See this jolly woman in the photo above? She looks like such a sweet lady doesn't she? Yep, she does. How could such an innocent looking old woman kild her husband and a boat load of her family? What could drive her to do such a horrid act?
Nannie Doss was born on November 4, 1905. She spent most of her childhood avoiding the wrath of her father who controlled her family with what they called "an iron fist." She was often pulled out of school to work on the farm her father owned at home, and by grade 6 she dropped out of school. At the age of seven, Nannie was on a train that suddenly stopped causing her to lose balance and fall forward. This fall caused her to hit her head and later lead to her suffering with major migranes, headaches, blackouts, and serious depression. As a teenages, her father James Hazle refused to allow his daughters to do anything to enhance their appearance. Pretty dresses and makeup were not allowed along with friendships with boys. It wasn't until Doss got her first job in 1921 that she had any real social interaction. Instead of going on class trips and prom, she spent her days working in a factory with her face burried in magazines.
While working at the factory, Doss met Charlie Braggs they hit off a five year relationship that soon lead into marriage. If Doss thought she was ecaping her troubles from not being near to her father, she was wrong. She soon learned that Charlie was very manipulative and controlling.
The Braggs had their first child in 1923 and three more followed one for the next three years. Doss' life had become a prison of raising children, taking care of her demanding mother-in-law and putting up with Charley who was an abusive drunk. To cope she began drinking at night and managed to get out to local bars for her own adult fun. By this time, her marriage was way down the drain and there was no fixing it.
Soon enough two of the middle children died from food poisioning and Charlie's mother died aswell. Doss remained in the Bragg home until a year later when her husband showed up with a new girl friend. The Braggs divorced and Doss left with her two daughters and moved back to her parent's home.
Once again Doss got married to another man named Frank Harrelson, soon to find out that he also was a heavy drinker and got into many bar fights. Doss tells the story of that day he came home drunk and raped her. She told everyone the next day that she poured rat poison in his corn whiskey jar in act of revenge. She then watched him die a painful miserable death.
Doss had 3 more husbands after that, and as usual, things went wrong and people just happened to die. Death was nothing new to witness in Doss' life. Most of the deaths later found to be by Doss herself. She was later convicted for several acts of murder, and died of leukemia in her jail cell.
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