Top 15 Most Terrifying Poisons in History

Hemlock (Conium) is a highly toxic flowering plant native to Europe and South Africa. It was one of the common poisons among ancient Greeks, used to execute prisoners. In adults, consuming 100mg of Conium or about 8 leaves can be lethal.

Water Hemlock is actually a wild plant originating from North America and is also the deadliest plant there. This poisonous plant often grows in swamps, riverbanks, or damp grasslands and can grow up to 1.8m tall. The plant has small white flowers, clustered together. The entire body of water hemlock contains the toxin cicutoxin, but the toxin is most concentrated in the root.

Cicutoxin can cause severe convulsions, twitching, pain, nausea, muscle tremors. Survivors of water hemlock poisoning are often left with memory loss. Especially in spring, cicutoxin is most toxic, strong enough to kill a cow.

Death comes in the form of paralysis, the mind of the victim remains fully conscious but their body is unresponsive, and eventually the respiratory system ceases to function. Perhaps the most famous case of water hemlock poisoning was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who was sentenced to death for heresy in 399 BC.

Deadly nightshade scientifically known as Datura metel L, Solanaceae family or another name is Jimsonweed. Characteristics of the plant, distribution of deadly nightshade: Deadly nightshade has 2 types; one type with white flowers, green stems, and green branches; another type with purple spotted flowers, purple stems, and branches. Deadly nightshade plants are small, perennial, and grow from 1 to 2m tall. The entire body is almost smooth, with many small spots. Branches and young parts have many short hairs. Leaves are solitary, alternate, but at the top of the branch, they look like opposite or whorled. Leaf blade egg-shaped, pointed tip, narrowed base. Single flowers, growing in leaf axils, when the flower withers, the remaining part becomes a fruit, resembling a saucer.

Belladonna or deadly nightshade, the name of this plant originates from Italy and means beautiful woman. That's because it was used in midwives for cosmetic purposes such as dilating the pupil or making women more seductive. Clearly, this belladonna plant seems completely harmless, but the truth is if even one leaf is ingested, it can be fatal, and that's why it's used to make poisonous arrows.

Due to the chemical composition of deadly nightshade, mostly alkaloids, including L-scopolamine (hyoscyamine), hyoscyamine, atropine, scopolamine. Therefore, intoxication with deadly nightshade is a manifestation of the pharmacological and chemical effects of the above alkaloids. With symptoms of drugs with varying degrees of anticholinergic effects.

The mechanism of action of atropine and this group of drugs is due to the muscarinic receptor-blocking action. It inhibits the binding of acetylcholine to muscarinic cholinergic receptors in smooth muscle cells, cardiac muscle, gland cells, autonomic nerves, and the central nervous system. The sensitivity of muscarinic receptors depends on various organs in the body. Symptoms of intoxication depend heavily on the drug dose. Low doses have mild symptoms such as dry mouth, decreased sweating, and slow heartbeat. Higher doses cause rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, dry hot red skin, hallucinations, delirium, and coma.

Monkshood (Aconite) is a perennial herbaceous plant that can grow up to 1m tall. The stem and leaves of the plant are hairless. The leaves have a diameter of 5 to 10 cm, divided into 5 to 7 lobes. Monkshood flowers are dark purple or bluish-purple, with elongated and narrow petals.

The symptoms caused by the plant's toxin can manifest almost immediately (often within an hour) and have a high fatality rate. The time to death is from 2 to 6 hours after being poisoned. Initial signs include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a burning sensation, tingling, and numbness in the mouth, face, and abdomen.

In cases of severe poisoning, limbs become difficult to move, and tingling and numbness spread to the arms and legs. This is followed by low blood pressure, slow heart rate, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other symptoms may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty breathing, headache, and confusion. The main cause of death is cardiac arrhythmias, heart paralysis, or respiratory center paralysis.

Monkshood (Aconite), also known as Wolfsbane, causes cardiac arrhythmias leading to respiratory failure. Poisoning can occur even after touching the leaves without wearing gloves because the toxin is rapidly and easily absorbed. Due to its undetectable nature of detoxification, monkshood is commonly associated with cases of 'murderous escape.' It is known that Emperor Claudius was allegedly poisoned by his wife, Agrippina, using monkshood in a mushroom dish.

