my name is Wendy, and I have a crazy story for you. It happened to me last month when I ate dinner with my mother-in-law. For some reason, I always tended to get sick after I ate at her place. It got me suspicious, so I secretly switched plates with my husband.
What happened next was bizarre. I always got sick when my mother-in-law cooked. Then, I swapped plates with my husband. I noticed the stomach ailments for a while before finally acting on it. Usually, it took about an hour before the cramps took hold of me, but the pain was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. For some strange reason, the symptoms always started right after I ate at my mother-in-law’s.
When I told my husband, Ben, about it, he did not understand the connection either. After all, he was also present at his mother’s house. We ate the same food, shared the same air, and he never got sick. For some reason, there must have been a variable we were missing. Was my mother-in-law doing something to me specifically, something to make me sick every time? The thought of this woman hurting me on purpose caused my head to spin.
I’ve always had a good relationship with her, so I couldn’t think of any reason why she would do that. But I just had to find out. That’s why, after many unresolved discussions with Ben, we decided to revisit my dear mother-in-law.
That week, my stomach was calm before we entered her house, so that was a good starting point. We arrived just before dinner time, and the old lady invited us into her loving home like always. But when dinner was almost ready, I noticed that Ben’s mother wanted to plate the dishes in the kitchen. The kitchen was behind a closed door, so there would be enough privacy for her to slip something into my food. Luckily, I noticed it in time. Right before her first scoop, I walked in on her. I saw Meredith, which was her name, put the spoon back into her big pot when she saw me enter. Did I just stop her devilish scheme?
After I entered the kitchen, I asked Meredith if we could plate the food together at the dining table, making it more family-style. This gesture was, of course, by design. However, Meredith didn’t seem to mind because the woman let go of her spoon and agreed instantly. She asked me to carry the pot while she dressed the table for serving.
Everything seemed fine up until that point. We said grace, and she served us all at the table. I watched every move like a hawk. Everything seemed normal. Meredith poured everyone from the same pot and didn’t make any suspicious moves during dinner. Maybe I was just imagining things; that was the thought that crossed my mind after the last bite. The food was delicious, so we thanked Mar for dinner and drove home.
But then, almost an hour after dinner, the pain started again. This time, the cramps tortured me even worse. How is this possible? She must have done something to me, but I didn’t understand what it was. I had to know. So, I instantly called Meredith. Hiding the pain during our conversation, I asked her if we could come over again the next day. She sounded pleased with my request and even told me what she would make. Meredith was excited, but I was on a mission.
The next day, almost everything went the same way. We ate family-style again, but this time was going to be different. Right before our forks dug into the food, I distracted Ben and Meredith. I used a lame diversion about a bird in the window. Luckily for me, both of them fell for it and looked.
That’s when I silently switched plates with my husband and acted like nothing happened. We ate dinner, and I watched his behavior closely. Ben seemed completely fine during dinner, but that all changed on our car drive home. It started with a soft moan, but that impulsive noise quickly escalated, even causing Ben to park the car beside the road. He asked me to take over the wheel because his body was hurting so bad.
Once we fully stopped on the side of the road, Ben conveyed the thing I was already afraid of. He said that his stomach felt like it was out to get him, and that confirmed it for me. Meredith was out to get me. How, I did not know, but this pain was no accident. Once we got home, I knew exactly what to do. I was already familiar with Ben’s pain, since I used to be the recipient of Marita’s dinner.
I drew up a warm bath, gave Ben some painkillers, and together we waited for a couple of hours. Eventually, the pain subsided, and that was the moment I came clean. I told Ben about my suspicions surrounding the food his mother made. I also told him that I planned the second dinner on purpose and secretly switched plates. Ben was in shock and wanted to know more. But when I said that I watched Meredith scoop from the same pot, we had to look at other variables.
It went quiet for a few minutes as we both contemplated ideas. And then it hit me. It’s the plates, I screamed, completely forgetting that Ben was just a few feet away from me. The food is completely the same, but your mom gave me the same plate every time, I explained to Ben. Ben rubbed his ears, indicating that I screamed too loudly. But after he recovered, he looked at me with questioning eyes. But why would she do that? Ben asked me. I couldn’t give my husband a satisfying answer yet, but I knew something was up. We had to get over to Mer’s home within 15 minutes.
We stood before Meredith’s door. My mother-in-law opened up, and when she did, I did not waste any time. I asked her about the plates and if she always presented me with the same one every time. I already knew the answer, but it still shocked me when she said, “Yeah.” Meredith said that it was a force of habit, something about the guest of honor receiving the prettiest plate in the set.
For a moment, my suspicion subsided a bit as I felt appreciated by my mother-in-law. But I quickly snapped out of it and asked Mar if I could see the set of plates. Mar walked into the living room with six stacked plates, spread them out on the table. They all had different colored illustrations on top, and I inspected them all.
“Which one is always given to me?” I asked. Meredith pointed toward the green one. So I picked that one up. It seemed like a regular plate to me at first, so I knew I would not get an answer there on the spot. I asked Meredith if I could take the plate with me, not explaining my reasoning. At that point, I still suspected Meredith of causing the stomach pain, so revealing my intent would have been stupid. Luckily for me, Meredith agreed, and I could take the plate home without much questioning.
Back home, I searched online for answers. The plate had a serial number, which I typed into multiple sites. Amazingly, I got a match on my second search. Oh my God, this thing was made in 1824. So it was only a fabrication year, but it felt important, and that intuition would later prove to be correct.
What I did know was that I needed help, and I knew just where to get it. I had a friend who worked for a local museum, and if anyone could help me, it would be her.
Once at the museum, my friend inspected the plate just like I did, and she made some interesting discoveries right away. “This is a rare find,” she stated. She asked me where I got the plate, and I explained that Ben’s mom owned it. She listened closely and then said the most shocking thing. “So, don’t tell me you ate from it.” Those were her exact words. The way she said it made me step back for a moment.
