expi

Snatching bodies from graves to sell them to medical and anatomy schools was once a super-common reason for disinterring corpses, but it’s definitely not the only reason people have disturbed the dead. And as strange as this may sound, it turns out many people have had their skull stolen from their grave -- sometimes for research, sometimes for ransom, and sometimes, because they were considered prized possessions.

Snatching bodies from graves to sell them to medical and anatomy schools was once a super-common reason for disinterring corpses, but it&rsquo;s definitely not the only reason people have disturbed the dead. And as strange as this may sound, it turns out many people have had their skull stolen from their grave -- sometimes for research, sometimes for ransom, and sometimes, because they were considered prized possessions.

Humans have always committed crimes. What can we learn from the criminals and crimes of the past, and have humans gotten better or worse over time?

Criminalia

Cranioklepty, Skulduggery, and the Time of Phrenology

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/c7432757-9798-4b16-8b95-ae980003a883/transcript

Getting yourself a parasitic buddy will help you lose weight; the idea here is that the tapeworm lives in your intestines and eats whatever you’re eating, meaning you can go for seconds or thirds without feeling guilty about any of the calories. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Until the tapeworm part, that is. Tapeworms shouldn’t be inside your body unless it’s by accident, but if you lived in Victorian England, you might have intentionally swallowed one for weight loss.

Getting yourself a parasitic buddy will help you lose weight; the idea here is that the tapeworm lives in your intestines and eats whatever you’re eating, meaning you can go for seconds or thirds without feeling guilty about any of the calories. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Until the tapeworm part, that is. Tapeworms shouldn’t be inside your body unless it’s by accident, but if you lived in Victorian England, you might have intentionally swallowed one for weight loss.

‘EAT! EAT! EAT!’ Fat ‘Banished’ With Tapeworm Diet

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/bf1981c6-c4e5-44ef-b120-b17e00287314/transcript

“It’s the Hair – not the Hat That Makes a Woman Attractive,” read one ad for the Seven Sutherland Sisters’ scalp cleaner. Sisters Sarah, Victoria, Isabella, Grace, Naomi, Dora, and Mary Sutherland were performers who sang and played instruments, but what the crowds came to see was their hair; primarily because there was, collectively, 37 feet of it. By 1880, they were billed as the "Seven Wonders" – and just four years later, their patent hair tonic had made them a fortune. This is a Victorian rags-to-riches story. Well, it’s more of a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. As it goes.

“It’s the Hair – not the Hat That Makes a Woman Attractive,” read one ad for the Seven Sutherland Sisters’ scalp cleaner. Sisters Sarah, Victoria, Isabella, Grace, Naomi, Dora, and Mary Sutherland were performers who sang and played instruments, but what the crowds came to see was their hair; primarily because there was, collectively, 37 feet of it. By 1880, they were billed as the "Seven Wonders" – and just four years later, their patent hair tonic had made them a fortune. This is a Victorian rags-to-riches story. Well, it’s more of a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. As it goes.

‘A Niagara of Curls’: The Story of the Seven Sutherland Sisters

In 1946, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” Long before Camel cigarettes became the doctor-approved cigarette of choice, at least in advertising, people living with asthma were often instructed to inhale smoke to relieve their symptoms. And that advice was for asthmatic adults – and children. ‘Asthma cigarettes’, as they were called, and related products, weren’t packed full of tobacco, though many did include it; they were, essentially, psychotropic drugs from the nightshade family that people inhaled in hopes of finding respiratory relief. Let's take a look at what kinds of quack – and, to be honest, some not-so-quack – products for asthma before the invention of the modern inhaler.

In 1946, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” Long before Camel cigarettes became the doctor-approved cigarette of choice, at least in advertising, people living with asthma were often instructed to inhale smoke to relieve their symptoms. And that advice was for asthmatic adults – and children. ‘Asthma cigarettes’, as they were called, and related products, weren’t packed full of tobacco, though many did include it; they were, essentially, psychotropic drugs from the nightshade family that people inhaled in hopes of finding respiratory relief. Let's take a look at what kinds of quack – and, to be honest, some not-so-quack – products for asthma before the invention of the modern inhaler.

Asthma and Smoking: When Cigarettes Were Medicine

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9ae7a36d-226b-4bcc-a6f8-b170001c3b95/transcript

Cranioklepty, Skulduggery, and the Time of Phrenology

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