WEBVTT - How Chiropractic Started as a Ghost Religion 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.160 What's gift in my three and a half foot long machees. 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:10.360 I'm Robert Evans, host of Behind the Bastards, the podcast 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.280 where we talked about the worst people in history and 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:16.959 where I received a beautiful, heartwarming gift from my co 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:21.080 host today, Billy Wayne Davis. Hey, everybody. Yeah, now, Billy Wayne, 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.280 I got back from Syria not too long ago, and 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:25.800 you surprised me with one of the best presents I've 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:30.240 ever received, which is essentially a small sword. It is 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.120 it's like a if they made a baseball bat and 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.680 a sword. Yeah, it's an unnecessarily large Fiskers machete that's 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:41.040 got a two handed grip, which I love. I love. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.680 I'm very excited to hit things with us. I can't. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.240 I didn't have, like we've had this discussion. We both 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:51.280 have multiple machete You know, you don't have children or 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.280 a wife. No, I have those things. Well that's true 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.880 that you know about any wives you know about? Uh, 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.440 but I found it on Amazon and I was like, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:04.399 I don't have a reason to get this, and then 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.600 I remembered you went to Syria, and I was like, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:10.679 you know what, that's noble as hell. Yeah, Well, noble 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:12.160 is not the right way to say. Maybe I just 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.520 did it to justify getting another machete. We didn't know 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.720 it was coming. I didn't know it was coming. But 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.360 that's purely noble like that, you're so humble. You're like, 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.039 I just did it to give a machete. You didn't 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:23.360 know I was going to do that. I did not 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:24.720 know it was going to do that. But now that 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.759 I have it, the machete feels like a worthwhile prize 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.360 for for this work, and I'm excited to find new 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.160 things to hit with it. There's so many different things 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.040 to do with it. There's it's there were several meetings. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.840 I think it went on designing those fiskers a lot. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:40.920 I'm interested in the holes in the back, which I 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:42.640 think make it faster. Is that what it is? I 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.160 don't know. I suspect they make it faster. The grip 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.120 is really I have large hands and I liked that 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.240 the grip is the perfect length for both of them. 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:55.000 On there, I'm excited up to Sophie provided me with 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.680 a bag of chips to to cut open, which he 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.000 threw at me. That was fun when I'm excited, though, 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.760 I got this can of fabrieze Billy Wayne Davis Man Sophie. 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:05.920 Sophie just put her head in her hands, covered her eyes, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:11.280 very exasperated. I'm gonna smells good. Gain smells good, So 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:13.680 I would be improving the room if I if I 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.200 have you tossed this at me and hit it with 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.080 a machete bat I think Sophie's flipping me off with 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:20.600 let's do that at the end. Yeah, we should do 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:24.160 that at the end of the gift to the podcast. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.760 We can knock it into the poison room. We can 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.200 just open the door quickly knocked the fabris can into 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.640 the poison room. That way, if it sprays everywhere, it 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.440 doesn't render the room uninhabitable. We can lock it with 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.240 the poison. It's great. I think that's a plan, all right. 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.280 Sophie seems to be on board. I think she's proud 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.160 of me. Now. It's hard to tell which of her 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.040 size means pride and which doesn't. Daniel's Daniels nodding at 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.200 me with pride though he's happy. He thinks I made 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.919 a good decision. Yeah. When it showed up, my wife 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.040 was like, what why don't we You don't need it, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:55.960 it's a gift, and she goes, I don't know who 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.160 you're hanging out with it and just walked off. This 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:00.839 is one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever seen. 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.079 Billy Wayne, thank you. This is my new official podcasting machette. