Sodium Thiopental, aka Sodium Pentathol, aka “Truth Serum,” is anything but guaranteed to be effective. Wonder Woman’s golden lasso, which compels people to tell the truth, only exists in the DC Comics and movies universes. Even torture doesn’t always work. There is no one, absolute means of getting someone to confess some truth. Some of the inventions made to accomplish this end, however, sure did have style. A fine example is the giant skeleton—with red glowing eyes, naturally—registered with the patent office by Oakland, California’s own Helene Adelaide Shelby in 1927. The “confession skeleton” came equipped with a camera in its skull, to record the confession.
A suspect would be locked in a dark room while someone in a separate room barked questions at him. After awhile, the skeleton would appear as if by conjuration, lit by electric lights, and would so frighten the suspect that he would own up to whatever crime he had committed. That’s how it was supposed to work, anyway. What a shame no police office ever initiated the confession skeleton as a means of inducing confessions. The universal fear of death inherent in all human beings might have just scared a few admissions of guilt from the more superstitious (and less intelligent) offenders of yesteryear.