Starvation Heights, True-Life Terror of Starving People in Washington
It's an unbelievable, true life tale of an evil doctor starving her patients in Washington.
Dr. Linda Laura Hazzard was born Lynda Laura Burfield in Carver, Minnesota on December 18th, 1867. While she held NO medical degree, she was indeed licensed to practice medicine in Washington.
According to Spookt.com, she is Washington's first female serial killer.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Linda Hazzard wrote 3 books about what she claimed to be the science behind fasting and how it could cure diseases. Hazzard was licensed by the state of Washington as a fasting specialist.
Hazzard opened a sanitarium called Wilderness Heights in Olalla. According to Wikipedia, inpatients fasted for days, weeks, and months on a diet of tomato, asparagus juice, and orange juice. Some patients publicly endorsed the doctor's methods. Some died under Hazzard's care. She claimed the patients who died succumbed to cancer or cirrhosis. Others claimed that Hazzard's patients died of starvation. Thus, the local residents referred to the sanitarium as "Starvation Heights."
Hazzard was convicted of the death of Claire Williamson, who weighed less than 50 pounds at the time of her death. In 1911, Dr. Linda Hazzard was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 2-20 years of hard labor for killing at least 15 people for financial gain.
After serving 2 years, Hazzard was released from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in 1915. A year later, Governor Ernest Lister granted her a full pardon.
What eventually happened to Dr. Linda Hazzard?
Hazzard died at 70 after she followed her treatment methods.
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