Poison isn't just for the pages of mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels. From chronic poisoning over a long period of time, to rapid poisoning that can cause instant death, many serial killers throughout history have used poison as their main weapon. This is a list of notable murderers who used poison as their modus operandi and weapon of choice.
There are many reasons why many serial killers in history have used poison to commit their murders. One of the top reasons includes collecting insurance money. Many serial killers believed that they could get away with murder since poisoning often doesn't leave much evidence. Most victims just get sick and die, making it difficult to prove the real cause of death. Many hospital workers also used poison to systematically kill their patients, giving them high doses of prescription drugs. Many serial killers used poison with the thought of nursing their victims back to health afterwards in order to gain favor and public attention.
A few serial killers who used poison were found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of their lives committed to an insane asylum. Others, however, served a life sentence, multiple life sentences, or were executed, in most cases. Some of these serial killers poisoned their families, including children, and even more committed multiple murders over many years.
Read on to find out which serial killers used poison, how many murders they were responsible for, and what happened to them once they were caught.
37 Serial Killers Who Used Poison,
Anna Marie Hahn
Also known as Arsenic Anna, German immigrant Hahn began poisoning robbing elderly men who she was working as an in-home "nurse" for in the 1930s. She was convicted after a four-week trial and sentenced to death by electric chair in December 1938, the first woman to be electrocuted in Ohio.
Arnfinn Nesset
One of the most notorious killers in Scandinavian history, Nesset worked as a nurse and as a nursing home manager in Norway. In 1983, he was convicted of poisoning at least 22 patients by using a muscle relaxer at a geriatric center where he was the director.
When he was arrested, he admitted to officials, "I've killed so many I'm unable to remember them all." Police discovered that it's possible that he killed up to 62 patients in three different institutions since 1962, though autopsies were useless by that point because tracing the drug in the victims' bodies would be nearly impossible. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum legal amount under Norwegian law, of which he served 12 before he was released. It is believed to be living under an assumed name.
Donald Harvey
Donald Harvey claims to have murdered 87 people while he worked in various hospitals. Official estimates put the number anywhere from 37 to 57 deaths. He had many different methods of murder but frequently used poisons such as cyanide and arsenic, which were administered in food by injection or IV. He often insisted that he committed the murders out of empathy for terminally ill patients.
Harvey was apprehended in 1987 and is currently serving 28 consecutive life sentences.
George Chapman
Known as the Borough Poisoner, Chapman, a Polish immigrant, was convicted and executed after poisoning three women with arsenic, all whom married Chapman shortly after meeting him dying shortly after that. Chapman was arrested and hanged for his crimes in 1903. And while he filed insurance claims on all three of them, he received hardly any money.
Some believe Chapman to be the notorious Jack the Ripper, who viciously killed prostitutes in the fall of 1888 in London. Chapman worked as a hairdresser's assistant just a few blocks from where the first Ripper murder occurred. Additionally, one of the Ripper's victims was named Annie Chapman – the same as one of Chapman's wives and victims. However, there are several men suspected of being the infamous murderer, and evidence thus far as been inconclusive as to who was the real culprit. Whether or not Chapman was in fact Jack the Ripper, he certainly made a name for himself with murdering his three wives.
Graham Young
This notorious English serial killer poisoned several of his family members, including his stepmother (who he poisoned when he was only 14 years old), as well as 70 more victims. His poisonous secrets were discovered by his chemistry teacher when he found violent sketches of his family and several vials of poison. He was taken to an insane asylum, where he stayed for several years until doctors released him in 1971.
It was until Young found a job and several of his coworkers began dying and falling ill that he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1990 in his cell. While the official cause of death was a heart attack, rumor has it that he got a taste of his own medicine.
H. H. Holmes
Famously known as America's first serial killer, Holmes opened a hotel during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and lured in as many as 200 victims, including his staff, hotel guests, and his lovers. He would fill guest rooms in what became known as the "Murder Castle," with gas lines to asphyxiate his victims and was in possession of numerous bottles of various poisons. Afterwards, he would make claims on their insurance policies. Holmes was hanged in 1896.
Recently, it was discovered that H. H. Holmes was probably also responsible for some of the Jack the Ripper's murders. Confirmations of these allegations are yet to be heard.
Michael Swango
A former licensed physician, Swango poisoned non-patients by putting arsenic in their food and drinks. With his patients, he administered overdoses of prescribed drugs or prescribed unnecessary and dangerous drugs.
Though he only admitted to four murders, it is estimated that he was involved in up to 60 fatal instances of poisoning. Swango is serving a life prison sentence without parole.
Oh, and what did he tell his coworkers his favorite movie was? Yep, you guessed it: Silence of the Lambs.
Nannie Doss
From 1927 to 1954, Doss murdered 11 people. Using rat poison, she killed her family members, including her first four husbands, two children, her two sisters, her mother, her grandson, and one of her nephews. She was sentenced to life in prison but did not receive the death penalty due to her gender and died in prison of leukemia in 1965.
Thomas Neill Cream
Cream was a Scottish serial killer who lived in Canada and poisoned victims in the United States, Canada, and England. He was a physician and surgeon, known for his after-hours abortion clinic and killing at least five people with chloroform and strychnine. He was convicted in 1892 and hanged for his crimes.
During this time, another murderer, Jack the Ripper, was on the loose, and Cream was one of the suspects for being the infamous killer. In fact, when the trap door released during his hanging, Cream shouted, "I am Jack..."
Stephen P. Ryder and John A. Piper, writers of an Internet biography of Cream said, "Most refute the theory on the grounds that Cream... was a prisoner, not a mutilator. It would make little sense for him to poison his (earliest) victims before 1888, then suddenly go on a murderous and vicious mutilating spree in that year, and then revert back to poisoning his women. His prison sentence adds only more fire to the arguments of skeptics."
William Palmer
The "Prince of Poisoners," Palmer was an English doctor who was publicly executed in 1855 by hanging for the murder of his friend, John Cook and is known for being one of the most notorious murderers of the 19th century. Over 30,000 people came to the prison to watch Palmer be executed.
Palmer poisoned Cook using strychnine and was also suspected of poisoning his brother, four of his own children, all of whom were infants, and his mother-in-law. He made money off their deaths, by collecting on life insurances policies, but lost almost all of it gambling on horses.
Apparently, as Palmer stepped up to the gallows and gazed down at the trapdoor and said, "Are you sure it's safe?"
You can view Palmer's diary in which he wrote about killing Cook here.