Stanley's Victorian Poison Discovery

0:00On March 20th, a Labrador named Stanley made a shocking discovery in his owner's garden in Clist-Honatan, Devon. While digging persistently under the lawn, he unearthed a bright blue Victorian era vile, Mart, not to be taken. The 49-year-old owner, Paul Phillips, initially mistook it for a pipe, but soon realized it was a poison bottle from the mid-1800s. Likely tied to a murder case from 1865, just two doors down. Marianne Ashford, who lived nearby back then, poisoned her husband William's tea with arsenic. A shoemaker, with an estate worth 120 pounds, he left everything to her. She wanted the money to run off with her lover, a worker at his bakery. Arrested soon after his sudden death, tests found poison traces on her clothes. Her public hanging on March 28th, 1866, drew 20,000 spectators outside Exeter's County, Gail. The execution dragged on for minutes due to a mishap, sparking outrage that helped end public hangings in Britain.

1:01Phillips researched the pristine bottle and connected it to the Ashford's old home, possibly a cider barn on the property. He suspects it was buried to hide evidence, as no one would bury a legitimate rat poison that way. The family remains captivated by this slice of dark history, with the bottle now safely stored in their garage. Family, meanwhile, has lost interest in that patch of lawn.