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The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Museum of Quackery and Questionable Medical Devices

The Atlas Obscura Podcast

SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2021

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We visit what might be the world’s largest collection of fraudulent, nefarious, or otherwise ineffectual medical machinery -- and meet the founder who brought it all together. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-quackery

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, so I know a guy.

0:03.8

He's got this amazing machine.

0:06.5

It gives you an exact personalized readout of your personality.

0:10.4

Your strengths and weaknesses written out on a piece of paper.

0:14.6

Bill, come on over here.

0:15.6

I need a patient to try this out today to see if it's going to work.

0:20.4

It's just like those chairs people sit in at salons with the plastic domes, except

0:25.8

the domes not plastic.

0:27.6

It's metal, equipped with state of the art sensors.

0:31.2

Just flip a switch, and the sensors will read your skull.

0:35.0

Now, think clean thoughts here we go now.

0:40.5

Keep breathing now, you're doing fine.

0:43.7

In just a few minutes, this machine will measure 32 of your mental faculties and rate them

0:49.8

all on a scale of 1 to 5, from deficient to very superior.

0:55.2

Well, it says you have a few things to work on.

0:57.6

They're not too serious, though.

1:00.0

Everything from your individuality to self-esteem, ambition, faith.

1:06.0

And your faith is way too high, Bill.

1:08.0

Be careful, you're not stripped off your feet by some evangelist.

1:11.7

Now, that's an overview of your personal.

1:14.9

I'm Sarah Weiman, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible,

1:21.0

and wondrous places.

...

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