Ok, now that I took a better look I guess she's not all that freaky, just the kind of unfortunate severe ugliness that was a bit startling. Like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch with her face on the way down. And the smaller the picture is, the less startling it is. When it was life-size, though, I assure you that was some shit to reckon with.
 Spoilers! |
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According to the book, her name was Mary Pearcey and she was a "kept woman". She and her best friend were both in love with a furniture mover, but the best friend managed to get pregnant and so she's the one the guy married. He kept up with Mary on the side, though.
So Mary invited the new bride and her baby to tea and bludgeoned the woman over the head, then slashed her throat. The baby suffocated underneath the body. The bodies were dumped in a field.
When confronted by police about the bloodstains all over her house, Mary said they were from killing mice. She couldn't explain why mouse-blood was all over her underwear, though, so she was hung two days before Christmas in 1890.