Terrifying & True | Dangers of a Victorian Christmas: Fires, Poisons, and Deadly Traditions - Weekly Spooky: Scary Christmas Stories | Terrifying Tales to Creep Your Holiday

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
A Victorian mother reaches to steady the Christmas tree and
in a heartbeat, her silk dress is on fire. Candles topple,
dry needles flash like gunpowder, and the parlor becomes an inferno. Tonight,

(00:23):
we're not talking about ghost stories. We're talking about real
Christmas traditions that killed.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
What you were about to teat is believed to be
based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
This is.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Terrifying and treat.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Hello, my spooky. This episode of Terrifying and True is
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(01:19):
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you to save Arista for supporting the show. Oh Christmas
in Victorian England is often remembered as a season of carols,

(02:08):
crackling hearths, and snowy streets straight out of a Dickens novel.
But behind the warm glow of candle lit trees and
glittering ornaments lurked a far more unsettling truth in parlors
from London to small country towns. Holiday gatherings ended in

(02:33):
sudden fires, mysterious illnesses, and toxic decorations that slowly poisoned
the people who trusted them. Tonight will step inside those
richly furnished homes and watch as a single spark turned

(02:53):
celebration into catastrophe, as arsenic green ribbons and leaden tinsel
brings sickness instead of joy, and as the first strands
of electric lights introduce a new, unexpected danger to the
Christmas season. What hidden hazards were wrapped up in the

(03:18):
Victorian idea of a perfect Christmas? How did these festive
horrors help shape the safety laws, fire codes and consumer
protections we rely on today? And could echoes of those
very risks still be hanging on your own tree? Join

(03:43):
us as we uncover the hidden dangers of a Victorian Christmas,
and make sure to subscribe every Monday. This month, we'll
be uncovering new horrors of the Christmas season right here.

(04:09):
Imagine this a cozy Victorian parlor on Christmas Eve. The
tree in the corner glistens with ornaments and real wax candles,
each tiny flame flickering warmly. Children's faces glow with excitement

(04:31):
as they each inch closer to the German tree, an
imported wonder decked in ribbon, candies and small gifts. A
young lady in a gauzy silk gown leans in to
pluck a bonbond off the tree. When disaster strikes in

(04:53):
an instant, her delicate dress brushes a candle and ignites flames,
racing up the fabric. She screams as fire envelops her,
turning holiday joy into terror. This is no fictional ghost story.

(05:17):
It really happened. In eighteen forty nine. Miss Gordon was
nearly engulfed by flames when her dress caught fire from
a candle lit Christmas tree at an English party. Quick
thinking guests saved her by smothering the fire with a rug,

(05:39):
but not before her arms were severely scorched. She was
fortunate to survive. Many others did not. The Victorian Christmas,
for all its nostalgic charm, hid lethal dangers lurking in

(06:00):
plain sight. The flammable decorations, toxic treats, deadly toys, and
electrifying mishaps that turned celebrations into tragedies. Through real historical
accounts and spine chilling anecdotes, we'll unwrap how Christmas in

(06:23):
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was as hazardous as
it was heartwarming. So dim the lights, but maybe not
too low. If you've got a tree nearby, stoke the fire,
careful with those stockings on the mantle, and get ready

(06:44):
for a journey into the dark side of Christmas past.
This is a tale of festive joy mingled with danger,
a reminder that some of the holly jolly traditions of
yester year came at a truly frightening cost. Nothing evoked

(07:07):
Christmas spirit in Victorian times quite like a candle lit
Christmas tree. Long before safe electrical lights, families illuminated their
trees with real candles clipped on to the branches. The
site was admittedly magical, tiny flames dancing among evergreen boughs,

(07:33):
and it became a beloved tradition from its origins in
Germany to homes across Britain and America. President Franklin Pierce
even brought the first candlelit tree into the White House
in eighteen fifty six. But those delicate flames could turn

(07:55):
homes into infernos. Victorian era news newspapers and medical journals
are filled with accounts of Christmas trees exploding into flame,
often with ghastly consequences. As one modern historian dryly noted, quote,

(08:16):
we may take as read the thousands, if not hundreds
of thousands of deaths from fire caused by candle lit
trees a bit sensational, but you get the idea. Consider
the grim statistics. By nineteen oh eight, house fires from

(08:37):
Christmas trees had become so routine that many insurance companies
flat out refused to pay for any blaze started by
the festive decoration, and for good reason. In eighteen eighty five,
a Chicago hospital burned down after Christmas tree's candles ignited it.

