Starvation “Doctor” Linda Hazzard
SEASON 4 : EPISODE 49
JULY 25, 2025
Linda Hazzard developed her own fasting protocol that she said was a “panacea for all manner of illnesses, ridding the body of toxins that caused imbalances in the body." She said all disease was caused by “impure blood” brought on by “impaired digestion,” and that her method could cure anything from toothache to tuberculosis. In 1898 Linda decided her husband the the two children they’d had together were holding her back, and she left them to go pursue her career.
Follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @agoodnightforamurder.
The bonus content on Patreon for this episode is about 5 more Victorian scandals, that had society clutching their pearls, including that of Dr. Hazzard’s bigamist husband.
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ARTICLES
Linda Burfield Hazzard: Healer or Murderess?
The Doctor Who Starved Her Patients to Death
Hazzard, Linda Burfield (1867-1938)
Dr Linda Laura Burfield Hazzard
Viva Estella Fitchpatrick Waters
Archives Spotlight: Hungry for wealth, 'starvation healer' ran deadly Olalla clinic
VICTORIAN SOCIETY TIP
Viva Estella Fitchpatrick Waters
THE GHOST OF COVENT GARDEN STATION AND THE ADELPHI THEATRE
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INTRO
Hello everyone, welcome to A Good Night for a Murder, a Victorian true crime podcast.
My name is Kim, tonight’s case was a listener request - which I’m so glad was sent in because I’d been aware of it at some point, but forgotten all about it! I find the subject of this case particularly curious, because I’m pretty sure you’ll form an opinion about her pretty early on in the story, but if you wait until the end, there is a bit of a twist.
This is the story of “Starvation Doctor, Linda Hazzard.”
But first, a Victorian society tip.
The medical treatment administered by so-called “Dr.” Linda Hazzard that we’ll learn about tonight was questionable even in the Victorian era
But that got me thinking about all of the scientifically backed Victorian era medical practices - recommended by professionals - that would shock and appal us today
So I decided to look some of it up to tell you about
For this, I turned to “Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management,” published in 1861
Isabella Beeton was a real person and her book of household management provided detailed instructions to housewives on how to run a proper Victorian home
In the preface, she wrote:
What moved me, in the first instance, to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I had seen brought upon men and women by household mismanagement.
I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife's badly -cooked dinners and untidy ways.
Men are now so well served out of doors, — at their clubs, well-ordered taverns, and dining-houses, that in order to compete with the attractions of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery, as well as perfectly conversant with all the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home.
Needless to say that Mrs. Beeton’s work would be received very differently today than it was back then…
but to set the bar for where we’re at in 1861 so far as home remedy and first aid advice, know that her book regularly mentions bleeding as treatment, including instructions for how to do so at home… applying leeches, and things like rubbing the spine with brandy
Also, with just Mrs. Beeton’s book as my source, it looks like in 1861 we are in the time period after the smallpox vaccine has come along - which she recommended, by the way, but before the development of a measles vaccine
Also there is zero mention of antibiotics
First thing’s first, let’s talk about stocking your Victorian medicine cabinet
Something called calomel was mentioned very often for a variety of ailments, and I couldn’t imagine what this might be that it would be applied so widely
Imagine my surprise when I learned it’s mercury… that’s right… mercury chloride which was thankfully phased out due to the high rate of mercury poisoning it caused in patients
Something called goulard lotion was also mentioned often for treating any sort of skin irritant including eye irritation
This is a solution of lead acetate -
The frequent use of this contributed to how we learned about lead poisoning
The Victorians were also big on purging the body either via laxatives or emetics
For this they used senna or antimony wine or powder
With a medicine cabinet like that, it was also necessary to include a table of poisons and their remedies
Many of the poisons listed were in fact the aforementioned treatments!
Some more mild treatments included applying a poultice - Victorians loved a poultice…
for example things like linseed, which is flax, and mustard would be ground into a poultice and applied externally which is nowhere near as dangerous as ingesting mercury, but it’s not going to help with scarlet fever - which we know today is caused by strep and requires treatment by antibiotic
Also, if you were sick in the Victorian era - get in the bath
A hot bath, cold bath, luke warm bath - they were constantly drawing baths - which without indoor plumbing and hot water heaters was a lot of work
I mean a bath can be nice when you’re sick but these weren’t always the relaxing variety and probably just depleted the patients’ energy more than anything…
I want to move on to some of the advice in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management because I think it’s interesting how they were so accurate in some of their recommendations, but also so far off at the same time
One example of this is teething in babies where the book states:
The Treatment in all cases of painful teething is remarkably simple, and consists in keeping the body cool by mild aperient medicines, allaying the irritation in the gums by friction with a rough ivory ring or a stale crust of bread, and when the head, lungs, or any organ is overloaded or unduly excited, to use the hot bath, and by throwing the body into a perspiration, equalize the circulation, and relieve the system from the danger of a fatal termination
Some of this like giving the baby something to bite on is very familiar advice
But what “fatal termination” from teething could they be referring to?
