Credit: This file is based on the article "The Mystery Reader's
Pharmacopoeia" by Rodger J. Winn, M.D.. The article appeared in
MURDER INK (Workman Publishing Company, Inc.), an excellent book
edited by Dilys Winn (his daughter, maybe, I dunno.)
Disclaimer: If you use the information in this file to kill somebody
and get caught, and then decide to tell the judge that it was my
fault, good. Go ahead. Judges just LOVE losers like you who think
that everybody is responsible for your actions except yourself. You
tell him that, and he'll probably tack another 10 years to your 60
year jail sentence.
AMANITA PHALLOIDES (Mushrooms) - This kind of mushroom is
distinguishable from its non-lethal, tasty twin AGARICUS CAMPESTRIS by
its tiny white scales and warts. You can cook amanita without
detoxificating it at all, so it is quite easy to serve this baby up to
somebody without arousing suspicion. You've got 12 hours to head down
to Mexico before your victim gets hit with relatively mild nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea. These won't be too bad for another day or so,
when they will become bad enough that he will seek medical assistance.
But by then it may be too late, and death by circulatory collapse may
have occurred. If not, then in 3 or 4 days his skin will turn yellow
from liver deterioration, and how long can you live without a liver?
ARSENIC - A classic toxin, sometimes called "inheritance powder",
because it's often used by families to snuff out Granny so they can
inherit her money before the hospital bills consume it. It is a
white, tasteless, odorless powder sold in the form of compounds such
as ant paste or weed killer.
If the victim is to die quickly, 1 gram of this substance will do
the job. In 3 or 4 hours, the victim lays deathly ill, puking and
shitting all over the place, and in 1 to 3 days he will die from
cirulatory collapse.
For a slower, lingering death, feed your victim extremely small
doses of arsenic on a daily basis. Gradually, the victim gets weaker,
starts losing his hair, his skin roughens and white ridges appear on
his nails (Aldrich-Mees lines.) The symptoms then increase to include
multiple nerve paralysis, hoarseness and a hacking cough. Numbness
and coldness creep up the victims limbs and, over a matter of years,
they become completely paralyzed. This method may backfire, because
if the doses are too small, the victim's body then has a chance to
build up a tolerance to arsenic, and becomes practically immune to the
poison. In some cases, a would-be arsenic victim has swallowed
arsenic for the first time, and had no effect from it. Rasputin, for
example, was naturally immune to arsenic.
CARBON MONOXIDE - You Nazis can just skip over this section because
you know all about this. Carbon monoxide is a tasteless, odorless gas
that attaches itself to the body's hemoglobin to the point that the
blood cannot carry oxygen to body cells, and the body simply
suffocates. Beginning symptoms are headaches, giddiness, shortness of
breath from exertion, and tinitus (ear ringing). The lack of oxygen
to the brain then causes a sort of drunken state, which means that
even if the victim knows that someone is trying to fuck him over, he's
too wasted to do anything about it. Even if the victim doesn't die,
amnesia from the oxygen deprivation will prevent him from identifying
his assassin. The latter stage of the poisoning is marked by a
cherry-red discoloration of the skin, and a breathing disorder called
the Cheyne-Stokes pattern sets in. This is a pattern of 30 seconds of
no breathing followed by 6 to 8 rapidly increasing deep breaths, and
the cycle turns over. After this, there remains only convulsions,
unconsciousness, a fever of 108o and then death, usually within 48
hours. If not, then probably between 3 to 8 days later the grim
reaper will at last harvest the victim's life. Even if the victim is
hardy enough to recover after all this, he will probably turn
psychotic!
Carbon monoxide can be produced from a number of sources:
smoldering coke or charcoal, a low-lit hibachi grill, and of course,
an automobile exhaust pipe.
CURARE - This is derived from something called CHRONDRODENDRON
TOMENTOSUM. Curare works only as an injection, because digestion is
supposed to be harmless. I wouldn't take it either way, myself.
Curare affects the human body by impairing the communication of nErve
impulses to the muscles, causing paralyzation. Within minutes the
victim starts coughing a little and his face flushes. The poison
works from head to toe, so the eyEs will droop as the first sign of
paralysis, followed by the inability to swallow or speak. When the
diaphragm is frozen, the lungs can NO longer respirate, and
suffocation causes death before any other significant symptoms can
occur.
