Genevieve Mannion (0:00)

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates for multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance and affiliates not available in all states and situations. Prices may vary on how you buy pms. Pregnancy, menopause Being a woman is a lot. Ollie supports you and yours with expert solutions for every age and life stage. They just launched two new products, Exclus exclusively at Walmart. Period Hero Combats, Flow, Mood swings and more during PMS and Balance Perimeno to support hormonal balance, mood and metabolism during perimenopause. Grab yours@ollie.com these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Hello and welcome to my Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Mannion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian era. Because to me there's just something especially intriguing, creepy and oddly comforting about horror and mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello friends and welcome to this, my 44th episode. I hope that you had a fabulous week. Thank you to everyone who voted in my little poll on last week's episode. It appears that most of you are here for the spookiness, followed closely by cozy vibes and fun facts. But it also appears you're kinda just into all the things really, except sleeping. Only 5.6% of you are coming to pass out. I honestly thought that number would be higher. I pass out listening to this podcast while QCing episodes all the time. But I am delighted that the vast majority of you are actually remaining conscious for the show. Thank you kindly. Okay, today's show is going to be just awful because I will be discussing a topic that is often requested, but I think that you're going to regret requesting it. I am talking about corpse medicine today folks. The centuries old practice of using dead bodies to treat everything from jaundice to infertility to cataracts. And hearing about how they specifically treated that last one is really gonna bum you out. It's gonna be great for all. This topic is repulsive. It's really fascinating. I was locked into the details on this history, just tumbling down rabbit holes slicked with body fluids. Just a warning, do not eat anything for the duration of this ep. This is not something to listen to on your lunch break. But before we get to the skull powder chocolate bunnies. I don't think that they actually made them the shapes of bunnies. It's just a fun thing to imagine. A little Haunted Housekeeping thank you so much for rating the show on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. If you haven't already, please take a moment to do so. Those ratings really keep the show going and growing and they do not cost a thing. Thank you so much for your comments. Please them on any platform that you listen to the show on. Some of your comments on last week's episode literally made me cry. I was expecting when I made a poll about what you do like to hear that I was going to get all the things you don't like to hear in the comments, but they were mostly just incredibly sweet, encouraging, darling words. I once again spent the morning crying into my coffee. So thank you, thank you. And if you would like to listen to the show ad free, you can join my Patreon and you will find the link@myvictorianightmare.com Speaking of comments, I mentioned last week that a listener left me a comment saying that she was listening to my show while waiting for her husband to receive a heart transplant and she reached out to tell me that it all went well. Actually amazingly well. The surgery ended at 2am and by the afternoon he was sitting up and posting on Facebook and ordering lunch and joking around. End quote. Her husband also responded thanking everyone for the positive thoughts that we all sent. He said, quote, sending back warm thoughts and positive vibes to all of you. End quote. That's just some lovely news that I wanted to share. I also just want to share two of my favorite comments from this week. These are from Apple Podcasts. First, this one is from someone whose screen name is just a n m number 8 ed like animated and it reads I am 56. I am male. I am not entirely sure why I like this podcast. I love scary movies. I love Ghost Hunter shows even though they are for the most part more funny than believable. This satiates my interest in the whole ghost thing I guess. Keep it up. Five stars. Encouraging words. I will do my very best. I also love those corny ghost hunter shows. 28 Days Haunted on Netflix is a comfort show of mine. Most of my listenership is female, But a good 10% of you are not. And look, boys are also allowed in the coven. This is not a girls only club. Okay, one more. This made me giggle. This one is from. I think it's L. Well it's L I L A E Lil and they say I was listening to an episode where you said you had a bird outside your window. Well, when I heard a screeching and what I thought was a bird, I figured it was your episode. It wasn't until it persisted that I realized it was my tea kettle. I was so immersed in what you said I ignored my own house. Oh God, don't burn your houses down. Listening to me tell stories about houses burning down. I am truly in awe that you guys are as into this stuff as I am. Thank you for sharing that with me. 