Category:
Health

Youngster got high on hamburgers

A strange affliction to suffer from.

The Alexandria Town Talk - Jan 14, 1976

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 12, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Food, Health, 1970s

Signs of Health



Alas, this positive sign was not an accurate forecast of the fate of William Schroeder.

Article source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 10, 2019 - Comments (2)
Category: Body, Death, Health, Surgery, 1980s, Alcohol

How to Catch a Cold

Disney and Kleenex: a match made in...Madison Avenue?

Plus: excess square-dancing opens you up to germs.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 26, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Body, Business, Advertising, Health, Disease, PSA’s, 1950s

Pre-Infected Tissues

The company Vaev claims to be selling tissues that have already been sneezed into. For about $80 it seems that you get a box containing one infected tissue. The idea apparently is that you can infect yourself with a cold, and this will somehow strengthen your immune system, thereby protecting you from further colds or the flu. Although the company's website is very vague on details, offering only this:

We believe that when flu season comes around, you should be able to get sick on your terms. We’re not about chemicals or prescription drugs here at Væv. We believe using a tissue that carries a human sneeze is safer than needles or pills. This isn’t like any tissue you’ve used before, but we love using them, and you will too.

The idea is so odd that I wonder if it isn't some kind of hoax. Note that it isn't actually possible to buy these things because the company's online store claims to be sold out.

More details at Yahoo News!.



Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 24, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Health, Disease, Overpriced Merchandise, Cures for the common cold

Inductive Nasal Device

Norman Lake's cure for the common cold. Otherwise known as the "IND".

the temperature in the nose normally is around 91 degrees, making it an ideal breeding ground for the rhinoviruses, he said. Lake contends that this is where his idea has merit. By clamping the nose for up to an hour, the temperature inside rises to around 98 degrees and the cold never gets a chance to take root.

More info: Chicago Tribune - Nov 20, 1985

Chambersburg Public Opinion - Apr 23, 1982



Arizona Republic - May 8, 1982

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 10, 2018 - Comments (1)
Category: Health, Inventions, Cures for the common cold, 1980s

Eye worm art

Artist Ben Taylor drew a painting that featured “psychedelic colors and wormlike patterns inside a perfectly round circle.” Only later did he realize that he had parasitic worms in his eye, and he thinks they might have subconsciously inspired him. From The Durango Herald:

"I definitely believe that the worms had a hand in that painting,” he said, adding later: “When you kind of look into the nitty-gritty of how much of the human body actually contains your DNA versus the billions of different bacteria that live within us, you start realizing that you’re an ecology of beings that live within us.

He later adapted his painting to make it more obviously an eye infected by parasitic worms, and as a result it’s been chosen as the cover art for this month’s issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 13, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Health, Disease, Eyes and Vision

Motion-Sickness Glasses

They're called SEETROËN glasses. They were designed by the French car company Citroën, which claims that they're the first glasses that eliminate motion sickness. Apparently the blue liquid in the glasses simulates level ground, which helps stop the vertigo feeling that some people get while traveling.

Interesting concept, but they look a lot like "crazy straw" glasses.

More info: visuall.net



Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 17, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Health, Inventions

Dung Lung

Death by breathing in dung fumes. It doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go, though perhaps not the worst since apparently before it kills you it paralyzes your sense of smell. But it's definitely a weird way to die.

“Agricultural Disorders of the Lung,” RadioGraphics (1991); 11:625-634.



Mansfield News-Journal - Sep 24, 1982

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 09, 2018 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Health, Excrement

Opposed cream in coffee

The French scholar Arsene Thiebaud de Berneaud liked his coffee black. So much so that he "opposed with ferocity the then comparatively new custom of adding milk or cream to black coffee."

"He seems to have had an obsession that all mixtures of fluids were injurious... Sustained by this preconceived notion, he was able to publish a long diatribe in 1826, in which he accuses cafe au lait of causing almost every derangement known to medicine."

I've been able to find almost no other information about de Berneaud, so this one odd theory seems to be the most enduring thing he left behind.

The Chatham Press - July 15, 1922

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 27, 2018 - Comments (5)
Category: Health, Weird Theory, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, Nineteenth Century

Impact Therapy

Shamokin News Dispatch - Aug 31, 1968



Doctor Cites Worth of 'Impact Therapy'
LONDON (AP) — Dr. John Tracy says if you can't cure it any other way, hit it.
Tracy explained in today's issue of the Practitioner Medical Journal that he uses sandbags to bash his patients into shape. He calls it "impact therapy."
Tracy says that repeated blows with a 20-pound sandbag, carefully timed and judged, send pressure waves through joints that cure aches and pains.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 13, 2018 - Comments (5)
Category: Health, Medicine, 1960s

Page 6 of 14 pages ‹ First  < 4 5 6 7 8 >  Last ›




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
December 2024 •  November 2024 •  October 2024 •  September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •