Outlandish Medical Beliefs
Quack Remedies Galore
In the absence of modern medical knowledge, the Wild West was rife with bizarre and ineffective treatments. Snake oil salesmen peddled elixirs that promised to cure everything from baldness to tuberculosis but were usually just mixtures of alcohol, opium, and other dubious ingredients. These so-called “cures” often did more harm than good, leaving patients worse off than before.
Bleeding and Blistering
One of the most common medical practices of the time was bloodletting. Doctors believed that many illnesses were caused by an imbalance of bodily fluids, so they used leeches or lancets to draw blood from patients. Blistering, another popular treatment, involved applying caustic substances to the skin to create blisters, which were thought to draw out toxins. These painful procedures rarely helped and often led to infections.
