Decidedly Grim

Today’s Incessant Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Derived from both the belladonna and datura plants, atropine has been employed throughout history – particularly in India – as a particularly deadly poison. In Victorian America it was used, like morphine, both as a painkiller and as a treatment for dozens of ailments: asthma, earache, night sweats, rheumatism, seasickness, tetanus, whooping cough, and many more. Its symptoms, however, are very different from – and in some cases diametrically opposite to – those produced by morphine. The mouth and throat grow parched, and the pupils widely dilated. Victims lose control of their muscular coordination and reel around like drunks. They are possessed by a strange sense of giddiness that soon passes into a wild delirium. They may babble incoherently, burst into maniacal laughter, or emit constant, anguished groans. Perhaps the most grotesque symptom of all is their incessant picking at real or imaginary objects. They pluck at their clothing – pull at their fingers and toes – snatch at invisible objects in the air. Even when they lapse into their final stupor, they continue to mutter feverishly and make constant spasmodic motions, clutching at the bedclothes or grasping at phantoms floating over their heads.

Culled from: Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer

Facts