It, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. It was then that Nannie Doss confessed to killing four of her five husbands, and authorities believed she may have killed many of her blood relatives as well. You wake up wearing a hospital gown in a bed at the hospital with a doctor looming over you. The bad news was that she got another shot. She was also known as the Giggling Granny, the Lonely Hearts Killer, the Black Widow, and Lady Blue Beard. This biography of Aileen Wuornos provides detailed information about her childhood, life, crimes & timeline. Harrelson was next on the murderers list. Following a night of drunken revelry at the end of World War II, Doss mixed a secret ingredient into his hidden jar of moonshine. After the tragic incident, the grief-stricken couple slowly drifted apart and eventually separated. Worry? When people write personals, they dont include their faults, but it wasnt long before Doss discovered that Harrelson was a drunk who had spent time in jail for felonious assault charges. He would not let his children attend school but forced them to serve as farm-hands. Doss finally confessed to the murders in October 1954, after her fifth husband had died in a small hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But Doss wasnt finished killing there. Nannie Doss life of murder did not start with Arlie Lanning. At age 9, while the family was taking a train to visit relatives in southern Alabama, Nannie hit her head on a metal bar on the seat in front of her when the train suddenly stopped. Driven by greed, she killed Samuel on the very day he had come back home so she could collect the two insurance policies she had taken in his name. The woman died in her sleep. A huge fan of newspaper classifieds, Nannie Doss began looking for a third husband shortly after the murder of her second. See, there was a secret ingredient in both that cake and that coffee that you werent aware of: generous doses of arsenic. The autopsy revealed a huge amount of arsenic in his system. Shortly after her mothers death, one of Dosss sisters died suddenly after having contact with the Nannie Doss. Braggs always maintained he left her because he was frightened of her. She was born Nancy Hazle in 1905 in Alabama, according to ThoughtCo. They married in 1952 in Emporia, Kansas. Nannie Doss was an American serial killer who received the famous nicknames, "The Giggling Nanny," and "The Jolly Black Widow" when she went on a murder rampage, which lasted around thirty-five years. Within hours of his return, Doss had served him a port roast dinner with a cup of coffee laced with arsenic. The couple divorced in 1928. Nannie Doss seemed like a sweet lady. Harrelson was no different. But all you do is groan, as your head is throbbing and you have no desire for small talk. Nannie Doss was an American serial killer who killed 11 people. Nannie Doss and the Last Seven Murders | World History The two met through a lonely hearts column. She put rat poison in the whiskey. Doss then met Arlie Lanning through an advertisement in the local lonely hearts column. She soon experienced some stomach upset and then passed away, and Morton followed her a few months later. With her father's approval they married after four months of dating. He was dead before midnight. Her casual smoking habit turned into a heavy addiction. This caused her to lurch forward and smash her head on a metal seat in front of her. Harrelson died an excruciating death that evening. While working at a linen factory, Nannie Doss met and eventually married Samuel Doss. And more importantly, why are you by yourself? Lannings sister was designated to receive the house through his will, but instead, an insurance check was sent to Doss for the damages. His mother died soon after he left. Two years later, she and her husband had another child, this time a daughter. Despite James forbidding Doss and her sisters from wearing make-up and attractive clothes in fear of molestation, it still happened on several occasions. Nannie Doss Killed Four of Her Five Husbands - and Possibly Seven Other By the time she married her third husband, three people had been killed. In the ensuing years, Doss gave birth to four daughters. Nannie's controlling father made it difficult for her to form friendships. Doss believed in true love and romance, and she wasnt willing to wait to find it. Possibly in hopes of escaping an overly strict home life, Doss married her first husband when she was just 16 years old. By the time Samuel and Nannie met, she had years of poisoning experience, so its a surprise that her prune cake missed its mark. Nannie continued to act crazy even as she was handed down a sentence of life in prison. Nannie was sentenced to life in prison. Perhaps she used the romance magazines as an escape from her abusive father while her mother turned a blind eye. To make matters worse, as she talked to the police about each of the people she had killed, she smiled and giggled. She had an abusive father and a mother who did not do anything about the abuse. Doss is thought to have committed her first murders in 1927, when her two young daughters died of suspected food poisoning. Driven by greed, she killed Samuel on the very day he had come back home so she could collect the two insurance policies she had taken in his name. The Giggling Nanny Who Killed To Find Her Perfect Soulmate Nannie Doss Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Crimes of While this one was not an alcoholic, he was still a womaniser. He would not let his children attend school but forced them to serve as farm-hands. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family, life, and little known facts about him. Whenever she came back, she played the role of a doting wife perfectly. Nannie DOSS - Gruesome Female Serial Murderer Her husband went away with their oldest living child and didnt return until the following year. Nannie Doss (born Nancy Hazel; November 4, 1905 - June 2, 1965) was an American serial killer responsible for the deaths of 11 people between some time in the 1920s and 1954. She would not let my own mother stay all night Braggs' mother took up a lot of his attention and limited Nannie's activities. The marriage fell apart at that point. Nannie eventually confessed to murdering her fifth husband in October 1954 after he died while in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital. 1942- Angelou dropped out of school to . For a while at least, Nannie seemed to care for her like a good daughter. 1905. . At one point, in order to gain more control of the finances, Doss left from Oklahoma, where the couple currently lived, and went home to Alabama. And this is how Samuel Doss really was killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As reported by Alabama Heritage, Doss eventually admitted poisoning four of her husbands. During this time, many critical events took place, including the murder of 11 people. Two weeks later, he was dead. Then, read about Elisabeth Fritzl, who spent 24 years held captive by her father. They had four children and lived with her mother-in-law, but she was just as abusive as her father had been. Whenever she came back, she played the role of a doting wife perfectly. But when she was home, she played the doting housewife, and when he died of what was said to be heart failure, the townspeople supported her at his funeral. Again, it was not a happy union, as Frank could become violently angry and had a drinking problem. Authorities question Nannie Doss about her crimes. Samuel Doss spent a month recovering in the hospital. Her first marriage, to a co-worker named Charley Braggs, was tumultuous to say the least and Braggs would later claim that he left Doss because he was afraid of her. Turns out what your spouse wanted was for you to be dead and to collect on those two insurance policies. Nannie Doss was an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison after murdering 11 people between the 1920s and 1954. He controlled her clothes, hair, makeup, schooling, and social interactions. Nannie Doss is one of the most prolific American female serial killers, thought to have killed 11 family members during a span of more than 20 years. Perhaps, if that injury had never occurred, several men, women, and children could have died naturally instead of at the hands of the Giggling Granny. After he performed an autopsy on the body, he found the lethal doses of arsenic in his system. In fact, she often joked about her situation. Nannie's story begins in Blue Mountain, Alabama. Nannie Doss was born in 1905, and she was arrested 50 years later. But it does make you wonder if all of it could have been prevented if not for that childhood train injury. Worldhistory.us - For those who want to understand the History, not just to read it. She soon realised, however, that Lanning was an alcoholic womaniser like Harrelson. He died under mysterious circumstances. She soon realised, however, that Lanning was an alcoholic womaniser like Harrelson. You have a real reason to think this, too, as you come home after work one day and a delicious prune cake is just sitting there waiting for you. Like Harrelson, Lanning was an alcoholic womanizer. He courted her with poetry; she wrote passionate letters and sent him a cake and a photograph of herself. At that time, she was taking care of Lannings mother who was suffering from a broken hip. Soon after her discovery, police began showing up at her house several times a week to let her know that Frank was, once again, in the drunk tank for fighting. Other than throw up and convulse until you die while your significant other happily laughed in the background. Check out this biography to know about her birthday, childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about her. Despite this, she maintained her cheerful disposition throughout her life, often making jokes about her case. Melvina had grown up by then and got married herself. Why the United States Entered World War I, 123rd Machine Gun Battalion in the Meuse-Argonne, Northern Military Advantages in the Civil War, The Year Before America Entered the Great War. 25 Interesting And Bizarre Facts About Nannie Doss (Photo Credit: Bettmann/ Getty Images) Her fourth husband was a man named Richard Morton whom she met through a dating service. Braggs took his older daughter, Melvina, with him and left a newborn, Florine, with his ex-wife and mother. Bettmann/Getty ImagesAuthorities question Nannie Doss about her crimes. The next day, Doss discovered onez of Harrelsons liquor bottles in the flower bed. Background and First Two Husbands of Nannie Doss. After two and a half years of marriage, Doss's third husband, Arlie Lanning died of what doctors proclaimed to be a heart attack caused by a flu that was going around. However, at first, no one was the least bit suspicious. Meanwhile, Doss took out insurance worth $500 on Robert. Nannie Doss breaks into a smile after signing a statement for Tulsa officers admitting she killed four of her five husbands with rat poison. Nannie was one of five children; she had one brother and three sisters. Often referred to as "The Giggling Granny" or "The Jolly Widow", Nannie Doss did not instill fear in her victims. He drank without inhibition and one night, after returning home completely intoxicated, raped Doss. One day, Melvina had a particularly unpleasant argument with her mother and went to her fathers house to stay for a while. At the age of 16, Nannie Doss wed a man she had only known for four months. In addition, Morton had another girlfriend who he met before Doss. She also killed Lannings mother, her mother-in-law; Lou Hazel, her own mother; Dovie Frances Hazel Weaver, her sister; and Robert Lee Haynes, her grandson. However, the arrangement soon proved to be troublesome as most of Braggs time was taken up by his mother. She wasnt a happy child. At age seven, Doss suffered a head injury while riding a train. Nanny Doss: The Giggling Nanny timeline | Timetoast timelines She went on to kill all three of her subsequent husbands, Arlie Lanning, Richard L. Morton, and Samuel Doss. Perhaps it was her mother-in-law that kickstarted Doss murdering spree. Then came the police. By the time she was a teenager, Doss dreamed of living an idyllic life with her future husband. This biography profiles her childhood, life, career, works, achievements and timeline. Bettmann/Getty ImagesNannie Doss breaks into a smile after signing a statement for Tulsa officers admitting she killed four of her five husbands with rat poison. Nannie Doss was an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison after murdering 11 people between the 1920s and 1954. In fact, by the time their marriage ended, he had already replaced her with another love interest. People assumed he died of food poisoning. Doss, 24, and Harrelson, 23, got married soon after meeting and after sixteen years, Harrelson died. During the journey, the train suddenly ceased moving and she hit her head on a metal bar on the seat opposite of her. Dont worry, were alone, he tells you. The Story Of Nannie Doss, The Giggling Granny Who Spent Decades Murdering Relatives And Husbands. The doctors, however, could not give a positive explanation. After their wedding, Braggs mother insisted on living with them.