Up next in 10
The weirdest weapons in history include a military-grade stink bomb, a pistol disguised as a tube of lipstick, and earthenware pots filled with venomous snakes. Erin breaks down those weird weapons and more in this episode of The List Show.
"Weird weapons" is obviously a subjective term, but we think each of these weapons (whether deployed or just proposed) have something strange enough about them to merit inclusion on this list. We'll even cover a "dog doo transmitter," which isn't a weapon at all, but does have the words "dog doo" featured prominently in its name.
In case you forgot, The List Show is a trivia-tastic, fact-filled show for curious people. Subscribe here for new Mental Floss episodes every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ5qUqpW4hW4zdfuBxMSJA?sub_confirmation=1
Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss?sub_confirmation=1
About Mental Floss:
Mental Floss is where curious people come for trivia-tastic information. Mental Floss produces lists of fun facts, debunks common misconceptions, and tells untold stories from history, science, culture and more.
Website: http://www.mentalfloss.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mental_floss
Facebook: https://facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine
Copyright Notice: This video and YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are property of Mental Floss. You are authorized to share the video link and channel, and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to this YouTube Channel is provided.
2025 Mental Floss
10 Weird Weapons From History | Mental Floss
https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
In 1943, a chemist named Ernest Crocker was recruited to create a military-grade stink bomb
0:05
Crocker had previously worked on developing poisonous gases for the military and would
0:09
spend his life studying smells and flavors, so he was the perfect candidate to produce this
0:13
pungent weapon. The final formula included scatol, a compound that makes feces smell like feces
0:19
amylmercaptan, and a variety of acids, resulting in a concoction of smells evoking vomit
0:24
rancid butter, foot odor, and urine. Yuck. The unfortunate technicians who designed the
0:28
packaging would, reportedly, often end up covered in the stench. If you thought this stinky weapon was going to be used to disrupt combat on the battlefield
0:36
think again. The actual plan was to supply the stink bomb to resistance groups, who would use it to
0:42
spray Axis officers to embarrass them and, in turn, reduce overall troop morale
0:47
That's why the weapon was called, and I am deadly serious. Who, me
0:51
600 units were prepped for deployment, but the war ended before the spray saw any action
0:56
Hi I'm Erin McCarthy, Editor-in-Chief of MentalFloss.com, and welcome to The List Show
1:00
Who me? is just one example of weird warfare from history. We've got an interesting mix
1:05
for you today, from weapons involving venomous snakes to ships made of ice. Let's get started
1:17
Long before arcade-goers started fishing stuffed animals out of a box in the Crane Game, there
1:21
was the Claw of Archimedes. This ancient weapon was used prominently when Rome
1:26
attack Syracuse. It's described as a sort of crane equipped with a claw-like hook that
1:30
was able to lift enemy ships into the air, causing them to capsize
1:34
Here's a painting of the Claw of Archimedes drawn by Giulio Pedrighi, which seems to be
1:38
a pretty literal interpretation of an iron claw. It was originally devised by, you guessed
1:43
it, Archimedes, and was used to defend Syracuse from the attacking Roman fleet. Historians
1:48
attribute many Roman losses to these machines, along with catapults and other innovative weapons
1:52
of the time. During World War II, the Nazis developed a very strange cannon
1:58
Instead of launching a projectile, the Wind Cannon, as it was known, was meant to crash
2:02
low-flying enemy aircrafts with a blast of air. The Wind Cannon was a 35-foot cast iron tube with a 3-foot diameter
2:08
When fired an oxygen mixture exploded in the chamber forcing a rush of air through the cannon The wind was supposed to disrupt aircraft up to 150 meters away but as it turns out even if you could target a plane blasting some air at planes didn do much damage After all planes are built
2:24
to deal with pretty high levels of turbulence, as we discussed in our episode of Misconceptions
2:28
about flying. One of the German wind cannons was mounted on a bridge over the River Elbe
2:33
but it proved rather useless, and the weapon was eventually abandoned. That's not the only bizarre weapon tried out during World War II. In 1943, the British
2:41
directorate of miscellaneous weapons development, which I've been assured is not a Monty Python
2:45
sketch, was asked to develop a weapon that could penetrate the Atlantic wall, an extensive
2:50
system of Nazi-built coastal fortifications. The DMWD's solution? The Panjandrum. The huge
2:56
contraption consisted of two big metal wheels connected by a drum-like axle, fixed with rockets
3:01
on the wheels to propel the whole thing forward. The Panjandrum was packed with explosives
3:05
so it was supposed to march menacingly toward the wall, crash into it, and BOOM
3:10
Before it saw battle, it was tested on an English beach. It was apparently very impressive
3:15
for about 20 seconds. At that point, the 70 cordite rockets attached to the steel wheels
3:20
began to dislodge and shoot in all directions. Generals reportedly ran for cover as a dog chased
3:26
the rockets across the beach. And the chaos wasn't over. The panjandrum charged around the beach out
3:31
of control until it eventually sputtered out. Unsurprisingly, this is one weapon that never
3:35
made it onto the battlefield. The US Air Force Research Lab began looking into an infamous
3:40
weapon in the 1990s. Its goal? To make enemy soldiers sexually attracted to each other
3:46
Yeah. This love bomb was a non-lethal, psychochemical weapon that was proposed by the Wright Laboratory
3:51
in Ohio. It involved discharging strong aphrodisiacs over the battlefield to confuse soldiers and
