You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild

from Aaron Manky.

With the palms of his hands, Dee Dee Palmer traced the length of Harvey Lillard's spine

for things unseen. He had an idea of what he might be looking for though.

Harvey lay prone on the table on game for this experiment. For years now, he had been living

with hearing loss.

A hearty's existence had become muffled, his experience of the world folding in on itself.

He had long ago given up seeking treatment. But Palmer, an eccentric and electrified

character, thought he could fix this once and for all. This moment would put all of the

things he had been learning to the test.

Palmer believed that a kink in the spine was blocking the nerves that controlled Harvey's

inner ear. Locating a lump between Harvey's shoulder blades, Palmer pressed downward

to rack the displaced vertebrae back into line. It popped. At once, Harvey could hear

again. So went the laying of hands. This moment is remembered as the first chiropractic adjustment.

The year was 1895, and with just a few pounds of pressure, Palmer's world radically changed

forever. He was something of a healer. It had long worked in the realm of animal magnetism.

A belief that a beings energetic forces could be manipulated for peeling purposes. Today,

we might think of this science as a little fringe. But back then, we just knew less.

The medical field was a lot less professionalized. At this time, as medical schools were opening

up and doctoring was becoming an exclusive, expensive club, and thus a bastion of the

elite, the field was made up of dangerous experiments and body snatching. Doctors often liked

knives, and they liked drugs. It was common for doctors to bleed patients, believing it

...