The Soap Lady

 Author: Nyree Hardwick

Imagine you are invited to a popular older woman’s house. Say you have been looking for a job or love and she says she found you someone, but you must go quite a distance away just to meet them. Here’s the kicker, she tells you to promise her not to tell a living soul about where you’re going or what she has told you. All of a sudden… you pass out and then? You’re dead. This was how it was for the victims of “The Soap Lady”

According to many sources and records, Leonarda was both a mother and a wife to 18 children. She had become very superstitious over the years, having believed her mother cursed her and her marriage out of spite since she refused to marry the man who her parents wanted her to. She also believed this due to them not giving her marriage their blessing. After this, she had gotten arrested for fraud and her home was destroyed by one of today’s deadliest earthquakes. 

Now, it wasn’t as bad at first but due to her getting pregnant 17 times, having 3 miscarriages, and losing 10 of her children from a young age. Due to this she went and spoke to a fortune teller in hopes that everything would turn up but instead was told that in her right hand they saw prison and in her left they saw an insane asylum. That didn’t drive her off the edge though, what drove her off the edge was when her eldest and favorite son came to her and told her that he was going to join the war. All her effort to protect her children was going to fail if he went to war so she did one thing in hopes to protect him. Blood sacrifices. 

This was how “The Soap Lady” came to be, she went and collected three women. Managed to trick them and turned two of them into tea cakes while she turned the last one into tea cakes and soap before going on about how sweet they each were. She even went as far as to demonstrate how she did it seeing as the police had begun to assume her son, who she had been trying to protect, was the one who murdered those woman. Just like the fortune teller told her, she was arrested and sent to prison as well a insane asylum for her crimes and died there as well.

Works cited:

Serena, Katie “Serial Killer Leaonarda Cianciulli: Turning People Into Soap” Topic. August 2022. https://thecrimewire.com/multifarious/The-Cannibal-Leonarda-Cianciulli-Famous-Female-Serial-Killers. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

M, Pilar. “Serial Killer Leonarda Cianciulli: Turning People into Soap” The Crime Wire. August 12, 2022. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

The Infographics Show. “Leonarda Cianciulli AKA The Human Flesh Soap Maker” Youtube. May 4, 2018. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

Eniqma. “Leonarda Cianciulli | True Crime Story of the Soapmaker of Correggio” Youtube. July 30, 2022. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

Rowlatt, Justin. “Sodium: Getting Rid of Dirt – and Murder Victims.” BBC. May 3, 2014.  Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.

Links for Further Research:

1.      The Crime Wire, https://thecrimewire.com/multifarious/The-Cannibal-Leonarda-Cianciulli-Famous-Female-Serial-Killers, A clear view of ‘The Soap Lady’ and how she killed and used her victims as well as her reason for doing such things.

1.      Museo Criminologico, The Correggio soap-maker - Mucri - Criminology Museum (archive.org), It gives you the quotes of what Leonarda said about each of her victims when she was on trial.

1.      All That’s Interesting,  Meet Leonarda Cianciulli, Italy's Infamous Female Serial Killer (allthatsinteresting.com), It gives more of an insight on her backstory.

The Axe Man of New Orleans

Author: Musa Kareem

Hell, March 13, 1919, Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans: The Axe Man.They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanais and your foolish police call the Axe Man.

This is a supposed quote from the infamous murderer known as the Axe man of New Orleans. If this is a genuine quote, it pretty much sums up the type of person we are dealing with here. Even if this quote isn’t genuine, the events that happened in New Orleans, 1918 through 1919 are creepy enough.

It’s the night of May 23rd, 1918; a couple named Catherine and Joseph Maggio are in their home,419 Magnolia St.and in that night, they became known as the first victims of the Axe Man.The story is the Axe Man crept through the darkness of the Maggio home, knocked the couple with an axe andcuttheir throatswithone of Joseph’s straight razors.Catherine was found almost entirely decapitated, while her husband suffered from multiple severe injuries.Their bodies were discovered by joseph’s brother, who lived with the couple.When the attack was investigated,the only leads that were found was a missing panel from the kitchen door and a bloody axe.This break-in was abnormal because no valuables or money were.The Maggio attack is only beginning of the many disturbing attacks supposedly committed by the Axe Man, some more gruesome or disturbing than others.

On March 10th,1919, the Cortimiglia family was attacked.Charles attempted to protect his family by engaging in a fight with the Axe Man. Charles Cortimiglia would lose that fight and the Axe Man would go on to attacking Charles wife Rose and their two-year-old daughter, Rose. Charles and Rose would survive the attack, but their daughter tragically didnot.Like all the other Axe Man attacks the only thing police found was the bloody axe the attacker used.The attacker was described as dark, tall,heavy-set, wearing a dark suit and a black slouch hat.Three days later, on March 13th, 1919, the letter quoted up above was sent to a New Orleans newspaper called The Times-Picayune.In the letter he would go on to threaten and insult the police.The most sinister thing about this letter is threat aimed towards the citizens of New Orleans.

Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens (and the worst), for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.

Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether region that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.

This letter put fear in the hearts of the New Orleans citizens. On the Tuesday mentioned in the letter the people of New Orleans blasted jazz music in their homes and those who didn’t have a record player poured into local jazz clubs, just to stay clear from the Axe Mans wrath.What is interesting is the fact that no one was attacked on that night.The letter would also go on to spark the creation of a jazz song called“Don’t Scare Me Papa,” also known as the mysterious Axe Mans jazz.

