Victorian Era Opium Dens
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2022
- When we think of opium dens of the 19th century, the conjured image is usually a hazy, smoke-filled room full of questionable characters, right?
Well, at one point in the early 19th century, everyone and their mother was taking opium (quite literally - mothers were specifically targeted by opium marketers). Over the decades, however, and through sensationalized media and literature, the Victorian era opium dens took on a life of their own.
#VictorianEra #chinesehistory #weirdhistory 
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Who else is laying down looking like a 19th century opiate addict while watching this ? 🤣
Hahaha 🤣
21st century addict here. 7 months clean for now
That made me chuckle. And yeah. I am
I’m with you for sure lol… 😅
What’s so cool about being a drug addict? Get to know the lord Jesus Christ and he can set you free from the opiate addiction that I know all too well. Shooting up or smoking the fentanyl around today is dangerous and being addicted sucks.
"Opium dens weren't how you imagined them"
"here's a bunch of pictures of exactly what you imagined."
🤣
Haha lol 🤣 😂 😆 😅 😄
Exaclty. Little information in this video.
Because the pictures were staged for the newspapers.
@lexius You are obviously new to the subject and apparently pretty young. You also seem to be eager to twist things to suit your own misconceptions.
I have news for you. Racism was the source of the drug laws. It has been obviously prevalent in the drug laws since the beginning in the late 1800s, all the way through the present.
That's not a buzzword. That is just a historical fact, openly stated by the people who passed the laws.
And you thought this was all about a new buzzword. That's hilarious. Take a history class some time.
I’m an addict in recovery and had to laugh when they said call the line cook. Restaurant work goes hand in hand with addiction. A lot of servers especially since it’s a cash job every day.
Yup. I worked one place where the boss/owner would sell Bolivian Marching Powder to the staff and deduct it their pay. Most of us were under the table.
You know it! Easiest way to have money on hand every day AND come off like a "responsible employee".
Bc you don't want to miss work! Then you won't be able to buy what you need to get out of bed and go to work the next day either.
When chefs review the bear, everyone mentions the lack of drugs
I started drinking when I worked at a restaurant after school and on weekends
"Hey, I don't need opium anymore. I've got some aspirin!", said nobody ever.
For sure!!
Just hand out aspirin to all the addicts and solve the opioid problems. Easy.
🤣
I said no when offered. ( Real black tar )
I know I'd like it too much .
Hey, I don't need opium anymore I have Bayer Heroin circa 1898.
In 150 years we'll see videos like "The trap houses weren't THAT bad"
What is a trap house.?
🤣
@@sarahadair5890 a house owned by drug dealers that u buy drugs at, also sometimes they " run" women out of or in the rooms( usually nasty sometimes w no running water/electricity...rats, bugs etc)
@@cherylmaden5989 an everyone does drugs there to
@@sarahadair5890 I’m glad I’m not the only one to ask this question. Guess we’ve lead a normal, sheltered life!
I visited opium dens in Malaysia and Laos in 1971. The high was like nothing I'd ever experienced. I can best describe it as "living inside a pink cloud that tasted like corn nuts." The first night the "handler" overdosed us on purpose, causing us to go outside and vomit in the gutter, next to several other small mounds of rice. The purpose was to make subsequent visits more pleasant. The preparation and smoking of it was quite a ritual, all accomplished on a low wooden platform. Several skinny old men lounging in comatose positions watched us as we smoked. When high, I just didn't want to move at all. I stopped going when I noticed some friends of mine addicted and in serious shape.
Must’ve been an experience.
Thanks you for sharing your story, rather interesting 💯🙏
I always explained it like that time when your falling asleep but trying to stay awake, that half sleep feeling, while being wrapped up in a big down comforter. That’s the closest thing I can think of in real life that is anything like it
I shot heroin then fentanyl and crystal meth for years and it was a horrible life good for you not continuing. I lost most of my friends and the first girlfriend I ever had from addiction . My girlfriend jumped off a bridge not wanting to continue relapsing and detoxing. I managed to keep my job of 15 years but by the end when I was homeless and overdosing constantly in and out of jail the bosses caught on.
Rehab and AA doesn’t work too often the only person who can save is The lord Jesus Christ!
@@Richie_Alpha_Rabbit69 amen!!
Jesus Christ. You must be at least 70 years old, you outlived most health nuts born your year.
