(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] What wouldn't a mother do for her children?
And just how far would a mother go
to keep her children safe?
These are the questions we will be contemplating
in today's case.
But this time,
the answer has a dark and disturbing twist
you definitely won't see coming.
What is up, EWU crew?
Today, we are talking about the first known
Italian female serial killer, a haunting curse,
and a story about making soap
that just might turn your stomach.
Now, let's get into it.
Leonarda Cianciulli was born on April 18th, 1894,
in Mantella Avellino,
in what was then known as the Kingdom of Italy.
Leonarda had a tumultuous upbringing,
and a tragic conception.
Reportedly her mother, Amelia Denolfi,
had been assaulted.
And afterward, she discovered that she was pregnant
with Leonarda.
In order to avoid ruin,
Emilia was forced to marry her attacker.
Due to the dreadful circumstances of her conception,
Amelia resented her daughter,
and treated her terribly because of it.
Which led to the mother and daughter
having a turbulent relationship.
Due to her poor treatment by her own mother
young Leonarda allegedly attempted to take her own life
on two separate occasions.
The family lived in poverty,
even when Amelia eventually remarried.
Seeking to fix their financial issues,
Emilia planned for Leonarda to marry a wealthy man
who then would help to take care of her family as a whole.
But Leonarda disobeyed her mother's wishes,
and instead married an older man named Raffaele Pansardi,
who worked as a Registry Office Clerk.
Her mother was furious with Leonarda,
and allegedly cursed her for her betrayal and disobedience.
Believing strongly in the power of curses,
Leonarda would feel the consequences of her mother's curse
for the rest of her life.
Leonarda had reportedly visited a fortune teller
at some point early in her life,
who gave her a grim and heart shattering reading.
She was told that she would marry and have children.
But every single one of them would die young.
Perhaps seeking reassurance against this miserable fate,
Leonarda later also visited a Romani
who predicted her future by reading the lines on her palm.
Leonarda was once again given a bleak prediction,
when the Romani told her,
"In your right hand, I see prison.
In your left, a criminal asylum."
Leonarda likely felt
that the predictions of her dark future
were the result of her mother's curse.
Four years after marrying in 1921,
Raffaele and Leonarda moved away from Leonarda's hometown
into the small town of Lauria,
where her husband Raffaele had grown up.
For a while, the couple did well for themselves
as they both found work.
But in 1927,
Leonarda was arrested and imprisoned for committing fraud.
Though it isn't clear exactly what her crime entailed.
As soon as she was released, they moved to Lacedonia,
where they were once again besieged by trouble.
In 1930, the Irpinia earthquake destroyed the couple's home,
though they both survived.
At last, the couple moved to the town of Correggio
and their luck appeared to finally be turning around.
Leonarda flourished, as she opened a small shop
where she sold a variety of goods, such as soap and tea.
There, Leonarda began telling her customers
that she had special powers
that could help their dreams to come true.
Soon, she was telling fortunes,
and became incredibly popular in her neighborhood,
as well as highly respected.
People from across Correggio, women in particular,
would come seeking her aid
to help them manifest their deepest desires.
Leonarda's life was still not without difficulty though.
And she struggled through the loss of many children.
Though pregnant a total of 17 times,
she lost three children to miscarriages
and 10 more died while they were still very young.
Mostly from a variety of illnesses.
Was this her mother's curse?
Or the fortune teller's prediction coming true?
Perhaps it was both.
Only four of Leonarda's many children
managed to survive past adolescence,
which resulted in her becoming extremely protective of them.
Any mother who had endured
the heartbreaking losses of so many children
would go to great lengths to protect the ones she still had.
But Leonarda took her mother's love and determination
much farther than many others would dare ever go.
And it soon ventured to a place that was wicked and dark.
Though Leonarda fiercely loved
each of her four surviving children,
she couldn't seem to help the fact
that she had a particularly soft spot in her heart
for one of her sons, Giuseppe.
He had become her favorite.
And so in 1939,
when he told her that
he was going to go join the Italian army,
which was preparing for the beginning of World War II,
she was devastated at the thought
that he might never come home from the war.