(08:59):
On Christmas Eve of nineteen oh nine, in Pennsylvania, five
children sneaked out of bed to light the family Christmas
tree themselves, the results of which killed all five children,
their parents, and two boarders sleeping in the house. Even
public celebrations were not safe. In Oklahoma, in nineteen twenty five,

(09:25):
a Christmas tree fire at a community gathering killed thirty
six people. These are horrifying numbers. Entire families and communities
wiped out in minutes, all because of a tradition meant
to symbolize light and joy. Why were these fires so

(09:49):
common and so deadly well, Dry trees and open flames
are a lethal mix. Early Victorian trees were often small,
tabletop affairs, kept fresh for a day or two. Families
typically decorated the tree on Christmas Eve, lit the candles

(10:11):
for a short, supervised spell on Christmas Day, and promptly
took the tree down the following day. As long as
the tree was green and moist and candles were never
left unattended, the risk could be managed. But as Christmas
trees became more central to holiday festivities, people began using

(10:37):
bigger trees and keeping them up longer a week or
more into the season. Inevitably, the needles dried out. A
tinder dry six foot fir tree can flash into an
all consuming blaze in mere seconds, burning so hot that

(10:57):
nearby furniture and curtains across cross the room will burst
into flames just from the radiant heat. Victorians didn't know
the exact science, but they learned this through cruel experience.
Newspapers at the time carried annual warnings. One nineteen eleven

(11:20):
safety notice pleaded with parents quote, do not permit children
to light or relight the candles while parents are not present.
They frequently set fire to their clothing. Instead. The tree
itself will burn when the needles have become dry. That

(11:41):
warning proved all too true. Children excited to see the
pretty lights or frequent fire victims. In one nineteen oh
five incident, a man in Kansas City dressed up as
Santa Claus had his costumes set ablaze by the trees candles,

(12:01):
along with the sack of toys on his back in
a minor Christmas miracle. However, he actually survived, albeit singed.
And of course, in the opening story, we saw how
easily a swish of a dress could ignite. Victorian women's

(12:23):
fashion favored voluminous crinolines and lightweight, gauzy fabrics that could
flare up in a most alarming manner from a single
candle spark. Once a dress or a dried branch caught fire,
panic often ensued, and burns were severe or fatal Before

(12:45):
help arrived. Efforts were made to reduce the danger. Inventors
devised special Christmas tree candle holders. In eighteen sixty seven,
a weighted pendulum holder was patented to keep the candles upright,

(13:10):
and by eighteen seventy eight, clip on candle holders appeared
to better secure the candles to swaying boughs. These gadgets
helped a bit. At least, candles were less likely to
tip into the tree or onto the carpet. Wealthy households

(13:31):
might station servants nearby with buckets of water or blankets,
ready to extinguish any rogue flame. Some families placed their
tree in a bucket of sand or used metal stands.
The water filled stands that most of us are used
to used to keep trees moist were not common until

(13:54):
much later, and typically candles were only lit for a
short ceremonial period, say during the gift exchange, and then
promptly blown out. But human error and curiosity foiled many precautions.
An excited child might sneak into the parlor at dawn

(14:18):
to light the tree on their own, with tragic outcomes,
as in that Pennsylvania case. A candle clipped on a
flimsy branch might still topple onto a paper decoration, or
a sudden draft could blow lace curtains or ribbons into
the flames. Victorian fire departments certainly earned their keep during

(14:44):
the holidays. The phrase holiday conflagration became a familiar headline.
Imagine the horror of fire fighters arriving to a scene
where a festive gathering had turned into a charred ruin,
the smell of pine and wax replaced by smoke and ash.

