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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home in auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. 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 69th episode. How romantic. I hope you had a lovely cozy week. It has been rather chilly in New York. When the weather goes below 40 degrees, my ghastly Nosferatu hands get so dry I can, like, pull on my knuckle skin and make stegosaurus scales. You know what I mean, right? Am I the only one who does this for fun that isn't, like the weirdest kid in third grade? I was about to say I'd put a picture on the Instagram so you can see what I'm talking about, just in case you have moisturized human hands and can't play this stegosaurus skin game. And I realized I'm not even 45 seconds into the show and I'm probably already creeping everyone out. I won't do it. I gotta pace myself. I gotta reign myself in here because I have some simply horrible information that I cannot wait to share with you today and I don't want to desensitize you too soon. Oh, it's gonna be so upsetting. I know I've been doing this for a while now, but I don't think I'm going to be able to shake one of the articles that I'm gonna read for you today that I came across ever so casually while picking through the Illustrated Law courts and record 1872 volume. It has an illustration that will be put on the Instagram and it will haunt your nightmares for years to come. We will get there, but first, let's have a little Haunted Housekeeping and a special announcement. As always, thank you for rating the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thank you for your lovely comments that you leave for me that I cherish on those platforms and on Instagram. And thank you most of all to those of you who have joined the fan coven. Those who receive the show ad free a day early, who receive a whole audiobook on starting an eclectic witchcraft practice, weekly witchy inspirational content and meditations, as well as Victorian True Crime extras. You too can join the fan coven by going to myvictoriannightmare.com and guess what? Special announcement I added a new Patreon tier. Maybe you would like to receive the show at free and a day early, but you're not necessarily into witchy stuff, but you are into bloody dastardly scandalous Victorian True Crime. You can now join a tier that includes both my Victorian Nightmare ad free and A Day early as well as Victorian True Crime extras. If you binged the show and want even more creepy content to binge, I think I've got about 12 or 13 episodes on there so far, so just go again to myvictorianightmare.com and follow your nose to the Patreon link. As the holidays approach and life gets unimaginably busier and the reality has begun to set in that I won't have a single weekend to myself until January, I'm feeling really grateful for my HelloFresh membership. I do not have a lot of time to plan meals at this time of year and luckily HelloFresh makes it easy and they don't just send you whatever they've got prepared that week. You get to choose from their menu of 100 options. They've got seasonal recipes including recipes from around the world. They've also got bigger portions that I very much appreciate. They've got healthy options that include high protein recipes. They've got grass fed steak and lamb chops. They've also got veggie packed recipes that have two different veggies per meal which is very important in the winter months. Gotta get your greens. They also have amazing seafood recipes. I had a salmon dinner the other night that was exactly, exactly what I needed and the great news is HelloFresh doesn't charge extra for steak and seafood meals that would cost you more at the food store. Same price for vegetarian, pescatarian or ribeye steak meals. Oh man. I was just looking at their beef chili and honey glazed tenderloin recipes that I will load up on for next week's order. The best way to cook just got better. Go to hellofresh.com victorian10fm now to get 10 free meals plus a free bonus breakfast for life one per box with active subscription free meals applied at discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com victorian10fm to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast for life for you today dear listener, I will have unpleasant stabbings, poison mania, and again, an accident that will ruin your week. Women mysteriously delivered in coffins, men swallowing wedding rings, opium eaters charred lifeless remains, and much, much more. But first, let's have our first segment with their own eyes where I share with you the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians. This account comes to us from 1863. It was in an article talking about Christmas ghost stories and it was quite long, so I'm just going to read a few chilling excerpt and just a In this time, reporters loved to use the royal we when referring to themselves, so don't get confused. He's not talking about a group of people when he says we. He's just referring to himself royally. The article reads. Ghosts