Black Widow: Leonarda Cianciulli

Known as the Soap Maker of Correggio, this black widow killed three women and turned their remains into soap and tea cakes. Why? She believed human sacrifice would protect her son while he was enlisted in the Italian army for World War II.

This is the case of Black Widow, Leonarda Cianciulli.

Episode Transcript

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Known as the soap maker of Correggio. This black widow killed three women and
turned their remains into soap and teacakes. Why she believed human sacrifice would
protect her son while he was enlistedin the Italian Army for World War Two.

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This is the case of black widowLeonarda Chinchuli. This is tales from

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the dark in the sleepy community ofMontela and southern Italy. Leonarda Chanculi was
born on April eighteenth, eighteen ninetyfour. Amelia Chanculi, who simply detested
the sight of her child, gavebirth to Leonarda. She made sure to

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tell infant Leonarda that she was atfault for everything that occurred to her,
and did it on a daily basis. Every day Leonarda experienced verbal and physical
assault. Amelia was sexually assaulted byMarianna Chenculi, who was in his forties
when she was just fifteen years old. He was an alcoholic and unemployed.

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When her parents learned Amelia was pregnant, they decided to get them married rather
than have him prosecuted for sexual assault. Amelia loathed Leonarda for this. Leonardo
was roughly five years old at thetime, Mariano left the house to go
out drinking and didn't return for days. Amelia didn't care much in general,

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but gradually she started looking for him. He was discovered unconscious, comatose,
and suffering from a high temperature ata friend's home by Amelia. Under the
guise of taking care of him,She had him transported back to her house.
She conveniently forgot about him after that, reasoning that if he woke up,

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things would resume as normal. However, if he didn't, he would
have died by then, making hera widow who might be able to marry.
Sadly, Mariano did not get outof bed. Leonarda, who was
now a teenager, didn't really rememberher father other than from the beatings he
gave her, but she did recallthat her mother spent on his grave after

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everyone had left the burial and remarkedgood riddance. Amelia first hung around with
some guys who were involved in Alicaactivity, and she eventually wed one of
them. Leonarda's mother and stepfather wouldtake Amelia out for extravagant dinners, so

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oftentimes Leonarda had a thinned for herself. She was frequently left alone and forced
to scramble to obtain food elsewhere.She was continually being rebuked by Amelia about
how obnoxious and hateful she was.Leonarda attempted suicide when she was thirteen years
old, but she was unsuccessful.When she was fourteen, she made another

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attempt but also failed. From thebeginning of her existence, Leonarda chin Julie
had a tragic life. Leonarda saidher mother cursed her since she didn't approve
of the marria when she led aregistry clerk Raphael Pensarti in nineteen seventeen.

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She starts her story around the turnof the twentieth century. She became pregnant
seventeen times while married. Three ofthose seventeen pregnancies were lost due to miscarriages,
and ten of the children died beforethe age of eighteen. They could
not have wished for a more protectivemother for her four living children. Chenchuli

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was put in jail in nineteen twentyseven for fraud. She and her family
relocated to Lancedonia after being released fromprison. In Potenza, not too far
from her childhood home, Leonarda andher husband experienced a tragic accident. The

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Urpinia earthquake occurred on July twenty,nineteen thirty. Later, it would be
listed among the earthquakes that had causedthe most damage in Italian history. Thousands
of people lost their houses in thedisaster, including Leonarda. However, Leonardo
resorted to superstition and paranoia in thenineteen thirties while residing in a small region

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tucked away in the Matisse and thePensini Mountains in southern Italy. It turns
out that some evidence exists to supportthe idea that Chanchuli's superstitious beliefs were a
symptom of a more pervasive anxiety andsadness. Many clinical psychologists today hold the

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view that superstitions develop as a resultof damaged mind's attempt to make sense of
the absurd. Of course, itis hard to say whether the ensuing events
might have been avoided with current medicaltechnology. Giuseppe Pimsardi, Chinculi's eldest son

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and beloved kid, decided in nineteenthirty nine that he would enlist in the
Italian Army. He wished to contributeto the World War two effort. Like
many other Italians at the time,this declaration coupled with her faith and superstitions,
gave Leonardo Chinciuli the impetus she neededto become one of the most notorious

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female serial killers of the twentieth century. Leonardo Chinciuli came to the realization that
her life, to put it frankly, was bad due to her attempts at
suicide, her mother's purported curse,and her numerous miscarriages. As a result,
she sought advice from fortune teller.She had her worries confirmed by the

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wandering Romani fortune teller, but nothingwas done. She was told by the
fortune teller, in your right hand, I see prison. A criminal asylum
is on your left. Leonardo Cinciulideveloped severe's superstitions as a result of the

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ruminating on her mother's purported curse andthe romaining fortune teller prophecies. Leonardo turned
to the one thing she thought wouldkeep her son Giuseppe safe, while he
informed her in the late nineteen thirtynine that he was playing on joining the
Italian Army. Human sacrifice. Herinspiration to sacrifice people in order to prevent

