When Jane Toppan began training to be a nurse at Cambridge Hospital in 1885, she was bright, eager, and well-liked by her peers and seemed to form easy bonds with the oldest and most vulnerable patients. What no one knew at the time was, once Jane managed to get time alone with her patients, she began conducting medical experiments by injecting them with various drugs and even going so far as to get into bed with them to hold them close to her as they died from the overdoses she’d administered.

Thank you to the amazing Dave White of Bring me the Axe Podcast for research!

References

Boston Globe. 1902. "Agree that she's insane." Boston Globe, April 6: 1.

—. 1901. "Alden P. Davis' death due to another cause." Boston Globe, November 21: 1.

—. 1901. "Hint to watch Miss Toppan." Boston Globe, October 31: 5.

—. 1901. "Inquiry is under way." Boston Globe, August 31: 1.

—. 1902. "Is Miss Toppan sane." Boston Globe, March 26: 1.

—. 1904. "Jane Toppan an imbecile." Boston Globe, July 10: 6.

—. 1902. "Jane Toppan insane, found not guilty." Boston Globe, June 24: 1.

—. 1938. "Jane Toppan, poisoner of 31, dies in hospital at age pf 81." Boston Globe, August 18: 1.

—. 1901. "Marriage and money." Boston Globe, November 1: 1.

—. 1901. "Murder by poison." Boston Globe, October 31: 1.

—. 1901. "No cause for suspicion." Boston Globe, November 4: 2.

Lowell Historical Society. 2022. Lowell’s ties to “Jolly” Jane, Massachusetts’ Female Serial Killer. October 29. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://www.lowellhistoricalsociety.org/lowells-ties-to-jolly-jane-massachusetts-female-serial-killer/.

New York Times. 1904. "Jane Toppan, an extraordinary case of moral insanity." New York Times, October 23: A2.

—. 1938. "Miss Jane Toppan, 84, Mass poisoner, dies." New York Times, August 18: 15.

Schechter, Harold. 2012. Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer. New York, NY: Pocket Books.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the evening of October 9, 1983, twenty-three-year-old Timothy Coggins met up with some friends for a night out at the People’s Choice club, a popular night club in Griffin, Georgia, a rural area about forty-five minutes outside of Atlanta. When Tim didn’t return home the next day, his family assumed he’d stayed at a friend’s house, as he often did on nights he stayed out late. Those assumptions were shattered one day later, when investigators showed up at the Coggins’ front door carrying a photograph of what would be identified as Tim’s dead, mutilated body.

At first, local investigators assured the Coggins family they would find whoever was responsible for Tim’s brutal murder; however, within just a couple weeks, it was clear they didn’t have any leads or evidence, nor did they seem all that interested in investigating Tim’s death. Eventually, the months passed into years and the case went completely cold and Tim’s family lost any hope of his killers being brought to justice. Then, more than three decades after his death, investigators contacted the Coggins family and told them they’d found the men responsible for Tim’s death.

Timothy Coggins’ story is yet another reminder of how in many parts of the United States, the hideous beliefs of a bygone era are still alive and well, devastating families and perverting the justice system.

Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe and 99 Cent Rental Podcasts for Research!

References

Boone, Christian. 2018. "Well proves crucial in cold murder case." Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 1.

—. 2017. "2 boasted of dragging black man behind pickup truck." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 1.

—. 2018. "Race center stage at trial's opening." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 21.

Franklin Gebhard v. The State of Georgia. 2019. S19A1582 (Supreme Court of Georgia, December 23).

Gomez, Melissa, and Matt Stevens. 2018. "Conviction after 34 years in murder of Black man." New York Times, June 27.

Helm, Nelson. 2017. "5 arrested in connection with '83 murder in Spaulding County." Atlanta Constitution, October 14: B1.

—. 2017. "Dragging death case was racial." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 2.

2022. Cold Case Files. Directed by Ricky Lewis. Performed by Ricky Lewis.

Lowery, Wesley. 2020. "A Brutal Lynching. An Indifferent Police Force. A 34-Year Wait for Justice." GQ Magazine, July 17.

McLaughlin, Eliott C. 2017. "Killers meant to 'send a message,' sheriff says of 1983." CNN Wire, October 20.

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Weirdos! It's Listener Tales, and they're brought to you BY you, FOR you, FROM you, and ALL ABOUT YOU. This week's episode is brought to you by... DREAMS! We hear about a ghostly soggy nighttime visitor, a story about getting sucked into a void by a dying relation, a dream town with the clocktower, a dream about the previous owner of a house who has passed on, and a weirdo who inadvertently astral projected!

If you’ve got a listener tale please send it on over to Morbidpodcast@gmail.com with “Listener Tales” somewhere in the subject line :)

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