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Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest
In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history.
In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, arrived at a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women underwent brutal treatments and were emaciated shadows of their former selves.
Claire and Dora were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed. But as their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, the sisters came to learn that Hazzard would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions.
In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, arrived at a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women underwent brutal treatments and were emaciated shadows of their former selves.
Claire and Dora were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed. But as their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, the sisters came to learn that Hazzard would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions.
436 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1997
About the author
Gregg Olsen
112 books6,095 followersThroughout his career, Gregg Olsen has demonstrated an ability to create a detailed narrative that offers readers fascinating insights into the lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances.
A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Olsen has written ten nonfiction books, ten novels, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.
The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.
In addition to television and radio appearances, the award-winning author has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.
The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.
Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Olsen has written ten nonfiction books, ten novels, and contributed a short story to a collection edited by Lee Child.
The award-winning author has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and Discovery Channel. He has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News; CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, CBS 48 Hours, Oxygen’s Snapped, Court TV’s Crier Live, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and A&E’s Biography.
In addition to television and radio appearances, the award-winning author has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.
The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year by the ILA and Starvation Heights was honored by Washington’s Secretary of State for the book’s contribution to Washington state history and culture.
Olsen, a Seattle native, lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife and Suri (a mini dachshund so spoiled she wears a sweater).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,183 reviews
March 1, 2012
Gregg Olsen's account of the exposure and trial of early-twentieth-century Seattle "healer" Linda Burfield Hazzard chiefly interested me because of the striking similarity between Hazzard's ideas about health and some ideas that are current among first-world health faddists--indeed they may never have really gone away. Hazzard, who was yet another played-down, Minnesota-grown serial killer (Carl Panzram didn't hail from Lake Wobegon, evidently), was a proponent of "the fasting cure." People's bodies, Dr. Hazzard proposed, were full of "poisons" that came from overeating and especially the consumption of meat. The fasting cure, which included daily enemas and bodily manipulation (terrific blows to the head, back, and stomach), would purify the body and prepare it for the establishment of perfect health. Substitute the word "toxin" for "poison" and and you basically have the same pseudo-scientific premise as anyone who ever advised a credulous public to go on a seven-day juice fast, submit to Rolfing, or endure high colonic.
Until WWII many people had a healthy distrust of what we would consider conventional medicine. Traditional/herbal medicine was familiar and more affordable, as were a slew of less creditable remedies like patent medicines, faith cures, and general quackery. Many of Dr. Hazzard's patients claimed that their lives were saved by her methods. A significant number didn't live to attest to the value of the cure, and strangely enough Dr. Hazzard ended up in possession of their belongings and sometimes their estates. When a pair of wealthy (and perfectly healthy) English sisters fell into her clutches in 1910, the reality of what was going on at her health institute--locally called "Starvation Heights"--became an international sensation.
Olsen, who is a New York Times bestselling author, got hold of a great story. But as a frequent reader of true crime, I was sadly disappointed. Firstly, although Olsen dwells lovingly on the little foibles and refinements of the two main victims, he spends almost no time on Dr. Hazzard's motives, her psychology, or even her life history. I have heard crime investigators talk about wanting to focus more on the victims of serial killers than on the killers themselves (which would add to the notoriety they presumably seek), but this doesn't necessarily make for a good book. What was Hazzard like as a girl and a young woman? What was her family history? What made her decide to go into medicine at a time when female doctors were shunned and ridiculed? Why the fasting cure? Surely if she just wanted to kill patients and take their money there were more rapid methods: most of her victims lingered for as many as 50 days. Olsen just tells us (again and again) that she was brash, outspoken, possessed of manly physical strength and a loud voice, and that she dominated her henpecked husband. She was a wicked virago and unnatural woman. How is this any different from the way that men of her own time viewed her? Hazzard often claimed to be suffering the martyrdom of a woman in a man's world. Regardless of her own hideous acts, this was certainly the case. Hazzard was as much on trial for being a "woman doctor" and for violating Edwardian ideals of womanhood as she was for her actual crimes. And what about all the people living near Starvation Heights who lauded Hazzard as a pillar of the community even as they witnessed the parade of cadaverous patients dragging themselves around Hazzard's property and the nearby roads? Italicized mini-accounts from Hazzard's neighbors stuck in anyhow seem like a clumsy attempt to inject the social history that is lacking.
Finally I felt that Olsen's enterprise was undermined by what I can only call bad writing. The tortured syntax of many of his sentences was a tedious distraction without adding any poetry to the telling. I was particularly underwhelmed by a description of newspaper reporters mobbing Hazzard outside the courthouse, "like flies to a dog's old bone." A lot of it wouldn't have gotten past even the most jaded of Comp 101 instructors. I can only imagine the game struggles and sad defeat of the copyeditor on this project. Yes, I say it, as one who should be in fear and trembling to criticize a successful and well-known author--the writing was pretty darn bad. The contrast with the well-written, exhaustively researched book I started reading immediately after finishing Starvation Heights (The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows, by Andrew C. A. Jampoler) was particularly dramatic and damning. Greggs is a NYT bestselling author; Jsmpoler is a sales and marketing executive for the international aerodynamics industry. I never associated marketing executives with deathless prose before, but I am starting to associate deathless prose with the NYT bestseller list less and less every day.
As always I would love to see what an Erik Larsen or a David Schecter would have done with this historical crime spree. I feel sure they would have made some connection to the way our own society flirts with the idea of abandoning Western medicine for alternative healthcare. As someone who walks a fine line between rejecting and embracing conventional medicine I found this story a timely reminder to know what you're getting into--with doctors and with "natural" cures. Just because something is natural doesn't mean it's not dangerous, and the promoters of alternative cures may be in it for more than just the public good, as Dr. Hazzard's victims learned to their sorrow.
Until WWII many people had a healthy distrust of what we would consider conventional medicine. Traditional/herbal medicine was familiar and more affordable, as were a slew of less creditable remedies like patent medicines, faith cures, and general quackery. Many of Dr. Hazzard's patients claimed that their lives were saved by her methods. A significant number didn't live to attest to the value of the cure, and strangely enough Dr. Hazzard ended up in possession of their belongings and sometimes their estates. When a pair of wealthy (and perfectly healthy) English sisters fell into her clutches in 1910, the reality of what was going on at her health institute--locally called "Starvation Heights"--became an international sensation.
Olsen, who is a New York Times bestselling author, got hold of a great story. But as a frequent reader of true crime, I was sadly disappointed. Firstly, although Olsen dwells lovingly on the little foibles and refinements of the two main victims, he spends almost no time on Dr. Hazzard's motives, her psychology, or even her life history. I have heard crime investigators talk about wanting to focus more on the victims of serial killers than on the killers themselves (which would add to the notoriety they presumably seek), but this doesn't necessarily make for a good book. What was Hazzard like as a girl and a young woman? What was her family history? What made her decide to go into medicine at a time when female doctors were shunned and ridiculed? Why the fasting cure? Surely if she just wanted to kill patients and take their money there were more rapid methods: most of her victims lingered for as many as 50 days. Olsen just tells us (again and again) that she was brash, outspoken, possessed of manly physical strength and a loud voice, and that she dominated her henpecked husband. She was a wicked virago and unnatural woman. How is this any different from the way that men of her own time viewed her? Hazzard often claimed to be suffering the martyrdom of a woman in a man's world. Regardless of her own hideous acts, this was certainly the case. Hazzard was as much on trial for being a "woman doctor" and for violating Edwardian ideals of womanhood as she was for her actual crimes. And what about all the people living near Starvation Heights who lauded Hazzard as a pillar of the community even as they witnessed the parade of cadaverous patients dragging themselves around Hazzard's property and the nearby roads? Italicized mini-accounts from Hazzard's neighbors stuck in anyhow seem like a clumsy attempt to inject the social history that is lacking.
Finally I felt that Olsen's enterprise was undermined by what I can only call bad writing. The tortured syntax of many of his sentences was a tedious distraction without adding any poetry to the telling. I was particularly underwhelmed by a description of newspaper reporters mobbing Hazzard outside the courthouse, "like flies to a dog's old bone." A lot of it wouldn't have gotten past even the most jaded of Comp 101 instructors. I can only imagine the game struggles and sad defeat of the copyeditor on this project. Yes, I say it, as one who should be in fear and trembling to criticize a successful and well-known author--the writing was pretty darn bad. The contrast with the well-written, exhaustively researched book I started reading immediately after finishing Starvation Heights (The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows, by Andrew C. A. Jampoler) was particularly dramatic and damning. Greggs is a NYT bestselling author; Jsmpoler is a sales and marketing executive for the international aerodynamics industry. I never associated marketing executives with deathless prose before, but I am starting to associate deathless prose with the NYT bestseller list less and less every day.