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Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, Myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. For full safety information, visit botoxcosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. See for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com for today's Spooky ghost Story segment called With Their Own Eyes, I will be sharing with you Victorian encounters with spooky ghosts. I was lucky to find an entire article in the Illustrated police news from 1881 that listed a whole bunch of random ghostly encounters and it even had a full front page illustration spread. That's simply marvelous. I put that on the Instagram and Blue Sky. There are quite a few encounters here, so I'll read the first two of them today and save the rest for episodes to come. They're found in an article called True Stories About Ghosts and it reads in the center cut in the front page of this week's Police News, the reader will find several visitors as described by the correspondence to the Daily Telegraph. The center subject, bound by a spell, represents a scene described to us by the chief actor, Mr. James Morant, a young man of a highly sensitive organization. Weird detail became enamored of a young lady whom he hoped someday to make his wife Whenever he was on the eve of a proposal. He asserts that the spirit of an old woman who had nursed him in his infancy appeared to him, the purpose of her visit being so, he argued to warn him against compromising himself. Mr. Morant declared that the spectre has appeared to him frequently and it exercised so powerful an influence over him that he refrained from proposing to the lady in question and has now reason to congratulate himself upon having done so. She has been married and divorced since which time the ghost has not made its appearance. And here's the second one. A gentleman who signs himself a believer writes as follows. About 15 years ago I had driven a young lady friend from the village of Sandhurst in Berkshire to Windsor, where we spent the day. It was about this period of the year and on our return at night the moon being at its full, was shining brightly. On turning out of the Bracknell Road into the village, we had to pass a house which in former years had the reputation of being haunted. But on the occasion I am referring to such a subject as ghosts was very far from my thoughts. I was chatting with my companion till we came to the meadow at the back of the so called haunted house when we both saw standing in the middle of the meadow a figure of a most brilliant white. It seemed to me to look like a man without a head and with a remarkably white frock on the rest of his body. I stopped the horse I was driving and gave the reins to my friend and was about to descend and go into the field to see what the object was when before I had time to alight my lantern, it began to approach us and came within a few feet of the hedge when it so suddenly disappeared as to cause us both to be much more alarmed than at the sight of of the specter itself. End quote. Ooh, these true ghost stories will return next week. That second one was so creepy. I can see a run down house all by itself in an English meadow boarded up, lit only by bright moonlight and a headless man ghost floating toward the road so clearly in my mind. Oh, quick spooky movie review. I haven't done one of those in a while. I have not seen some sinners yet. I have heard it's amazing and I really can't wait to find any time whatsoever to see it. I will report upon it once I do, but I saw a movie last night that is the kind of horror movie I would have just scrolled right past in Amazon prime because it has the most generic title, the Last Exorcism. The only reason I played it was because I saw that it had almost five stars. So I was like, that's rare. For what appears to be another copy and paste Exorcist movie. So I was like, okay, I'll just give it a shot. The premise is that a preacher who doesn't believe in demons at all performs exorcisms for a fee and is making a documentary about how exorcisms are fake and how he fakes them because he's decided to give up the trade. And the movie goes in a direction that you know it's gonna go in, but then in a direction you couldn't see coming. I was sewing Toby's snuffle toy bag together. He's such a little monster, and I don't want to teach him that his toys will be thrown away and replaced if they get ripped. Throwaway culture is not celebrated in our home. Anyway, I figured I would just have this movie on in the background. It's like spooky white noise while I sewed his little toy back together. But I was in it the entire time. It's really refreshing and different. If you're into demony stuff, you will absolutely enjoy this. Okay, let's begin. Today. My main references are a Smithsonian.com article by Maria Dolan, a NationalGeographic.com article by Erin Blakemore, and an AtlasObscura.com article by Natalie Zarelli. These and all of my references can be found in the show notes. You may have a certain know it all weirdo in your life who was the first to break it to you that Victorians ate dead bodies. Don't you know they'd have parties where they would get tanked