Nannie Doss “The Giggling Granny” Julia Leech

History Born: Four siblings Controlling and nasty father, James Nancy Hazel Blue Mountain, Alabama November 4, 1905 Four siblings One brother, three sisters Controlling and nasty father, James Was unhappy growing up Could not read well– poor student Unable to do well in school because her father forced all of the kids to work on the family farm

History (Cont.) Got a head injury on a train ride when the train suddenly stopped at the age of 7 She had head aches, black outs, and depression that persisted for years Loved reading her mothers romance magazines as a child, and the lonely hearts column She would dream of her future romances Her father refused to let the girls wear makeup or dress attractively and to go to social events as teenagers to prevent them from getting molested Although his attempts were unsuccessful considering she was molested several times

First Marriage She married her first husband when she was 16 with her fathers blessing They had 4 children The middle two had been poisoned by her Her husband, Charley Braggs, left her, taking the eldest daughter, after their deaths

Second Marriage Robert Harrelson 1929 He sent her poetry and she sent him cake They lived with her daughters He was an alcoholic and had a criminal record for assault They were married for 16 years One day she snapped and gave Robert rat poisoning

Third Marriage Arlie Lanning Met through lonely hearts column– married after 3 days Alcoholic womanizer Nannie would disappear for months at a time When he died it was believed to be heart disease, it is now believed that Nannie poisoned him Later their house burned down and Nannie collected the insurance money

Fourth Marriage Richard Morton Unfaithful to her Died months later from being poisoned

Fifth Marriage Samuel Doss June 1953 He disapproved of her adored romance novels He was admitted into the hospital for “flu like symptoms” He was sent home completely healthy and died the next day The hospital got suspicious and preformed an autopsy (Def: a postmortem examination to discover the cause of death or the extent of disease) and found arsenic in him– this lead to Nannie’s first arrest

Total List of Victims Her 2 middle daughters Frank Harrelson Arlie Lanning Arlie Lanning's mother Her sister Dovie Her grandaughter Her grandson Her mother, Lou Hazle Her son-in-law, Richard Morton Sam Doss

Confession and Conviction After she was arrested for Samuel Doss’ murder she quickly confessed to killing four of her husbands, her mother, her sister Dovie, her grandson Robert, and her mother-in-law Lanning Law enforcement got suspicious and preformed autopsies on her other victims Evidence Arsenic Found in Samuel Confession Poison found in other victim (Def: a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action) The fact that she is a common person in all of the murders (Because she was legally or biologically related to them)

Sentencing & Prison Life She was sentenced to life in prison but only for Samuel’s murder She died about ten years later of leukemia doss

Theory: Psychological Growing up Nannie had a controlling father who was nasty and controlling to her and the rest of her family. He was very verbally abusive. Also she was unable to get a proper education because of her lack of time spent in school. She was unable to focus on her schooling because her father forced her to stay home and work on the farm. She was denied a normal social experience as a child because her father refused to let the children interact socially outside of school and the girls were forced to dress modestly without make up in attempts to keep them from being sexually assaulted. His attempts were unsuccessful considering she was molested several times as a young girl and a teenager.

Theory: Psychological (Cont.) While all of that was going on she dreamed of a perfect love. She would sift through her mothers romance magazines and novels and would imagine herself falling in love. She would search through the lonely hearts column. She was desperate for love and throughout her life she would search desperately for the perfect romance, that is why she was married so much and murdered them when it was not what she wanted. She was still a young, young teenager when she was first married. Most of her husbands turned out to be drunks or cheaters. None of her marriages ended up like she imagined which lead to her murderous tendencies towards her husbands and could potentially be the reason she killed the others, they could have gotten in the way of her perfect love.