Well, they seemed to think rickets and “water on the head” - what we’d call hydrocephalus - was caused by teething and would lance, or cut, the babies’ gums to try and treat it…
I am not a doctor but I am pretty certain getting teeth to pop through quicker has nothing to do with rickets - that’s a vitamin deficiency - and nothing to do with hydrocephalus either
In another example of what Victorians got wrong and what they got right, I want to talk about what the Victorians meant when they talk about having “fits”
I feel like “fits” come up a lot in media portrayal of the Victorian era quite often so let’s see what they were really talking about…
First, “Fits” in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management from 1861, is a rather lengthy section
It starts by addressing “apoplexy,” which is often listed as a cause of death on Victorian era death certificates
Apoplexy actually meant a stroke
And Mrs. Beeton divided them in to, “the strong kind” and “the weak kind” with the difference being the severity of symptoms
The book goes on to cover epilepsy, also called “falling sickness”
It seems like they did delineate this as its own thing separate from having a stroke, and it does indeed sound like what we refer to today as epileptic seizures
There were also “fainting fits” which just described fainting for any number of reasons…
And, there is also… and remember this is from 1861… a section dedicated to Hysterics…
But how do we know which kind of fit to treat!?
Well Mrs. Beeton has outlined that for us -
Quoting directly now:
Distinctions between apoplexy and Epilepsy. —
1. Apoplexy mostly happens in people over thirty, whereas epilepsy generally occurs under that age ; at any rate for the first time. A person who has epileptic fits over thirty, has generally suffered from them for some years.
2. Again, in apoplexy, the body is paralyzed; and, therefore, has not the convulsions that take place in epilepsy.
3. The peculiar snoring will also distinguish apoplexy from epilepsy.
It goes on: “Distinction between Apoplexy and Hysterics.
— Hysterics mostly happen in youngs nervous, unmarried women ; and are attended with convulsions, sobbing, laughter, throwing about of the body,
Also, apparently the next two situations happened enough that they earned a spot in the book which are the “Distinctions between apoplexy and, Drunkenness” and Distinction between Apoplexy and, Poisoning by Opium.
I will read them to you now in case you ever need to now
Distinctions between apoplexy and, Drunkenness
1. The known habits of the person.
2. The fact of a person who was perfectly sober and sensible a little time before, being found in a state of insensibility.
3. The absence, in apoplexy, of the smell of drink on applying the nose to the mouth.
4. A person in a fit of apoplexy cannot be roused at all ; in drunkenness he mostly can, to a certain extent.
And finally - Distinction between Apoplexy and, Poisoning by Opium. —
It is exceedingly difficult to distinguish between these two cases. In poisoning by opium, however, we find the particular smell of the drug in the patient's breath. We should also, in forming our opinion, take into consideration the person's previous conduct — whether he has been low and desponding for some time before, or has ever talked about committing suicide.
Yikes…
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management also covers broken bones, burns and scalds, concussions, cholera and “autumnal complaints,” which I think means stomach virus, cold, chest cold, styes and inflamed eyelids, liver complaints, heart palpitations, ringworm, drowning, toothache, warts, wounds, back pain and more
It even gives instructions for what they called artificial breathing, or what we’d call CPR, in relevant cases
If you’re interested you can 100% purchase Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management on Amazon in Kindle, soft cover or hard cover
And I wonder what Mrs. Isabella Beeton would have thought of that concept over 160 years ago
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTENT WARNING
A Good Night for a Murder is a true crime podcast that does cover stories including death, violence, sexual assault, and other adult themes.
Please take care while listening.
