What if you heard the U.S. military once tried to develop a bomb that "contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another"?
I'd have guessed this happened in the 1950s, or in a politically incorrect war movie. I'd have been wrong. This unconventional weapon was proposed in 1994. It all sounds made up and crazy, but the Pentagon "confirmed that military leaders had considered, and then subsequently rejected, building the so-called 'Gay Bomb.'" The dismissed plan was discovered by a watchdog group that tracks military spending.
Here are some other non-traditional and far less newsworthy ideas from the same period, found in a document titled "Harassing, Annoying and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals":
"¢ "Chemicals that attract annoying creatures to the enemy position and make the creatures aggressive and annoying."
"¢ "A 'sting me/attack me' chemical that causes bees to attack would be especially effective for infiltration routes. Treat a section of trail with the chemical, and position multiple bee hives a short way down the trail."
"¢ "Chemicals that make lasting but non-lethal markings on the personnel. Those that were exposed...could be easily identified (by smell or appearance) weeks later, making it impossible for them to blend with the local population."
[Thanks to Jason W. Lee for passing this along.]