This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
We tend to think of serial killers as something new. Well, newish. The term came into use in the 1900s, beating out the less interesting title “multi-murderer”. A lot of people think of Jack the Ripper as the first serial killer. Here in the US, we try to snag that title for H.H. Holmes. Just about everyone has a favorite serial killer, the one who stands out to them in some way. Some will go with the Zodiac. Some love the Son of Sam. Elizabeth Bathory has been steadily moving up the charts over the last twenty years or so, letting people know that before Jack was sending letters from hell, she was bathing in virgin blood and getting walled off in a castle.
There’s one we don’t hear much of, a woman who wasn’t just a serial killer, but a state sponsored one. And she didn’t just kill every day people, she killed emperors.
In the early days of the first century, A.D. came a baby named Locusta. Locusta grew up in the Roman province of Gaul, and while her upbringing is mainly a mystery, one thing is certain; she had an affinity for plants. Locusta would spend her days roaming the countryside learning about the various plants and herbs and what secrets they held. She learned to make salves for burns. She learned to make drinks to ease pain. She learned how to make poisons to keep the rodents out of the grain.
When Locusta came of age, she left Gaul and headed to Rome. Like many young adults of any time and place, Locusta wanted to live where the action was. Also like many young adults of any time and place, Locusta quickly learned that she hated the action. Unlike her family and friends in Gaul, the people of Rome were rude, putting their wants above the needs of others. The citizens of Rome, in the eyes of Locusta, were greedy, evil, and unrepentant. Instead of leaving the city, Locusta chose to rid the world of these people… for a price.
How she got started as an assassin isn’t clear, but quickly, and quietly, Locusta was the person Rome’s most vile went to when they needed someone taken out. Alieus is taking your business? Locusta has just the right poison to end that problem. Your father has died and left everything to your sister Alba? For the right price, Locusta can send Alba to the underworld right behind dear papa.
As a professional poisoner, Locusta found herself imprisoned many times, but her clients, who would rather she didn’t rat them out, were often powerful people in Rome. Getting out of a bind was never too difficult for the girl from Gaul. Everyone on Rome knew Locusta, even though no one would admit to it.
The Emperor Claudius wasn’t sure he wanted to get married for a fourth time - his previous marriages all ended badly, and the last one came to a close when his third wife, Valeria Messalina, tried to overthrow him and take over Rome. Still, there were two women Claudius had his eyes on. One of them was Lollia Paulina, the widow of the former Emperor Caligula. The other was Agrippina the Younger, his niece and sister to Caligula.
Agrippina had her fair share of troubled relationships behind her. She had been married twice before; her first husband died while Agrippina was preggers with another man’s child. The father of Agrippina’s son, when congratulated for the birth, is quoted as saying "I don't think anything produced by me and Agrippina could possibly be good for the state or the people" so he was a real optimist.
Between husbands, Agrippina tried to kill her brother Caligula, but that didn’t work out, and she was exiled from Rome for a time, but old uncle Claudius revoked the exile when he became emperor. Back in action, Agrippina married a wealthy and well respected man who had many children and grandchildren. Shortly after their marriage, the man died suddenly and oddly left everything to Agrippina’s son Nero. Rumors spread that Agrippina had her husband poisoned.
Agrippina, knowing that Claudius was going to choose between her and Lollia, did what she did best, which is to say Agrippina did some evil shit. Agrippina spread a rumor that Lollia was a sorceress, which instantly took her out of the marriage competition. Claudius, who I suppose really followed the idea of “LOL YOLO” wed his niece Agrippina on New Years Day in 49 AD. Almost as soon as they said their vows, Agrippina had Lollia charged with sorcery. Lollia escaped Rome but was caught by Roman soldiers. Under order of Agrippina, the soldiers watched as Lollia committed suicide.
And people say soap operas are too crazy.