I'm 75. When I was a boy, paregoric, a 4% opium tincture was commonly used for teething babies and to stop infant diarrhoea. You could still buy it without a prescription in some states until it was finally regulated by the Federal Government in the 1970s.
We have a similar thing in the UK called codeine linctus: the differences being it’s codeine not opium and it’s for cough.
Still can be bought OTC here with no prescription.
Oh and we still have an OTC diarrhoea relief syrup that has mint and _morphine_ in!
I remember as a kid having medicine called kaolin & morphine when I had an upset stomach - not sure if that’s the same thing 🤔
@@user-ph4mg1mh9c that’s the one! ‘Dr. Brown’s kaolin & morphine linctus’ is the brand name (I believe).
Whether it’s for the runs, a dodgy tum or both or neither I couldn’t say?
but as soon as you mentioned kaolin I knew we were reading from the same hymn-sheet.
It has a very minty taste, from what I remember.
(nd a very small amount of morphine solution - so it would be pointless to abuse: if anyone was pondering..)
you can stil by paragoric with out prescription but you have to sign for it
If you pour it into a large pan for a few days everything evaporates but the opium, which is then 100%.
My deaf son 15, was prescribed strong opiates due to some complicated dental surgery. After a good long sleep I found him at 4am, dancing, naked with the fridge door open for light! He then looked at me all very seriously & in sign language asked: "get more of those tablets"...😄
😂
Lmaooo boy!
He knows a good time!! I hope he’s feeling much better !!! 💙
Just make sure that doesn't evolve into a heroin addiction and it'll be all fine
Hope you had a camera handy to humiliate him when he’s older. My dear late wife had to use a fentanyl patch after cancer surgery. When she woke up, she smiled at me and said “you have three nostrils”. I got her back to the hospital to have her medication adjusted. Despite the tragic circumstances it gave us a laugh when we needed it.
Nothing says halloween like spooky old Victorian Opium dens!!!
It’s actually funny you said that, I just realized today that Halloween is tomorrow, but it seems like everyone is just kind of ignoring it this year
Weird History... The only opiate I need.
Lucky..I need fentanyl too
This. Also, god we’re nerds
Me and my suboxone are very jealous
@@Bloodryu666 God I hate fetty
They were lucky back then.
I smoked opium & opiated hashish in Hyannis, MA in the late '60's. In that era, all types of illicit drugs were available that aren't around today. It's very pleasurable. It was in the form of a tar-like lump the size of chewed-up gum. It has a nice smokey, fruity smell to it. I can't imagine anyone entering an opium den, such as you describe, not getting high just by breathing the air, without even smoking it. The atmosphere in them must have been so thick, that you couldn't avoid being affected. Interesting video. Thank you.
The kind I smoked had a faint taste of grape. Super mellow. I loved it.
Had some in the 80s gold stamped with let's get the Russians outa Afghanistan!
I live on the Cape, about 20 min from Hyannis, we had the opiate problem years before it hit the rest of the country, so things haven’t changed that much, the drugs just changed from one way to ingest to another, and now fentanyl has hit the Cape and it’s killing people all over the place, it’s bad
Some of the tar-like "opium" back then was actually hashish. So I've been told.
The smell of opium is revolting. There's nothing pleasurable about it
The history of pharmacology would be fascinating!
Well then should probably watch hamiltons pharmacology series haha
Look up 'Pain, pus and poison' Very interesting series by Dr ? Mosely. Well worth a watch.
Check out Hamiltons pharmacopeia.
It is. I had one course while working on my masters. I learned some really interesting stuff.
Stellar! I'm so impressed you included the British bringing Opium into Chinese ports. Jack London wrote about the dens and became an addict himself. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek was reforming China and shutting the opium dens down.
So, Laudanum is opium diluted with alcohol? I thought Laudanum was a favourite of Queen Victoria. That would explain a few things.
Colonising India or putting Irish criminals on a boat to Australia. The mad cow.
Laudanum was a mixture of morphine, heroin (Diacetylmorphine) and ethyl alcohol.
What things?
@@bickyboo7789holy sheet what a party.
Make opium dens great again.
I had a wicked tooth ache and there was no chemist were I was living in the bush , my neighbor grew poppies so I cut of several poppy pods and that tooth ache was history . Yes opium works on tooth ache perfectly
Weird history and I have become comfortably numb.
