Nannie was just seven when she was riding a train that came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Both were unhappy and suspected the other, correctly so, of infidelity. This made her one of the most notorious female serial killers. Nannie Doss was born in Blue Mountain, Anniston, Alabama, Nannie Doss's nickNames is Giggling Granny, the Lonely Hearts Killer, the Black Widow, Nannie Doss's spouses is Arlie Lanning (m. ?1950), Richard L. Morton (m. 19521953), Robert Franklin Harrelson (m. 19291945), Nannie Doss's childrens is Melvina B. Braggs Leonard, Copy this code and place into your web pageView Nannie Doss stories, Copyright FamousBio 2020 All rights reserved This template was inspired with love by Colorlib, Giggling Granny, the Lonely Hearts Killer, the Black Widow, Arlie Lanning (m. ?1950), Richard L. Morton (m. 19521953), Robert Franklin Harrelson (m. 19291945). Youre glad you are. After reading about Nannie Doss, the serial killer nicknamed the Giggling Granny, read about Leonarda Cianciulli, who turned her murder victims into soap and teacakes. Braggs often would not be home for days on end. 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. Your email address will not be published. Long before Nannie met Samuel, she had several other marriages. Two years after Lanning's death, Doss met and married Richard Morton. confessed to killing four of her five ex-husbands. 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. But all you do is groan, as your head is throbbing and you have no desire for small talk. Then, read about Elisabeth Fritzl, who spent 24 years held captive by her father. In all, authorities suspect she killed as many as 12 people, most of whom were blood-related. The doctor seems to notice. Melvina then started dating a soldier whom Doss did not particularly like. 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. In the years after, she had bouts of depression, headaches, and blackouts. Despite this, she maintained her cheerful disposition throughout her life, often making jokes about her case. Irma Grese was a notorious German Nazi concentration camp guard during the Second World War. He was dead less than a week later on Sept. 15, 1945. Wentworth Miller is an American actor and screenwriter who achieved recognition for his role in the TV series Prison Break. One day, Melvina had a particularly unpleasant argument with her mother and went to her fathers house to stay for a while. Nannie Doss was promptly arrested. Arlies mother, who they had been living with, also died one night in her sleep. Arlie was poisoned to death by 1950. But behind the happy facade was a trail of death and murder that lasted from the 1920s to 1954. This biography of Aileen Wuornos provides detailed information about her childhood, life, crimes & timeline. Continue reading to find out about Nannie Doss next three husbands and other casualties. After being in jail for two years, she stated that she would have preferred the death sentence. The very last thing Richard did was drink coffee filled with arsenic. She soon realised, however, that Lanning was an alcoholic womaniser like Harrelson. He spoke with Samuels wife, Nannie, and asked her if he could examine the body for research purposes. Alarmed at his sudden passing, Samuel's doctors ordered an autops to be performed. Her sister also suddenly died after being around her sister with no explanation. She gave birth to her son Robert Lee Haynes in 1943. While this one was not an alcoholic, he was still a womaniser. However, at first, no one was the least bit suspicious. It would be an understatement to say that he messed with the wrong person. She soon confessed to killing four of her five ex-husbands, but not her family members. They had four children and lived with her mother-in-law, but she was just as abusive as her father had been. Nannie's father forbade the Hazel sisters from wearing makeup and attractive clothing as he believed it would prevent them from being molested by men. Another baby followed 2 years later but died soon afterward. After the tragic incident, the grief-stricken couple slowly drifted apart and eventually separated. Nannie Doss - Criminals, Family, Facts - Nannie Doss Biography - Famousbio During childhood, her favorite hobby was reading her mother's romance magazines and dreaming of her own romantic future. Both were unhappy and suspected the other, correctly so, of infidelity. Doss earned her nickname, Giggling Granny, because of her smiling and giggling as she discussed her crimes with the authorities. He was gone for more than a year, and when he returned in the summer of 1928, he brought a new girlfriend with him. Possibly in hopes of escaping an overly strict home life, Doss married her first husband when she was just 16 years old. She boarded a bus to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to meet Samuel Doss, a Nazarene minister who had lost his family in a tornado in Madison County, Arkansas. Whenever she came back, she played the role of a doting wife perfectly. Meanwhile, Doss took out insurance worth $500 on Robert. Nannie Doss, under arrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, November 1954. Doss's oldest daughter, Melvina, had a child in 1943 and another in 1945. She too met her demise soon after Doss moved in. He also forbade them to go to dances and 