eldergays, tell me about the big tylenol / chicago murders in 1982

I was working in PR at the time and handled media monitoring on the issue. J&J really rose to the challenge. They wanted to know everything, and I do mean everything, being said about their product, and had PR teams responding to any negative comments about the product.

The perpetrator has never been conclusively identified, although the man who sent the extortion letters was a prime suspect.

It made every single bottle of anything have a safety seal. that started almost immediately after this.

My dad actually worked on the Tylenol crime when he was a Director with FDA. He's gone now. I wish I could call him for information to add to this thread.

To me, it was just one of many chapters to come of the erosion on trust and innocence.

This seems strange now, but I was a kid at the time, and for some reason I think people took this as a sign that it was not safe for kids to trick or treat and get candy from random houses. The town stressed having neighborhood parties and trick or treating took a hit for a few years.

Never found out who exactly did it. But it was scary - you have a headache and take cyanide laced capsules and die instantly.

People didn't know if it was only Tylenol - so many over the counter medicines were suspect. And a lot of food too. And like above said, bottles from then out had tamper-resistant packaging.

I'm surprised Tylenol actually made it through and survived as a brand. A lot of black humor jokes about the product.

"Eldergays?"

Bitch, you're 43 years old. You ARE an eldergay.

In fact, you're practically dead in gay years. So get the fuck over yourself.

I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, the sugar bowl or salt and pepper seller on the dining room table in your favorite restaurant, if you ever got out of the house, I mean. Some places have the creamer container they pass from table to table, blech! It's good to know we haven't sunk that low as a people.

I was just retiring at 67 and living in Chicago at the time, now a suburb in Michigan and this was very concerning especially for my age. Luckily nobody that I knew was poisoned by the drug tampering. A child did die from the cyanide, unfortunately. I switched to Tylenol tablets until J&J said it was safe to return to capsules. I also took Anacin as an alternative. However, the recall cost the company over 100 million, and in 1982, that was a lot of money. But, they recovered.

Do they still make anacin?

R8, how old are you? Are you cackle-cackle?

How about Aids weigh loss pills. Boy, are they effective! Do they still make them?

R4, I remember it that way, too. The deaths happened right before Halloween, and everyone panicked. People did not want to risk some copycat poisoning their kids' candy. I was 14 and had grown out of trick or treating, but I felt bad for the younger kids. IMHO, that was the beginning of the decline of going door to door for many communities. Before Tylenol, we were swarmed with kids on Halloween night. After it, only a few close neighbors would bring their kids around. Pretty sad, really.

Was it just Tylenol?

[quote]How about Aids weigh loss pills. Boy, are they effective! Do they still make them?

1. AYDS, not Aids.

2. They were chewable candies, not pills.

r13 that was an active rumour--that other products were hit, but they were found on the shelves so it never became public. Plausible, but that doesn't mean it's true.

I'm a junior e-gay, so that was before my time; I only read about it after the fact.

"To me, it was just one of many chapters to come of the erosion on trust and innocence,"

Agree completely.

I thought AYDS were suppositories.

R17 No. But I'm sure you enjoyed using them that way.

So, Miss R8 marked her 100th birthday this year. Congratulations!

According to this article, one of the suspects was the Unabomber.

With so many cameras around, could they do this sort of thing now? even restaurants have cameras, for those now fearing salt shakers.

Also, DNA is the thing now...

Holy shit, I actually remember this. Just barely but I do. I never remember things like this. I can't believe it was that long ago.

Comment from r20's link --

Cheryl Eddy

12/29/14 2:49pm

Only seven at the time but I remember how this was HUGE news in Chicago, people terrified and still recall seeing hordes of pill bottles in garbage bins around the neighborhood.

Should be happy this was 1982, just imagine how today's cable news would be driving the fear up with non-stop "DEATH ON THE SHELVES" headlines and stories.

I live outside the US and it affected us as well. The fear of copycats was everywhere. And yes Halloween was affected by this then. Really scary.

Yeah, imagine how our 24-hr news and Internet would be handling a story like this today. God, it would be terrifying.

Why do you think one of our trolls wanted to know what pills you take? Planning....

I always thought it was somebody who didn't live in the area but traveled there a lot, like a disgruntled current or former Tylenol employee.

And it was the same time as the AIDS.

I think John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer were more relevant to the loss of innocence in that period.

I mean you trusted men. You typically had sex with people whose names you never learned and they were your brothers.

There was that sort of thing with straight people too, r23 -- remember the film John and Mary?

The Oral History

R25, You are so right about the 24 hour coverage. If it happened today the Kardashians would have 25 articles on TMZ, Daily Mail and other sites (with 10 year old pictures of Kim) talking about how this affected their daily lives.

I was in grade school when this happened, but I still remember it pretty well. My parents and their friends talked about it constantly and everybody was scared, and we didn't live anywhere near Chicago. I guess it was thought that it could happen anywhere. Of course, my mom threw out all the Tylenol in the house.

