This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2018)
These are lists of
poisonings, deliberate and accidental, in chronological order by the date of death of the victim(s). They include mass poisonings, confirmed attempted poisonings, suicides, fictional poisonings and people who are known or suspected to have killed multiple people.
Non-fiction
Fatal
Socrates (d. 399 BC), Greek philosopher; according to
Plato, he was sentenced to kill himself by drinking
poison hemlock
Artaxerxes III (d. 338 BC), Persian king; possibly poisoned by his vizier
Bagoas
The six
Goebbels children (d. 1945); poisoned by their parents
Magda and
Joseph Goebbels, who then killed themselves by poison and gunshots shortly afterwards
Hermann Göring (d. 1946), leader of the Nazi
Luftwaffe; suicide by cyanide capsule, long after being captured and only hours before his sentenced
hanging was to take place
Alan Turing (d. 1954),
British mathematician; apparently committed suicide by injecting an apple with
cyanide and taking a bite, though it has also been speculated that the poisoning was accidental
Love Canal (up to 1978); buried toxic waste was covered and used as a building site for housing and a school in
Niagara Falls, New York, resulting in claims of chronic poisoning that led to a massive environmental cleanup
Bhopal disaster (1984); accidental release of poisonous gas from a pesticide plant in
India that killed over 10,000 people and injured many more
Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002); to end the crisis, the Federal Security Service (FSB) pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system, killing 40 militants and 133 hostages
Ibn al-Khattab (d. 2002), Sunni
jihadi fighter; died from a poisoned letter sent by Russian
FSB agency
Koodathayi Cyanide Murders (d. 2002–2016); 6 people were allegedly killed by Jolly Joseph using potassium cyanide
Roman Tsepov (d. 2004), Russian businessman; poisoned by unspecified radioactive material
Shady Habash (d. 2020), Egyptian filmmaker; his cause of death was officially ruled as
alcohol poisoning, with the prosecutor-general further elaborating that Habash had mistakenly drinken alcohol-based
hand sanitizer
Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic; survived being poisoned with
potassium cyanide, as well as being shot, bludgeoned, and being thrown into a frozen river before he finally died by
drowning
Khaled Mashal, leader of Palestinian fundamentalist organization
Hamas; survived being poisoned by Israeli assassins in 1997 after two of the assassins were captured and an
antidote was supplied by Israel in exchange for their release
Boudica (d. 60 or 61), Queen of the Iceni tribe and leader of the rebellion against Roman rule in Britain; committed suicide by poison according to
Tacitus, though
Dio Cassius claimed natural illness
Jamestown colonists (1607–1610); standard historical accounts suggest many early colonists died of starvation, but the possibility of arsenic poisoning by rat poison (or of death by
bubonic plague) has also been reported[5]
Zachary Taylor (d. 1850), 12th President of the United States; theorized by author Clara Rising that his milk was poisoned during an Independence Day celebration
Gulf War syndrome, a chronic multi-symptom disorder afflicting more than 250,000 returning veterans and civilian workers of the
Gulf War of 1990–1991; while the etiology of the condition continues to be debated, various manmade poisons have been suggested as possible causes
Yuri Shchekochikhin (d. 2003), Russian investigative journalist; died presumably from poisoning by radioactive
thallium
Yasser Arafat (d. 2004); reputedly died from liver
cirrhosis, which may be a consequence of chronic
alcohol use or poisoning. Some Arafat supporters feel it is unlikely that Arafat habitually used alcohol (forbidden by
Islam), and so suspect poisoning. However, it is also important to note that cirrhosis is not necessarily caused by alcohol use, or indeed any poison at all.
Kaori Yuki: Count Cain (GodChild after vol. 5) Protagonist Cain Hargreaves is known as the Count/Earl of Poisons. He has quite a collection of poisons, and frequently solves murder cases, almost all of which involve poisons.
Third and
Tenth Doctors in Doctor Who regenerated due to radiation poisoning. The
Fifth Doctor regenerated due to poisoning from the substance Spectrox, giving the antidote to his also poisoned companion
Peri Brown.