EPISODE
Linda Hazzard was born Lynda Laura Burfield, the oldest of seven siblings, in Carver, Minnesota on December 18, 1867
Her childhood was fairly unremarkable, and at the age of about 18 or 20, she married Erwin Alonzo Perry
Around this time, Linda took an interest in the medical profession
However, she did not gravitate towards traditional medicine - which honestly would have been a challenge for a woman to break in to at the time -
Rather, she took an interest in alternative medicine practices
Specifically, she began marketing herself as a “fasting specialist”
She believed that all disease was caused by food - namely, too much of it
She was particularly inspired by Edward Hooker Dewey, MD, a well-known proponent of fasting
Dewey was a graduate of the College of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Michigan who did actually obtain a medical degree
He also served as an assistant surgeon in the US Army
I’m just going to briefly quote Wikipedia on Dr. Dewey as I think it sums up his beliefs pretty concisely:
Wikipedia says: “Dewey argued for people to completely abstain from breakfast, and only consume two meals per day. He attributed all disease and physiological problems to excessive eating.”
Now, some of you who are more holistically-minded may find yourself thinking, “well, he’s not entirely wrong…”
But, as I go on, you’ll find that Dr. Dewey is, in fact, quite wrong…
Quoting again: “He advocated long fasts and believed that abstinence from food could cure insanity and mental disorders. Dewey was a Protestant and affirmed harmony of his "No Breakfast Plan" with the Christian Gospel.”
There were other supporters of Dewey's ideas, but overall, he and his theories were not accepted by medical experts.
the British Medical Journal described Dewey as "not an accurate or careful writer", noting medical errors in his book
It went on to state that nothing about fasting could be considered a “cure-all” in the way Dewey described, and that his claims were not supported by solid evidence and should be considered a quote - "foolish delusion”
It was broadly agreed upon in the medical field that Dewey took the principles of fasting to an "irrational extreme”
Despite this, Linda agreed that fasting was where it was at for all things health related
She developed her own fasting protocol that she said was a “panacea for all manner of illnesses, ridding the body of toxins that caused imbalances in the body”
She said all disease was caused by “impure blood” brought on by “impaired digestion,” and that her method could cure anything from toothache to tuberculosis…
In 1898 Linda decided her husband the the two children they’d had together were holding her back, and she left them to go pursue her career in Minneapolis.
By 1902, her divorce was finalized, and despite having no medical degree, Linda had started treating patients
At this early point in her career though, there was already something in the water when it came to “Dr.” Linda and her fasting cure…
One of her patients had died
That in itself is not really a cause for alarm
People who are sick seek medical treatment, and not all of them get better
But, the coroner determined that the cause of death for this patient, was starvation…
What’s more, the valuables belonging to the patient were missing
When questioned on the matter, Linda was evasive
The coroner tried to report the crime, but in the end, she could not be held accountable as she wasn’t actually licensed to practice medicine
In 1903 Linda met and married Samuel Christman Hazzard
Sam Hazzard is… kind of a deadbeat…
He was a West Point Graduate that squandered what could have been a promising military career by misappropriating Army funds, and had a reputation for being a drunk, a lecher, and a swindler
He has also been married twice before, and at the time he met Linda, he was actually still married
None of that bothered Linda apparently though, and they married that same year
When his father in law found out that Samuel had walked out on his daughter though and was already married again - without a divorce - he had bigamy charges pressed against him
The trial caused quite stir in Minneapolis at the time, and eventually, Samuel Hazzard was indeed found guilty of bigamy, and sentenced to 2 years in prison
When he got out in 1906, he took up with Linda again, and the couple set out for Washington state in search of a fresh start
Now, at some point - not because of Linda Hazzard in particular - but for a lot of reasons, the US realized they needed to start certifying doctors in some way,
And they came up with some laws that said you can only be a doctor if you’ve done the proper schooling and training, and obtain a medical degree
But there were many professionals who had been practicing medicine for quite awhile that had gained their knowledge through apprenticeships or some less formalized educational programs, and had been operating very successful, ethical, and helpful practices for some time
What’s more, lawmakers had to codify which disciplines were actually medicine and which were “snake oil,” essentially…
This created a gray area that allowed many alternative medicine practitioners, like Linda Hazzard, to call themselves doctors
So, when Linda set up shop in Seattle she called herself “Doctor Hazzard,” and opened a practice in the town of Olalla in Kitsap County that she named Wilderness Heights
At first, locals embraced her and her new ideas, but opinions started to shift once news spread of her brutal treatments
Patients were put up in Seattle hotels or in cabins on her Olalla property
They fasted for days, weeks, and sometimes months and were only given very light liquid diets consisting of tomato juice, asparagus juice and sometimes an orange
The treatment also included enemas that lasted for hours, and “massage” administered by Dr. Hazard herself where she forcibly struck patients on their backs and forehead over and over again while screaming “Eliminate! Eliminate!” in their faces.
