Nannie Doss | 'The Giggling Granny'
Nannie Doss was born as Nancy Hazle on November 4, 1905, in Alabama. She was one of five children. Nannie's father, James, would force his children to work on the family farm instead of going school, resulting in Nannie's poor academic performance. He also forbade them to go to dances and other social events and to develop friendships with boys. When she had some time to herself, Nannie’s favorite thing to do was reading her mother's romance magazines and dreaming of her own romantic future. When she was 7, the family was taking a train to visit relatives in southern Alabama. The train she was on had suddenly stopped, causing her to fall forward and hit her head. Because of this, she suffered severe and long term headaches, blackouts and depression.
Nannie Doss met Charley Braggs in 1921. He was a co-worker from a linen factory that she worked at. He was the caretaker and lived with his unwed mother. Charley (first husband) and Nannie began dating and after five months, when Nannie was 16, got married, with Nannie’s father’s approval. Nannie thought that this was what she needed, this was what was going to set her life on track, but she couldn’t be more wrong. Her mother-in-law turned out to be extremely controlling and manipulative. Charley's mother took up a lot of his attention and limited Nannie's activities. Nannie was soon even more unpleased and depressed.
Nannie and Charley (first husband) had their first child in 1923. They went on to have three more over the next three years. Nannie’s life became a living hell: she had to raise children, take care of her demanding mother-in-law, and put up with Charley’s abusive behaviour. To cope, she began drinking and her casual smoking habit became a heavy addiction.
In 1927, soon after the birth of her fourth child, Nannie's two middle children died from what doctors labeled food poisoning. Charley (first husband) suspected that Doss had poisoned them, so he took off with their oldest child, Melvina, but left the newborn, Florine, and his mother behind. Not long after he left, his mother died. A year later, Charley (first husband) returned with his oldest daughter and his new girlfriend. The two officially divorced and Nannie took two daughters and moved back to her parents' home. Charley Braggs became the only husband that Nannie didn't poison to death.
After Charley had left, Nannie began to return to her childhood hobby of reading romance magazines. She began corresponding with some of the men who advertised in the lonely hearts column. That's where she met her second husband, Robert Harrelson. They got married and moved to Jacksonville, Alabama, with Melvina and Florine (Nannie’s kids from her first marriage). It wasn’t long before Nannie found out the man she had married, once again, wasn’t the man of her dreams. Robert (second husband) was a drunk and in debt. However, their marriage lasted for 16 years before Nannie murdered Robert.
In 1943, Nannie’s oldest daughter, Melvina, had her first child. It was a boy named Robert (Nannie’s grandson). In 1945, Melvina had her second child, a healthy girl. Unfortunately, this newborn baby died not long after birth. It was said that the baby died for unexplained reasons, but Melvina said that when she was going in and out of consciousness after a difficult delivery, had seen her mother stick a hatpin into the head of the baby. No one looked into that though, because there was no proof.
On July 7, 1945, Nannie was taking care of Robert (grandson) after she and Melvina had argued over many things, including her new boyfriend. That night, while in his grandmother’s care, Robert (grandson) died of what doctors called asphyxia from unknown causes. Within just a few months of his death, Nannie went and collected $500 on an insurance policy she had taken out on her grandson. On September 15, 1945, Robert (second husband) became ill and died. Later, Nannie confessed that Robert had come home drunk and assaulted her. That was the last straw for her, so the next day, she poured rat poison into his corn whiskey jar. Robert (second husband) died not long after.
Again, Nannie was alone. But not long after, she met her third husband, again through classified ads. His name was Arlie Lanning and they had gotten married two days after they met. Lanning was an alcoholic, but not a violent one. In 1950, after two and a half years of marriage, Arlie (third husband) became ill and died. At the time it was believed that he died of a heart attack that had been brought on by the flu that was going around. He showed all the symptoms: fever, vomiting and stomach pains. And with his history of drinking, doctors believed his body simply succumbed to it and an autopsy wasn't performed.
Arlie’s house was left to his sister. But the house burned down (of unknown reasons) before the sister could take ownership. Nannie temporarily moved in with her mother- in- law (Arlie’s mother), but when she received the insurance money for the burned house, she left. She decided that she was going to move in with her sister, Dovie, who was suffering from cancer. Just before she moved, her mother- in- law died. And unsurprisingly, Dovie died too, as soon as she was under Nannie’s care.
Once again, Nannie started a search for her next husband. Instead of just sticking to classified ads, this time, she joined Diamond Circle Club, which was a singles club. There she met her fourth husband, Richard Morton. They got married in October 1952 and made their home in Kansas. Richard (fourth husband) was not an alcoholic or abusive. He seemed the perfect man, until Nannie learned that Richard was seeing his old girlfriend on the side. This mistake would cost him his life. Before nannie could kill her third husband, her father died and her mother came over for a visit. She was dead within days of her arrival, after complaining of severe stomach cramps. Richard Morton succumbed to the same fate three months later.
After killing her third husband, Nannie moved to Oklahoma. There, she met and married Samuel Doss, who was a Nazarene minister dealing with the death of his wife and nine kids (they had been killed by a tornado that engulfed Madison County). Sam was a good man, unlike the other men in Nannie’s life. He was not a drunk, nor was he abusive. He went to church and had fallen head over heels for Nannie. Unfortunately for him, he had two flaws: he was very frugal and boring. He led a strict life and expected his wife to respect that. No romance, no sappy stuff and bedtime was at 9:30 sharp. He kept tight control of his money and gave nothing to his new wife. Nannie did not like this one bit. She left and went to Alabama, returning only after Sam agreed to sign her to his checking account, which he eventually did. The couple reunited and with nannie having access to the money, she became the adoring wife. She convinced Sam to take out two life insurance policies, with her as the only beneficiary. Only a few days after the deal was done, Sam was in the hospital complaining of stomach pain. He managed to survive only about two weeks, he recovered enough to return home. On his first night back, Nannie served him a home cooked meal. Sam died a few hours later.
The doctors that were in charge of Sam were suspicious of his sudden passing. He was fine just a day before, how could he have just suddenly died? An autopsy was ordered and it turned out that his organs were filled with arsenic. Nannie Doss was soon arrested. When she was brought in for questioning, Nannie confessed to killing four of her five husbands, her mother, her sister, her grandson and her mother- in- law (Arlie Lanning’s mother).
Nannie Doss got her nickname ‘The Giggling Granny’ because of her attitude in court and while she was arrested. She often joked about the people she killed, mostly her husbands, and how she had killed them, such as the sweet potato pie that she had laced with arsenic. On May 17, 1955, Nannie Doss, who was 50 years old, confessed to murdering Samuel and was given a life sentence. In 1963, after spending eight years in prison, she died of leukemia in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Prosecutors never charged Nannie for additional murders that she had confessed to, though most believed that she killed up to 11 people, most of which were related to her.
It's crazy to me how someone could be so heartless. Just because her mother was strict doesn't mean that she should kill her. I used to think that people kill because they cannot think of another solution, but that is obviously not the case in this story (and, basically, all the others). It is so sad that she also killed her little grandson. What had he done to her? And worst of all, she laughed about it. She had no remorse at all. I really hope that we won't have to ever see someone like Nannie ever again. Anyways, stay safe out there, guys, and don't forget the pepper spray. Stay alive and I'll see you next week.