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. They realized after exhuming her other past husbands that they all had doses of arsenic and rat poison in their systems. One such pen pal was Sam Doss, who would become her fifth husband. But Doss wasnt finished killing there. The doctor found huge amounts of arsenic in Samuel Dosss body and alerted police. Background and First Two Husbands of Nannie Doss. The Story Of Nannie Doss, The Giggling Granny Who Spent Decades Murdering Relatives And Husbands. Nannie met her third husband, Arlie Lanning, through another lonely-hearts column while travelling in Lexington, North Carolina, and married him three days later. Nannie Doss was born in 1905 into a family of farmers in Alabama. Her mother, though kind, could not protect her children from her husband, nor could she keep Nannie from a traumatic injury that may have changed everything. When it came to her final victim, the doctor who looked into the death realized there may be some foul play involved on Nannies part. According to Braggs later statement, when he left for work the girls seemed healthy but they were crying while he was leaving and reportedly died in convulsions soon after having breakfast. That night, Robert died in his sleep of asphyxia. 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. Two years later, she and her husband had another child, this time a daughter. Could You Pass This Voting Literacy Test Designed To Disenfranchise African Americans? But it does make you wonder if all of it could have been prevented if not for that childhood train injury. For years after, she suffered severe headaches, blackouts and depression. Her reason for murdering her husbands was because she was in pursuit of the perfect husband. Whenever she came back, she played the role of a doting wife perfectly. But for Tulsa Attorney Gordon Patten, the case revived . Samuel Doss spent a month recovering in the hospital. Whats not to love about simmered prunes mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar and baked into a moist and flavorful dessert? 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. Nannie Doss was born in 1905 into a family of farmers in Alabama. The Truth About Serial Killer Nannie Doss - Grunge 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. The Abnormal Psychology of Nannie Doss - h e a l t h f u l m i n d Check out this biography to know more about her childhood, family, personal life, crimes committed, etc. Despite having grown up on reading romances and dreaming of falling in love, she was married at the . He had the dubious and fortunate distinction of being the only husband that Doss did not murder. Doss blamed these and her mental instability on that accident. The happy couple lived with Braggs' mother, but she had the same abusive type of behavior as Doss' father. Nannie Doss final victim was Samuel Doss of Tulsa, Okla. Nannie Doss was born Nancy Hazle on Nov. 4, 1905 to poor farming parents in Blue Mountain, Ala. From a very young age, Doss could tell that her mother was deathly afraid of her father, who was a violent man and forced Nannie and her siblings to spend much of their childhood working in the fields often to avoid being beaten. Turns out what your spouse wanted was for you to be dead and to collect on those two insurance policies. If that's what happened, this article asks the big question: Why did Lizzie Borden kill her parents? In the summer of 1928, Braggs came back with Melvina, a new love interest and her own child. Harrelson wrote her romantic letters, while Doss responded with racy letters and photos. She then lived with her sister, Dovie Frances Hazel Weaver, who was bedridden at the time. It was at her first job that Doss met Charley Braggs, who would become her first husband. Jul 7, 1945, Melvina's son, Robert. Why would you be worried? And in time, you believe she has forgiven you for that silly argument. A few days later, she started to have severe stomach pains and died. Doss left, and Braggs was able to escape the fate that awaited all of Doss future husbands. Nannie killed him that very evening with her tried and tested method of arsenic in coffee. Just eight weeks after Lanning died, the house he and Doss lived in burned to the ground. He spent 23 days in the hospital before returning home. He is really eyeballing you and asking you all sorts of questions. Bettmann/Getty ImagesAuthorities question Nannie Doss about her crimes. Nannie was arrested immediately. Nannie's Early Life A native of Alabama, Nannie grew up with four siblings in a town near Jacksonville. 