The Bradford Sweets Poisoning | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

"On the 30th of October 1858 a batch of sweets which had accidentally been adulterated with arsenic were put on sale at a market stall..."
As always, THANK YOU to all my Patreon patrons: you make this channel possible.
/ fascinatinghorror
SOCIAL MEDIA
► Twitter: / truehorrortales
► TikTok: / fascinatinghorror
► Suggestions: [e-mail]
MUSIC:
► "Lost Souls" by Nicolai Heidlas (www.hooksounds...)
#Documentary #History #TrueStories

[@specialk6984]

"Where do you want this Unmarked barrel of gypsum" "just put it next to the Unmarked barrel of ARSENIC" "and you can take that barrel of sugar back, what the hell would i do with that i'm a sweet maker?!!"

[@tj-8422]

Lol

[@jamieclemons1526]

How do you "accidentally" put arsenic in your candy?

[@specialk6984]

@@jamieclemons1526 i asked my (ex)wife the same question!! Lol

[@bicolouredprawn]

"HENNIMORE!!!"

[@nlwilson4892]

Compulsory schooling hadn't been brought in then so the assistant might not have been able to read.

[@dex.terous]

This channel has taught me that every time i wondered "that's a lot of safety regulations, did they start out that strict or did something happen?" - YES, turns out something DID happen.

[@alyreal4972]

That's why they put warning signs on irons. People were ironing their clothes while WEARING THEM 😐

[@mattskustomkreations]

Pretty much every. Safety regulation was purchased in blood.

[@aquageist]

Food safety in particular had some really nasty ones. Bleached meat to scour the rot off, formaldehyde in milk to preserve it, all kinds of "sweet" chemicals that cause serious medical issues and are quickly lethal in higher doses, and a lot of it done by companies knowing the dangers, but with no laws at the time telling them they couldn't.

[@tidigimon]

@@aquageist makes you wonder what’s slipping through the cracks even in our modern world. The Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder scandal, and Aspartame in general, come to mind.

[@oskarprotzer3000]

@@tidigimon american Food laws are a joke in my mind

[@amynurss1375]

I've done a lot of research on Victorian era, how anyone survived is amazing. Food doctoring was very common. Plaster and all sorts of whitening products, ugh. Tragic.

[@kasugaifox8571]

Yup. Also baby formula in the Victorian era was nothing but flour.

[@averagedusty]

It was all the over the counter "pain relief" cocaine that kept 'em going!

[@d_inkz]

Also lead paints and lead childs toys, mercury tinctures and living in death trap housing breathing in fumes from open fires, no sanitation, contaminated water sources, smog. yup, the good ol' days...

[@MolecularMachine]

Don't forget the borax in old milk to hide the sour taste.

[@dacypher22]

It really is. People lived completely surrounded by poison in their housing, clothing, make-up and belongings and any good was of suspect ingredients.

[@lukaskubik4698]

Quite ironic is the fact, that gypsum is capable of removing arsenic from bodies of water.

[@catlady8324]

Thank you Walter White. ⚗️

[@VhsVcr]

@growlingbehemoth you're so close, but not quite

[@catlady8324]

@@thepoggedchampion True. The customers are not picky at all. They’re literally doing poison, and like it! ⚗️

[@Eliqueme]

@@catlady8324 HELL YEAH COUNT ME IN!

[@catlady8324]

@@Eliqueme 😹

[@endlessdragon143]

Imagine how heartbreaking it is if you took your child to that sweets shop to reward them for being good. And they just die a slow painful death later on ☹

[@symphony-of-the-mint2008]

Please don't do that with narancia PLEASE 🥺

@symphony-of-the-mint i have no idea how narancia came into this but please dont make me imagine that i love him-

[@symphony-of-the-mint2008]

@ narancia is the baby boy

[@baba-of-legend]

it makes it a lot less sad when you remember they're british :)

[@symphony-of-the-mint2008]

@@baba-of-legend ah yes but of course. Oy wots all this then? Tut tut cheerio. What a bunch of idiots haha lol

[@mattlogue1300]

Hey kids, let's go to the candy store and eat drywall.

[@BennyLlama39]

Or, just eat drywall at home and save thirty bucks. 😀

[@plant7789]

@@BennyLlama39 lol Mom: “we have drywall at home.”

[@erikj.2066]

Drywall with a lead paint candy coating.... MMMMmmmm

[@cavemanlovesmoke4394]

@@plant7789 😂😂👌

[@dr.coomer789]

Read that in Sam O' Nella's voice. Where is he anyway?

[@MKLettis]

I like how everyone got sick so often back then that they didn't think anything was wrong with the candies.

[@carolinegerlach1644]

I mean when I get sick, I’m not usually suspicious of hard candy being he cause

[@brixan...]

