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True Crime History
The Good-Bye Door: The Incredible True Story of America's First Female Serial Killer to Die in the Chair
The true story of the first female serial killer to die in the electric chair
Nicknamed "the Blonde Borgia," Anna Marie Hahn was a cold-blooded serial killer who preyed on the elderly in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district in the 1930s. When the State of Ohio strapped its first woman into the electric chair, Hahn gained a place in the annals of crime as the nation's first female serial killer to be executed in the chair.
Told here for the first time in riveting detail is Anna Marie's gripping story, an almost unbelievable tale of multiple murders, deceit, and greed.
Born in Bavaria in 1906, Anna Marie brought shame to her pious family when, as a teenager, she gave birth to an illegitimate son, Oscar. She was shipped off to America in 1929 where she initially lived with elderly relatives in Cincinnati. A year later she married Philip Hahn, a Western Union telegrapher, with whom she bought a new house and opened a delicatessen/bakery.
Pressed economically by the Great Depression, the ever-resourceful Anna Marie found other ways to get the money to support her passionate pasttime--betting on horses. She tried burning down the house, then the deli, for the insurance; and she tried killing her husband, also for the insurance. Then she took to befriending the neighborhood elderly, latching on to their life savings before feeding them arsenic with deadly results.
For weeks her Cincinnati trial for "the greatest mass murder in the history of the country" was a front-page sensation across the nation. A thousand or more curiosity seekers came daily to the courthouse to try to get just a glimpse of her. Nearly 100 witnesses gave damning testimony against her, and the jury's guilty verdict put her on the path to the electric chair. Finally, after a year, all appeals were exhausted, and Anna Marie, age 32, was executed on December 7, 1938, at the state penitentiary in Columbus.
True crime buffs, historians, legal professionals, and others seeking an extraordinary story will find The Goodbye Door a compelling addition to true crime literature.
Nicknamed "the Blonde Borgia," Anna Marie Hahn was a cold-blooded serial killer who preyed on the elderly in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine district in the 1930s. When the State of Ohio strapped its first woman into the electric chair, Hahn gained a place in the annals of crime as the nation's first female serial killer to be executed in the chair.
Told here for the first time in riveting detail is Anna Marie's gripping story, an almost unbelievable tale of multiple murders, deceit, and greed.
Born in Bavaria in 1906, Anna Marie brought shame to her pious family when, as a teenager, she gave birth to an illegitimate son, Oscar. She was shipped off to America in 1929 where she initially lived with elderly relatives in Cincinnati. A year later she married Philip Hahn, a Western Union telegrapher, with whom she bought a new house and opened a delicatessen/bakery.
Pressed economically by the Great Depression, the ever-resourceful Anna Marie found other ways to get the money to support her passionate pasttime--betting on horses. She tried burning down the house, then the deli, for the insurance; and she tried killing her husband, also for the insurance. Then she took to befriending the neighborhood elderly, latching on to their life savings before feeding them arsenic with deadly results.
For weeks her Cincinnati trial for "the greatest mass murder in the history of the country" was a front-page sensation across the nation. A thousand or more curiosity seekers came daily to the courthouse to try to get just a glimpse of her. Nearly 100 witnesses gave damning testimony against her, and the jury's guilty verdict put her on the path to the electric chair. Finally, after a year, all appeals were exhausted, and Anna Marie, age 32, was executed on December 7, 1938, at the state penitentiary in Columbus.
True crime buffs, historians, legal professionals, and others seeking an extraordinary story will find The Goodbye Door a compelling addition to true crime literature.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 8, 2012
If I wasn't reading this for a book club I'd have put it down half way through. While a fine document it's dry as dust. The author didn't seem to really get into the world that Anna lived in - I didn't get a sense of the culture and smells of the time.
The middle third of the book is dominated by her trial and seems to be mostly outtakes from the trial transcript. And it read like a trial transcript.
While much of this can be excused because all of the participants are long dead I think a little leg work would have added color to this colorless narrative. For instance, I'm not a life-long Cincinnatian nor am I particularly active but I recognized three names of folks who I'd wager were grandparents or parents of some of the participants. What diaries or diner table stories do these folks know? I have a feeling we'll never know.
The middle third of the book is dominated by her trial and seems to be mostly outtakes from the trial transcript. And it read like a trial transcript.