this class is undoubtedly one of the most distinctly circumscribed in the whole series of being General form of body, human legs two in number but seldom visible, being covered with a light vestment color usually white, body transparent with an entire absence of digestive organs. The churchyard nocturnal and migratory, without the aid of the necromancer, without any meddling with the black art or any alliance with the spirit wrapping community Ghost Ghosts are now being raised all over London and all over the country, all over Europe and New York and other American cities. We had in our younger days an intimacy with several ghosts, that is, we had heard with a shiver the dark stories belonging to them. There was an old inn on the margin of a breezy common, and the back staircase was haunted by the ghost of a soldier who had committed suicide when he billeted in the house. We never, never saw the ghost, but then we never went up the staircase after dark, which might account for it. But one of the ostlers averred that he had seen him all whitish like, with a bluish bito light on his face, a movin along ever so. This ostler was a firm believer in ghosts and took kindly to spirits. We remember the story of an anxious mother one stormy night in winter, seeing her sailor son, who was far away at sea, come to her bedside soaked with water, in order to mention the circumstance that he had been drowned that very night off somewhere. Likewise of a schoolboy who had perished in a pond, making the circuit of that pond on the anniversary of his own decease, much to the terror of other scholars who never saw him, to be sure, but that might have been because they never had nerve enough to look for him. We have heard of a ghost that always followed a person six feet behind him, and no more of a ghost that came regularly four times a year and would give no quarter to the unhappy beings it disturbed until something or other was found out at a ghost who sat at the desk in a chandler's shop. It was the ghost of the late proprietor and would not be warned off until it had revealed the fact that a penny and three farlings were owing by somebody and not entered in the books. It has been asked, why should ghosts rise merely to make our hair rise? But hear the answer. They keep on appearing until something is found out. End quote. Whew. Some of those descriptions really gave me the willies. The part about ghosts are now being raised all over London and the world without any meddling with the black art or the spirit rapping community. That meant spiritualists made me think of Ghostbusters. Ghosts just appearing in libraries and hotel banquet halls. Slimers, full torso, free roaming vapors. Oh, okay, real quick. Before we get to our next segment, a few folks have asked for my review of Del Toro's Frankenstein, and I will make it quick. And I'm sorry, but you're probably not gonna like it. I saw it two nights ago. I am not a big fan of Del Toro in general. I think he relies far too heavily on costumes and sets and CG to tell stories and create an atmosphere. And the story comes not just second, but third or fourth, and this was no different to me. I'm sorry. It honestly also looked like they just reused some of the same 3D models for exteriors and interiors from Crimson PE. Yes, the costumes are amazing, incredibly thoughtful and so beautiful. But I just always feel with his movies that if you were to remove all the costumes, the sets, the cg, what would be left is something entirely flat. I don't feel anything when I watch his movies, but that is just me. That's just my opinion. I have a feeling I've made a number of you a little mad with that review. Tell me what you think. Change my mind. I have had my mind expanded before. Come at me, as it were. So now won't you follow me into the seance room where I share with you the goings on in the spiritualist community of the 1800s. Our article from the Spiritualist magazine comes to us from 1869. Another deposition of the experience of a Mr. Woolnow, who didn't sound like he had a lot of respect for spiritualism at first, but after he met an entranced medium. Well, the story takes an intriguing twist. And it reads, Mr. Woolnow said that he had first heard of spiritualism in the adjoining coffee house. And he asked Mr. Davis, when does the performance come off? He indignantly replied that it was no performance and brought him into the room. But the spirits turned him and others out again, saying that their presence interfered. During the short time he was in the room he saw nothing very striking, except that one of the legs of a four legged table rose off the floor whilst the other three stood firm, the table appearing to bend in the middle. This perplexed him a little, as he could not see how it could be done. He thought it peculiar and followed up the subject. For 12 months they had pipes and coffee at the circles on Sunday. The spirits said nothing about this habit. At first they did not knock their pipes out of their mouths, but slowly and gently, as is ever their way, they spoke to them of