A Stretching Device for Appearance
This device looks like it has torturous intent, but men actually elected themselves to use it voluntarily. This stretching device claimed to increase height by five to 15 centimeters by lengthening out the spine
HuffingtonPost
Just as the knee and shoulder can be moved, so can the spine. This contraption is especially dangerous.
Lobotomies in Mid-20th Century United States
You have probably heard of this terrifying trend in the United States in the mid-20th century. The lobotomy was the act of severing of the prefrontal lobe of the brain, thereby modifying behavior.
Taringa
It was performed over 18,000 times in the U.S. on veterans, political dissidents, prisoners, mental patients, and even poorly raised children.
Truth or Myth? Rabbit Waste as a Cure
Legend has it, the Old West would use rabbit waste as a cure for hangovers. The trick was to mix a few rabbit droppings in with tea and slurp it down.
British Library
We aren’t absolutely sure that this was really a practice or not, but the myth must exist for a reason, so there is a chance Old Westerners were slurping on this disgusting tea.
Posing with the Dead
The Victorian Era had a term called “memento mori” which translates as “remember you’re going to die.” People in the Victorian Era had a practice of posing for photographs with their recently deceased family members.
Onedio
Generally, corpses were made up to look as though they were sleeping peacefully, especially in cases of children. In some cases, artists would paint pupils over the eyes of the dead to make it look like they were alive.
A Strange Solution for Health Palpitations
Any sufferer of heart palpitations is thrust into a vicious cycle, as the heart irregularities cause fear and the fear increases the palpitations. A British Evangelist named John Wesley came up with an incredibly simple (and deeply inaccurate) cure for any patient suffering from heart palpitations.
His idea was to drink a quart of cold water, apply a vinegar soaked cloth over the patient’s chest, and then electrocute said patient. Hmm….
Rectal Dilators
Rectal dilators were thought to cure a very wide (pun apologetically intended) array of ailments. From insanity to chronic constipation, these little dilators were supposed to really do the trick. They dominated the market in the 1800s.
There was a puritanical outcry from people who thought that the rubber objects were being used for more “deviant” reasons. The use of the rectal dilators ended in the 1940s by order of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Radium as a Solution to Various Ailments
Radium was once used as a treatment for a variety of illnesses. It was used against ovarian cancer, arthritis, impotence, and even aging. In the early 20th century, Americans often used a ceramic water jug lined with radioactive materials called the Revigator.
History Link
The device was filled with water a day ahead and then exposed to uranium and radium contained in the lining of the jug. The water was drunk the next day. Today, we know radium will kill you!
Shock Me with Your Electric Feel
In the 1900s it was a common medical practice to place sufferers of rheumatism in a bizarre situation. Today, most of us are aware that the mixing of electricity and water is not a good idea, but back then, it was recommended.
Vkmag
Doctors would submerge their patients limbs in tubs of water and run mild electric currents throughout the tubs in the hopes of relieving joint pain.
Heroin as a Cough Syrup
Once upon a time, heroin was trademarked by the German drug maker Bayer as a remedy for the common cough. The drug was marketed as a safer and more effective choice than other hardcore drugs on the market.
Rizospastis
Bayer introduced heroin to the market in 1898 and it could be purchased over the counter without a prescription. Today, heroin is viewed as one of the most troubling illegal drugs out there.