How could you know it was the candy? They likely ate multiple foods that day, but even then, why would you suspect the food at all (especially with the scientific/medical knowledge of the 1800's)?

[@TimCarter]

How could they know it was the candy? They already knew it was discolored. If they didn't know, it's because they didn't want to know. They wanted to sell their product. It always comes back to greed.

[@brixan...]

@@TimCarter yes, everything bad that happens is because of greed, people never make mistakes, and the world is very simple

[@fluffypandagosegame]

Well just thing back about 50 years did not about every doctor say smoking was good for your health? but you wanna say it is weird that untrained common poor folk did not understand the symptoms of posioning? i mean i can not see that and i live in a era with far better understanding on the subject of posion

[@hopegallows1392]

Honestly 12lbs of arsenic and only 21 deaths is kinda impressive. I’m guessing that most of people people who bought the candies saw that they looked off and didn’t eat or finish them.

[@jacobsaccount9353]

They probably didn't taste sweet since he was given white arsenic powder insteed of that white sweetener power so everyone spat them out (forgot what its called)

[@Ilovesmesomeketchup]

Why did they just sell arsenic just so freely anyway? What do you make with that much powdered arsenic?

[@mksabourinable]

@@Ilovesmesomeketchup Both arsenic and cyanide have been sold for use as rat poison and other pest control. Hell had it been cyanide rather than arsenic it probably WOULD have had a higher death toll bc cyanide tastes of bitter almonds, probably wouldn't have even tasted that bitter when combined with the other ingredients. Also considering that gypsum isn't really all that sweet (it's a primary component of plaster - like what drywall is made of, no doubt why the illustration had the skeleton beside both a barrel of arsenic and a box of plaster of Paris), it was more likely that it was cut with sugar rather than replacing it entirely. Plaster of Paris/gypsum was a common food alterative at the time actually... It was in most bread you'd buy unfortunately.

[@repletereplete8002]

@@Ilovesmesomeketchup arsenic was used for all sorts of applications from use in colour dyeing and ceramic production. It was often used in medicines for all manner of ailments like cancer or syphilis.

[@victoriawhite3662]

And candy/sweets were a treat back then. Not everyone would have begun eating them right away, and then usually one at a time, so maybe some got sick but didn’t die.

[@christosvoskresye]

One of my ancestors was a doctor who died ~1800 of "poisoning". I don't know the circumstances, but I have often wondered if he had been sloppy with labeling his own medicines. The need for clear labels may seem obvious to us, but most safety lessons are bought at a heavy price.

[@nlwilson4892]

In those days he could well have been experimenting with medicines as many doctors would. Pharmaceutical companies hadn't really been invented.

[@migitri]

You know what they say: safety regulations are written in blood.

[@glenjones6980]

In the UK there weren't organisations like the Royal College of Surgeons that early, or an equivalent for apothecaries. Even today many poisons form part of medicines but back then there wasn't the controls of today either. Many of my ancestors were surgeons and apothecaries, a handwritten book of potions and remedies from the mid 1700's has come down the family, deadly nightshade and arsenic are regular ingredients, generally mixed into the finest porter or ale available. The usual difference between adult and child mixtures was the child's mixture be diluted with boiled water. Then again many surgeons of the time claimed they could cure breast cancer with a dressing or application of a poultice containing pig manure. It was claimed that those with VD would not pass on the disease if they applied an ointment containing horse manure, I think that one probably worked as the aroma must have been enough to send a potential lover running for the hills.

[@xXspottyXx]

Ik a doctor too,that died from a scethy "plant cough medicine" I had to take the same medicine when I was small,and always something felt off about it

[@Kdkdleeme]

My eyes widened wider, wider, WIDER after basically every sentence

[@milanimacc3939]

I was closing my eyes lol

[@JDLeonard74]

👍 kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3mnpqKdppqegbM

[@reaganneel933]

Right?!

[@FlexBeanbag]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ7GaoF8m82rbZY

[@monkeepox2227]

I was getting so frustrated with the assistant 😂😂

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

Some people wonder why the FDA (in the USA) exists and why they are so strict on manufacturers of consumables. This video shows why. Adulteration of consumables to save money was once a common thing. It was also common for people to whip up oftentimes dangerous concoctions and pass them off as miracle cures, and a lot of people fell for it. This greed is what resulted in so much government control because the citizens couldn't handle it themselves. You can bet a good number of modern companies would have no problem adulterating their consumable products with cheaper ingredients if they could get away with it.

[@punkyagogo]

Johnson and Johnson was sued just a few years ago once it was found their famous body powder contained trace amounts of asbestos from the talcum. Many users developed cancer as a result of it, and that's not even a consumable.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

@@punkyagogo Yeah, asbestos is in a lot of things, but I think what did them in is that product was marketed at use on babies and people REALLY hate when the safety of babies is knowingly ignored for the sake of profit.

