Meaning of cackle-bladder | Babel Free

Definitions

A bladder containing (real or fake) blood, used to fake someone's death or injury, as in espionage or confidence tricks where a person is made to think that he is an accessory to murder.

Examples

“1951 June 16, Racket Squad (television review), in The Billboard, page 8, It tells you how they work on the mark's own larcenous cravings for a killing, how they build him up to betting his entire stake — and then "put the chill on" via the "cackle bladder" routine, a prop murder, so named because originally the "corpse" bit on a chicken bladder and drenched himself in chicken blood.”

“Use a cackle bladder to bite on and spit blood whether faced with a gang or a single assailant. This is often enough to dissuade would-be aggressors […].”

“It's a trick con men call the cackle-bladder. You take a little bag made from a pig's bladder and fill it up with chicken blood, and keep it inside your mouth until it's time to play dead.”

“"A cackle-bladder," she murmured. "A what?" "It's a way to deal with the violent ones. You make them party to the consequences of violence, make them believe they've murdered someone."”

CEFR level