From ghoulish grandmas to bloodthirsty priestesses, here are 20 of the most terrifying female serial killers of the past century.

Image: Florida DOC/Getty Images / via ITV

They say that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male,” and – in this case, at least – they are exactly right. Yes, these 20th-century serial killers are proof that women can be just as twisted as men when it comes to killing people on multiple occasions…

Image: via Daily Mail Online — Image: Wikipedia

20. Rosemary West

Along with her husband Fred, Rosemary West turned a Gloucester, England, home into a true house of horrors. In fact, the twisted couple tortured and murdered at minimum ten young women between 1971 and 1987, burying many of them in their basement. Rose later claimed to be ignorant of her husband’s sick hobby – but the court didn’t believe her, and she is currently serving a life tariff in prison.

19. Miranda Barbour

After being arrested, teen mom Miranda Barbour claimed to have killed at least 22 people before her 20th birthday. And while we may never know how true that claim is, she was proven guilty of luring a 42-year-old man to his death via Craigslist. Yes, she and her husband enticed the victim with the promise of sex and then butchered him and buried the remains near their Pennsylvania home. For their “thrill killing,” both husband and wife were sentenced to life in prison.

18. Joanna Dennehy

In 2013 the U.K. was rocked by the so-called “Peterborough Ditch Murders.” The crimes? Three men were knifed to death, and their bodies were dumped in ditches outside of a quiet town in the east of England. Their killer? A young lady called Joanna Dennehy. Dennehy admitted hunting and killing for fun and said she had “a taste for it.” Fortunately, she was apprehended and sentenced to life without parole before she could claim more victims.

17. Juana Barraza

Nobody knows just how many people former Mexican wrestling pro Juana Barraza killed between 1998 and 2006 – though some say it could be as many as 49. What is known is her modus operandi: Barraza would gain entry into old ladies’ homes across Mexico City by gaining their trust. Then, once inside, she would strangle them to death. Known as the “Little Old Lady Killer,” she is now serving 759 years in jail.

Image: via ecosdemisterio - Globered — Image: via ecosdemisterio – Globered

16. Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez

When Mexican police raided the “Rancho El Angel” in the country’s Guanajuato region, they made a series of gruesome discoveries. In fact, they found the remains of 80 women, 11 men and many unborn babies. The bordello’s owners, sisters Delfina and Maria de Jesus Gonzalez, later admitted to killing prostitutes and their clients throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and both received sentences of 40 years behind bars. While Delfina perished in custody, Maria saw out her sentence and died a free woman.

15. Nannie Doss

Don’t let her nickname – “the Giggling Granny” – fool you; Alabama-born Nancy Hazel – Nannie Doss – was pure evil. A case in point? Doss’ first husband left her after suspecting that she had poisoned two of her own children. In fact, Doss eventually confessed to 11 murders, including those of her mom, her sister, a mother-in-law, a grandson and four husbands. Further victims included two infant children, another sister and a nephew. She somehow escaped the death penalty, too, but after being sentenced to life in 1955, she died of leukemia just 10 years later.

14. Genene Jones

As a nurse, Genene Anne Jones loved to be a heroine. So, horrifyingly, she would deliberately cause medical emergencies in her young patients by injecting them with a paralyzing agent. Naturally, this did not end well. In total, Jones killed up to 46 infants and children between 1971 and 1984 – when she was finally caught by an eagle-eyed physician. Jones was later sentenced to 99 years behind bars, but she is, scarily, on track to be released in 2018.

13. Aileen Wuornos

America’s best-known female serial killer – largely thanks to the Charlize Theron-starring 2003 biopic, Monster – Aileen Wuornos took the lives of seven men between 1989 and 1990, all in Florida. Wuornos argued that she was only acting in self-defense and that all the men had attacked her while she was making money as a prostitute. The jury evidently didn’t believe her, however, and she was sentenced to death. She was subsequently executed by lethal injection in October 2002.

Image: Greater Manchester Police via Getty Images

12. Myra Hindley

Myra Hindley’s mugshot is, for many, a vision of unadulterated evil. This is no doubt because Hindley, along with her partner Ian Brady, abducted and kidnapped five youngsters in the 1960s in Manchester, England. All of the unfortunate victims of the “Moors Murders” were buried in bleak moorland outside of the city. Both Brady and Hindley were caught in 1965 and sentenced to life in prison. Hindley died behind bars, aged 60, in 2002.

