On November 4, 1905, Nannie Doss, named Nancy Hazle, was born in Blue Mountain, Alabama to James and Lou Hazle. James Hazle, a farmer, ruled over the family with an iron fist, and so Doss spent most of her childhood in fear of her father. He often pulled her and her two siblings out of school to work on the farm, and she grew to resent him. At seven years old, Doss fell forward on a train and hit her head. After the accident, she developed depression and suffered from migraines and blackouts for years. After completing the sixth grade, Doss decided to drop out of school. As a child, her father did not allow her to use makeup or to interact with any boys. Because of this, she would spend her spare time reading romance magazines, which was her form of escapism from the real world.
At the age of 16, she worked in a linen factory trying to make money for her family. Here, she met Charley Braggs, a man who worked at the same factory, and the two began dating. Five months later, they married, and she moved in with Braggs and his unmarried mother. Perhaps Doss hoped to escape her oppressive home environment through this quick marriage, but unfortunately, her mother-in-law turned out to be as controlling and manipulative as Doss' father. Doss and Braggs had their first child in 1923, and eventually three more children followed over the next three years. Her life quickly became even worse than before, as she was expected to raise four children, take care of her demanding mother-in-law, and enduring her abusive and adulterous alcoholic husband. She took up drinking at night to cope and eventually began seducing men at her local bars. In 1927, the Braggs' two middle children died by what doctors claimed as food poisoning. Suspecting that Doss had poisoned the children, Braggs took off with the oldest child, Melvina, leaving the youngest child, Florine, and his mother behind with Doss. Shortly after, Doss' mother-in-law died, and Doss remained in the Bragg home until a year later when her husband returned with Melvina and his new girlfriend. The two then divorced, and Doss moved with her two daughters back to her parent's home.
Alone again, Doss returned to her childhood pastime of reading romance magazines and the lonely hearts column, only this time she began corresponding with some of the men who advertised there. It was through the classified column that she met her second husband, Robert Harrelson. Doss, who was 24 at the time, and Harrelson, a 23-year-old man, married and the couple, along with Doss' daughters Melvina and Florine, lived together in Jacksonville. Unfortunately again, Doss would discover that she had not married a loyal, romantic man like the characters in her romance novels. Harrelson turned out to be a heavy drinker and in debt, but the marriage lasted for 16 years until Harrelson's death.
Doss' criminal career possibly began beside her daughter's hospital bed. In 1943, Doss' oldest daughter Melvina had her first child, a boy named Robert. Another child came in 1945, but the baby girl died soon after being born for unexplained reasons. Later Melvina recalled that while she was in and out of consciousness after her difficult delivery, she witnessed her mother stick a hatpin into the head of the infant, but no proof of the incident was ever found. Another mysterious death occurred on July 7, 1945. Doss was taking care of Melvina's son Robert, after she and her daughter had a fight over Doss' disapproval of Melvina's new boyfriend. That night, while in Doss' care, Robert died of what doctors said was asphyxia from unknown causes. A few months later, Doss collected $500 on an insurance policy that she took out on Robert. On September 15, 1945, her husband Harrelson became ill and died, but years later, Doss would later confess that Harrelson had come home drunk and raped her. The next day, she got her revenge by pouring rat poison into his whiskey jar, then watched as he died a painful death.
Doss returned to the lonely hearts column and found her next victim, Arlie Lanning. After two days, Doss and Lanning were married. Lanning was an alcoholic, but not a violent one like her past husbands. She would be the one to take off for months committing adultery with other men. In 1950, after two and a half years of marriage, Lanning became ill and died. It was initially believed that he died of a heart attack brought on by the flu because he showed all the symptoms. Doctors believed his body simply succumbed to it due to his heavy drinking and an autopsy was not performed. After the funeral, the house they had lived in, which was to be inherited by Lanning's sister, burned down and Doss got the insurance money. Doss then moved in temporarily with her mother-in-law, who was suffering from a broken hip. However, Doss wanted to be with her sister, Dovie, who was dying of cancer, and just before she was going to move to her sister's home, her mother-in-law died in her sleep. After moving in with Dovie, Doss took care of her, but Dovie soon met her demise as well and died.
Looking to get married a fourth time, Doss joined the Diamond Circle Club to meet single men, and here she met her fourth husband, Richard L. Morton of Emporia, Kansas. The two married in October 1952 and made their home in Kansas. Morton was not an alcoholic, but he cheated on Doss many times. He was seeing his old girlfriend during their marriage, and after learning this, Doss had her sights on a new man named Samuel Doss. In January 1953, after the death of Doss' father, Doss' mother moved in with her and Morton. A few days later, she started to have severe stomach pains and died. Three days later, Morton died drinking coffee that had been spiked with arsenic by Doss.
Doss moved to Oklahoma and soon married Samuel Doss. Samuel Doss was a Nazarene minister who was dealing with the death of his wife and nine of his children who were killed by a tornado that had engulfed Madison County, Arkansas. Unlike the other men that had been in Doss' life, Samuel Doss was not a drunk, womanizer, or a wife abuser. He was instead a decent church-going man who fell deeply in love with Doss. Unfortunately Samuel Doss was boring and frugal, leading a regimented life and did not allow Doss to read romance novels or television after a curfew. He also kept tight control over the money and was not willing to share with Doss. She later left him, but returned when he allowed her to access his checking account. She acted the role of the caring doting wife, and convinced Samuel to take out two life insurance policies, leaving her as the only benefactor. Shortly after signing the papers, Samuel was in the hospital due to stomach problems, but managed to survive almost two weeks and recovered enough to return home. On his first night home from the hospital, Doss served him a meal and hours later Samuel was found dead. Samuel Doss' doctors were alarmed at his sudden passing and ordered an autopsy. It turned out his organs were full of arsenic and Nannie Doss was the sole suspect.
Police brought Doss in for interrogation and it was here where she confessed to killing four of her husbands, her mother, her sister Dovie, her grandson Robert and Arlie Lanning's mother. Doss enjoyed the spotlight she received by her arrest and often joked about her dead husbands without remorse, giving her the nickname "Giggling Granny." On May 17, 1955, Doss, who was 50 years old, pled guilty to murdering Samuel and in return, she was given a life sentence. After being in jail for two years, Doss stated that she would have preferred the death sentence. Even so, she maintained her cheerful disposition throughout her life and continued making jokes about her case. On June 2, 1965, after spending eight years in prison, she died of leukemia in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Prosecutors never pursued charging Doss for any additional murders. Most believe, however, that Nannie Doss might have killed up to 11 people. She is buried in Oak Hill Memorial Park in McAlester, Oklahoma.