on straight gin and unwrap mummies, Snap a toe off and right down the gullet, no chaser. All in the name of a raucous and jubilant good time. So your friend may have told you, but only snow. Some of this is true, and it's actually much less true than your friend led you to believe. Allow this know it all weirdo right here to tell you that yes, they would get tanked. Yes, they would have mummy unwrapping parties. No, they did not snack on the bodies. Not for good times sake, medicinally, nor any other reason. At least not in these environments. And honestly, at this point time, the 19th century cannibalism was actually well on its way to going out of style. But boy, oh boy, did humans eat the hell out of dead bodies for hundreds of years prior. Our species has a long storied history of turning our dead into every manner of tincture, salve, paste and powder, and utilizing them in one way or another for the purpose of fortifying, curing or stimulating body and mind. However, by the time we get to the 19th century, folks weren't as prolifically cannibalistic. They were more particularly into things like skull powder to treat ailments. Some were still drinking the blood of the recently deceased. But like I said, Victorians were not gobbling dead bodies nearly as much as people gobbled dead bodies in previous centuries. They were, however, very much enjoying their company. And we will get there. But we will spend a considerable amount of this episode in centuries prior to the Victorian era and circle back to how the history of this gruesome practice continued from antiquity well into the 19th century and largely ended. Although even today we still have remnants of body gobbling here and there. And this is an important thing to keep in mind before we judge our flesh eating ancestors too harshly. Did you know you can get your very own placenta ground up into a powder and added to a pill? You can also eat the thing raw, drink it in a smoothie or enjoy it grilled to perfection. Because science has shown very little, if any, benefits to doing this actually, and a number of risks associated with it. Some believe, without any evidence, that it gives new mothers more energy, it increases milk production, it decreases the risk of postpartum depression, provides nutrient boosts for both the mother and the baby, and it increases the speed of healing. However, there have not been anywhere near enough reputable studies to prove that this organ provides any of these benefits. Certainly none that prove its any better than like a good beet salad. But there have been studies that prove how dangerous this is. The placenta is not a sterile organ. It contains mercury, lead and potentially bacteria and viruses. And if you had an infection during birth, it will likely still be in that placenta afterwards. It has also been confirmed that if these bacterias or viruses are present and you eat the thing, they can be passed on to your baby. So just remember that this is still a thing that some mothers are doing, scientific proof of, benefits be damned. And also keep in mind, if you've had a root canal, you probably have cadaver bone in your mouth at this very blessed moment. And a question to those of you who have received a blood transfusion. Does it make it any less strange that the body where the blood came from was alive when you had it too into your own body, maybe. What I'm getting at is humans have some complicated feelings, assumptions and beliefs about all of this. And these kinds of feelings are not new. They have drastically waxed and waned for centuries up until this very day. So just food for thought while I discuss this gruesome as hell topic. So let's begin at the beginning. Why on God's green earth did people eat flesh pickled in wine, shove moss that grew on skulls up their noses, dip bandages in human fat to wrap around wounds, and boil blood into marmalade? That is not a joke, by the way. There was a legit Franciscan apothecary recipe for blood marmalade from 1679. Simply put, for centuries, folks have believed that the human body can be used to treat ailments of human bodies as the body, when alive, heals itself. And for centuries, a prevailing medical theory was that, like, cured. Like. In other words, if you want to cure a headache, you might want to try some skull powder for that. If you were in need of a fertility treatment, a dried dong jerky might be what you're looking for. And yes, this might sound like witchcraft, but how do we cure many diseases now with vaccines that include the very viruses and diseases that they're intended to treat or cure, like curing, like. So our ancestors were onto something, just not quite. When it came to eating body parts or drinking their fluids, they got it very right. When the ancient Egyptians, for example, used honey on wounds, which is an antimicrobial agent. They developed many of the tools that we currently use for surgery, like catheters, lancets for opening veins, forceps. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates discovered that willow bark treated pain. Bark of willow trees contains salicylic acid, otherwise known as aspirin. So it wasn't just cannibalistic snake oil for centuries. Many of the treatments and cures for diseases that we currently have with were developed over centuries with the work of our ancestors as their foundations. When it comes specifically to corpse medicine, we have evidence that it was being practiced as early as year 25 in parts of the Roman Empire. The practice became more widespread in Europe into the 1200s, rising and falling in fashion all the way up until the 1890s, when, for the most part, it petered out. But. But again, I just gave some examples of how we very much still use it for proven scientific treatments like cadaver bone in dental science and not so scientifically proven treatments like placenta smoothies. The earliest European examples of cannibalistic medicine took the form of blood drinking, specifically the blood of wounded or recently murdered gladiators. Their blood was believed to be able to cure epilepsy. Medical cannibalism reached its peak in the 1500s in Europe. And at that time it was mostly the bodies of stolen Egyptian mummies that were the sources of raw materials. Skulls were also primarily taken from Irish burial sites. Corpse medicine was primarily synthesized from bones, eyeballs, blood and fat. And these four ingredients were believed to cure a whole host of ailments. Tinctures for treating internal bleeding were derived from bodies that had been soaked in wine or vinegar. Powdered skull was used to treat many ailments of the head, like headaches, apoplexy, that's another term for stroke essentially. And sometimes they would mix it with chocolate. They'd make a little treat out of it. And circling back to the 19th century, as I mentioned, skull powder was still a thing and believed to treat epilepsy. But by now they went more for a molasses skull powder mixture as opposed to the chocolate. Bon bon. I think I prefer the chocolate human skull treat myself. At Capella University you can learn at your own pace with our Flexpath learning format. Take one or two courses at a time and complete as many as you can in a 12 week billing session. With Flexpath, you can even finish the bachelor's degree you started in 22 months for $20,000. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu fast as 25% of students. Cost varies by pace. Transfer credits and other factors Fees apply. Blood was considered a powerful elixir, especially when it was fresh and still warm. Because it was believed that the body was body's soul could still be ingested once drank. It wasn't just the bone or the meat of the body that was believed to be medicine. It was the spiritual essence of the anatomy that was very much a part of what made the medicine work. So they believed, and it was believed that the quality of character a deceased person exhibited in life also contributed to the effectiveness of the medicine. For example, the blood of a wise person could provide the benefit of wisdom. The blood of a strong person could give you strength. The very wealthy preferred the bodies of royalty in their medication. And those who could not afford any corpse medicine at all, much less pharaoh tinctures, would bring their cups to the gallows. They would slip the executioner what pittance they had for a sip of fresh blood from the recently executed. Although these people were considered considered criminals in life, it wasn't necessarily believed. That their naughtiness would pass through the blood like strength and wisdom were believed to do. A body was still a body capable of healing itself in life. So at the very least, it was believed that its remnants could also do so in death. But check this out. A prevailing belief in Europe was that if a body was young, or if it had died of violent sudden death, the spirit would remain in the body for a longer period of time, giving it greater healing powers. So in some regards, the blood of a freshly, brutally executed criminal in his teens could be worth more than the blood of a pharaoh. But it's important to mention, like the placenta thing, not everyone believed these things in this time, nor did those who did believe believe it, believe all of the same things or have the same feelings about it. These were just some of the common beliefs that circulated. It's also important to note that depending on where you were from, this would vastly alter your perception of how corpse medicine worked. For example, in China, the consumption of straight human flesh, not necessarily only from dead bodies, but living ones, was considered very powerful medicine in the Tang Dynasty. This was years 618 to 907. The cultural adoration and dedication to one's parents and parents in law led to practices where mostly women would slice off their own flesh and provide it to a parent in need of medical care. She would tie her thigh or her arm with a piece of string or clothing, then use a very sharp knife to quickly slice off a piece of her upper arm or upper thigh. It would be boiled in a soup or stew and would be offered to a sick or dying parent. There are recorded incidents of this practice as late as the 20th century. There have also been recorded incidents where children were murdered to be used as medicine for an ailing parent. There was a belief that the heart of a child could extend one's own life. And Emperor Wuzong of Tang, he was the emperor from 840 to 846, supposedly