Here's a female killer from way back in the day!

"Mary Ann Cotton,

Dead and forgotten 
She lies in her bed, With her eyes wide open.
Mary Ann Cotton is tied up with string
Where, where? Up in the air
Sing, sing, oh, what can I sing,
Sellin’ black puddin's a penny a pair." - Really old poem that no one is quite sure where or who it came from 

Hey everyone!

Let's dive right into this story of the psychopath who killed her children, step children, possibly her mother, and her husbands.

I suppose we should start with a name. Mary Ann Cotton, she was pretty cray. Saying that she was pure evil is putting it a bit lightly.

She was born Mary Ann Robson in 1832, in a village in Northern England. Her dad died when she was very young, so her and her brother were raised by her mom and step-dad, who she absolutely despised. She ran away when she was just 16 years old, then she was homeless, and had no money. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.

So, she started to really buddy up with this dude, William Mowbray, who had just lost his wife. Naturally, they fell in love, married in 1852 and had NINE children. By 1865 eight of her children were dead, along with her husband, who mysteriously died from a stomach complaint. Mary Ann collected hella insurance $$$$. After this, she sent her last daughter left to live with her mother. Shortly after all this went down, she married another dude, George Ward. Then, he died from a stomach illness, all in the same year. Again, she accepted insurance money!
Notice a trend here?
After this, her mom died, and then the last of one of her eight children died. Both, from stomach aches! She started working as a house-keeper for a man, James Robinson, who had just lost a child. Guess who was there to comfort him?!
Oh, Mary Ann. So predictable. She had a child with him, who died, and when she was kept begging him to take out a life insurance policy, he started getting suspicious. He kicked her murdering a$$ to the curb! Yeah. Take THAT Mary!

Living on the streets, Mary Ann found a man. Or maybe I should say, victim. His name was Fredrick Cotton. Good ole Freddy was paying Mary to babysit his two kids. He had a sister, who died, of a tummy ache! Surprise, surprise. He then needed comfort and who came to his side?? No one other than Mary Ann! She became impregnated, again, but plot twist!! Home girl left him, for another man, Joseph Nastrass. Poor guy was killed before he even knew what he was getting into.

Eventually, to finally put an end to her reign of terror, home girl messed up. So, she was husbandless, her last child was becoming too much to handle, I guess because he was breathing. So she went to a town official and asked if he would put him in a work house. He said he'd help her, but only if she'd go too. She suddenly changed her mind and was basically like, "meh, he's gonna die soon anyway. So, whatevs, don't even worry about it."
He died a week later.
This made the officer pretty concerned. They tested his body and poison showed up as the cause of death. Shocker, I know.
Evidence suggests she was responsible for 21 deaths.

She was hanged, and a nursery rhyme was made about her. The end!