Curare is ideal for assassination, because it is extremely hard
to detect. However, if it is detected, the victim can be saved by an
1-ampule injection of prostigmin.
CYANIDE - Cyanide works by rending oxygen in blood unusable by the
body. A person who takes cyanide will have difficulty breathing, but
will turn bright pink from an abundance of unused oxygen. Cyanide can
be derived from bitter almonds and peach and apricot pits. In fact,
cyanide poisoning can be detected by almond-breath, as well as the
skin discoloration. The antidote is an amyl nitrite pearl
HEROIN - Almost any illegal drug can be used to kill, but heroine is
particularly lethal. Heroine is usually cut or diluted with quinine
and sugars, but pure heroine is poison. Even a hardened junkie
couldn't handle that. If a junkie normally takes a lot of heroine,
then cuts back for awhile, a large injection of cut heroine, even a
dosage size he's tolerated in the past, will be an overdose.
Unconsciousness is instantaneous from a heroine overdose; O.D.'s
have often been found with the needle still in their arm. Coma
occurs, and breathing slows to about 2 to 3 respirations per minute.
The pupils pinpoint, blood pressure plummets causing the skin to grow
cold and clammy, and as blood supply to the brain disappears the
pupils yawn wide open as death wraps its fingers around the victim.
NERVE GAS - This encompasses several poisons, including Tabun, Sarin
(T-46), Soman, DFP (DCP), all of which work pretty much the same way.
These are typically odorless and colorless, and can be either inhaled
or absorbed by the skin. These poisons break down acetylcholine, a
neural transmitter to the muscles, which causes hyperexcitability.
Symptoms are a runny nose, wheezing, tightness in the chest,
salivation, light intolerance, paralysis and death.
Atropine is an antidote, but while EARLY Nazi gases took up to 20
minutes to work, newer gases work so quickly that antidote
administration is somewhat impractical.
STRYCHNINE - This poison is used as for sadism and torture as much as
IS FOR murder. Onset time is a mere 15 minutes, at which time the
victim is racked with horrendous, muscular convulsions, the kind that
pick you up off your feet, and contort your limbs until your bones
snap. When the victim's spasms subside, just gently nudge him to set
them off again. Death by strychnine poisoning is NOT a nice way to
go.
THALLIUM - Banned in the United States in 1965, this rat poison may
still be available in other parts of the world. Like other poisons,
this too is odorless and tasteless, which makes it fine to blend with
sugar or salt or any kind of food. This stuff takes awhile to work; 3
to 4 days after consumption is when it takes effect. At first, there
is diffuse pain and constipation, dark pigmentation around hair roots,
and psychological disturbances. During the second week after
consumption, the victim starts losing all body hair (except for
eyebrows and pubies), and the skin turns dry and scaly. There are
heart palpatations, paralysis and blindness. Death occurs due to
pneumonia and lung congestion.
Thallium is like arsenic, in that it can be administered slowly,
in several small doses over many months.
WARFARIN - Another rat poison, but this one is legal here in the U.S..
Its effect on the body is that is interferes with the bloodclotting
system. The victim shows signs of bleeding in the form of nosebleeds,
gum bleeding, bruises, bloody urine, and bloody stool. There's one
problem with warfarin, or benefit, depending on how you look at it.
It only effects humans in extremely large doses. But it does mix well
with porridge or stew, and multiple doses may be employed.
The antidote is large doses of vitamin K.
A doctor's bag contains many substances which are not intended as
poison, but can certainly be used for that purpose. Here are a but a
few potential medical toxins.
AMPHETAMINE - Speeds up metabolism.
BARBITURATE - Slows the metabolism.
BUBBLE - Yes, a bubble of air. Injected into the bloodstream, a large
one can cause a heart attack.
CALCIUM - Causes kidney failure, which causes coma, resulting in
death.
INSULIN - Lowers the level of blood sugar, resulting in convultions
and death.
OXYGEN - This removes the body's drive to breath. This causes
emphysema and results in carbon dioxide narcosis.
POTASSIUM - Gradually reduces the heartbeat to about 0 beats per
minute.