The Tetrodotoxin toxin is found in two marine creatures, the blue-ringed octopus and the pufferfish. However, the blue-ringed octopus is the most dangerous as it deliberately injects venom, killing opponents, prey within minutes. The blue-ringed octopus carries enough venom to kill 26 adults within minutes, and the bite often causes no pain; many victims only realize they have been bitten when they become paralyzed.

Tetrodotoxin disrupts electrical activity in nerve fibers by binding to voltage-gated sodium channels in the nerve cell membranes and blocking the movement of sodium ions (responsible for the rising phase of action potentials) into nerve cells. This prevents the nervous system from transmitting information and thus muscles contract to respond to nerve stimulation.

If you consume the pufferfish toxin, you will experience symptoms such as numbness of the mouth, confusion, consecutive convulsions, unconsciousness, and ultimately death. All within 17 minutes or a maximum of 6 hours. TTX tops the list of deadly toxins.

On the other hand, the pufferfish only kills if you want to eat it. But if properly prepared, meaning the venom is removed, all you need to do is prepare a dose of adrenaline to be on guard against unexpected incidents when eating the pufferfish.

Dimethylmercury is an organic compound. A volatile, reactive, flammable, and colorless liquid, dimethylmercury is one of the most potent neurotoxins known, with amounts under 0.1 ml capable of causing severe mercury poisoning and readily absorbed through the skin. Dimethylmercury can permeate many materials, including plastic and rubber compounds. It has a sweet odor, although inhaling enough of the chemical to notice this would be dangerous.

Dimethylmercury is a slowly acting lethal toxin perpetrated by humans themselves. But it's precisely what it does that's even more dangerous. Just absorbing a low dose of 0.1ml Dimethylmercury has been fatal. However, symptoms of poisoning begin to appear after several months of initial exposure, by which time it's too late for any treatment measures. In 1996, a chemistry professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, spilled one or two drops of the toxic substance on her hand (while wearing gloves), Dimethylmercury passed through the layer of rubber gloves. Symptoms appeared after four months, and she died after ten months.

Dimethylmercury is extremely toxic and hazardous to handle. Absorbing a dose as low as 0.1 ml can lead to severe mercury poisoning. Risks are enhanced by the high vapor pressure of the liquid. Permeation tests have shown that some types of single-use rubber or polyvinyl chloride gloves (typically, about 0.1 mm thick), commonly used in most laboratories and clinics, have a high permeation rate and are maximally permeated by dimethylmercury within 15 seconds. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration advises handling dimethylmercury with multiple layers of high-strength gloves with a pair of abrasion-resistant gloves worn over laminate, and also advises using a face shield and working in a fume hood.

Dimethylmercury is metabolized after a few days into methylmercury. Methylmercury easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, possibly due to complex formation with cysteine. It is slowly eliminated from the organism and thus tends to bioaccumulate. Symptoms of poisoning may be delayed for months, leading to eventual diagnosis cases being detected, but only by the time it's too late for successful treatment regimes.

Mercury exists naturally in the air, water, and soil, but it becomes highly dangerous when it forms inside fish and becomes Methylmercury. This is the easiest route for mercury to enter our bodies when consumed. It ranks high on the list because even a very small amount of mercury can be lethal.

Mercury has been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1500 BC. In China and Tibet, the use of mercury was believed to prolong life, heal broken bones, and maintain overall health, although it's now known that exposure to mercury vapor leads to serious health effects. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was entombed in a mausoleum containing a river of mercury flowing on a model landscape of the land he ruled, representing the rivers of China. He was poisoned by being forced to drink a mercury concoction and a mixture of jade created by Qin's alchemists (causing liver failure, mercury poisoning, and brain death), with the intention of granting him eternal life.

There are three particularly dangerous states of mercury:

• Natural mercury is one of the things you might find in glass thermometers, it's harmless to touch but lethal when inhaled.
• Inorganic mercury is used in making batteries and is lethal when ingested.
• Organic mercury is found in fish, such as tuna and swordfish, but it can be lethal over time.

