References to red mercury first appeared in major Soviet and western media sources in the late 1980s. The articles were never specific as to what exactly red mercury was, but nevertheless claimed it was of great importance in nuclear bombs, or that it was used in the building of
boosted fission weapons. Almost as soon as the stories appeared, people started attempting to buy it. At that point, the purported nature of the substance started to change, and eventually turned into anything the buyer happened to be interested in. As
New Scientist reported in 1992, a
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory report outlined that:
Приказната е многу поинтересна од еден детал кој си го прочитал од мене ама не е за некој за кој се приказни за успивање.