There was nothing Leonarda wouldn't do
to try to keep Giuseppe from harm.
And luckily for her,
she knew exactly what would ensure that he was kept safe.
When the lonely Faustina Setti,
a 73-year-old lifelong spinster
sought Leonarda's aid to help her finally find a husband,
Leonarda saw an opportunity to break her mother's curse
and guarantee that Giuseppe would survive the ensuing war.
Leonarda told Faustina
that she had found her a suitable husband who lived in Pola
which is now modern day Croatia.
For her services helping Faustina,
Leonarda was reportedly paid 30,000 Lira
which was all of Faustina's life savings.
Excited to have finally found someone suitable to marry,
Faustina soon began writing letters to the man
who would become her husband,
and even received some back.
But instead of celebrating the news,
Leonarda convinced her to keep it a secret
and not tell anyone.
Little did Faustina know,
it was Leonarda who was writing the letters back to her,
posing as her would-be husband.
Soon, Leonarda convinced Faustina
to write letters to her family members
in order to tell them that she had gone to Pola
and convince them that everything was fine.
When Fuastina was packed to leave
with her gray hair dyed dark,
and her heart alight with excitement,
she met Leonarda at her shop
where the two women celebrated her new life with a drink.
Faustina was never heard from again.
But her concerned family members' minds were put at ease
once they received letters written in her hand,
explaining that she had left to finally get married.
But still,
none could understand why she hadn't told them herself
or even bothered to say goodbye.
Leonarda's shop was frequented by other women
who like Faustina,
were seeking ways to make their dreams come true
and change their lives.
Francesca Soavi, like Faustina,
went to Leonarda for help to find another job.
As the 55-year-old school teacher
was feeling lonely in the small town.
In exchange for 3,000 Lira,
Leonarda found her a wonderful job
at a school for girls in Piacenza in Northern Italy.
She too was to write postcards to her friends and family,
which were sent just before she left.
But not to tell any one of the job until after she arrived.
On September 5th, 1940,
Francesca was due to set off and begin her new job.
But before she left,
she went to visit Leornarda one last time.
An awful smell
emanating from Leonarda's respected little store
was occasionally reported by those living in the area.
No one thought much of it at the time
as Leonarda was so well liked.
No one could even come close
to imagining the depths of horror
that had occurred in her kitchen.
Undeterred by the occasional terrible smell
known to seep up from the floorboards of Leonarda's shop,
Virginia Cacioppo went to visit
in the hopes of also finding a new job,
just as Francesca had.
Virginia was a former soprano singer
and had even sung at the famed opera house, La Scala.
But since then, she had fallen into a state of near poverty
and was desperately seeking anything
that would improve her situation in life.
Leonarda appeared to work her magic,
though not for a small sum.
In fact, Leonarda demanded 50,000 Lira,
which was all the money Virginia had remaining,
and even took some of her jewels.
But Leonarda had promised her a position
as a secretary for an impresario,
an owner of an opera theater in Florence.
And Virginia would have paid anything for the opportunity.
Just like with Faustina and Francesca,
Virginia was sworn to secrecy.
But unlike the other women,
she couldn't help but mention to a few people
that she may have found a wonderful new job
with the help of Leonarda.
On September 30th, 1940,
Virginia visited Leonarda one last time
to say thank you and goodbye.
By this time, people had started to notice
that some of the women in the town,
particularly the older and unattached women
were disappearing after visiting Leonarda's shop.
Though family members of the women
had received letters from them after they first left,
none could get in contact with them again,
which many found concerning and suspicious.
Virginia's sister was especially skeptical
of her incredible new job,
and as she had last seen Virginia
entering Leonarda Cianciulli's house,
she went to the Superintendent of Police
to share her fears for the worst
and to report Virginia missing.
The Superintendent of Police began investigating
and soon found Leonarda's ability
to procure miraculous jobs and husbands, very suspicious.
The Superintendent soon found evidence
that appeared to indicate the three missing women
were murdered,
such as Leonarda selling off
all three women's clothing and shoes.
Because of this, Leonarda was arrested.
But the superintendent wasn't convinced that Leonarda,
an older woman herself, could have committed murder alone.