To be fair to all the things it was prescribed for, it would basically make those problems less bothersome
No doubt lol I never got any sickness while addicted to heroin
No cold no flu nothing for many many years. But dope sick every time you wake up is not worth it. Couldn’t sleep more than 4 hours at the end because my body would wake me up demanding more and if I didn’t have it I’d lie awake sweating and shaking
@@Richie_Alpha_Rabbit69 I wonder if it works for Covid?
Yes it would. I have morphine and you better believe I needed it when the 12 Advil didn’t work when I had Covid (for joint pain).
You sound like a Brit
@@Nettsinthewoods im not but thats very kind, thank you
LMAO @9:13 "Smell of the place overwhelming... like Comic-Con x 1000"
They delegalized opium, and at the same time invented, produced and refined heroin, which is basically morphine diacetate (and a hundred times stronger) kinda like nowaday they "stopped" the heroin trade and switched to fentanyl production.
@sydmccreath4554 to me it sounds like opium is a safer (potentially recreational) alternative to H or morphine
This guy is my favorite narrator! Love his 'witty' sarcasm! 😅
He is hired and not the writer.
I love his sparky comments, too! I mean snarky!
@@TroubledTrooper yeah but he just makes it sound so damn good ya cant not like it... He May not wrote it but thats why hes saying it and not them... Lol
😂
I'm over here crying 😂
What surprised me was the fact that so many famous authors used opium.
They were rock stars and pop stars of that time.
My man what if I told you A LOT of people to this day use drugs like opium every day. Things haven't changed much
Like George Carlin said, if your against drugs go home and throw away all your music.
You’d be surprised at what a large portion of the population has been on one version or another of opiates for many centuries.
Drink too. Lotta writers being down some. Where's the cranked up author's writing ten books a month. I mean we had everyone's favorite horror writer with the Snuffy jiffy but who else
Britain - The original drug cartel
China fought them back, but those guys had a mighty fleet…
It blows me away that so many respect the Royals because they descend from some of the most arrogant predatory monsters who ever lived. Nice....
How did Britain shrug off criticism and make everyone think the Chinese were evil?
Not really. The Brits only found a big seller for Chinese Triads to become monster drug orgs. The British could take the prize for being the original biggest 'drug mules'
@@topsuperseven7910 Yeah, they only shelled country from their navy to “convince” chinese to take it ….
In the early 70's in the Midwest, you could still find decorative antique tins filled with pure black powdered opium at garage sales & antique stores. Still potent...
My roommate brought home a 3 gallon jar of paragoric he liberated from the hospital where he worked in the mid 70's that contained 15 grams of black powdered opium, water, & alcohol. We poured it into a large aluminum roasting pan & let it evaporate for a few days, leaving only the opium. Ommfg did it ever knock our dicks in the dirt for a few weeks!
I’m glad it “knocked your dick in the dirt” 😝
Wish I had been with you. I smoked it in the 80's when I was in high school. Should have stopped there, but found the needle and dilaudid. Pure heaven, but you WILL pay the price.
Lol, my family friend gave us some rye bread, but rye bread that left in rain and water molds into a LSD called ergot and we ate the rye bread a few yrs ago and experience LSD effects , it was fun and out of place at the same time lol
I live in the Northern Ca. forest & like to go out looking for old bottles & things & actually found a little one....only residue though waaaahhh wahhhh wahhhh lol
Ha "liberated" 😅
Thanks for sharing this. It is very informative and a pleasure to watch. As a Chinese, I appreciate your effort for this. What you provided is a rather objective and balanced account of this period.
We have to admit that this is one of the best stories that they have put them out and show how they were able to do all the things that they have done to show how they were able to do all these things in general. Good for them, and good for us in this debate. What a great story to follow, and they decided to block this button and hope for the best. What a great story!!! Awesome stuff!!
Victorian Era doctors with Laudanum sound a lot like pharmaceutical companies with oxycodone in the early 2000's.
You mean Oxycontin - oxycodone is Percocet.
But yeah - "harmless and non-addictive"...
@@oliviamartini9700 percocet is oxycodone with tylenol... oxycodone also comes in IR instant release or Roxycodone formulations typically called blues for the 30mg pure oxy pills which idiots call perc 30s but are not percs as percs only go up to 10mg and always have tylenol... sigh
@@oliviamartini9700 Oxycodone is the opiate in Oxycontin and Percocet. Percocet is the short acting and Oxycontin is the extended release.