I said that I did, and then everything became clear. I explained that this was one out of six pieces; they all had different colors, and I ate from the green one. After that, my friend sat me down and tried to explain to me as best she could that I was very lucky. Before 1850, making green dye from natural materials was almost impossible.
Other color materials could be found easily, but harmful chemicals and other nasty stuff needed to be used to make green. This method later became forbidden when new ways of making color were developed, so green paint or green ceramics did not pose a threat after 1850. But your plate goes back to 1824, which makes it highly poisonous. Nobody should eat from this. This plate should only be for show and tell.
So, I can honestly say that this discovery gave me the chills. Did my mother-in-law know about this fact? Was she deliberately trying to poison me? Tons of questions raced through my mind, and there was only one way I could answer them. I had to confront Meredith with this revelation. After saying goodbye to my friend, I took the plate and drove back to Meredith’s house as quickly as possible.
I rang the doorbell and looked into the face of my potential enemy. I presented my mother-in-law with the plate and the fact, and to my surprise, Meredith was just as shocked as I was. “How did you come by this set of plates?” was my question. And that question opened a whole new box of mysteries. Mysteries with answers that were even more dire than the green plate in front of me.
Meredith said the set was part of her father’s inheritance after he died a few years ago. Alright, that seemed to make sense, is what I thought. The set was probably a family heirloom being passed down through generations. But when I asked Meredith about it, she said that she never saw the ceramics growing up in her father’s house; they just appeared out of the blue. “It appeared out of the blue? What do you mean?” Meredith explained that she had already received everything in the will, but the ceramic set was not part of it. The set arrived one month later; it just appeared on my doorstep out of nowhere, and the box of ceramics came with a note.
The note came from the notary, at least that was what my mother-in-law thought. Up until this point, Meredith stepped into the other room and came back with a small piece of paper. I started reading, and then my mouth dropped to the floor. “Sorry, I forgot this special part of the will. This ceramic set is very special to me, and I want you to have it, especially the green plate. I hold dear.
Eat from it on special occasions. Love, Dad.” With the knowledge I acquired, this all sounded way too suspicious. Like her father wanted to add poison to Meredith’s life. I knew I had to call Meredith’s notary to find out more, and it was the right call because the notary knew nothing about a ceramic set. He said nothing like that was ever in the will. He gave everything Meredith’s father owned to her and knew every item he added. The ceramic set wasn’t included.
Yes, Meredith got basically every last item in her father’s will, unlike his two other children who were left behind with nothing. Meredith stated to me, “Why didn’t they get anything?” was what I asked her. Meredith replied by saying that they left their father behind in an old folks’ home. They never showed any interest in their father, so when he died, the old man left everything in his will to Meredith.
When my mother-in-law spoke those words, the plot thickened. But I was starting to figure out where this was going. As a response, I called the police to see if my hunch was correct. Meredith and I spoke to the police together, explaining all that had happened and showing them the green plate I ate from. Luckily, they took the case very seriously and offered to help immediately.
After that, it didn’t take us long to figure out the whole truth behind the ceramic set. Across the street from Meredith’s house was a street lantern, and in that pole, a neighborhood surveillance camera was placed just a few years ago. Meredith and the police knew about this, but luckily, not everyone did. We were brought back to the police station, where the footage was. Not my mother-in-law wasn’t the best with technology, so I was the one who was allowed to scroll through the footage.
Meredith looked on while I scanned through the day surrounding the ceramic findings. It didn’t take us long to find out who did the deed because after about an hour of searching, Meredith pointed. We saw two people approaching my mother-in-law’s doorstep. They were holding a big brown box.
The footage had no sound, so we couldn’t hear the two individuals talk. But there was no need for that because the images validated themselves. One of them opened the box and pulled out one of the plates for final inspection, while the other one, the dude, looked straight into the security camera. “I know them,” Meredith yelled. I hoped she would, and what she said next confirmed my hunch.
Meredith pointed the two people out and said they were her brother and sister. “Is that right? We haven’t seen each other in years.” Meredith was still on the fence and in denial about what she saw on the footage, but I had already figured this out, and the local police department seemed to agree with me. I shared with them what we saw on the camera footage, and they immediately set out to bring Meredith’s two siblings in for questioning.
I was happy when these crooks were brought in, and I was even more thrilled when they spilled their guts after police interrogation. It wasn’t hard; the police just laid out the facts and told the brother that his sister had ratted him out. I instantly told the cop everything they wanted to hear. They were greedy and jealous because their sister, Meredith, got everything in the will. Both didn’t care for their father, but they still wanted their sum of money. That’s why they executed their plan.
They bought the plates at an online auction with the full knowledge of the mercury poison and the green dye. They planned to slowly poison their sister by saying her father wanted her to eat off the green plate. But they didn’t calculate that Meredith would always give her most special plate to the guest of honor, and in this case, that was me.
I was honored by Meredith’s thinking but horrified by her siblings’ action. The forensics who analyzed the plate said that we were lucky because I was younger and, therefore, more vitally fit than Meredith. My body resisted the mercury and the dye better
I still needed a full monitor of my body for a full 6 months after the investigation, but if Meredith would have ingested the poison, then things would probably have gone much differently. My husband would have had to bury his mother.
In a way, my sickness saved my mother’s life. Immediately after the arrest of her siblings, I ran to my mother-in-law and apologized for ever suspecting her of such a heinous thing. Together, we destroyed the plates so no one could ever eat from them again. Meredith’s brother and sister were put behind bars for attempted murder, and the bond between me and my mother-in-law grew even stronger after that. I love Meredith with all my heart, and this crazy story made it even more so.
