Bullet Pudding and Snapdragon

Back in the days before TV and the internet, people amused themselves over the holidays by playing parlour games. One game popular in Regency-era Britain was "Bullet Pudding" [via tywkiwdbi]. Jane Austen's niece Fanny Knight described it in a letter sent to a friend :


Nothing gets a party going like playing with live ammunition! The illustration below by Francis Hayman shows the moment when the bullet toppled from the top of the Flour pyramid.


Another game, called Snapdragon, involved lighting a bowl of brandy punch on fire and then trying to pick the raisins and nuts out of the punch without burning your fingers. Austenonly comments, "Though brandy does not burn at a particularly high heat it was still possible to be scorched and  the point of the fun was to watch peoples expressions as they darted their fingers through the flames, picking out the fruit or nuts."

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 27, 2012 - Comments (5)
Category: Games, Nineteenth Century

The Danger of Tight-Laced Corsets

In the graveyard of Kirkconnel Church (located in Springkell, Scotland) one can find a headstone that, according to legend, shows a woman who died because she laced her corset too tightly. The headstone also shows a man on horseback. He's supposedly going to fetch a doctor for her, though he was too late. Below is a 1907 engraving of the headstone as well as a more recent photo of it that I found on Flickr (Captain Keef Kremmen's photostream).


Whether or not the headstone story is true, tight lacing was definitely a fashion hazard that people worried about back in the nineteenth century, as seen in this cautionary illustration from The Family Magazine, 1835:

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 09, 2012 - Comments (7)
Category: Fashion, Nineteenth Century

Peter Prim’s Portraits of Good and Bad Girls and Boys

[Click to enlarge]

Why do the bad kids always seem to be having so much more fun than the little angels?

There are only eighteen illustrations in this old book, but each one a gem!

Read them here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 29, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Etiquette and Formal Behavior, Evil, Children, Nineteenth Century

Black Draught

Surely this is the worst name for a laxative ever, conjuring up images of torrents of tarry bowel movements. The fact that "black draught" is also a term for a horse and cow purgative doesn't help.

Worst of all, the stuff is still being sold!



Listen to these old grannies wince at the memory of taking Black Draught in their youth.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 12, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Medicine, Excrement, Nineteenth Century

Vintage Photos on eBay

Yesterday I went to eBay and searched on the string "vintage photo." I got 417,368 hits. The first item in that catalog is reproduced above. So many of the subsequent ones were almost as bizarre.

Happy viewing! Please report back here in the Comments with your own best finds!

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 04, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Eccentrics, Photography and Photographers, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century

Autobiography of Jesus

Wouldn't so many, many contemporary controversies be definitively settled if only we had Jesus's own writings about his life? Doesn't the sorry world of the 21st century need his inspired insights, straight from the Savior's lips? Of course! And yet, this Spiritualist-dictated "autobiography" languishes unread!

Check it out here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 05, 2012 - Comments (9)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Religion, Books, Nineteenth Century

Survey of Idiots

How farsighted our ancestors of 1848 were, to commission such a report! It's about time for another one, I think. It might help us deal with our current political, cultural, economic, interpersonal and environmental messes.

The report is fascinating reading from start to finish, giving a wonderful taxonomy of idiots, such as below.



Read your fill here. And please post your favorite quotes in the Comments.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 29, 2012 - Comments (10)
Category: Government, Nineteenth Century, Brain Damage

Long Lance

I'm trespassing on Alex's territory here, with an hour-length documentary on what was once a famous hoax.

Here's the story in a nutshell.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 21, 2012 - Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, North America, Nineteenth Century, Native Americans

The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions

I've just finished reading the fine book about weird fraternal lodge devices from a century ago. It would make a fine gift for any WU-vie.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 10, 2011 - Comments (5)
Category: Clubs, Fraternities and Other Self-selecting Organizations, Inventions, Books, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, Pranks, Nineteenth Century

Dr. Olgierd Lindan’s Collection of Unusual Medical Devices & Antique Electronics

WU-vies will find much to amuse them on this page of weird medical gadgets.

One of the prime charlatans whose stuff is on display was a fellow named Dr. Albert Abrams pictured to the right.

You can read a book he wrote here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 05, 2011 - Comments (5)
Category: Body, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Medicine, Body Fluids, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, Nineteenth Century