Nannie Doss“The Giggling Granny”

“The Jolly Black Widow”

Jacob Carter

Serial Killer

• A serial killer is one who murders or is involved with the murders of multiple people at multiple times, they usually have no remorse for their victims and they usually have a certain signature.

Early Life

• Born November 4, 1905 as Nancy Hazle• Poor student because of father• Childhood accident• Father’s restrictions

First Marriage

• Married Charlie Braggs at age 16• They had 4 kids• Unhealthy relationship• He eventually left her because he feared her

Grandchildren

• Doss’s oldest daughter gave birth to a child and the child immediately died

• Doctors could not come up with a reason for the babies death

Second Marriage

• Met Robert (Frank) Harrelson through a magazine column

• Married him 2 years after her previous husband

• Alcoholic and criminal records• 16 years of marriage• She killed him with rat poison after he raped

her

Third Marriage

• Met Arlie Manning through another magazine• Married within three days of meeting him• He was an alcoholic and loved his women• Died of a supposed heart attack• Their house “coincidently” burned down • Insurance money went to Doss• Doss soon left North Carolina but only after Mannings mom

supposedly died in her sleep• Moved to her sisters (Dovie) home and she soon passed away

Fourth Marriage

• Joined a club in Kansas looking for another Man

• Met and married Richard L. Morton• He was a womanizer • She ended up poisoning her mother when she

came to live with them• Morton died three months later

Fifth Marriage

• Met Samuel Doss and Married him in Oklahoma• He didn’t like that she had previously adored in

many husbands• Doss killed him • Samuel Doss’s doctor was surprised by the

sudden death, ordered and autopsy, revealed large amounts of Arsenic in his system

• Doss was immediately arrested

Number of killings/Evidence/confession

• Doss confesses to killing four of her five husbands, her Mother (Louisa), her sister (Dovie), her Grandson, and her Mother-in-Law (Arlie Lanning’s Mother)

• Oklahoma centered its case only on Samuel Doss’s death (5th Husband)

• Nannie Doss pleaded guilty on May 17, 1955• Sentenced for life

Why

• Doss admitted that she killed her husbands because they didn’t “measure up”

• She said she was searching for the perfect man, she was never satisfied

How

• Most of Doss killed people by poisoning them• She used rat poison which is also known as

Arsenic Poison

Doss recounts her crimes

• When doss was recounting her crimes, she became amused and could not stop laughing

• The newspapers gave her the nicknames the “The Giggling Granny” and “The jolly Black Widow”

Death

• Doss Died in the hospital of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1965 due to Lukimia

Bibliography

• http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/nanniedoss.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Doss• http://www.cumuseumofterror.com/NannieD

oss.htm