@@oliviamartini9700 Oxycodone is OxyContin and Percocet is Oxycodone mixed with APAP .
Except they did it for the good of the pacients and Purdue did it for greater profits. 100k OD's a year 😬
Creating famines in India to create the worst epidemic in history to buy Tea of all things. That’s the most British thing I’ve ever heard
Spiff would be so proud 😀
They weren't trading tea it was opium.
Churchill did it again in the 1940s to feed the British army. Starved millions of Indians only the ones that joined the British army got fed.
And they still had time for tiffin.
The British wouldn't do that,would they?
I was in the hospital for a week high on Morphine watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air all day. I reckon that's a similar experience
I was supposed to be going to the shower but weird history is on🤣😂
I love the commentator, so wise and whimsical with his words! Man if he read children's books to kids, they would love his animated voice expression! Keep up the good work Sir and Weird History!
I find him annoying af
@@AA-zs9ycthere’s a very easy solution for that
Ah, back in the good old days. If anybody wants to see what opium feels like, I highly recommend trying poppy seed tea. You can buy poppy seeds legally and as far as I know, it’s practically legal to make. Although it’s technically illegal to be in possession of morphine, nobody really knows what it is short of forensic tests. It’s easy to pass off as tea or something similarly colored, plus it can get you very, very high. I’m actually a bit of a fan of the taste too, that nutty bitter taste is an acquired one, but very nice once you’re used to it. Just pace yourself and don’t consume too much because it can definitely be dangerous, especially since it takes quite a long time (1-12 hours) to fully kick in. I’d love to try actual opium, but I don’t see that happening anywhere in the near future. The best part about opium is the fact that it’s not very psychologically impairing unless you take enough to knock yourself out entirely. I’d drink a bottle of poppy seed tea throughout the course of a school day, drinking it from a water bottle that I always had on my desk. Nobody ever batted an eye, it’s kind of comical looking back at it. I was a total degenerate, yet that fact was hardly visible to others.
Where would you buy poppy seed tea,,
Where do u purchase?
School day? How old are you?
Suggestion for a show: "Steampunk" as I understand it came out of the victorian era 1837 to 1901. It was a prediction of things to come if technology prevailed. My understanding is quite shallow. Regardless, thank you for what you do. Weird History is a fantastic channel.
Teacher: "What does your dad do for a living?"
Me: "He sells drugs for a living."
Teacher: "So your dad is a ..."
Me: "Yes, he is a Pharmacist."
My father is also a pharmacist.
@@user-chemistpharmacist hey, uh… what’s your dads #? I need… Pharmaceutical advice.
they aren't the pushers though. doctors are.
@@RunninUpThatHillh Exactly, pharmacist can't even sell you the drugs unless it's prescribed by a doctor.
ITS A JOKE PEOPLE JESUS
" I need a pillow to lay my head on".." hears a wood block"... " I love my wood block pillow,thank you love my pillow"
This is one hell of a coincidence. After watching your video on Chinese immigrants who built the railroad that mentioned the opium dens of San Francisco I started doing research on these dens. Then, here you are with a video!
No coincidence just the algorithm at work 🤣
Read the history on that. They were slaves tricked into coming to america.
I broke my arm once while I had the flu. Soon as I was given morphine I didn't feel like I had the flu anymore and felt great. I swear it's a flu suppressant
Opioids supress the immune system, so they do lower flu like symptoms. Withdrawal causes flu like symptoms as well. There was some research done on supressing a receptor called TLR-4 that is involved in the immune response. It seemed to allow morphine to be taken without addiction, but the research just stopped.
I've been on opioids for about 15 years. I stopped getting the flu and flu shots.
Yep! I got bronchitis at least 3 times every winter and sometimes even in the summer, after getting hooked on opiates and now on methadone for several years, I’ve never gotten it again nor any colds or flu. It definitely dries out any and all forms of congestion immediately.
The symptoms of opioid withdrawal is like a flu x10. It's great for treating those symptoms though.
@@kellyshomemadekitchen- I'm in the same boat and have had that theory for years.I've not had a cold or flu for many years.