One man, Earl Edward Erdman, a civil engineer with the City of Seattle, signed up for Dr. Hazzard’s fasting cure, and documented his daily experience there.
On February 1 of 1910 he wrote: Saw Dr. Hazzard and began treatment this date. No breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
The entries go on:
February 1 – Saw Dr. Hazzard and began treatment this date. No breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
February 5 through 7 – One orange breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
February 8 – One orange breakfast. Mashed soup dinner. Mashed soup supper.
By February 14, Ed documented that nourishment had tapered even further, and he had only been given - quote, “One cup of strained tomato broth at 6 p.m.”
Over the next 10 days, he complained of stomach pain, headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness, and yellow eyes streaked with red
On February 24th he wrote: Slept better Wednesday night. Kind of frontal headache in a.m. Ate two small oranges 10 a.m. Ate one and a half cups hot tomato soup at 6 p.m. Heart hit up to ninety-five minute and sweat considerable.
Erdman died on March 28, 1910 in the Seattle General Hospital of starvation.
I wanted to share Erdman’s story with you to give a glimpse of what life under Dr. Hazzard’s “care” was like, but Erdman, in 1910, was by no means the first to die at “Starvation Heights,” as they locals had come to call it
Victims had been piling since 1908
One of the earliest victims was Daisey Maud Haglund.
After a 50 day fast directed by Dr. Hazzard, she died on February 26, 1908 at the age of 38, leaving behind a 3 year old boy
Haglund’s husband, though, stood by Dr. Hazzard’s treatment plan, and continued to take his 3 year old little son to see Dr. Hazzard even after his wife’s death!
The little boy, whose name was Ivar, did survive though and grew up to found the seafood restaurant chain “Ivar’s”, which is still going strong in the Pacific Northwest today
Many others were not as lucky though
Also in 1908, patients Ida Wilcox and Blanche B. Tindall lost their lives while undergoing Dr. Hazzards treatment
In 1909 Viola Heaton died
Then Maude Whitney in 1910
In 1911, lawyer Frank Southard lost his life to Dr. Hazzard’s fasting cure
Followed by publisher
And if by this point you’re screaming for someone to stop her - I am right there with you.
In 1911, Lewis Ellsworth Rader, a former legislator and magazine publisher was found wasting away at a Seattle hotel being treated by Dr. Hazzard
Health inspectors tried to step in and take him out of there for his own good, but he wouldn’t go.
Rader believed this was all part of Dr. Hazzard’s treatment plan and that if he saw it through, he would turn the corner and become well again
After that Dr. Hazzard had Rader moved to a secret location where his friends could not try and influence him
In the end, the 5 foot 11 inch man died weighing less than 100lbs.
Autopsy report after autopsy report listed starvation as the cause of death for Dr. Hazzard’s patients
But, as Hazzard was licensed as a doctor, and patients were willing participants, there was little the health department could do
Now, while researching this story, I did ask myself the question, “Is she doing this on purpose?”
I thought, maybe, there was the chance that she was just a really, really bad doctor
Heck! A lot of really good Victorian era doctors administered some really bad treatments by today’s standards to their patients!
So, maybe she just didn’t know… Maybe she actually thought she was helping, and those who died were just too far gone already to be helped by her guaranteed fasting cure…
However, in 1910, a man by the name of Ivan Flux entered in to Dr. Hazzard’s care
Flux was an Englishman who had come to America to buy a ranch, and had succeeded in acquiring valuable tracts of land in the US and Canada
Somehow though, during his treatment, Dr. Hazzard had herself appointed as the administrator of his estate…
When Flux died under Dr. Hazzard’s care in February of 1911, his family was shocked to find he only had $70 left to his name…
Before that, there was 26 year old Eugene Stanley Wakelin
Wakelin was the son of a British lord whose decomposing body was found on Hazzard’s property awaiting burial
He had died, she said, by suicide, from a gunshot to the head
Hazzard had wired Wakelin’s lawyer asking for money to pay for his mortuary services, only to find out, he had none
The British vice-consul in Tacoma, Washington, suspected Wakelin had actually been shot by the Hazzard’s so they could cash in on his wealth
Their plan hadn’t worked out obviously and now they just had a body on their hands
The British vice-consul started to put pressure on Kitsap County to do something about Linda Hazzard, but the county said they couldn’t afford it
In 1911, wealthy British sisters in their early 30s, Claire and Dorothea Williamson, were visiting Victoria, British Columbia
The sisters embraced a number of alternative medicine treatments including not eating meat or wearing corsets to treat the number of minor aliments they felt they suffered from
Their family described them as hypochondriacs and were frankly annoyed with their interest in “experimental” health treatments
Which is why when the sisters decided to undergo Dr. Hazzard’s fasting treatment, they didn’t tell a single soul where they were going…
They visited Dr. Hazzard who told them the sanitarium was under construction, but she could put them up at the Buena Vista apartments in Seattle and begin what she called the “most beautiful treatment” there
She assigned a nurse to look after them and this is the first time in researching this story where it occurred to me that - she had employees!
