OPINION — Criminals come in all shapes and varieties, and they prompt many reactions. Some infuriate you. Some leave you perplexed. Some evoke pathos and tragedy. And some are just plain creepy.
They all apply to one felon who left lawmen stunned and disturbed. When her crimes finally caught up with her, 11 people were dead by her hand. This is the story of the Giggling Granny, a case that was anything but funny.
She was born Nancy Hazel. Everyone called her Nannie. Her demanding father wouldn’t let his children attend school; they had to work on the family’s hardscrabble farm in the North Alabama hill country instead. Her favorite escape was reading her mother’s romance magazine and dreaming of finding true love.