[@ceruleanc505]

China has been one of the worst at doing this. I've heard stories over the past ten years about dog food, baby formula and sheetrock/flooring. The cheaper the better to them.

[@ceruleanc505]

@wargent99God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob owns everything. His Will will be done in each individual life. So, you may be affected by these things, may not be. . I always say humans are like roaches, we're tought to kill😂

[@ceruleanc505]

@@NoharaLoco-gw8ld Oh wow. Thanks, FDA. Feelin' the love as per usual.

[@oranplan1630]

"Accidentally been adulterated with arsenic" we're off to a bad start already

[@albatraoz7045]

This reminds me of the 'Binghamton Salt Babies'. Salt & sugar were mixed up at a hospital nursery in 1962, which caused six newborn babies to pass away. You should do a video on that! Great channel btw

[@randomkeir]

Maybe English people hate children? 🤷‍♂️

[@bobcastro9386]

@@michaelesgro9506 I remember reading about it in Life magazine. The containers had crude labels taped to the sides and enough had come off so that only the "S" of salt was visible. The nurse who made the tragic error was stricken with grief.

[@scotthayes5933]

Gypsum is drywall dust.

[@FascinatingHorror]

Oof. I mean... better than aresenic, but still not what I'd call tasty.

[@Knaeben]

It's harmless in small quantities

[@centrifugedestroyer2579]

@@FascinatingHorror Many foods contain smaller amounts of "inedible" but harmless substances.

[@BrettonFerguson]

Gypsum is a mineral used for many applications, drywall is just one of them. They use it as filler in pills today. Why do you think the pharmacist had the gypsum in the first place? It wasn't a pharmacy/hardware store. They still use it as a filler in medicine today. You buy a pill that weighs a half a gram, 500mg, but it only contains 40mg of the drug per pill, the other 460mg is filler, some companies use gypsum. It is harmless. You don't digest it, you just poop it out.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

Another common "ingredient" is cellulose. AKA sawdust. In small quantities, it's ok. You will routinely find this in jars of shelf-stable "parmesan cheese" as an "anti-caking agent".

[@hidden7195]

Sigh, so now I’m addicted to this channel. Damn covid, I don’t even have enough of this channels vids to sustain me in lockdown...

[@FascinatingHorror]

Hang in there. I'm working on more...

[@euphan123]

@@FascinatingHorror You have to let the world catch up…

[@kari7403]

I really feel for that candy maker. I cant imagine the grief and horror he would have felt and suffered through.

[@mvmusic8467]

Honestly after finding out that Arsenic was a common substitute for sugar in the 19th century due to it being cheaper and much sweeter tasting than sugar I reckon the candy maker intentionally used arsenic on a regular basis and then used the intern as a scapegoat after accidentally using more arsenic than he usually would.

[@kevintemple245]

Yeah, dude got off light if you ask me.

[@sachemgromiller1899]

Ha you watch these videos too.

[@kari7403]

@@sachemgromiller1899 lol. Yup. I'm a suckered for crime channels. 😁

[@sachemgromiller1899]

@@kari7403 I like the ones that state the facts with no drawn out drama or opinios.

[@curator3539]

Why can I totally imagine people cooking in the 1800's just throwing whatever they had on hand. Like Sweeny Todd but with poison.

[@alukuhito]

Sweeny Todd with Bryan Adams as their new singer?

[@camgood3097]

I love that drawing at the end of the candy-making skeleton!

[@Comrade_Jason]

You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic... *HE HAD IT COMING!*

[@shawniechew]

HE HAD IT COMING, HE ONLY HAD HIMSELF TO BLAME

[@JunkyardSpile]

I laughed way too hard at that.

[@marygoround1292]

I was wondering when this would show up

[@TheMightyPika]

"... and sold him 12 pounds of arsenic" Pause video. "Hey honey? Stop whatever you're doing and listen to this video - you're not gonna believe this shit."

[@NefariousEnough]

😂

[@KathyInTheKitchen]

My husband came in as I was watching and that’s almost exactly what I said to him.

[@notgreatnotterrible48years63]

Lmao that was my reaction too. I made my dad watch it and then he went and showed it to my mom and brother. They were all just as dumbfounded as I was

[@sherrybrzeczka7966]

Medical mishaps. The reason you now are marked "This leg" with a Sharpie before surgery. Why you are required to state your Medical information verbally to ensure you're the right patient. No complaints here!

[@tylerrobbins9614]

Reminds me of when I got my hernia surgery. I was really tempted to write "In case of cardiac arrest, jumper cables go here" and put arrows leading to my nipples... I backed out when I remembered surgeons used Sharpies like that, plus o didn't want him accidentally severing something from laughing too hard.

