Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Teacup Poisoner” Graham Frederick Young Pt. 1

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

Graham Young always had an obsessive personality, but when his father bought him a chemistry kit, it unlocked a terrifying interest in poisons. Before long, the teenager was poisoning mice just to see what happened. Then he set his sights on his best friend, and every member of his own family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode contains discussion of murder, suicide, and animal abuse that some listeners may find disturbing. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13. The London suburbs in 1961. 14-year-old Graham Young looked forward to finally reuniting with his best friend, Christopher Williams. They loved chemistry and enjoyed spending time together in their school's lab. But earlier that year, Christopher came down with a mysterious illness that had made him miss several weeks of classes. Christopher was recovered, and he and Graham reunited at the London Zoo.

It was a rare sunny day in London, and the boys enjoyed watching the animals lays about. As a treat, Graham bought Christopher a lemonade. But when Christopher wasn't looking, Graham poured a metallic powder into the cup. With a smile, Graham told his friend that the drink would help with any of his link. lingering symptoms. Christopher had no idea what his friend had done. He happily drank up the lemonade while they wandered amongst the animal's cages. Within hours, the happy reunion turned sour.

Christopher was in worse shape than ever. It just didn't make sense to him. He'd been on the mend and now he felt terrible. Of course, he never suspected that his friend was behind this sudden relapse. In fact, Graham had been behind his mystery illness. all along. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers,

a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're delving into the world of Graham Frederick Young, known as the Teacup Poisoner. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes

of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. Today, we'll cover Graham's childhood, a period marked by tragedy and isolation. We'll see how Graham's growing obsession with chemistry and poisons led to sadistic experiments that turned deadly. Next time, we'll follow Graham's release from a psychiatric hospital. Although doctors said he was cured, the poisonings continued with disastrous consequences. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a

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as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. From the very beginning, Graham Frederick Young's life was marked by death. His mother, Margaret Young, had a difficult pregnancy. She developed pleuracy and inflammation of her lung lining, which made it difficult to breathe.

After Graham's birth in September of 1947 in Needs in North London, Margaret's illness worsened. She eventually developed tuberculosis and died when Graham was just three months old. Graham's father, Fred, was left alone to care for his baby son and older daughter, Winifred. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to handle them on its own. So he shipped Winifred off to live with their grandparents, while Graham stayed with his aunt, who lived nearby. Graham was a fussy baby, and his Aunt Winnie tried her best to calm him as he cried for hours. Then, by the time he was two, Graham developed a disturbing habit of rocking his body back and forth for minutes on end.

And that wasn't the worst of it. In 1949, two-year-old Graham had a terrible ear infection that spread to his mastoid, a bone located behind the ear. The toddler had to have a risky surgery to drain the infection, and his family claimed that after that, Graham was never the same. He displayed unusual limb movements and had speech issues. When he was studied later, the right frontal lobe of his brain showed irregular function. This meant that the ear infection or the surgery might have injured his brain. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode.

As a note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Even minor injuries to the brain, can have notable effects on a person's behavior. According to a 2000 study published in current psychiatry reports, Dr. Tiffany Chow discusses how frontal lobe injuries can cause personality changes. The behavior in patients can become antisocial, impulsive, and volatile. In rare cases, changes can lead to criminal tendencies. While Graham wouldn't immediately display his violent impulses,

it's possible his criminality may have stemmed from a brain irregularly. and Graham's mental health was certainly not helped by the constant upheavals in his life. When Graham was three, changed once again upset his life. His father, Fred, remarried, and made Graham and Winifred uproot their lives to move in with him and his new wife, Molly. But by this stage, Graham's Aunt Winnie must have been like a mother to him. He likely couldn't understand why he was being ripped away from her to reside with his father, who he barely knew. In the new home, Graham became quiet and kept to himself. Even still, he and his stepmother resented each other.

She sensed her stepson's disdain and was openly antagonistic towards him. Meanwhile, in Graham's mind, Molly was the epitome of the evil stepmother. He believed that she treated him poorly because he wasn't her actual son. In fact, Graham thought that Molly cared more about her pet cat than him. However, it's unclear if Molly's behavior towards Graham ever crossed the line into physical abuse. But there were several incidents that show that Molly was far from nice to her stepson. As a young boy, Graham spent years obsessively collecting and refining model airplanes. One time in an attempt at discipline, Molly destroyed his entire collection.