the impropriety and induced them to break off the custom. And Mr. Wilknow was further intrigued, especially when introduced to an entranced medium. When entrancement comes on slowly, it is accompanied by a feeling of intense happiness and pleasure. And if death resembled entrancement, death would have no terrors to speak of. When the entrancement comes on suddenly for the instant, the feeling is as if the head were dashed in. And it is not pleasant. When he first saw Mr. Blackwell, the medium, he thought he looked very much like a conjurer. And as for Mr. Woolnow, he thought him stupid. But having now become a medium himself, his views were altered. End quote. I love when these articles describe in detail the experiences of mediums. If you connect with dead spirits slowly, it sounds like peaches and cream. But if it happens too fast, it's like getting quote unquote dashed in the head. I would like to know if any current day sensitives who listen to this show have any thoughts on that. Let me know in the comments. Okay. Our first article is awful. It's not the article I'm gonna work up to that one. This one is just normal, horrifying and upsetting. It is called Unpleasant Stabbing Affray between Italians in New York. And it reads, michael Rosa and John Petrell, two Italians, have lived together sometime in the same house. Number 37 Mulberry Street, New York. On the afternoon of the 22nd, they quarreled about some trifle. When Rosa went down into the yard to get some coal, Patrell also went into the yard. And Rosa, stepping up, put his right hand on Patrell's left shoulder as if to remonstrate with him for what had been said. Whether or not Patrell mistook the action is unknown. But whipping out a formidable knife, he stabbed Rosa Three times inflicting a wound in the back, another in the arm and a third in the abdomen causing the bowels to protrude. Rosa has been three years in the country and is 40 years of age. Patrell was soon after arrested and taken before Rosa who identified him as the man who stabbed him. This Petrel denies declaring that he knows anything of the affray. How in God's name a man with his bowels protruding was able to go down to the station and ID the gu who did this to his bowels is next level. I found some more information on this situation. Sadly, Mr. Rosa did not survive his injuries for long and the trial for Mr. Petrell was really tense. I read in an article called the Mulberry Street Butcher Know Nothing Witnesses verdict against the accused. There were witnesses who were watching out of their windows that saw four other people in the yard. With these guys close enough to clearly see what happened, although they themselves couldn't see from their windows. All four of these people were forced to testify. They were Patrell's wife and a few other folks who knew them both. But none of them were straight up saying what happened. They were all playing dumb and I've never heard this happen before. But Patrell was found guilty and the other folks except for Patrell's wife were all booked for lying under o didn't see anything due to the coroner's opinion. It was the coroner's opinion that there was no way those people couldn't have seen what happened. So they were guilty of lying. Mr. Rosa, before he died, not only identified Patrell as having been his attacker, but also identified the murder weapon. I imagine the weight of this evidence likely factored into the charges for other folks. Fascinating. I also think it's funny that the title of that article, the one where a man's guts spilled out. Unpleasant stabbing a fray. I'll say. Heavens. Incidentally, I thought I'd take a look to find out what 37 Mulberry street in Manhattan is today. I figured it would probably be a very expensive apartment building or something. Turns out it is now a public restroom. A very fancy looking one. But who would imagine while using that public bathroom that a grisly murder took place in that very spot 150 years ago. I sure hope it isn't haunted by poor Mr. Patrel. Okay, our next article features a poisoner that I have not heard of before and goodness, this is black. The article is called the Poisoning Mania and it reads, the people of Turner, Maine have lately been much excited by the suspicion that they have among them a secret poisoner of the same character as Ms. Christina Edmonds. Several children who had eaten candy from a store in the village were on the same day seized with nausea and sever pains. One of the number, a boy named Keyser, who had eaten more freely than the others, suffered terribly and finally died from exhaustion. The selectmen have since been endeavoring to trace the poisoning home to somebody, but without effect. A few years ago in this city, an industrious reporter who made the rounds of the candy shops discovered that most of the material used in coloring was poisonous. And it seems quite possible that the enterprising individual who sold the candy in the Turner case may have been bungling with poisonous compounds himself for the sake of saving expense. End quote. Okay, there's a lot to talk