• Three Sisters in Black

  • The Bizarre True Case of the Bathtub Tragedy
  • By: Norman Zierold
  • Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir
  • Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

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Three Sisters in Black  By  cover art

Three Sisters in Black

By: Norman Zierold
Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir
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Publisher's summary

In 1909, a bathtub drowning became one of the most famous and bizarre criminal cases in American history.

On November 29, 1909, police were called to a ramshackle home in East Orange, New Jersey, where they found the emaciated body of 24-year-old Oceana "Ocey" Snead facedown in the bathtub - dead of an apparent suicide by drowning. There was even a note left behind.

But it would not take authorities long to discover that Ocey's death was no suicide. And Ocey's own mother and two aunts were far from the sorrowful caretakers they appeared to be.

In fact, behind the veils of their strange black mourning clothes, they were monsters, having tormented Ocey almost since birth in a sick pattern of both physical and mental abuse, after a lifetime of which the women planned to cash in on poor Ocey's sad and inevitable death.

An Edgar Award finalist, Three Sisters in Black is the true story of a gothic, gaslight nightmare that fascinated, shocked, and baffled the nation - and the disturbed women who almost got away with murder.

©2019 Norman Zierold (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Three Sisters in Black

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Bizarre case

This was enjoyable for the subject matter. If you don't like true crime or are just dipping your toe in, you might not like this. It was certainly a strange case.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Frustrating event

(As posted in Goodreads)
A complex and constantly changing story. Due to the facts consistently changing and being added to, it's really difficult to come up with a true conclusion to what actually happened.
Seeing the officials and lawyers going through back bends and contusions to actually discover the true realities of the case was both frustrating and encouraging.
The whole case is less than satisfying, but that's what reality is.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

part of my hometown's histoy

everyone should have a good urban legend in their hometown. this was ours in Christiansburg, Virginia

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

A very peculiar story with lots of intrigue. I would love to see it made into a movie. It would probably be as fascinating as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Details. Details

Too many details. Reads like a legal document. Story COULD be interesting.. I'm disappointed, because I love a good mystery.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not my cup of tea...

I don't normally read nonfiction and I struggled to finish. I still don't understand it. I had difficulty following it but expected it to end just as it did. I won't be revisiting it.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Dry.

Do not enjoy the readers voice at all,would not recommend to anyone!Read the book yourself.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Should be a shorter book

The story was too long and drawn out and could have been told in a couple of hours at most.

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