As always I would love to see what an Erik Larsen or a David Schecter would have done with this historical crime spree. I feel sure they would have made some connection to the way our own society flirts with the idea of abandoning Western medicine for alternative healthcare. As someone who walks a fine line between rejecting and embracing conventional medicine I found this story a timely reminder to know what you're getting into--with doctors and with "natural" cures. Just because something is natural doesn't mean it's not dangerous, and the promoters of alternative cures may be in it for more than just the public good, as Dr. Hazzard's victims learned to their sorrow.
November 19, 2022
Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest is a gripping true story about Claire and Dora Williamson, and the sinister "doctor" Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard (not a doctor) and her unorthodox fasting technique that she claimed could heal anything that ails you. She had disturbing techniques- fasting (starving), hours long enemas, and vigorous massages. The locals called it Starvation Heights, as they knew about the fasting and the emaciated 'patients' of Dr. Hazzard.
Gregg Olsen brings the horrors of this case of medical murder to life. A woman who is licensed by the state of Washington as a fasting specialist who preyed on the wealthy looking for cures for their illnesses. How she stole their belongings and in their weakened states signed everything over to her and her husband. Even when charged and during her court case, she stood proud, arrogant, and only showed anxiety when things looked dire for her.
Dora and Claire were not her first victims nor her last. This is a harrowing tale of one in power and how she mistreated and deceived those who trusted her. I found this true story to be fascinating. Dore and Claire were interested in/fans of alternative medicine. There were those who claimed Dr. Hazzard healed them, there were those she killed. I was fascinated by those who didn't feel what she was doing was wrong and how others still came to her to be cured after what she was doing became known.
Fascinating and gripping, this was another riveting book by Olsen.
Thank you to Thread Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
Gregg Olsen brings the horrors of this case of medical murder to life. A woman who is licensed by the state of Washington as a fasting specialist who preyed on the wealthy looking for cures for their illnesses. How she stole their belongings and in their weakened states signed everything over to her and her husband. Even when charged and during her court case, she stood proud, arrogant, and only showed anxiety when things looked dire for her.
Dora and Claire were not her first victims nor her last. This is a harrowing tale of one in power and how she mistreated and deceived those who trusted her. I found this true story to be fascinating. Dore and Claire were interested in/fans of alternative medicine. There were those who claimed Dr. Hazzard healed them, there were those she killed. I was fascinated by those who didn't feel what she was doing was wrong and how others still came to her to be cured after what she was doing became known.
Fascinating and gripping, this was another riveting book by Olsen.
Thank you to Thread Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
January 1, 2023
This true crime book tells the story of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, an advocate of the 'fasting cure' for illness. Though Linda called herself 'doctor' she had no medical training and obtained the honorific by suing for the title in court.
Linda Burfield Hazzard
In 1911, two British heiresses, Dora and Claire Williamson, decided to partake of Hazzard's fasting remedy.
Dora (left) and Claire Williamson
The Williamson sisters leaned toward hypochondria, and always imagined they had some ailment or another. The siblings also believed in natural methods of healing. Thus when Dora and Claire read Hazzard's book 'Fasting for the Cure of Disease', they decided to check into the doctor's clinic in Olalla, Washington, a rural community west of Seattle.
Most residents of Olalla were Swedish and Norwegian farmers and loggers, and Linda's 'Institute For Natural Therapeutics' - which at the time consisted of a couple of half-built cabins - was almost hidden in the rustic countryside. Linda eventually built her sanitarium, which could house many patients.
Olalla, Washington
Linda Burfield Hazzard's sanitarium in Olalla, Washington
Hazzard's patients were permitted to eat only a few spoons of light vegetable broth, and were subjected to daily enemas, burning hot baths, vigorous osteopathic massage (slapping and punching), and more. The stated goal was to rid the body of toxins - a process that took months - after which healing could occur.
Fasting therapy patients were subjected to daily enemas
The actual consequences to Hazzard's patients was starvation, and skeletal inmates of the clinic, who could barely stand up, were sometimes seen shuffling or crawling down the road for 'exercise.' The Williamson sisters had absolute faith in Linda's regimen, and willingly subjected themselves to the heinous fasting therapy.
Man participating in a starvation experiment
While Dora and Claire lost pound after pound - and their health declined - Hazzard squirreled away the siblings' valuable jewels and used trickery and forgery to gain access to their money. This type of chicanery was part of Hazzard's modus operandi, and she and her husband Sam enriched themselves at the expense of Linda's patients, many of whom died. One of Hazzard's victims was Washington politician and publisher Lewis Ellsworth Rader, who died after 37 days of the fasting treatment.
Linda Burfield Hazzard's husband Sam Hazzard
Lewis Ellsworth Rader died while undergoing Hazzard's fasting therapy
Claire was literally at death's door when she finally wised up and managed to sneak out a letter, addressed to her former nurse Margaret Conway in Australia, asking for help. Conway took a ship to America and made her way to Olalla, where she found that Claire had died, and Dora, who now weighed about 60 pounds, was at the edge of death. With some difficulty, Margaret was able to rescue Dora from Hazzard's clutches, and Dora and Margaret became determined to bring Hazzard to justice for killing Claire.
Dora Williamson was skin and bones when she was rescued from Hazzard's sanitarium
Prosecuting Linda was easier said than done for several reasons: Hazzard had devoted advocates who believed in her treatment; Hazzard was a loud assertive woman who intimidated people; and Hazzard seemed to exercise an almost hypnotic power over her patients and people around her.
Linda Burfield Hazzard was a formidable adversary
Moreover, on some level Hazzard REALLY believed in the fasting regimen. She claimed there was a conspiracy against her, insisting that medical school graduates (all men at the time) attacked her because she was a woman with an innovative form of therapy. As a result, Olalla authorities were VERY reluctant to prosecute Hazzard, believing they couldn't win. Even so, Linda was eventually brought to trial.
The man who fought hardest to get Linda prosecuted for murdering Claire Williamson was British Vice-Consul Lucian Agassiz, who was aghast at the murder of a British subject. Agassiz interviewed witnesses; lined up evidence; researched the scandalous history of Hazzard's husband Sam, who was a bigamist and con-man; helped raise funds for the lawsuit; recruited attorneys; wrote letters to various officials, including the governor; and so on. Agassiz also 'followed the money', exposing Linda's greed and thievery.
Linda Burfield Hazzard was arrested and tried for murder
Hazzard was eventually brought to trial, and the affair made headlines across the British Empire. In Olalla, Linda became a kind of bogeyman legend, with horror stories about her 'Starvation Heights' institute circulating for decades.
As the story unfolds we get flashbacks to the history of the major characters, including aspects of Linda's childhood in Minnesota; Linda meeting and marrying suave handsome Sam Hazzard - a West Point graduate whose dishonorable behavior ruined a promising career; the Hazzards relocating to Washington to escape scandal and build their institute; and more.
The most unbelievable and (and terrifying) aspect of the story is Linda's ability to get away with her murderous therapy for so long. After all, Olallans could see emaciated dying patients with their own eyes, and - for whatever reason - elected to look the other way. Moreover, Hazzard fought back against her 'enemies' every step of the way, and was certain she would prevail in the end.
Much has been written about Linda Burfield Hazzard and Starvation Heights but Gregg Olsen's book is an in-depth treatment that's well worth reading.
Thanks to Netgalley, Gregg Olsen, and Thread Books for a copy of the manuscript.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
August 29, 2020
In 1911 Claire and Dora Williamson arrived on the shores of the Pacific Northwest to a small lumber and farming community in Olalla, Washington forever to be changed in the events that followed. Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard was a fasting specialist. She had the fasting cure that could bring perfect health. Claire and Dora Williamson, sisters and wealthy British heiresses, where faddists, vegetarians, and into the next best health trend. Putting themselves under the care of Dr. Hazzard lead to this true crime mystery.
Dr. Hazzard was a powerful persuasive woman who thought she was introducing new alternatives to medicine, in healing the infirm, where traditional medicine and doctors had given up on. In reality she was starving her patients to death and stealing their money to make herself wealthy. Follow this true crime mystery from murder, mayhem, missing bodies, bigamy, the trial of lies and cover up, and the passion of British Vic Counsel Lucian Agassiz in bringing Dr. Hazzard to justice for her heinous life work.
Quote:
The List was was astonishing in its breadth. Cancer, toothache, psoriasis, heart trouble, tuberculosis, epilepsy, insanity - all had been cured by the fasting specialist from Seattle.