about here. I did not find information about if they discovered a poisoner in that area, but you better believe I looked into Ms. Christina Edmonds, otherwise known as the Chocolate Cream Killer. She was an English poison fiend who carried out a series of poisonings in Brighton in the early 1870s. So she must have been caught within a year or two of the writing of this article. She would purchase chocolate from local candy shops, lace the candy with strychnine, then return the candy to the shops, which is horrifying. But the fact that they accepted returned open candy is equally disturbing to me. She had no motive other than to hopefully murder anyone anywhere. She was a maniac. Most of the people who ate the poison candy didn't die, just got very sick. But when a child actually died, detectives started connecting the dots. She didn't stop at just lacing candy in candy shops. She started sending it directly to other people. She also sent a poisoned box to herself just in case the police connected the poisonings to her, which they did, and she pretended that she was a victim of the candy poisoner as well. But the cops were onto her. She was arrested and sentenced to to death, but her sentence was reduced to life in prison due to her clearly unhinged mental state. Also, that article had an interesting detail there, that most of the material used in coloring of candy was poisonous in that area. Let's talk about how that could happen. Apart from someone adding strychnine directly to candy with the intention of murdering people, the following were ingredients often added to candy to make them cheaper to produce. And hopefully not poison poisoned enough to kill anybody. But, you know, some people might get kind of sick, as would be the mindset of the candy maker. Plaster of Paris used for making molds for sculptures would be used as a cheap thickening ingredient in candy. This is not for consumption. It can harden in your digestive tract and cause a potentially fatal obstruction. Arsenic, of course, was used to create green food dyes. It also has a sweet taste, is highly toxic. Many other food dyes were made with lead. Lead gave candy bright, vibrant colors, used especially in red, orange or yellow. You'd find other heavy metals too, like copper. Ever see that lovely patina that appears on statues when they get wet? That green color that was used to dye candy? It is highly toxic. There was virtually no government regulation of food safety in this era. You could use use anything you wanted in foods or medications and not even have to list the ingredients. Not until 1906 in the United States, with the Pure Food and Drug act and the Meat Inspection act, was anything inspected for safety. There was a great deal of investigative journalism in the 1800s regarding food poisoning, the horrific repulsive conditions in the meatpacking industry, and just public outrage due to a number of high profile poisonings and scientific discovery about what many common ingredients being used in, for example, children's candy were doing to people's bodies. President Roosevelt directly prompted congress to pass these acts. Okay, let's just do it. Let's make our way to the worst article ever. Let's just rip off the band aid. This article is called Horrible accident to a woman in Canal Street, New York. And it reads, on the afternoon of February 20th, a woman stood upon the southwest corner of Canal and Hudson streets, New York. She attempted to cross the street. Vanderbilt's dummy engine was just turning the corner. A heavy truck was going toward Broadway. The poor woman had left the curb and was hastening between the two when she was struck by the dummy engine and knocked to the ground. In an instant her head and her left hand was severed from her body. Her body was caught up by the driving wheels of the engine and it was at least a half hour before it was extricated. The corpse was taken to the Leonard street police station and from there to the morgue. The woman was apparently about 40 years of age, tall and thin. She had a small bundle under her arm containing a gray mixed overskirt, evidently just purchased. She wore a black alpaca dress, brooch, shaw fur collar, black kid gloves, bluish gray sack with a broad black stripe stripe, leather gaiters with very low heels, balmoral skirt and hoops, and woollen petticoat. In her pocket was found an old portomonnaie containing a dollar and some cents in change and a card with the name John G. Fisher and company, Fourth Avenue. A pair of spectacles was also discovered in it. The woman is unknown. Oh, I could not for the life of me find her identity. I looked everywhere. Oh, God. There's just always something about when they give details about what they're wearing, what they were found with that just breaks my heart so much. It just really paints a picture for me. Like she was just going to buy a gray mixed over skirt that day. My mind just starts making up automatically so many details about her. Like I went to go get roses to start hanging for my Christmas tree today and I was so excited to get