Murder and Mayhem

the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

[thecountessbathory]

Piroska Mária Ladányi (1934-1954) was a Hungarian serial killer. She is regarded as one of the most infamous and insidious killers in Hungarian criminal history.

Jancsó-Ladányi and her mother often sexually serviced civilian men and soldiers in return for money, bread, or tallow. At 14, Jancsó-Ladányi had already contracted STDs from her casual encounters.

In the summer of 1953, Jancsó-Ladányi met her first victim, 11-year-old Marika Komáromi. She lured the girl back to her house, where she strangled the child from behind with an electric wire. After strangling the girl, Jancsó-Ladányi undressed the corpse and then rubbed herself against it. She then covered it up with a blanket, tied a noose around the neck and dragged it out of the house before dumping it down a well.

On June 9, 1954, Jancsó-Ladányi came across 13-year-old Piroska Hóppa. Once again, she lured the girl back to the farmhouse where she strangled her. Then, according to her confessions, "[she] looked at the corpse's genitalia, licked it, and then stuck a carrot in her own genitalia, causing her to ejaculate. She then inserted a long broomstick into her vagina. Later, she licked Hóppal's genitalia with her tongue while holding on to her corpse, causing her to ejaculate again". On August 9, 1954, Jancsó-Ladányi strangled 17-year-old Irén Simon after luring her back to the house. Jancsó-Ladányi undressed Simon, but noticed that she was suffering from a venereal disease and refrained from performing any sexual acts with her corpse.She instead dragged the victim's body to the well and dumped it there, before rummaging through her clothes' pockets, stealing 30 forints and then throwing the clothes away.

Two days later, she intercepted 12-year-old Marika Botos at the bus stop. When they reached the farmhouse, Jancsó-Ladányi strangled her with a cotton cord. After satisfying her sexual urges with the little girl's naked body, she dragged it to the well and thew it in. She then hid Botos' clothes under her bed, stealing the 7 forints she had on herself.

On August 14, Jancsó-Ladányi approached her fifth victim, 13-year-old Katóká Szőke, on the railway, luring her to the farmhouse under the pretext of helping carry a package. Jancsó-Ladányi snuck up behind her and strangled her with a trouser strap. She then undressed the body, mutilated it and then threw it into the well, keeping the girl's clothes. She then went to the market, selling her victims' clothes and shoes for 15-20 forints a piece. She got the most out of Hóppal's jacket, shirt and sandals, for which she was paid 45 forints.

On September 2, 1954, at 9 o'clock in the evening, Istvánné Balászi, a 21-year-old resident of Pusztakengyel, reported to the Törökszentmiklós that Jancsó-Ladányi had attempted to rob and then strangle her with a wire. Jancsó-Ladányi was brought in for questioning, but refused to confess. Authorities went to search the farmhouse; police found clothing belonging to the girls that had gone missing in recent months, but were unable to find Balászi's property. One of the officers reported to his superior that he had found a mineshaft with a metal cover on the porch behind the gate. When he opened it, he found a 10-12 meter deep well, supposedly built when the older house had been demolished. They lit up the mine to examine it further, only to find human remains covered in water and mud at the bottom.

Piroska Jancsó-Ladányi was charged with murder and sentenced to death. On December 12, 1954, she was executed by hanging in Szolnok Prison.

[thecountessbathory]

Giulia Tofana (1620 - 1659) was an Italian professional poisoner. She is known for selling poison to women that wanted to murder their abusive husbands. She was the inventor of the poison Aqua Tofana, which is named after her.

Well-versed in herbs and poisons, Tofana developed her own - Aqua Tofana. It contained arsenic, lead, and possible belladonna. The liquid was colorless and tasteless, which allowed it to easily be mixed with water or wine during meals.

Tofana's clientele was predominantly made up of women trapped in unhealthy or dangerous marriages. She not only distributed the poison, but gave a walkthrough on how to use it, and what to do afterwards. Her poison was slow-acting as to make the death look like it was caused by a simple disease. She coached her clients to cry and exhibit emotion, and instructed them to demand for a coroner's exam, as to not draw any suspicion to them.

