A BBC journalist living in London went home during
his lunch break on a seemingly ordinary day.
While he was heading back to work, a sudden, piercing pain struck his leg.
Someone had bumped into his leg with the pointy end of their umbrella.
Confused about the accident, with his leg in pain, the journalist continued
to the office, where he noticed a small bump and swelling on his thigh.
Within hours, the man was severely ill and had to be hospitalized.
Doctors thought he might have blood poisoning, but he
adamantly believed that someone intentionally harmed him.
How could a stranger’s umbrella possibly be the cause?
Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian man who worked at the
BBC as a journalist and lived in London, England.
One day in September 1978, he was working a double and
went home for a lunch break after his morning shift.
On his way back to the office, he had to board a bus to cross a bridge.
As he approached the lineup, he felt a
strange, stinging pain in the back of his leg.
Georgi turned and scanned the crowd around him—there
were people gathering for the bus, and a man who
mumbled an apology as he picked up a dropped umbrella.
Georgi’s jeans had a small spot of blood on them,
but it wasn’t enough to stop him from going to work.
He told his colleagues about the strange experience and showed one of his
friends his thigh, which had a small bump, like a pimple, and was swelling.
Things escalated quickly from there.
By nighttime, Georgi was running a high fever and quickly getting worse.
He was rushed to hospital, where doctors guessed he had blood poisoning.
While Georgi fought for his life, people
scrambled to try to understand his condition.
Georgi had been paranoid for some time now that
he was a target for assassination attempts.
Could his illness have a more sinister explanation?
And if so, who wanted to get rid of him?
Before Georgi lived in England, he was a
famous author and playwright in Bulgaria.
He wanted to study literature from a young age, but
at the advice of his father, trained as a chemical
engineer instead and started teaching the subject.
When Georgi was 19, he came down with tuberculosis
from having worked in a factory when he was younger.
While recovering from his illness, he
was able to indulge his love of writing.
Georgi’s first work was a collection of science fiction short
stories, which was successful enough to inspire him to quit teaching.
Five years later, he published his breakthrough
novel Muzhe about three young men coming of age.
It made him a literary star and received lots of praise
and awards, and Georgi began to mix with elite society.
Today’s video is sponsored by NordVPN.
When it comes to cybersecurity, you’ve probably heard of
doxxing before, but are you familiar with DDoS attacks?
It stands for Distributed denial-of-service, and it’s when a
hacker sends lots of “packets” of information to your IP address
all at the same time, slowing down your internet service.
NordVPN helps you hide your IP through a virtual private
network, instead of your computer being inundated with data,
it’s just the VPN, so you don’t see any service disruptions.
NordVPN also encrypts all your data so your
ISP can’t slow down your streaming speeds!
NordVPN has over 5500 servers worldwide, so you can use Nord’s services
to gain access to geolocked media that’s unavailable in your home country.
You can even use it to find sales on video games,
as well as gain access to international servers!
Not to mention that NordVPN is the fastest VPN out there,
and you can access it on 6 devices on every major platform!
That’s Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS!
Click our link, Nordvpn.com/BREW in the description below to get
an additional 4 bonus months on top of all plans and products.
It’s risk free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
That’s nordvpn.com/BREW for 4 free months on top of any VPN plan.
Now, let’s get back into it!
Georgi’s work was so admired that Todor Zhivkov, the Bulgarian
leader at the time, invited the promising young writer into his inner
circle, hoping that he would create works that supported his regime.
Georgi never did that, but as he continued to grow as a writer, his
works were denounced and censored by the pro-Communist government.
Despite this, Georgi became a successful and popular author, though
he resented the censorship and political aggression he faced.
His plays were closed down and criticized
for being “ideologically unsound.”
Georgi’s relationship with his home country became even more sour when
authorities continued to increase their pressure on him, so in 1969 he
left Bulgaria to live with his brother in Italy, leaving behind his wife.
After living in Italy for a few years, Georgi
tried to extend his passport but was rejected.
Instead of returning, he officially relocated to London, England, learned
English, and became a journalist and broadcaster at BBC World Service.
Back home, Georgi was considered a defector and a wanted man.
The Bulgarian secret service opened an investigation into him with
the nickname “The Wanderer.” His works were removed from bookstores
and libraries, his plays were banned, his name was wiped from
all media, and a court sentenced him to over six years in prison.
But over in England, Georgi enjoyed freedom and success with
his writing, and he became famous for his In Absentia Reports, a
weekly radio broadcast that analyzed life in communist Bulgaria.
For two years, he also reported through Radio Free
Europe, a source of uncensored news and information for
countries like Bulgaria, who were under Soviet control.