There have been many fatalities associated with mercury exposure, including a British scientist in 1996. She took all safety precautions when working with hazardous substances but still faced danger when a mere 2 drops of mercury landed on her hand despite wearing protective gloves; within weeks, she experienced nerve damage, coma, and death. One famous death attributed to mercury is that of Amadeus Mozart, who was given mercury medicine to treat his syphilis.

Polonium 210 is an isotope of the element Polonium, first discovered by scientist Marie Curie in the late 19th century. Polonium 210 is an extremely toxic substance, with even a very small amount being enough to be fatal. Polonium 210 is lethal because it emits alpha particles with enough energy to disrupt the cellular genetic machinery. It is not used for medical radiation like the isotopes cesium-137 or cobalt-60.

Discovered in 1898, the radioactive element Polonium is believed to have caused the death of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader who was politically at odds with Russia. Polonium is listed among the most dangerous toxins of the 21st century. It is not used in biological research due to its extreme danger to all living organisms. Its most common form is Polonium 210, which is alleged to be 250,000 times more dangerous than hydrogen cyanide.

Polonium is an extremely toxic radioactive substance, a slow-acting killer with no cure. A vaporized gram of polonium could kill about 1.5 million people in just a few months. The most famous cases of polonium poisoning include that of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. The toxic substance polonium was found in his tea cup, a dose higher than about 200 times the average lethal dose if ingested. He passed away within three weeks.

This explains why the U.S. used Polonium to drop on Nagasaki with what they call the Manhattan Dyton Project. In theory, a gram of Polonium 210 could kill 10 million people if ingested, injected, or inhaled. Its radiation can cause cancer in humans.

Botulinum is a protein and a neurotoxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It is the deadliest poison known, with a median lethal dose (LD50) in humans of about 1.3-2.1 ng/kg when injected intravenously or intramuscularly, and 10-13 ng/kg when inhaled. Botulinum can cause botulism, a serious and life-threatening disease in humans and animals. Three botulinum toxin type A (Botox, Dysport, and Xeomin) and one botulinum toxin type B (Myobloc) are present in various medical and cosmetic products.

The Botulinum toxin causes Botulism (food poisoning from eating contaminated sausage or canned goods) and will result in death if not treated immediately. It induces muscle paralysis, leading to respiratory system paralysis and ultimately death. The bacteria enter the body through open wounds or by ingesting contaminated or poisoned food. In this way, Botulinum toxin is the same tool used to inject Botox.

Botulinum toxin is 40 million times more toxic than Cyanide and can kill a person with just 80 nanograms. Symptoms include initially facial numbness, followed by numbness in the limbs and your respiratory organs. This toxin can appear in food although very rarely, so if after eating something you feel your face muscles start to numb and cannot speak, head to the hospital as soon as possible.

Cyanide is a chemical compound containing the cyano group (C≡N), consisting of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Exposure to a large amount of cyanide can damage the brain and heart, while exposure at low doses can result in consequences such as difficulty breathing, heart pain, nausea, blood changes, headaches, and enlarged thyroid glands. Just 50mg – 200mg of cyanide or inhaling 0.2% cyanide gas can instantly kill an adult.

The deadly Cyanide seems to be quite common (spies use cyanide for suicide when captured) and there are many reasons for the prevalence of this poison. First, it is found in a variety of substances like almonds, apple seeds, apricot pits, cigarette smoke, insecticides, etc. Murders in these cases can be blamed on an accident, such as mistakenly ingesting insecticide.

A lethal dose of cyanide for humans is 1.5 mg per kg of body weight. Second, it is a fast-acting killer. Depending on the dosage, death occurs within 1 to 15 minutes. Additionally, cyanide in gas form (hydrogen cyanide) was used by Nazi Germany for mass murder in gas chambers throughout the Holocaust.