Other instances were less overt, but no less cruel. For example, Molly often played accordion at the local pub, and when she did, she'd leave Graham locked outside of the house. He'd have to wait outside for hours for her to return. As a result, Graham's animosity towards his stepmom only grew over the years. In 1959, 11-year-old Graham continued to turn inwards, becoming solitary and guarded. His obsessive energy, meanwhile, shifted from model airplanes into topics that were much darker, like occult magic and Nazism. Nazism was abhorred in Britain following World War II, but still, Graham spoke openly

about his admiration of Adolf Hitler. It's unclear why Graham hero worshipped the reviled dictator, but the young boy seemed to enjoy stirring up controversy. He sometimes wore a swastika at a school and was obsessed with other taboo subjects like death and witchcraft, perhaps because they gave him a kind of reputation around school. At one point, Graham told several classmates that he hated his stepmother. Then he showed them a voodoo doll he had made of Molly with several pins sticking out of it. Because of these bizarre behaviors, most of Graham... Graham's fellow classmates avoided him.

They thought he was creepy. For the most part, Graham's interest in black magic was harmless, but his obsession was growing dangerous. In one instance, he reportedly convinced a few of his buddies to take part in an animal sacrifice. Specifically, he opted to kill his stepmother's beloved cat. It's possible that after that first ritual killing, Graham killed more animals.

Specifically, several other cats allegedly went missing from the neighborhood it around that time. Though as far as we can tell, none of his next few sacrifices carried the vindictive weight of his first. Fortunately, this fascination with the occult seems to have tapered out by 1960 when he was around 12. Instead, he focused more on his education and became an excellent student. To move on to secondary school, he had to sit an exam called the 11-plus, which he passed with flying colors. To celebrate, his father bought Gramma Chemistry Kit. did Fred know the gift triggered another dangerous obsession at his son, this time with chemistry. Eventually, his interest took a dark turn into toxicology and poison. Graham spent hours at the

library studying history's most famous poisoners, like William Palmer, a Victorian doctor who allegedly killed his wife and several others with a toxic powder. Graham is also rumored to have loved fictional crime stories like Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse, in which poison, is used as a murder weapon. Soon, Graham resumed torturing animals, but this time it was under the guise of scientific experiments with toxins, and instead of cats, he used mice. He gave the mice differing amounts of chemicals and carefully tracked their symptoms. Sometimes when a mouse died, he would dissect the animal, curious to learn more about

poisoning. But his disturbing actions weren't unnoticed. On at least one occasion, Molly found one of Graham's dead mice and confiscated it. In response, Graham drew a picture of a grave, etched with the words, in hateful memory of Molly Young, R-I-P, and gave it to her. Then, unruffled, he returned to his grim science experiments. In April of 1961, Graham went to the local pharmacy and asked for 25 grams of antimony sodium tartrate. Antimony is a metalloid that is toxic to humans if ingested.

When consumed in high doses, it can cause vomiting, crowsy. ramps and hypothermia. The pharmacist was hesitant to give a young boy such a dangerous substance, but Graham could be quite charismatic and persuasive when he wanted. He charmed the pharmacist with his extensive chemistry knowledge and convinced him to sign over the poison. With the antimony in his pocket, Graham was thrilled, but his excitement was short-lived.

Molly found the vial in Graham's room and seized it. She immediately called her doctor, who explained that the chemical could be deadly, Horrified, Molly dumped the antimony in the trash and marched over to the pharmacy to complain. The incident taught Graham a valuable lesson. Don't get caught. Next time, he talked to different pharmacists into selling him toxic chemicals and hid the vials outside of the house. He found a safe spot in a shed by the local reservoir near his home. Soon, Graham's poison obsession distracted him and began to affect his schoolwork. He'd been doing well for a while, but started receiving poor

grades in every subject, aside from chemistry, of course. He talked about science so much that students began calling Graham the mad professor. But not everyone was put off by Graham's strange obsession. His one friend was another boy called Christopher Williams. A fellow chemistry whiz, Christopher was more than happy to talk about chemicals for hours on end. But he had no idea that his friend was planning new tests on live subjects, and Graham had set his sights on Christopher. Coming up, Graham experiments with humans with deadly results. Pirates. For centuries, the world has been fascinated by them. In films like Pirates of the Caribbean, they're portrayed as squaggering anti-heroes.