Have you done a video on Boadicea? Would love to know more about the woman who stood up to the Romans
Its boudicca
@@HdHd-cg4nz it depends on the records you refer to, since her name and story was told by those who conquered her people, the true spelling is unknown
@Sara Johnstone The English pronunciation of her name is boudicca which is pronounced
Boo-dic-ka not your pronunciation of bow-da-ce-ah.
Try searching on RUclips. For a start.
As a recovered opiate addict, I’ll say this much, I can totally understand why the poor got hooked on opium in the Victorian era, especially when you learn how awful their lives were, opiates make even the worst things great, it is awful stuff though (believe me). The worst thing is how evil the British were, they literally forced opium on the Chinese, destroying the country with drugs because the Chinese government didn’t want anything to do with the British besides making an occasional buck off them which of course caused the British to pull an underhanded scheme on the Chinese as a whole, then the British class system was so terrible to the poor in their own country opium became a fantastic escape in an otherwise miserable life. So in the end the British government killed probably tens to hundreds of thousands of people due to its arrogance, greed, and self importance (and that’s only regarding the subject of opium).
Stfu you should be grateful for the Industrial revolution we created ,anti Brit communist.britain isa Great country with great people
Also look up the The Sassoons and Kadoories if you insist on looking for people to blame
@veiledrecalcitrance4314 Are you still on Methadone?
Oh do pipe down. You're speaking English aren't you. You have an education. You use transportation. You're civilized. Thank you are the words you should be using.
They used to talk about old secret opium dens in Portland and even in my small hometown. The rumor was guys would go and end up out at sea forced to work or jump ship after having a wild night out.
In an era where most medical care was useless or worse, pain relief matters and self-evidently most users didn't become junkies.
You mean "addicts"? I hate the word "junkies". It's so degrading. 😕
But actually you'd be wrong.
There were far more addicts back then because they didn't know what it could do to you. All they knew was that it felt like a miracle drug when they took it.
As far as they knew, there was no reason to be careful.
They had no idea what was happening to them when they emptied their bottle and started to go on with their day only to get sicker and sicker.
Then they probably thought they were dying. I know it certainly feels like it! Even when you know better.
So of course they'd go back to the dealer or the pharmacy and get another bottle. Because now they have to treat their BAD nausea and diarhhea and body aches.
Addiction wasn't understood at all back then so it wasn't talked about.
Heck, we barely understand it now. And that's a travesty if you ask me. 😕🥺😟
There is a saying in my language "Addiction to Laying down with opium pipe has been replaced with addiction to laying down with smartphone"
Yeah but the two don't compare.
@@amyball3342Yeah opium is unique experience and worth it. Watching smartphone is just dull compared to it.
I've heard the term Orient and Oriental mentioned a few times. Not that they weren't racist, but ... the word Orient means East.
Similar to when you enter some place new, you'll "Orient yourself to your new surroundings"
"Determine the direction you need to travel"
You go to "Orientation" at college or new job. Which is where you get DiRECTIONS on what to expect, and other pressing matters like, where the bathrooms and payroll are.
Oriental isn't just a rug, it's a direction.
Good analogy. Made me ponder ✨
As with many words, it's perception and how you use it.
@@MrEnjoivolcom1
Perception in many cases can be quite fallcious. As it is when context is filtered through presumptive expectations.
If you're always anticipating what you expect. Then that's all you'll ever see.
Sometime a cigar ... is just a cigar.
Even when all you see is a penis
From wikipedia: "The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of Occident, the Western World." and "Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world".
Oriental is Eastern in the view from the Western world. The term is used correctly in the video.
@@keksitse
It's not how its used. It's the subtextual and added flourishes.
Finally!!! Someone does a thing about Victorian Opium Dens.
A+ video!
LOVE IT! A very unique activity, I see it in films and tv series every once in a while.
"He didn't say that last bit...but what if he had?" These are the important questions historians need to be asking.
Very true
Weird History never disappoints!
so interesting! Please make a video on ancient Roman medicine.
I was pretty wild in my 20s. It was the early 2000s and the doctors were handing opioids out like candy. I was prescribed them for ear aches to back injuries and knee surgery. They always made me sick. Sometimes I used them recreationally, most times I just drank and smoked weed.
Then at 23, on a visit to see family in Oregon, an uncle gets pure, from the poppy opium.
I understood then and there why opium houses were so popular.