ordered provincial officials to send him hearts and livers from teenage boys and girls. This started a bit of a trend with other non royal members of society paying soldiers to murder teenagers to provide them with hearts. And there were actually hundreds of incidents of cannibalism in the 60s and 70s during the cultural Revolution in China, with members of society accusing teenagers of being, quote unquote class enemies so that they would be mobbed and murdered and their hearts would then be eaten. Writer Zheng Yi witnessed a situation where a teacher heard that consuming a, quote, young beauty's heart could cure their disease. He Then accused accused a 14 year old student of being a member of an enemy faction and she was brutally murdered. Afterwards he cut open her chest and took her heart home. Let's return to Europe where mumia was a popular medicinal ingredient. As mentioned, Europeans really desecrated the hell out of mummies from Egypt and used their bones and other parts of their bodies and medications, medicine. But there was a specific ingredient called mumia which was the black remnants of the skullessential brains and scraped out abdominal cavities of mummies that would be placed in a large vase mixed with herbs and wine and sold as a cure all essentially. Even into the 20th century this was still found being offered for sale in Germany. Let's talk a bit little, little more about which body parts did what. Shall we. If you say had hemophilia, applying moss that was grown on a skull to the wound should fix that. Losing your hair? Try some powdered hair mixed with booze, otherwise known as liquor of hair. This particular tincture was thought to treat jaundice as well. And if you developed cataracts, poo would do. Dry poo ground into a powder, which you wouldn't take in pill form. You would just have someone blow it into your eyes. I wonder if this was regarded in the same way. We ask our friends to hold our hair when we puke. Like with a begrudging what are friends for Kind of attitude. Ugh. King Charles II of England had human skulls ground into powder and mixed with alcohol into what his doctors referred to to as King's drops. He would take these drops as a tincture, swallow it down. On his deathbed, his doctors frantically tried giving him enemas with this mixture as well as herbs, to sadly no avail. But this particular recipe of skull powder and moonshine was sold in shops in London through the 18th century specifically for treating what doctors called nervous complaints and dysentery. Like with those king's drops, the parts of bodies weren't always served straight. In other words, it wasn't often that you would swallow straight bone powder. It would be added to chocolate, molasses or booze. The medicinal recipes would often include other non human ingredients like herbs. For example peony root and mistletoe. Along with ground fingernails and skull was another epilepsy treatment. You could infuse water with lily lavender malmsey and then mix it with a couple of pounds of dried brains. Ointments of human fat were often used to treat wounds in the 17th century. Bandages would be soaked in it, then wrapped around them. But it was also mixed with cinnabar to treat rabies. To prepare the fat for medical use, a French pharmacist called for cutting the fat into chunks with membranes and vessels separated. It would be washed and then allowed to melt and then it would be poured into a glazed earthen vessel. There are a number of recipes that specifically call for the blood and body parts of redheads, as it was believed our blood was thinner and of a higher quality. I saw one that mentioned the preference for a flawless unspotted redhead in the recipe. This one appears in a 17th century medical tome and it says, take the fresh unspotted cadaver of a red headed man aged about 24 who has been executed and died a violent death. Let the corpse lie one day and night in the sun and moon, but the weather must be good. Cut the flesh in pieces and sprinkle it with myrrh and just a little aloe, then soak it in spirits of wine for several days. Hang it up for 6 or 10 hours, soak it again in spirits of wine, then let the pieces dry in dry air in a shady spot. Thus they will be similar to smoked meat and will not stink. This is why I make sure all of my flaws are on full display at all times and to all people. My blood is full of cheese. To anyone that may be thinking my body could aid you in your journey to health and wellness, allow me to relieve you of that particular fantasy. Unless you want to smell like stale clove cigarettes and Gouda for the rest of your life, I suggest you find your bones and eyeballs elsewhere. Not all corpse medicine was so hideous to treat tooth decay, for example, all you had to do was grab a tooth from any old corpse and wear it around your neck as a pretty necklace. You could also take one of your pulled out teeth and simply touch a dead guy's tooth with that tooth and you'll feel right as rain. And this brings us back to the mystical spiritual element that was so important in regard to the effectiveness of these treatments. For thousands of years, and very much in the Victorian era, dead bodies were thought to be vessels for spirits in flux, or believed to