Georgi was harsh and openly critical of communist
governments, making him an enemy of the regime.
Having received threats towards his life, Georgi became paranoid
about assassination attempts—he would only eat at home, keep his
travel plans secret, and sometimes lock himself in his office.
It turns out, he was right to be worried.
As he fought for his life after his sudden illness,
Georgi recalled his steps to pinpoint what had happened.
The experience that stood out to him was the sharp pain in his leg, and he
thought about the man with the umbrella who was near him when it happened.
The man’s face had been turned the other way when he picked up his
umbrella, but in hindsight, Georgi remembered that he was a large person
in his 40s, and that he had spoken with an accent when he apologized.
The man had then quickly entered a taxi and left the scene,
which was odd as most people were around to board a bus.
There wasn't much to go on, but the interaction had stuck
in Georgi’s mind, and he told his coworkers at BBC about it.
After one day in the hospital, Georgi went into shock.
Doctors tried tirelessly to treat him, but two
days later he had a heart attack and passed away.
While his passing was front page news in England,
the incident was kept quiet in Soviet circles.
Due to the strange circumstances of Georgi’s illness and his
difficult relationship with the Bulgarian government, Scotland
Yard opened an investigation into his mysterious demise.
Initially, doctors believed his condition was caused by either septicemia,
a form of blood poisoning caused by bacterial toxins, or kidney failure.
But during an autopsy, they made an incredible discovery.
A tiny metal pellet the size of a pinhead
was embedded in Georgi’s right thigh.
The pellet had extremely small holes in it, but they were
empty, so doctors didn’t know what had been inside it.
It was clear that Georgi’s illness was not natural—and perhaps
the man with the umbrella did have something to do with it.
The investigation became more serious, with the
British Anti-Terrorist Squad joining Scotland Yard.
After several weeks of research and experimenting, a coroner concluded
that a poison called ricin had led to Georgi’s illness, and it became
official that he had been “unlawfully killed.” The pellet had been
injected into his leg, then the poison inside it entered his body.
Investigators travelled to France, Italy, Germany, and
the US in search of suspects, but none were identified.
The case was a worldwide scandal and remained an unsolved
mystery until 1993, fifteen years after Georgi’s death.
Ricin is a poison that naturally occurs in castor beans.
The castor bean plant is native to east Africa and the Mediterranean,
but can be commonly found in tropical and subtropical climates worldwide.
Often considered a weed, it’s toxic to
humans, dogs, cats, and other animals.
The “beans” are not true beans, but seeds that grow on the plant.
Ricin can be dissolved in liquid, or made
into a powder, a pellet, and even a mist.
Castor beans are processed worldwide to make castor oil,
a vegetable oil used for medical purposes claiming to
kill cancer cells; or in cosmetics for nourishing skin.
In the production process, ricin is part of
the waste “mash”, left after making the oil.
Extracting ricin from the castor beans for poison is a deliberate act,
the substance isn’t found anywhere else and castor oil doesn’t contain it.
When it enters the body, ricin prevents
the cells from making necessary proteins.
The cells eventually die without the proteins they need, causing
damage to the entire body and possibly ending someone’s life.
Ricin poisoning may affect the body differently depending
on whether the substance was eaten, injected, or inhaled.
If ricin is inhaled, the symptoms would be difficulty breathing,
fever, cough, nausea, and a feeling of tightness in the chest,
followed by intense sweating and fluid buildup in the lungs.
Low blood pressure and respiratory failure are possible and can be fatal.
If a person is exposed to ricin through the
skin or eyes, symptoms are much less severe.
Contact with ricin can cause redness and pain,
and the added risk of accidental ingestion.
Consuming ricin leads to vomiting, diarrhea,
dehydration, and low blood pressure.
Seizures are also possible.
It takes several days, but the body’s liver, spleen,
and kidneys could stop working, which may cause death.
Known cases of ricin poisoning are rare, and it’s
even more uncommon for it to be accidentally consumed,
but it did happen to a 70-year-old man in Malta.
The man was admitted to a hospital due to
vomiting, extreme diarrhea, and stomach pain.
He was found to have low blood pressure, a racing heart, and dehydration.
Ricin poisoning was confirmed when the man showed the doctors
some castor beans that he had found outside and eaten ten of.
After a week of supportive care, the man recovered and returned home.
Which is a happy ending to this story, but please
please please— don’t eat random beans you find outside~!
In Georgi’s case, the ricin was injected via a pellet, which seems to
have caused a mix of symptoms like when the poison is inhaled or ingested.