[@anonygent]

9th most common cause of death in the US.

[@amyslingsby6947]

Does anyone remember when someone put something in Tylenol and killed people? The company acted appropriately, and I remember the CEO was devastated. But they never solved it.

[@christystewart4567]

The poison was cyanide. The same stuff that is used in gas chambers except dissolved in acid.

[@joanbaczek2575]

They solved it it was a wife looking to kill her husband and to take focus off herself she put contaminated bottles on store shelves! Other families bought these bottles of Tylenol another woman died because of it and her husband was charged with taunting her Tylenol but luckily the detectives figured out the woman who killed her husband put her tainted bottle on the shelf at the store the other woman purchased Tylenol from.

[@Ilovesmesomeketchup]

@@joanbaczek2575 wow... Never thought about tamper proof bottles that way before, I thought it was because of gross germs, not some crazy lady trying to cover up a murder by killing more people... Wow.

[@mondenkindqueen]

@@Ilovesmesomeketchup There’s a reason they tell you to throw away products when the safety seal is broken.

[@gtrman69777]

@@joanbaczek2575 Yeah I had seen a reenactment show where they were discussing that. It was a horrible thing to do. She knowingly poisoned others so she could kill one specific person.

[@rachelryan2477]

There’s an old horror story I remember from York, about a child who drowned in a barrel of treacle. In the story no one noticed for days and the treacle kept getting sold till they got to the bottom and found the body...

[@timrobinson6573]

We have a similar urban legend in America but it's a pickle barrel at the corner store.

[@RogueT-Rex8468]

@@timrobinson6573 it’s a woman in a wine barrel in Texas.

[@ahill4642]

Nah. It was a beaver in a maple syrup barrel. 🇨🇦

[@DaveBartlett]

I heard that it was a barrel from a ship that was wrecked on the English coast and was claimed as fair salvage by locals from a nearby village. They tapped the barrel and discovered it contained alcohol, so a local innkeeper bought it and installed it in his bar where he sold it as brandy. Only when the liquid eventually ran dry, and the barrel still seemed unnaturally heavy, did the innkeeper crack open the barrel, only to discover, that it contained a senior crewmember who had died while at sea, and whose corpse had been stored in a barrel of alcohol in order to preserve it for a funeral when the ship returned home!

[@MCDreng]

I saw that on an episode of Midsomer Murders, but I think it was a vat of beer.

[@skyskynomnom4674]

God I wish I was cool enough to be called “humbug billy”

[@downfromthereeefters]

“Whoops, must have been that big barrel of ARSENIC I have!”

[@tamipalin8171]

I just came across this channel within the last couple of days and I am finding it fascinating! I very much appreciate your lack of sensationalism, just reporting what happened. Far too many channels indulge in overt dramatics, these stories are horrifying enough without added hyperbole.

[@sharonwolfe5210]

That never woulda happened if George Baily was working...

[@planexshifter]

It's true. George woulda stopped them!

[@maureen669]

Bravo, Sharon! 🤗

[@sharonwolfe5210]

@@maureen669 Gawrsh... 😎

[@lisa438321]

Cost him his hearing in one ear, but he saved that kid with diphtheria

[@annegrey3780]

I love this comment so much!

[@garrick3727]

I am from that area and I studied the cholera outbreaks, which were in roughly the same time period. So I can understand why everyone who got sick thought they had cholera or some other common disease. I am actually quite impressed that in such a time period investigators were able to identify the cause. I assume someone came forward to give police an idea of where to look.

[@kumaahito3927]

Read "I am from that era" at first and was prepared to read a troll/joke comment lol

[@nanahuatli2144]

"One of the first mass poisonings in British history". Ominous.

[@regan3873]

You should do the Bradford City stadium fire. The footage is fascinating and horrifying.

[@shawniechew]

Yes, my auntie and uncle were there when it happened, they were sat close to the pitch so were some of the first to escape but they still got burns from the heat radiating off the building

[@iliketowatchvideos47]

Oh my god its so harrowing

[@DarkestVampire92]

"Hmm, sugar is expensive. We could use fruit, but thats also not cheap. ....How about we use fucking drywall" "Mighty STONKS, very swell, Sir" "Swell indeed will their hands and feet, Hohoho"

[@alukuhito]

You'd do it too. It's just a cheap white powder that looks like sugar. Good filler for profit.

[@dumbpossum8461]

@@alukuhito nobody with proper morals would

[@alukuhito]

@@dumbpossum8461 That's right.

[@hdng1984]

I'm laughing but feeling bad

[@clo3580]

yo i just found your channel. youre good. i think you could make it big cus you have the technique down, now its just to get lucky :) youre def gonna get more subs

[@FascinatingHorror]

Thanks! That means a lot.

