An ice pick is a pointed metal tool used to break, pick or chip at ice. The design consists of a sharp metal spike attached to a wooden handle. The tool's design has been relatively unchanged since its creation. The only notable differences in the design are the material used for the handle. The handle material is usually made out of wood but can also be made from plastic or rubber. These materials can be better in terms of safety and allow the user to better grip the pick during use. [1]
During the 1800s, ice blocks were gathered from frozen water sources and distributed to nearby homes. Ice picks were used to easily cut the blocks into smaller pieces for use. In many cases these smaller blocks were used in iceboxes. Iceboxes are similar in use to refrigerators, with the major difference being that iceboxes could only stay cold for a limited time. They needed to be restocked with ice regularly to continue proper functioning. The ice pick slowly began to lose popularity beginning in the early to mid-1900s due to the creation of the modern refrigerator. Many refrigerators came with a built-in ice maker which allowed for easy access to small ice chunks at any time and eliminated the need for the ice pick. [1]
Some bartenders will carve or chip blocks of ice into aesthetically pleasing shapes to be served with their drinks, using tools including an ice pick. [2]
Because blocks of ice melt much slower than cubes, sailors, campers and others who will be away from civilization for periods of time may carry blocks of ice along with an ice pick to shape and serve the blocks. [3]
Because of its availability and ability to puncture the skin easily, the ice pick has sometimes been used as a weapon. Most notoriously, New York's organized crime groups known as Murder Incorporated made extensive use of the ice pick as a weapon during the 1930s and 1940s. [4] [5] There were up to 1,000 murders committed by this group. In 1932, the bodies of two young men were found who had been stabbed numerous times with an ice pick. A man named Jacob Drucker was found guilty of murdering a man in 1944. His victim had been stabbed with an ice pick over 20 times. [6] The most feared hitman of his day, Abe Reles, used the ice pick as his weapon of choice, usually stabbing his victims in the ear. [7] [8]
According to New York City police, ice picks are still used today as street weapons. On August 21, 2012, a man was attacked with an ice pick in the Bronx. John Martinez, a man from the Bronx, was convicted of several robberies using an ice pick in 2011. [6]
Murderer Richard Kuklinski, who claimed to have killed over 200 people, was reported to have used an ice pick among other weapons. [6]
During the early morning of August 16, 1975, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Hayward arrested Serial Killer Ted Bundy, amongst the items found during a search of Ted's Volkswagen was a brown gym bag containing a red handled ice pick along with handcuffs, rope, ski mask, panty hose mask, flashlight, GLAD garbage bags, and other incriminating items. [9] [10]
Leon Trotsky is sometimes incorrectly said to have been killed with an ice pick. He was actually killed with an ice axe, a mountaineering tool. [11] [12]
An ice pick (later revealed as a screwdriver)[ clarification needed ] and a kitchen knife were used by Luka Magnotta to murder Jun Lin in 2012. [13]
In 2018, a 25-year-old man was killed at a New York City bus stop when he was stabbed with an ice pick. [14]
in the Philippines, an ice pick is a common weapon, particularly in the slums of Manila. [15]
The lobotomy was a medical treatment that gained popularity during the mid-1930s. [16] Lobotomist Walter Freeman performed thousands of lobotomies across the world. Reportedly, he used an ice pick from his family's kitchen. The pick would be inserted into the brain through the eye socket. The procedure would be done without the use of anesthetics. This "Ice Pick Lobotomy," was believed to diminish mental issues however these often resulted in paralysis and early death. This treatment failed due to a lack of testing before being performed on thousands of people. [16] Walter Freeman's medical license was revoked in 1967 after a woman died during a lobotomy. [17] This method of lobotomy led to the deaths of around 500 people over the course of 50 years. By the 1970s, the procedure would be banned in many countries for being inhumane. [16]
Theodore Robert Bundy was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered dozens of young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more than a decade of denials, he confessed to 30 murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978. Bundy's true victim total is unknown.
Murder, Inc. was an organized crime group active from 1929 to 1941 that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate – a closely connected criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob, and other criminal organizations in New York City and elsewhere. Murder, Inc. was composed of Jewish and Italian-American gangsters, and members were mainly recruited from poor and working-class Jewish and Italian neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was initially headed by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and later by Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia.
Frank Abbandando, nicknamed "The Dasher", was a New York City contract killer and mobster who committed many murders as part of the infamous Murder, Inc. gang. His preferred killing method was to stab his victims through the heart with an ice pick. After a trial and conviction for murdering a Brooklyn loan shark, he was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing on February 19, 1942.
Abraham "Kid Twist" Reles was a New York Jewish mobster who was a hit man for Murder, Inc., the enforcement contractor for Meyer Lansky's National Crime Syndicate.