Definitely NOT encouraging drug use, but if you ever do get curious, go to the source not the synthetic.
Your chances of survival are greater of not overdosing and you more than likely won’t get slipped a fentanyl mickey.
Would love!!
And you don't think opium ever contains fentanyl? Today fentanyl is being put in marijuana and cocaine for Christ's sake. If I were a drug dealer I'd be far likelier to put it in a narcotic like opium than in anything else.
Love some black rock opium on my bowls of home grown
Fully synthetic opioids are becoming more common. Back then at least semi synthetic was still around
Well heroin isn't synthetic
"Infect, inflict, blame the victims . . ." -British Policy then and political shock jocks today.
And people like the Sacklers.
this is literally every dominant nation to the others always forever. get over it
Even in China itself, it seems that opium dens weren't nearly as seedy as we imagine. Check out this description from Somerset Maugham:
"I was introduced into a neat enough room, brightly lit, divided in cubicles, the raised floor of which, covered with clean matting, formed a convenient couch. In one an elderly gentlemen, with a grey head and very beautiful hands, was quietly reading a newspaper, with his long pipe by his side... four men squatted over a chessboard, and a little further on a man was dandling a baby... It was a cheerful spot, comfortable, home-like, and cozy."
You are hilarious and a great story teller. Learning about history is already so interesting and fascinating but you definitely make it even more enjoyable. You had me laughing a lot 😂😅Kudos 👏🏼🙌🏼
lol do you ever watch the show "Drunk History"? that makes it more fun to lol
Loved the humorous side of the comments. 😊 I also remember the chloridene we were given as kids in the 50s & early 60s for stomach & throat infections & how I had a few extra sips on the side. This & other similar tinctures disappeared after a while.
Like most good things ….over used and abused . Opiates we’re legitimately used by many in moderation for pain management and now doctors are so afraid to prescribe for fear of prosecution that it’s about impossible to get .
the only thing that worked to keep people from killing themselves was the death penalty.
My opium addiction included binge watching the Andy Griffith show
Can't reccomend "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" enough. Terrifyingly good
Thank you! I was trying to remember the name of that book. It really was a good read.
I love this series shtick. Informative AND entertaining. Plus, the narrator's voice is spot on. Snarky.
I have always wondered about this. Thank you
Where I live, Vancouver, BC, growing opium poppies are legal, they actually grow wild even in some suburban backyards. After the plant loses its petals, many people simply throw the pods away. Been making my own tinctures and sticky ickiness for over two decades now.
Not surprising, we actually still have opium dens underneath China town. Closed to everyone except for people of the community, they still exist for wealthy gang members. Strange that most choose fentanyl, which comes from labs, not having any natural products in them. Prolly why I would never think of even trying.
Your area also shaped Robert Picton. It is a total shithole and the recent laws passed to allow 0 punishment for losers shooting up in the street is indicative of the coming collapse of society.
@@kylegreene1356 aah yes. new york is the same. pity living here in upstate.
Hello fellow Canadian!👋🇨🇦🍁
@@RunninUpThatHillh yeah, but unfortunately by that point the latex ( aka opium) is dried out, and all you can hope for is a rattle in a dried pod to make a weak tea. If the pods aren't dried out? Sure, otherwise you are looking at a husk of where the latex, yes latex, was.
In New West where the skytrain station is now there used to be dens. When construction was going on you could find opium vials and bottles in the dug up dirt
You've likely already done it and I'm too lazy to check, but I think the odd Victorian practice of photographing the recently deceased with the surviving members of the decedent's family would make for a great video idea.
I mean, taking pictures of dead people on their own is weird enough, but posing as a living person with your dead Mother, Father, Brother, Sister, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin etc. would be such a strange thing to do.
You can often tell who the dead person is I never the photo because they'll be the clearest and the sharpest person in the image because "hold still" isn't really an issue for them, hehe. Exposure times - meaning how long it took to take the picture... in the 1800s it was over a lengthy series of seconds... sometimes minutes, and wasn't just an instantaneous snap like today - were long and the dead person could hold a pose like nobody's business.
Speaking of posing, this was a whole insane photography-adjacent empire, with many "posing contraptions" and industry secrets and techniques to make the dead look less dead. You know... they wanted to make it work for the client, no matter their stipulations or wild composition ideas.
