#strychnine poisoning

[lifewithaview]

David Suchet in Poirot (1989)The Mysterious Affair at Styles

S3E1

Recovering from the horrors of World War I, British Army officer Arthur Hastings hopes to find peace and quiet at a country manor in the English countryside. But when the matriarch dies during the night from strychnine poisoning, Hastings enlists the help of an old friend staying nearby with other war refugees to help solve the murder: former Belgian police detective Hercule Poirot.

*'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' was Agatha Christie's first novel, published in 1920, and also her first to feature the character of Hercule Poirot.

[puddleofbugs]

I made a killjoy oc :3 her name is Strychnine Sun

she has 1000 mental illnesses 😛😛😛

[torchstelechos]

I love poison, its so funny seeing people use poison as a weapon or pun in aus cause im just giggling to myself like, "do they know???"

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Okay, yes, Harry Hook managed to deliver the information about royal hostage to Ivy de Vil.

But have you considered, Ivy has yet to deliver the info to any of her cousins that actually cares?

[catandgirlcomic]

[thebitchbehindtheslaughter]

Was no one going to tell me that Tom Lehrer’s “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” would be The Song I hear and immediately decide it’s The One I wanna be serenaded with one day, or was I supposed to figure that out by myself when I randomly remembered it existed and decided to listen to it for the first time tonight?

[elibeeline]

More on my silly little story: i carried on the writing flow while i still had it and decided to research afterwards and twist any details necessary

But the research i found fits *perfectly* into all the plot holes i'd left behind

(Talks of poison in the tags!)

[nonegenderleftgalaxy]

anyone know anything about strychnine poisoning, hit me up, i'm working on a story

[callisteios]

this is so beautiful, thank you <3

i made a character uquiz. i 100% promise you that you will get a character you know AND like

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 289: The Body on the Moor Part 1

"To that Providence, my sons, I hereby commend you, and I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted."  -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Description:

On Friday, December 11, 2015, at 9:04 a.m., a man started a train journey at Ealing Broadway Station in west London, England. At 9:50 a.m., he arrived at Euston station to book an over two-hour trip to Manchester. The next day, at 10:47 a.m., his body was discovered by a cyclist close to the Chew Track near Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District National Park. The man was 6 feet 1 inch tall, white, of slim build, and had receding grey hair and blue eyes and determined to be between 60 and 70 years of age. However, this description was the only identifying factor initially discovered about him. He had no ID, wallet, phone, or keys, nothing to tell who this man was. He was dressed nicely but inappropriately for a hike in such inclement weather. The only item found on his person was a container of Pakistani origin labeled for thyroid medication but which now contained strychnine. This was the poison that led to his death. The cyclist also found the man in an odd position; his arms crossed over his chest and next to the trail as if peacefully napping. This was another puzzling clue, as victims of strychnine poisoning are usually writhing in agony before their horrible demise. The pathology technicians who examined the body gave the unfortunate stranger the name of "Neil Dovestone" after the Dovestone reservoir near his resting place. So, who was Neil Dovestone, and why did he travel such a long distance to this specific spot for a careless hike, or was it for a darker purpose? Who removed his identifying items, and did he take his own life or fall victim to murder? Join us for part one of our investigation into The Body on the Moor.

Reference Links:

“Body on the Moor” from BBC News

David Lytton

Dovestone Reservoir

“Dovestone Reservoir and Chew Reservoir Circular” on AllTrails.com

Dovestone and Chew Reservoirs on AA Rated Trips

Chew Valley

Congresbury Yeo

Strychnine

Strychnine poisoning

“Toxicological Findings of Self-Poisoning Suicidal Deaths: A Systematic Review by Countries” from the NIH National Library of Medicine

“Facts about Strychnine” from the CDC

Urdu

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and “The Moors Murders”

James Platt MP (1823 - 1857) on WikiTree.com

The Clarence pub, Chew Valley Rd, Greenfield, Oldham, England www.the-clarence.co.uk

Manchester, England, United Kingdom — Sunrise, Sunset, and Daylength, December 2015

Euston railway station

“Dakota Air Crash Near Oldham (1940-1949)” on the British Pathé YouTube channel

“Plane crash survivor makes poignant first return to Saddleworth site” from the Saddleworth Independent

“'A lovely man': The woman who dated the Man on the Moor” from BBC News

“Bill O’ Jacks Murders” on Dove Stone Heritage – A Ranger’s View

“The Bill O’ Jacks Murders” from Mysterious Britain & Ireland

“27 Killed in Plane Crashes” from the Greensburg Daily Tribune - Aug 19, 1949

Location:

The approximate location where the body of “Neil Dovestone” was found next to Chew Track on Saddleworth Moor.