[@fanaticat1]

Lol! I was drawn to his John List video, which impressed me so much that I watched a few more videos and now I'm subscribed to this channel!

[@personperson4708]

His john list video was the one that drew me in too!

[@sachemgromiller1899]

@@FascinatingHorror I you avoid realise of your videos on the weekend you'll be more likely to be put on people's feeds.

[@P_RO_]

@@FascinatingHorror As I've just found your channel, you're getting another sub today. Keep going just as you are, you've got everything right.

[@mijiyoon5575]

*It's A Wonderful Life* movie scene...mistake by the Pharmacist; caught by George of course

[@jenniferholden9397]

Miji Yoon Me and the whole family love that movie, "Zoo Zoo's petals".

[@mijiyoon5575]

@@jenniferholden9397 I have the DVDs both the BW & colorized versions

[@waffleauflauf4213]

Jennifer Holden My family and I watch it every Christmas Eve. We've done it since I was little, and it's one of my favourite traditions 😊

[@lazyhomebody1356]

@@jenniferholden9397 Zuzu. There was a band called Zuzu's Petals. I wonder how many of their fans understood their name!

[@maxtew6521]

"HEE HAW!"

[@MrsJHarrington]

Such a tragedy, but the fact that only 21 died surprised me, so sad people died because they wanted to enjoy a piece of Candy. ☹️

[@saxongreen78]

The fact that the poison was introduced through a deliberate _adulterant_ is especially heinous.

[@wellguesswhatIthink]

"Fake fake sugar was so much worse than fake sugar. Who knew?"

[@DanBoy42]

I live in Bradford and I remember hearing about this story when I was younger, but was under the impression that the sweets were intentionally laced with poison. Nice to hear the truth that it thankfully wasn't intentional. Great video and I have become somewhat addicted to this channel.

[@kitsunecookie372]

I live in Bradford, and this legacy has mostly been forgotten. It's an interesting part of the City's history, erased by the overarching Industrial Revolution and Wool trade.

[@micklee5152]

So do I, and I can confirm that the city is still rife with chemicals. Crack, heroin, and a lot of dishonest people. Nothing has changed in 170 years. Things are worse

[@myrrhder8964]

Same, I've lived here most of my life and only learnt about this event recently!

[@doneown503]

it's nice to monday morning armchair quarterback Grizzly deaths from the past, it was a completely different time then, obviously! It's a good thing black powder is black, or THAT might have ended up in someone's belly.

[@ms.pirate]

Now its been revived

[@alukuhito]

I never even knew there was a Bradford in the UK. I only knew the one in Ontario.

[@christinad4432]

No big deal, Just binge watching all the videos that are on this channel!

[@bitterrsquiidss]

@Les Canadiens- what?

[@candidcrumblies5435]

This is very educational. I like it a lot! Thank you for the awesome content

[@12tac0cat21]

Man I keep finding videos from you of incidents that I've never heard of or seen on KZbin, you really deserve more subs man

[@camgood3097]

I'm so addicted to this channel! I just randomly discovered it late last night, and I've already watched over a dozen videos. It's very well done, and every one is very fascinating (and perfect for Halloween.. 'tis the season..). Thanks!

[@ButlerWho]

2:46 The sweet maker was too poisoned from his poisoned sweets to notice that his sweets were poisoned.

[@bartmadness830]

Wow! Makes me think we’re only alive because of the mistakes in the past were corrected😢 I feel bad for those who died because of such serious negligence

[@aria2184]

This is my home town and I know I have family dating back in the 1700s living here I wonder if any of my family were effected by this, I do know around the 1800s a lot of my relatives children died but that’s due to many different causes although I do wonder for a few 🤔

[@ipodgirl95]

Lol how did the assistant explain that to the pharmacist?? "Whoops I just grabbed the first white powder I saw 🤷"

[@emilyadams3228]

That's what happened to Mia in Pulp Fiction. Oopsie.

[@skylined5534]

"Thank god you didn't go for the barrel of coke!"

[@jasonking7736]

I can imagine this becoming a threat to kids back in the day.. "don't play up or we'll be taking a trip to old humbug Billys candy store!"

[@nowaynoway915]

I like this channel. Keep up the good work! Well researched!

[@stephaniehowe0973]

Thank you for quantifying England. There are 100's of towns named Bradford in the States

[@crashvds777]

I can’t stop binge watching these This is horrific but fascinating as well. It sucks that it takes a tragedy for people to decide to do the right thing.

[@glennarcher2988]

Such things can still happen today. I recall a similar tragedy within the last 25 years where several children died consuming cough syrup in Latin America. Authorities tracked it down to a drum of toxic diethylene glycol being relabeled as food grade glycerol. By some lab ID tests, they look identical. This would make for a good episode. PS love the series, you"ve produced a fine body of work.

