Vera Renczi: The Deadliest Black Widow

I recall how a shudder ran down my spine the first time I heard stories of the black widow. The sexual cannibalism of the black spider with a crimson hourglass form on its body gave rise to the spider’s nickname. The female spider devours the male spider immediately after mating. Isn’t it a delectable way to spend your honeymoon? The black widows’ deadly behaviour has always terrified but yet captivated me. I can almost hear my mother’s reassuring words: “Don’t worry, sweetie, that just happens in the animal world; people don’t do that!” But are we certain about that? Black Widow has also become a stereotypical term for female serial killers in some circumstances. These serial killers would murder their husbands/lovers for financial and material gain. Only in the animal kingdom, mom? I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but humans are technically members of the animal world… Vera Renczi, one of history’s most heinous serial killers, is a lady whose tale is little known. While she clearly fits the description of a Black Widow, her motivations for murder are more unusual and her story is fascinating.

Vera Renczi’s original name and year of birth are unclear, however she is thought to have been born in the early 1900s in Bucharest, Romania’s capital. Her father was a Hungarian businessman, while her mother was a member of the Magyar aristocracy from Romania. The details of her…