He suspected that her favorite son Giuseppe
must have also been involved.
As soon as Leonarda realized that her son could go to jail,
she admitted everything.
She had killed Faustina, Francesca and Virginia,
in the most horrible way.
And to save her son from any blame,
she gave a detailed account of the crimes.
Evidently, when Leonarda had realized
that Giuseppe could die in the upcoming war,
she believed that it was once again the curse
coming to claim the lives of all of her children.
In order to protect her much loved son
and counteract the curse,
Leonarda believed there was only one thing she could do.
Human sacrifice.
She knew that asking higher powers
to preserve and protect her son
would require a great sacrifice in exchange.
Which is why Leonarda sacrificed all three women
in the hopes that it would ensure her son's survival.
When her first victim Faustina
had come to visit Leonarda one last time,
Leonarda gave her a drugged glass of wine.
As she fell unconscious, Leonarda struck her with an ax,
killing her before dragging her body into a closet.
Leonarda collected Faustina's blood in a basin
and began cutting up her body into nine pieces
At her trial,
Leonarda was said to grip the witness stand rail
with oddly delicate hands
and calmly set the prosecutor right on certain details.
Her deep set dark eyes gleamed with a wild inner pride,
as she made an official statement
and described Faustina's gruesome fate in detail.
She said,
"I threw the pieces into a pot,
added seven kilos of caustic soda
which I had bought to make soap,
and stirred the mixture until the pieces dissolved
in a thick, dark mush,
that I poured into several buckets
and emptied in a nearby septic tank.
As for the blood in the basin,
I waited until it had coagulated,
dried it in the oven, ground it,
and mixed it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk and eggs,
as well as a bit of margarine,
kneading all the ingredients together.
I made lots of crunchy teacakes
and served them to the ladies who came to visit.
Though Giuseppe and I also ate them."
Francesca Soavi, the school teacher,
was given the same horrible treatment
on the night that she went to see Leonarda,
where she was killed and dismembered with an ax.
Her body was also made into cakes
that were sold in Leonarda's shop.
Virginia too came to the same dark and stomach-turning fate
when she dared to visit Leonarda
on the night before she was meant to leave.
She was also drunk with wine, and killed with an ax.
And parts of Virginia's body were melted down
in order to create soap.
Leonarda gave a sickening statement
about Virginia's death, saying,
"She ended up in the pot like the other two.
Her flesh was fat and white.
When it had melted, I added a bottle of cologne.
And after a long time on the boil,
I was able to make some most acceptable creamy soap.
I gave bars to neighbors and acquaintances.
The cakes too were better.
That woman was really sweet."
While in prison,
Leonarda decided to write her memoirs,
where she included advice
on how to turn parts of the human body into soap.
It was titled, "An Embittered Soul's Confessions."
Her trial was attended in droves,
with people waiting for hours outside the courtroom,
just for the chance of getting a seat within.
Allegedly, there was still skepticism
surrounding Leonarda's ability to kill all three women,
despite her gruesome details of the crimes.
In order to prove that she had committed the murders alone
without the help of her son or husband,
Leonarda was taken to the morgue.
The story goes that once there,
she dissected a corpse and cut it into nine pieces
in under 12 minutes,
which horrified and convinced the authorities
who witnessed it.
Without a shadow of a doubt,
Leonarda Cianciulli was found guilty
and sentenced to 30 years in prison,
and three years in an asylum,
much like the Romani had predicted in her youth.
Leonarda became known as The Soap-Maker of Correggio.
The pot that she had used to boil her victims
was donated to the Criminal Logical Museum in Rome,
where it can still be seen today.
In 1970, Leonarda died of cerebral apoplexy
while in a women's criminal asylum.
Leonarda had committed three atrocious murders,
all in the hopes of keeping her sons safe
during World War II,
and to stop a curse that seems set
on killing all of her children.
So what became of Giuseppe?
Little is known
exactly what happened to Giuseppe Cianciulli,
as there aren't many details.
But it appears that he managed to survive a war
that killed countless others.
Was this unlikely survival
because of his mother's human sacrifices?
We'll let you decide.