Harry "Happy" Maione was a New York mobster who served as a hitman for Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. Maione was called "Happy" because his face displayed an eternal scowl.
An icebox is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrigerators, iceboxes were referred to by the public as "refrigerators". Only after the invention of the modern electric refrigerator did early non-electric refrigerators become known as iceboxes. The terms ice box and refrigerator were used interchangeably in advertising as long ago as 1848.
Carol Mary Bundy was an American double murderer and suspected serial killer. Bundy and Doug Clark became collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers after being convicted of a series of lust murders in Los Angeles during the late spring and early summer of 1980.
Ripper is a 1996 interactive movie point-and-click adventure game developed and published by Take-Two Interactive for MS-DOS and Macintosh. The cast includes Christopher Walken, Paul Giamatti, Karen Allen, Burgess Meredith, David Patrick Kelly, Ossie Davis, and John Rhys-Davies. It also uses the Blue Öyster Cult song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". The villain of the game is chosen at random from the four main characters. A limited number of the clues and puzzles, plus a single line of dialogue in the ending, change according to the villain's identity.
Tommy Lynn Sells was an American serial killer. Though convicted of only one murder, for which he received the death penalty and was eventually executed, authorities believe he committed a total of 22 murders. Sells himself claimed on various occasions to have murdered over 70 people.
An iceman is someone who sells or delivers ice from a wagon, cart, or motor-truck.
The Cat and the Canary is a 1978 horror film directed by Radley Metzger and starring Honor Blackman, Michael Callan, Edward Fox, Wendy Hiller, Olivia Hussey, Wilfred Hyde-White, Beatrix Lehmann, Carol Lynley, Daniel Massey, and Peter McEnery. It follows a group of potential heirs who are summoned to the mansion of a deceased beneficiary to view the filmed reading of his will, only to discover upon arrival that a deranged killer may have infiltrated the event.
Murder a la Mod is a 1968 American film directed by Brian De Palma in his first feature film as a director and writer. An experimental, low-budget murder-mystery, it was shot on black-and-white 16mm film. Following its limited theatrical release, the film was rarely seen until its reissue on DVD in 2006.
A hook is a hand tool used for securing and moving loads. It consists of a round wooden handle with a strong metal hook about 20 cm long projecting at a right angle from the center of the handle. The appliance is held in a closed fist with the hook projecting between two fingers.
A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modeled after or inspired by a previous crime. It notably occurs after exposure to media content depicting said crimes, and/or a live criminal model.
Douglas Daniel Clark was an American serial killer and necrophile. Clark and his accomplice, Carol Mary Bundy, were collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers and were responsible for the deaths of at least seven individuals although they are considered suspects in the deaths of several other women and young girls. Clark was charged with six murders in Los Angeles, California and was convicted in 1983. Clark's victims were typically young prostitutes or teenage runaways and his victims were decapitated and their severed heads kept as mementos. He would also perform sex acts on their corpses.
An improvised weapon is an object that was not designed to be used as a weapon but can be put to that use. They are generally used for self-defence or if the person is otherwise unarmed. In some cases, improvised weapons are commonly used by attackers in street fights, muggings, murders, gang warfare, during riots, or even during insurgencies, usually when conventional weapons such as firearms are unavailable or inappropriate.
Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss was an American contract killer for Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. He reportedly killed over one hundred men using a variety of methods, including shooting, stabbing with ice picks, drowning, live burial, and strangulation. Strauss never carried a weapon in case the local police picked him up on suspicion. He would scout his murder spot for any tool that would do the job.
In May 2012, Jun Lin, a university student, was fatally stabbed and dismembered in Montreal, Canada, by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who then mailed Lin's hands and feet to elementary schools and federal political party offices. After a video depicting the murder was posted online, Magnotta fled Canada, becoming the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and prompting an international manhunt. In June 2012, he was arrested in an internet café in Berlin. In December 2014, after eight days of deliberations, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. Magnotta was given a mandatory life sentence and 19 years for other charges, to be served concurrently. Magnotta was previously sought by animal rights groups for uploading videos of himself killing kittens.
The Summer of Massacre is 2011 anthology horror film written and directed by Joe Castro. It is listed in Guinness World Records as the slasher film with the largest body count, at 155.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes is an American documentary that premiered on Netflix on January 24, 2019, the 30th anniversary of Bundy's execution. Created and directed by Joe Berlinger, the four episodes ranging from 51 to 74 minutes long were sourced from over 100 hours of interviews and archival footage of serial killer Ted Bundy, as well as interviews with his friends, surviving victims, and the law enforcement members who worked on his case.
