Legend has it that Locusta was punished for her crimes by being raped by a trained giraffe. Incredibly wrong, yet so many people believe it. Who would have volunteered for the job of training a giraffe to rape people anyway? So no forced bestiality, but she was executed for her crimes publicly. But what did she do to make people so scared of her? She was basically a potions master, and a good one at that. She was able to brew up the most violent and deadly forms of poison in the whole of Rome and what's worse is that people knew that she did it, and she wasn't even punished for it because her skills were considered to be so valuable. She also used them for her own gain and for her own personal pleasure, but she was also an instrument of government. In C.E 54 she was hired by Agrippa who wanted her to kill the Emperor Claudius in order to take over the throne. The deal was made, Claudius was poisoned and a year later Emperor Nero saved her from being executed for her crimes as a traitor; but only so that she could kill someone for him. She successfully poisoned his step brother and was rewarded for her services by being given a villa so that she could teach students the ways of her work. She was considered to be the first female serial killer, though, unfortunately for her, a few years later that her loyalties ran out and she was executed for her crimes.