Suggested Listening:

The Belief Hole Podcast

You know, this world is full of mystery. And chances are, if you’re listening to this show you’re always looking for more deep dives into the unknown, and that’s why we recommend the Belief Hole Podcast. Every other week, the brothers of the Belief Hole present the strangest, true stories, combining corroborative research with immersive storytelling. From documented cases of near-invisible sky creatures that float hidden in the world just above to sinister mimicking entities that lure you into the dark, the Belief Hole is a veritable grab-bag of the bizarre. Whether you’re hungry for new stories of scarcely heard hauntings, unsettling encounters with roadside dogmen, or clandestine cases of psychic government projects, the Belief Hole is the place to dig. The guys take the topics seriously but have natural brotherly banter and are just weird enough to often make us feel like we’re laughing in the dark with friends. So Join us in listening to the Belief Hole podcast, Available on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Website

beliefhole.com

Linktree

beliefhole.com/discover

Youtube

www.youtube.com/@BeliefHolePodcast

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CREDITS:

Episode 289: The Body on the Moor Part 1. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2024 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[foone]

I love snake handling, as a religious practice.

Because while they can point at some Bible verses to justify it (a couple gospels use "snakes can't hurt you" as a metaphor for strength of belief, and they took it very litteraly) it's basically a modern invention. Like, the American Christian practice of snake handling is barely over a hundred years old! That's very young for a Christian practice.

It's younger than Mormons and Christian Scientist, and it's mostly limited to my area: the Appalachians.

It's basically just a regular Pentecostal service (which often involves laying of hands for healing, and my favorite Christian tradition, glossolalia!) except they add The Snake.

Like, you're at church, and there's the pews, and people are going up and Feeling The Spirit, and some of them are Picking Up The Snake.

That's alright, it's a harmless snake, right?

NOPE! They use venomous snakes. Usually American ones (your rattlesnakes and copperheads) but sometimes they import cobras and the like.

The venomous nature is the point. They believe that if they're blessed by God, they'll be able to handle the dangerous snakes without being hurt.

And given that this is a relatively rarely practiced thing, and it's connected to faith healing, you might think it's just a con. There's some traveling "holy man" with a well-trained snake that he can "miraculously" handle without being attacked, right?

Oh god no. It's a bunch of different guys and they get bitten all the time. Wikipedia has a list of 15 of 'em who died because of it, and that's just the "notable" ones.

People are allowed to just come up and touch the venomous snake! No training or safety equipment needed, just Jesus. Reportedly people who get bitten are not considered to be lacking in faith, just "it was their time to go". Like, they don't even call the hospital about anti-venom. You just die.

(Did I mention sometimes they drink poison too? Mainly strychnine, possibly because it's survivable in small doses. Same reason: their faith will protect them)

Anyway I really do love it. It's such an unusual thing to jam into Christianity, that I can't help but be mesmerized by it.

But it makes up the majority of 20th and 21st century American deaths from snakes. Most people avoid snakes so even the most deadly venomous snakes in America usually only ever kill by surprise, like someone reaches into a gopher hole and gets bit, or they accidentally bother one trying to piss in a bush. And even then, we've got anti-venoms! Lots of people bitten make it to the hospital and get treated.

So naturally the main group that ends up dying from snakes is the ones who are constantly handling deadly snakes and then refuse medical care.

[isthedogawolfdog]

Strychnine was a poison used in America in the 1800’s and part of the early 1900’s. I’ve wanted to talk about it for a while but major trigger warning if animal pain/injury/illness is upsetting to you.

Strychnine was bitter tasting and capable of extreme, and I mean extreme pain. “Wolfers”, which is what wolf hunters who poisoned carcasses were called in the 1850’s to the 1880’s, would kill prey animals (mainly bison or elk) and leave them as bait, lathering poison in creases of meat inside the animal for wolves to find later. In just Montana alone, it is estimated that over 100,000 wolves were killed annually during only the 1870’s.

So what’s so bad about strychnine? Well besides the fact that it poison doesn’t just target a single species, and it ended up killing millions of animals who just so happened to consume tainted meat, it also is quite possibly one of the most painful poisons (that’s just based of what I’ve heard), making it highly unethical. One account of a man finding a coyote poisoned by strychnine was where he watched it tear at its sides in a “fit”; vomiting, convulsion, and even paralyzation were common symptoms, all which this coyote experienced within minutes. Eventually succumbing to the poison, the man walked over and found deep gashes in the animals side. It was concluded that the pain was so immense the animal had tried to bite at its stomach since that’s where the pain was. This same account also mentions a grown man who was killed in roughly 5 minutes after drinking strychnine having mistaken it for alcohol. The man literally begged his friend to kill him.

