
Three Sisters in Black
Norman Zierold
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 twenty-four-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.
Duration - 8h 31m.
Author - Norman Zierold.
Narrator - Gabrielle de Cuir.
Published Date - Wednesday, 21 January 2026.
Copyright - © 2019 Norman Zierold ©.
Location:
United States
Description:
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 twenty-four-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. Duration - 8h 31m. Author - Norman Zierold. Narrator - Gabrielle de Cuir. Published Date - Wednesday, 21 January 2026. Copyright - © 2019 Norman Zierold ©.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:15
Chapter 1
Duration:00:16:07
Chapter 2
Duration:00:30:28
Chapter 3
Duration:00:08:47
Chapter 4
Duration:00:16:29
Chapter 5
Duration:00:08:46
Chapter 6
Duration:00:10:14
Chapter 7
Duration:00:15:16
Chapter 8
Duration:00:13:32
Chapter 9
Duration:00:34:51
Chapter 10
Duration:00:13:08
Chapter 11
Duration:00:19:39
Chapter 12
Duration:00:27:12
Chapter 13
Duration:00:08:59
Chapter 14
Duration:00:24:18
Chapter 15
Duration:00:26:43
Chapter 16
Duration:00:13:59
Chapter 17
Duration:00:18:33
Chapter 18
Duration:00:12:33
Chapter 19
Duration:00:10:11
Chapter 20
Duration:00:14:12
Chapter 21
Duration:00:19:21
Chapter 22
Duration:00:07:48
Chapter 23
Duration:00:05:46
Chapter 24
Duration:00:05:08
Chapter 25
Duration:00:14:03
Chapter 26
Duration:00:52:23
Chapter 27
Duration:00:18:00
Chapter 28
Duration:00:12:52
Chapter 29
Duration:00:03:33
Chapter 30
Duration:00:13:31
Chapter 31
Duration:00:02:46
Chapter 32
Duration:00:03:58
Chapter 33
Duration:00:03:26
Chapter 34
Duration:00:04:25