Her crimes were eventually revealed to the Papal authorities by a customer; however, her popularity with the locals allowed her protection. She escaped to a church where she was granted sanctuary. When a rumor that she'd poisoned the water supply of Rome tore through the city, authorities forced their way into the church and dragged Tofana in for questioning.

Under torture, she confessed to killing 600 men with her poisons in Rome alone between 1633 and 1651, but this cannot be confirmed owing to the torture and the widespread distribution of the poison. Along with her daughter and three other accomplices, Tofana was executed in Rome in July 1659.

[morbidology]

Barbara Graham was born in 1923 in Oakland, California. As a teenager, she spent time at a reformatory and attempted to change her troubled ways. In 1939 she married but within two years, the marriage had fallen apart. She then drifted into sex work and eventually married a mobster by the name of Henry Graham. It was Henry who introduced Barbara to Jack Santo, who was a gang leader.

Barbara, her husband, Jack Santo, and two other accomplices - Emmett Perkins and John True - set out one night to rob a wealthy elderly woman, Mabel Monahan. Enraged that they could not find any valuables, they smothered and beat the elderly woman to death. They were quickly apprehended and Barbara became known as “Bloody Babs” in the press. She was sentenced to death after John True testified against the group.

She was told that she may receive a stay of execution, to which she replied: “I never got a break in my whole goddamned life and you think I’m going to get one now?” On 3 June, 1955, her execution was pushed back from 22:00 to 23:30, to which she said: “Why do they torture me? I was ready to go at ten o’clock.” She was led to the gas chamber and pronounced dead at 11:42. Her last words were:

“Good people are always so sure they’re right.”

[crimesandcuriosities]

“I’m not scared to die. I’m scared of the electric chair. I’m scared of having my head shaved bald and being strapped in this huge chair and being shocked to death. Because if you think about it, y'know, you can touch someone else and get shocked and that hurts and that’s barely being shocked and I cannot imagine… just… all that electricity. That scares me.”

- 22 year old Christa Gail Pike in 1998 discussing her death penalty conviction for the brutal murder of 19 year old Colleen Slemmer in 1995. In an attack which lasted 30 minutes to 1 hour, Pike and two accomplices beat and slashed Slemmer with a boxcutter, carved a pentagram into her chest and eventually bludgeoned her head with a heavy piece of asphalt. Christa kept a piece of Colleen’s skull as a token of the killing.

[thecountessbathory]

Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray (1630-1676) was a French aristocrat who was accused and convicted or murdering her father and two of her brothers in order to inherit their estates. Her trial and death spawned the onset of the Affair of the Poisons, a major scandal during the reign of Louis XIV accusing aristocrats of practicing witchcraft and poisoning people.

In 1666, the Marquise started to slowly poison her father, who would eventually die on the 10th of September. She gave him multiple doses of "Glaser's recipe," a tried-and-true mixture of chemicals that would render him dead seemingly of natural causes. She quickly burned through the inheritance money from her father, deciding then to poison her brothers. Antoine d'Aubray fell ill after eating a pie and never recovered, dying on 17 June 1670; the second brother was poisoned soon after, dying in September of the same year. Their subsequent autopsies hinted to poison due to the fact their intestines were suspiciously colored, but nevertheless it was concluded they both died of "malignant humor."

The Marquise's poisonings were not discovered initially, and in fact continued to be unknown until 1672, upon the death of her lover and conspirator, Godin de Sainte-Croix. Among his possessions was a box containing letters between him and the Marquise, various poisons, and a note promising a sum of money to Sainte-Croix from the Marquise dated around the time her father first starting feeling ill was found, re-opening the case of foul play for her father and brothers. The Marquise was condemned in absentia and a warrant went out for her arrest. She evaded authorities for a number of years, who continued to hunt after her. She was caught and arrested in 1676; among her possessions was a written confession of her crimes.

The Marquise was beheaded on July 16, 1676.

[thecountessbathory]

Amelia Dyer (1836-1896) was an English serial killer who murdered infants in her care over a thirty-year period. Known as the Ogress of Reading, Dyer was a baby farmer - someone that adopted unwanted infants in exchange for money.