be tethered to spirits in the afterlife in a number of ways. And if you think about it, this concept isn't too far off from why folks still hold onto the ashes of loved ones to this day. Do we believe the soul of our parent or cat is still in the ashes? Maybe, in a way, or at least, do we feel that the ashes of the body keep us connected to the spirit that has moved on Again, some folks believe these things, some folks believe variations of these themes. But these beliefs are not outdated. They're still very much held onto by many people, many who may not even consider themselves religious. I spoke about body snatching in episode 34, the practice of digging up bodies to sell to surgeons of the day who could not easily legally procure fresh corpses for medical research. But it wasn't just for medical research that bodies were being snatched. They were also stolen for the purpose of creating corpse medicine, especially in Ireland, where the people were not only colonized in life, they were colonized in death. Laws all over Europe prohibited the use of bodies for medical research or any other purpose unless that body belonged to a convicted and executed criminal. Despite the fact that fact that bodies were literally overflowing churchyards in the late 1700s to early 1800s to mid 1800s in England, those bodies were not to be touched if church doctrine inspired laws had anything to say about it. But plenty of people didn't really care what church doctrine inspired laws had to say about it, especially if there was a pretty penny involved, including lawmakers. They were more than happy to turn blind eyes to the practice of members of the public digging up graves to sell bodies to surgeons for medical science and for medicine. They just didn't want to ruffle any Christian feathers by officially enshrining into law that anyone other than the already quote unquote damned were fair game. Suffice it to say, hypocrisy was rampant in regard to the use of bodies for medical use in the 1600s. A major sticking point for Protestants was the seemingly grotesque and cannibalistic ritual of eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood. It was decried as barbaric, satanic, even a reason to punish, shun, and even murder Catholics. And yet these were the folks chomping on skull chocolates to cure their headaches all the same. Edward Taylor, a Protestant physician at this time, both practiced corpse medicine and decried the taking of the Eucharist as blasphemous because of its cannibalistic connotations. And it all just goes to show. Humans are really good at holding entirely contradictory beliefs. It may be the thing we are very best at. We can love animals while eating them. We can say we adhere to a particular religion and blatantly disregard large swathes of the very most strongly worded parts of our holy books and in fact do the opposite of what those holy books command us to do, and still say we're the very best followers of that religion. I could give a squillion examples, but what's the point? We know we're insane and in no way are we any less insanely hypocritical than we have ever been. If we want something, we will simply make the means by which we gain access to those things totally cool in our own heads. Easy peasy. This episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives, but are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight, you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free trial@greenlight.com Spotify greenlight.com Spotify let's talk briefly about how these quote unquote treatments lasted so long when they did not work. Eating skull powder does not cure epilepsy, and rubbing it into wounds does not stop bleeding. Nosebleeds are not treated with moss grown on the skulls of Irish people. Drinking blood does not cure anything, but can give you hepatitis. Well, shoving moss up your nose might kind of stop the nose from bleeding by enabling it to coagulate. Rubbing a number of different kinds of powder into a wound may also have a similar effect of speeding up coagulation. And you may get a burst of energy after frying up your placenta and believe it was the placenta that did it. It not the one good night of sleep that you had after your mom came to help with the newborn. Placebo effect is powerful. And when it appears that correlation equals causation, even when there are other, more seemingly obvious explanations for why something appeared to work, we're often just willing to believe the correlation equaled causation. Again, this is nothing new. We still do this how you do have you seen the graph of how the rise in ice cream sales appear to cause shark attacks? Or a rise in shark attacks appear to cause ice cream sales to rise at exactly the same rate? I'll put the graph on Instagram. It really is astounding until you realize ice cream sales rise in the summer when people are at the beach in the water with sharks. Correlation does not equal causation, but it's the most enticing explanation for why things are the way they are and has always been. And that may explain why corpse medicine lasted as long as it did. As we approach the Victorian era, we see the limits of corpse medicine's placebo effect dwindling. The 1800s was a time of rapid medical science