This means that there were literally "posing stands” made of iron or something that could hold the dead' head in place, make them appear to be sitting up or seated comfortably and there were even stands that could make a dead person do just that... stand.
They would be hooked up to this thing and via various supports that were out of sight, behind the person and often affixed under their clothing. They could look very convincingly alive in this way but it was all a dice roll with rigor and decomposition to contend with.
However, it wasn't macabre Judy for the sake of being macabre, like many weird Victorian traditions (coffin cakes for example). No, the reality of it was that Photography was _very_ expensive in the 19th century and this practice was done not only to preserve the appearance of the person while they were alive, but - because of the prohibitive cost to the non-upper class citizen - this may well be the only photograph they ever have of that person and even themselves.
Perhaps the most fascinating RUclips video I have ever seen.
I love the way you inject a wee dram of dry humour into your videos.
Those were the "Good Old Days"🤪
What actually surprised me the most is the accurate account described in the video of the English role in addicting the Chinese to opium! It also made them much easier to conquer and dominate! Ah, those Brits!! What a fine bunch!
The British: "practically perfect in every way . . . other than morally and ethically."
And now Britain is chock full of druggies and pillheads
@@TempleofBrendaSong Thanks! I didn't catch the irony!
no wonder China hates The West
No, when your in withdrawal your brain goes into overdrive and you start having the craziest dreams you will ever have. So the dreams were apart of his withdrawals but good luck sleeping because you won't be able too.
I used to work in an old building in San Francisco's Jackson Square district. When they dug down to put an addition on the building, suddenly we had police everywhere. They'd dug up an old opium den and the cops wouldn't leave until they'd gathered up everything that might have residue on it and made damn sure we weren't secretly dealing.
Party poopers 😂
They wanted some of the action dirty pigs
Not surprised there was classism with opium use
Can you do a video on what life is like for a Miss America pageant winner? Thank you for all your content and the narrator is wickedly funny
....this is a history channel
It must’ve been fun.
Interesting
@@ITI-xi5zx Exactly. Past Miss America pageant winners would make it historical my friend 😊
The Orange-faced Buffoon constantly sticking his head into the dressing room.
Just subscribed! I would love to learn about the history of different mythologies- like Greek or Egyptian 😃
Also how did the tobacco industry make it like it is today, from mostly ceremonial and natural to addictive and chemical laced? Like who was the guy that made that decision
Edward Bernays.
In those opium dens, we see No cellphones in sight! Just people living the moment.
I'm building me a time machine and getting some cheap unregulated Victorian drugs a.s.a.f.p.
Hello how are you doing?
Always makes me think of the movie ‘Once Upon a Time in America’.
Yes that scene is fascinating. Actually Opium dens seem to be a well used trope in movie... But this film is the best example I can think of
In reality, opium dens are more like an airbnb in Disneyland but playing "it’s a small world" on repeat
At 9:06, it took me a second but man do I love this channel.
Never tried opiates myself I started out sniffing glue and I seem to of stuck to it .
😏
@@ANDROLOMA Well, Actually I tell a lie. I went through a stage of dressing up as a nun secretly but I managed to kick that habit.
And there was that time The Hokey Cokey started to take hold but I turned it around and that's what it's all about.
@@JustDaniel6764 Honesty is the best fallacy.
@@ANDROLOMA never a truer words spoke
@@JustDaniel6764 Damn! And I thought I was lying again?
DeQuincey was a member Club du Hashashins, a Parisian group who attended regular meeting where a green jam with hashish was served before dinner. Pleasure ensued.
Think you mean Theophile Gauthier, as TDQ never visited Paris.
@@NigelJackson I'm sorry but your wrong. I've read DQs essay on his experience. My books are in storage or I could give you a reference. No worries 😊. But Gauthier was also I member. Unless that time slip I went through changed history....lol.
@@NigelJackson Baudelaire was also a member.
@@davidlancaster8152 You're right about Baudelaire and the Club des Haschischins...but I'm still doubtful that TDQ ever attended...none of the major biographies mention him visiting France, nor did he write about Hashish experiences so far as I know ( a friend of mine was editor of the 11 volume collected works of DeQuincey). It was opium and alcohol for TDQ.
Are you mayhap thinking of William Ludlow's writings on the Hashish experience?
