Few serial killers have hidden behind an ordinary appearance as successfully as Nannie Doss. Soft-spoken, cheerful, and often smiling in public, she earned the unsettling nickname “The Giggling Granny.” Behind that friendly exterior, however, investigators uncovered one of the most disturbing family murder cases in American history.
Between the late 1920s and 1950s, Doss confessed to killing numerous relatives, including four husbands, family members, and grandchildren, primarily through arsenic and rat poisoning. Although she was legally convicted of only one murder, investigators believe she was responsible for as many as eleven deaths spread across several states.
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Who Was Nannie Doss?
Born Nancy Hazel on November 4, 1905, in Blue Mountain, Alabama, Nannie grew up in a strict household ruled by her controlling father. Her childhood was marked by poverty, working on farms, limited education, and isolation. She was occasionally allowed to attend lessons miles away but was far behind her peers academically. She often found solace in romantic novels, escaping from the despair. Biographers also note that she suffered a head injury during a train accident as a child, which led to serious headaches, depression and behavioural changes in small Nannie. Throughout her life, Doss became obsessed with romance magazines and lonely hearts columns, believing she would eventually find her ideal husband.
Early Married Life
By the age of 15, Nancy was allowed to work at a cotton mill in Blue Mountain to help with the finances. There she met Charley Braggs, and at just sixteen, in 1921, the two got married. However, the marriage quickly became troubled, with heavy drinking, domestic conflict, and repeated arguments. The couple had four daughters over the span of five years from 1923 to 1927. However, two of them died under circumstances officially attributed to food poisoning at the time. While later suspicion surrounded these deaths, definitive evidence has never emerged, and historians continue to debate whether they should be counted among Doss’ victims. Charley eventually left the marriage with his oldest daughter Melvina and divorced Nancy in 1928, later claiming he feared his wife. Although he returned in late 1928 with a new love interest, eventually leading to Doss moving back to her parents’ house with two of her daughters, Melvina and Florine.
The Deaths of Her Grandchildren
Following the deaths of her two daughters and the collapse of her marriage to Charley Braggs, Nannie Doss continued searching for companionship through lonely hearts newspaper column. In 1945, tragedy struck again when her two-year-old grandson, Robert Lee Higgins, died while in her care. Doss claimed the child had accidentally suffocated, but investigators later suspected that he had been deliberately poisoned after uncovering the pattern of suspicious deaths surrounding her. Although his death was never prosecuted, it is widely regarded as one of her suspected victims.
Source: Nancy “Nannie Doss” Hazle
Frank Harrelson: Her Second Husband
That same year, Doss married her second husband, Frank Harrelson. Their marriage was reportedly troubled by his alcoholism and frequent absences from home. In 1945, Harrelson died suddenly after consuming homemade whiskey believed to have contained rat poison. At the time, his death was attributed to natural causes related to heavy drinking, but investigators later concluded that poisoning was the likely cause. She also reportedly bought a 10-acre plot of land after Frank’s demise.
Arlie Lanning and His Mother
Soon after Harrelson’s death, Doss met and married Arlie Lanning, her third husband, a war veteran who served in the Navy. The marriage was short-lived. In 1948, Lanning became violently ill after eating meals prepared by Doss and died unexpectedly. His death was initially ruled as heart failure, but authorities later believed he had been poisoned with arsenic.
Shortly after Lanning’s death, his mother, Mrs Lanning, moved into the home to help manage the estate. Within weeks, she too died suddenly under suspicious circumstances, and investigators later suspected she had also been poisoned.
The Deaths of Dovie and Louisa Hazel
Doss later returned to live with members of her own family. Her bedridden sister, Dovie, died after a sudden illness while under Nannie’s care. Not long afterwards, her mother, Louisa Hazel, also became ill and died after moving into her daughter’s home. Although neither case was prosecuted, investigators later considered both women to have been victims of arsenic poisoning.
Richard Morton: The Fourth Husband
Later in 1953, Doss married Richard Morton, her fourth husband. Morton believed he had finally found a loving partner, but the marriage lasted only a few months. He suddenly developed severe stomach pains and died unexpectedly. His death was initially believed to be from natural causes, but investigators later concluded that he had most likely been rat poisoned, fitting the same pattern seen in Doss’ earlier victims.
Samuel Doss: The Murder That Exposed Her Crimes
In 1953, Doss married her fifth and final husband, Samuel Doss, a reserved and religious man from Oklahoma. Unlike her previous victims, Samuel survived an initial poisoning attempt after becoming seriously ill and being hospitalised. However, shortly after returning home, he died in 1954, after consuming another meal prepared by his wife. An autopsy revealed a fatal concentration of arsenic in his body, prompting authorities to launch a full investigation. His murder ultimately led to Nannie Doss’ arrest and confession, bringing nearly three decades of suspected family poisonings to an end.
Conviction
Although investigators ultimately linked Nannie Doss to as many as 11 suspected murders, she was formally convicted of only one count of murder, the arsenic poisoning of her fifth husband, Samuel Doss, in 1954. During police interrogations, she confessed to killing four husbands, two of her children, her mother, and several other relatives using rat poison containing arsenic. On May 17, 1955, Doss pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. She was never tried for the remaining suspected murders, and she remained incarcerated until her death from leukaemia on June 2, 1965. While the exact number of her victims continues to be debated, her pattern of poisoning close family members has placed her in the ranks of America’s most infamous female serial killers.
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