Jean Lanfray Absinthe Panic Murders

In August 1905, a laborer named Jean Lanfray returned to his home in Switzerland after a day of heavy drinking that included wine, brandy, crème de menthe, and two glasses of absinthe. In a drunken rage, he shot and killed his pregnant wife and their two young daughters, shocking the local community and sending him to trial for triple murder.

Politicians, doctors, and the press quickly blamed absinthe alone for the killings, using the case as proof that the drink supposedly drove people mad and violent. The public outcry sparked a full moral panic, and within a few years Switzerland banned absinthe.

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