@@NigelJackson I've read his opium experience. I could be wrong. Will get back to you. Thanks
Thank God we got over that "Funny Business" by pharmaceutical industries.
1:09 “Yooo give me a fade and pour a 4 of some heroin cough syrup in some tea for me , pour yourself one too “ 😂
Very good history and thanks for this story.
I actually always wanted to know about these! They couldn’t all be smoky and seedy like that!
An opium den is the complete opposite of a crack house.
Most of the writers who write of the darkness etc of the opium dens were writing from their experience as opium users. Rrally it was more about the addiction than the den alone
A good opium den should have good ambiance. If you’re doing opiates, the last thing that you want is to be blinded by some bright light while trying to nod off.
Maybe I missed it but how about a video on absinthe?
The truth is weirder! Too bad you missed out on the part that the Iraqui/Persian Orthodox Jewish Sassoon dynasty from Baghdad who were the main profiteers and owners of the Opium trade from 1870s onward when drugs King pin David Sassoon rescued the failing Scottish Jardine/Matheson opium enterprise. In fact the Sassoon monopoly had been steadily growing since 1850. David Sassoon spoke no English but managed to infiltrate the upper classes and royalty of Victorian Britain making the taking opium fashionable and medical and so inevitably, the lower classes followed suit in imitation of their betters aspiring to smoke the status they so painfully lacked . Check out history of HSBC and the Sassoons.
Victorian era sackler family
@@pistolpete667 or the Sackler family is a modern day version of the Sassoons. 6 to one, ....
Weird History Sunday is the GOAT
In the early 1950s, aged 3, I was walking down Cable Street,E1 in London with my grandfather and still remember seeing into a partly open front door - men dressed in silks laying on floor and smoking contraptions emitting clouds of smoke whilst others lay on a sort of “four poster bed” doing the same. I can still see it now! This was before Chinatown moved to Soho and we still had ships docking at E1 warehouses to unload!
Oh what I would give to go to one
Since you can grow opium in your yard very easily I think it should be legal to do so. In fact where I live near Seattle it grows quite commonly. Once you know the right kind you can't mistake them for anything else.
Opium growing in Seattle really?
@@topshottared5500 yes. I'm 66 and have been finding opium poppies around western Washington since I was 13. I have absolutely verified that they are genuine. They were commonly grown in gardens for there flowers before they were made illegal and they are still quite common. Seattle has a very suitable climate for them.
Fascinating! Thank you.
It's funny that they'd prescribe opium to treat hiccups because opium causes hiccup
"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down . . ." -Mary Poppins (practically perfect drug pandering in every way)
It was actually referencing a way to get children to take polio vaccines. One of the Sherman brother's heard from his children that they were given a spoonful of sugar that had had the vaccine in it (unbeknownst to the children).
@@ashleightompkins3200 I was given the Salk vaccine in a sugar cube when I was 6.
And they told us what it was.
@@WildBillCox13 Good to know, thank you for telling me
@@WildBillCox13 I don't think so. The Salk vaccine was injected. The Sabin vaccine was taken via a sugar cube.
Go to Chinatown anywhere and realize that there are probably numerous opium dens buried behind sheetrock long since abandoned and forgotten about .. As Spock would say, fascinating.
Bayer also released a drug called Heroin when it dropped Aspirin, lol.. they just rebranded it and offered something slightly less strong, and something that worked half as good that doesn't get you hooked.
The instrument he described as like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard was probably an Er Hu 😂
Lots of the upper classes enjoyed the pleasure of Opium.
I could go for a couple of hours in a opium den!!
Very true, very true pal 🙌
@@glenndouglas8822 When I open my fist Opium den you get a VIP pass pal!!
@@chuckydall9250 🎉🥳
@@chuckydall9250 have you built the country without BS laws to be able to open it yet?
@Nightmare Rex Still waiting on a permit, lol let's be serious though look at San Francisco drugs might as well be legal there now do you see the massive problems this is causing?? These scumbags are destroying the city you can't take 2 steps without stepping in human shit they're camped out up and down the street it's like 3rd world country!!
“ go to Dr., you get a prescription and then you get that prescription filled.. or you go to the ATM and call the line cook named Eddie” 💀
That little gem was so unexpected😂
Great video. When will you cover the Waite Phillips story? It would go well with the release of Killers of the Flower Moon.
Very interesting thank you!