The Poisoned Dress (Dacia Jones)

## Legend Summary:

The well-known legend of the “poisoned dress” tells the story of a girl attending a dance. The gown she purchased was previously worn by the corpse of a young woman during her funeral. A highly toxic chemical called formaldehyde was absorbed from the corpse. The formaldehyde penetrated the girl’s skin causing her to feel faint. She eventually becomes overly ill and dies in the restroom.

## History:

Historically the legend stems from Greek mythology. Greek poet Euripides illustrates the story of Medea and Glauce in the city of Corinth. Jason was to be married to the king’s daughter, Glauce. He is deeply in love with a woman named Medea. In learning of their love, the king banishes Medea and her children. Medea is filled with rage, and she expresses her emotions to Jason. Jason believes that Medea is overreacting and decides to proceed with the wedding. Medea went on to plan her revenge on the king for her banishment. Although she was not allowed to be in Corinth, she begged for mercy, and as a result, she was allowed to stay in the city for the wedding. On the day of their wedding, she gifted Glauce a dress. Glauce believed that this act of kindness deserved to be rewarded. She asked that Medea and her family be granted permission to return to their home. Unknowingly, Medea poisoned the dress which is the cause of Glauce’s death. Another version given in Greek mythology is The Shirt of Nessus. Nessus was a ferryman who was astonished by Deianira’s beauty. He was heartbroken when he learned that she was already married to Heracles. Though she was taken for, he planned to kidnap her and escape across the river. Nessus put his plan in place but when the time came Deianira was not on board. She screamed for Heracles’ help. Heracles hit Nessus with one of his arrows. As Nessus was lying on the ground dying, he told Deianira that his blood-soaked shirt would be a token of love. In the coming years, Deianira gifted the shirt to Heracles. Heracles dies spontaneously. Deianira had been deceived by Nessus. The shirt had been poisoned. The toxic blood of the monster Heracles had killed before remained on the arrow, spreading into Nessus’ bloodstream. The toxic blood from the monster is what killed Heracles.

## Adaptations:

There are many adaptations to this legend. The first adaptation was popularly known as “The White Dress.” It explains that a less fortunate girl was invited to a party by a wealthy man. Her mother suggested that she rent a dress. In search of something nice, she walks into a local pawn shop. The young lady found the perfect white satin dress in her size. She decided to wear it to the party. After a long night of dancing, she felt dizzy and asked a friend to take her home. Once she got home, she immediately went to bed. The next morning, her mother found her dead. The coroner determined the cause of death was embalming fluid. The pawnbroker told the family he bought the dress from an undertaker’s helper. The helper stole the dress from the body of a young woman right before she was buried. It was said that the dress had a questionable stench to it. In response the pawn broker assumed it was from it belonging to a black woman. Another adaptation is known as “Dressed to Kill.” Ruby, a young girl was looking into the mysterious death of her mother. She recalled her mom complaining that the dress she altered was returned wet. She assumed that her dress was poisoned because of a story she found a story about a woman who purchased a secondhand wedding dress that soaked with embalming fluid. The woman who previously wore it had nearly died before the dress was ripped off her body.

## Analysis of Adaptations:

The adaptations made seem to go a little overboard with their reasoning. Although embalming fluid seems like a reasonable explanation for death, the details that lead up to the loss of life are questionable. For instance, the young woman who had been dancing all night long. If she had felt dizzy or ill, upon arriving home taking the dress off would have been the first thing done to establish some type of comfortability or to eliminate any other factors causing her symptoms. In addition, when purchasing any piece of clothing from a pawn shop, inquiring about the history may be best in this case. Being that the original story was told between 1930 and 1950, the assumption that the dress smelled foul due to it being on the body of a black woman may have been reasonable then. Now that conclusion can be perceived as biased and discriminatory towards people of color. In my adaptation of the legend, the dress would be bought from an antique store as a Halloween costume. The store would inform the customer of the history behind the dress prior to its purchase. The customer will use their own judgment when buying. If bought, whatever happens to the customer has nothing to do with the store. All of the blame would be on them.

Works Cited

## Works Cited

Brunvand, Jan Harold. Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. United Kingdom, W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.

Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Choking Doberman and Other “New” Urban Legends. W.W. Norton, 2003.

Child, Lauren. Ruby Redfort. Pick Your Poison. Candlewick Press, 2017.

Manser, Martin H. Facts on File Dictionary of Classical and Biblical Allusions, Facts On File, New York, 2003, p. 336.

Miller, Nikkie. “Urban Legends: The White Dress.” Paranormal Daily News, 18 Nov. 2022, paranormaldailynews.com/urban-legends-the-white-dress/2051/.

Sparknotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/medea/summary/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.