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If you think people nowadays do unusual things, you should check out our comparatively recent history. You’ll see that our ancestors used to do even weirder things. But their actions were actually legal. 1. Sending kids through the mail Smithsonian Institution/flickr.com Nope, we’re not even joking about this one! At the beginning of the 20th century in America, parents could send their kids through the mail, and it wasn’t against the law. It cost around 15 cents if the child weighed no more than a standard parcel. So… um, ‘caring’ parents could send their kids to relatives without having to pay train fare. Maybe they should bring it back, I wouldn’t mind riding like a package! 2. Outdoor baby cages Getty Images In the 1930s, wire cages like were very common in built-up areas where floor space in the home was at a premium. With the help of these dangerous looking contraptions, kids could breathe fresh air while their mothers were busy with household duties. It’s unbelievable, but these cages were considered safe, and were even championed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt! 3. Garden hermits hermitary.com When you’re rich, you can buy whatever you want, right? Even people… and no, not staff to be your cook or butler. In the 18th century, it was apparently popular to have a personal hermit who lived in your garden, who wasn’t allowed to wash or cut their nails or hair and lived in a handmade shack. The poor people were meant to be shown off to wealthy guests as a way of impressing them! 4. Cocaine treatment Wikipedia Commons 100 years ago, people didn’t think cocaine was all that harmful. Quite the opposite in fact, as it was available in drugstores and sold without a prescription, as a remedy to heal coughs and toothache. It was even recommended as a sedative for kids with teething problems, and it was widely advertised through newspapers and posters at the time. 5. Smoking during pregnancy margaretgunnng.blogspot.com These days, we all know that smoking is bad for your health. It seems really obvious that it’s bad for you, and we know how and why. But it wasn’t always like that, and the so-called health ‘benefits’ of smoking were always outlined in the past. Just 70 years ago, for example, American doctors recommended their pregnant patients to smoke to get rid of constipation! Imagine how harmful smoking is to an unborn baby! 6. Basically most medical treatments in history cracked.com Not so long ago, bloodletting was thought of as a remedy for all diseases, while tongue cutting was thought to cure stammering (well I guess technically it would can’t stammer if you can’t talk, right?). Even things like lobotomies and electric shock treatments were common, but disinfecting surgical instruments wasn’t. Even the most successful doctors of that time, like surgeon Lewis Sayre, performed many operations with lethal outcomes. 7. Radioactive toys reddit.com Before people really understood the dangers of radiation and its horrific effects, ‘atomic’ toys such as this mini-laboratory were really popular. The set came complete with experiments which included real polonium and uranium in small quantities! 8. Body parts collections pinterest.com As insane as it may sound, people used to collect human body parts as trophies and even displayed them in their own rooms at home. It isn’t even something that was left in the dim and distant past, as you can see in this picture, an American sailor with the skull of a Japanese soldier during the Second World War. 9. Trips to mental hospitals for amusement listverse.com Patients of psychiatric hospitals were treated awfully in the past. They were locked away, mostly left untreated and rarely fed, though relatives paid for patients’ accommodation. But the owners of these asylums for the insane saw a business opportunity, and a way of making even more money. So they charged willing visitors a certain sum of money to for a guided tour around the wards, to see the patients, and even poke them with a stick. Credits: buzz.auntyacid.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.