Thankfully strychnine was banned along with Compound 1080 and cyanide to be used for predator control in 1972. I know some poisons are used against invasive species, but I still feel uncomfortable when I hear about it, even if it is deemed necessary.

If anyone wants more information on strychnine and wolf history in general I highly, highly recommend War Against the Wolf: America’s Campaign to Exterminate the Wolf by Rick McIntyre. I got all this information from said book, so if anyone has any inquiries I’d be happy to help pinpoint certain accounts. Just remember that there are some very graphic and very upsetting accounts of how wolves were/are treated throughout the US.

I think people who think using poison is a good way to control pests should look up the effects of strychnine on wolves and other animals way back when.

[writing-with-sophia]

Poison list

While it's important to approach writing with creativity and imagination, it's crucial to prioritize responsible and ethical storytelling. That being said, if you're looking for information on poisons for the purpose of writing fiction, it's essential to handle the subject matter with care and accuracy. Here is a list of some common poisons that you can use in your stories:

Hemlock: Hemlock is a highly poisonous plant that has been used as a poison in various works of literature. It can cause paralysis and respiratory failure.

Arsenic: Arsenic is a toxic element that has been historically used as a poison. It can be lethal in high doses and can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and organ failure.

Cyanide: Cyanide is a fast-acting poison that affects the body's ability to use oxygen. It can cause rapid loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest.

Nightshade: Nightshade plants, such as Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade, contain toxic compounds that can cause hallucinations, respiratory distress, blurred vision, dizziness, an increased heart rate, and even death when ingested.

Ricin: Ricin is a potent poison derived from the castor bean plant. It can cause organ failure and has been used as a plot device in various fictional works.

Strychnine: Strychnine is a highly toxic alkaloid that affects the nervous system, leading to muscle spasms, convulsions, and respiratory failure.

Snake Venom: Various snake venoms can be used in fiction as deadly poisons. Different snake species have different types of venom, each with its own effects on the body.

Digitalis: Digitalis, derived from the foxglove plant, contains cardiac glycosides. It has been historically used to treat heart conditions, but in high doses, it can be toxic. Overdosing on digitalis can cause irregular heart rhythms, nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances.

Lead: Lead poisoning, often resulting from the ingestion or inhalation of lead-based substances, has been a concern throughout history. Lead is a heavy metal that can affect the nervous system, leading to symptoms such as abdominal pain, cognitive impairment, anemia, and developmental issues, particularly in children.

Mercury: Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that has been used in various forms throughout history. Ingesting or inhaling mercury vapors can lead to mercury poisoning, causing symptoms like neurological impairment, kidney damage, respiratory issues, and gastrointestinal problems.

Aconite: Also known as Wolfsbane or Monkshood, aconite is a highly toxic plant. Its roots and leaves contain aconitine alkaloids, which can affect the heart and nervous system. Ingesting aconite can lead to symptoms like numbness, tingling, paralysis, cardiac arrhythmias, and respiratory failure.

Thallium: Thallium is a toxic heavy metal that can cause severe poisoning. It has been used as a poison due to its tastelessness and ability to mimic other substances. Thallium poisoning can lead to symptoms like hair loss, neurological issues, gastrointestinal disturbances, and damage to the kidneys and liver.

When incorporating poisons into your writing, it is essential to research and accurately portray the effects and symptoms associated with them. Additionally, be mindful of the potential impact your writing may have on readers and the importance of providing appropriate context and warnings if necessary.

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[batfamgalore]

*Dick and Jason are kidnapped and the evil guy is holding a vial of poison*

Evil guy: One part cyanide, one part strychnine, two parts atropine, with just a shake, not stirred, of boat cleaner. And it’s all for you.

*Points at Jason*

Dick: That’s not gonna work. I can’t watch him die. You’ll have to kill me first.

Jason: You must be out of your damn mind. If you think I’m gonna sit here and die after watching you die with some ridiculous grin on your face because you’re thinking of some stupid pun or something.

Jason: And do you have just the one needle? Do you plan on sterilizing between uses?

Dick: Surely you can’t be serious.

Jason: I don’t know where all you’ve been, Wing.