Tag: medical
Blood Drinkers of New Orleans
At the turn of the twentieth century, desperation often drove the sick toward strange and unsettling remedies. In New Orleans, one such treatment drew men,…
Philly Girl Thought a Spider Was Eating Her Life Away
A walk through the woods near Manayunk turned into a terrifying ordeal for 16-year-old Mary Schulz in the spring of 1895. What began as a…
Smallpox Panic Stops a Philadelphia Train
At the height of the early twentieth century, a single word could bring a train, a hotel, a ship, or an entire neighborhood to a…
Hoosier Man Burned by X-Ray May Lose His Leg
When X-rays were first announced to the world in late 1895, they seemed almost miraculous. For the first time, doctors and experimenters could look beneath…
How Two Swindlers Sold Candy as a Cure for Seasickness
At the turn of the 20th century, transatlantic travel promised adventure, discomfort, and plenty of opportunities for sharp-eyed swindlers. Passengers trapped together on a steamship…
Woman Awarded $10,000 After Doctor Left Gauze Inside Her
In 1920, a Chicago courtroom heard a medical malpractice case that would sound painfully familiar even today. Mrs. Hulda Anderson, the wife of a letter…
When a Surgical Sponge Was Left Inside a Patient
In 1910, a Los Angeles man brought forward the kind of medical malpractice claim that still makes patients uneasy more than a century later: he…
The Deadly Mystery of Tennessee Milk Sickness
Milk sickness was once one of the most dreaded mysteries of rural America. It appeared without warning, striking both families and livestock with violent thirst,…
Evening Kisses Less Dangerous For You
In the long and colorful history of medical advice, few warnings are quite as awkward as this one: beware the morning kiss. In 1920, Dr….
7 Terrifying Reports of People Who Operated on Themselves
From amputations performed with pocketknives to appendectomies done on kitchen tables, the newspaper archives are filled with horrifying stories of people who took surgery into…
