Female serial killers are relatively rare, but they do exist throughout history. Jane Toppan, known as the "Angel of Death," is one of those killers. She was born in 1857 as Honora Kelley, her early home life was tragic. Her mother, Bridget, died of tuberculosis when Honora was a child. Her father, Peter, was an alcoholic known as "Kelley the Crackpot" who once tried to sew his eyelids shut. When she was 6, Honora and her older sister Delia were taken to the Boston Female Asylum, which despite its name, functioned as an orphanage. Several years later, Honora was taken in - but not formally adopted - by the Toppan family, who renamed her "Jane." She later took on their last name.

Jane Toppan claimed to have killed at least 31 people between 1880 and 1901, including her foster sibling, landlords, a woman whose job she wanted and many of her patients. She trained as a nurse, and spent time in many hospitals in the Boston, MA, area. Many of the doctors she worked for thought she was one of their most professional and skilled nurses. Read on to learn more about Toppan's disturbing history.