Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest (Gregg Olsen)

In 1911, before medical school was required to obtain a license to practice medicine, the domineering and charismatic Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard dubbed herself a “fasting specialist” and built a sanitarium in the wilderness of Olalla, Washington, where she treated patients via a regimen of severe food deprivation, aggressive “osteopathic” massage, and daily enemas.  Her influential book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease, enticed a diverse band of believers.  Some had exhausted all hope with traditional doctors.  Others were simply intrigued by the idea of fasting for better health.

Unfortunately, Dr. Hazzard’s treatments didn’t produce the expected results for several of her patients, especially those with fine jewelry and plump wallets.  Dr. Hazzard convinced them to entrust her with their valuables and bank accounts.  Then she starved them to death.

Dora Williamson after some recovery

In gluttonous detail, Starvation Heights tells the story of Dr. Hazzard’s most publicized victims, British heiresses Dora and Claire Williamson, and Dr. Hazzard’s subsequent trial.  The book also proffers Dr. Hazzard’s back story, including a yummy little polygamy scandal.

Starvation Heights is meticulously researched and impressively comprehensive.  Olsen throws around lots of names - doctors, sanitarium employees, patients and their relations, legal team members, government figures.  The cast of characters gets long, so if you’re like me, you may want to keep a running list for reference.  

Gregg Olsen

While Olsen’s storytelling feels a little stodgy, as if he picked up the too-florid and not-too-lucid historical tone of his original sources, I didn’t mind it much.  Starvation Heights is compelling in so many other ways.  It appealed to my love of the grotesque, my awe of asceticism, my fascination with charismatic leaders, and my hunger for schadenfreude.  It also toyed with my bipolar interest in/cynicism toward alternative medicine.  I was sometimes emotionally divided, empathizing with both perspectives, evaluating and reevaluating the benefits and drawbacks of non-traditional approaches to healthcare.  Aside from a terrific true-crime novel, Olsen has also delivered a great little plate of thought-fodder.

Check it out on Amazon!