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Pirates, on the other hand, they were able to transcend that social boundary. They didn't see themselves just as thieves and brigands. They saw themselves as social revolutionaries. Set sail under the black flag, alongside notorious outdoors like Blackbeard, Charles Vane and Bonnie and Mary Reid. Join us for episodes airing weekly starting November 15th. Follow and listen to Real Pirates for free on Spotify. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey?

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Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99-9 or visit zepbounce.lily.com. Now back to the story. In the spring of 1961, 13-year-old Graham Young was tired of poisoning rodents for fun. He was ready to transition from animals to people, and he decided his first victim would be his only friend, Christopher Williams. While Graham and Christopher were good pals, they occasionally argued,

which isn't out of the ordinary for young teens, but Graham seemed to get especially angry. One time, Graham and Christopher got into a physical altercation. At the end of the fight, Graham reportedly threatened. I'll kill you for this. It seems he meant it. He wanted his revenge. As Graham showed with his animal sacrifices, he liked inflicting pain.

As far as we can tell, he was never formally diagnosed as a sadist, but his behavior aligns with sadism. And his sadistic impulses may have played into his unconciting. controllable need for retribution, even at a young age. A 2017 study published in the journal, Aggressive Behavior, revealed that people who like causing pain and hurting others are more likely to seek revenge. In fact, sadistic people enjoy vengeance because they get to see their victims in pain. That said, while Graham might have chosen Christopher as revenge, it was mostly a crime of opportunity.

Christopher was chosen not because he was a bad friend, but simply, because he was close to Graham. They hung out all the time, and it was just the most convenient option. Graham and Christopher always ate lunch together, which is how Graham came up with his plan. One day, he laced the deli meat in his sandwich with antimony. Then, in the cafeteria, he convinced his friend to switch sandwiches with him. As they ate their lunch, Christopher had no idea he was eating a deadly poison. It didn't take long for Graham to see the effects of his handiwork. Within a few hours of lunch, Christopher was sick to his stomach, then complained of a massive headache and cramps. Pleased, Graham gave Christopher more toxic sandwiches over the next several weeks,

producing the same results every time. Of course, Graham never let on that he was behind it all. He acted sympathetic towards his friend and pretended like he wanted to help him through the illness. Yet secretly, he kept careful note of all of Christopher's symptoms. With each sandwich, Graham was giving Christopher 100 to 200 milligrams of antimony. It wasn't enough to kill, but Christopher's continued illnesses eventually had his parents worried. At first, Christopher's mother thought her son was suffering from a stomach bug or food poisoning. But as time went on, his symptoms worsened, and no one could work out what was wrong.

Christopher's sudden affliction baffled doctors, who guessed that he must be experiencing extreme migraines. Meanwhile, Graham was frustrated that Christopher was absent from school so often. Of course, it wasn't because he missed his friend. He just wanted to study Christopher's symptoms up close. He wanted to know exactly how the poison affected his friend's body. Eventually, Christopher's absences became frequent enough that Graham decided he needed a new victim for his experiments. It was a setback, but one he bounced back from quickly. Since this was all a science experiment to Graham, he moved on fast.

He toyed with the idea of poisoning different schoolmates, but had learned his lesson from Christopher. If he wanted to observe his victims closely and uninterrupted, he needed to live with them. So Graham chose someone from his very own family. In November of that year, Graham dissolved 50 milligrams of atropine into 22-year-old Winifrin's morning cup of tea. Atropine is a medication that can be toxic in high doses, causing dizziness and an elevated heart rate. After a few sips, Winifred noticed that her drink tasted oddly bitter, but she was too late for work to worry what it could be. As she rode the train that morning, she felt strangely lightheaded and started to hallucinate. When she stumbled into her office, her boss could tell something was wrong.

