The Story of the Radium Girls | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

You didn't even mention that during a dental examination the dentist accidentally pulled one girl's entire jawbone out of her gums... That's how rotted her bones were. Other girls had to testify in court from their death beds, wheeled into the courtroom. Their legs broke as they walked. It was as if their skeletons were made of Styrofoam. Many developed such deforming tumors on their face they were unrecognizable. And it took decades of fighting for the company to even admit it did anything wrong.

“Stalling in the hopes that the dial painters would die before they could win” is absolutely terrifying, something straight out of a comic book villain

It’s really upsetting that many of these girls’ concerns were passed off as having syphilis. At that time it was a common disease among sex workers (which as we all know were not highly looked upon then or now), so the employers were essentially calling the girls whores or sluts so they didn’t have to admit to any wrong doing.

When I was young, I used to imagine I could go back in time to stop these things from happening. I’m old enough now that I realize that I would just be viewed as a raving lunatic running around screaming the sky is falling and would be locked away in an asylum. Ah, the fantasies of youth. Our safety regulations were won through blood and suffering.

I can totally forgive companies for mistakenly thinking that it was safe, given the prevailing wisdom, but I can't forgive the slurring and dismissal of victims. To write that one girl off as having died of syphillis was a really nasty stain on character.

The practice of licking/sucking on paint brushes has actually lead many art historians to believe several of the old Renaissance masters actually died of cancer. It was common practice for artists to suck on their brushes to clean them, and of course nobody knew back then that the pigments in many paints — cadmium in particular — were carcinogenic. Even today many artists still stick their brushes in their mouths (after they're thoroughly clean!!) to shape the bristles with their saliva because it dries stiff, helping the brushes to hold their shape between uses. (Yes I know this is my third comment on this video but I figure it will help FH with engagement for the algorithm!)

The Curie's bodies are still highly radioactive to this day. Their caskets are lined with lead to keep the radium in. They were pioneers of technological advancement, but it came with an ugly, painful price.

My grandma was a Radium Girl in my hometown of Ottawa, Illinois. It’s so sad how many women died and NO ONE took responsibility. 😭

For those who want more details about the Radium Girls' stories, I strongly recommend The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore. Just keep in mind that it is an extremely dark and HEAVY book, so take plenty of breaks for your mental health. The story in full is so incredibly heart wrenching.

My grandmother lived in Deptford, South London, and her neighbor was horribly disfigured by radium and never left the house, her daughters and neighbors doing everything for her. She was a watch dial painter, although I have no idea where that may have taken place - Im not sure if watch painting was done in the UK at that time. Her husband, a good friend of my grandfather, was killed in WWI so I assume she worked in the UK but there are no details available. The woman wore a veil at all times and would not open the door to anyone so it was left unlocked so that the neighbors could drop things off for her, but she would only speak to them through the door of her room. Her daughters said that her bottom jaw was mostly missing and she had trouble breathing much of the time. Despite this she was in her 70's when she died and the whole street turned out for her funeral.

Makes you wonder in another hundred years, what will people think “I can’t believe they did that” will be for us

I remember hearing about this story. They even said one of the main owners of the company who started to understand the dangers of radium due to his own use of it, told the girls to stop pointing the brushes with their lips. The girl asked her foreman what the owner said and he told her it was perfectly fine and not to worry instead.

Nothing shouts corporate evil louder than dismissing their ailment by shaming them with syphilis.

that is really messed up "waiting for the victims to die so the company wouldn't get sued" yep totally human and not a sociopath at all.

You told this story with dignity and grace. As horrifying as each woman's experience was, you actually skipped the horror (details not needed) and went straight to the heart of the matter. Nicely done.

My grandmother knew some of these girls. She lived in Montclair, NJ. When the girls started getting sick she told friends it must have something to do with that factory. People told her she was nuts. Guess she wasn't crazy after all.

I remember as a child in the 60's being fascinated with a machine in our local shoe shop that could show a real-time image of your feet inside your shoes to see how they fit. But shortly after the first and only time I tried it they stopped using the machine and eventually took it away. Of course the problem was that it was using a continuous high intensity beam of X-rays that was nicely irradiating your feet. But it was as late as the 60's before they figured out that irradiating childrens' feet probably wasn't such a good idea...

"We don't want to take responsibility for our actions that result in killing people, so we'll dig in our heels and take every delay, and hopefully they'll die before the case is settled, posthumously proving their point."

This story reminds me of the horrible ”Phossy jaw disease” {phosphorus necrosis of the jaw!} suffered by workers of the 18th-19th century matchstick industry. 🥺😔

The most disgusting part about this case for me was how long the companies essentially gaslit their workers. They hired just this random guy to pose to be a physician and tell all these women they were being hysterical and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. All the while their teeth were falling out and tumors were growing out of their bones. When they exhumed the first woman (the one mentioned in the video) to take a bone sample and test it for radium, her corpse was glowing!!! It’s truly horrifying to read about and the Afterword of the book Radium Girls by Kate Moore makes me furious any time I think about it.