Cyanide is found in compounds (which are substances formed from two or more chemicals). Cyanide can react with metals and other organic compounds (compounds containing Carbon). Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are simple cyanide compounds. Cyanide can be produced by bacteria, fungi, and is found in some foods and plants. In the human body, cyanide can combine with a chemical (hydroxocobalamin) to form vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin). In plant-derived foods; including almonds, sprouts of the cassava plant, lima beans, soybeans, soy, bird's nest fern, bamboo shoots, cassava roots, tapioca pearls.

Legend has it: The Nazis once produced an extremely terrifying chemical under the alias N during World War II. Chemical N boils upon contact with air, explodes when in contact with water, is deadly when inhaled, decomposes to produce toxic acid. Especially, when loaded into flamethrowers and ignited, N can create flames with temperatures up to over 2,400 degrees Celsius.

The Nazis wanted to use Chemical N to turn Allied bunkers into 'porridge' in the literal sense. However, after research, even German soldiers dared not use it because of its excessively high danger. Therefore, the research was ultimately terminated. The legend tells it like this. However, in reality, this is a true story, and N is chlorine trifluoride (ClF3), the strongest fluorinating agent known to man.

Due to its superior oxidative properties compared to oxygen, ClF3 can burn materials that normally cannot burn such as bricks, asbestos... And precisely because of its insanely powerful burning ability, chlorine trifluoride was once planned by American scientists to be used to propel rockets, however they soon realized their luck after an incident in 1950.

At that time, American scientists attempted to transport large quantities of chlorine trifluoride and accidentally ruptured a steel container. Immediately, tons of ClF3 burst into flames fiercely. The extremely hot flames not only ate through a 30cm thick concrete layer of the floor but also continued to penetrate 1m of soil underneath. There was no way to extinguish the fire except to let it... burn out on its own. The danger is real, but nowadays this chemical is still produced and used in semiconductor companies to clean some equipment without having to dismantle them.

Arsenic is a natural component of the Earth's crust and is widely distributed in the environment in air, water, and soil. It is highly toxic in its inorganic form. People are exposed to elevated levels of inorganic arsenic through drinking contaminated water, using contaminated water in food processing and irrigation for agricultural crops, industrial processes, consuming contaminated food, and smoking tobacco. Long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic, mainly through drinking water and food, can lead to chronic arsenic poisoning. Skin damage and skin cancer are the most characteristic effects.

Arsenic inorganic is a confirmed carcinogen and is the most significant chemical contaminant in global drinking water. Arsenic can also occur in organic form. Inorganic arsenic compounds (such as those found in water) are highly toxic while organic arsenic compounds (such as those found in seafood) are less harmful to health. Immediate symptoms of acute arsenic poisoning include nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. This is followed by numbness and itching of the extremities, muscle cramps, and death, in extreme cases.

Arsenic was once recognized as the 'king of poisons,' nearly undetectable in terms of antidotes, so it was frequently used as a deadly weapon or as part of mysterious stories. But it wasn't until Marsh's experiments and his announcement that the presence of this toxin was found in water, food, and the like. However, the 'king of poisons' claimed the lives of many famous individuals such as Napoleon Bonaparte, George III of England, and Simon Bolivar. Another note, arsenic poisons like Belladonna (deadly nightshade), were used by Victorian ladies for cosmetic reasons. A few drops of it made a woman's skin whiter.

Ricin is an extremely potent toxin, a natural lectin (a protein that binds to carbohydrates) found in the seeds of the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis. Ingesting 5 to 10 castor seeds can cause acute symptoms in humans: vomiting blood, hemorrhagic necrosis in certain organs, kidney failure, cardiac collapse, and death within 6-14 days. Ricin poisoning via the oral route is much less toxic than via the bloodstream or respiratory route, with an estimated lethal dose in humans of about 1 mg per kg of body weight.

This highly toxic plant toxin has been used to assassinate the famous Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov while he was living in exile in London. On September 7, 1978, as Markov was waiting for a bus near Waterloo Bridge (England), he suddenly felt something touch his thigh. He looked back and saw a man stooping to pick up an umbrella. Markov immediately felt dizzy and collapsed at the bus stop. He was taken to the hospital with high fever symptoms and died three days later.