He told Winifred she should go to the hospital. There, doctors recognized the signs of poisoning, but they believed she had somehow consumed a poisonous plant called deadly nightshade. Fred, however, wasn't convinced by the doctor's conclusion. He recalled his son's attempts to buy poison and suspected that Graham might have something to do with his daughter's illness. But when Fred confronted him, Graham came up with a convincing lie. He pointed out that Winifred often used teacups to mix her shampoos. Perhaps she didn't wash them thoroughly and she accidentally poisoned herself, he said. Winifred accepted his answer.

She didn't seem to think her brother would ever willingly poison her. Fred was still skeptical, but he'd let the matter go after he searched the house and found nothing suspicious. Nonetheless, he demanded that the teen stopped messing around with chemicals. Of course, his father's warning wasn't enough to make Graham stop. In fact, he was just getting started. Soon, he set his sights on Molly for his next experiment. For several months in 1961, Graham doused Molly's food with antimony. The doses were small enough to make it seem like she was suffering from a lot of.

a common stomach bug, but over time, her health began to deteriorate. Before long, Molly had agonizing back pain, developed alopecia, and lost a tremendous amount of weight. Eventually, she was taken to the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed her with a stomach ulcer. While Molly stayed at the hospital, she made a swift recovery. By the time she was sent home, she felt like her usual self again. But Graham was waiting. On April 20th, 1964, Two, the young family had a special dinner for Good Friday, and Graham thought it was a good opportunity to try out a new poison. While Molly prepared the meal, Graham purchased thallium acetate. Thallium is an odorless and flavorless metal that easily dissolves in water.

If ingested, it's incredibly toxic and causes symptoms like abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Well aware of that, Graham put 1,300 milligrams of thallium in his stepmother's dinner. The dose was more than enough to kill a person. When Molly woke up the next morning, she felt pins and needles in her extremities, and her body was incredibly stiff. Nevertheless, she went about her day and shopped for dinner. By the time Molly returned home with her groceries, she could hardly breathe. She went out to the backyard for some air, but quickly crumpled to the ground.

A few minutes later, Fred found Molly collapsed in the garden, screaming in pain. She was lying in the fetal position. surrounded by the grocery bags. Fred ran to Molly's side. Then he looked up at the kitchen window. Inside, the boy watched his stepmother as she cried out for help, expressionless, like he didn't even care. At that moment, Fred finally realized that something was wrong with his son.

It was one thing for Graham to be interested in strange subjects, but it was another to watch a human being suffer and do nothing about it. Psychologists later diagnosed Graham Young with psychopathy. According to psychologist Robert Hare, symptoms of the disorder include a failure to conform to social norms, lack of empathy, antagonistic behavior, and impulsivity. These symptoms align with Graham's behavior, and as for his lack of empathy,

there's a potential explanation for that. A 2013 study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience examined the brain when psychopaths, Imagine others in pain. The research found that the regions of the brain that normally are used for empathy fail to become active. So it's entirely possible that Graham's brain couldn't process the pain he caused others. Unfortunately, Fred didn't have time to worry about the reasons behind his son's off-putting behavior. He needed to get Molly to a hospital fast.

Fred carried Molly to his car and raced to the emergency room. But when they got there, the doctors couldn't find out there. doctors couldn't find anything to make Molly's symptoms subside. Still in incredible pain, Molly told Fred that she just wanted to go home and cook the family's Easter dinner. But minutes later, she was dead. Graham Young would later confess to poisoning his stepmother, his first nemesis, but for some reason, no one suspected his involvement at the time.

After Molly's death, doctors performed an autopsy and determined that a prolapsed bone at the top of her spinal column had caused her death. She'd been injured in a bus accident a year prior, and the medical examiner believed the ailment had suddenly become deadly. At the time, no one thought to have her blood tested for poisons. If they had, they would have found a shocking amount of thallium, but all evidence of Graham's confessed poisoning would have been destroyed a few days later, when Molly's body was cremated. Graham wasn't blamed for Molly's death, but it wasn't enough. If anything, the death only felt. the flames of his dangerous obsession.

