Bulgarian umbrella

The Bulgarian umbrella was an assassination weapon, an ordinary looking umbrella fitted with a hidden pneumatic mechanism that fired a small metal pellet loaded with the poison ricin into a victim from extremely close range. It is best known for its use by the Bulgarian secret service, reportedly with KGB assistance, in the September 1978 assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov, who was struck with the device on Waterloo Bridge in London and died four days later. The same year, a similar device was used in a failed attempt on the life of the Bulgarian journalist Vladimir Kostov in the Paris Metro.