61: Jolly Jane the Murder Nurse

Insomniacs: The Podcast

Jolly Jane Toppan, born in 1854, was a notorious American serial killer active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She worked as a nurse and used her position to murder at least 31 people, though she claimed responsibility for more than 100 deaths. Her preferred method was poisoning, often using a combination of morphine and atropine. She would administer these drugs to her victims and sometimes lie with them as they died, deriving sexual pleasure from the process.

Toppan's early life was marked by instability. After her mother died of tuberculosis, she was sent to an orphanage by her father, an eccentric man rumored to have lost his sanity. Eventually, she was placed in the care of the Toppan family, who took her in as an indentured servant but did not formally adopt her.
Throughout her nursing career, Toppan was known for her cheerful demeanor, which earned her the nickname "Jolly Jane." However, behind this facade was a deeply disturbed individual with a twisted desire for control and power over life and death. She targeted not only her patients but also friends and family members. Her killing spree came to an end in 1901 when she was arrested following the suspicious deaths of several members of the Davis family, who had hired her as a private nurse.

During her trial, Toppan was declared insane and committed to a mental institution, where she spent the rest of her life until her death in 1938. Her case remains infamous due to the nature of her crimes and her shocking confession, in which she admitted to taking pleasure in the act of killing.

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SOURCES:

Jolly Jane Toppan, the Killer Nurse Obsessed With Death - New England Historical Society

Inside The Twisted Mind And Murders Of "Jolly" Jane Toppan (allthatsinteresting.com)

Jane Toppan - Crime Museum

Jane Toppan - Wikipedia

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