Best of: Sada Abe

In honor of the spookiest month, we’re revisiting our favorite Womanica episodes featuring villains, troublemakers, magic, and mystery all October. We're starting with Sada Abe, (1905-1971) who was a Japanese murderer convicted of killing her lover. Her case became a national sensation in Japan, where it took on mythic associations and captured the minds of a country in the ramp up to World War II. Her story has since been adapted and interpreted by filmmakers, artists, novelists, and philosophers as emblematic of a woman trying to follow her own desires in a society built on false morality and oppression.