A Brief History
On September 7, 1978, a Bulgarian secret agent assassinated Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, as the unfortunate man was strolling across the Waterloo Bridge in London. The novel means of committing this murder was firing or jabbing a poison Ricin pellet from a specially adapted umbrella. Markov thought little of the minor sting at the time but died four days later.
Digging Deeper
Some other unusual methods or weapons used in assassinations include:
Edward II, King of England, had a red hot fireplace poker shoved up his butt in 1327.
Alexander Litvinenko was the first ever murder victim by radioactive elements when his tea was spiked with Plonium-210 in London in 2006. A Soviet and then Russian spy, Litvinenko was killed by assassins sent from Russia.
Kim Jong-nam had the misfortune of being the brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and was killed in 2017 at an airport in Kuala Lumpur by nerve gas being blown in his face by a pair of women that did not know the substance they used was lethal, having been tricked by North Korean agents.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What is the most unusual weapon or method used in an assassination?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bereanu, Vladimir. Who Killed Georgi Markov? Allborough Publishing, 1992.
Goldfarb, Alex and Marina Litvinenko. Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB. Simon & Schuster Audio, 2007.