In severe cases, the damage to the organs is the main concern.
Signs of ricin poisoning typically show in less than 10 hours but
can be as early as 4 hours after exposure, or as late as 24 hours.
Depending on the type of exposure, ricin
poisoning is fatal within 2-3 days.
There is no cure for ricin poisoning, so avoiding
contact is the only way to be protected from it.
If exposure occurs, the most important thing is to get
the ricin off or out of the body as soon as possible.
If it has been released, people should quickly leave the area, remove
clothing, thoroughly wash their body and eyes, and seek medical care.
If it was ingested, doctors may flush the stomach, but
people should not force themselves to vomit or drink fluids.
Medical care includes supportive treatment for the
symptoms, such as helping victims breathe, medication for
seizures and low blood pressure, and providing IV fluids.
Ricin poisoning is not contagious, but if it is on someone’s
body or clothes then accidental exposure is possible.
Several years after Georgi’s passing, and after the fall of the
Berlin Wall, a shocking confession led to the first break in the case.
Two former KGB officers publicly admitted that
the Soviets helped commit Georgi’s assassination.
Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB colonel, was a long-time double agent who
disagreed with the Soviet regime and was a spy for British intelligence.
And Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general who had since left
Russia, and was involved in the planning of the operation.
According to Kalugin, Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov had called
for Georgi’s death in order to silence his most influential critic.
Kalugin was at a KGB meeting where they discussed the
Bulgarian request for Moscow’s help with the plot.
The KGB decided that they would provide technical help and their resources,
but leave the actual execution of the plan to the Bulgarian government.
Actually, more than one plan was executed—Georgi had been
the unknowing target of at least three murderous plots.
The first one was in Munich, Germany, the spring before his passing.
Someone put a toxin in his drink at a dinner party in his honour, but
it didn’t work—perhaps because Georgi was always cautious at parties and
believed that poison would be the most likely method of assassination.
The second attempt was in Sardinia, an Italian
island, while Georgi was on a family summer vacation.
The third attempt was the one that took his life.
The poison pellet was said to be developed in a top-secret
KGB lab known as the “Chamber.” It was confirmed that Georgi’s
suspicions about the man with the umbrella were spot on— the
ricin pellet was reportedly hidden in the tip of the umbrella.
It took only 450 micrograms to end Georgi’s life.
The man with the umbrella was allegedly a low-level Italian criminal,
so Georgi’s memory of his accent was likely accurate as well.
The most popular theory is that the umbrella had a canister of
compressed air that could fire the poison pellet at a target.
The pellet had a coating on it, designed to melt at human
body temperature, so after it was lodged in Georgi’s leg,
the coating melted, and the ricin was absorbed into his body.
According to a report in The Guardian, after Todor Zhivkov’s fall, a stack
of these special umbrellas was found in the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior.
Today, this type of “umbrella gun” is known as a Bulgarian umbrella.
Ella ella eh eh…
Ten days before Georgi was poisoned, a similar
umbrella attack targeted Vladimir Kostov, another
Bulgarian dissident, while he was in the Paris Metro.
Vladimir became sick with fever and stiffness but survived
because, luckily for him, the pellet had landed in
the muscle in his back, away from major blood vessels.
The coating on the pellet didn’t melt completely,
so the ricin wasn’t fully absorbed, saving his life.
After details of Georgi’s poisoning came
out, the investigation was reignited.
Scotland Yard and Bulgarian officials looked
for documentation and evidence of what happened.
But the officials who had been involved reacted quickly.
Ten volumes of material on the case and all traces of the crime vanished.
Vladimir Todorov, the former chief of intelligence in Bulgaria, was
found guilty of destroying the files and received sixteen months in jail.
Stoyan Savov, the deputy interior minister, took his own
life instead of facing trial for covering up the crime.
And to top it off, Vasil Kotsev, a Bulgarian spy suspected to be
the leader of the plot, died in an unexplained car accident.
In 1993, Francesco Gullino, the main suspect believed to
be the umbrella man, was found in Denmark and questioned.
Unfortunately, the interrogation was inconclusive, and he fled the country.
He reportedly passed away in Austria just recently, in 2021.
At this point, we may never know the full details of the umbrella
assassination, but we have a pretty good idea of the overall plot.
Georgi was a brave man who wasn’t afraid to speak up when he
felt something was wrong, and his work as a reporter provided
hope and truth to thousands of people during a time of fear.
At the end of the day, it’s more important to
remember what he stood for during his life.
Remember, check out Nordvpn.com/Brew for the complete
cybersecurity package offer with an additional 4 months free!