Nanny Hazel Doss

During her trial in 1955, the press tagged 50 year-old Nannie DOSS „The Giggling Granny“. Despite her amiable demeanour, DOSS‚ crimes were no laughing matter. She was found to have killed four husbands in four states; Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas and Oklahoma – where she was finally convicted for murder.
DOSS is also believed to have despatched up to 14 victims including her mother, two daughters, and a mother-in-law. However, the only one she faced trial for was the murder of Samuel DOSS, a 57-year-old highway inspector. They met in 1953, through a lonely-hearts club and married after just two days. The wedded bliss didn’t last. Nannie soon tired of his starched, clean-living ways and decided to eradicate him using her faithful technique of lacing food with arsenic based rat poison. This time she had used Sam’s favourite pudding – stewed prunes. Unfortunately for Nannie, she overdid it with the poison and his body involuntarily forced the contents of his stomach skyward in a reaction to save him. He survived to spend three weeks in the local hospital. Sam died the night he came home, after drinking a poisoned cup of coffee. Nannie’s care and attention finally put paid to her husband. It also alerted the authorities and brought her lengthy murder spree to a close.

Nannie DOSS chuckled throughout her interrogation and even raised a smile when she was sentenced to life in prison.