He felt unstoppable, knowing that his poisons gave him power that no one else knew about. At 14, Graham might have felt invincible, but then that seems typical of most teenagers, and in this case, Graham was about to find out just how fallible he was. Coming up, Graham has his first brush with the law. Transport your senses with Sol Dianado's limited edition perfume mist collection. At Sephora, spritz on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp sea breeze with he fresco paraizzo. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with cheeky bikini or caps for sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection, only at Sephora.

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Now back to the story. In late April of 1962, 14-year-old Graham Young attended his stepmother's funeral. The ceremony was incredibly boring for Graham. He couldn't understand the overwhelming grief his relatives were feeling. So, to entertain himself, Graham laced a mustard pickle with antimony and gave it to his uncle John. Within hours, John was throwing up. Clearly, Graham wasn't done poisoning his relatives. Shortly after, Graham shifted his attention to another family member, his father.

Graham sprinkled antimony into almost all of Fred's meals. Before long, Fred started losing weight and experienced constant stomach problems. At first, he rode off his illness as a symptom of his grief, but eventually he lost enough pounds to warrant a doctor's visit. The physician put Fred on a special diet of pre-prepared food, but Graham didn't let that stop him. He still sneak poison into the meals, keeping his father sick. Eventually, Fred grew so weak that he was hospitalized. There, Graham visited his father and sat quietly as doctors tried to figure out the cause of the illness.

Graham reveled in the physician's confusion. He got a secret thrill out of stumping these medical experts. But finally, the doctors worked it out. They decided that Fred had been poisoned. They just couldn't pinpoint the exact toxin used. arsenic or antimony. As the doctors debated between the two chemicals, Graham couldn't contain himself. He stood up and proudly explained the differences between arsenic and antimony to the stunned

physicians. That's when Fred must have begun to realize the only way Graham could know all this was if his son poisoned him. Horrified, he reportedly yelled, get that boy away from me. Understandably, Fred no longer trusted Graham, but he wasn't the only one. suspicious of the teenager. School officials also kept an eye on the team due to his recent troubling behavior. 14-year-old Graham had been telling anyone who would listen that he wanted to be a world-famous poisoner when he grew up. The school's chemistry teacher became increasingly

disturbed by Graham's obsession. After school one day, the teacher searched Graham's desk and what he found sent chills down his spine. Stashed away in the small drawer were grisly drawings of dead men and famous poisoners from the past. Most shocking of all, though, were the vials of several types of poison. Following the revelation, the school's headmaster looked into Graham's family life. He even called Graham's family doctor

to see if he had noticed any sort of issues with the boy. That call brought everything into focus. Instantly, the physician connected Graham's poisons to Fred and Winifred's mysterious illnesses. Still, it seemed unthinkable that a teenager would poison his own family, so the doctor needed to make sure. He arranged for Graham to see a psychiatrist,

hoping they could get the truth from the boy, but he wasn't sure Graham would be honest if he knew what was really happening. So the psychiatrist posed as a career's officer who was interested in Graham's intense chemistry knowledge. They thought appealing to the boy's ego might get him to talk more. To butter him up,

the psychiatrist suggested that 14-year-old Graham's intelligence was already at the university level. Flattered, Graham happily spoke at length about chemicals, especially poisons. By the end of the interview, the psychiatrist was convinced that Graham was responsible for Fred and Whitifred's poisonings. It was clear he was a serial poisoner. Like some other serial offenders, researchers believe there are commonalities between serial poisoners. Psychologist Joni E. Johnston writes, Experts liken the poisoner's personality to an incorrigible child whose immature,

desire for their own way leads them to try to control and manipulate the world. And Graham definitely displayed this kind of immature attitude in his decision-making. He never thought about the consequences of his actions, but instead was focused on instant gratification. It was clear to ground psychiatrist that the teen saw the world as a big experiment. That made his knowledge of poisons extremely dangerous. After the interview, the psychiatrist contacted the police. Then, the cops arrested Graham for the attempted murders of his father, his sister, and his friend Christopher Williams.

While in custody, investigators questioned Graham about his crimes. At first, the teenager claimed innocence. But when police searched his clothing, they found a small vial of antimony in his shirt pocket. After that, Graham confessed to nearly everything, admitting that he'd poisoned Fred, Winifred, and Christopher, but he didn't say a word about his stepmother's death. Instead, Graham led police to several hordes of poisons he kept in the bushes around his house and the shed nearby. He knew he was in trouble, but he couldn't help feeling proud of his collection. All told, he had enough toxic materials to kill hundreds.

