Southern Fried True Crom covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and there

may also be some explicit language used.

Listener discretion is advised.

The trope of the Black Widow and popular culture usually conveys a woman who kills her husband

for profit.

But that's not the only connotation.

Black Widow spiders are infamous for their sexual cannibalism.

And female sexuality is another frightening layer, changing the meaning of the term man-eater

from a wild animal to a woman who is sexually aggressive, despite society's worries.

Even in ancient myths, Clayton Nestra, the duplicitous, cheating and murderous wife

of Agamemnon, is really a representation of the male fear of powerful women.

And we know, men commit murder at three times the rate that women do.

It's why the Black Widow trope is so beguiling.

It's why the story of Barbara Stager, a woman who shot two husbands ten years apart as

they lay sleeping in their marital beds, became a sensational news story, covered breathless

ly in local and national newspapers, several documentaries, a couple of books, and even

a TV movie have delved into Barbara's story.

It's salacious and irresistible.

The femme fatale who had many affairs and murdered for money.

But is that all of the story?

In Barbara's case, I believe there are more underlying issues that drove her particular

murderous psyche.

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