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2018)
These are lists of
poisonings, deliberate and accidental, in chronological order by the date of death of the victim(s). They include mass poisonings, confirmed attempted poisonings, suicides, fictional poisonings and people who are known or suspected to have killed multiple people.
Non-fiction
Fatal
Socrates (d. 399 BC), Greek philosopher; according to
Plato, he was sentenced to kill himself by drinking
poison hemlock
Artaxerxes III (d. 338 BC), Persian king; possibly poisoned by his vizier
Bagoas
The six
Goebbels children (d. 1945); poisoned by their parents
Magda and
Joseph Goebbels, who then killed themselves by poison and gunshots shortly afterwards
Hermann Göring (d. 1946), leader of the Nazi
Luftwaffe; suicide by cyanide capsule, long after being captured and only hours before his sentenced
hanging was to take place
Alan Turing (d. 1954),
British mathematician; apparently committed suicide by injecting an apple with
cyanide and taking a bite, though it has also been speculated that the poisoning was accidental
Love Canal (up to 1978); buried toxic waste was covered and used as a building site for housing and a school in
Niagara Falls, New York, resulting in claims of chronic poisoning that led to a massive environmental cleanup
Bhopal disaster (1984); accidental release of poisonous gas from a pesticide plant in
India that killed over 10,000 people and injured many more
Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002); to end the crisis, the Federal Security Service (FSB) pumped an undisclosed chemical agent into the building's ventilation system, killing 40 militants and 133 hostages
Ibn al-Khattab (d. 2002), Sunni
jihadi fighter; died from a poisoned letter sent by Russian
FSB agency
Koodathayi Cyanide Murders (d. 2002–2016); 6 people were allegedly killed by Jolly Joseph using potassium cyanide
Roman Tsepov (d. 2004), Russian businessman; poisoned by unspecified radioactive material
Shady Habash (d. 2020), Egyptian filmmaker; his cause of death was officially ruled as
alcohol poisoning, with the prosecutor-general further elaborating that Habash had mistakenly drinken alcohol-based
hand sanitizer
Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic; survived being poisoned with
potassium cyanide, as well as being shot, bludgeoned, and being thrown into a frozen river before he finally died by
drowning
Khaled Mashal, leader of Palestinian fundamentalist organization
Hamas; survived being poisoned by Israeli assassins in 1997 after two of the assassins were captured and an
antidote was supplied by Israel in exchange for their release
Boudica (d. 60 or 61), Queen of the Iceni tribe and leader of the rebellion against Roman rule in Britain; committed suicide by poison according to
Tacitus, though
Dio Cassius claimed natural illness
Jamestown colonists (1607–1610); standard historical accounts suggest many early colonists died of starvation, but the possibility of arsenic poisoning by rat poison (or of death by
bubonic plague) has also been reported[5]
Zachary Taylor (d. 1850), 12th President of the United States; theorized by author Clara Rising that his milk was poisoned during an Independence Day celebration
Gulf War syndrome, a chronic multi-symptom disorder afflicting more than 250,000 returning veterans and civilian workers of the
Gulf War of 1990–1991; while the etiology of the condition continues to be debated, various manmade poisons have been suggested as possible causes
Yuri Shchekochikhin (d. 2003), Russian investigative journalist; died presumably from poisoning by radioactive
thallium
Yasser Arafat (d. 2004); reputedly died from liver
cirrhosis, which may be a consequence of chronic
alcohol use or poisoning. Some Arafat supporters feel it is unlikely that Arafat habitually used alcohol (forbidden by
Islam), and so suspect poisoning. However, it is also important to note that cirrhosis is not necessarily caused by alcohol use, or indeed any poison at all.
Kaori Yuki: Count Cain (GodChild after vol. 5) Protagonist Cain Hargreaves is known as the Count/Earl of Poisons. He has quite a collection of poisons, and frequently solves murder cases, almost all of which involve poisons.
Third and
Tenth Doctors in Doctor Who regenerated due to radiation poisoning. The
Fifth Doctor regenerated due to poisoning from the substance Spectrox, giving the antidote to his also poisoned companion
Peri Brown.