Under The Knife – Reboot!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MBNgVKIREE] It’s been 18 months since I’ve filmed an episode of my YouTube series, Under The Knife. But that ends today! Check out the trailer to the series reboot, which may or may not involve my severed head. A NEW episode is coming next week. If you haven’t subscribed to the channel, please do. You’ll […]
“We Have Conquered Pain!” The Uses & Abuses of Ether in History
The surgical revolution began with an American dentist and a curiously sweet-smelling liquid known as ether.
The Medicalization of Death in History
When the Black Death swept through Europe in the 14th century, it claimed the lives of over 75 million people, many of who were clergymen whose job it was to help usher the dying into the next world. In response to the shortage of priests, the Ars Moriendi (Art of Dying) first emerged in 1415. […]
The Cutter’s Art: A Brief History of Bloodletting
When King Charles II suffered a sudden seizure on the morning of 2 February 1685, his personal physician had just the remedy. He quickly slashed open a vein in the king’s left arm and filled a basin with the royal blood. Over the next few days, the king was tortured by a swarm of […]
Mangling the Dead: Dissection, Past & Present
I never feel more alive than when I am standing among the rows and rows of anatomical specimens in medical museums around London. In one jar floats the remains of an ulcerated stomach; in another, the hands of a suicide victim. Cabinets are filled with syphilitic skulls, arthritic joints, and cancerous bones. The unborn sit alongside the […]
“Not A Relic of the Past” – in THE GUARDIAN
A bone belonging to the saint Thomas Becket has returned to England after 800 years. My latest article in The Guardian explores our endless fascination with relics, and discusses some fascinating “secular relics” like Galileo’s finger (pictured above). Click HERE to read.
The Strange, the Morbid, the Bizarre – Now on Instagram!
After years of resisting, I’m finally on Instagram! Follow me for strange, morbid, and bizarre history facts each day by clicking HERE. The above photo (featured on my account) is a radioactive chocolate bar from 1931. The German company that produced it claimed that it would make those who ate it look younger! As always, you […]
“Limbs Not Yet Rigid” – A History of Dissecting the Living
Several years ago, the news reported a story that could have come straight from the script of a horror movie. In October 2009, Colleen S. Burns was admitted to St Joseph’s Hospital Center in New York for a drug overdose. A short time later, a team of doctors pronounced the 39-year-old woman dead. Her family was notified and Burns’s body was prepped for organ donation.
The only problem was: Burns wasn’t actually dead.
“Our Changing Attitudes Towards Death” – in THE GUARDIAN
My article on the history of our ever-changing attitudes towards death is out in The Guardian today, featuring fascinating photos by Dr. Paul Koudounaris of the Ma’nene Festival of Corpses in Indonesia. Big thanks to Caitlin Doughty and Dr. John Troyer for sharing their thoughts on the future of death with me for this article. […]
The Mad Dogs of London: A Tale of Rabies
There was panic on the streets of London in 1760, and the city’s newspapers weren’t helping the situation. Hundreds of column inches, for week upon week, were full of terrifying reports about an outbreak of attacks by rabid dogs. Armchair experts even wrote letters to newspaper editors offering advice and hypotheses on the causes […]