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.760 It's not as rusty as my old one, no, but 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.920 it'll get rust on it. Yes, if I'm doing my job, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.320 I'll get some rust on this fucker handle It last 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:18.079 a lot longer than that blaze. Well, we're talking about 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:23.679 the founder of chiropractic medicine today. So the first dude 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.960 to be like, hey, honey, come walcome back, I think 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.160 the first dude to be like, you're sick, let me 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.720 walk on your back. Okay, yes, I got you. Now, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.160 Billy Wayne, what is the first word that comes to 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.960 your mind when you hear the term chiropractor. We're on 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:44.640 the script now, I mean scam. We're already in the 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.200 right head space for this. So yeah, yeah, I'm gonna 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.600 guess for most people it's probably like spine or back 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:58.160 or scam. Uh yeah, um. Some people might say medicine um, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.360 depending on whether or not they believe in in hiropracticum. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:07.040 I'm going to bet almost nobody's first word is religion. Well, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.320 I mean, okay, I'm already in it. I'm already in 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.720 you're putting these two together. Go on, Well, today we're 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.640 going to talk about how chiropractic medicine or whatever you 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.200 wanna call it, started out as a religion, or, to 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.240 be more accurate, a cult. So this is this is 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.120 that story. Can I predict dude uses it to get 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.920 laid eventually? You know, I assume he did, but that 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.520 was not the focus of the cult because usually from 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.000 my experience, when a dude starts a cult, yeah, it's sex. 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.360 This seems to have been. You know, it's the kind 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.440 of guy we always talk about, Billy. This is a 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.000 man who wanted very badly to be a doctor, but 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.120 who never wanted to actually become a doctor, who just 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.000 wanted to like no medicine and just assume that whatever 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:55.520 his gut told him was medicine. That's huh. It's it's 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.560 a special type of man who does that is a 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:59.880 special where like, did you could just go to school? 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.120 I could just go to school four years and just 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.800 be a shitty doctor. Yeah, now no, I will kill 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.880 some people. I'm just going to figure it out, learn 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.760 as I go. I love it. So this tale starts, 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.680 as all such tales do, with a single beautiful grifter. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.960 Daniel David Palmer here to four known as D D. Palmer, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.640 He was born on March five and a now non 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.039 existent town near Toronto, Canada. At the time, it was 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:34.440 known to most people as a way out west. Wow. Yeah, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.080 and then it disappeared. Yeah, it's just gone. Now nobody 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.640 lives in that place anymore. It's just a field. Yeah, 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.719 just like a field. That was town. Yeah, it was 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.360 like a little town. And then everyone was like, living 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.520 out here is kind of bullshit. Have you been, Tony? 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.320 Have you been to Toronto? It's a city now. Everyone left. 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.800 It's not just a dead horse in a pond. Yeah, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.920 there's the circus came to town and then the town disappeared. Yeah, 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.640 Toronto did start as a dead horse in a pond. Uh. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.760 That checks out. Yeah, that's my name had cannon for Toronto, 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.240 so uh. D D. Palmer's family had come over to 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.400 Canada from England during his grandfather's time. His father was 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.840 a shoemaker, a grocer, a school director and a postmaster. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:15.880 Because back in the old days there were only about 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.120 thirty people in the worldtown. Yeah, everybody had to wear 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.960 a lot of hats. Um. Now, d we got one 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:27.400 pair of shoes. Busy one. He's busy being the grocery today, 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.000 he's he's running the school tomorrow. He's back on shoe 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:37.480 duty in three days. So he just hopped there. So. D. D. 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.719 Palmer was the oldest of six children, three boys and 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.960 three girls. From age four until age eleven, he attended 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.000 a small rural school while his father tried and failed 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.440 in multiple businesses. Um because again he wasn't actually good 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.080 at most of the two he was good at shoes, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.480 couldn't do the right shoes. He was too busy figuring 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:03.400 out out of male stuff. Uh so yeah. From age 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.760 four until age eleven, D. D. Palmer attended a small 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.880 rural school, and by the time he was eleven, the 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.560 family's financial situation was bad enough that he had to 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.080 start working and so he had to stop going to school. 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:15.760 So his dad made a deal with him. Can I 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:21.360 just yeah, that's like that means like nothing, that means 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.600 like you start owing people. You mean, like that's how 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.520 bad things were. We're like the oldest has to quit 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.080 work and during those times like this is bad, right, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.520 what we're like I owe people. Now, yeah, I owe 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.560 people to nothing. You're enough of a man at eleven, 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:39.160 you gotta start bringing in some fucking cash. That's that's haven. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:44.160 Who Yeah, yeah, that's that's poor. Like putting your eleven 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.440 year older work poor. Yeah. Uh. And now d D. Palmer, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.480 even though like he was, his family's super poor and 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.160 he had to go to work, he still wanted to learn. 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.880 He was a big love loved learning. Uh, And so 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.040 he made a deal with his dad. Uh, if he 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.360 worked hours before and after the full time jewel that 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.800 he had to work to keep the family fed, Uh, 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.400 he could keep the money that he made working overtime 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.040 and apply that money to buying school clothes and school 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.160 books for himself so he could continue to learn. God, 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:15.480 yeah that's hurt. Well, alright, son, forty hours a week, 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.160 that's got to go to feeding the family. But if 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.280 you work sixty you can buy school books. I mean, 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.840 what a weird way to have to go. And like, God, 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.080 I'm gonna have to negotiate so I can keep learning. Yeah, 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.240 I know people with versions of that story that started 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.240 like age eighteen or nineteen. I don't know anybody with 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:39.240 that story starting If I don't know more than this. 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:42.120 I'm gonna have to keep doing this. Yeah, that's pretty 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.200 at yourself. I do. I do think there's a little 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.160 bit of this in there where he's just like sees 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.160 his dad's life and it's like, I don't want to 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.120 be a postmaster. I don't want to do that when 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:55.960 I'm I don't want to be working his dead end job. 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:00.320 When I'm fifteen. Your life's over at that point. Three 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.240 kids by then, three quarters of your life is over. 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:10.280 Town won't be around then. So Palmer worked beyond full 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.280 time for most of his childhood and was able to 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.280 slowly afford to finish his education, but age twenty one, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.640 he had the nineteenth century equivalent of an education. Decades later, D. D. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.880 Palmer would write this in his autobiography about his upbringing, quote, 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:25.720 my mother was one of a pair of twins, one 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.840 of which died, the one which lived only weighed one 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.079 and a half pounds when a baby I was cradled, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.040 but in a piece of him locked bark. My mother 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.079 was as full of superstition as an egg is full 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.400 of meat. But my father was disposed to reason on 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.400 the subjects pertaining to life. It's like, yeah, he opens 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.280 his autobiography. There's a lot. There's a lot to unpack there, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.600 mainly the expression as an egg is full of That's 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.640 where I was like, I didn't know where to start 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.200 or begin, but that's where that the look on my 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.240 face was at. I was like, what kind of eggs 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:54.600 are this? Where'd you get those eggs? I imagine this 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.720 whole back story for him, where like his dad couldn't 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.320 afford eggs, so they were like just eating like road 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.080 kill and must grats, And he was lying to his 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.719 kids and being like, what's this gross smelling meat? That's 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.240 an egg. It's an egg. That's what they would like, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:12.640 leave the shell, you know, meat eggs, And what was 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.520 the doctor talking about? Also, cradling a baby in a 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.000 piece of hemlock bark seems like a bad idea, Like 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.720 all the things he he just sounds like like a 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.240 folks he got got hit on the head, where you like, 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.160 don't listen to what he's saying. Just listen to the rhythm. 