The Most Lethal Household Inventions In History | Hidden Killers | Absolute History

Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb reveals the hidden killers that lurk in every room across the ages. From the Tudor to the Post War era, we discover the lethal inventions and the 'safe' domestic home life of households from the past.

00:00:00 Tudor
00:58:58 Victorian
01:57:31 Edwardian
02:55:55 Post-War

[nosuchthingasanonymity]

i adore the welsh guy. he's describing horrific deaths and smiling like a madman and i respect that.

[cheshirecat]

And yet teeth STILL aren't considered important by health or even dental insurance. 🙄 This, even though tooth decay and infections have been known to be the cause of heart disease for yeeeeaaarrrs.

[msbrightside]

When my son was 17, he nearly died from ingesting "deadly nightshade", or, belladonna. It grew wild in a few areas of out town, and he and his friends wanted to try the "high". We found him sitting in the middle of the road, chewing his shoe. Obviously, he survived. He wouldn't have made it in the Tudor age.

[andersonpc]

It's strange to think that those skulls were once people like any of us. I can't help but wonder what their life was like, their experiences, things they've seen. That's why I love history.

[ashleynoble]

The dedication of her submerging herself in a creek and struggling was wild.

[monroerobbins]

I respect the hostess, our narrator, for being willing to reenact certain things to provide further information. I imagine a lot of the things she did was unpleasant, especially the wool outfit in river thing. Respect to her!

[NehnBellanaris]

One thing that they missed about the baby bottles in the Victorian era is the fact the rubber 'straws' that were used on them, is that some of the milk that the babies would drink through them ended up getting stuck in those straws, and because they couldn't clean them out, the milk that got stuck would mold. So those infants weren't just drinking the bacteria that was left over in the bottles, they were also drinking the mold that was growing in the straws as well.

[lexifeldmann]

a Properly fitted and worn Corset is quite nice. I have a curved spine and wearing a well fitted, not over-tightened corset actually helps my back pain immensely. I wear one to school sometimes, I also do a lot of Renaissance Faires and it helps with the time and amount of walking and standing around I do. The overly tightened corsets of Victorian times is just awful.

[maddiejoy]

I used to work in social services and worked with two children who had those broken off, rotted teeth with only the roots left. Their parents had been putting Mountain Dew in their bottles and sippy cups from the time they were babies (they probably also weren't brushing their teeth or not brushing them enough, but I don't know that for sure). Thankfully, modern dentistry and antibiotics were able to get the kids healthy again. I can't imagine the pain they must have been in.

[MoriKitsune]

As someone who's deeply interested in historical fashion, the sheer dramatization of the corset bit had me rolling my eyes the whole time.

Tightlacing was never the rule; it was always an exception. There are many articles from the Victorian and Edwardian eras against the practice for both health and aesthetic reasons; a "wasp waist" was viewed as ugly, unnatural (remember that even makeup during this time was designed to give a pure, "natural" look, ) and a deformity.

The "tiny waist" silhouette illusion was achieved by separate garments like bustles and hip pads, as well as padding and ruffles in the under-layers of bodices. Metal eyelets simply helped save time during production and helped keep the eyelets' shape consistent and more damage-resistant.

The goal of corsets wasn't to vastly change your body shape, it was to give your torso and your garments structure- to hold up the weight of heavy petticoats and skirts as well as bustles and such, and to help you keep good posture throughout your day.
Corsets were not worn to sleep, and a properly fitted and worn corset doesn't cause pain or injury at all.
In the case of pregnancy and post-partum, a properly fitted corset would actually act like a modern belly band/belly wrap. When the maternity corset extended to the hips, it would give your hips and lower back more support and mild compression to help relieve pain. Post-birth, corsets would help physically support you as your organs and muscles settle back into place after birth.

[tertiaritus]

Me: man I wish I made a playlist so I could re-listen to all of these while napping before work
Absolute History: don't bother fam I gotchu

[debbieharris]

I've seen all of these but having them in one long video is sooo nice ❤ I fell asleep listening to this video last night and I woke up an expert in all the ways your house is plotting to kill you.

[projectionv.accountability]

My sister was one of the kids whose nightgown caught on fire due to an open heater grate. She was hospitalized for 9 months, but lived.

[TheQueerTailor]

In 2014 my dad very nearly died from “teeth”. He was born with a congenital heart defect that left him vulnerable to infection. He needed some dental procedures but wasn’t given pre or post treatment antibiotics because he wasn’t considered at high risk of infection because he had very good heart health (he was in his mid fifties, worked as a firefighter and was and is generally super fit.) He ended up with endocarditis and had to be on iv antibiotics for months and ultimately needed his aortic valve replaced with a mechanical valve. Thank god he survived and nearly ten years later is still super healthy and still in the fire service. (He’s actually seen the experience of smoke catching fire on a large scale in house fires and in training fires, it’s called a flash over.)

[flyingdutchman]

3:00:00 I had one of those US-issue chem sets when I was a kid. When I saw that it contained lead nitrate, I consulted my set of encyclopaedias so helpfully provided by my parents. I obtained some hydrogen peroxide from a pharmacist friend and set about the task of making nitroglycerine. I produced a woefully impure sample from my chem set, bubbling the gas driven off from heating the lead nitrate through the H2O2 to produce nitric acid, then treating about 60 mL of corn syrup from Mom's kitchen cabinet with the resulting liquid. I also made gun cotton.

The folks took the chem set away from me when they found out what I was up to.

[katbird]

To be fair I think death by "escaped bear" might not quite fall under the minor injuries category

[denmark]

The scary part is that we still think we know everything now

[felix]

History is always my favorite subject. I love learning things from our precious past.

[tgaming]

Purge worms from the body in the spring?!?!?! WTF!?!?! I can't tell you how happy I am to live in today's times if just for one reason... I don't have to purge worms from my body every DEAR GOD MAN!!!

[Luna...]

I never tire of these wonderful documentaries hosted by the wonderful Dr. Lipscomb! ♥ Not ashamed to say I've watched all of her series about half a dozen times. She's part of what I call the 'new guard' (Dan Jones, Dan Snow, Helen Castor, Kate Williams, Janina Ramirez Neil Oliver, Lucy Worsley, - a few you night not think of as 'new gen') David Starkey got me HOOKED, (and still watch re-runs despite his politics🙄) I also love Bethany Hughs, Joanne fletcher, Waldemar Januszczak
I'll say it again, NO ONE does historical docs better than the UK!! 👏👏 ~Love from Canada 🇨🇦