Episode 695: Linda Hazzard & Starvation Heights (Part 1)

Morbid

Morbid Network | Wondery

True Crime, Comedy, Exhibit C

4.5 • 95.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At the dawn of the twentieth-century, major advances in science and technology brought incredible change to the field of medicine, enhancing and extending the lives of millions. Yet at the same time, a lax regulations and minimal oversight made it possible for countless medical grifters to get rich offering quack medical solutions to everything from whooping cough to cancer, sometimes at the expense of their patient’s lives.

When Linda Hazzard opened her sanitarium, the Institute of Natural Therapeutics at Wilderness Heights, in Olalla, Washington in the first decade of the 1900s, she claimed her rigid fasting and elimination approach to dieting was a miracle cure for a variety of illnesses, both trivial and serious. For years, Hazzard operated what amounted to a health retreat for the wealthy, without any oversight from the state or federal agencies. In the end, Hazzard’s starvation cure resulted in the deaths of over a dozen people and her arrest and trial for manslaughter, but through all of it, she maintained it was a viable treatment—standing by her methods up until they ended her own life.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References

Hines, Terrence. 1997. "Starvation Heights." Skeptical Inquirer.

Lovejoy, Bess. 2014. "The doctor who starved her patients to death." Smithsonian Magazine, October 28.

Olsen, Gregg. 2005. Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group.

Seattle Daily Times. 1911. "Erdman diary tells method of treatment." Seattle Daily Times, August 14.

Seattle Star. 1908. "Charged with starving eight-months-old baby." Seattle Star, January 30: 1.

—. 1911. "Denies she 'fasted' 2 girls." Seattle Star, August 9: 3.

—. 1911. "'Fast cure' woman is arrested." Seattle Star, August 7: 3.

—. 1909. "Prosecutors think they can put a stop to starvation cure." Seattle Star, June 26: 1.

—. 1908. "Sign doesn't make a doctor." Seattle Star, June 8: 6.

—. 1909. "Woman starves to death under care of Dr. L.B. Hazzard." Seattle Star, June 24: 1.

—. 1908. "WQeeden case leads to Dr. Hazzard's arrest." Seattle Star, January 31: 1.

Tacoma Daily Ledger. 1912. "Dr. Hazzard has her first inning." Tacoma Daily Ledger, Janaury 28: 1.

—. 1912. "Dr. Hazzard's trial begins." Tacoma Daily Ledger, January 16: 1.

—. 1912. "Final arguments in Hazzard case." Tacoma Daily Ledger, February 3: 2.

—. 1912. "Heiress testifies against Dr. Hazzard." Tacoma Daily Ledger, January 20: 1.

—. 1912. "Mrs. Hazzard breaks down, and is attended by a dcevoted follower." Tacoma Daily Ledger, February 5: 1.

—. 1904. "Samuel Hazzard sent to Minnesota prison." Tacoma Daily Ledger, March 16: 3.

—. 1912. "Witnesses deny state's charges." Tacoma Daily Ledger, January 30: 1.

—. 1912. "Woman bathed by young men." Tacoma Daily Ledger, January 23: 1.

—. 1911. "Woman meet before judge." Tacoma Daily Ledger, October 22: 1.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret. Have you heard of Wondery Plus? With ad-free
0:05.3	episodes in one week early access, it's like having an all-access pass to our lighthearted nightmare.
0:10.1	So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today. You can join Wondery Plus in the
0:14.5	Wondery app or an Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.
0:24.4	I'm John Robbins, and joining me on How Do You Cope this week is the actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal.
0:30.2	My girlfriend and I conceived a child, and we sadly had a miscarriage, right?
0:36.1	I had no idea that that had really affected me
0:39.9	until I went on this pilgrimage and it took me 12 days to work it out. We're in a church and a guy
0:44.9	was just doing a sort of standard prayer and like I really lost it, yeah. So that's how do you
0:49.7	cope with me, John Robbins. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.
1:01.4	Travis fell in love with the perfect woman. Beautiful, understanding, available 24-7.
1:08.5	There was just one catch. She wasn't human. Binge all episodes of Flesh and Code early and ad-free right now on Wondry Plus.
1:12.0	Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. the mini-mormid thing. Yeah. Yeah, it did, sort of.
1:40.3	Sure did. I know. That was like a throwback. I know sometimes I want to sing that song and sometimes I don't.
1:47.0	Maybe someday you will.
1:49.0	Maybe.
1:50.0	Again.
1:51.0	I don't know.
1:52.0	Maybe.
1:53.0	Who knows?
1:54.0	Not me.
1:55.0	You know?
	...

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