Officers took Graham to the Ashford Remand Center to await his trial, and that's when the weight of what was coming seemed to hit him. While in custody, Graham attempted suicide, but he survived. Several doctors interviewed Graham while he was in Ashford. Surprisingly, he was open with the staff, telling them, I miss my antimony, I miss the power it gives me. Later, prison psychiatrists diagnosed Graham with a psychopathic disorder. According to psychologist Andrea Glenn,

psychopathic individuals place more value on seeking power than non-psychopaths, and given his conversations while in Ashford, this was why Graham was attached to his poisons. But for now, Graham had no poison and no power as he awaited a potential prison sentence. In July of 1962, the 14-year-old stood trial and was charged with the attempted murders of Fred, Winifred, and Christopher. Graham pleaded guilty to the charges. His lawyer argued that the teen was just a child and an addict who should be pitied.

Graham himself is quoted as telling authorities, poison grew on me like a drug habit, except it was not me who was taking the drugs. But the testimony against Graham was damning. Dr. Christopher Fish recommended that Graham be sent to a psychiatric hospital, and Graham's father had made it clear that if the teen were found innocent, he wouldn't be welcome at home. He refused to let Graham live in his house again. In short, Graham had little hope of leaving the courthouse a free man.

At the end of the trial, the judge found Graham guilty and sentenced him to 15 years at the infamous Broadmoor Hospital. At only 14, Graham was Broadmoor's younger. patient in nearly a century, and it was undoubtedly a shock for him. Graham had trouble adjusting to life in Broadmoor. He was a loner who loved quiet solitude, but the hospital's facilities were communal and loud. The hospital's library was one of the few rooms where Graham found peace. The silent library was stocked with medical books and manuals.

There were even a few on Graham's favorite subject, poison. But Graham wasn't allowed to stay in the library for his entire stay. Much to Graham's annoyance, the doctors forced him to interact with other patients, who he didn't like. One inmate in particular is said to have really upset Graham, 23-year-old John Barrage. John was behind bars for murdering his parents, but that wasn't what bothered Graham the most. Graham reportedly hated the fact that John was a loud snorer. Graham's sisters said he even wrote letters to her about how much he hated the man snoring. Then on August 6, 1962, John collapsed in his room.

He started convulsing and was dead within minutes. An autopsy revealed that he had died of cyanide poisoning. Officials searched the hospital but couldn't find cyanide anywhere. Naturally, Graham's fellow patients were convinced that he had poisoned John, and Graham didn't shy away from the accusations. The teenagers seemed to revel in the attention. He pointed out that experts, could distill cyanide from laurel leaves, and it just so happened that several laurel shrubs

surrounded the Broadmoor property. Even if it incriminated him, Graham couldn't help showing off what he knew. In fact, research suggests it's common for serial killers like Graham to be attention seekers. Dr. Scott A. Bonn writes that serial killers will often purposefully pursue fame and even try to shape their public image. And as we previously mentioned, Graham was an attention to who aspired to be a world-famous poisoner. Encouraging the rumors about his role in John's death may have been a way to gain the notoriety he craved. There's nothing in the world Graham wanted more

than to be thought of as a poison's expert, even if that meant being charged with John Barrage's murder. However, the authorities ignored Graham's diatribes because they didn't think he had the tools to distill cyanide from tree leaves, so they ruled that John died by story. suicide. But not everyone was so quick to dismiss Graham's fervent poison obsession. The patients and nurses at Broadmoor feared that Graham would kill them with toxins too. In a way,

it became a running joke among hospital staff. When a patient acted up, the nurses sometimes said, ingest, I'll let Graham make your tea for you if you don't behave yourself. These quips thrilled Graham, because he got a kick out of being feared. To create more terror in the hospital, he decorated his room with Nazi paraphernalia and often wore homemade swastikas. He even grew a Hitler-style mustache. Meanwhile, he proudly demonstrated his extraordinary toxicology knowledge every chance he got. When he was given containers to hold his tea and sugar, he re-labeled them with the chemical formulas of different poisons to spook the hospital staff.