While much of this can be excused because all of the participants are long dead I think a little leg work would have added color to this colorless narrative. For instance, I'm not a life-long Cincinnatian nor am I particularly active but I recognized three names of folks who I'd wager were grandparents or parents of some of the participants. What diaries or diner table stories do these folks know? I have a feeling we'll never know.
December 3, 2024
Franklin does an excellent job of getting the minutia of her timeline down. Many murder book-authors seem to struggle with keeping their order of events straight. Things are messy, when you've got multiple threads of an investigation to talk about, how do you make sure the reader knows exactly where and when they are without getting tangled up?
Franklin does a beautiful job of signposting her dates, especially throughout the Hahn trial and subsequent imprisonment, which takes up the back half of the book. Yes, a full half. This book is as much about the trial and the punishment, as it is the murders and the murderess.
Fascinating, cold, calculating to the extreme but also likely emotionally damaged, Hahn is an excellent subject for a book, and Franklin makes her conclusion a satisfying one.
Franklin does a beautiful job of signposting her dates, especially throughout the Hahn trial and subsequent imprisonment, which takes up the back half of the book. Yes, a full half. This book is as much about the trial and the punishment, as it is the murders and the murderess.
Fascinating, cold, calculating to the extreme but also likely emotionally damaged, Hahn is an excellent subject for a book, and Franklin makes her conclusion a satisfying one.
February 23, 2014
An interesting book for any true crime aficionado. This tells the tale of Anna Marie Hahn who befriended, swindled and killed several old men via poison and was executed for her crimes. She also poisoned and sickened several other people along the way as well. What makes her interesting is that she is a female serial killer and that she was from "back in the day" when women were considered meek and it was unthinkable that a woman could commit such a crime. Yet she did and was convicted by an 11-woman, 1-man jury. Another thing that struck me is that as much as things have changed in the decades that have passed, the serial killer remains the same, preying on the weak, justifying their actions by lying and a feeling of entitlement, not caring who they harm along the way.
November 8, 2018
True story about a female serial killer who was certainly a psychopath.
June 9, 2012
I was shocked by this book. When I began reading it, I completely missed the part of the title linking her as the first woman executed in the electric chair. So as I read the book I figured she was to face execution but not such a landmark one. She did it. She has all the tell tale marks of the psychopathic mind. In her confession that she wrote as she breaking down right before her date with the chair she confessed to some of the crimes but still tried to give a sort of twisted justification for them. Also in irony, she could have probably spared herself execution if she had confessed once caught to begin with but took the same tactic that Ted Bundy took. She was in complete denial that the there was a strong case against her and instead of dealing with the situation from a point of contrition that would have in that time period most likely given her life for her being woman and nothing else....stayed in warped perception that though she knew she did these things no court of law could be as clever as to catch her at it. As I said, Ted Bundy was the same way which is why after reading her story I had to reread his because her obstinacy of truth in the face of it reminded me of his sort of psychopathology. Only as the eve her execution loomed was she willing to act contrite and do what she should have done before her trial to save her live. Only then did she seem to recognize that by virtue of sex or her son nobody was going to spare her. Her crimes were plainly to horrific. She took advantage of those most needy in our society and deserving of our watchful and dutiful care.
But again I cite the irony in her case. If she had just yielded to her crimes and stood from a point of contrition she probably would never been executed. Women were still thought of as incapable of such horrors. Her arrogance and impunity that no court of law could possibly hold her responsible for what she'd done was her true undoing since she was willing to live in prison by the time her execution came around.
It's a sad story for what happened to those neglected elderly people and the monster that came in seeming a guise of comfort but really a devil in disguise to feed them poison and steal anything of worth they had. And while she did this, she brought her son along. What did he see? How much did he know? All the court records know for sure is when all the cards were against his mother, she pointed the figure indirectly at her own son. The boy being immature was too young to realize the implication. But the implication was a mother who was an accused for profit serial killer was saying it wasn't me at all it was my son. Any mother that could say and do that truly is a psychopath.
But again I cite the irony in her case. If she had just yielded to her crimes and stood from a point of contrition she probably would never been executed. Women were still thought of as incapable of such horrors. Her arrogance and impunity that no court of law could possibly hold her responsible for what she'd done was her true undoing since she was willing to live in prison by the time her execution came around.
