A Bit About Poison

Live at the Witch Trials

The famous French poisoner of the deranged 1600’s, Madame Marie-Madeleine de Brinvilliers, chose arsenic from a kitbag of deadly things which just are. Arsenic is in the periodic table of elements as ‘As.’ It is in the earth’s crust.

Arsenic is used in ammunition manufacturing to make the bullets more tense.

She had an open marriage and her lover was the horsey Captain Godin de St-Croix, a notorious rake. They spent all their money champagne-raving so they devised a cunning plan. She was in her early 40’s at the time, heaven knows a dangerous age for a lady poisoner.

They found a famous blackmarket Italian compounder - their plug - who sold the stuff. Madame Marie-Madeleine first killed her father and two brothers for the inheritance with an arsenic medley in their food, handed to them by a servant.

It seems from the histories she went on to test her doses on hospital patients while posing as a visitor. She laced pastries and pies. Arsenic poisoning comes on as a portentous numbness, tingling and cramps, and probable death. She confessed to many more killings, and was tortured then beheaded, which caused trouble in France for the many still dabbling in the dark arts - witchcraft, demons and poisons.

Britain’s ‘Black Widow’ Mary Ann Cotton, an 1870’s serial killer, also used arsenic. She killed her stepson and was suspected of killing 11 of her own children and at least three husbands, and was tried and hung in the north-east of England. She used arsenic tea. Arsenic was around the place back then. It was used to make many things such as wallpaper and in children’s toys.

As always we go to the old stories, the myths. Poison kills but it comes from the earth and cannot be seen. Poison is of us, the land and dirt and water. Historian and botanist Professor Alain Touwaide from UCLA says it began with the Greeks. Attalus the Third, in 130 years BC, a Prince then a King from near the Aegean, grew toxic plants and tested them on death-row inmates. He had quite a nursery geared toward death, vomit, spitoon and dank blue lips. Touwaide says Attalus grew:

• Henbane, or stinking nightshade. Psychoactive and anaesthetic, but also toxic.

• Hellebores. A pretty flower sometimes known as the Christmas Rose. Used in ancient Greek wars to poison water supplies.

• Hemlock. A flowering herb related to the carrot. Used to kill Socrates while he was in jail.

• Aconite flowers, from the ranunculus family. Used to make poison arrows. Species includes wolfsbane, from Harry Potter – otherwise known as monkshood, devil’s helmet and blue rocket. The roots are the deadly bit.

We get the word venom from the old Latin venari, meaning to hunt or desire. The hunted deer became venison, desire became Venus but also venereal diseases. Magic substances, sex, meat and death. A victim of death cap mushrooms can feel as if their insides are burning. The toxin in the mushroom stops certain proteins, which kills liver cells, which leads to multi-organ shutdown over, at best, five days. People basically rot then die. Through time, mushrooms growing in circles or arcs have been called pixies’ circles and elfs’ circles but also ‘witches’ circles.’ Sylvia Plath imagined them inheriting the earth by morning. A witch trial for a contemporary poisoner will sell out.