A Short History of Radio

I am fascinated by early electronic communication--telegraph, radio, the transition to telephone and television. How did people figure that out? I live in a world where I'm writing on a computer the size of a spiral notebook with internet that can send my words instantly around the world, and I'm still fascinated. How did we…

Would this Kill Me in the 1800s: Club Foot

Club foot is a relatively common birth defect, impacting up to 4 births in 1,000. It's a type of joint contracture that causes one or both feet to turn in and down, leading to difficulty walking if untreated. This isn't actually a lethal disease on it's own; it typically doesn't have any comorbidities, and isn't…

History Profile: Victoria Woodhull

The following is the text from episode 20 of the Spooky Stitches podcast, where we discuss the life and times of Victoria Woodhull. To listen to the full podcast, please visit my youtube page. Last episode we talked about Kate and Maggie Fox, who accidentally started the Spiritualist movement back in the 1840s, and despite…

A Short History of Nail Polish

Fun fact: I have not one, but two defunct nail art blogs (Don't look for them. Really. I'm not good at it). So it's not surprising that I, a history buff and general nerd, found myself wondering where nail polish originated. Apparently it all started back around 3200 BCE, when Babylonian warriors would go get…

Would this Kill Me in the 1800s: Cleft Palate

It's been a while since we had a good old fashioned WTKM. This time, we're exploring cleft palate. Cleft palate/lip occures when the tissue on the roof of the mouth doesn't fully form/develop, leaving a gap. We don't know why this happens, whether it's genetics, some kind of mutation, or if it's caused by environmental…

The New England Vampire Panic

This essay is taken in part from Episode 14 of the Spooky Stitches podcast, where we talk knitting and ghost stories. If you want to see more content like this, please check out the podcast, or the Patreon, where stories like this are posted regularly, often before they show up here on the blog.  Today,…

WWI Sleeveless Sweater for Soldiers

It doesn't look like much, does it? Let me just say, this sweater is more than the sum of its parts. I made this sweater for a friend and fellow history buff, someone who is very interested in military history. He requested it, and as soon as I saw the picture I knew exactly what…

Historical Profile: Ching Shih

From Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End If you ask most westerners about female pirates, they'll either give you a blank look or pipe up with a fact about Anne Bonny, and maybe Mary Read. But there's one woman who could take on both of them--who had a fleet of ships and commanded the…

Historical Profile: Mary Mahoney

Born to freed slaves in 1845, Mary Mahoney knew from a young age she wanted to be a nurse. She saw first hand how badly they were needed in the community prior to the Civil War, but when war broke out black women were barred from volunteering and training in the medical field. Still, she…

Would this Kill Me in the 1800s: Nystagmus

We're doing something a little different this time around on WTKM. I'd be willing to bet that most of you have never heard the word nystagmus before, so let me break things down a little. Nystagmus is an involuntary, rapid eye movement. It can be caused by several things, including drug overdoses and head injuries,…