Who Was Nannie Doss, the ‘Guffawing Granny’ Who Confessed to Killing 11 Family members?

Nannie Doss could have appeared like “a loving grandmother with a captivating smile,” as one native Oklahoma newspaper described her. However investigators started to suspect there was one thing sinister behind that smile after each member of her household mysteriously died, one after the other, through the years.

In the long run, the “Guffawing Granny” admitted to murdering 11 of her relations.

The sensational case made headlines throughout the nation on the time, and it has just lately sparked newfound consideration on social media. PEOPLE is wanting again at Doss’ crimes and the way authorities in Oklahoma lastly got here to understand she was accountable for her relations’ deaths.

Doss’ Childhood Traumas

Doss’ childhood was closely impacted by her “abusive and demanding” father, Jim Hazle, in response to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. Born in 1905 in Calhoun County, Ala., Doss was stated to have “had an sad and tough childhood,” as her father largely stored her out of faculty to work on the household’s farm. He “forbade his daughters from carrying make-up or gown garments” rising up.

Doss’s father stored her and her three sisters from attending social occasions, as nicely, in response to The Muskogee Phoenix. In line with the newspaper, this strict shielding and a head harm Doss sustained — when, aboard a practice, her head was slammed right into a metallic bar — contributed to her struggles rising up. The harm led to “extreme complications,” in response to the newspaper. Yahoo! wrote that the top harm had additionally “impacted her view of life as a complete.”

A Lifetime of Homicide

Doss had 5 husbands all through her life, first marrying on the encouragement of her father when she was 16 years previous, in response to the Phoenix. She and her first husband, Charley Braggs, had 4 daughters between 1923 to 27 whereas residing together with his mom, in response to the newspaper, resulting in Doss’ turning into more and more harassed. Two of her daughters out of the blue died in 1927 from suspected meals poisoning, prompting Braggs to turn into suspicious and go away his spouse, taking his oldest daughter Melvina with him, in response to the Phoenix.

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Braggs’ mom then out of the blue died, and he returned to his childhood dwelling quickly after he and Doss divorced. In line with the Phoenix, he’s the one surviving husband all through Doss’ life.

The newspaper reported that Doss went on to marry 4 extra males – Frank Harrelson, an “alcoholic” who died after ingesting rat poison 16 years into their marriage; Artie Lanning, “an alcoholic womanizer” who additionally died after ingesting rat poison quickly earlier than Doss allegedly burnt down their home together with his mom inside; Richard Morton, who died three months into their marriage after consuming espresso spiked with arsenic, and Samuel Doss, a “Nazarene minister who disapproved of [Doss’] romance novels” and died a bit greater than a yr into their marriage from the same arsenic poison present in his espresso.

Doss’ remaining husband’s dying raised suspicion, in response to the Phoenix, resulting in a neighborhood physician performing an post-mortem that exposed the “huge” quantity of arsenic in his system.

Doss Confesses to the Killings

Samuel Doss’ 1954 homicide, which led to Doss’ arrest, was the final in what’s suspected to be a 27-year killing spree that took a minimum of 11 members of her household’s lives. Along with her husbands, Doss is believed to be accountable for the deaths of two of her kids, her personal mom, Lanning’s mom — who was her mother-in-law — one in all her personal sisters and two of her grandsons.

She confessed to the crimes whereas being questioned for Samuel’s homicide, in response to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, resulting in an preliminary dying sentence after she was discovered responsible for homicide, in response to the Alabama Encyclopedia. A decide later declared her insane, nevertheless, which eliminated her dying sentence.

Doss died in custody on the McAlester state jail in Tulsa, Okla., after she was identified with leukemia, in response to the Phoenix. She was 59 years previous, and in response to the newspaper, died precisely 10 years after she was first taken into custody.