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. Your partner was a bit less than understanding, and after some unexpected raging, just up and vanished. Her parents were Louisa "Lou" (ne Holder) and James F. Hazel. Doss earned her nickname, Giggling Granny, because of her smiling and giggling as she discussed her crimes with the authorities. Most were none the wiser, even when the home they shared burned down seemingly randomly. Throwback Tulsa: Charming, friendly Nannie Doss poisoned four husbands Lanning died in 1950 from what was thought to be heart failure and townspeople came out in support of his widow. Nannie Doss Killed Four of Her Five Husbands - and Possibly Seven Other In the ensuing years, Doss gave birth to four daughters. She told a reporter that the only job she was allowed to do in the prison was laundry. While in these unpleasant circumstances, Nannie allegedly turned on her own grandchildren. In 1965, Doss died of leukaemia in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. In 1923, Doss and Braggs had their first daughter, and would have three more over the next four years. He courted her with poetry; she wrote passionate letters and sent him a cake and a photograph of herself. It didnt take long before shed found her next victim. The final murder ended up revealing her for what she was. Jason Simpson is the son of former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O. J. Simpson. She attacked one with a hairpin while just a newborn and suffocated another two-year-old grandchild. Only three days after that, Morton perished after drinking from a thermos full of coffee that had been spiked by Doss with arsenic. Soon after she found out that Morton was having an affair with his ex, he died. Until you do, approximately half an hour later. Continue reading about the prolific serial killer and her previous murders. Nannie Doss - The Serial Box - Pennsylvania State University The physician said it was a good idea because the autopsy would save lives. Nannie Doss was also known by her nickname, "The Giggling Granny.". A few days later, she started to have severe stomach pains and died. Doss could not provide any reasonable explanation. 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. After he was warned anonymously not to eat anything his wife prepared, Braggs fled their home, taking their eldest daughter, Melvina, with him but leaving Florine, their youngest, behind. Nannie Doss is escorted for a court appearance in 1955 after confessing to poisoning four of her five husbands, including Samuel Doss of Tulsa. The following day, she found his corn whiskey jar buried while she was in the garden tending her roses. Within months, Sam Doss was in the hospital with a digestive tract infection. Doss is suspected of killing both grandchildren the second one within hours of birth, allegedly having pushed a hatpin into the childs head. Alexander "Sawney" Bean was a clan leader born in 14th-century Scotland. Dovie was bedridden and soon after Nannie's arrival she died. After a successful treatment regime, the hospital let him go. You wake up wearing a hospital gown in a bed at the hospital with a doctor looming over you. She gave her permission. The doctor, who treated Samuel, was alerted by his sudden death. Nannie Doss was prosecuted by J. Howard Edmondson, who later became governor of Oklahoma. The final murder ended up revealing her for what she was. Doss believed in true love and romance, and she wasnt willing to wait to find it. Nannie Doss, who is commonly referred to as "The Giggling Granny" or "The Jolly Widow," is suspected of killing at least 10 people between 1924 and 1954. So the doctor convinced Doss, who was to receive two life insurance benefits after the fifth husbands death, to let him perform an autopsy. It is quite possible that she had poisoned those girls. Doss only attended school until sixth grade, and after spent her time doing household chores, maintenance work, and fieldwork until her first job in 1921. Doss quickly skipped town, but only after her mother-in-law, with whom she had been staying, died in her sleep. Was Nannie's behavior all because of her childhood train injury? 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. The Giggling Granny - ALABAMA HERITAGE Biography Timeline. Richard Morton of Emporia, Kan. was Doss next true love, although he spent a lot of time with other women while married to Doss. Doss is responsible for the murder of several of her husbands and also a lot of her family members between 1920 and 1948. After returning from the bar, Harrelson forced sex upon Doss and she vowed to get even. It was just 10 years after she had first been jailed that she passed away from leukemia. He controlled her clothes, hair, makeup, schooling, and social interactions. This seclusion led her to leaving leave school after only finishing the 6th grade. She still found faults in him. After the death of Richard Morton, Doss set her sights on Samuel Doss. While Braggs was an attentive father, his relationship with his wife did not improve at all. Charley Braggs and Doss had four children together from 1921 to 1927. Unfortunately, despite doing the best she could to raise Nannie right, even that didnt save her mother. She would later blame her mental instability on the accident. By the time they met, Nannie had years of poisoning experience, so its a surprise that her first prune cake attempt missed its mark. You really needed that caffeine. In 1947 she met Arlie Lanning, and just two days later they married. She and Braggs worked together at the Linen Thread Company in nearby Anniston. She was one of five children, including one brother and three sisters. Before long, she confessed to killing not only her four husbands, but confessed to seven other murders as well. Nannie Doss and the Last Seven Murders | World History Samuel was extremely frugal and boring, however, and after convincong him to take out two life-insurance policies, he was in the hospital with stomach problems. Lanning died in 1950 from what was thought to be heart failure and townspeople came out in support of