So it wasn’t just Linda Hazzard acting alone - there was a whole slew of people who witnessed these things
She had a whole staff, plus her dirtbag husband, participating in repeatedly starving people to death
The sisters began their treatment in February of that year where they were given only thin vegetable broth as nourishment and endured hours worth of Dr. Hazards enema and brutal “massage” routine
As they grew weaker, Dr. Hazzard also inquired about their finances and valuables and if she could help keep them safe for them
And the sisters did indeed hand over their diamond jewelry and real estate deeds that Dr. Hazzard agreed to store in her personal safe…
By April, the sisters were painfully emaciated and delirious.
Dr. Hazzard moved them out of the apartment and isolated them on her Wilderness Heights property in Olalla
Right before she whisked them off though, Dr. Hazzard’s private attorney got Claire to shakily sign a codicil to her will that said in the event of her death, her body would be cremated under the supervision of Dr. Hazzard, and she wanted a monthly stipend of 25 pounds of sterling silver per year left to Dr. Hazzard’s institute…
Claire was in no state to be making those types of decisions…
After the transfer to Olalla, the sisters were under the watch of Dr. Hazzard and her staff at all times
They were too weak to leave of their own accord, and any letters they tried to send out were closely monitored.
To say the the Williamson sisters were in grave danger is an understatement
On April 30th though, about 2 months after the sisters embarked on Dr. Hazzard’s fasting cure, their childhood nanny, Margaret Conway, received a cryptic telegram from the sisters, summoning her to visit them in Olalla.
There is no record of what was in the telegram exactly, but whatever it was, Conway found it so bizarre and alarming that she immediately set sail all the way from Sydney, Australia to Seattle.
Now I’m sure the Hazzards were furious when they found out she was coming, but to bar her from seeing the Williamson sisters would only cause Conway to ring the alarms and send stronger enforcers after them
So, after a week’s journey, she arrived in Seattle on June 1st and was met upon her arrival by Dr. Hazzard’s husband Samuel
He took her not to see Dorothea and Claire, but straight to Dr. Hazzard’s office.
That’s when Dr. Hazzard broke the news to Conway that Claire had recently died, and that Dorothea was now insane.
Dr. Hazzard said it was not her treatment that killed Claire
Rather, a course of medication Claire had been given in her childhood had shrunk her internal organs causing her eventual death from cirrhosis of the liver…
The meeting with Dr. Hazzard got even more bizarre when they brought Conway to the mortuary to view the embalmed body of Claire Williamson
Conway prepared herself to view the body of the little girl she’d cared for once upon a time, now grown up but lifeless, only to find that the person they showed her was not Claire…
Dr. Hazzard insisted it indeed was, to which Conway said enough is enough, take me to see Dorothea
Dr. Hazzard complied but reminded her that the toxins being purged during the treatment were at an all time high right now and affecting her mind
Plus the death of her sister might have very well put her in to a state that she may not recover from…
Conway was horrified to discover that Dorothea was being kept in nothing more than a wooden shack, emaciated to the point that she resembled a living skeleton
Upon their reunion, Dorothea immediately begged to be taken away from there
Conway left assuring her that she’d return with help
But when Conway came to visit Dorothea the next day, she retracted her previous statements, and insisted that Dr. Hazzard’s cure was indeed doing her a world of good…
At a loss, Conway tried to at least sneak a little rice or flour in to the sad, watered down tomato broth they were giving her
During one visit, there was a 4th of July celebration scheduled, and patients who were usually isolated from one another were allowed gather
During this gathering, two other patients approached Conway and begged her to please help them get out of there
Conway spoke to Dr. Hazzard on multiple occasions regarding the release of Dorathea
During one of these meetings, Conway noticed that Dr. Hazzard was wearing some of Claire’s clothes…
She also learned that Dr. Hazzard had been appointed the executor of Claire’s estate
And, that Dorothea has signed over her power of attorney to Samuel Hazzard, and had listed Dr. Hazzard as her legal guardian
So, no, Dr. Hazzard said. Dorothea was not free to go…
Now remember that incoming and outgoing communications were closely monitored, so Conway had to sneak off of the Wilderness Heights property to cable a message to the girls’ uncle in Portland, Oregon for help
Meanwhile, Dorothea’s weight had dropped to only 60 pounds
Every minute spent trying to negotiate Dorothea’s release could literally mean life or death
Her uncle did arrive with haste, but Dr. Hazzard would not release her unless her $2,000 bill was covered in full
That’s about $65,000 in today’s money
She was essentially holding Dorothea for ransom
Her uncle was able to negotiate a lower ransom and they did leave with Dorothea who was rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment
Dorothea did slowly begin to recover but she was not going to continue to let Dr. Hazzard get away with murder, and decided to fund the prosecution for the British vice-consul to finally go after Dr. Linda Hazzard
Linda Hazzard was arrested for the murder of Claire Williamson in August of 1911
The Tacoma Daily News headline read: “Officials Expect to Expose Starvation Atrocities: Dr. Hazzard Depicted as Fiend.”