11. Amy Archer-Gilligan

The motive was almost a cliché: Amy Archer-Gilligan married and then murdered at least five residents of a nursing home in order to inherit their fortunes. In fact, Archer-Gilligan ran a Windsor, Connecticut, establishment and persuaded frail old ladies to write her into their wills. She then poisoned them to death using arsenic and strychnine, and it’s possible that they were just some of as many as 48 victims. Eventually, Archer-Gilligan was found guilty of poisoning her charges and, after several trials, judged to be insane. She died in custody in 1962.

10. Dorothea Helen Puente

In a 1992 trial, the jury heard how, between 1982 and 1988, Dorothea Puente was the “Death House Landlady.” Yes, she brought the frail, elderly and mentally handicapped into her Sacramento, California, home and took their Social Security payments – and murdered anyone who stood in her way. However, the jury refused to have Puente executed. Hence, she saw out her days behind bars, maintaining her innocence until the very end.

9. Enriqueta Martí I Ripolles

Enriqueta Martí moved to Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century. There, she worked as a prostitute despite having a good marriage. However, her real source of income came from kidnapping children and selling them to members of the upper classes. She even kept some for herself – so that she could kill them and use their body parts for black magic potions. Martí was arrested in 1912 but never came to trial for murder. Instead, she was lynched by her fellow inmates after just 15 months behind bars.

8. Tamara Samsonova

Saint Petersburg’s Tamara Samsonova isn’t known as the “Granny Ripper” for nothing. No, it is believed that between 1995 and 2015 she may have killed at least 14 people, cutting her victims – including one 79-year-old woman – to pieces and leaving body parts scattered across the city. Russian investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of her crimes… including whether or not she indulged in cannibalism.

7. Belle Gunness

Belle Sorenson Gunness arrived with her family in America from Norway in 1881. Come 1884 she was married, and come 1900 her husband was dead. Gunness, inevitably, picked up the life insurance. Furthermore, over the next eight years it’s thought that Gunness dispatched a long series of suitors and children. In fact, some claim that Gunness’ total tally is as high as 40 victims. Gunness, however, disappeared for good in 1908, cashed insurance checks in hand.

6. Magdalena Solís

For six weeks in 1963, Magdalena Solís oversaw a series of human sacrifices in Yerba Buena, Mexico. She had originally been brought there by a cult, led by a pair of conmen, but soon reigned over its petrified members as their High Priestess. In all, she killed some 45 people, beating, maiming and humiliating her victims before bleeding them to death. A local court sentenced her to 50 years in jail for the atrocities.

5. Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood

Soon after being brought together at the Alpine Manor Nursing Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, carers Gwendolyn Graham and Cathy Wood became lovers. Then they were killing together, too, suffocating elderly and frail old women in their beds – and sometimes robbing them for sick mementos. The deadly duo might have killed more, too, had Wood not bragged to her ex-husband, who went straight to the police. Graham was later judged to be the leader and given five life sentences; Wood got 20 years apiece for second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.

4. The Angel Makers of Nagyrév

With their men away during the First World War, many of the women of Nagyrév, Hungary, took lovers. So when World War I came to an end, it seems that some resented their returning husbands and decided to poison them with arsenic. In fact, historians believe up to 300 people were killed between 1914 and 1929, with the blame laid at the door of the so-called “Angel Makers,” Julia Fazekas and Susi Olah. These ladies supplied the arsenic – and encouraged its liberal use.

3. Lainz Angels of Death

It would appear that killer nurses are, tragically, all too common. But four working as a team? Well, that’s what happened at Lainz General Hospital in Vienna, Austria, between 1983 and 1989. The wicked quartet – Maria Gruber, Irene Leidolf, Stephanija Mayer and Waltraud Wagner – would eventually confess to 49 murders, with their victims being killed by morphine overdoses or simple drowning. But despite receiving long sentences, all four were free by 2008 and living under new identities.

2. Velma Barfield

Velma Barfield became known as the “Death Row Granny” thanks to her love of crocheting and her sweet voice. In reality, however, the South Carolina native killed her own mother, her fiancé and several elderly people in her care. All of the murders were committed between 1971 and 1978, and all were committed using arsenic. Barfield confessed to six killings and was put to death by lethal injection in 1984.

1. Debra Denis Brown

In the summer of 1984, Debra Brown joined her boyfriend Alton Coleman on a spree of violence across the American Midwest. In fact, the duo sexually assaulted at least 20 victims and killed seven more, including young children. Brown’s subservient role in the partnership and her extremely low IQ meant that an initial death sentence was commuted to life with no chance of parole.