them. And looking at my big bunch of roses while I crossed the street and some guy on a motorcycle came flying just in front of me in the bicycle lane. And what if he knocked me into traffic? Ugh. I don't want to think about it and I don't want to make the story about me. It's just. It makes me think how easily sweet people just doing their things can get decapitated when they least expect it. Be careful out there, folks. Look both left and right before crossing the street. Okay? Okay. Our next article is also horrifying, very sad and mysterious. It is called Another mystery Disappearance of a young lady. Her body returned in a coffin. And it reads. In the month of December last, this vicinity was startled by the sudden disappearance of a young lady named Anna Roys, the daughter of Maurice Royce, who lives about six miles from Worstborough, Sullivan County. She was a beautiful young lady and had always borne a good reputation in the community in which she lived. And no cause could be assigned for her mysterious, serious disappearance. Recent developments would seem to indicate that one of those horrible crimes which the wretch Rosenzweig is now paying a slight penalty has been committed in this case by parties as yet unknown. On Thursday last there arrived at Worstborough a coffin encased in a pine box upon which was the address of the missing young lady. The box was sent to the home of her father and upon it being opened, it was found to contain the remains pains of Ms. Royce. A report of the affair soon became general. And the humble residence of Mr. Royes was soon surrounded by the curious of the community and the sad affair discussed in all its bearings. The great grief of the family hardly acted as a restraint upon the extraordinary occasion. The body of the unfortunate girl was buried on Friday. But on Saturday, public opinion being such that an investigation was necessary, the coroner had the remains taken up and an inquest was ordered, which is now being held. The affair as may well be expected has created a furor in the entire community that parties will be implicated in the disappearance and subsequent death of the young lady who moved in respectable circles is the opinion of many a day or two will show. End quote. Oh, the article itself is sad and horrifying enough, but they never found her killer, which seems crazy to me considering how they were like able to connect candy poisonings to that one lady. It sounds like they had a lot of bits and pieces to solve the crime, but they just didn't have enough. Anna Roy's is not mentioned in any papers after March of that year where articles were only about this terrible, horrible situation. That's the most heartbreaking part to me. I did look up though who Rosenswig was the article mentioned. Recent developments would seem to indicate that one of those horrible crimes for which the wretch Rosenswig is now paying a slight penalty has been committed in this case. And finding what that guy was about gave a whole new dimension to this story. This man was an abortionist and a woman named Alice Bowlsby died bled to death after receiving an abortion from him and he put her remains in a trunk and attempted to send them to Chicago by train. He only got seven years for this and the public was outraged. So the reporter of that last article was insinuating that maybe anaroi's death was due to an abortion. Oh honey, such a sad story all around. Okay, let's cleanse our palettes a little with a man swallowing a wedding ring. And this article also has an illustration that I think you will very much enjoy. It is called a bridegroom in Cleveland swallows his wedding ring Attempt to recover the golden pledge. And it reads, a new and careful bridegroom in Cleveland kept the wedding ring the in his mouth during the fore part of the ceremony so that he could find it when the proper moment arrived. He mumbled along all right, until the minister winked at him as a hint to produce the ring, when in his nervousness he swallowed it, and there being no stomach pump on hand, he was stood on his head by three gentlemen to recover the golden pledge. He may esteem himself fortunate if in the course of time he does not not wish that somebody had swallowed the bride. I have no more details here. I'm just glad it sounds like he got it out and not through a more inelegant end. Okay, let's have a tiny article that is very interesting. It is called Mr. Pepper's Last Ghost and it reads, a few days ago, Mr. Commonly known as Professor Pepper FCS introduced a new ghost at The Polytechnic in an entertainment called the Mysteries of Udolpho. It consisted of a gigantic skeleton which was made to execute a comic dance to the tolling of a bell. Such an outrage on good taste caused a violent commotion among the spectators and a great deal of hissing. The skeleton will not appear for the future. End quote. Okay, just in case you are unaware of the history of Pepper's ghost, I'll tell you a little bit about what they're talking about here. English scientist John Henry Pepper created an illusion technique in 