development. We were starting to wrap our heads around germ theory, developing vaccines. Vaccines, the vaccines for bubonic plague, rabies and typhoid fever were all developed in this era. Pasteurization was developed as a way to prevent disease. And the first iteration of the smallpox vaccine was developed at the turn of the 19th century by Edward Jenner and resynthesized throughout the Victorian era to make it more stable and effective. So we were really hot for medical science in the 90s, 19th century and appreciating the newly formed processes for ascertaining if a treatment actually works or if it's just in our heads. The practice of peer review for the testing of medications wasn't new. This process began in the 1600s, but it was really refined in both the 19th and 20th centuries. Long story short, the Victorians were ready to do away with many ancient ideas in regard to to medical science, but not entirely. For example, in an 1893 collection of folk cures, it is written, coffin water is considered good for warts. And the water with which a corpse has been washed has been recently given to a man in Glasgow as a remedy for fits. End quote. I wonder how that turned out. This example isn't an example of cannibalism, but it is in line with with the same ancient belief that the essence of life is still connected to a dead body and that that essence can be transferred for the purpose of enhancing well being. This is partially where the Victorians heads were at when it came to utilizing objects that were touched by dead bodies. Again, things like coffin water or water used to wash a dead body, not the body itself. I keep saying coffin water. Like I know what that is. I could think about it for like five seconds, but that's five seconds more than I want to think about it. So I will leave that one to your own imaginations. Victorians were also very into hair of dead bodies. Not eating it, but preserving it, needle pointing it into artwork, wearing it in lockets. But you wouldn't find a lady with like human bone jewelry. And you certainly wouldn't find pickled redheads in your local pharmacy at this point, for the most part. But. But you could find an Egyptian mummy in your local museum shop, not for medicinal purposes, but for the purpose of perhaps enhancing a seance. Some believed the presence of what they believed to be a mystical corpse would aid in helping them make contact with their spirits of choice. Or they would procure one for what I mentioned earlier. Mummy unwrapping parties. And? And although we're getting a little off topic, I've told you everything I want to tell you about corpse medicine. I think it would be educational to show you where all of this centuries old corpse fascination and utilization culminated in the 19th century. So if you would follow me up the steps to this terribly elegant gothic revival mansion with the gingerbread house style room roof. Look up there. It looks like it's just draped in lace. Ah, the year is 1860. There's a storm on the way, so we've arrived just in time to a mummy unwrapping party. Although we're a little late. After everything I just put us through. Describing corpse medicine in detail. I didn't want to be here for the actual unwrapping. I'm sorry, but I don't think I could stomach it. I'm still kind of queasy over the poo eye dust. Darling. Darling. You finally made it. Although you missed the unveiling. Thank you so much for inviting us. I am so sorry that we're late. Never mind. There's plenty of gin and you can peruse what's left of the mummy in the dining room. Fabulous. Arthur, put down that vase. That. That vase contains my Auntie Millie. I don't trust your butterfinger. Off she goes. That was Lily Langtree, stage actress and socialite. On again, off again. Sweetheart of the Prince of Wales. And this pile of flesh and fabric on the floor is Fanny Ronalds. Hello, Fanny. Do you want some help with standing up now? I'm. I'm perfectly comfortable. Okay. Tell Arthur to put Lily's aunt down. Lily's in the process of that now, my dear. Good. That's actually Arthur Sullivan manhandling Lily's aunt's ashes at the moment. Fanny's boyfriend. Friend. Let's step over, Fanny. Excuse us and pour ourselves a drink, shall we? Over here. By the desecrated remains of an Egyptian person. Hello. I will briefly explain what we missed. Surgeon Thomas Pettigrew over there, otherwise known as Mummy Pettigrew. The older gentleman waltzing over there with the cat was the very man who made mummy unwrapping parties popular. He likely did the unwrapping for our friends here. As you can see, there are a number of metal symbols and amulets on the table. They were likely within the wrappings and removed and will probably be taken home by the party guests as party favors. He likely gave a mini lecture on where the body came from, did his best to guess the age and gender remarked upon the skin and hair texture. Then they all got plastered, as was tradition at parties like these, which lasted until about the turn of the 20th century. The 1890s. Ish. So yeah, just thought frankly, we could use a drink after this episode. Oh no. I know we just got here, but I have a feeling the party is over. Damn it Arthur. 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