[@GnosticAtheist]

I actually agree that punishing individuals is pointless at this level when everybody is doing something that wasn't even illegal at the time. Its sad that trial and error seems to be the only way we can get stuff done.

[@StickySauce101]

also in those days there was no such thing as benefits so when people learned who did it they'd lose their business and thus become homeless, a near death-sentence back then.

[@kenetickups6146]

Hang them all, let god sort 'em out

[@stevenschnepp576]

"Everybody" didn't kill twenty-something people with their fuckup.

[@dianaburn2474]

@@kenetickups6146 That thinking is only useful if you actually believe in a god. If there is no god or after life, your point falls flat.

[@kenetickups6146]

@@dianaburn2474 I say that as an agnostic and I would say the same as an athiest

[@Nitephall]

I remember several years ago when Rolaids disappeared from the market. They were the go-to heartburn reliever. All we were told was ingredients were found in Rolaids that should not have been there. After several years off the market, they reappeared, but by then Tums was king. I'd sure like to know what I was ingesting all that time I used Rolaids.

[@kenetickups6146]

From what I gathered, it seems like metal and wood peices as well as something wrong with the sugar

[@chokichocat3083]

Naw its cause it had AIDS in the name and people weren't fucking with that

[@lazyhomebody1356]

YESSSSSSSS.I have been wondering why Rolaids disappeared. They worked MUCH better than Tums, and I want them back,lol

[@lazyhomebody1356]

@@chokichocat3083 I doubt that! Rolaids were selling well 20 years after we found out about AIDS

[@dragons_red]

@@lazyhomebody1356 wow, it was a joke

[@captainfruitpunch8913]

They put arsenic in damn near everything during the victorian era. Arsenic wallpaper, arsenic dishes, arsenic in pipes. Was fuckin wild

[@tabby73]

Make up

[@scottw9318]

It seems like every one of your videos focus on events that at one point or other I was fascinated with - enough to want to learn details, how it happened, where it happened, look it up on a map... thank you so much for taking the time to make all of these mini-documentaries!

[@bentonrp]

Those poor defenseless kids! I was going to tell a joke, but it's too tragic of a disaster...

[@gregwiens35]

A bittersweet story to say the least. Thank you for sharing!

[@mossgrows6540]

this is so wild ive lived in bradford my whole life and never heard of this case

[@geigertec5921]

I once found an old glass bottle from the 'Strictly Pure Milk Co.' I wondered why an old milk company felt compelled to call itself 'Strictly Pure'. Then I discovered that back then it was very common for milk not to be pure but adulterated with all sorts of additives such as plaster, starch, soap, and different types of acid. The most common adulterent was of course just plain old water, but the addition of water also facilitated the need to add thickening agents such as starch to mask the decrease in viscosity caused by the water. Insane times.

[@adrienneczerni6516]

Fascinating

[@kermitfrog1883]

“Hey want a candy?” “Nah I’m trying to lose a few”

[@boxerdogsmom]

I love this channel, no stupid intro or begging for likes, you sir have my respect.

[@samsnead2947]

Just the fact they sold arsenic along with food and drug products is insane

[@HardcoreHC92]

Whoa, whats also eerie is this happened A DAY before Halloween so just imagine how many lives would’ve been lost if it actually happened the next day… Creeepyy 😵‍💫😰

[@KATY03160]

It was a human sacrifice ritual. These ppll are satanists, and there is nothing new under the sun... The same thing is happening today. Read ur candy ingredients,.. 😶👁️👀🙏

[@kevin6293]

Here’s what Wikipedia says about gypsum: “It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard/sidewalk chalk, and drywall.” 🤢

[@SewardWriter]

Arsenic was once used to make dye. It produces a lovely green. No wonder the humbugs looked off. They were no doubt the wrong color entirely. If you want to see the shade of green I'm talking about, look up "Paris green" or "arsenic dye." There are several extant examples of clothing and wallpaper colored with the stuff. Yes, wearing those clothes sickened and killed people. The wallpaper killed small children who licked it.

[@Happy_Shopper]

I feel like this could easily happen in modern day Bradford.

[@isaactaylor5531]

HFCS????..

[@MoochiBoochi]

Arsenic was used in wallpaper and paint to make a really pretty green colour before it was known that it was deadly. Babies and toddlers that put those green toys and wallpaper corners in their mouths died horrific deaths too. It’s so tragic that learning about the dangers of things requires blood.

[@MsDisneylandlover]

No one going to point out this happened on the eve of Halloween just crazy. Rip

[@martinc.720]

Because there is no need to?

[@crieverytim]

1 in 365 chance. factor in that it was Halloween and demand for candy is up...

