Minnie and Nannie

***Minnie and Nannie*** are a pair of characters that originated in Episode 202: H.H. Holmes Part III- Professional Uncle.

## Origins

Historically, Minnie R. Williams was a wealthy land heiress who "didn't seem to know a great deal," according to those who knew her in life. Minnie met and married serial killer H.H. Holmes, who pursued her in order to gain access to her land. Nannie Williams was Minnie's sister. Holmes invited both women to his Murder Castle for a week of frivolities at the World's Fair in 1893. At the end of this week, on July 4th, both sisters were murdered by being locked into Holmes' airproof bank vault and slowly suffocated. Holmes murdered Minnie first, then removed her body from the vault before luring in Nannie.

Holmes would later use Minnie as a cover for some of his most brutal and cruel murders. When he was attempting to pull off his Benjamin Pitezel scam and had custody of three of the Pitezel children Alice, Nellie and Howard, he lied to the sisters that he was going to send Howard (when the child had become difficult for him to handle) to live with his cousin Minnie. This was a lie and a cover for him murdering the child. After Holmes was arrested and before the Pitezel children were found, he attempted to blame Minnie and an accomplice named "Edward Hatch" for the deaths of all three Pitezel children.

In his autobiography (likely published before the children were found), Holmes fabricated multiple stories about the fates of Minnie and Nannie and even attempts to pin some of the crimes on her, including the murder of Nannie. The serial killer smeared Minnie's name, claiming that she had multiple lovers before she married him and that she pursued him, asking to get an appartment and live together before marriage (when the opposite is more than likely as Minnie was believed to naive and fell for Holmes' con). When her sister came to town. in H.H. Holmes' version of events, Minnie was going to be away for the night and asked her husband to keep Nannie company. However, when Nannie said she was fine, he claims that he slept somewhere else like a "gentleman." His tale goes on to say that he returned the next morning to see Minnie standing over Nannie's body, having killed her sister in jealousy and anger. According to Holmes, Minnie thinking that since the only bed that had been slept in was her sister's that Holmes had spent the night with her. Holmes then "reluctantly" helped cover up the crime by putting Nannie's body in a trunk and sinking it in Lake Michegan. [1]

He continues his story claiming that Minnie was one of the travelling accomplices/victims of his Benjamin Pitezel life insurance scam and that she was caring for Alice, Nellie and Howard Pitezel, acting as a school mistress and she eventually took them to England to hide from the crime she committed. The con man claims that he attempted to contact Minnie with a coded message in the newspaper to return the children. She did "return" with a new man named Edward Hatch (who looked suspiciously like Holmes) and she told him that she'd told Hatch to kill the children and that she'd done it because she'd been scorned and was jealous that Holmes had married Georgiana Yoke. [2]

After Nannie and Minnie were discovered to be Holmes' murder victims, he attempted to retract what he said and confessed that he killed the two sisters and that Minnie was a wonderful woman. [3]

## Personalities

Upon reading the description of Minnie's alleged (lack of) intelligence, the LPOTL crew immediately personified her as a good-hearted if dumb woman who introduced herself with a hoarse, cheerful "Hi! I'm Minnie!" Nannie gained a similar voice, personality, and vocabulary when she was introduced to the story, and the two characters soon became capable of little more than constantly introducing themselves and each other, to the point where the crew begin to suspect that Holmes murdered them less for their land and more to shut them up. The characters and their voices are described in the broadcast as "truly obnoxious" and the hosts expressed sympathy for Holmes having to tolerate the pair.

## Narrative in the Show

In the show, when Marcus introduces Minnie and Nannie, Minnie introduces herself and Nannie does the same before declaring that they know who Henry Howard Holmes is. This causes the man to curse them. The two sisters then go on to declare that they are worth a million dollars. Ben expresses how truly obnoxious the voices of the characters are. Marcus continues with the real-life narrative where the serial killer invited Nannie to Chicago and he took the two sisters to the World's Fair every night until July 4th 1893, where he suffocated both women in his air-tight bank vault without either sister knowing what happened to the other. Nannie appears again, introducing herself and asking H.H Holmes where her sister is. Minnie, presumably inside the vault, shouts for her sister. As both are potrayed as not very bright, Nannie excitedly declares that she'll be getting inside the vault after her, to which Minnie declares "that's great to Nannie, I'm Minnie."