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.640 It's more entertaining. Yeah, And I'll tell you there's some 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.520 head injuries in this guy's past. He doesn't write about him, 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.760 but I can't imagine having this upbringing and not getting 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:35.440 hit on the head a few times, all of them, 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.440 and they're all like everyone we've talked about came from 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.440 the middle of nowhere, which I do think there is 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.560 something to that where they might be the smartest or 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.160 the most ambitious in that area. So everyone just calls 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.760 him doctor. Yeah, and they're like, I'm a doctor. It 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.160 was easier back then. It's like Granny from the Beverly hillbilities. 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.240 I do feel like one of the great untold stories 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.320 of history is how many great men of the past 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.000 had diagnosed traumatic brain injuries. Like Andrew Jackson. You hear 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.559 about sometimes he just beat people half to death. It's like, yeah, 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.679 you just shoot people in the streets in Nashville. They're like, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.400 what was that? That was the That was the governor. 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.480 He probably had brain damage and an inability to control 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:20.319 his temper, but he made it work for You can 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.400 make random violence work for you if you do it, 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.959 if it's not as random as people think it is. Yes, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:29.680 or it's like I've said that too before. Is like 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.040 a lot of the most successful people, male or female, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.440 make their mental illness really work for them. Well, that's 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.640 the key. That's the key is finding a way to 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.440 make your mental illness make you money, which is the 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.679 subject of my new health book, Think and Grow Sick. 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:51.280 Read between the Lines mental health book. You get it. Yeah, 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.200 just just find a way, just find a way to 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.319 make a gel with capitalism. That's all it's about. That's 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.080 all it's about. Yeah, that's what that's that's the only 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.000 difference between a alcoholic and an alcoholic is one of 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:09.600 them is functional in our economy. Yeah, an alcohol So 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.800 all right, back to d D. Palmer. So d D 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.040 went by Dan to most of his friends and family, 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:16.840 but we're just going to call him d D. He 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.439 grew up big and strong as a quote husky country 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.280 boy who was widely liked. He had an inquisitive mind, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.400 but was particularly interested in anatomy. In the rare hours 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.240 of free time he got outside of work in school, 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.520 Dan would collect the bones of animals, which, okay, yeah, 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.840 it's one of those things. I love collecting bones myself, 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:35.840 But I'm not going to pretend it's not a red flag. 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.200 It's yeah, it's a red flag, like having a lot 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:46.360 of machetes. Well, yeah, there's yes, it is unnecessary red flag, 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.959 but it's let's keep an eye on him. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.040 I mean, my house is full of dead animals and 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.240 and machetes. And if that makes people want to keep 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.680 an eye on me, that's not a bad from Texas. 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.520 That doesn't No bells are ringing for me at that 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:01.840 He's he's got a lot of knives and dead animals 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.199 in Austright, Yeah, it is. It does kind of depend 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:05.800 on what region you come from. If I were to 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:10.680 hear somebody from let's say Boston say that, that would 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.960 worry me more. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, where'd you get 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:21.440 that white tail? Okay? So the US Civil War was 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.720 disastrous for the Canadian economy, largely because the nation's labor 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.880 market became flooded with Americans fleeing the draft. By the 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:29.920 time Daniel was in his early twenties, he and his 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.320 brother Thomas were forced to head south to the United 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.199 States in order to seek work. They managed to borrow 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.360 two dollars from their friends, which at the time was 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.200 enough to strike out and start a new life. What 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.560 a day that was, Yeah, or that's what they thought. Yeah, 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.960 that's what they thought. Well it works out for him. Well, 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:47.400 I don't know about his friend. He might have died 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.319 on the fucking ditch somewhere but it works out for 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:57.000 d D. Palmer. So on April third's got four dollars. Uh. 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:59.760 On April third, eighteen sixty five, they walked eighteen not 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.319 miles to the town of Whitby in the United States. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.800 Somehow they wound up in Detroit a couple of months later, 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.559 after a winding journey that involved sleeping on grain sacks 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.040 on a pier and probably hitching lots of rides on trains. Yeah, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.679 we're imagining like a traditional nineteenth century hobo journey here. 