Today's Video Headlines: 9/26/25
The real tools of a spy’s trade are just as incredible: cameras built into bras, deadly umbrellas, razor sharp knives hidden in shoe heels and cigarettes that turn into guns.remains classified for obvious reasons, thousands of items that once had top-secret status now reside in the hands of collectors.
And they have been known to deploy similarA replica of the ‘Bulgarian Umbrella’, which had its tip loaded with a Ricin pellet that was fatally fired into the leg of Bulgarian journalist/dissident Georgi Markov in 1978.H. Keith Melton first got exposed to spy gear while serving as a US Naval officer in Vietnam. In the mid 70s he made a public call for tools of the spook trade to kickstart his collection. “I ran ads all over the world,” Melton told The Post. “Nobody knew what this stuff was. So, I advertised for secret spy Gear rolled in and so did the connections. In short order, Melton, who had a stint as a casino card counter and a career as a McDonald’s franchisee, was traveling the world for surreptitious meet ups that resulted in procuring thousands of items once used to steal and conceal secrets and pressure counterparts to spill. He now has some 8,600 items — most of which are in the Spy Museum, comprising much of the collection — including a hat that held a gun, shoes surreptitiously implanted with eavesdropping devices, and an assassination needle concealed within a silver dollar. “The needle acted as a sheath and inside it was the world’s tiniest drill bit,” explained Melton who has authored or co-authored books such as “The Ultimate Spy.” “Poison was in the grooves. You could use it to kill yourself or to kill somebody else.” Russian devices in Melton’s collection – including a tube of lipstick that turns into a gun – often came directly from Getting such stuff out of Russia sometimes required subterfuge on Melton’s part. In one instance, he smuggled out a hollow coin in his mouth.’, which looks like an everyday object, but had a tip loaded with a fire-able Ricin poison pellet. Its name comes from the device used to kill Bulgarian journalist and dissident Georgi Markov in 1978. From the US side of his collection: a glove that doubled as a pistol. Those were for code breakers in the American military’s cipher room, situated close to the front lines during World War II. “The question there was, ‘What if the Germans come in and overwhelm us?’’’ explained Melton. “Someone had the idea, ‘Well, let’s have all the employees in the cypher room wear gloves with a .38 caliber firing device.’ They were designed so that if you made a fist, a rod would protrude by a half-inch; then, if you hit somebody, the gun would go off.”Considering that golden age of espionage gadgets – between World War II and 1988, when computer hacking largely took over – Melton drily asked, “What could be handier than for everybody in an office to be walking around with a loaded .38 caliber weapon?” Michael Hasco is a sales executive for Nestle turned spy camera buff. He was lucky enough to score a lot of his collection after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. “I traveled to Germany. Things were very loose. If you had American cash, everything was up for grabs. I developed a network of former police officers, former intelligence officers,”A legitimate package of Golden American cigarettes was loaded with a camera, phony cigarettes and at least one real cigarette.He has all manner of everyday objects disguised as cameras, even one which looks like a normal camera, but actually photographs from a hidden lens on the side – 90 degrees from where the camera is pointed, perfect for appearing to film the permissible while capturing the verboten. Another favorite score? “The lipstick camera,” Hasco said, explaining that it would be used in at least two scenarios. “A female agent would be issued a tube of lipstick and inside was a tiny camera. In a restaurant, the woman would put on lipstick and take pictures of people at their tables. It was completely functional,” for both, applying cosmetics and taking snapshots. Then there were special tiny cameras small enough to be placed in an unnoticeable hole in a wall, to capture targets lured into having sex with prostitutes or patriotic Soviet film actresses. Potentially getting even closer to the subject, there is even a camera built into a bra. “A German woman came up with the bra concept and was awarded 600 deutschmarks ,” said Hasco. “She said that men won’t look directly at her breasts so she put it . I have one with the camera painted a flesh color. She could wear a sheer blouse and take photos through it.” The cigarette gambit was another Cold War favorite: Photos were shot through pinholes in a cigarette pack that not only contained a camera but also held a cigarette or two that could be tapped out from the pack and lit by the picture popping agent.A block of 18 fake cigarette tips sticking up – along with the fact that the brand was Golden American, the Marlboro of Germany in the 1980s – imparted believability. “You sit down, light up and take photos while you are smoking,” said Hasco. “It was totally innocuous, and nobody noticed a thing.”Reade Williams began collecting out of curiosity. Growing up in the 1960s, when spy serials like “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” were the rage. He told The Post, “I wondered what was real and what was fanciful.” In the 1970s, he got chance to find out. “Things from Vietnam popped up ,” recalled Williams, who works as an attorney near Washington DC. “There were seismic sensors . They were disguised as twigs, rocks and excrement. They called them One item that straddles fiction and reality is the briefcase with a built-in gun. “The US model held a nine-millimeter submachine gun that shot out the side. There’s a Russian one with a firing device near the handle. You hit the button, the briefcase falls away and you’re left holding the submachine pistol.”If an agent was bound by adversaries, a blade hidden the heel of his shoe could be useful for a quick escape.“You come up to your target, preferably from behind, and loop the wire around their neck,” he explained. “The spike is hollow. It would be filled with botulism toxin and covered with beeswax. You drive the spike into the person’s neck or shoulder, body temperature melts the wax,” and the toxin gets released. How does one snag something like this? “I obtained it from a pretty advanced military knife collector” The cost: “hundreds, if not thousands .”Maybe the most practical spy piece might be his film destruction case. “It’s a soap dish,” said Williams. “The film is wrapped around a bulb. If opened, the bulb flashed and the film was exposed. The agent was compromised but the film was destroyed.”“It provides a great appreciation for the risks taken and accomplishments achieved by intelligence officers,” said Williams. “It allows us to see a part of history that does not appear in history books.” 3 dead, 8 injured after gunman on boat opens fire on crowd at dockside NC restaurant — person of interest detained3 members of reality TV family killed in car crash — as wife shared touching birthday tribute days earlierLola Young collapses on stage at music festival after canceling concert for mental healthConspiracy Theorists Are Locked In On ‘Snake Eyes,’ A 1998 Movie Featuring The Assassination Of A Character Named Charles KirklandA replica of the 'Bulgarian Umbrella', which had its tip loaded with a Ricin pellet that was fatally fired into the leg of Bulgarian journalist/dissident Georgi Markov in 1978.H. Keith Melton posing with one of his prized possessions: The ice axe that was used to kill Trotsky.This cigarette, from the collection of H. Keith Melton, can be fashioned into a gun.This hat, designed by M16, was perfect for the concealment of a pistol.A legitimate package of Golden American cigarettes was loaded with a camera, phony cigarettes and at least one real cigarette.Reade Williams, center, is a major collector of spy gear that is no longer in use.If an agent was bound by adversaries, a blade hidden the heel of his shoe could be useful for a quick escape.3 dead, 8 injured after gunman on boat opens fire on crowd at dockside NC restaurant — person of interest detained
Cold War Collectors Guns Spies
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