"It's your brain, dear," she declared. "Your trouble is not your body, but your brain. There's been a reason why doctors haven't been able to figure out what is wrong with your health.....it is your brain."
Or was it simply the fact that the victim in primary question was seen as some foolish British faddist; someone who availed herself a treatment and suffered the consequences of her poor choice?
Dr. Hazzard was a powerful persuasive woman who thought she was introducing new alternatives to medicine, in healing the infirm, where traditional medicine and doctors had given up on. In reality she was starving her patients to death and stealing their money to make herself wealthy. Follow this true crime mystery from murder, mayhem, missing bodies, bigamy, the trial of lies and cover up, and the passion of British Vic Counsel Lucian Agassiz in bringing Dr. Hazzard to justice for her heinous life work.
Quote:
The List was was astonishing in its breadth. Cancer, toothache, psoriasis, heart trouble, tuberculosis, epilepsy, insanity - all had been cured by the fasting specialist from Seattle.
"It's your brain, dear," she declared. "Your trouble is not your body, but your brain. There's been a reason why doctors haven't been able to figure out what is wrong with your health.....it is your brain."
Or was it simply the fact that the victim in primary question was seen as some foolish British faddist; someone who availed herself a treatment and suffered the consequences of her poor choice?
November 16, 2022
I absolutely loved this! It was so disturbing and fascinating, and shocking because it was true! As someone with chronic health issues I am fed all kinds of information and when you are grasping at straws, desperate for something to fix you, I can definitely see why some of those people were drawn to Dr. Linda Hazzard. Her solution to any ailment was fasting and she took it to the extreme.
In 1911 two wealthy, British women Claire and Dora Williamson eagerly arrived at the compound of Dr. Linda Hazzard in the forest of Olalla, Washington to begin Dr. Hazzard’s unique fasting treatment.
It was supposed to be a vacation for the sisters however, within a few months at what became known as “Starvation Heights”, the sisters became emaciated and subjected to brutal, evasive procedures.
Dr.Linda Hazzard’s methods were severely questioned and the doctors would become known as a convicted serial killer.
Starvation Heights is available January 19,2023.
Thank you to netgalley and threadbooks for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
In 1911 two wealthy, British women Claire and Dora Williamson eagerly arrived at the compound of Dr. Linda Hazzard in the forest of Olalla, Washington to begin Dr. Hazzard’s unique fasting treatment.
It was supposed to be a vacation for the sisters however, within a few months at what became known as “Starvation Heights”, the sisters became emaciated and subjected to brutal, evasive procedures.
Dr.Linda Hazzard’s methods were severely questioned and the doctors would become known as a convicted serial killer.
Starvation Heights is available January 19,2023.
Thank you to netgalley and threadbooks for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
December 26, 2022
Imagine someone who believed that a starvation diet was the cure to anything that ailed you? That was the motto or philosophy of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, an osteopath who practiced her form of medicine, in the state of Washington. Attracted by Dr Hazzard's approach, two sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson, decided to follow the good doctor and go for the "cure." The two wealthy sisters were proponents of natural medicine, and Dr Hazzard seem to offer that to them.
The "good" doctor took the sisters into her home,promising that a sanatorium was being built that would house them as the path to a cure would be followed. Dr Hazzard, her husband, Sam Hazzard, (another evil natured man, a swindler, forger, scandalous bigamist, and more death!)
and staff put these women on a diet that would actually cause people to starve to death which is exactly what happened to Claire and other patients of the doctor.
Many prominent people flocked to her, however, between 1907 to 1913, fourteen patients perished. These patients withered away, and perhaps quite interestingly were people who had money and possessions, which supposedly they had turned over to the doctor. Hazzard labeled herself the "Fasting Specialist", but many of these patients died alone under her care.
Suits were brought against Hazzard through Dora Williamson, who herself nearly died until her trusted nurse arrived. However, Hazzard had her followers and it was as if the believers formed a type of cult. Hazzard maintained her innocence with both a sense of entitlement, filled with a sense of inflated self and denial, that was repugnant to many.
She was convicted of the murder of Claire, but only served two years, was released, went to another country where she and her husband amassed money enough to build her dream sanitarium back home. In a twist of righteous fate of greed once again, the place burned down and years later Hazzard died while supposedly practicing her cure. Her husband had already become and alcoholic and a womanizer.
These two despicable people seemed to be able to escape the full hammer of justice they deserved and I found it hard to believe that Hazzard convinced many of the benefit of fasting for forty days and beyond with just a bit a broth and perhaps sips of orange juice, and of course the daily enemas.
This was a well researched story that was fascinating in its detail (although a bit long) It was truly amazing that there were a bevy of people who defended Hazzard's behavior. Greed, avarice, and a god like temperament followed Hazzard all of her days.
The deceased under Hazzard's care
1907 Lenora J. Wilcox
1908 Daisy Maud Haglund (The mother of Ivar’s Restaurants founder, Ivar Haglund. Ivar was taken to Hazzard for treatments, even after Daisy’s death.)
1909 Blanche B. Tindall
1909 Viola Heaton
1909 Eugene Stanley Wakelin (Did not die of starvation, but was found dead of a bullet wound on Hazzard’s property. Linda Hazzard had power of attorney over his estate.)
1910 Lydia Maude Whitney
1910 Earl Edward Erdman
1911 Frank Stuart Southard (Prominent attorney with the firm of Morris, Southard and Shipley. His law partner publically defended Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Edward S. Harrison (Publisher of Alaska-Yukon Magazine and Hazzard’s book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease.)
1911 John Ivan Flux
1911 Lewis Ellsworth Rader (Washington Legislator, 1895. Rader granted Wilderness Heights to Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Claire Williamson
1913 Ida Julia Anderson
1913 Mary T. Bailey
1925 Leonard Ritter
Thank you to Gregg Olsen, Thread Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this amazing story.
The "good" doctor took the sisters into her home,promising that a sanatorium was being built that would house them as the path to a cure would be followed. Dr Hazzard, her husband, Sam Hazzard, (another evil natured man, a swindler, forger, scandalous bigamist, and more death!)
and staff put these women on a diet that would actually cause people to starve to death which is exactly what happened to Claire and other patients of the doctor.
Many prominent people flocked to her, however, between 1907 to 1913, fourteen patients perished. These patients withered away, and perhaps quite interestingly were people who had money and possessions, which supposedly they had turned over to the doctor. Hazzard labeled herself the "Fasting Specialist", but many of these patients died alone under her care.
Suits were brought against Hazzard through Dora Williamson, who herself nearly died until her trusted nurse arrived. However, Hazzard had her followers and it was as if the believers formed a type of cult. Hazzard maintained her innocence with both a sense of entitlement, filled with a sense of inflated self and denial, that was repugnant to many.
She was convicted of the murder of Claire, but only served two years, was released, went to another country where she and her husband amassed money enough to build her dream sanitarium back home. In a twist of righteous fate of greed once again, the place burned down and years later Hazzard died while supposedly practicing her cure. Her husband had already become and alcoholic and a womanizer.
These two despicable people seemed to be able to escape the full hammer of justice they deserved and I found it hard to believe that Hazzard convinced many of the benefit of fasting for forty days and beyond with just a bit a broth and perhaps sips of orange juice, and of course the daily enemas.
This was a well researched story that was fascinating in its detail (although a bit long) It was truly amazing that there were a bevy of people who defended Hazzard's behavior. Greed, avarice, and a god like temperament followed Hazzard all of her days.
The deceased under Hazzard's care
1907 Lenora J. Wilcox
1908 Daisy Maud Haglund (The mother of Ivar’s Restaurants founder, Ivar Haglund. Ivar was taken to Hazzard for treatments, even after Daisy’s death.)
1909 Blanche B. Tindall
1909 Viola Heaton
1909 Eugene Stanley Wakelin (Did not die of starvation, but was found dead of a bullet wound on Hazzard’s property. Linda Hazzard had power of attorney over his estate.)
1910 Lydia Maude Whitney
1910 Earl Edward Erdman
1911 Frank Stuart Southard (Prominent attorney with the firm of Morris, Southard and Shipley. His law partner publically defended Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Edward S. Harrison (Publisher of Alaska-Yukon Magazine and Hazzard’s book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease.)
1911 John Ivan Flux
1911 Lewis Ellsworth Rader (Washington Legislator, 1895. Rader granted Wilderness Heights to Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Claire Williamson
1913 Ida Julia Anderson
1913 Mary T. Bailey
1925 Leonard Ritter
Thank you to Gregg Olsen, Thread Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this amazing story.
