Articles Archives - DR. MICKI PISTORIUS

A Renegade Gang of Roman Renaissance Female Serial Killers?

Mar 20 2025

Articles

A Renegade Gang of Roman Renaissance Female Serial Killers?

Ironically the word ‘arsenic’ originates from Greek folk etymology as ‘arsenikon’, a neuter form of the Greek adjective ‘arsenikos’ meaning “male”, or “virile” and over centuries it was arsenic that women have been using to eliminate the males in their lives. In the mid 1600’s a trio of Renaissance Italian woman with a keen sense […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

The Sisterhood of Arsenic and Old Lace – Lethal Old Ladies

Mar 13 2025

Articles

The Sisterhood of Arsenic and Old Lace – Lethal Old Ladies

A champion for children’s rights and an activist for socio-economic reform, whose own father was committed to a debtor’s prison, was Victorian era author and literary genius, Charles John Huffam Dickens. In one of his lesser-known novels, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens raises the theme of an elderly man, Old Martin, employing […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Angels of Death- Tipping the Scales of Themis

Mar 6 2025

Articles

Angels of Death- Tipping the Scales of Themis

Themis is the Greek goddess of justice, divine order, law, and custom and her symbol is the Scales of Justice. Her Roman equivalent is Justitia. She personifies divine law – “that which is put in place”. Judges were often referred to as “themistopóloi” – the servants of Themis. Many defence lawyers in Angel-of-Death nursing […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Feb 27 2025

Articles

Mask of Tragedy – Munchausen by Proxy

Baron Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen would entertain the 18th-century Germain aristocrats with stories about his escapades during the1735-1739 Russian-Turkish War, exaggerating to such an extent in 1785 it inspired the German author Rudolf Erich Raspe to write a book, titled Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, with a […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Dr Lauren Dickason: Angel of Mercy or Angel of Death?

Feb 20 2025

Articles

Dr Lauren Dickason: Angel of Mercy or Angel of Death?

There is a common misconception that Angels of Death and Angels of Mercy refer to the same typology of serial killers and the terms are used interalia, since they have similar victim profiles, and are often in the medical profession, yet they differ in their motivation. Angels of Death generally operate in a hospital, clinic […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Filling the Empty Emotional Piggybank, South Africa’s Black Widow Killers – Daisy de Melker and Rosemary Ndlovu

Feb 14 2025

Articles

Filling the Empty Emotional Piggybank, South Africa’s Black Widow Killers – Daisy de Melker and Rosemary Ndlovu

General research on Black Widow killers concur they commence their criminal careers at the age of 25 years, and target spouses, partners, family members, their children and anyone they might have formed a personal relationship with. They may kill someone threatening to expose them. They are quiet killers and go undetected for long periods because […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Differences between Male and Female Serial killers

Feb 7 2025

Articles

Differences between Male and Female Serial killers

I am often asked: How do male and female serial killers differ? Without getting lost down the rabbit hole, leading into the Pandora’s box of the current discourse on gender and the sexes, I noted that since the 20th century criminologists and forensic profilers have identified distinct differences between male and female serial killers. In […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Historical Female Criminality – Feeble-mind or Mastermind?

Jan 31 2025

Articles

Historical Female Criminality – Feeble-mind or Mastermind?

Why are people so shocked when women commit violent crimes? Before and during the Victorian era women were regarded as paragons of virtue who would never stoop to commit crime, or they were considered too ‘feeble-minded’ to execute a crime. Those who did were regarded as exceptions to the rule and punished – or not […]

by Dr. Micki Pistorius

Category: Articles

A Renegade Gang of Roman Renaissance Female Serial Killers?

The Sisterhood of Arsenic and Old Lace – Lethal Old Ladies

Angels of Death- Tipping the Scales of Themis

Mask of Tragedy – Munchausen by Proxy

Dr Lauren Dickason: Angel of Mercy or Angel of Death?

Filling the Empty Emotional Piggybank, South Africa’s Black Widow Killers – Daisy de Melker and Rosemary Ndlovu

Differences between Male and Female Serial killers

Historical Female Criminality – Feeble-mind or Mastermind?

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