Ben then expresses some sympathy for the serial killer, assuming that he would be cursing the two woman under his breath and telling them to shut up. To which Nannie comes back asking if there's something wrong. Holmes lies to her claiming he only has tension headaches from his top hat. Minnie then shouts how H. H Holmes loves her and introduces Nannie again. This prompts the man to ask when the World's Fair would be over and what the hours of the fair would be.

Ben declares that H.H was the victim and it must have been a tough week. At one point, Ben attempts to do the Nannie voice and suggests that she has returned from the dead, in which Holmes panics in anger.

During one of his later scams, Holmes lied the Pitezel children saying he was going to send Howard to stay with his cousin Minnie. She excitedly declares that she's his cousin and that she'd take the kids off of Holmes' hands. She also must spell her name out to get the point across.

When he's been arrested, Holmes claims to the authorities that Minnie, along with an accomplice named "Hatch" (who has just as much of a high-pitched voice as the sisters) that they kill people together and that they killed the children in Holmes' imagined confession.

## Appearances

The ladies originally appeared in Episode 202: H.H. Holmes Part III-Professional Uncle. They reappeared briefly as a pair of lively ghosts in Episode 240: The Black Monk of Pontefract and were also mentioned in Episode 295: Black Widows, Part I: The Polish Prognosticator.

## Trivia

* It's possible that Henry has been asked to do Minnie and Nannie impressions since then
* In the Black Monk of Pontefract episode, Henry originally does not do the high-screeching voices, but he gives in and does them again
* Fans of Last Podcast on the Left have since created their own t-shirts based on the popular characters

## Quotes

**Minnie:** My name is Minnie and this is Nannie.
**Nannie:** I'M NANNIE!
**Minnie:** I'M MINNIE!
**Nannie:** HI!
**Minnie** *[to Holmes]*: You're *HENRY!*
**Nannie:** *I'M NANNIE!*
**Minnie:** *I'M MINNIE*

**Minnie:** "*Hi!* I'm *Minnie*!"
**Nannie:** "*Hi!* I'm *Nannie*! This is *Minnie*!"

**H.H. Holmes**: God Damn it. Will you shut up? Shut up Nannie, shut up Minnie
**Nannie:** "Is there something *wrong*, Henry? I'm *Nannie*!"
**H.H. Holmes**: "No, there's nothing wrong, Nannie, I've just got a bit of tension headache. I think my top hat's on a bit too tight..."
**Minnie**: "I'm Minnie! You *love* me! And this is my sister, *Nannie*!"

**Minnie**: I'm worth a million dollars **Nannie**: So am I! My name's Nannie!

**Ben**: "This was where he was really the victim. This was a tough week for H.H."[4]
[5]

**Nannie**: [searching for Minnie] Hi I'm Nannie, where's Minnie?

**Minnie**: [inside Holmes' murder safe] I'm in here Nannie, it's me Minnie!

**Nannie**: Oh, I'm comin in there Minnie, right after ya because my name's Nannie.

**Minnie**: Oh that's great to hear Nannie, I'm Minnie

Minnie: Minnie!! I'm Minnie I'll take the kids! I'm Minnie. I'm your cousin Minnie?!. It rhymes with Winnie!! It's M-I-N-N-I-E. It's Minnie!

**Marcus**: [Narrating] Holmes claimed that Minnie, along with mysterious accomplice named Hatch

**Hatch**: Hey I'm Hatch. I'm Hatch is this is my friend Minnie.

**Minnie**: I'm Minnie!

**Hatch**: I'm Hatch and help her kill

**Minnie**: I'm Minnie and I killed a with my friend Hatch.

## References

https://rebeccafrostwrites.com/2020/12/04/h-h-holmes-victims-minnie-and-nannie-williams/