3:57
make them, theoretically, develop intense feelings for the soldier next to them
4:01
The plans for the love bomb were obtained by the Sunshine Project, through a Freedom of Information Act, and the Department of Defense has said the idea has since been squashed
4:10
The documents describe this pseudoscientific weapon as, quote, distasteful but completely non-lethal. Yikes
4:17
Project Habakkuk was a plan by the British to construct aircraft carrier ships out of
4:20
ice. Yep, ice ships. This isn't some Titanic iceberg fanfiction. It really happened. The
4:27
project was led by Jeffrey Pike and pitched to Winston Churchill who was reportedly very enthusiastic about the idea The ice ships would theoretically serve a number of functions They could block normal non ships launch offensive attacks and most importantly provide a mid
4:41
landing and housing area for aircraft. And since they were made of ice, they would be
4:45
cheaper and easier to build than a ship made of steel. Plain ice, however, wasn't cutting it. So Pike turned to a new method of freezing ice
4:52
that involved adding wood pulp to the water, making it significantly stronger. The material
4:57
The material this new process created was known as Pycrete. Still, problems persisted
5:02
The hull of an ice ship, alone, would need to be about 35 feet thick to stop a torpedo
5:06
which presented a bit of a challenge. Due to rising costs and performance concerns, the project was eventually scrapped
5:12
During the testing process, however, the engineers wanted to demonstrate the strength of Pycrete
5:16
to a group of admirals. Lord Mountbatten brought a block of ice and a block of Pycrete into a meeting and placed
5:21
them on the ground. He drew his pistol and shot the ice, which shattered
5:25
When he shot the Pichrete, though, the bullet ricocheted around the room, nearly hitting a nearby officer. Oops
5:31
You probably remember hearing about Hannibal in history class. No, not that Hannibal, though
5:35
that is my favorite Hannibal. The one from over 2,000 years ago who attempted to cross
5:39
the Alps with his own war elephants. Well, it turns out that mountain-scaling elephants
5:43
weren't his only foray into the world of animal warfare. In 184 BCE, King Prusius of Bithynia put Hannibal in charge of his navy. It was apparently
5:52
a meager fleet, outnumbered greatly by the Pergamian ships under King Eumenes they were
5:56
to fight. Hannibal's plan was to put a bunch of venomous snakes in earthenware pots that would be lobbed
6:01
at enemy boats, creating what can only be described as snake bombs
6:05
They were distributed to the Bithynian ships, and the captains were directed to focus on
6:09
King Eumenes' ship. How did they know which ship was the king's
6:12
Well, as the story goes, an emissary was sent under the classical equivalent of a flag of truce
6:18
After he gave the King a letter and left, everyone knew what ship the King was on
6:23
That's some Game of Thrones level sneakiness. When the rest of the Pergamy Navy came to defend their King, Hannibal and his troops
6:28
began chucking the snake bombs at them, causing the enemies to find themselves suddenly ankle
6:33
deep in pissed off snakes. They ended up retreating. Someone call Samuel L. Jackson
6:38
I think we found the sequel he's been looking for. The Cold War often focused more on espionage and surveillance than on violent warfare This led to Operation Acoustic Kitty a real CIA project launched in the 1960s The plan To use cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet
6:54
embassy officials. Cats. The most passive-aggressive animals on the planet. In order for them to
6:59
be able to spy on the enemy, the cats needed some upgrades. A veterinary surgeon implanted
7:03
a radio transmitter at the base of a cat's skull, a microphone in its ear c, and
7:07
a wire in its fur. In a test mission, the cat was supposed to eavesdrop on two men in
7:11
park outside a Soviet compound in Washington, D.C. The cat reportedly ran into the street
7:16
where it was immediately run over by a taxi. After Operation Acoustic Kitty was declassified
7:21
in 2001, former director of the CIA's Office of Technical Service Robert Wallace disputed
7:25
this story, claiming that the cat had the equipment taken out before ever attempting
7:29
any missions and had lived a long and happy life. Either way, Operation Acoustic Kitty
7:33
cost around $20 million and garnered zero new pieces of secret information
7:37
The Cold War also brought about a series of small, concealed weapons, usually disguised
7:42
as household objects. Lighters, pens, tobacco pipes, that sort of thing. One infamous weapon that seems right out of a Bond film is the KGB Lipstick Pistol, which
7:51
is referred to as the Kiss of Death. We're not fans of violence here at Mental Floss
7:55
but come on, that's just good naming. The Kiss of Death was a 4.5mm single-shot weapon encased in what appeared to be a small
8:01
tube of lipstick, even featuring a red tip. Its existence was first detected in West Berlin
8:06
at a border crossing, and one is now housed in the International Spy Museum. A terrifying
8:11
weapon to be sure, but not nearly as terrifying as the KGB rectal pistol, which is exactly
8:16
what it sounds like. And finally, let's end with a very important piece of technology. The T-1151 Dogdue Transmitter
8:24
Designed to look like… well, you can probably guess from the name. This surveillance transmitter
8:28
was used during the Vietnam War in order to communicate covertly with US military bases
8:33
It was used to pinpoint sites of interest and find soldiers in need of rescue
8:37
The tool was approximately 4 inches long, making it easy to carry and hard to detect
8:41
According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security, quote, Because the device gave the appearance of fecal matter, it was often left undisturbed
8:50
and thus it retained high efficiency as a homing beacon, even when planted days or weeks
8:54
before a mission. Isn't history fun? And gross? Thanks for watching The List Show. Make sure to subscribe for more fun facts and strange
9:02
history. We'll see you next time
education