Paul Phillips thought his Labrador Retriever had dug up a pipe from his garden in Devon, England, until he got a better look at the object. It turned out to be a blue vial with the words “Not To Be Taken” embossed on the glass. The 49-year-old did some virtual digging of his own and discovered that a woman named Mary Ann Ashford had lived two doors down from him and had killed her husband William in 1865. She put poison into his tea so she could take his money and be with her younger lover. Fast-forward to 2026 and Stanley the Labrador Retriever unearthed the evidence. After more research, Phillips learned that such bottles were used in the mid-19th century for poisons. He also learned that after tests showed that Mary Ashford had traces of arsenic and strychnine on her clothes, she was sentenced to be executed for the murder, but the hanging didn’t go smoothly for her. Reportedly, with a crowd of 20,000 people watching, it took her several minutes to die — a gruesome sight that would ultimately lead to the end of public hangings in England. Since the discovery, Stanley has not been digging in that spot at all anymore.