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her son from perishing in World Wartwo is unknown. Human sacrifice was forbidden
by the Roman Catholicism that Cincui encounteredat the time, since it was viewed
as an abomination by God. Furthermore, there is no Romani superstition or belief
that accepts human sacri vice. However, Leonardo Chinculi would go on to kill

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three women before she was apprehended,regardless of where she obtained her inspiration.
Faustini Setti, a local spinster,served as Leonardo Chinchili's first victim. Setti
was invited to Leonarda's house in nineteenthirty nine under the pretense of introducing her

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to a husband, and Leonardo gaveher instructions to compose letters to her family
informing them that she would be visitingthe man abroad. But before she used
an acts to murder Setti, Chinculigave her a tainted drink. Seti was
then divided into nine pieces and herblood was collected in a basin. She

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outlined what she did next in herformal statement following her arrest. I tossed
the pieces into a pot, addedseven kilograms of caustic soda, which I
had purchased to manufacture soap, andmix the whole concoction until the fragments dissolved
into a thick, dark mush thathad dumped into many buckets and emptied into

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a nearby septic tank. As forthe blood in the basin, I waited
until it coagulated, dried it inthe oven, powdered it, and mixed
it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk and eggs, as well as
a little margarine, needing all thecomponents together. Although Giuseppe and I also

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consumed them. I made a lotof crunchy teacakes and presented them to the
ladies who came to visit. Inaddition, is also been claimed that Leonarda
sees Setti's life savings of thirty thousandItalian lyre, which is equal to seventeen
ninety four now and three hundred andthirty two dollars and twenty twenty after accounting

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for inflation. Seti had paid Leonardafor her help in matching Seti with a
husband, and she had gotten thismoney in exchange. Francesca Siovi, a
new victim, was discovered by Chinchiuliin September fifth, nineteen forty. Similar
to what she did with Seti,Leonardo forced Siovi to write letters to her

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friends documenting her travels while falsely claimingto have searched her a teaching position abroad.
In addition, much like Seti,she gave her drugged wine to drink,
axed her to death, cooked herin tea cakes, and took her
money. A renowned soprano who formerlyperformed at Milan's illustrious Las Gala opera venue

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was Virginia Katchopo. On September thirtieth, nineteen forty, Kachopo paid Leonardo a
visit because she had promised her aposition in Florence. Working with an impressario,
Leonarda fed Kachopo tainted wine and usedan axe to murder her. As

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she had done with her previous twovictims, Leonarda used to merely bake her
body into tea cakes and feed themto her neighbors, but this time she
also melted her victim down and madesoap out of it. Leonardo reportedly received
fifty thousand liar, a variety ofgems, public bonds, and various jewelry

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from Conchopo. She even marketed theclothes and she was worn by the victim.
Following her arrest, she detailed whatshe did next in an official statement,
Kachopo was thrown into the pot alongwith the other two. Her flesh
was white and fatty. Once ithad melted, I had added a bottle

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of cologne. After a long timeon the boil, I managed to produce
some quite respectable creamy soap. Igave my neighbors and friends bars. The
cakes improved as well. That womanwas quite nice. Leonarda Cinciuli could not

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have been more mistaken in her judgmentof her crimes, even though she believed
they were flawless murders. In contrastto Leonardo's first two victims, who had
few worried family members, Kachopo hada highly worried sister in law. She

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didn't take Kachopo's letters about her hastydeparture seriously because she had actually seen her
enter Chinchuli's house the night before shesupposedly left. She contacted the Raggio Emilia
police promptly after her sister vanished.They launched an investigation into Leonarda. Leonardach

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Julie at first defended herself. Shedidn't completely break down and disclose everything,
that is, until the cops placedthe blame on her adored son, Giuseppe
Leonarda, contended that she was solelyresponsible for all three murders and that her
son had no part in them.The book that Leonarda kept where she listed

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all the murders, was also discoveredby the police during their investigation of her
home. The trial for Cuinchuli wasover in a few days. She was
found guilty of her crimes and wasgiven a thirty three year sentence, which
included thirty years in prison and threeyears in a mental institution. This punishment

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eerily echoed the Romani's Woman's prediction.It was later discover that Giuseppe, her
oldest son, had assisted her incommitting all three killings while still residing in
the asylum. Leonardochintuli died on Octoberfifteenth, nineteen seventy from a cerebral hemorrhage.

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She was seventy nine years old.Her remains were given back to her
family for burial, but her murderoustools, including the pot in which she
boiled her victims, were presented tothe Rome Criminology Museum. Visitors can still
examine her collection of axes in themuseum and have a look inside the vat

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where she once boiled people, whatdo you think of this case? What
caused Leonarda to believe human sacrifice wasa solution to her problems? Be sure
to let us know because for now, for tonight, I think we're going
to have to add the case ofblack Widow Leonardo Chinchuli to our never ending

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but are always growing tails from thedark.