A closer look
Polish spy Krystyna Skarbek managed to casually escape execution by the German Gestapo during World War II by deliberately biting her own tongue until it bled profusely and pretending to cough up lethal tuberculosis bacteria. As one of the most incredibly fearless and highly effective female secret agents operating within the British Special Operations Executive, she routinely skied across treacherous mountain borders to smuggle critical intelligence and explosives. When she and her fellow operatives were eventually captured and brutally interrogated by ruthless German authorities, Skarbek realized her captors were absolutely terrified of contracting highly infectious respiratory diseases. Her aggressive, bloody coughing fit was so intensely convincing and visually horrifying that the frightened interrogators immediately panicked, released the entire group of spies, and threw them out of the building. Her absolute sheer audacity proved that violently exploiting your enemy's severe hypochondria is sometimes significantly more effective than firing a weapon!
