Murder by Flypaper

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 19, 2017
Category: Death | Scary Criminals | Children | 1930s

Comments

Never knew that flypaper contained arsenic. Yikes!!!

Posted by Brian on 07/19/17 at 11:18 AM

I was thinking that maybe she fed the paper to the boy like a salad, shredded and tossed with a tomato or two. But I suppose she soaked the paper and served up the water. No wonder the nephew didn't want to go back - he had probably figured out that living with auntie was making him ill.

Posted by KDP on 07/19/17 at 04:40 PM

What a nice aunt. Off the nephew for $3600. I hope they gave her the electric flyswatter.

Posted by Virtual on 07/19/17 at 06:21 PM

$3,630 in 1932 is $65,000 today. I'd like to think nobody would kill me for less than a hundred grand.

Posted by Phideaux on 07/19/17 at 06:43 PM

Brian, poisons were used liberally in the old days. I'd be very surprised in modern-day flypaper (an oxymoron?) contains any kind of poison.

Posted by ges on 07/20/17 at 09:57 PM

I just checked the msds for the different fly papers I've seen used recently. None had any ingredients considered hazardous. One of the chemicals on the Raid Fly Stick is approved by the FDA as a food-grade additive!

Posted by Phideaux on 07/21/17 at 01:07 AM

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