Five years into the marriage, Agrippina was in a bind, that bind being that she wanted her son Nero to be emperor and old Uncle Claudius (who, in truth was only five years older than Agrippina) wasn’t dying. Agrippina called on Locusta to push things along.
The plan was simple; Locusta would poison some mushrooms, Claudius’ favorite snack, and Agrippina would get them to the Emperor. A quick bit of cash in the hand of Claudius’ food taster made sure the poisoned dish would make it’s way to the man of the hour.
On October 13, 54 AD, Claudius gobbled down the mushroom and instantly doubled over in pain. Within minutes, he was dead.
Locusta sat in her home when the streets of Rome filled with shouts of the Emperor’s death. Before long, Roman guards came to Locusta and arrested her for the murder of Claudius. In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, Agrippina sold Locusta out.
Nero was named Emperor. Locusta sat in prison waiting to be executed. Somehow, no one connected Agrippina to anything that had happened.
Before Valeria Messalina tried to overthrow her husband the Emperor, she had given him two children, a daughter named Claudia Octavia and a son, first named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. Agrippina had arranged for Claudia Octavia to marry her own son Nero, which they did in 53 AD. After the death of her father, Claudia was happy to be wife of the new Emperor.
Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, better known as Britannicus, on the other hand, was a wee bit miffed. In the months before his death, Clausius had confided in his son that he planned to divorce Agrippina and disown Nero. Had this happened, Britannicus would have become emperor when Claudius died. Instead, Britannicus found himself on the outside looking in. He knew that Agrippina and Nero had his father killed, and he wanted not only the crown, but revenge.
The power of the empire had grown the ego of the young Nero to an amazing size; a size so big even Agrippina was all “dude, you need to chill”. When Nero fired Agrippina’s buddy Pallas, mommy began to plot against her own son. She would admit to killing Claudius, opening the way for Britannicus to become emperor.
Nero caught wind of his mother’s plan and chose to act first. Figuring that things worked out pretty good last time, Nero quietly had Locusta freed from prison and brought to him. He instructed her to create a poison that would be used to kill Britannicus and in return Locusta would be pardoned for the whole murdering the Emperor Claudius thing. Locusta came up with a hell of an idea.
At a dinner, everyone would be served hot wine, which Britannicus personally disliked. Knowing that Britannicus would ask for water to cool his wine, the poison would be mixed between the wine and the water. No one drink would kill, but the two combined would do the trick.
Sure enough, Britannicus asked for water to be added to his wine. Sure enough, Locusta’s mixture did it’s job. Before the sun rose, Britannicus was dead and buried. Agrippina quit with the plotting.
Nero, figuring he would probably need to poison a whole slew of people during his tenure as emperor, set up Locusta with an estate. There, Locusta opened a school to teach girls how to poison people.
For over a decade, things were pretty sweet for Nero and Locusta. Nero ruled over Rome and from time to time, when he needed someone dealt with, he would call on Locusta and her pupils. Nero had not so quietly built up his own army of women assassins. Some claim that it was Locusta who killed Agrippina in 59 AD, but there are so many contradictory stories about the death of Agrippina that her death is a mystery to us today.
In 68 AD, Nero made the mistake demagogues always make; he pushed the people too far. Nero raised the taxes of the Roman people, and multiple mayors of the cities surrounding Rome, lead by Gaius Julius Vindex, refused to pay them. A rebellion broke out, and before long it was clear that Nero wouldn’t be emperor much longer. While Locusta had given Nero a fast acting poison to use on himself if needed, the guy totes forgot to pack it when he went on the run. In the end, Nero died by the hand of one of his servants whom he had ordered to kill him when he wussed out on taking his own life.
With her boss dead, Locusta went on the run. Being the super famous murderer of an emperor made it hard for Locusta to blend in, and she was captured within a few weeks. The new big guy in charge, Emperor Galba, had Locusta executed by what sounds like the nasty way possible - Galba had Locusta raped to death by a giraffe. Something tells me we won’t be seeing anything that insane on GAME OF THRONES.
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