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.520 So Dan and his brother explored a number of jobs, 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.280 but the line of work that dee De found most 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:27.040 appealing was, of course, medicine. Specifically, he became a magnetic healer. Cool. Yeah, 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:32.760 me too, Yeah, he thinks, so Billy, Yes, you feel better, right, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:38.280 it's the magnets. It's the magnet. Get out here. Magnets 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.320 has been a popular medical treatment for all sorts of 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.640 ailments for thousands of years, going back to the beginning 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.520 of civilization. It's still selling the golfers, They still sell 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.920 to everybody. You get a bracelet, Yes, these magnets will 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.200 cure your fucking emphysema. Yeah, you got tennis elbow magnets 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.840 with copper with you gotta have the copper without the copper. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.560 I've got a new magnetic copper machete, Billy Way, and 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.360 I want to start selling it. Cure's youre arthritis? That's 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:03.400 from a new book, Machete Your Way to Better Health? 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.760 Did you get arthritis cutting through the jungle? Do I 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.960 have a machete for you? You didn't get one of 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.840 the arthritis here and machetes not. Keep gesturing with this machete, 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.200 by the way, Billy. It is powerful, feels good. It 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.840 is how you doing, Sophie, get people's attention. You love 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.920 this machete as much as I do. And I hang 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.000 it above the door. You have you swung it? Oh 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.040 you gotta swing the machete so you can't judge it. 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.400 But because here, I'll throw this bottle of water at it, 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:29.920 and you you hit it like a baseball bat. Okay, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:35.760 Oh wow, you're mad me nervous? Yeah, yeah, it's like, yeah, 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:37.320 you want to get some Actually, I'm gonna throw this 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.040 this highlighter pen at you'll feel better to hit. Okay, 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.160 we do. I'm gonna overhand it. Oh come on, Sophie, 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.760 all right, bad, that's not how you would hit a baseball, 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.560 all right, that's gonna make incredible audio for the podcast. 0:15:54.120 --> 0:16:01.480 And I'm just gonna keep throwing things in Sophie. She's pacifist. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.440 She can't do is going to make a good powerful 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:15.600 swings that everywhere he goes. And she took it away. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:24.040 There's throat lozenges all over the floor, sackle losenges, throwing lozenges. Now, 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:29.560 are you still anti? I mean, I like it. It's great. 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.560 I don't know if Roberts should have free reign. I 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.280 think I'm looking forward to hitting this for breeze can 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.800 into the poison room. I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.640 watch it from a safe distance. So uh. Magnets have 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.600 been a popular treatment for all kinds of ailments for 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.440 thousands of years, going back to the beginning of civilization itself. 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.720 People have always been aware that certain minerals have magnetic properties, 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:50.600 and the idea of sticking them on sick people to 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.280 alleviate symptoms just sort of came naturally to folks. By 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.720 six hundred, the idea that magnets might have some sort 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.680 of serious medical benefit had been thoroughly debunked by a 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.160 man named William Gilbert. Gilbert published a book De Magnete 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.600 in which he carried out comprehensive experiments to test popular 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.360 health claims about magnets and proved that they had zero validity. 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.160 This is a six D sixteen hundreds. This guy, William 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.119 Gilbert's like, let's test to see if everyone's using magnets 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.760 for pain. Let's test them. Nope, they don't do anything. 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.879 So like five five years ago, yeah, humans are like, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.399 this doesn't stop it. Well we're still like. One smart 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.879 human was like, this doesn't stop. It's true. No one 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.720 listened to him, and then capitalism is like, hey, don't listen. 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.880 It keeps selling magnets. People want to hit their golf 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.040 ball longer. Yeah. Proof never convinced anyone to not take 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.640 snake away. Yeah, it's like the fact that we knew 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.320 five hundred years ago that magnets didn't do shit, had 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:47.080 meant nothing. They can't hurt me, though, so yeah, maybe 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.119 they'll cure my arthritis. Have you seen no cool this 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.160 bracelet looks? Look it turned my my skins green. Final 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.520 one thing about medicine is that the best medicine comes 0:17:55.560 --> 0:18:02.199 as a bracelet, and I buy it it Dicks sportings. Look, man, 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.040 I had a doctor named Richard wants Dick sporting goods. