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Crimes of the Centuries

S1 Ep24: The Dark Tale of the Radium Girls

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

History, Documentary, Society & Culture, True Crime

4.74K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the early 20th century, one of the best jobs for a young woman to land in America involved a new discovery: radium. The substance discovered by Marie Curie could be tweaked and turned into glow-in-the-dark paint. 

But as the women working with the paint started falling ill, their employers began a calculated coverup that landed them in court -- and changed laws nationwide regarding the duty employers have to keep their workers safe.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @centuriespod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello Superkins here, and I've teamed up once again with the LEGO Group to bring you series

0:04.3

two of my podcast at your leisure. Join me as I chat to chart toppers, catch up with comics

0:10.9

and yak with YouTube legends, finding out what they get up to when they're not busy being famous.

0:16.8

Expect more excellent guests, sharing more unusual hobbies.

0:22.0

So why not join us on the journey? Listen to the at your leisure podcast with me,

0:26.4

Superkins on Global Player.

0:36.3

Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking that they earn the label crime of the century.

0:44.4

But the stories that made headlines and decades passed aren't necessarily remembered today.

0:49.5

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author. And in each episode of this show, I'll examine a case

0:59.2

that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened. This is crimes of the centuries.

1:21.6

Amelia Magia was feeling rotten. It had started with a toothache, which

1:26.4

her dentist figured was easy enough to treat. He pulled the tooth. But instead of the pain going

1:31.6

away, it got worse. Not only that, but the hole left behind in her gums refused to heal.

1:38.5

It stayed open, a nasty bloody ulcer in Amelia's mouth.

1:43.9

This went on for months, with a mysterious pain spreading from her teeth to her jaw,

1:49.6

to completely unrelated parts of her body, her hips and her feet. And she was only 24 years old.

1:56.3

She had always been energetic and lively. Molly, as her friends called her, was a hard worker,

2:02.4

getting her first job in her teens and becoming financially independent enough,

2:06.8

but she moved out of her family's home and into an all-female boarding house.

2:11.3

But in May 1922, she felt like she was physically falling apart. She went yet again to her doctor,

2:18.6

a surgeon named Joseph Neff, hoping that he might be able to stop the pain in her jaw.

2:23.6

He took a look inside her mouth and gently touched her face. Her jawbone snapped.

...

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