Autopsy revealed a very small sphere made of a platinum-iridium alloy stuck on Markov's thigh. The sphere was coated with many tiny needles coated with a small amount of ricin, and this substance was the cause of death. Ricin is extracted from the seeds of the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis). This substance is a type of glycoprotein that inhibits protein synthesis and thereby causes cell death. Just 1 mg per kg of a person's body weight is enough to kill the victim.

Azidoazide azide (C2N14) or AA, is the most explosive compound ever synthesized by humans. If the aforementioned substance N is referred to as a super combustible, then AA deserves the title of a super explosive. Virtually any stimulus, such as heat, radiation, or physical shock, will cause Azidoazide azide to detonate. It can also detonate unpredictably and without clear reason. When an attempt was made to chart its infrared spectrum using Raman spectroscopy, it exploded.

As we've learned, a nitrogen atom tends to pair with another nitrogen atom through a triple bond, and the N≡N bond is one of the strongest bonds on Earth, so typically in nature nitrogen atoms only separate when struck by lightning.

But this very stability also shows that the energy released when 2 nitrogen atoms bond is immense. For AA, there are up to 14 nitrogen atoms but none of them have triple bonds, leaving the molecule in a high-energy and loosely bound state. This property leads to AA having both characteristics: extremely easy to detonate and detonating powerfully.

AA is so sensitive to the point that its explosiveness exceeds human measurement capabilities. In 2010, a group of German chemists listed actions that could trigger AA explosions, including extremely small actions like... shifting, or exposure to light, or even doing nothing at all.

Dimethyl cadmium (CH3-CO-CH3) is a compound belonging to the organometallic group. It is a colorless, extremely toxic liquid that fumes in air. It is a linear molecule with a C-Cd bond length of 213 pm. The compound is found to have limited use as a reagent in organic synthesis and in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). It has also been used in the synthesis process of cadmium selenide nano particles, although efforts have been made to replace it in this capacity due to its toxicity.

This substance exhibits both terrifying properties of being difficult to extinguish once ignited and highly explosive, but its terror comes from the concentration of the toxic substance it brings. Just a few parts per million of dimethyl cadmium vapor dispersed in a volume of 1 cubic meter is enough to be lethal to a person.

The toxicity of dimethyl cadmium causes both acute and chronic effects on the human body. When inhaled, this toxic substance is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, thereby spreading throughout the body, causing almost immediate impact on organs such as the lungs, liver, and kidneys. Even if the victim survives a few hours after inhaling this gas, the subsequent consequences are still devastating. This toxic substance is an extremely potent carcinogen. Hearing this, you can probably imagine the devastation of Dimethyl cadmium.

So if accidentally spilled dimethyl cadmium, how to clean it, well, you better never let that happen. Because using water to wash, or sweeping is impossible due to the risk of explosive reactions. Even waiting for dimethyl cadmium to decay is not feasible, as the newly formed compound is even more explosive than the original substance.

VX (chemical compound), is an extremely toxic substance used solely as a nerve agent in chemical warfare. VX is a chemical weapon, classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations in UN Resolution 687. The production and stockpiling of VX are outlawed under the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. VX is the most well-known nerve agent in the group of V nerve agents.

In its pure form, VX is a colorless, odorless toxic substance, appearing as a brown-colored solution. The toxin infiltrates the body through the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, causing initial coughing and nausea. Subsequently, it paralyzes the respiratory muscles and causes death within minutes in cases of severe convulsions and agonizing pain. The average lethal dose is about 1 mg via inhalation, or 10 mg if absorbed through the skin. However, there are documented cases of fatalities even with much lower doses (4 μg/kg orally) and 86 μg/kg through the skin.

VX is a nerve agent derived from motor lubricating oil. Initially, this type of substance was invented and used in insecticides. However, by 1950, VX was banned worldwide due to its extreme toxicity. VX interferes with the process of transmitting nerve messages between cells by acting on a molecule called acetylcholine.

After acetylcholine has transmitted the nerve message, it needs to be broken down by an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase. If not, they will continue sending signals indefinitely. VX blocks the activity of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, causing acetylcholine to remain active. Consequently, your muscles will lose control, and you will die from convulsions and suffocation.