October 27th,1919 was the last time the Axe Man attacked someone.He attacked and killed a man named Mike Pepitone. Mike was bashed in the head eight-teen times. He initially survived the attack but died only two hours later. After this the Axe Man seemed to just vanish from the city of New Orleans. He was never caught or even identified.

Work Cited:

BuzzFeed Multiplayer. “BuzzFeed Multiplayer: The Terrifying Axeman of New Orleans.” YouTube,2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrMGIqecu0Y&t=456s.

Kelly, Meghan. “The Axe Murderer Who Loved Jazz.” Wbur.com, 2018. https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2018/06/22/the-axeman-serial-killer-new-orleans

For more information check the links below:


The Axeman of New Orleans.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/la-axeman/2/.
This article is essentially a timeline of the Axe man’s murders and other important events related to the Axe man.

The Legends of History: The Axe Man of New Orleans (Serial Killer History Explained). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9iHBtN0DaE.
This video goes in detain of each murder done by the Axeman and his possible motivations.

“Criminal Profiles: The Axeman of New Orleans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8XX7k5Jt84
In this video the narrator goes through each one of the Axe man’s murders and attacks. He mentions the important dates in the story that is the notorious Axe man.

The Hookman

Author: Seth Mathis

The Hookman’s hook

The Hookman is a classic example of an urban legend. Hookman legend is an urban

legend that began to be told and circulating in the 1950’s. There are many versions or variations

to the legend but the basic story is the same in all stories of the hookman. It begins when a

teenage boy takes his date out to Lovers’ Lane for a make out session. While there, they hear a

report of a murderer who has escaped from a nearby insane asylum; the newscaster says

everyone should be on the lookout for this crazy man, who has a hook in place of his right hand.

            According to Credo references, most teenagers and adults remember there high school

days and fears, will recognize this story that is summarized in a 1990 collection of urban legends

from South Africa. The Hook is also a favorite of folklore scholars; there are no less than 33

references to it in the standard bibliography of urban-legend studies published in 1993. The

urban legend has been corporate into comic strips, films, and TV programs to such a degree that

the very image of a hook dangling from a car-door handle is enough to suggest for most people

the whole genre of urban legends. Although the image of the hook destroys the suspense of the

urban legend version, it highlights the fact that the hook is known now days as a simple scary

story rather than something that really happened. Best known claim is Alan Dundes’s Freudian

interpretation; it explains the hook as a phallic symbol and its amputation as a symbolic

castration. Other scholars have been content to see the story more literally as an warning against

parking, a dramatic example of the reason for parental concern for their children, an expression

of fear of the handicapped, or depiction of the danger possible from a rampaging antisocial

person.

            According to several sources including, from about.com article on the hookman. People

have been telling the legend since the 1950’s; it sends a moral message “Sex is naughty and bad

boys and girls will be punished!” it seems more appropriate in the modern era. Jan Harold 

Brunvand has observed that most story tellers narrate the urban legend nowadays as a scary story

then as a believable legend. Most people under the age of 30 assume that the story was invented

by screenwriters.

            Barbara and David P. Mickleson the writers for Snopes.com a website for the snope on

the urban legend of the hookman. It’s possible that the roots of the legends the hookman and the

boyfriend’s death lie in distant memories of real life murders at lover’s lane. There are actual

cases of kids who have gone necking that have come back in pine boxes. Real life roots or not

the urban legend of the hook has been a legend for as long as anyone can remember. The key to

the legend is the boyfriend’s response to the girl’s demand to end the date immediately. Untold

in the story is the realization that if the girl hadn’t said no, and hadn’t left right away, the couple

would have been killed. 

Edward Wayne Edwards

According to natural plane blog spot, gives you truth behind the urban legend of the hookman.

There are many varations of the story but the basic is still the same, the supposed urban legend

began to circulate after world war II and more widely during the 1950’s. In Seymour,

Connecticut there is a cemetery that has been used since the 1800’s and it is the preferred

haunting grounds of the hookman. In the 1940’s the story began to circulate about a caretaker

with a hookman that lived on the property at one time. Another version of the tale says a man by

the name of the hookman was wrongly accused of the murders and since then haults the

cemetery. Then there is more contemporary allegory of Edward Wayne Edwards, who could easily been the rumored psycho-killer to haunt lover’s lane in the country. He has earned the name the man with the hook from author Phil Stanford, although he never used the hook as a weapon as far as they

know. He published a book called “Metamorphosis of a criminal” which talks about all of his

crimes even talking about his hints as a serial killer. He was finally arrested in 2009 for his

murders of a young couple in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Works cited:

Brunvand, Jan Harold Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. 14 Oct. 2012 Web. 2001.

Emery, David “The hook” (the hookman) about.com guide. 23 Oct. 2012 Web.

“Emery, David-The hook” photo of the hook. 23 Oct. 2012 Web.

Mickleson, Barbara and David P. Snopes.com. 1995-2012. 23 Oct. 2012 Web.

Strickler, Lon “Phantoms and Monsters” 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012

“Strickler, Lon- Edward Wayne Edward” “Phantoms and Monsters” 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

Links for further research:

The hook
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2009/10/the_hook.html
A spooky campfire tale and a version of the story

Hookman legend
http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Hook_Man_Legend
More information on the hookman