Location: Chicago, 1982 — a quiet home, an unsealed bottle, and a morning that ended in tragedy. 🇺🇸
Story:
On September 29, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman told her mother her throat hurt. Her mother gave her a capsule from a bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol. Minutes later, Mary collapsed and died. That same day, 27-year-old Adam Janus died suddenly. At his wake, his grieving brother and sister-in-law took Tylenol from Adam's home for their headaches. They too died within hours. Panic spread across Chicago. The link was Tylenol,but not as it was meant to be. Someone had secretly opened bottles, laced capsules with deadly cyanide, and resealed them, placing them back on store shelves. 💊
Twist:
The killer was never caught. But in the wake of seven deaths, something historic happened. Johnson & Johnson, Tylenol's maker, recalled 31 million bottles, a $100 million loss, and revolutionized packaging forever. By 1983, U.S. law required tamper-evident seals on all over-the-counter drugs. That little piece of foil or plastic you peel off today,the one we barely notice,exists because of Mary Kellerman and six others who died from a trusted medicine. Their lives bought the world a layer of safety, a silent, lasting legacy sealed in grief and prevention. 📦