Victorians Slept in Coffins & Ate Poison on Purpose
In this episode of Ovaries & Oddities, we’re diving into the horrors of Victorian London, from arsenic wallpaper and poisonous beauty products to deadly sewage, contaminated drinking water, cholera outbreaks, overcrowded streets, workhouses, doss houses, the four-penny coffin, and the infamous two-penny hangover.
The Victorian era gave us some of the most iconic aesthetics in history, but behind the pretty dresses and gothic architecture was a city filled with poverty, disease, pollution, human waste, toxic products, and social systems that punished people simply for being poor.
See you next Thursday,
Ivanna Brookes
Victorian London, Victorian era, dark history, arsenic wallpaper, Scheele’s Green, Paris Green, Victorian beauty standards, Victorian poverty, workhouses, doss houses, two penny hangover, four penny coffin, cholera, Great Stink, River Thames, John Snow cholera, Broad Street pump, Joseph Bazalgette, Victorian sanitation, medical horror, historical horror, Ovaries and Oddities