Aviva Trivia

Are women really the fairer sex? Here are some examples of women ‘behaving badly’.

Charlotte de Berry’s career as a pirate began in the 1600’s when she dressed up as a man to follow her husband into the Royal Navy. Charlotte’s ruse was discovered when the ship they were on was attacked and it was discovered that she was really a woman. She was made to take a ship back to England. Along the way, the Captain of the ship bound for home assaulted Charlotte and in revenge, she lead the crew in a mutiny and lopped off the Captain’s head, whereupon she usurped his position and decided instead of going home, it would be more fun to be a pirate and raid ships along the African Coast.

Madame Popova operated a service in Russia in the late 1800’s specializing in helping married women get rid of cruel husbands. She used poison, her own hands, weapons or sometimes assassins to get rid of over 300 victims during her ‘career’ in murder-for-hire. The jig was up when one of the women she helped ratted her out and she was put in front of a firing squad.

Belle Gunness was the first 20th Century Black Widow. During the 1900’s she is said to have killed 49 people- husbands, ranch workers who worked on her farm and even children who were assigned to her care through social agencies. Most of her victims were poisoned, or suffered ‘accidents’ while on the farm. She convinced another ranch hand to use arson and help her cover it up by faking her own death. The ranch hand, who ended up dying in prison, was innocent of every crime but the arson. She was never convicted.

Melita Norwooda of London supplied Soviets with nuclear bomb plans back in the 30’s while working as a secretary in a scientific research institute. Most knew her as ‘Grandma Hola’, who happened to make the best darn homemade jellies in the whole neighborhood! A staunch communist and great-grandmother, Grandma Hola says she doesn’t regret a thing!