The scenario is reminiscent of a forwarded email tale about a woman in Texas who accepted a business card from a stranger and experienced similar symptoms. The card was supposedly laced with a powerful intoxicant known as "burundanga." The drug is known to have been used by criminals in South America to incapacitate their victims, though not, in any documented instances, by means of tainted slips of paper or business cards. Email rumors notwithstanding, I have yet to hear of a confirmed case of burundanga assault in the United States.
In a statement issued today, Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin confirmed that an incident involving a woman falling ill after accepting a piece of paper from a stranger did occur last Sunday, but it's "highly unlikely" the symptoms were the result of a toxin in or on the paper itself. He speculated that the woman's reaction was more probably "anxiety related," though he acknowledges there's no way to prove either scenario given that investigators weren't able to recover the paper for analysis and the victim didn't undergo medical testing.
As to why the suspect gave the woman the slip of paper in the first place — he thought she was "cute," he told the police. The paper contained his phone number.
Read more:
• Woman Falls Ill After Being Handed Suspicious Paper at Gas Station
• South KC Incident Sounded Like Urban Legend
• KCPD Chief: What Really Happened in Email that's Going Around
• Burundanga Drug Warning - Urban Legend
Comments
I don’t know how else to get in touch with you about it, but browsing around on your site I came across photos you seem uncertain about comming from a victim of a spider bite. I have seen both the hand and the photos before, years ago, when I worked in the Orleans Parish Prison during a massive infestation of brown recluse spiders. I don’t know if you are aware of how hard to get rid of they are, but unless a female is laying she can go months without eating and therefore never get the poison you spray constantly into her system. We had many problem, the worst of which were havily documented and phtographed for insurance purposes. One was a man bitten on his left thumb which eventually got so bad the thumb and finger beside it were later amputated, and the file photos look remarkably similar to the ones you have on your site. That being said, if they are file photos, someone seriously ignored security protocols allowing it to get into mainstream internet, although there are copies on a secured mainframe.
I visited Caracas, Venezuela a couple years ago for business. Our company security personnel gave me a briefing of Caracas and how to handle yourself and others.
One of the items he mentioned was NOT to touch any magazines in taxi cabs. He mentioned they can be laced with a drug made from a local flower. It supposedly removed the ability to say “no” to people yet you were still awake and aware.
The example the security personnel gave was someone then knocked on their hotel door, and asked them to sign over 3 blank checks that the thieves would later cash. The victim knew what was going on but could not say “no”. The security personnel were very serious, so I take it to be true yet I didn’t experience it myself.
He said this drug (at the time) had not yet been spread to other areas of the world.
This is sort of true. As of the 5th/6th of August 2010 it was on the news that there was indeed a person who had been “poisoned” by a guy who had stopped her at a gas station then followed her to a Mac Donalds where she did try to get help but no one believed her! The guy finally left when she called 911. A 2nd victim came forward & said that the same guy accosted her in the parking lot of a local grocery store! Police were still looking for other victims, but said that they did have a suspect in custody.
I say sort of true because the guy just didn’t say that she was “cute” this suspect asked the gal in the grocery store parking lot if she was in a relationship, then exposed himself. He also exposed him to the woman in gas station parking lot.
So for the second unless this guy had a partner we here in Kansas City can shop a little easier knowing that one nut job is off the streets.