[@annvictor9627]

I don't think Halloween was celebrated in England back then.

[@shawniechew]

We don’t really celebrate Halloween in England, at most you get a few kids trick or treating and people dressing up to go to pubs but that’s about it

[@skylined5534]

@@annvictor9627 Are you kidding?! The Victorians celebrated it like mad!

[@kevin6293]

It’s crazy that candy was legitimately accidentally poisoned with arsenic.

[@matthias8122]

It’s amazing to hear how little people cared about their consumers in the Victorian period. Almost makes corporations today look nice.

[@inquizition9672]

"I can't believe people used to put arsenic in their food!" -someone, probably, while taking a shot of 80 proof vodka

[@rtta51]

You'd be shocked at how much sawdust is in food legally.

[@hopeclayburnsax9369]

And insects 🐜

[@lazyhomebody1356]

Nothing shocks me

[@fionmcgee1406]

@@lazyhomebody1356 not even electricity?!?!?!?

[@lazyhomebody1356]

@@fionmcgee1406 lol. I'm an idiot so I get shocked that waty pretty often

[@mjrussell414]

rtta51 Cellulose

[@PoliceTelephoneBox]

The fact that no one found guilty is common, but a miscarriage of justice. The candy maker should have been held accountable for his lies.

[@SoulDevoured]

Choosing to change the rules instead of punish a imagined villain is what makes our world a better place. Let's close the tax loopholes instead of hating the rich. Let's create a way to hold police accountable and change their training instead of ACABing. You have every right to be angry but punishing a person rarely creates lasting change.

[@chokichocat3083]

Bruh....I never thought of that....mindblown

[@lazyhomebody1356]

Good advice...but I'm always gonna hate the rich

[@chromesthesia]

This doesnt seem totally accurate. You can't really train racism out of a person. If they want to be cruel to an autistic child, training won't stop them. And many rich people are parasites exploiting and underpaying workers. Taxes are only part of the problem

[@SoulDevoured]

@@chromesthesia right, so you don't let them hold those positions of power. And you can, however, teach children to not be racist. I just think our culture is too often caught up in the idea of revenge rather than attempting to fix our social problems. Which admittedly is alot harder to do. Or even think of.

[@PrezVeto]

@@chromesthesia The only exploited workers are actual slaves. You don't get to call your own agreement to something "exploitation" just because you feel your options are shitty.

[@labyrinthgirl17]

It's sad that so many things, not just in the past, but in the present and in the future, are and will be dangerous until someone dies, then people will try to make things safer. : /

[@las10plagas]

why would a drug store need such amounts of that poison? that's beyond my mind as well

[@stevenschnepp576]

Rats, mostly. Sometimes cheating spouses or rich elderly relatives, but mostly rats.

[@annvictor9627]

If I remember correctly, some women used arsenic as a cosmetic.

[@las10plagas]

@@annvictor9627 hmm, that might be the reason

[@iliketowatchvideos47]

They used arsenic lots in those days ,u could buy it

[@las10plagas]

@@iliketowatchvideos47 that is true! but it still baffles me, they had so much of it. I guess it were different times...

[@knightforlorn6731]

sad story but, thank you for ending it with your positive message. it is very tragic just the same

[@eviehammond9509]

Were all human & clearly make mistakes, but the tragedy is when we don't learn from those mistakes so we can avoid them or similar in the future. Unfortunately, this is how most regulations & standards came 5o be in the aftermath of a great tragedy. I'm sure the loved ones of those that died knowing they did'nt die in vain & potentially saved many future poisoning victims from suffering the same fate is a very small comfort in the aftermath, but still a comfort nonetheless less.

[@WeaselKing1000]

A very subtle reference in the 'Great Lozenge-Maker' cartoon that possibly not many will get. Note the heraldic 'lozenge' (diamond-shaped shield) with the skull on the left - a common way of displaying a memento mori in Victorian funeral imagery.

[@user-gk1mp1zk7n]

Weirdly, in bradford no one knows about this and its mostly forgotten

[@nathanoafc0132]

No shock when half the town only moved in last week.

[@lynderherberts2828]

Arsenic was still being used in cosmetics during this time in England. Arsenic was also used as the green colorant in clothing , carpets , wallpaper , toys and paint.

[@annvictor9627]

Indeed, in one of the Cat-in-the-Stacks mysteries, that fact was instrumental in solving a family feud.

[@777MAG]

Thank you Bradford victims for making things safer😢

[@RedCyanPhotos]

Watching this from Bradford. England! I did know about this story, but not in as much detail as you gave, thanks for filling in the blanks for me!

[@Incaensio]

And today the "cost of sugar" has brought us horrors like HFCS and other artificial sweeteners. Selling "sugar" sure is a dark business of greed.

