Shady Characters

Hair-Raising Stories: the Bear, the Coconut, & the Oil Well

Part 1 of 3: THE BEAR I shave in the dark. I don’t need to turn the light on because I know where everything is on my face. My nose and...

Soule's Eradicator: the Flower or the Worm?

It's so easy for me to imagine the scene in 1885: a young woman of Lynn, Massachusetts, has put in another long, hard day at the dismal...

The Big Green Bottle, Full of Miracles & Tragedy

In the early 1880s, Jacob Welch had accomplished having the biggest furniture store in Lynn, Massachusetts, and he felt he could achieve...

Mercy Quimby & the Clairvoyant Physician

It happened one night about 35 years ago at an ephemera show in Boston, Massachusetts – a few minutes of my life that I haven’t...

Cashing in on a Pain in the Neck

I own the little collection of mid-19th century ephemera posted here for a man who went by the name B. M. Kemp. The showcard below is...

Epitaph for “The Metaphysical Cure”

Well, the beautiful box I featured a few posts ago has been sold – definitely not to me. It went for $1,850 which comes as no surprise –...

Curing with Frost, Rain, and Dew

One thing you have to give to the patent medicine makers of the 19th century - they were definitely creative. Since each was positioning...

Quackery - without Question

All health products in days long past were promoted as promising cures; they only became known as “quack” medicines when they didn’t...