his widow. A year later, Doss met her second husband, Jacksonville resident Robert Franklin Harrelson, through a lonely hearts newspaper column. And be a bit careful about money. Exhausted from labor and groggy from ether, Melvina thought she saw her visiting mother stick a hatpin into the baby's head. He was her only son and she was unmarried at the time so Doss had to accept it. Joyce Meyer is a Christian author and speaker. As a result, Nannies education suffered. This was also the time two of their children died not long after eating, though at the time it was thought to be due to food poisoning. She would not let my own mother stay all night Braggs' mother took up a lot of his attention and limited Nannie's activities. Playing the doting wife, Doss added poison to one of Lannings meals and he died shortly thereafter. Doss then met Arlie Lanning through an advertisement in the local lonely hearts column. People assumed he died of food poisoning. Youre still on the toilet when you pass out. 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. When she was 7, Nannie hit her head on a metal bar on the seat in front of her while travelling to see family on a train. Nannie DOSS - Gruesome Female Serial Murderer HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. Nannie Doss was promptly arrested. This biography provides detailed information about her childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline. On July 7, 1945, he died from asphyxiation and within two months after his death, Doss cashed in on Roberts insurance. Police suspect that she is responsible for nearly 12 deaths throughout the coarse of her life. That flu hit you hard, but a month later youre back on your feet again. During her marriage to Morton, Doss already had began to correspond with new men. She died in prison in 1964. Nannie's story begins in Blue Mountain, Alabama. "The Giggling Granny" Nannie Doss Poisoned Nearly a - Medium The doctor who treated her fifth and final husband had suspected foul play during his month-long hospitalization, but he had no proof. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Check out this biography to know about her childhood, family life, and fun facts about her. Contrary to what you believed, neither was prepared with love, and your multiple apologies were not truly accepted. 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. They got married that year. As a result, Nannies education suffered. He would not let his children attend school but forced them to serve as farm-hands. She is now an anonymous grandmother who lives among us somewhere. 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. Doss mother needed a caretaker after she fell and broke a hip in 1953 after her father passed away. After Lanning died, the house mysteriously burned to the ground and Lanning's mother died. Educator and activist, she lived from May 2, 1879, to May 20, 1961. Once in your nice, comfortable house, everything is peaceful. Instead, after she pleaded guilty on May 17, 1955, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was arrested on October 12th 1954 (Age 48), convicted on May 17th 1955 (Age 49), sentenced to life imprisonment at Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Nannie Doss seemed like a sweet lady. Following a night of drunken revelry at the end of World War II, Doss mixed a secret ingredient into his hidden jar of moonshine. He drank without inhibition and one night, after returning home completely intoxicated, raped Doss. After serving 9 years in prison, Nannie Doss died of Leukemia in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. During this time, many critical events took place, including the murder of 11 people. She was a year older than he was. Nannie later wrote: I married, as my father wished, in 1921 to a boy I only knowed about four or five months who had no family, only a mother who was unwed and who had taken over my life completely when we were married. Doss was never charged with the other deaths. Her final victim was the last man that she loved. He simply told her not to watch educational television programs or read educational magazines. When one husband became too much, Doss simply killed him off and move to the next love or victim, that is. It was just over some trashy magazines and how you should both read better, more educational material, as well as be smarter with your finances. Braggs must have known something was wrong with their deaths, because he left, taking the oldest daughter with him. In contrast to her later years, she was rarely laughing as a child. The woman died in her sleep. Within months after the death of her fourth husband, Nannie had her eyes set on a new one. She found Richard L. Morton of Jamestown, North Carolina in a dating service called the Diamond Circle Club. Shortly after the birth of Nannie and Samuel Doss's fourth child, the two middle children mysteriously died of 'food poisoning'. Killer: Nannie Doss - Giggling Nanny, Giggling Granny, Jolly Black In 1927, their two middle daughters died under mysterious circumstances a few months apart from each other. However, the arrangement soon proved to be troublesome as most of Braggs time was taken up by his mother. The Nannie Doss case in the mid 1950s is being featured on Japanese television as one of the five most unusual murder cases in the