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:12.000 Same thing, same thing. Yeah, the the weights gesture because 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.000 they're equivalent, because that's a logical stamp. According to the 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.679 Skeptical Inquiry, writing on the subject of magnetic healing quote 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:23.600 in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Franz Mesmer dramatically increased 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.840 the popularity of magnetic healing with his animal magnetism theory. 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.920 Mesmer thought that animal magnetism was a unique force of 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.639 nature that flowed like a fluid through living things. He 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.800 also thought he could manipulate it through a combination of 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.800 hypnotism and laying on of hands. After a high profile 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.120 debunking by a commission led by Benjamin Franklin, however, Mesmer's 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.800 fame faded and he died poor and forgotten. Turns out 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.720 he just into based reality. He's just he's just sucking animals. 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.640 I'm gonna go drink bigger and being Franklin. Yeah. But unfortunately, 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.280 like other debunkers, people didn't really listen to Ben Franklin either, 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.480 because Mesmer has continued to maintain a following even after 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.520 his death. Yeah, yeah, people, that's where Mesmerism comes from. Mesmerizing, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.600 that's where that works. Yeah. He was like one of 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:09.720 the big popularizers of hypnotism and ship. He's just charismatic. Yeah, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:14.000 And one of his big followers was D. D. Palmer. Now, 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.800 Palmer was not at all convinced by the debunkings carried 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.000 out by men like Franklin. For nine years, he used 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.440 magnets to treat, or rather to fail to treat, all 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.720 the sundary ailments of his fellow man. As a charismatic guy, 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.840 his work attracted attention. He received negative write ups in 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:33.159 local newspapers, like this article in the Davenport Leader. Dr Palmer, 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:35.840 a crank on magnetism, has a crazy notion that he 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.119 can cure the sick and crippled by his magnetic hands. 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.880 His victims are the weak, willed, ignorant, and superstitious, those 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:42.879 foolish people who have been sick for years and have 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.240 become tired of the regular physician and what helped by 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:48.840 a shortcut method. While many of all educated medical profession idle, 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:51.360 the above nave has all he can do. Six years ago, 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.600 he commits business in the Ryan Block in three rooms. 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:55.800 He has certainly profited by the ignorance of his victims 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:57.920 for his business has increased so that he now uses 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.560 forty two rooms, which are finally furnished. He did by 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.560 steam and lighted by forty electric lights. His laundry work 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.520 and cooking are done by electricity, and the no on 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.560 ones say that his tears are also made by it. 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.600 He exerts a wonderful magnetic power over his patients, making 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.479 many of them believe that they are will So Palmer 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.960 is doing great. Well, even this guy isn't he's not 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.359 a great writer because he first of all, he calls 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:21.800 him doctor and then he calls him a crank in 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.639 the same sentence. Well you got then he uses he 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:29.440 says he has a magnetic power over the people, just 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.960 like you're trying to debunk the magnet thing, but you're 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.120 also saying like he does have a power. So dummies 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:37.120 are like, well you said he had a power. I'd 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.240 be willing to bet some people did make that mistake. 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.280 Since it's the late eighteen hundreds, I'll give him a 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:43.679 little bit of credit on the calling him a doctor thing, 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.639 because pretty much everyone's a doctor or a colonel in 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.159 the late eighteen Like you can't you can't like it 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.240 didn't mean the same thing it does. Now, there weren't 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.960 like licensing requirements in a lot of the country, so 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.240 I get calling him a doctor like it's one of 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.040 those things where and this is the trouble about writing 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.440 about medical crank in the late eighteen hundreds, where it's 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.800 like it's hard to call someone a fake doctor because 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.200 even the real doctors are, like, the problem is not 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.439 that he needs magnets. The problems the guy that's got 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.440