How Do You Use A Blow Poke

'The Staircase': What the Heck Is a Blow Poke, the Supposed Murder Weapon?

The item at the eye of the prosecution's theory virtually how Michael Peterson killed his wife Kathleen is an uncommon fireplace tool

The Staircase

(Note: This post contains some slight spoilers virtually Michael Peterson'south 2003 murder trial.)

Netflix's update of the true criminal offence documentary "The Staircase" asks the question, what is a "accident poke" and could it perhaps have been the weapon that killed Kathleen Peterson?

Though nobody knows what really happened to Kathleen in her Durham, North Carolina, abode in 2001, in that location are some very different theories to explain how she died – one of which is that her husband, Michael Peterson, killed her.

The early portion of "The Staircase" focuses on Michael Peterson'due south murder trial and the defense force'south theory of what happened to Kathleen.

Likewise Read: 'The Staircase': The Weirdest Theory Nigh Who Killed Kathleen Peterson Involves Owls

The defense posits that Kathleen, who had been drinking with Michael before in the evening, went into the couple's house from their puddle, and slipped and fell on their narrow, poorly lit staircase. The autopsy revealed that Kathleen had 7 lacerations on her head, which the prosecution thought disproved the thought that she accidentally fell downwardly the stairs and died.

While the defense idea she might have fallen, tried to stand, and fallen over again, striking her head multiple times, the prosecution says the corporeality of blood in the staircase and the wounds to her head suggested foul play.

In the trial, prosecutors suggested that Michael Peterson had beaten his wife with a blunt object, causing the cuts on her head and the massive claret loss. Although they had no murder weapon, prosecutors suggested the detail in question could have been the couple'south "blow poke," a gift from Kathleen'due south sis that the prosecution claimed was missing from the Petersons' business firm.

For some, a accident poke might be unfamiliar, even with all the time spent on it in the documentary. A blow poke is a fireplace tool, non dissimilar from your standard metal fire atomic number 26. Pokers for fireplaces are generally just long metallic sticks with hooks at the end, used to movement wood effectually to continue fires going.

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A accident poke is as well long and metal, with a hook at the end. The difference between standard fire irons and a blow poke is the "accident" part. A blow poke like the i in "The Staircase" is a hollow tube instead of a solid metal stick. The idea is that you lot can accident through the tube every bit you lot tend the fire like a bellows, sending oxygen to the flames in social club to stoke them.

Tools for tending fires, and in particular or bravado on flames, take been around for hundreds of years. The accident poke from the instance in "The Staircase" appears to be a Blo-Poke brand tool. They're available the company's website. The brass tools are made in Bristol, Connecticut, and according to the company website, were originally conceived by James Hopkins Smith in World War I, after he observed something like existence used by French farmers.

In "The Staircase," the accident poke turns out not to exist the murder weapon — it was establish in the garage, where it, apparently, had been left for a year. It wasn't damaged and didn't have blood on it, which affected the prosecution's example in Peterson'south 2003 trial.

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9. "Mindhunter"

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At that place is a ridiculous number of original serial bachelor on Netflix right now — then many it'south almost incommunicable to keep upwards with them. Even Netflix seems to have a tough time making certain its viewers know about its shows. We dug into the register of Netflix series and plucked out the very best ones for your enjoyment. Here they are in order of great to astounding.