The world's oldest serial killer: how a 90-year-old "Bataan witch" poisoned 150 men

The phrase "the oldest serial killer in history" evokes associations with the scruffy cannibal grandfather from Lovecraft's short story "The Picture in the House". But the reality is that this is a 90-year-old dandelion grandmother who helped fellow villagers with their family problems. However, her help was expensive: according to various sources, the old woman killed from 50 to 150 people. However, she was caught, served the 8 years leniently given to her by the court, and was released.

Anna di Pishtonia is known as the Banat Witch, but in her native Serbian Vladimirovac, she was simply called "Baba Anuika". The woman was not so skilled in witchcraft, but the people were dark then, so that in terms of the number of victims she can compare with the court poisoner of Nero, Lukusta.

My grandmother did not become a local angel of death immediately, until she was 20 years old, she was quite a nice and pleasant young lady. Anna Drakshin (her maiden name) was born in 1838 in Romania in the family of a rich cattle breeder and received a good education. At least, in schools, she studied with the children of local rich people.

In 1849, her family moved to the border with the Ottoman Empire — in the region known as the Banat Military Border. There was no shortage of warriors there, and the young Anna fell in love with one of them. A young Austro-Hungarian officer turned her head, infected her with syphilis, and then left to fight heroically against the Ottomans. The fact that there was no war with Turkey then, the girl did not realize immediately, and when she realized that she was deceived, and even infected with the "French cold", she hated all men.

A little later, she married a gentleman named di Pishtonia, who was 20 years older than her. Anna gave birth to 11 children, but all of them were painful — 10 of them did not live to adulthood. After 20 years of marriage, the husband went to his forefathers under mysterious circumstances, and the widow decided to do what she always had a soul for-herbalism and medicine. She was a talented self-taught woman with a great commercial streak. And the new craft helped her to get rich.

Baba Anuika made a fortune on a "disease potion" invented by her: soldiers and officers who wanted to go on leave or even leave the army took tea from her, which made them sickly and stunted, after which they successfully failed a medical examination. Then the health was quickly restored, and the happy mowers carried the news of the wonderful grandmother to other employees. There was no shortage of visitors — Anna was well aware of the benefits of living on the military border.

However, over time, the military contingent became less and less, and rumors that some customers permanently undermined their health (and some may have died) were bad advertising. Then Anna changed her clientele. With the help of her assistant named Lubina Milankova, the woman spread rumors among the villagers about her magical power and the incredible "magic water" that she inherited from her grandmother, for which the witch sold her soul to the Devil.

Spreading terrible rumors about yourself turned out to be a useful idea for the craft. Soon, a string of unhappy women went to the Banat witch. They would come under the cover of night and talk about their family problems, then ask for help. And their grandmother gave them a potion. Despite the fact that it was called "love", it was more of a code word — the composition was the strongest poison.

The women's requests were similar, although it is believed that each family is unhappy in its own way: the husband is a drunkard, the husband is a traitor, the husband is a villain and a lover of beating the betrothed. After listening to the problem, Baba Anuika asked only one thing:

And the woman called the weight of her spouse, after which the grandmother gave the potion the right volume and concentration. Thus, up to 150 "bad husbands" died in the district. But the wives, of course, claimed they didn't know about the poison — they thought it was a witch who killed by witchcraft, sucking the soul out through a straw with the help of her bat familiar.

Of course, this was a lie — everyone knew exactly what the grandmother was doing. So despite the epidemic of deaths that befell Vladimirovac and its surroundings, the women kept their mouths shut. However, in 1926, the Banat witch was caught because of the stupidity and greed of two clients.

First, the obvious stupidity was committed by Stana Momirova, who poisoned her husband, and then, having married again profitably, ruined the rich uncle of her new husband in order to get an enviable inheritance.

A little later, a relative of this poisoner, Sofya Momirova, decided to kill her husband's father. And her husband did not mind-the grandfather was a vicious alcoholic, and even as big as a bear, in a fit of anger, he could beat up his entire family — up to his grandchildren. The poisoning was successful, but the 16-year-old granddaughter, who was forced to add poison to her grandfather, blabbed to her peers, and soon the whole district knew about the murder.

The police did not have to go on the trail of Baba Anuika for a long time: as soon as they caught Stan and Sophia, they immediately told them where they had taken the potion. The women claimed that they knew nothing about the poison and thought that the witch had killed the men with magic. The police conducted a serious investigation: Anna's laboratory was visited by chemists, the bodies of the poisoned Sofia and Stana were exhumed and sent to the University of Belgrade, where they performed an autopsy and tissue analysis.

The police found out that Baba Anuika used arsenic in a non-lethal dosage. However, it was supplemented by plant poisons, which were harder to detect. As a result of poisoning, the victim did not die immediately, but usually after 7-8 days. It was like a fleeting disease, like cholera. Women on average gave 5,000 Yugoslav dinars for the potion (about $ 3,000 at the current rate, adjusted for inflation).

In 1928, the trial began, as a result of which the 90-year-old Banat witch was found guilty of making poisons. However, despite all attempts to blame the old woman, the heaviest blow of justice fell on the poisoners themselves, Stana and Sophia-they were given a life sentence. The assistant and "advertising agent" of the witch Lubina Milankova received 8 years for complicity.

Anna di Pishtonia herself spent 8 years behind bars, after which she was released and lived in her home until she was 100 years old. According to local legend, she died exactly on her birthday, as stated in the contract with the Devil.