world. At that time, she was taking care of Lannings mother who was suffering from a broken hip. She was a year older than he was. In 1927, the couple lost their two middle girls to suspected food poisoning. However, the relationship had several issues right from the beginning, mostly due to Harrelsons alcoholism and violent temper. No one else was ever charged. She would later develop a special love for the lonely hearts column. He was an abusive alcoholic from Jacksonville, Fla. named Frank Harrelson. With her father's approval they married after four months of dating. The autopsy revealed a huge amount of arsenic in his system. Instead, Nannie was given a check from their insurance company to cover the damages. She soon experienced some stomach upset and then passed away, and Morton followed her a few months later. In 1945, after the end of the World War II, The United States of America was in a full celebratory mood. The doctor, who treated Samuel, was alerted by his sudden death. Youre looking forward to leaving the hospital and making up for lost time with your significant other. After their wedding, Braggs mother insisted on living with them. However, Doss wouldnt discover this just yet, because she was distracted with other matters. Robert Lee Haynes (1943 - 1945) - Genealogy Under his orders, an autopsy was performed and they found a large amount of arsenic in his system. Nannie met her first husband a little less than a decade after her train injury, while still a teenager. Timeline of Mays"s life: "April 4, 1928- Maya Angelou is born in St. Louis, Missouri. A few days after he got home, poison-laced coffee finished him off. This was not before Doss's parents visited the two of them and the mother died after complaining of sever stomach cramps. Braggs' mother died not much later and Nannie took a job in a cotton mill to support Florine and herself. She was not given the death sentence because of her gender. James would force his children to work on the family farm, refusing to let the children go to school, resulting in Nannie's poor academic performance. Doss was looking to get married for the fourth time. True Crime: Female Serial Killers In History | Nannie Doss She connected with her second husband Frank through a romantic ad in a newspaper column and they were married by 1929. Braggs always maintained he left her because he was frightened of her. She boarded a bus to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to meet Samuel Doss, a Nazarene minister who had lost his family in a tornado in Madison County, Arkansas. The couple moved in with Braggs mother, and soon, Doss realized she had escaped the violent hands of her father, only to fall into the manipulative hands of her mother-in-law. Then came the police. Nannie killed him that evening in her rush to collect the two life insurance policies she had taken out on him. Her casual smoking habit turned into a heavy addiction. You sit down to a homemade dinner of juicy and tender pork roast. Soon, Dovies condition began to worsen, and it wasnt long before she, too, died in her sleep. She was a strong advocate for racial pride. The couple divorced in 1928. CENSUS RECORDS: 1930 Lynchburg, Virginia. Check out this biography to know about her birthday, childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about her. After the funeral, the house they had lived in, which was inherited by Lannings sister, burned down and Doss got the insurance money. Reverend Samuel Luther Doss's Timeline. Unfortunately, instead of being grateful for a place to stay, Nannie then killed her own sister. Candi Fisher is best known as the ex-wife of American college football coach and former player Jimbo Fisher. Sources cite either a singles club or additional romantic advertising as netting Nannie another husband by 1952. Reading romance magazines, especially the lonely hearts columns, took up much of the young ladys spare time. Nannie disapproved of him, and while Melvina was visiting her father after a particularly nasty fight with her mother, her son Robert died mysteriously under Nannie's care on July 7, 1945. Perhaps it was her mother-in-law that kickstarted Doss murdering spree. [1] Doss was also referred to as the Giggling Granny, the Lonely Hearts Killer, the Black Widow, and Lady Blue Beard.[2]. The second child, however, died shortly after of unknown causes. Both unhappy partners correctly suspected each other of infidelity, and Braggs often disappeared for days on end. When she was seven years old, she boarded a train to go to Alabama where a few of her relatives lived. 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. After a successful treatment regime, the hospital let him go. You're not sure where she went, but she wouldn't do something so outrageous as taking out two life insurance policies on you and list herself as the sole beneficiary, would she? One newspaper went as far as calling her a "self-made widow". Sep 15, 1945, Frank Harrelson dies. Melvina had grown up by then and got married herself. And this is how Samuel Doss really was killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a few months, she discovered that he was an alcoholic and had a criminal record for assault. However, in this marriage it was Nannie who often disappearedand for months on end.
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