Thallium was pretty famous for this until its mechanism of toxicity and antidotes were better understood. Slow acting, tasteless, odorless, colorless, symptoms weird and mimic other things. Used to be used for rat poison but the risk of accidental exposure was too high. Requires late 1800s technology.
this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
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Source of radiation given to someone to hold in their wallet/pocket
Am not sure if helpful, or if this would be somewhere you could visit for reference.
The Alnwick Victorian poison garden is fascinating and perhaps even has ideas for you.
https://www.alnwickgarden.com/the-garden/poison-garden/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnwick_Garden
Hope this helps. Am hoping to get to visit one day.
I've heard something about writers writing about guns -- if you describe a specific gun they'll come at you for being wrong, but if you say something like "a modified Kalashnikov" you're conveying the image you want, and the nerds will do the work for you in figuring out how it could have been modified.
Arsenic is a classic murder poison. It's been known since anciemt times, though possibly unsuited to your onset requirement. Acute poisoning by ingestion is generally within a few hours, but if your character sustains lower doses over time, you could probably draw out the timeline to whatever you wanted. It would be obvious that the character is unwell during this time, but the symptoms aren't super specific and could be confused with e.g. food poisoning.
Or just invent a mushroom like others said. The toxins are diverse enough that I doubt anyone would be too upset if you tuned it exactly to your timeline and desired symptoms.
Go ask chatgpt or something similar for old medical herbs used back in the day that might also posion you. I inspire to write a book one day, and ive found ai to be really informative. The best part is, even if they're wrong its going in a fiction story(i hope) where it wouldn't matter.
I hope since you want to write this will be appreciated: for that sentence you're looking for "aspire" not "inspire".
Hey i said i want to write one, i never said it was going to be good.
That's what editors are for π€·ββοΈ
Depending on your setting and desired outcome for the poisoner, uraninite (aka pitchblende) might be an option. It has historical uses in glass making and pottery glazing, which could provide justification for why someone would have it.
It contains Uranium, which is radioactive, but I don't believe will bioaccumulate, but can build up on surfaces, tools, and clothing providing a source of long-term radiation exposure. In addition, it contains lead, which does bioaccumulate, providing a source of gradual long term poisoning as well as radium which also bioaccumulates and is radioactive, providing an additional source of longterm radiation exposure.
How slow are you talking? Days? Weeks? months?
A couple days or more.
Mushrooms are a good option, and you can just make up a species if you want specific time frames/symptoms. Mushrooms can cause a lot of weird symptoms.
There's also a brain eating amoeba or other sickness from still water (people back in the day were very aware of tainted water).
If you have access to polar animals, a unique poisoning would be vitamin A toxicity from their livers. It's a horrific way to die, though (skin sloughing off).
Was going to say that. They to go through the digestive track, so it needs a day or so to work. The toxin of amanita is heat resistant so you can make a stew of it, and when the first symptoms show up your liver is probably already beyond repair. If you want it to be more interesting, there are some species that are poisonous only with alcohol, like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinopsis_atramentaria , although the symptoms are less severe as in death cap, but maybe it's not unimaginable to give a hearty stew a day before a known heavyweight drinking run to kill the dude(ette).
That and mushrooms often have great scary ass names like "Destroying Angel"
Yeah look at the Death Cap
Ongoing case here in Australia with a lady accused of murdering her ex and ex-inlaws. Invites them to lunch of beef Wellington and death cap mushrooms.
3 died fairly awful deaths in the following days/weeks, 1 survived after intensive care.
Accused of trying to murder the ex 4 prior times too.
The "Mushroom lady" case absolutely captivated us for weeks
Ex-spouse: (on the phone with parents) My ex-wife has invited us over for beef wellington.
Ex-spouse's parents: Hasn't she tried to kill you like four times before? Why would you accept this invitation?
Ex-spouse: well her beef wellington is to die for!
Ex-spouse's parents: Well that's good enough for us, were in see you a 6
Apple seeds contain cyanide. You'd have to crush and eat anywhere from 150 to a few thousand seeds for it to be fatal though. I'm sure that hasn't stopped authors from using it before.
Cyanide is legendarily fast acting. Among the fastest known poisons.
Breaking Bad did this IIRC
I forgot about Breaking Bad! That was ricin from castor oil beans, but ricin is the opposite of slow acting.
yup, I misremembered it being apple seeds, maybe they discussed it before moving to the ricin idea. I should rewatch bb
Cyanide poisoning is famously pretty fast though...
"Honey, I've made your favorite meal! Crushed up pulp from 150 to a few thousand apple seeds!"
If you want long-term, look to the liver. Alcohol will destroy it over time, but so will viral hepatitis. Have you considered slow acting diseases like hepatitis or HIV? Or something intensely carcinogenic?
I know someone who drinks a few litres of gin a week. They seem impervious.
Just waitβ¦ theyβll die eventually.
Mushrooms can cause liver failure too, depending on the species. Amanitas are an example
- Heavy metals: lead, mercury
- Arsenic in small doses over a long period
I donβt know of any plants, but I do know that the leaves of nightshades (potato, tomato, eggplant, capsicum, tobacco) are ~~poisonous~~ toxic in large doses.
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