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[Shadows of Assassination: Three Historical Tales of Targeted Hits]-[The Hit]

MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories · B2 · 2024-01-11

True crime
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📋 Summary

Shadows of Assassination: Three Historical Tales of Targeted Hits

This episode of the Mr. Ballin podcast delves into the dark and mysterious world of political assassinations and professional hits, presenting three chilling narratives that highlight the lethality and precision of targeted violence.

The Umbrella Assassin: The Death of Georgi Markov

In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian-born reporter for the BBC, experienced a life-altering moment on London's Waterloo Bridge. While waiting for a bus in the rain, he felt a "shooting pain in the back of his right thigh." Initially dismissing it as a bug bite or a poke from a pen, Markov’s condition deteriorated rapidly. Upon his death, an autopsy revealed a "man-made metallic disc" embedded in his leg, which contained ricin—an "extremely powerful poison" with no known antidote.

Evidence points toward the KGB, with former officer Oleg Kalugin claiming responsibility for overseeing the assassination program. The theory suggests an operative used a specialized umbrella to jab Markov with the poisoned disc, which was coated in wax that melted upon contact with body heat, delivering a lethal dose of ricin.

The Houston Mystery: The Twin Tragedies of Mary Morris

In October 2000, the city of Houston was rocked by the deaths of two women sharing the name Mary Morris. The first, Mary Lou Morris, was found dead in her "smoldering car," a scene staged to look like a suicide. Shortly after, Mary McGinnis Morris, a nurse practitioner who had expressed fears regarding a hostile coworker, was found dead in her vehicle with a gunshot wound.

Investigators noted haunting similarities: both women were missing their wedding rings—often a signal in "professional hit" circles that a job is complete—and both scenes were staged. While theories emerged that Mary McGinnis was the intended target and Mary Lou was an accidental victim, the cases remain cold, despite suspicions surrounding the husbands and coworkers involved.

Live on Television: The Assassination of Inajiro Asanuma

In 1960, Japan witnessed one of its "darkest moments" broadcast live on national television. Seventeen-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi, a radical right-wing ultra-nationalist, infiltrated a political debate at the Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo. Armed with a "samurai sword" hidden in a package, Yamaguchi charged the stage and assassinated Inajiro Asanuma, the chairman of the Japan Socialist Party.

Yamaguchi’s motive was rooted in his belief that Asanuma was "slowly transforming Japan into a communist country." The event was captured by a photographer whose iconic image of the assassination later won a Pulitzer Prize. Yamaguchi, who stated in a note that he "couldn't forgive" the politician, committed suicide in prison shortly after the attack.

Conclusion

These stories serve as grim reminders of the fragility of life when caught in the crosshairs of ideological extremism or cold-blooded professional malice. From the high-tech precision of ricin poisoning to the raw brutality of a public sword attack, these cases remain etched in history as examples of how quickly the ordinary can turn into the extraordinary and deadly.

🎯Key Sentences

1
it really should be made into a movie.
2
there weren't that many scenarios that made sense to him.
3
he was still trying to kind of write it off.
4
nothing was working.
5
his condition seemed to get worse, not better.
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📝Key Phrases

1
take to doing something
2
take in the sights
3
get soaked
4
have a distance to cover
5
dwell on something
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📖 Transcript

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music.
Download the Amazon Music app today. Today's podcast features three crazy stories about political assassinations and professional hits.
The audio from all three of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode.
The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description.
The first story you'll hear is called Bug Bite, and it's about a reporter who feels a pain in his leg and assumes it's just a bug bite.
But the truth was much worse. The second story you'll hear is called Professional Job, and the series of events in this story are so crazy, it really should be made into a movie.

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