[@lazyhomebody1356]

Whew!! Child slavery to cut down the sugarcane, all so Coke is under $2 a can, and Pizza Hut can have disgustingly sweet pizza crusts. All American food is too sweet for me. Sugar is a drug here

[@Incaensio]

If really interested in American sugar, look up Monsanto and high fructose corn syrup. It's a very deep and dark hole that brings us to today's saturation of HFCS and round-up in American foods.

[@lazyhomebody1356]

@@Incaensio As someone who is allergic to corn syrup...yes, I know. Corn itself is evil. It replaces nitrogen in fields so they can yield tons more crops. Something like 20% fewer people would exist were it not for corn

[@stevenschnepp576]

HFCS is sweeter than sugar, so you could use less of it for the same calories. It isn't the issue. The issue is Americans demanding over-sweet food.

[@Incaensio]

@@stevenschnepp576 No American has ever demanded a sweeter Coca-Cola or sweeter Little Debbie. None of asked for bread full of sugar. Stop victim blaming.

[@samanthazeiger1553]

I learned about this in a british history class that focused on the health care system and related stuff. The primary sources we read were so unbelievable

[@bandnamecalledit739]

I just read the video description and one of the first mass poisonings? There were more? It's crazy that the first one happened, there were others?

[@pavelslama5543]

By the way, this case really reminds me of a case of alcohol adulteration here in Czech Republic some 10 years ago. Some dudes poured a lot of methanol into ethanol, causing death and permanent blindness.

[@ayasreviewsandtoycolection7148]

Love his voice! 😍😍😍😍

[@MelodramaticOne]

The good old days. When you could just pop into the local pharmacy for 12 pounds of poison, no questions asked…

[@NonnasNursery00]

Everyone share his video that way he gets more people to subscribe. Love your channel first time here.

[@LupinLovebites]

It's what I have said many times: every regulation has a body, or a bunch of them, at its root.

[@andyoncam1]

Very interesting. I'm originally from Bradford and know quite a bit about the history of the area, but I've never heard of the Sweets Poisoning. My maternal great-grandparents lived in Bradford and would have been alive then as infants. Possible lucky escape for them.

[@booth2710]

what about all those Spaniards that got poisoned with cooking oil ?

[@FascinatingHorror]

Sounds like a story - I'm looking into it.

[@aylazelanagrebiel3210]

I heard about that! It was tainted colza oil in 1981, Spain, killed 600 people. It’s called Toxic Oil Syndrome.

[@WyattRyeSway]

I’ve never heard that one.

[@tropezando]

@Nicky L Sprouts are grown in a temperature and humidity that facilitates bacterial growth. I was told after my transplant to always cook sprouts because they can make both normal and immunocompromised people very sick in their raw form.

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

@@tropezando I grow my own sprouts. Neved had an issue. I rinse them a few times a day when they're new and fridge them later. Only small amounts at once. Never a problem.

[@stevenhaynes7633]

Adds a whole new level of sinister to "Hey little boy/girl. You want a piece of candy?"

[@taskmaster58]

In 2008 Chinese companies were adding melamine-laced powder to fresh milk and selling it also in baby formula.

[@NemesisRTCW]

Yes, and after they gound out there was a run on non chinese milkpowder/ baby formula. Dutch supermarkets were rationing it, as Chinese immigrants bought it shopping carts full at the time to ship back to relatives in China.

[@pugletmommy8222]

Wow! Really well done! I never knew that. How awful. I wonder if the person who was sent to get the ingredients was literate at all. Amazing how the police figured it all out. Thank you so much! I enjoy this thoroughly! Keep up the excellent work! 😄

[@darkoverlord5427]

Idk why someone would keep a barrel of arsenic next to the gypsum. It is just so dumb!

[@blurrypotato4573]

Arranging by color, maybe. But that's still stupid to do.

[@thefpvlife7785]

Poor suffering kids. Must've been horrific.

[@stephaniehanley1016]

A lot of containers back in the day looked like one another and weren’t labeled. It was actually relatively common for people to accidentally poison themselves or others.

[@alisonwilson9749]

When I was a kid you still saw 'poison bottles'- glass bottles with vertical ribs, which were used for any poisonous substance to give warning even if the label had gone (or someone couldn't read).

[@TedBackus]

it always surprises me how heavy metal poisoning escapes so many diagnoses. the second i hear numbness or pain in the hands or limbs, i go right for heavy metals poisoning. thank god the substitute ingredient wasnt thallium, you can recover from arsenic, or cyanide poisonings as long as they arent super severe, but thallium isnt so gentle , & once you get that dose, its game over.

[@pickettywitchoriginal]

As a Bradford lass i can honestly say there’s a chance it could happen again the way this city is being run! Good video guys thanx.