Life is stranger than (science) fiction

[Minkyboy]

Apologies if this is common knowledge but I just found out about Radioactive Quackery by following some links from a Fallout 3 site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers

I'll quote a couple of bits here for those who can't be bothered to click on:

In 1927, while returning via chartered train from the annual Harvard-Yale football game, Byers fell from his berth and injured his arm. He complained of persistent pain and a doctor suggested that he take Radithor, a patent medicine manufactured by William J. A. Bailey.[3] Bailey was a Harvard University dropout who falsely claimed to be a doctor of medicine and became rich from the sale of Radithor. Bailey created Radithor by dissolving radium in water to high concentrations, claiming it could cure many ailments by stimulating the endocrine system. He offered physicians a 17% rebate on the prescription of each dose of Radithor.[4]

Byers began taking enormous doses of Radithor, which he believed had greatly improved his health, drinking nearly 1400 bottles.[5] In the process, he subjected himself to more than three times the acute lethal radiation dose. By 1930, when Byers stopped taking the remedy, he had accumulated significant amounts of radium in his bones resulting in the loss of most of his jaw. Byers' brain was also abscessed and holes were forming in his skull. He died from radium poisoning on March 31, 1932.[3] He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a lead-lined coffin.[6]

This would make a brilliant starting point for a future shock or similar.

Anyone else got similar 'science weirder than fiction' stuff??

(I guess my nuclear landmines thing I posted a while back fits into this as well - http://2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,26112.msg450782.html#msg450782)

[James Stacey]

It's crazy to think in the 30s they thought Radium was some wonder drug that had mysterious healing properties. There is a Biggles book, 'Biggles Hits The Trail' written in the 30s which (as well as being the second most random and wierd story in a usually sensible series) involves them finding Radium in vast amounts and selling it to a hospital.

[Mike Gloady]

I await the inevitable sequel where Biggles is dragged from his retirement home to answer for his crimes in The Haig with interest. 

Very odd.