The ominous, droopy, bell-shaped flower that becomes a purple star is an enticing sight, growing on branches that reach out, almost beckon for one to approach. Shining amongst the flowers and deep green leaves are the black berries, so poisonous, only one or two will kill a grown human being.
To be honest, I don’t know where I got the idea to pair this poison with a female serial killer. My fascination with Atropa Belladonna goes back to my days of writing fantasy as a teenager and in college. Someone I know once called it “good poison, bad medicine” and I think that truly sums up the aesthetic of the plant. In Italian, “Belladonna” also translates to “pretty woman.” In the 16th century, Italian women took the berry juice to make their pupils more enhanced, as they believed it made a woman more alluring.
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The leaves and roots were commonly used in medicine despite being toxic and unsafe. It has been a sedative to stop bronchial spasms in asthma and whooping cough, and a remedy for the common cold and hay fever. Parkinson’s disease, colic, joint pain, and nerve pain have also seen the medicinal effects of Belladonna. However, it is vital to note that you should not use unless prescribed by your doctor, and it is probably best to avoid altogether. It is definitely more dangerous than helpful. They used it back in a time when there weren’t many medicinal options, unlike today.
What attracted me to using Deadly Nightshade as a murder method for this killer, I think, was the notion of something being used to enhance beauty, while being poisonous. Beauty standards being toxic is something that has stood the test of time and is more relevant now than ever, both for men and women. We are bombarded by expectations of how our bodies should look, which diets we should be on, and how to attain this illusion of unattainable perfection. Basically, I took this and paired it with the personality it matched with: Narcissism. Beauty kills. It is something we as humans have always thrived to reach, have put our bodies and souls through torture trying to attain, and it consumes our society. Most advertising targeting women pertains to beauty, while marketing campaigns simultaneously tell men how to be more masculine.
It is poison.
I read in one of my research books that narcissists are attracted to three career types: entertainment, law enforcement and politics. Sometimes inspiration is nothing more than a few pieces falling into the right place at the right time.
Despite being such a lovely flower, the side effects and resulting death from ingestion is anything but. Atropine is the poisonous compound found in the plant. It doesn’t show up on a typical toxicology test, requiring a further test to trace its presence in a body. A dose as small as 10 mg will kill a human adult within six to 24 hours, depending on the dose. A victim’s hair can also be tested for atropine and to find how long they were being dosed for prior to death. Atropine crosses the blood-brain barrier to cause sedation, disorientation, short-term memory loss, and death. It blocks functions of the body’s nervous system. The death itself results from respiratory failure. Other side effects can include dry mouth, enlarged pupils, blurred vision, red dry skin, fever, fast heart rate, hallucinations, mental problems, convulsions and loss of voice.
Death can be slow or quick. Like any poison, it has that element of control over when death happens and how torturous it will be. It is one reason poison is a common weapon for female serial killers. Not only is it a murder method that involves little cleanup (let the person die where they are, let the ambulance or coroner take them away), it includes that ability to adjust to whichever level of sadism the killer wants to use.
Accessibility is another factor for women who kill with poison. Arsenic was easy to buy in the form of rat poison and commonly kept in homes years ago. Anti-freeze is still a choice of poison for some women. Deadly Nightshade is legal to grow and cultivate. It is also a native plant to many parts of Europe. Some Nightshade species are native to North America. One of my online American friends found Black Nightshade randomly growing in her mother’s garden recently. It is Belladonna’s slightly less toxic cousin and has white flowers instead of purple. Potato and tomato plants are also part of the Nightshade family. The leaves and flowers of potato plants are highly toxic. Tomato plants are less so, but one should still take care when handling them. The veggies from both plants, once ripe, however, are safe.
I think that wraps up the research portion of my “Belladonna’s Roots” series. Next week, we’ll delve into the characters: Alyssa and Thayer. We’ll take an up-close look into Alyssa’s character profile and what inspired me to create her and write her story. I hope you’re enjoying this series! Is there something else you’d like to hear about from within this story? Let me know!
The next installment of this blog series carries on here.
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