Initially, Dyer would let the child die from starvation and neglect. “Mother’s Friend,” an opium-laced syrup, was given to quiet these children as they suffered through starvation. Dyer eventually resorted to faster murders which allowed her to make more profit.

Dyer was apprehended after an infant's body found in the Thames was traced back to her. When authorities raided Dyer’s residence they were overcome with the stench of human remains, although no bodies were found. Several more babies were recovered from the Thames, each with white edging tape still wrapped around their necks. Dyer was later quoted as saying about the white tape, “[that] was how you could tell it was one of mine.” Dyer pled guilty to only one murder, but using estimates based on timelines and years active, she likely killed between 200-400 children. She was hanged on June 10, 1896.

[thecountessbathory]

"If any of you have a message for the devil, tell me now, for I shall be seeing him shortly."

Lavinia Fisher (1793-1820) is reportedly the first female serial killer in the US. Along with her husband, Fisher ran a hotel called the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 1800s.

According to legend, Fisher would use poisoned tea to subdue travelers that would come to the Six Mile Wayfarer House and then stab them while they slept. Other stories claim that Fisher waited until the victim was on the cusp of sleep before taking action; utilizing a hidden lever that when pulled would case the bed to collapse, dropping out the floor beneath it, throwing the victim into a pit below where was would be killed. Some claim that the pit was filled with sharpened spikes meant to impale the victim.

Instead of murder, John and Lavinia were charged with highway robbery, which at the time was a capital offense. According to legend, Lavinia Fisher’s last words were “ "If any of you have a message for the devil, tell me now, for I shall be seeing him shortly." She then jumped from the gallows, hanging herself. She died February 18, 1820.

[thecountessbathory]

Ana di Pištonja (c. 1838 - 1938), better known as Baba Anujka, was a convicted killer from the village of Vladimirovac, Yugoslavia.

An amateur chemist, Baba Anujka was known for her "magic water" - a love potion she concocted for women with abusive husbands. Anujka's "love potions" contained small quantities of arsenic, as well as plant toxins that were difficult to detect. These potions killed between 50 and 150 people.

 Anujka was first tried in June 1914, but was acquitted. She was arrested again over a decade later in 1928 at the age of 90.  She was convicted as an accomplice to two murders and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Anujka served 8 of the 15 years and was released due to old age. She died two years later at her home in Vladomirovac.

[thecountessbathory]

“I thought I would cut myself to see if I would bleed.”

Lizzie Halliday (c. 1859-1918) was an Irish-American serial killer and the first woman to be sentenced to death by the electric chair.

  Halliday was responsible for the deaths of at least 4 people in upstate New York during the 1890s. It was suspected that she killed her first two husbands as well, although that has never been proven.

  Convicted of the murders of Margaret and Sarah McQuillan, Halliday was held for trial at the Sullivan County jail  in Monticello, New York. During her first few months there she refused to eat, attacked the sheriff's wife, set fire to her own bed, tried to hang herself, and cut her own throat with broken glass about which she said: "I thought I would cut myself to see if I would bleed."

In 1894, Halliday was sentenced to death by electrocution, which was later commuted to life in a mental institution after a medical commission declared her insane. In 1906, Halliday killed a nurse at the institution by stabbing her 200 times with a pair of scissors. Halliday died of Bright's disease on June 28, 1918, after spending half her life in the asylum.

[thecountessbathory]

Enriqueta Martí (1868-1913) was a Spanish child serial killer and kidnapper. Known as the Vampire of Barcelona, she was a self-proclaimed witch doctor that believed drinking the blood of children could cure tuberculosis.  Martí would make salves, ointments, poultices, and potions from the remains of children she’d killed and would sell them to Barcelona’s wealthy high society members. 

On February 27, 1912, law enforcement was notified of a sighting of a girl that had been kidnapped two weeks prior. When police searched the apartment of Enriqueta Martí, they found two missing children, in addition to 50 pitchers, jars, and washbowls that contained preserved human remains. 

Martí was imprisoned in the Reina Amàlia jail to await trial, where she tried to commit suicide. She ended up never being tried for her crimes, as she was lynched by her fellow prisoners on May 12, 1913.