1862 used in theaters and museums, which was so cool and clever that it went on to be used in films, music concerts and amusement parks. He created a spooky ghost that appeared magically on stage. And it wasn't like a fake ghost on a string. It was clearly an actor, but they were transparent and glowed. Very cool effect. This was done by having a brightly lit actor in a ghostly costume, all white out of the audience's sight below the stage. And they were then reflected with a mirror onto a pane of glass placed between the performer and the audience. The pane of glass was so thin and so clean that it was invisible to the audience. This effect caused a sensation no one had ever seen anything like it before. When it was first used in a performance of Charles Dickens story the Haunted man and the Ghost's Bargain at the Regent Street Theater in London, this same effect has been used to display Tupac and Michael Jackson in posthumous concerts. Often incorrectly described as holograms, the effect still widely used today is just Pepper's ghost illusion. Okay, let's have another horrifying one. This article is called One More Indiana Horror, and it reads, clark County, Indiana, has succeeded already in attaining a a sufficiently bad eminence. But on Tuesday last, another deed of horror was added to its black list. Near Jeffersonville, a moderately prosperous German named Bandle had resided for several years with his wife. They were quiet, inoffensive people and were not supposed to have an enemy in the world. Early Tuesday morning, their house was discovered to be on fire and the neighbors members hastened to the spot. When they arrived, the building was completely wrapped in flames and the roof had fallen in. No investigation, therefore, could be made until the conflagration extinguished itself when the charred and lifeless remains of Mr. And Mrs. Bendel were found in the cellar. Although some attribute the event to mere accident, the general opinion is that the house was frozen, first robbed and then fired by some person or persons who had obtained knowledge of the fact that Bandel had gone to Louisville the day before with a load of bacon and returned with a considerable sum of money. At the coroner's inquest, it was developed that shooting had been heard at midnight on Monday night in the direction of Bandel's house. Active measures are being taken to ferret out the guilty parties. End quote. Oh, these poor people. I searched to find if anyone was found for having done this, but there was no more information about this very horrifying and sad situation in the papers after March of that year. Oh, so terribly tragic. Okay, this next article touches on something that I could do an entire episode on I may in the near future. It is called A New Social Evil. The Male and Female Opium Eaters of New York, and it reads. Our public preachers and the press generally combine to condemn the inordinate use of alcohol stimulants. But either from ignorance or a misapprehension of the subject, they entirely ignore the existence of an evil which is daily assuming greater proportions in New York City, and which in its effects is far more disastrous than even the demon drunkenness. This is the use of opium, a habit that has wonderfully increased within the last few years. A proclivity for the use of this powerful narcotic is frequently engendered by the action of medical men who administer the drug in many cases where a much less subtle stimulant would be equally effective. And the consequence is that the patient gradually acquires a likely liking for the sensation the potion produces and keeps increasing the dosage until opium becomes an absolute essential to existence among the fair sex. The habit is growing with amazing rapidity, and those who have already habituated themselves to the use of the deadly stimulant now number tens of hundreds in this city alone. That headline is a little misleading in as much as opium addiction among women in particular in this era was nothing new. This article was written in 1872. Around the 1850s, opium addiction was already becoming very prevalent among women, particularly white middle to upper class housewives. Often in newspapers, women who were addicted to opium were suspected of meeting child Chinese men in opium dens. And that's where they got hooked. But some reporting on the subject was more accurate, like this article. Women were widely prescribed opium for their female troubles, quote unquote, from everything from hysteria, in other words, feelings, to menstrual cramps, morning sickness, anxiety, the vague nervous disorders, quote unquote, which could just be a gal not getting enough protein or nutrients in general in her diet, or just being poisoned by her diet. But a woman didn't need to be prescribed opium. She could just pick it up in any drugstore. Also, the hypodermic needle was introduced in the mid 19th century which delivered a much faster relief for pain related issues than say eating it, which didn't taste great. And delivering opium and morphine this way leads to greater doses. Doses