# "Knocked Out" by Burglars **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384 "2011-09-15T12:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/21 "2011-09-16T23:42:54Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > That sounds like a test for the mythbusters! Guns and invisibility? They could certainly fool around with that! [No need for mythbusters.](http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Invisibility-muti-foils-robbery-20040911) Apparently, the invisibility herbs don’t work, imagine that. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/22 "2011-09-17T00:06:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They can’t, really? Maybe I need to take a position of authority in one of those places, since I can explain it just fine: The people were asleep because it was nighttime and they were tired. What further explanation is necessary? Try: ‘Drunk/High.’ hh ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/23 "2011-09-17T00:46:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [No need for mythbusters.](http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Invisibility-muti-foils-robbery-20040911) Apparently, the invisibility herbs don’t work, imagine that. They work as long as you don’t look at the person. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/24 "2011-09-17T00:58:31Z")
Oh, [it’s been done.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis) Not in a robbery scenario, to be sure. And the results weren’t all that stellar. ---
**Author:** ![Themenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Themenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Themenin)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/25 "2011-09-17T10:05:37Z")
Theft using “knockout gas” on European (Italian) night trains has been a regular (or at least persistent) story over the years. I can’t quickly dig up any specific cases, although the US State Department seems to think it merits a warning. [Criminals may also spray sleeping gas in train compartments. Where possible, lock your compartment. If it cannot be locked securely, take turns sleeping in shifts with your traveling companions.](http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/safety_1747.html) As to the credibility of these stories, as a previous poster mentioned, depending on the degree of “knockout” required, you would expect to see a number of deaths and seriously injured victims if this were really happening. [The Moscow hostage crisis in 2002 is one datapoint](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis) Following the same line of reasoning I believe most of the cases of nightclub druggings with subsequent loss of memory are also fictitious - so do I get flamed too ? ETA I was going to post about Moscow first but I mysteriously fell asleep ! ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/26 "2011-09-17T15:30:44Z")
Wasn’t this in a book by Donald E Westlake, something like a Las Vegas casino robbery. I read it a long time ago? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/27 "2011-09-17T17:37:19Z")
If it is true then it would represent a major advancement in chemical weapons, by ordinary thieves. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/28 "2011-09-17T17:45:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Following the same line of reasoning I believe most of the cases of nightclub druggings with subsequent loss of memory are also fictitious - so do I get flamed too ? Well, to be fair, most of those folks really were drugged, just with a legal drug they were expecting to get dosed with. At most, they might have ended up with a rather stronger dose than they thought. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/29 "2011-09-17T19:28:05Z")
To be fair to our criminal friends, you don’t need a knockout gas when the people are asleep. What you’d need is a sedative to keep them from waking up. There are many that come in liquid form and I could see a criminal spraying some in a sleeping person’s direction for them to inhale. I have no idea if that’s ever happened or if it would be effective, but we have 100 replies about how there’s no gas that can knock people out, yet this legend doesn’t require that. The people were never awake to begin with in any of the cases. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384/30 "2011-09-17T19:36:03Z")
Or they can be very very quiet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knocked-out-by-burglars/596384.md?page=1)