January 2, 2023
Mr. Olsen has written an intriguing, true crime retelling of a Washington State doctor who was a proponent of medical fasting and developed a following of patients who endured her cures, a rather large number of whom died. This true story is a reminder that there are questionable medical theories and practice still in use today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2015
In 1910, two wealthy young Englishwomen, called Miss Claire and Miss Dorothea Williamson, travelling in America, saw an advertisement in a Seattle daily newspaper and wrote off for a book titled, “Fasting for the Cure of Disease.” Although wealthy, the two sisters were orphaned and without any definite sense of purpose. In other words, they had both too much money and too much time on their hands. They had taken health cures before, but were afraid that relatives would mock them if they suggested they were interested in the work of Dr Linda Hazzard; who had plans to open a sanatorium in Olalla, Washington State. Her belief was that almost every ailment were caused by dietary factors and could be cured by fasting. With both Claire and Dora having a feeling that they were unwell and no sense of well-being, the two hugged the idea of a new cure as a delicious secret between them. Letters were exchanged and Dr Hazzard declared they would be perfect for the cure. Without letting their relatives know, Miss Clare and Miss Williamson set off to visit Dr Hazzard. Her clinic was not yet ready, but it would soon be known by locals as “Starvation Heights.”
This is an excellent historical true crime book. The beginning deals with the case of the Williamson sisters; which I have to say, unfolds like a thriller. As the two sisters head off, full of naïve optimism, you just wish you could do something to stop them. This is also a story of great bravery when the girls former nurse, believing something is wrong, goes against all the instincts of a servant of that time to take matters into her own hands and travels halfway around the world to discover what is going on. When the authorities become involved, Linda Hazzard has to defend her methods in a court case.
The author really does a wonderful job of telling this story with great detail. There will always be the gullible and the naïve and there will always be those who intend to exploit them. Even now, Dr Hazzard’s methods are shocking and, the beginning of the book, is often quite upsetting. However, there were those who defended her staunchly. She was, it has to be said, a woman who seems more suited to this, modern age, than the early 1900’s. You can almost imagine her setting up a web page and drawing even more people into her net than she managed with newspaper advertisements. She was seen by many as loud and bossy. When she divorced, she left her two children with her mother and went off to follow her dream of having her own clinic. Viewed with suspicion, her lack of ‘normal’ female delicacy saw her viewed askance, and possibly this lack of femininity went against her. However, read this fascinating book and make up your own mind about her guilt. I have never read anything by this author before, but I was very impressed. If you enjoy true crime, then this is certainly an excellent read.
This is an excellent historical true crime book. The beginning deals with the case of the Williamson sisters; which I have to say, unfolds like a thriller. As the two sisters head off, full of naïve optimism, you just wish you could do something to stop them. This is also a story of great bravery when the girls former nurse, believing something is wrong, goes against all the instincts of a servant of that time to take matters into her own hands and travels halfway around the world to discover what is going on. When the authorities become involved, Linda Hazzard has to defend her methods in a court case.
The author really does a wonderful job of telling this story with great detail. There will always be the gullible and the naïve and there will always be those who intend to exploit them. Even now, Dr Hazzard’s methods are shocking and, the beginning of the book, is often quite upsetting. However, there were those who defended her staunchly. She was, it has to be said, a woman who seems more suited to this, modern age, than the early 1900’s. You can almost imagine her setting up a web page and drawing even more people into her net than she managed with newspaper advertisements. She was seen by many as loud and bossy. When she divorced, she left her two children with her mother and went off to follow her dream of having her own clinic. Viewed with suspicion, her lack of ‘normal’ female delicacy saw her viewed askance, and possibly this lack of femininity went against her. However, read this fascinating book and make up your own mind about her guilt. I have never read anything by this author before, but I was very impressed. If you enjoy true crime, then this is certainly an excellent read.
November 7, 2017
‘Starvation Heights’ is as much about the general human capacity for self-delusion as it is about a particularly spectacular and charismatic lunatic criminal. It will be easy, I suspect, for most of us to wonder at the credulity and gullibility of people, especially young women, in reading about this amazing true crime story which occurred at the turn of the century (1910). Deadly health cures were being touted as fabulously effective by so-called ‘scientists’ and ‘doctors’, most of whom did not even have a high school diploma. Unfortunately, there were no shortage of willing victims any more than there were lawyers willing to prosecute or police officers wanting to do arrests.
As usual in such cases where victims hold some responsibility for their fleecing and/or destruction, even if not anything near as much responsibility for it all as their beloved villainous crook, courts are reluctant to spend much time and especially money prosecuting these bad guys even today unless evidence is overwhelming and dead bodies are piling up. Sham health cures and fake doctors who lure in hypochondriacs and ‘beautiful people’ wannabes are low on the list for those pursuing criminal action against lawbreakers, especially in poor counties or states. Purveyors of illegal, dangerous and unproven weight-loss schemes for improving health and beauty easily would overwhelm every court in the world if prosecutors vigorously pursued convictions. Advertised health-improvement claims from ‘legitimate’ spas, meditation centers, health resorts and fat farms of today do not raise from most people hardly a passing doubt despite their obvious hokum. So, looking back at a time where social media consisted of newspapers only, and education was either shallow or nonexistent, think of how much easier it would be to convince customers of the health benefits of unproven practices when knowledge was spread by mostly gossip and rumor, ads and fads.
Sisters Dorothea and Claire Williamson were orphaned while young, but in 1910 they were in their mid-thirties. Unmarried, wealthy, having gone to the best finishing schools in Europe and England, they were traveling first across Canada to Vancouver, British Columbia, and then down to the United States and Seattle, Washington. Although they had relatives, money and property all over the world, they yet were naive and trusting, especially Claire. Their journey was ostensibly about visiting relatives, but they were also very much interested in improving their digestive health by visiting popular health institutes for the upper classes which were all the rage at the time. (For an excellent satirical, but well-researched, fictional novel about the 1900’s fad of ‘healthy’ cleansing of one’s digestive tract in America, read T. C. Boyle’s The Road to Wellville.)
The sisters had already stopped at several famous and small sanitariums, institutions and ‘hospitals’ that promised to cure many kinds of aches, pains and nebulous, scientifically described, diseases which haunted the bored and inactive moneyed classes. At the turn of the century, most of the health institutes of the time cured their patients of excess money through the most recent fad of expensive treatments of cleansing diets and enemas. Women of wealth often went to these digestive health and diet clinics for such ‘diseases’ as occasional discomforts of the uterus, diagnosed by mercenary fake and real medical doctors.
One such ‘doctor’ was at work in Seattle. ‘Dr.’ Linda Burfield Hazzard advertised in the local Seattle newspaper about her institution in Olalla, Washington, and offered her book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease. She was well-respected, politically and socially powerful with highly-placed supporters and deep pockets. Under her care, people often fasted for over 30 days and more. Her treatments involved ‘meals’ of ‘fresh’ tomato and asparagus juice, with gallons of hot water enemas which lasted hours. Her patients were apparently so grateful to her for curing all of their bodily cares, they sometimes signed over all of their worldly goods to her
Many of those who survived truly were grateful to Linda, utterly convinced that having been reduced to 60 pounds helped their health improve.
It took awhile, but reporters, witnesses and detective work eventually revealed Linda and her husband, the handsome Sam, were not exactly what they claimed. Who were they, really?
Did Dora and Claire survive? Read the book. It is fascinating, and all true.
The author Gregg Olsen, an investigative reporter, wrote the book in the style of a fact-based fiction novel. It sometimes led him into creating assumed but logical scenes. I get it - he wanted to humanize the victims of the Hazzards. While the story is backed up with research, actual documents and newspaper reports of the time, and he does really try to keep to the story as told by witnesses, I felt sometimes he wandered too much into fictional territory. Nonetheless, what an incredible true crime!
As usual in such cases where victims hold some responsibility for their fleecing and/or destruction, even if not anything near as much responsibility for it all as their beloved villainous crook, courts are reluctant to spend much time and especially money prosecuting these bad guys even today unless evidence is overwhelming and dead bodies are piling up. Sham health cures and fake doctors who lure in hypochondriacs and ‘beautiful people’ wannabes are low on the list for those pursuing criminal action against lawbreakers, especially in poor counties or states. Purveyors of illegal, dangerous and unproven weight-loss schemes for improving health and beauty easily would overwhelm every court in the world if prosecutors vigorously pursued convictions. Advertised health-improvement claims from ‘legitimate’ spas, meditation centers, health resorts and fat farms of today do not raise from most people hardly a passing doubt despite their obvious hokum. So, looking back at a time where social media consisted of newspapers only, and education was either shallow or nonexistent, think of how much easier it would be to convince customers of the health benefits of unproven practices when knowledge was spread by mostly gossip and rumor, ads and fads.
Sisters Dorothea and Claire Williamson were orphaned while young, but in 1910 they were in their mid-thirties. Unmarried, wealthy, having gone to the best finishing schools in Europe and England, they were traveling first across Canada to Vancouver, British Columbia, and then down to the United States and Seattle, Washington. Although they had relatives, money and property all over the world, they yet were naive and trusting, especially Claire. Their journey was ostensibly about visiting relatives, but they were also very much interested in improving their digestive health by visiting popular health institutes for the upper classes which were all the rage at the time. (For an excellent satirical, but well-researched, fictional novel about the 1900’s fad of ‘healthy’ cleansing of one’s digestive tract in America, read T. C. Boyle’s The Road to Wellville.)
The sisters had already stopped at several famous and small sanitariums, institutions and ‘hospitals’ that promised to cure many kinds of aches, pains and nebulous, scientifically described, diseases which haunted the bored and inactive moneyed classes. At the turn of the century, most of the health institutes of the time cured their patients of excess money through the most recent fad of expensive treatments of cleansing diets and enemas. Women of wealth often went to these digestive health and diet clinics for such ‘diseases’ as occasional discomforts of the uterus, diagnosed by mercenary fake and real medical doctors.
One such ‘doctor’ was at work in Seattle. ‘Dr.’ Linda Burfield Hazzard advertised in the local Seattle newspaper about her institution in Olalla, Washington, and offered her book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease. She was well-respected, politically and socially powerful with highly-placed supporters and deep pockets. Under her care, people often fasted for over 30 days and more. Her treatments involved ‘meals’ of ‘fresh’ tomato and asparagus juice, with gallons of hot water enemas which lasted hours. Her patients were apparently so grateful to her for curing all of their bodily cares, they sometimes signed over all of their worldly goods to her
Many of those who survived truly were grateful to Linda, utterly convinced that having been reduced to 60 pounds helped their health improve.
It took awhile, but reporters, witnesses and detective work eventually revealed Linda and her husband, the handsome Sam, were not exactly what they claimed. Who were they, really?
Did Dora and Claire survive? Read the book. It is fascinating, and all true.
The author Gregg Olsen, an investigative reporter, wrote the book in the style of a fact-based fiction novel. It sometimes led him into creating assumed but logical scenes. I get it - he wanted to humanize the victims of the Hazzards. While the story is backed up with research, actual documents and newspaper reports of the time, and he does really try to keep to the story as told by witnesses, I felt sometimes he wandered too much into fictional territory. Nonetheless, what an incredible true crime!
December 20, 2022
I had never heard of Dr Hazzard and her fasting cure. So I was really intrigued to read this book.
This book left me shocked, angry and speechless. At one point I had to remind myself I was reading fact and not fiction!!!!
This is the story of Claire and Dora Williamson two independently wealthy sisters who fell under the spell of Dr Hazzard and her fasting treatment. At times it was a difficult read. Heart breaking and very emotional.
The court case that followed was a real eye opener, least of all who was going to pay. This read was chilling,abhorrent very emotional and the conclusion left me speechless. I dare you reader to visit Starvation Heights this book will stay with me long after I have turned the last page. We have all tried faddy diets hoping for quick results but this diet is on another level!!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This book left me shocked, angry and speechless. At one point I had to remind myself I was reading fact and not fiction!!!!
This is the story of Claire and Dora Williamson two independently wealthy sisters who fell under the spell of Dr Hazzard and her fasting treatment. At times it was a difficult read. Heart breaking and very emotional.
The court case that followed was a real eye opener, least of all who was going to pay. This read was chilling,abhorrent very emotional and the conclusion left me speechless. I dare you reader to visit Starvation Heights this book will stay with me long after I have turned the last page. We have all tried faddy diets hoping for quick results but this diet is on another level!!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
November 11, 2016
The first third of the book was interesting. But the entire was difficult to read. It's choppy and in a rather archaic style, IMHO. It's occurring during the first decade of the 20th Century near Seattle.
There is much repetition and the entire core of the belief system, diet theory, fasting regime that was proposed by Mrs. Hazzard in her estate /spa placement could have been described and eye witness reports included too, within half these number of pages.
The court cases, the letters of witness, the sisters' letters to each other- those first level source materials were better than the non-fiction "connection" to all of this in one progressive tale.
Even now, many people do practice medicine under other aspects of specialty treatments described as diet, mud baths, sweat or colonic regimes or supplemental additions -all of these- without a license. Not all of them get caught.
These particular sanitarium surrounds and the physical nature of the place even today does sound creepy. Very creepy. But the telling of this nasty woman and her entire story (she was exiled by law to leave and went to New Zealand and yet ultimately returned to the same estate)- didn't hold together well in execution.
There is much repetition and the entire core of the belief system, diet theory, fasting regime that was proposed by Mrs. Hazzard in her estate /spa placement could have been described and eye witness reports included too, within half these number of pages.
The court cases, the letters of witness, the sisters' letters to each other- those first level source materials were better than the non-fiction "connection" to all of this in one progressive tale.
Even now, many people do practice medicine under other aspects of specialty treatments described as diet, mud baths, sweat or colonic regimes or supplemental additions -all of these- without a license. Not all of them get caught.
These particular sanitarium surrounds and the physical nature of the place even today does sound creepy. Very creepy. But the telling of this nasty woman and her entire story (she was exiled by law to leave and went to New Zealand and yet ultimately returned to the same estate)- didn't hold together well in execution.
February 14, 2018
This was an awesome piece of history and also like a great white whale in some ways. I was determined to finish it. I wanted to see justice. I’m very glad I read it. Things like this in history, real things and how they went on, so long — it just baffles me.
I can’t believe I read all that in that time. My eyes were ���buggin” that’s for sure. It was during a time I didn’t feel well and reading was my happy little island.
If you are interested in people who will try to sell anything as a cure, to wealthy people ... this is your book. If you like history, if you like medical history and things of that nature then see it through.
I got attached to the two main sisters as characters in this book. They were real people. I went through it with them.
Just one of the many shocking things that happens and no one knows until it’s too late.
I can’t believe I read all that in that time. My eyes were ���buggin” that’s for sure. It was during a time I didn’t feel well and reading was my happy little island.
If you are interested in people who will try to sell anything as a cure, to wealthy people ... this is your book. If you like history, if you like medical history and things of that nature then see it through.
I got attached to the two main sisters as characters in this book. They were real people. I went through it with them.
Just one of the many shocking things that happens and no one knows until it’s too late.
December 4, 2022
In 1911, British heiresses Claire and Dora Williamson decide to undergo the "fasting treatment" under the supervision of Dr. Linda Hazzard - but everything is not quite as it seems, and the sisters soon find themselves trapped in nightmarish circumstances.
Between a new job, NaNoWriMo, and an impending move, I've done very little reading this past November. So I figured a nice way to get back on the wagon would be to break out this true crime tale of a very bizarre crime.
I was already acquainted with Linda Hazzard and Starvation Heights through the podcast Stuff You Missed In History Class, but the episode was short enough and the listening so long ago that much of what presented in this book was quite new to me.
The story is such a strange and sensational one that it makes for a fascinating read in itself. But Olsen's writing, with its deft character sketches and its rampant tension, goes a long way toward making it eerie as well.
The first half of the book deals with how Claire and Dora fall under the spell of Hazzard and plunge straight into physical and mental deterioration, which of course ends in tragedy. The second half deals with the efforts to persecute Hazzard, including some truly strange backstory and a dramatic trial. Despite the fairly complex sequence of events and the number of deaths, I found the story fairly easy to keep track of.
However, I wished we got more backstory about Linda Hazzard and how she came to the place in which she ended up. Was everything about scamming people out of money, or did some of it have to do with a thirst for recognition? Did she really believe in her fasting cure, and to what extent? Until she pops up in relation to Samuel Hazzard in Chicago, information seems quite thin on the ground. I wish we had understood her better, considering she's the main villain of this whole story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Between a new job, NaNoWriMo, and an impending move, I've done very little reading this past November. So I figured a nice way to get back on the wagon would be to break out this true crime tale of a very bizarre crime.
I was already acquainted with Linda Hazzard and Starvation Heights through the podcast Stuff You Missed In History Class, but the episode was short enough and the listening so long ago that much of what presented in this book was quite new to me.
The story is such a strange and sensational one that it makes for a fascinating read in itself. But Olsen's writing, with its deft character sketches and its rampant tension, goes a long way toward making it eerie as well.
The first half of the book deals with how Claire and Dora fall under the spell of Hazzard and plunge straight into physical and mental deterioration, which of course ends in tragedy. The second half deals with the efforts to persecute Hazzard, including some truly strange backstory and a dramatic trial. Despite the fairly complex sequence of events and the number of deaths, I found the story fairly easy to keep track of.
However, I wished we got more backstory about Linda Hazzard and how she came to the place in which she ended up. Was everything about scamming people out of money, or did some of it have to do with a thirst for recognition? Did she really believe in her fasting cure, and to what extent? Until she pops up in relation to Samuel Hazzard in Chicago, information seems quite thin on the ground. I wish we had understood her better, considering she's the main villain of this whole story.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
May 10, 2020
This book is about two rich sisters who encounter a quack and pay with their lives. There is not much wrong with the sisters that a nine to five job and some brisk exercise could not have cured. But having too much money, they instead get themselves admitted to a sanatorium run by Linda Hazzard to undergo a fasting treatment, and one of them dies due to starvation. It comes out that the doctor had tricked the gradually weakening sisters to turn over their fortune to her. After the death of one of the sisters, their old nurse, who, not having too much money, had to make do with sense instead and had to come all the way from Australia to America to rescue the other sister.
The book is divided into three parts. The first one deals with the actual story and is the most interesting part of the book. It is chilling and every word is interesting to keep you riveted. Part two is about how the investigators get the evidence. Some parts of this section are very interesting but I felt it dragged on for too long and got really boring in parts. I also felt that the narrative jumped around too much to retain constant interest. Part three is a description of the trial, and the narrative picks up a little bit.
The author has tried to be balanced about the subjects and presents everyone according to how they were perceived during the time. This means that at some places he treats a person nicely and judges them harshly in another part of the book. This was a little confusing at first but I quickly got used to it. Overall, the book could have done with some editing, but it is still a good book because of the detailed research that went into it, coupled with the fact that there do not seem to be many books on this subject.
The book is divided into three parts. The first one deals with the actual story and is the most interesting part of the book. It is chilling and every word is interesting to keep you riveted. Part two is about how the investigators get the evidence. Some parts of this section are very interesting but I felt it dragged on for too long and got really boring in parts. I also felt that the narrative jumped around too much to retain constant interest. Part three is a description of the trial, and the narrative picks up a little bit.
The author has tried to be balanced about the subjects and presents everyone according to how they were perceived during the time. This means that at some places he treats a person nicely and judges them harshly in another part of the book. This was a little confusing at first but I quickly got used to it. Overall, the book could have done with some editing, but it is still a good book because of the detailed research that went into it, coupled with the fact that there do not seem to be many books on this subject.
February 12, 2008
A far cry from the sensational stuff on the shelves today, this book of true crime is based in solid research and the writing is excellent.
Here's the story: Set in 1911, two sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson, were firm believers in alternative medical treatments and had the reputation among family and friends as being "faddists," or latching on to all types of non-medical therapeutical cures. While vacationing in Canada that year, they came across some information relating to a "fasting cure" under the auspices of one Linda Burfield Hazzard, who never graduated from medical school but had a license as an osteopath in the state of Washington. Her ad promised a cure in the woods of Washington state in a restful sanitarium, and this captured the imagination of the sisters who decided to go for the cure. Neither of them was really sick but they figured they'd get a few treatments to improve their overall general health. Very bad mistake.
Even now there are people that believe in this "fasting cure." If you pull up Linda Burfield Hazzard's name on the internet, her methods are still being touted, even though there were a number of deaths among the people in her care who had undertaken the fasting cure.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. The author has done such a great job here and frankly I'm a bit surprised that this book is not more well known.
Here's the story: Set in 1911, two sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson, were firm believers in alternative medical treatments and had the reputation among family and friends as being "faddists," or latching on to all types of non-medical therapeutical cures. While vacationing in Canada that year, they came across some information relating to a "fasting cure" under the auspices of one Linda Burfield Hazzard, who never graduated from medical school but had a license as an osteopath in the state of Washington. Her ad promised a cure in the woods of Washington state in a restful sanitarium, and this captured the imagination of the sisters who decided to go for the cure. Neither of them was really sick but they figured they'd get a few treatments to improve their overall general health. Very bad mistake.
Even now there are people that believe in this "fasting cure." If you pull up Linda Burfield Hazzard's name on the internet, her methods are still being touted, even though there were a number of deaths among the people in her care who had undertaken the fasting cure.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. The author has done such a great job here and frankly I'm a bit surprised that this book is not more well known.
July 19, 2017
True Crime Commemoration # 7
Setting: early 1900s Washington state
Setting: early 1900s Washington state
October 4, 2014
Well, that was certainly a grim read! What a God-awful way for those people to die.
Well written and very well researched. The author brought the location and the people to life for me.
It was certainly different than any other true crime books I've read and I liked it a lot.
October 2014
From time to time, and for no particular reason, I find myself thinking of Starvation Heights and the notorious Linda Hazzard, and because the story has stayed with me I've increased my rating from 3 stars to 4 stars.
November 3, 2022
I received a free copy of Starvation Heights, by Gregg Olsen, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. People think they can get away with anything! Starving people, and then defrauding them, and this happened so long ago to. Dr. Hazzard is so scary, and she believes she did nothing wrong. A well written book, on a gruesome subject.
November 15, 2022
Gregg Olsen knows how to tell a blistering good tale of a horrific crime in the early 1900’s.
Dr. Linda Hazzard wanted to build a renowned sanitarium promising new, cutting edge treatments for medical conditions through the application of starvation therapy. When two wealthy socialite sisters succumb to her promises, they enter into a torture no human should ever endure. They are starved and “flushed” until they are skeletal wisps of their former selves and even on one’s death bed, still clinging to the hope of remedy from Dr. Hazzard and her wildly unconventional treatments. She takes utter control of the sisters lives and finances, wreaking havoc without regard to her patients health and safety.
This is a mind boggling true crime novel of a “doctor” gone rogue and her eventual conviction of being a serial killer in a town where people knew of the death and destruction, yet no one said or did anything to help. Olsen brings you to the edge of insanity by showing just how deep and crazy this medical malpractice went.
This is a definite winner for fans of true crime, mystery and thrillers and one I will be reflecting on for a long time.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #ThreadBooks and the acutely talented #GreggOlsen for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.
Happy reading my friends! 😊
Dr. Linda Hazzard wanted to build a renowned sanitarium promising new, cutting edge treatments for medical conditions through the application of starvation therapy. When two wealthy socialite sisters succumb to her promises, they enter into a torture no human should ever endure. They are starved and “flushed” until they are skeletal wisps of their former selves and even on one’s death bed, still clinging to the hope of remedy from Dr. Hazzard and her wildly unconventional treatments. She takes utter control of the sisters lives and finances, wreaking havoc without regard to her patients health and safety.
This is a mind boggling true crime novel of a “doctor” gone rogue and her eventual conviction of being a serial killer in a town where people knew of the death and destruction, yet no one said or did anything to help. Olsen brings you to the edge of insanity by showing just how deep and crazy this medical malpractice went.
This is a definite winner for fans of true crime, mystery and thrillers and one I will be reflecting on for a long time.
Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #ThreadBooks and the acutely talented #GreggOlsen for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.
Happy reading my friends! 😊
September 16, 2014
GREAT true crime: well-researched, engaging/absorbing, richly detailed. LOVED it partly for the local lore and how deeply rooted it is in King, Kitsap and Pierce counties (WA state) and partly loved it because it's about a woman (killer) who seized/exercised power in a time period when most women didn't (her victims, for example). Timely reading for me picking it up now with the New Age sweat lodge deaths/"murders" in the news recently.
There are many appealing aspects of the women's stories: the romance of being rich, globetrotting, semi-orphaned sisters longing for more and being vulnerable to anyone offering to provide a cure for things feeling not-quite-right in their lives, and the amazing strength and fortitude of the murderess "Doctor" Linda Hazzard before people used terms like "brainwashing" or "cult of personality".
Olsen did a great job of telling the story in a way that maintains mass appeal while making sure to highlight gender issues and the way all of the women's sex and class in that milieu of the early 20th century influenced them and people's responses to them, along with noting how the poverty and illiteracy of Hazzard's neighbors in Kitsap county made it possible for her to get away with imprisoning and starving people to death over and over again. Olsen is not at all heavy-handed about the class and gender issues, it's just all part of the story.
A fun, informative and mildly provocative read especially for anyone interested in true stories along the lines of fiction like _The Road to Wellville_. It's also nice to read a book in the true crime genre that's not horrifyingly, violently graphic.
There are many appealing aspects of the women's stories: the romance of being rich, globetrotting, semi-orphaned sisters longing for more and being vulnerable to anyone offering to provide a cure for things feeling not-quite-right in their lives, and the amazing strength and fortitude of the murderess "Doctor" Linda Hazzard before people used terms like "brainwashing" or "cult of personality".
Olsen did a great job of telling the story in a way that maintains mass appeal while making sure to highlight gender issues and the way all of the women's sex and class in that milieu of the early 20th century influenced them and people's responses to them, along with noting how the poverty and illiteracy of Hazzard's neighbors in Kitsap county made it possible for her to get away with imprisoning and starving people to death over and over again. Olsen is not at all heavy-handed about the class and gender issues, it's just all part of the story.
A fun, informative and mildly provocative read especially for anyone interested in true stories along the lines of fiction like _The Road to Wellville_. It's also nice to read a book in the true crime genre that's not horrifyingly, violently graphic.
February 4, 2018
I will be kind and give this a 2 star rating. 2 stars because honestly the story itself ( not the one that is written in the book) is so damn horrifying....and interesting. What I really want to do is burn it. I want to burn this book. I actually wanted to DNF it so bad, but hey, I was in the middle of a read-a thon. This is a 408 page piece of dirt that could've been a fascinating true crime story if about 200 pages were edited out. Repetitive, boring ( how could you manage to make this story boring?....) and I don't skim so I read about 100 pages on bigamy that I suppose were added in as an illustration of poor character but really? who cares? The writing didn't keep me engaged AT ALL, it was so circular......just going around in circles...FOR 408 PAGES!!!!!! can't wait to send this back to the dusty library shelf that it came from. Actually, I'm going to just Wikipedia the topic and link it here to save everyone the trouble....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_H...
March 6, 2015
True crime writing and I have a complicated history, I am fascinated but somehow also extra creeped out, in a way fiction just doesn't achieve. I think it harks back to the first true crime book I read many a year ago. Let me explain briefly, when my kids were little ones I signed them up for the library summer reading program right along with swimming lessons. To keep my brain from turning to oatmeal during this stage of my life I read. I read a lot. Said little ones learned to bring me a book mark if they really wanted my attention. And during the summer reading program I gave myself a little extra push and attempted to stretch my mind by reading according to the same requirements, which were at that library in that time a certain number of fiction books, a certain number of non fiction books, attending several programs and such. So, I was casting about one day for a non fiction read and a co-worker suggested I try a true crime book, she herself found them addictive. So, I randomly grabbed one and commenced to read after the little darlings were in bed. My random choice was terrifying. It took place in my neighborhood, the criminal stalked women by showing them real estate, the wrong guy was imprisoned so the crimes went on and I was reading all this while my husband was going to school full time and working full time at night. It was a hot summer but I closed and locked all the windows and sweat myself into a tizzy.
I borrowed this from my mother on a weekend visit and while Starvation Heights didn't work my imagination quite the same way it was well written, well researched and engaging. The first half was a little more engaging for me, the run up to the actual case the book is based on. What a sad and awful way to die. The second half is about the court case, interesting but less gripping somehow. Whether or not the "doctor" or fasting cure homeopathic practitioner Linda Hazzard killed her patients on purpose or was just a quack totally committed to her "cure" or blindingly negligent it seems plain to me that she did indeed kill her patients and it certainly looks as if she set about to profit financially from these tragic deaths. I wish there had been pictures but there were quite a few to be found online. Harrowing story.
I borrowed this from my mother on a weekend visit and while Starvation Heights didn't work my imagination quite the same way it was well written, well researched and engaging. The first half was a little more engaging for me, the run up to the actual case the book is based on. What a sad and awful way to die. The second half is about the court case, interesting but less gripping somehow. Whether or not the "doctor" or fasting cure homeopathic practitioner Linda Hazzard killed her patients on purpose or was just a quack totally committed to her "cure" or blindingly negligent it seems plain to me that she did indeed kill her patients and it certainly looks as if she set about to profit financially from these tragic deaths. I wish there had been pictures but there were quite a few to be found online. Harrowing story.
March 15, 2013
This is a terrific book about the nature of small towns and authority and the need to feel healthy at all costs. I'd hesitate to describe it strictly as non-fiction; some of the passages in the book provide personal information that couldn't come from newspaper accounts, interviews or even diaries. If you're looking for the lurid, gory details of true crime, look elsewhere. This book provides little of that; what details there are come across as more clinical than titillating. They provide a grim enough medical backdrop to the truly awful facts of the book. The real horror of this work, and the thing that scared me the most, was the reaction of the town and the local authorities to the nature of this treatment. Lots of shrugging; the assumption that the rich people who patronized the resort must be paying good money to get themselves starved; an unwillingness to prosecute by a money-starved (yes, that was intentional) county; a business community that was willing to overlook starving people stealing from their stores. Someone should have said something, demanded something, shouted something to someone in power long before Hazzard was arrested, but everyone in town was too busy minding their own business. It's appalling and somehow very modern and it makes the work much creepier than just a retelling of the defendant's actions alone. One person was charged with the crimes inflicted on the customers of the resort; a whole community committed the silence that allowed the crimes to happen.
September 8, 2016
Wow. Just wow.
I can only imagine how much work it was to piece together the true story of Linda Burfield Hazzard, who killed multiple people in the early 1900's under the guise of healing them with her "fasting cure." Yep, she basically charged them good money to starve them to death while beating them during her "osteopathic massages," and once they were dead, stole everything they had left.
Olsen does a masterful job on this book, as always--he's one of the few reliable, high-quality true crime writers out there IMO. This is one of the most disturbing books of its kind, and I was on the edge of my seat, wondering if Dora Williamson was going to be able to escape Starvation Heights before the "doctor" murdered her as well.
It's truly horrifying that Hazzard was able to get away with her crimes for so long, and that even after serving time in prison for killing Dora's sister, she rose again and murdered even more people. Karma wins out in the end, though, as those who read this book will discover. Highly recommended!
I can only imagine how much work it was to piece together the true story of Linda Burfield Hazzard, who killed multiple people in the early 1900's under the guise of healing them with her "fasting cure." Yep, she basically charged them good money to starve them to death while beating them during her "osteopathic massages," and once they were dead, stole everything they had left.
Olsen does a masterful job on this book, as always--he's one of the few reliable, high-quality true crime writers out there IMO. This is one of the most disturbing books of its kind, and I was on the edge of my seat, wondering if Dora Williamson was going to be able to escape Starvation Heights before the "doctor" murdered her as well.
It's truly horrifying that Hazzard was able to get away with her crimes for so long, and that even after serving time in prison for killing Dora's sister, she rose again and murdered even more people. Karma wins out in the end, though, as those who read this book will discover. Highly recommended!
June 18, 2015
Olsen does a great job creating time and place- the early 1900s in the Pacific Northwest. It's most astonishing to read about the people -a charismatic charlatan without a medical degree becomes a physician, naive people allowing their body to be abused, and victims having to pay for a trial prosecution. I think the last quarter of the book could have been compressed to make this a better book.
May 22, 2023
Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen is the true story of Dr. Linda Hazzard and her bizarre methods of fasting to promote health (and of course murder).
First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Thread Books and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
My Synopsis: (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
In the early 1900's, Dr. Linda Hazzard founded the Hazzard Institute of Natural Therapeutics, a sanitarium in the forests of Olalla Washington, west of Seattle and across the Puget Sound. Locals called it "Starvation Heights".
She professed that all diseases, of both body and mind, could be cured through her revolutionary "fasting treatment". While "curing" people, Linda Hazzard and her husband Sam, became rich. Not all of their clients survived, but they often left their money to Linda, and that was okay. After-all, she can't promise it will work for every one.
When British sisters Claire and Dora Williamson became aware of Dr. Hazzard in 1911, they were intrigued. They often tried revolutionary treatments. Claire in particular, was enthralled with the idea of fasting. They willingly accepted the brutal methods employed by this woman. Unfortunately, one of them died, and the other barely escaped. The remaining sister took Dr. Hazzard to court.
My Opinions:
Well, the story was definitely interesting, definitely gruesome, and definitely a little scary.
Basically it was about a medical mal-practice suit. "Dr." Hazzard fed only broth to her patients, brutally smacked their bodies, and gave them really long enemas. Yet she felt she was doing no harm. If her patient died, well, she took their money and moved on.
This book looked at two rather naive sisters who fall under the spell of a very greedy woman. But what was truly scary was the support this woman had, from a wide range of individuals. She won over many people. Without a doubt, Hazzard's internal strength and psychological methods made her a force to be reckoned with. The prospect of being found guilty of killing someone surprised her.
The story was interesting, and although often repetitive, I had no real complaints with the writing. However, my problem with the book was it's length. It was much too long, and often dragged. I ended up skimming, and couldn't wait to be done.
Bottom line, it was an interesting topic, which could have been written in a much more condensed manner. I really enjoy Olsen's work, so I was a little disappointed in this one, but it certainly won't stop me from reading more by this talented author.
For a more complete review of this book and others, (including the reason I chose to read/review this book, as well as author information and contact details), please visit my blog: http://katlovesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
December 13, 2022
Who was Linda Burfield Hazzard? Was she a quack or a legitimate doctor? Was her method of treatment maligned because she was a woman or because it was dangerous? Was she a martyr for her cause or was she an opportunist? In the book Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest, Gregg Olsen delves into the complex character of Mrs. Hubbard. Eventually, her treatment of her patients and her devious pilfering of their possessions will come under scrutiny after years of being ignored.
Mrs. Hazzard believed that all diseases of the mind and body could be remedied by cleansing the digestive system through fasting and enemas. She was considered by her followers to be a fasting specialist, a savior. Her patients subsided on spoonsful of vegetable broth, and daily enemas that often lasted for hours. Supposedly, some were cured by this process which often lasted for weeks. However, for British sisters Dorothea and Claire Williamson, it proved to be deadly for one, and life-altering for the other. Eventually, many other victims—both dead and alive—would be found.
Mrs./Dr. (she wasn’t a licensed physician) Hazzard is a fascinating woman. She saw herself as being superior to others, a leader of a movement; anyone who questioned her was jealous, ill-informed, or out to get her. She could never admit to being wrong, or that her behaviors impacted others negatively. She had a total lack of empathy: if a patient wasn’t improving, it was the patient’s fault. If one were to give her a psychological evaluation, she could be seen as having an antisocial personality disorder, as well as narcissistic personality disorder.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sections that concerned Mrs. Hazzard: her upbringing, marriages, wherewithal, spirit, vision, evilness, delusions, and psychoses. I would gladly read a book that centered on her. Although the building of a case to bring her to justice was interesting and satisfying, I wanted more of her.
I would like to that NetGalley and Crown Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Mrs. Hazzard believed that all diseases of the mind and body could be remedied by cleansing the digestive system through fasting and enemas. She was considered by her followers to be a fasting specialist, a savior. Her patients subsided on spoonsful of vegetable broth, and daily enemas that often lasted for hours. Supposedly, some were cured by this process which often lasted for weeks. However, for British sisters Dorothea and Claire Williamson, it proved to be deadly for one, and life-altering for the other. Eventually, many other victims—both dead and alive—would be found.
Mrs./Dr. (she wasn’t a licensed physician) Hazzard is a fascinating woman. She saw herself as being superior to others, a leader of a movement; anyone who questioned her was jealous, ill-informed, or out to get her. She could never admit to being wrong, or that her behaviors impacted others negatively. She had a total lack of empathy: if a patient wasn’t improving, it was the patient’s fault. If one were to give her a psychological evaluation, she could be seen as having an antisocial personality disorder, as well as narcissistic personality disorder.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sections that concerned Mrs. Hazzard: her upbringing, marriages, wherewithal, spirit, vision, evilness, delusions, and psychoses. I would gladly read a book that centered on her. Although the building of a case to bring her to justice was interesting and satisfying, I wanted more of her.
I would like to that NetGalley and Crown Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
September 7, 2021
WOMAN “M.D.” KILLS ANOTHER PATIENT
- Seattle Daily Times, 3/29/1910
Starvation Heights brings us the life and times of Linda Burfield Hazzard, self-styled osteopathic physician, and author of book Fasting for the Cure of Disease (1908, & republished in 2007 and 2014).
We join the story as two British sisters struggle with digestive and female ailments. Preferring nature over drugs, they eagerly consume the ideas in Dr. Hazzard's book, and travel to Washington to seek her full-time care. It goes downhill from there.
The treatment is severe, extreme, merciless. The sisters, in their gullible and increasingly helpless state, are starved and robbed by the fasting specialist. The institute opened and run by Hazzard became known locally as Starvation Heights.
The reader is offered horrific witness accounts, court proceedings, and even the final moments of Linda Hazzard's life.
4 stars
***********************
List of Notable Topics
***********************
- Book: The Gospel of Health, by Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, 1895
- British Consulate, role in exposing and prosecuting Hazzard
- Broth (use in fasting)
- Enema (use in fasting)
- Enema (long-term effects)
- Fear of reporting patient abuse
- Linda Burfield, training
- Linda Burfield Hazzard, self-promotion and defense
- Organs, mysterious shriveling
- Patient exploitation and extortion
- Starvation effects, as seen in final life stages and autopsy
~~~
- Seattle Daily Times, 3/29/1910
Starvation Heights brings us the life and times of Linda Burfield Hazzard, self-styled osteopathic physician, and author of book Fasting for the Cure of Disease (1908, & republished in 2007 and 2014).
We join the story as two British sisters struggle with digestive and female ailments. Preferring nature over drugs, they eagerly consume the ideas in Dr. Hazzard's book, and travel to Washington to seek her full-time care. It goes downhill from there.
The treatment is severe, extreme, merciless. The sisters, in their gullible and increasingly helpless state, are starved and robbed by the fasting specialist. The institute opened and run by Hazzard became known locally as Starvation Heights.
The reader is offered horrific witness accounts, court proceedings, and even the final moments of Linda Hazzard's life.
4 stars
***********************
List of Notable Topics
***********************
- Book: The Gospel of Health, by Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, 1895
- British Consulate, role in exposing and prosecuting Hazzard
- Broth (use in fasting)
- Enema (use in fasting)
- Enema (long-term effects)
- Fear of reporting patient abuse
- Linda Burfield, training
- Linda Burfield Hazzard, self-promotion and defense
- Organs, mysterious shriveling
- Patient exploitation and extortion
- Starvation effects, as seen in final life stages and autopsy
~~~
August 20, 2007
Although this is certainly categorized as true crime, it's atypical of the genre in that it's not the usual contemporary "Husband kills his wife to profit from the life insurance policy and run away with the mistress" sort of thing. (This means I can feel less stupid for reading it. Just kidding. Sort of.) Rather, it's set in the early 20th century; two middle-aged, unmarried sisters from England arrive at a sanitorium in the Pacific Northwest to undergo a "starving treatment" that's meant to improve their health. The predictable unfortunate result of this treatment befalls one of the sisters, who dies of malnutrition, and the doctor who hawked the treatment is prosecuted for murder.
The book is well-written, especially when compared to most of this genre, and moves quickly. You may feel a bit dismayed when you read about the ultimate fate of the murderer/doctor -- I certainly was -- but this is a fine book about an unusual and disturbing case.
The book is well-written, especially when compared to most of this genre, and moves quickly. You may feel a bit dismayed when you read about the ultimate fate of the murderer/doctor -- I certainly was -- but this is a fine book about an unusual and disturbing case.
October 24, 2019
Beware: This book will probably put you off tomatoes and asparagus!!!
Linda Burfield Hazzard, quack “doctor” and serial killer is featured in this book by crime writer and Washington resident Gregg Olson. He outlines in great detail (419pages), her heinous crimes. She administers a “fasting” cure and other alternative treatments in a cruel, almost sadistic way at her clinic (nicknamed Starvation Heights) in a small town on Puget Sound. She also steals from her clients. The book focuses on the case of two sisters, Britishers Claire and Dora Williamson who come under the sway of this manipulative woman. The author outlines the sequence of events and follows the sensational 1912 murder trial. The book also includes some interesting information about Washington State (especially Seattle) at that time period.
Linda Burfield Hazzard, quack “doctor” and serial killer is featured in this book by crime writer and Washington resident Gregg Olson. He outlines in great detail (419pages), her heinous crimes. She administers a “fasting” cure and other alternative treatments in a cruel, almost sadistic way at her clinic (nicknamed Starvation Heights) in a small town on Puget Sound. She also steals from her clients. The book focuses on the case of two sisters, Britishers Claire and Dora Williamson who come under the sway of this manipulative woman. The author outlines the sequence of events and follows the sensational 1912 murder trial. The book also includes some interesting information about Washington State (especially Seattle) at that time period.
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