Knives and other WMD

Novels and newspapers recounting the commission of homicides often supply details of the offending WMD, Weapons of Murderous Deeds. Among the strangest, and most cunning of objects utilized (IMHO) are: an icicle to stab a victim - before the weapon melts; and a frozen leg of lamb to bludgeon a person, then thawed, cooked, and eaten (the leg of lamb, not the person).

Other unconventional objects employed are snow-scene paperweights; foods that trigger allergic reactions (think CSI’s shrimp on the lips); and hypodermic needles. Trophies are often obtained with the use of a knife: scalps, noses, fingers, eyelids, ears, gold teeth, and other “appendages.”

A list of tried-and-true weapons includes train tracks, toilet bowls, the Brooklyn Bridge, a speeding bus, and the computer-tied-to-a-chair bomb in the elevator shaft from Die Hard.

Yet, the most chilling of murder weapons (again, IMHO) is the knife. Imagine the blade as it slices a wrist, an inner thigh or underarm, and the soft tissue below the jawline where the carotid artery lies. The horror of this weapon is reflected in Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel killings and the senseless mutilation of Sharon Tate by members of the Manson family.

What other weapon generates such chills?