Tillie Klimek
Encyclopedia
Ottilie "Tillie" Klimek (1876–1936) was a Polish American
serial killer
, active in Chicago
. She pretended to have precognitive
dreams, accurately predicting the dates of death of her victims. Actually she was merely scheduling their deaths.
Tillie married her original husband John Mitkiewicz, c. 1890. In 1919, Tillie started narrating to her friends a number of ominous dreams concerning the death of her husband. The dreams pointed to a specific date of death. When that date arrived, Mitkiewicz's health collapsed. He was dead by nighttime. Two months later, Tillie married her second husband, John Ruskowski. Tillie again spread tales of her ominous dreams around the neighborhoud, predicting the death of the seemingly healthy laborer. The prediction came true.
She soon found a third husband, Frank Kupszcyk. The marriage lasted six months before the predictable pattern was repeated. Joseph Guszkowski, her fourth husband, was dead within a year of his marriage. By this time Tillie had become a notorious local figure. She frequently bemoaned her accursed dreams and constant poor luck. Meanwhile, acquaintances started avoiding her, fearful of receiving a prediction of their own deaths. Her dreams no longer concerned only her spouses. She had dreamed of a plague striking a certain family of neighbors. All three children of said family soon fell ill and suffered agonizing deaths.
By 1921, people were growing certain that marrying Tillie was equivalent to a death sentence. This did not prevent Anton Klimek from becoming her fifth and last husband. Klimek had heard of Tillie's reputation. But he scoffed at the tales, convinced they were nonsense. He too fell ill following his marriage. But he had family members who insisted on immediate hospitalization. His life was saved and the doctors were able to recognize the cause of his sudden health problems: poisoning.
The police were soon alerted and Tillie was arrested. It was not hard to determine the motivations behind the killings of her spouses. In each case Tillie benefited financially by a will and/or insurance policy. The children had been targeted because of a quarrel between Tillie and their family. She initially confessed to poisoning Klimek but not the other victims. Tillie was convicted of murder in an Illinois
court and sentenced to life imprisonment
. She died in prison.
Tillie was featured in the Investigation Discovery Channel's Deadly Women TV series
, 4th Season Episode titled "Beyond Suspicion".
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, active in Chicago
Poles in Chicago
Chicago Polonia, refers to both immigrant Poles and Americans of Polish heritage living in Chicago, Illinois. They are a part of worldwide Polonia, the proper term for the Polish Diaspora outside of Poland. Poles in Chicago have contributed to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Chicago...
. She pretended to have precognitive
Precognition
In parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
dreams, accurately predicting the dates of death of her victims. Actually she was merely scheduling their deaths.
Tillie married her original husband John Mitkiewicz, c. 1890. In 1919, Tillie started narrating to her friends a number of ominous dreams concerning the death of her husband. The dreams pointed to a specific date of death. When that date arrived, Mitkiewicz's health collapsed. He was dead by nighttime. Two months later, Tillie married her second husband, John Ruskowski. Tillie again spread tales of her ominous dreams around the neighborhoud, predicting the death of the seemingly healthy laborer. The prediction came true.
She soon found a third husband, Frank Kupszcyk. The marriage lasted six months before the predictable pattern was repeated. Joseph Guszkowski, her fourth husband, was dead within a year of his marriage. By this time Tillie had become a notorious local figure. She frequently bemoaned her accursed dreams and constant poor luck. Meanwhile, acquaintances started avoiding her, fearful of receiving a prediction of their own deaths. Her dreams no longer concerned only her spouses. She had dreamed of a plague striking a certain family of neighbors. All three children of said family soon fell ill and suffered agonizing deaths.
By 1921, people were growing certain that marrying Tillie was equivalent to a death sentence. This did not prevent Anton Klimek from becoming her fifth and last husband. Klimek had heard of Tillie's reputation. But he scoffed at the tales, convinced they were nonsense. He too fell ill following his marriage. But he had family members who insisted on immediate hospitalization. His life was saved and the doctors were able to recognize the cause of his sudden health problems: poisoning.
The police were soon alerted and Tillie was arrested. It was not hard to determine the motivations behind the killings of her spouses. In each case Tillie benefited financially by a will and/or insurance policy. The children had been targeted because of a quarrel between Tillie and their family. She initially confessed to poisoning Klimek but not the other victims. Tillie was convicted of murder in an Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
court and sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. She died in prison.
Tillie was featured in the Investigation Discovery Channel's Deadly Women TV series
Deadly Women
Deadly Women is a television series first aired in 2005 on the Discovery Channel, focusing on female killers. It was originally a mini-series consisting of three episodes: "Obsession," "Greed" and "Revenge". After a 2 year hiatus, the show resumed production in 2008 and began airing on the...
, 4th Season Episode titled "Beyond Suspicion".