It's a sad story for what happened to those neglected elderly people and the monster that came in seeming a guise of comfort but really a devil in disguise to feed them poison and steal anything of worth they had. And while she did this, she brought her son along. What did he see? How much did he know? All the court records know for sure is when all the cards were against his mother, she pointed the figure indirectly at her own son. The boy being immature was too young to realize the implication. But the implication was a mother who was an accused for profit serial killer was saying it wasn't me at all it was my son. Any mother that could say and do that truly is a psychopath.
December 26, 2012
This book provides about as thorough an account of the crimes, trial and execution of German-born serial-poisoner Anna Marie Hahn (1906-1938) as may be possible, given that the only available source material is a portion of a trial transcript and loads of breathless, if not sensationalistic, newspaper coverage.
Anna Marie wrote a 21-page confession of her crimes shortly before her death, which would seem, along with the amazing amount of evidence presented at her trial to sew up the issue of innocence-or-guilt.
The problem is that I ended the book with no greater sense of understanding than I began it. I know the facts, the accusations, the evidence, and I've read the interviews and confession, but none of it gives me a clue about what made her tick.
Killing elderly people for money is just about the lowest crime going. It suggests a degree of moral depravity that is hard to fathom, and unfortunately, I leave the book with no more understanding that I brought to it.
I'd recommend this book to true-crime afficionados, those interested in women's studies (it is interesting that an almost entirely female jury found Hahn guilty _without_ a recommendation of mercy, and those interested in a history of American judicially sanctioned executions.
Anna Marie wrote a 21-page confession of her crimes shortly before her death, which would seem, along with the amazing amount of evidence presented at her trial to sew up the issue of innocence-or-guilt.
The problem is that I ended the book with no greater sense of understanding than I began it. I know the facts, the accusations, the evidence, and I've read the interviews and confession, but none of it gives me a clue about what made her tick.
Killing elderly people for money is just about the lowest crime going. It suggests a degree of moral depravity that is hard to fathom, and unfortunately, I leave the book with no more understanding that I brought to it.
I'd recommend this book to true-crime afficionados, those interested in women's studies (it is interesting that an almost entirely female jury found Hahn guilty _without_ a recommendation of mercy, and those interested in a history of American judicially sanctioned executions.
April 3, 2010
A chilling look at a sociopath. Anna Marie Hahn entagled herselves in the lives of older men in the Cincinnati area. Often these men spoke very little English, so they were someone isolated from society as a whole. Anna used these men for their money, and once the money was gone, or they grew suspicious of her, she killed them with arsenic and croton oil. Often times, she had her young son with her when she "nursed" them as they died. She had no remorse, no care for anything than herself and possibly her son. Even so, I did feel bad for her while she was executed. She was the first female serial killer put to death in the electric chair. Easy to read book.
November 9, 2011
This is one of the two books we will be reviewing with the author Diana Britt Franklin for our True Crime Readers group at John McIntire Library in August. Ms. Franklin will be on hand to discuss this and one of her other books "God Medal Killer. "The Good-Bye Door" is set is Cincnnatti and many of the places mentioned are familiar to those who know Cincy. It is miticulous in detail, and paints a vivid picture of this serial killer. Much time is devoted to the trial. If anyone would like a copy of this book or the other--see me at the Refrence Desk at John McIntire.
June 18, 2013
A slow start, but about halfway through I was in. The chilling account of the trial and herncarceration are riveting. This book is an interesting study of society may easily overlook a woman as a cold and calculating enough to commit serial murder. Anna Marie Hahn did whatever she wanted in a bold way, but found in the end, like most instances, the lies were simply too thin to cover the crimes. Not particularly well written, with some grammatical errors and dry spots, but more than adequate enough to inform true crime fans of a curious case in America's history.
September 15, 2016
When I found out we were going to be reading this book in book club I got very excited once I found out that it was based right in the city that I work and grew up in, however my excitement quickly changed as I struggled to keep all the characters straight and the dragging on of the trial. I think this book could have really been done in a neat way, but with the format it was written in I just felt like something was lacking.
September 7, 2009
awesome book!!!
February 14, 2012
Love it!
April 23, 2015
Quick and interesting read. More context on murder rates, female criminals or crime in the 1930s would have given an added dimension to the audacity of a death row sentence.
August 30, 2014
Wow what a women. She sure was convincing. I could see why people wouldn't believe she was a killer.
November 11, 2015
Very good read. She was manipulative and pretty much had no conscious.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews