Delusions and Arsenic
Anna Zwanziger believed she was a catch, looking for love. When others didn’t fall head over heels for her, they were taken care of with a hefty dash of arsenic.
“Arsenic is my truest friend.” — Anna Zwanziger
Anna Zwanziger went on a year-long poisoning spree from 1808–1809 dispatching her employers or other members of their households with arsenic. She wasn’t clever in her business by any means, but it doesn’t make her any less disturbing than other female poisoners or serial killers of the age. Her motive wasn’t greed like most, but of all things it was love.
Anna Zwanziger was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1760 as Anna Maria Schonleben. Not much is known about her early life, but the unfortunate Anna grew up poor and destitute. She was known to be ugly and repulsive, described as a “misshapen toad,” with a hump on her back and one leg shorter than the other.
When it came time for marriage, she was wed off to the first man who took interest in her taking the name “Zwanziger”. Unfortunately for Anna, this was not love, nor was it even a partnership. Her husband was a drunkard, disappearing for weeks on end squandering their money on booze. It is said that she worked as a prostitute to…
