Criminal The Formula
8 snips
Mar 27, 2026 
Deborah Blum, journalist and author of The Poisoner’s Handbook, gives historical context on a deadly Prohibition-era government plan. She narrates how poisoned industrial alcohol and methanol spikes caused hallucinations, blindness, and deaths. The story traces forensic pioneers, home distilling, and the policy debate that followed.
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Christmas Eve Bellevue Hallucination Outbreak
- On Christmas Eve 1926 people flooded Bellevue with hallucinations, blindness, convulsions, and many deaths after drinking poisoned alcohol.
- Deborah Blum recounts dozens arriving that night, bodies later lining morgue hallways as the outbreak spread across the city.
Methanol Is Deadly Despite Familiar Taste
- Methanol (wood alcohol) metabolizes into formaldehyde and formic acid, causing blindness and death even though it tastes like ethanol.
- Deborah Blum explains small amounts (two teaspoons) can blind and an eighth cup can kill, creating delayed but lethal symptoms.
Jakeleg Paralysis From Adulterated Jamaican Ginger
- During Prohibition people drank legal high-alcohol medicines like Jamaican ginger (Jake), which bootleggers adulterated to pass inspections.
- Deborah Blum recounts jakeleg paralysis outbreaks when bootleggers replaced bitter solids with a neurotoxic plasticizer.