However, that only amused him for so long. After a year at Broadmoor, Graham grew tired of the restrictions at the hospital. but he realized that the less you stood out, the more privileges you were given. So he stopped acting out as often. Soon, the nurses and doctors at the hospital trusted Graham Moore. In a display of confidence, Broadmoor's medical superintendent, Dr. Patrick McGrath, assigned Graham a very important task. He was allowed to serve the staff tea.

This was Graham's big chance to show he was reformed and no longer into poisons. but he couldn't help himself. A few days into his new job when no one was looking, Graham poured toilet cleaner into the tea urn. Consuming similar products can cause major health issues, including vomiting blood, abdominal and chest pain, and difficulty breathing. After drinking it, several staff members went home sick, and Graham was fired from tea duty, but he wasn't done yet. Sometime later, he dissolved powdered powder.

soap into the communal teapot. Angry, the patients turned on Graham and attacked him. After the incident, Graham was placed in a separate unit for his own safety, as well as that of the other patients. Despite the fact that he'd continued to poison people, Graham was allowed to

apply for release after just a few years at Broadmoor. A review panel made up of doctors and psychologists was assembled to determine if he was cured and safe to rejoin public life. The panel asked Graham's family to attend the tribunal and say their peace. Fred Young told the experts that he thought his son

should never be released, and if he ever was, the rest of the family made it clear that Graham would not be welcomed back in their home. As a result, Graham's application for release was denied, meaning he faced years at Broadmoor. He desperately wanted to get out of the hospital, but Graham realized that he needed to get his act together first, or at least pretend to. He stayed quieter than ever, often going days without speaking to anyone. When he visited the hospital psychiatrist, however, he talked for hours about how he was changed. He swore that he regretted his past actions. Eventually, Graham's ploy worked, and the hospital's doctors transferred him to the minimum security block of the hospital. Hidden in his room, Graham kept studying poisons,

but now he stopped boasting about it to everyone. He wrote letters home about how he was getting better, and claimed he wanted to make things right with his family. Eventually, Winifred took her brother at his word and decided to forgive him. She thought perhaps the poisonings had just been a strange teenage phase. All of a sudden, things were starting to look up for Graham. In June of 1970, the 22-year-old applied for release again. In a report, Graham's psychiatrist wrote that they believed he was no longer a danger to others. But unfortunately, the doctors weren't privy to hospital gossip.

According to lower-level workers, when Graham knew the authorities weren't listening, he still spoke about wanting to be a world-famous poisoner. On one occasion, a nurse heard Graham say, When I get out, I'm going to kill one person for every year I've spent at this place. Despite those incidents, authorities granted Graham a week-long visit with his sister to test the waters. Winifred took a huge risk letting Graham into her home. She was now married with a family, so she was not only subjecting herself to a potential poison, but also her husband, child, and their dog.

But Graham knew that if he ever wanted to see the outside world, he needed to behave. After a few days, Winifred reported back to Broadmoor that Graham was a lovely houseguest. No one had been poisoned at all. The uneventful stay led to Graham's psychiatrist, Dr. Edgar Udwin, to believe that he'd made a full recovery. Soon, Udwin vouched for his release from the hospital. In a report, Udwin has said to have written, Graham Young is no longer obsessed with poisons, violence, or mischief. So on February 4, 1971, Graham was released from Broadmoor.

He was supposedly reformed, but he was nothing of the sort. Within months, Graham was back to his old ways, and this time he wasn't content to target his family. Everyone he knew was fair game. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. be back next time with part two of Graham Frederick Young's story. Unfortunately, his time as a killer was far from over. For more information on the T-cup Poisoner, amongst the many sources we used, we found The Elements of Murder, a History of Poison by John Emsley, extremely helpful to our research.

You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, sound design by Carrie Murphy, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Matt Hartman,

with writing assistance by Mallory Cara and Joel Callan, fact-checking by Anya Bayerley, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial Killers stars Greg. Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. For centuries, the world has been fascinated by them. Blackbeard, Charles Vane, and Bonnie. Who were they really?

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