Poisoning in Fiction

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From: Forensic Science and Medicine: Criminal Poisoning, Second Edition Edited by: J. H. Trestrail, III © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Chapter 9

Poisoning in Fiction

MARTHA: “Well, dear, for a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one tea- spoonful of arsenic, and add a half a teaspoonful of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide.”—Arsenic and Old Lace, Joseph Kesselring

It is often said that life can imitate art, and so it would behoove us to look at the use of poisons in fictional works, both written and visual. The scenario of an individual reading a novel or watching a film, and obtaining ideas that could lead to committing an actual murder, is not beyond the realm of possibility.

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In gathering information on how poisons have been used in fictional writing, I analyzed 187 texts. The types of poisons used varied slightly from those that have been used in actual cases of murder, but the primary ones did appear. In fiction, cyanide was used more often than arsenic. Table 9-1 sum- marizes the poisons used in fictional writings.

It is also important to look at the visual media as well, because some movies can create ideas in the fertile mind of the poisoner. Table 9-2 summa- rizes some of the films that have used poisons in their plots.

As part of the investigation of a criminal poisoning, it would be wise for the investigator to look at any fictional literature and visual media to which the suspect had access.

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Table 9-1

Poisons Used in the Literature (a Review of 187 Works)

Poison No. of cases %

Acid 1 0.5

Aconite 2 1.1

Air (by injection) 1 0.5

Akee 1 0.5

Antimony 1 0.5

Arrow poison 1 0.5

Arsenic 13 7.0

Atropine 5 2.7

Barbitone 3 1.3

Bowl cleaner 1 0.5

Carbon monoxide 3 1.6

Chloral 1 0.5

Chloral hydrate 2 1.1

Coal gas 2 1.1

Cocaine 2 1.1

Coniine 1 0.5

Curare 4 2.1

Cyanea capillata 1 0.5

Cyanide 25 13.4

“Devil’s Foot Root” 1 0.5

Digitalin 3 1.6

Digitalis 3 1.6

Digitoxin 1 0.5

Drugs 1 0.5

Fear: of poison death 2 1.1

Food poisoning 1 0.5

Formic acid 1 0.5

Fungus 1 0.5

Gelsemium 1 0.5

Hemlock 1 0.5

Henbane 1 0.5

Hexabarbital 1 0.5

Hyoscine 3 1.6

Indian hemp + datura 1 0.5

Jimson weed 2 1.1

L-Thyroxine 1 0.5

Microorganisms: cholera 1 0.5

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Morphine 6 3.2

Multiple poisons 1 0.5

Muscarine 1 0.5

Mushrooms 15 8.0

Narcotic 1 0.5

Nicotine 6 3.2

Nitrobenzene 2 1.1

Oleander 2 1.1

Paint thinner 1 0.5

Phenylbutazone allergy 1 0.5

Phosphorus 1 0.5

Photographic developer 1 0.5

Physostigmine 2 1.1

Poisoned darts 1 0.5

Poison gas 1 0.5

Procaine 1 0.5

Purvisine (an alkaloid) 1 0.5

Ricin 2 1.1

Serenite (an invented poison) 1 0.5

Solanine 1 0.5

Streptomycin allergy 1 0.5

Strophanthin 5 2.7

Strychnine 6 3.2

Taxine 1 0.5

Tetra-ethyl-pyrophosphate 1 0.5

Tetrodotoxin 1 0.5

Thallium 2 1.1

Toxin 1 0.5

Trinitrin 1 0.5

Tuberculin 1 0.5

Unidentified native poison 2 1.1

Unknown poison 13 7.0

Venom: bee 2 1.1

Venom: snake 4 2.1

Virus 1 0.5

Warfarin 1 0.5

Total 187 100.0

Table 9-1 (Continued)

Poisons Used in the Literature (a Review of 187 Works)

Poison No. of cases %

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9.2. S

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The Howdunit Series, Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, 1995.

Modus Operandi roman in title correct?

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Reinert RE: There ARE toadstools in murder mysteries (part II). Mushroom—J Wild Mushrooming 1994;12(2):9–12.

Table 9-2

Poisons Used in Motion Pictures (a Review of 15 Works)

Film title Date Poison used

Attack of the Mushroom People 1964 Mushrooms

Beguiled, The 1971 Mushrooms

Black Widow 1987 Penicillin allergy + unknowns

Court Jester, The 1956 Unknown

Dead Pool, The 1988 Street drug

D.O.A. 1949 Iridium

D.O.A. 1988 Radium chloride

Fer-de-Lance 1974 Venom: snake

Flesh and Fantasy 1943 Aconite

Goliath Awaits 1981 Algae extract (Palmer’s disease) Pope of Greenwich Village, The 1984 Lye (sodium hydroxide) Serpent and the Rainbow, The 1988 Tetrodotoxin

Throw Mama from the Train 1987 Lye (sodium hydroxide)

Venom 1982 Venom: snake

Young Sherlock Holmes 1985 Dart poison

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1996–97;15(1):5–7.

Stevens SD, Klarner A: Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons. The Howdunit Series, Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, 1990.

Tabor E: Plant poisons in Shakespeare. Econ Bot 1970;24:81–94.

Thompson CJS: Poisons in fiction. In: Poison Mysteries in History, Romance, and Crime (Thompson CJS, ed), J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1924, pp. 254–261.

Winn D: Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader’s Companion. Workman Publishing, New York, 1977.

Winn D: Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery. Workman Publishing, New York, 1979.