being offered at a given time and thus faster addiction. Women were also getting hooked on opium more than men, because opium could be found in far more products marketed toward women. Skin tonics, cosmetics. As with all drug use in society, when poor women used opium, they were painted as immoral or criminal. When upper middle class and rich white white ladies became addicted, they were considered innocent victims and treated with more compassion. Not much more, but more and would be shipped off to wellness retreats to rehabilitate. A very similar sociological situation to the opium epidemics of today. But man, the Victorians were so drug and poison addled, it is astounding to me that our speed species survived beyond it. Okay, let's end with an aggravating one that has an interesting and enlightening counter perspective at its conclusion. This one is called Young Gentlemen of Boston Submitting their arms to a charming female vaccinator. And it reads, doctoresses are increasing in numbers and in practice. Though in cases where men are attacked by fever, it seems difficult to understand how their ministrations can become effective. As if good looking they are likely to cause much more fever than they cure. A young female physician of Boston has taken away much of the custom of the male medicals. The bloods of Beacon street submit their pilgrim fatherly arms with much gratification vacation to her as she vaccinates them and bless the charming smallpox preventer. So the female element progresses. End quote. Ugh, shut up. Okay, this is obviously a terribly sexist dumb article written by a sexist dumb man. And you may think to yourself, God, men were simply the worst in this time. And sure, a lot of them were. But just like today where we have the manosphere and red pill buttheads trying to craft what is true about women and their place in society, there are plenty of awesome dudes today doing just the opposite. And I wanted to show you that the same was true even in this time. And from perhaps unsuspecting gentlemen, the spiritualists. Check this out. This is a quick excerpt from the very first article on the front page page of the spiritualist from 1869. It is called Ladies in the Medical Profession and it reads, Spiritualism demonstrates that no immediate improvement is made in the moral or mental condition of any human being. After passing through the process called death. Hence everything done on this earth to improve human bodies and human minds causes a higher class of spirits to enter the next world world. Such facts have a very useful and beautiful practical teaching, for they let us know that to raise the present average condition of this world and the next, we must begin by doing everything possible to improve the bodies and souls of man and woman Kind why should women be in a worse condition upon earth than men and be cut off so much from freedom of action as well as from facilities to earn an independent livelihood? Why should they not have equal opportunities with men to gain a good education when any of them desire so to do? End quote. Now to be fair, this argument isn't simply women are people, so they should have a right to live their lives any way they wish. It's framed in terms of improving the quality of their spirits. But this is still pretty impressive for 1869. I mean, they were to the left of some men today, and I'm just about certain that a man wrote that article. I don't know if women wrote for the Spiritualist, perhaps they did. But again, this was selected as the very first article on the front page, likely by the male editors of the paper. It went on to list more ways that women should be able to realize their own independence, their own autonomy. Spiritual evangelists were commonly not only feminists, although that term wasn't coined, by the way, until 1895 in English anyway. They were often also abolitionists, vegetarians, conservationists, suffragists, progressives. I'm not a vegetarian, but I think I would have fit just perfectly into the spiritualist communities of the day. Anyway, I just wanted to show you that even in an article that put predates that other one, there were opposing perspectives, even from men, about women's rights in that time. And I do this for a reason. It's important for men to counter the oppressive language of other men. It's important for all people to counter the oppressive language of any group with power at all times. Of course, it was the hard work, sacrifice, pain that women endured fighting for suffrage and for their rights in the country. But just as it was true then, it is true now. The voices of the opposition within the powerful group wield a hell of a sledgehammer as well. I want to give a personal thank you to every man speaking up for his sisters, especially in times like these. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Leave me comments because you know, I love them so much and join the fan coven to listen ad free and for even more creepy and witchy content. Until next time, be kind to yourselves, and I will see you in your nightmares.