I was 9 and soooooo scared. Still am!

Our MD warned us against Tylenol long before this, so we felt all smug with our aspirin tablets until we learned it is easy to poison those too

I crapped my pants. Literally.

Part of the Republican strategy to ramp up the fear factor and turn people against each other. There were lots of bogeyman stories emerging at this time: razors/poison in candy, witchcraft in kid's shows and games, sex cults in preschools, stranger danger everywhere. The list is pretty extensive. Most of it was filtering out through the evangelical movement and was a natural outgrowth of the Southern strategy first envisioned in the 60s and enacted in the 70s. Same strategy is in use in pulpits across America today: gay marriage, taking away guns, fears of socialism. Preying on people's fears and creating a society of paranoids is a great way to control them.

Or r37 it was some random psycho who did the poisonings for shits and giggles because he was a sick, disturbed fuck. Jesus Christ not everything is about politics.

Most of the people I knew thought it was some random crazy person. We were surprised that they never caught the person. I do remember a guy I worked with refused to eat fresh fruit and vegetables because "they are so easy to inject with poison" but he lived for drama and intrigue.

[quote]The perpetrator has never been conclusively identified, although the man who sent the extortion letters was a prime suspect.

His name was James William Lewis and he certainly did it. They couldn't link him up because he was in NYC and they couldn't explain how he got to Chicago and back with no one knowing. IF they could've done it, he would've easily been convicted. They know who did it, they couldn't prove it.

I often wonder how many people did this type of thing before and got away with it. The cops only caught on because of the several deaths in one household. Adam Janus, his brother Stanley and his sister in law. If those three hadn't all died in the same house, the cops were not likely to ever have caught on.

"Holy shit, I actually remember this. Just barely but I do. I never remember things like this. I can't believe it was that long ago."

How's the Alzheimer's dear?

"I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, the sugar bowl or salt and pepper seller on the dining room table in your favorite restaurant"

Oh, dear!

One of the victims bought her poisoned Tylenol at the Walgreen's on Division and Wells across the street from Second City. I remember that from the local news but no one ever refers to Walgreen's as the Tylenol murders Walgreen's to my knowledge.

*that* (particular) Walgreen's

r21 DNA evidence is problematic on many levels. The general public was sold the "slam dunk" version that is not the truth. Of course, most criminal investigation methods are either not scientifically proven and/or accurate as performed.

Maybe the perp just doesn't care about all that, video & DNA. So what about DNA!

Remember the big Rely tampons debacle?

Not really r47. I suppose I could look it up to refresh my memory. I do remember a joke from that era. What's the definition of loser? A woman who drives a Ford Pinto and uses Rely tampons.

[quote]Remember the big Rely tampons debacle?

toxic shock syndrome! I recall that my aunts, all young close sisters in their twenties, one gave the other a box or rely tampons for Christmas that year, a gag gift, my poor mother had to explain why they were laughing.

[quote]One of the victims bought her poisoned Tylenol at the Walgreen's on Division and Wells across the street from Second City. I remember that from the local news but no one ever refers to that Walgreen's as the Tylenol murders Walgreen's to my knowledge.

My friend was the manager of that Walgreens. Boy was his life ever a living hell for about 6 months. He was transferred to a Loop store as soon as the dust settled.

No one told him anything.

I worked at one of the hospitals where one patient died. The doctors had no idea she was poisoned at first. She lived on my street, her husband was under suspicion . The police made us search through our files for admissions.

The makers of Tylenol wanted it all hushed up. They did not want a warning put on their bottles...the dangers of liver failure and death. Maybe 20 years later they hard to put a warning on their packaging.

A child had died and a father wanted justice...

You can take tylenol rectally.

They did arrest a man but it was covered up. He felt like the company that made Tylenol would finally be exposed if he caused the deaths, it did not help because our pharmicutical companies are so strong. He probably died in prison.

The TruTV Crime Library has been taken offline unfortunately but its article was good and here it is on archive.org.

R39,

[quote]but he lived for drama and intrigue[/quote]

!!!

Apparently your friend is posting on this thread, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

dammit, my outrageously funny comedy bit was RUINED by my awful tagging flub.

I'm sorry, everyone.

A friend of mine went as a Rely tampon for Halloween that year.

It was great. Able to disenfranchised outsider loser from the rest of the pack when they threatened us with taking Tylenol. Unfortunately they went on to live, despite our wishes

I have met over people who had destroyed their livers with Tylenol. It's sad and the company has pretty much gotten away with many murders. Nothing new, I suppose.

....

My pussy stinks so much that I gave toxic shock syndrome TO my tampon.

It bothers me to think we'll never know who was behind it.

I still suspect my son, Conrad.

It's weird that potassium cyanide was used in the production of Tylenol and then a madman would use the same poison to tamper with the pills after they were produced. It's quite a coincidence.