1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: this is the Artifact, a new short form series from 4 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas, 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: and moments in time. In this episode, I want to 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: talk about a concept quite familiar to fans of spy 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: movies and space operas, a false tooth that contains a 8 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: deadly poison. Fans of Frank Herbert's Doone may best remember 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 1: this innovation as a piece of technology. The doctor You 10 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: implants in Duke Letto's mouth, telling him that he need 11 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: only break the tooth open to exhale his poison onto 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: Baron Harkonen and kill them both in a last act 13 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: of defiance. Of course, the homicidal aspects of the invention 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: don't work as well as intended for Letto, but we 15 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: see variations of the suicidal principle here in other films 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: as well. In the second season of The Mandalorian un 17 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: Imperial Captain bites open a false tooth that electrifies them 18 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: to death. Variations of the poison tooth also appear in 19 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the James Bond franchise. The 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: concept is intriguing, but is there any reality to it? 21 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: Certainly cyanide capsules have been used by captives and would 22 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: be captives, most notably in the case of multiple high 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: ranking Nazis after the close of World War Two, But 24 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: did they ever store one in a false tooth? Writing 25 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: for Atlas Obscura, and Eric Grundhauser spoke with Vince Hoton, 26 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, d C. 27 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: On the topic, and Hoden indicated that he had never 28 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: come across any evidence of their existence. While glass capsules 29 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: of cyanide, a fast acting poison, were sometimes hidden in 30 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: the tips of pins and other items, or even temporarily 31 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: secreted in the mouth, the false tooth idea presents too 32 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: many problems. Not only would it prove dangerous to carry 33 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: around in your head, but the capsule size required to 34 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: carry uh an advisably lethal dose of ionide was typically 35 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: too large for such concealment. Plus, there are simply better 36 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: places to secure such a deadly secret. Herman Goring, for instance, 37 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: is thought to have kept a cyanide capsule hidden in 38 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: his navel or possibly his rectum, for eleven months during 39 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: his Nuremberg War crimes trials before using the capsule in 40 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: n Some historians, however, proposed that Goring's pill was simply 41 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: slipped to him, and, as Bob Poole reported for the 42 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: Los Angeles Times in two thousand and five, a former 43 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: American g I named Herbert Lee Stivers claimed responsibility for 44 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: passing the capsule to Goring, believing it to merely be 45 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: medicine hidden in a pin. But hollow teeth used in 46 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: espionage were also a reality, designed to carry microfilm and 47 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 1: other very small items of value. For example, during World 48 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: War Two, German spy Nikolai Hansen kept an invisible ink 49 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: capsule hidden inside one of his teeth. In the end, 50 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: the poison tooth seems to be a mash up of 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: two realities, poison capsules that were sometimes hidden in the 52 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: mouth and could be crushed between the teeth to release 53 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: the poison, and false or hollow teeth used to conceal 54 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: very small items of spycraft. It's an imagined item, a 55 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: fictional artifact, but it emerges from the real world. Tune 56 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: into additional editions of the artifact each week, hosted by 57 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: either Joe or myself. As always, you can email us 58 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 59 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I 60 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit 61 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 62 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.