Monday, July 28, 2014

SPY: The Secret World of Espionage

SPY: The Secret World of Espionage is a special exhibit on the history of spying at Seattle's Pacific Science Center.  It's filled with real artifacts used by spies around the world. It includes everything from the axe that killed Leon Trotsky to a piece of the Berlin wall to a pellet gun disguised as umbrella. These artifacts are real, but many of them look like they belong in an episode of 60s TV show GET SMART

The gun, dubbed the Assassination Umbrella, shot ricin pellets. It was used by a Soviet agent to kill a Bulgarian  
defector in London. It certainly looks like it could have been the inspiration behind umbrella gun used by Batman nemesis, The Penguin. 

Here's a piece of the Berlin Wall and the flag flown from Check Point Charlie. 

This child's toy was used to get a microdot lens across a border by the KGB. The theory was that a child's toy would be less likely to be searched. 

These are secret cufflinks that a KGB double agent and a CIA agent who never met could use to identify one another.  Of course it would only work if the cufflinks weren't intercepted...

Here's a miniature tape recorder...

This exhibit is at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. It's right next door to the Space Needle. If you're in Seattle it's definitely worth a visit.  This exhibit was so great, we'll have another post this Wednesday and next Monday.