Dr. Hazzard responded that all of these male doctors were just jealous of a successful female in their field who managed to cure people with alternative therapies versus traditional medicine
She confidently stated: “I intend to get on the stand and show up that bunch. They’ve been playing checkers but it’s my move. I’ll show them a thing or two when I get on the stand.”
To which her lawyer said… let’s maybe keep you off the stand…
Which they did, but, as surprising as it may seem to us, there was no shortage of witnesses singing Dr. Hazzard’s praises, including her staff and former patients
One of which was John Ivar Haglund - remember the man whose wife lost her life under Dr. Hazzard’s care, yet continued to have her treat his 3 year old?!
These glowing references were not enough to counter damning medical testimony though, plus an obvious paper trail documenting patients decline and eventual takeover of assets by the Hazzards
Dorothea Williamson served as the prosecution’s star witness
She detailed the following typical day’s treatment at Wilderness Heights
All of this was enough to convince a jury that Linda Hazzard was guilty
The jury, however, came back with a verdict of manslaughter death of Claire Williamson
The press theorized that the only reason she received a verdict of manslaughter and not murder was because she was a women
Murder often carried a penalty of death, and jurors, who were all men at this time in history, just did not like imposing the death penalty on a woman
She also had her license to practice medicine revoked
While awaiting sentencing, it’s alleged that two more of Hazzard’s patients died!
Eventually, she was sentenced to 2 - 20 years at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington
After serving 2 years, on December 26, 1915, she received a full pardon from Governor Ernest Lister
Why Lister??? Why did you do that????
Well, the push back from the public against her conviction had actually been pretty significant
Her lock up was viewed by many as a “great loss” to the medical community
So, Lister arranged it as a condition of the pardon that she leave the US, and she was free to go
She and her husband then moved to New Zealand, where as one source summarizes: “she operated under the titles of physician, dietitian, and osteopath, published another book, and made a lot of money.”
In 1920 though, she returned to Olalla, Washington with plans to bring her true vision for Wilderness Heights to life
Because she had no medical license though, she marketed the practice as a “school for health”
And, she went right on back to starving people to death and taking their money under the guise of “treatment”
In 1935 though, the sanitarium burnt down, and she did not rebuild
In 1938, in her early 70s now, Linda Hazzard attempted to follow her own fasting protocol, and she died.
That’s right, she starved herself to death…
All in, it’s agreed that she killed at least a dozen patients via starvation
Some say she may have had as many as 40 victims
All that stands today of Starvation Heights is a 7-foot-tall concrete tower and the ruins of the building’s foundation
So, tell me what you think about Dr. Hazzard
I mean, she was a crook, right?
But do you think she actually believed in this fasting cure she was peddling?
I mean, in the end, she died from a dose of her own medicine…
If you’re listening on Spotify, you can comment on the episode there
Or if you head on over to Instagram, TikTok or YouTube @agoodnightforamurder, you can let me know what you think there as well.
I’ve also posted some photos of Linda Hazzard, her sanitarium, and more.
You can also see the photos and source links for this episode on the episode blog on my website at agoodnightforamurder.com
The bonus content for Patreon members for this episode is actually a little bit about the bigamy scandal her husband caused, as well as some more shocking Victorian era scandals.
Listen through the outro music to hear a short preview of this Patreon bonus content
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