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Nannie DossThe Resilient Killer Widow
Date of Birth: 04.11.1905
Country:  USA |
Content:
- The Life of Nannie Doss
- Early Life
- Early Adulthood
- Second Marriage and Tragic Loss
- Tragic Events Continue
- Marriages and Deaths
- Final Husband and Confession
The Life of Nannie Doss
IntroductionNannie Doss, also known as the "Giggling Granny," was responsible for the deaths of several people between 1920 and 1954. In October 1954, Doss finally confessed to the murder when her fifth husband died in a small hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Early Life
Nannie Doss (formerly Hazle) was born on November 4, 1905, in Blue Mountain, Alabama, to James and Lou Hazle. She was the fifth child in the family, sharing a room with her brother and three sisters. Nannie and her mother both despised James, who was extremely strict. According to documents, Nannie was born out of wedlock as James and Lou got married after 1905. She had an unhappy childhood and remained poorly educated, never learning to read well. Nannie did not have the opportunity to attend school regularly as her father forced his children to work on the family farm. When she was about seven, the family took a train trip to visit relatives in southern Alabama. The train suddenly jerked, causing Nannie to hit her head on a metal rod, resulting in severe headaches, depression, and even temporary memory loss. Doss blamed this incident for her mental instability.
Early Adulthood
In her youth, Nannie's favorite pastime was reading romantic stories from her mother's magazines. Her fascination with romance turned into fantasies about her own future. Later on, the future killer loved reading the "Lonely Hearts" column. During their teenage years, James prohibited the Hazle sisters from wearing makeup, going to dances, or attending other social events to prevent "unhealthy interest" from men. At the young age of 16, Doss married Charlie Braggs, whom she met while working at a factory. With her father's permission, Nannie and Charlie got married after only four months of knowing each other. Charlie was his mother's only son, and she insisted on living with him even after his marriage. From 1923 to 1927, Nannie gave birth to four daughters. Struggling with the unhappiness of her marriage, Doss started drinking and smoking, becoming addicted. Both spouses suspected each other of infidelity, and Braggs began frequently leaving home. In early 1927, Charlie and Nannie lost two of their daughters. Initially, it was suspected to be food poisoning, but Charlie was convinced that Nannie had killed them. Taking their eldest daughter, Melvina, with her, the terrified husband fled. He left his wife with newborn daughter Florine in her arms. Around the same time, Charlie's mother also passed away. Doss found work at a cotton mill to support herself and Florine.
Second Marriage and Tragic Loss
Braggs returned in the summer of 1928 with Melvina and a divorced woman who had given birth to his child. Charlie and Nannie soon divorced, and she returned to her mother's house with their two daughters. Living and working in Anniston, Doss coped with loneliness by reading novels and exploring the "Lonely Hearts" column. Eventually, she became interested in 23-year-old Robert Frank Harrelson, a factory worker from Jacksonville. He sent her romantic poetry, and she sent him a pie. In 1929, they got married and lived together with Nannie's two surviving daughters. After a few months, Nannie discovered that her second husband was an alcoholic and had a criminal record for assault. Despite this, their marriage lasted for 16 years. In 1943, Melvina gave birth to a daughter named Mosie after a difficult delivery in which Nannie was involved. However, the baby girl died shortly after birth. Exhausted from childbirth and barely standing from ether, Melvina firmly believed that her mother had inserted a hatpin into the baby's head, which she later told Florine and Mosie. They claimed to have seen the hatpin in Nannie's hand when she came out to announce the baby's death. However, doctors could not determine the cause of death. Mosie and Melvina separated, and Melvina began dating a soldier.
Tragic Events Continue
Nannie disliked Melvina's new companion. When Melvina visited her father after a serious argument with her mother, her son Robert died under mysterious circumstances on July 7, 1945. Nannie was taking care of him at the time. The cause of death was stated as asphyxiation for unknown reasons. Two months later, Doss received $500 from an insurance company after having previously insured her grandson in case of death. In 1945, as the end of World War II approached, Japan surrendered under pressure from Allied forces, and Robert Harrelson was one of those who decided to "celebrate" the occasion. After a night of heavy drinking, he raped his wife. The next day, while admiring her rose garden, Nannie stumbled upon a buried bottle of Harrelson's corn whiskey. The rape was the final straw; Nannie mixed rat poison into the whiskey, and that same evening, Harrelson died in agonizing pain.
Marriages and Deaths
The "Lonely Hearts" column helped her find her third husband, Arlie Lanning. The enamored couple got married after only three days of knowing each other. Lanning was no different from Nannie's previous husbands, being a womanizer and alcoholic, but this time she would often leave home for long periods. Nevertheless, she established herself as a caring housewife, so when he suddenly died from alleged heart failure, almost the entire town attended the funeral to support the poor widow. When Nannie's elderly mother died in her sleep, she happened to be in her sister Dovie's house, who was bedridden. Shortly after Doss arrived, Dovie passed away. Before poisoning her fourth husband, Richard L. Morton, who was a womanizer but not an alcoholic, Nannie poisoned his mother Louisa in January 1953.
Final Husband and Confession
Her fifth husband, Samuel Doss, attended church and disapproved of Nannie's love affairs. In September 1953, he was admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and was diagnosed with a severe gastrointestinal infection. He was released on October 5, seemingly healthy, but that same evening, he was killed by his wife, who hoped to collect the insurance money. However, an autopsy revealed a large amount of arsenic in his system, leading to Nannie's immediate arrest. She confessed to only killing four husbands, her mother, her sister Dovie, her grandson Robert, and her mother-in-law. On May 17, 1955, she was sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty. Nannie died from leukemia in the hospital ward of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in 1965.
