Andrew Rapoza
Sep 289 min read
Hair-Raising Stories: the Bear, the Coconut & the Oil Well
Part 3 of 3: THE OIL WELL "Kennedy knew as much about medicine as a horse does about astronomy" (- Kennedy's friend and chemist, 1882) ...
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Andrew Rapoza
Sep 27 min read
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...
35 views1 comment
Andrew Rapoza
Mar 177 min read
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...
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Andrew Rapoza
Mar 97 min read
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...
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Andrew Rapoza
Feb 35 min read
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...
25 views1 comment
Andrew Rapoza
Jan 73 min read
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...
32 views2 comments
Andrew Rapoza
Dec 10, 20235 min read
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 –...
20 views0 comments
Andrew Rapoza
Nov 24, 20232 min read
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...
59 views6 comments
Andrew Rapoza
Nov 23, 20234 min read
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...
30 views1 comment