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Crisis Context Enabled The Crimes
- The Nagyrév murders unfolded amid war, pandemic and political collapse that devastated rural life.
- Patti McCracken argues this chaotic backdrop helped normalise extreme survival choices for villagers.
Midwives Were Rural Medical Hubs
- Midwives served as de facto doctors, herbalists and family planners in rural Europe.
- McCracken shows their wide authority made a midwife a powerful gatekeeper of life, death and reproduction.
Auntie Susie’s Arsenic Vial
- Auntie Susie distilled arsenic from flypaper, kept it in a vial and offered it to women as a 'solution'.
- Her pitch and others' successes turned poisoning into a growing, local practice.