Ottilie "Tillie" Klimek: Chicago's Arsenic Poisoner
Early Life and Background
Ottilie "Tillie" Klimek, born Otylia Gburek in Poland in the 1870s, became one of Chicago's most notorious suspected poisoners. Her family immigrated to the United States while she was young and settled among the city's large Polish community. Klimek later married several times and lived primarily in working-class neighborhoods on Chicago's Northwest Side.
Klimek developed a disturbing reputation for predicting that people around her would soon die. She spoke of dreams and premonitions in which she supposedly saw funerals, coffins and approaching deaths. Those predictions appeared remarkably accurate because the people she discussed often became violently ill soon afterward. Investigators eventually concluded that her supposed supernatural knowledge concealed a deliberate pattern of arsenic poisoning.
A Pattern of Suspicious Deaths
The pattern surrounding Klimek became noticeable after several husbands, romantic partners, relatives and acquaintances suffered similar illnesses. Victims reportedly experienced severe abdominal pain, vomiting, weakness and prolonged physical deterioration. These symptoms could resemble food poisoning, heart disease or other natural illnesses, allowing arsenic poisoning to go undetected when no autopsy was performed.
Klimek frequently behaved as though she knew exactly when a sick person would die. While her husband Frank Kupczyk was seriously ill, witnesses said she repeatedly told him that he would not live much longer. She reportedly prepared mourning clothing, knitted a funeral hat and obtained a discounted coffin before his death. Instead of appearing frightened by his illness, she allegedly joked with neighbors about how little time he had left.
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