While working on our upcoming “Forbidden Places” episode, Eric and Jordan discovered that one of our intended subjects no longer qualifies as an area off-limits to the public! So, while they scour the planet for other inaccessible locations we thought we’d raise one of our Season 1 episodes (now with a new intro) from the Horrific History Podcast Crypt for your squeamish delight!
For a Healthy Glow: Radiation Poisoning (Episodes from the Crypt)
A finger, hand, limb or life…. What would you give up for the advancement of science? Would you give up as much as the Radium Martyrs of All Nations?
Horrific History Podcast’s co-hosts, Eric Slyter and Curtis Bender discuss radiation poisoning in history, beginning with late Renaissance alchemy research in 1603 and continuing on to address more modern history including the Manhattan Project, Kyshtym Disaster, Chernobyl, and touching on current-day Fukushima.
From capturing the “golden light of the sun” to “seeing one’s death” through x-ray experimentation, this episode discusses all the horrifying things that came with the development of radiation research including blindness, loss of appendages, and even slow painful demises! You’ll hear about radium condoms, miracle “cures” and other products like “liquid sunshine,” as well as the legal case of the “
Radium Girls” who had been so exposed to radium over the course of their factory work that parts of them glowed (even as as their living bodies decomposed)! Cancer, amputations and
assassinations, you’ll hear all the disgusting gory details, right down to the glowing snot! Just remember, no squeam allowed!
Join us as we delve into this Horrific History episode through one of your favorite podcast services (
iTunes,
Stitcher,
TuneIn and more), and come back again in two weeks to learn about various
rites of passage!
Some of our favorite resources from this week’s episode:
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Bologna stone
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Chemistry World
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Schweizerbart Science Publishers
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MAX IV Laboratory
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US National Library of Medicine: National Institutes of Health
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Profile of Dr. Kells
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University of Vermont Libraries: Dana Medical Library
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Smithsonian Magazine
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New Yorker
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CNN