(15:07):
This dark side of Christmas left an impression on society.
By the early twentieth century, public pressure to find a
safer alternative was growing. The obvious solution to candle fires
was to eliminate the open flame, a topic will explore

(15:30):
when we get to the advent of electric Christmas lights.
But fire wasn't the only hazard hanging on Victorian Christmas trees.
The very decorations meant to beautify a home could be
ticking time bombs of another kind to modern eyes. A

(15:51):
Victorian Christmas tree might look oddly sparse and home made
with paper cones of candy, strings of popcorn, and small gifts.
But as the years went on, the decorations became more
elaborate and more dangerous. Starting with the Victorian love of

(16:17):
a white Christmas snow effect. Lacking spray on snow in
a can, nineteenth century families simulated snow by strewing fluffy
cotton batting over tree branches and wreaths. It looked charming
until a candle's flame touched it. Dry cotton ignites as

(16:40):
fiercely as dry pine needles. Fire safety advocates eventually realized cotton, candles,
children and matches make a very dangerous Christmas combination that
casts a gloom over many households every year. After countless fires,

(17:02):
authorities began actively discouraging cotton snow by World War I.
In nineteen seventeen, one American newspaper admonished readers to skip
the cotton and use less harmful substitutes. Quote let us
use metallic tinsel, asbestos fiber, and powdered mica for decorations

(17:28):
and imitation snow instead of highly combustible cotton. The article
urged yeah, you heard that right. They suggested asbestos and
led tinsel as safer alternatives to cotton. I guess in

(17:49):
a way it was less brutal than burning alive. The
road to a safer Christmas was paved with many ironic twists. Tinsel,
those shimmering icicles we drape on trees, has its own
toxic history. Tinsel originated in seventeenth century Germany, where real

(18:15):
silver shredded into strips created a dazzling sparkle next to
the candles. By the late Victorian era, few could afford silver,
so manufacturers tried cheaper metals. In the early nineteen hundreds,
tinsel was made from aluminum or tinfoil. It gave a

(18:37):
nice shine for a fraction of the price, but there
was a catch. The aluminum based tinsel was often backed
with paper or lacquer that turned it into a fire accelerant.
It was very flammable. Hanging strands of this early tinsel

(19:00):
on a candlelit tree was like adding strips of kindling.
After some scary incidents and material shortages in World War One,
which made metals scarce, tinsel temporarily fell out of fashion.
Then came the era of a supposedly safer material to

(19:25):
make the decorative icicles, a material that would bring death
in a very different method. We now enter the era
of leaded tinsel. Around the nineteen twenties, manufacturers discovered that

(19:49):
lead foil made perfect tinsel. It was cheap, heavy, so
it draped elegantly on branches, and importantly, it was flammable
at last, a safe solution to the flying spark problem.
By the mid twentieth century, lead tinsel, often called icicles,

(20:12):
was everywhere countless. Baby boomers grew up tossing shiny lead
strands on the family tree. Early on, even experts believed
it was mostly harmless. A nineteen fifty nine safety article
cheerfully noted that quote tinsel is fairly safe because even

(20:34):
if kitties decide to swallow it, it will not cause poisoning.
In hindsight, that statement is chilling. Lad tinsel was absolutely
poisonous if ingested or handled frequently. Lead accumulates in the body,

(20:56):
damaging the brain, kidneys, and other organs. It just doesn't
cause immediate dramatic symptoms unless a child were to eat
a lot of it at once, So the danger went
overlooked for decades by the nineteen sixties, scientists and pediatricians

(21:19):
finally began sounding the alarm on chronic lead poisoning from
household items. The United States FDA and manufacturers reached an
agreement in nineteen seventy two to halt all production of
lead tinsel. In fact, this ban was initially kept hush

(21:41):
hush for fear people would hoard the old tinsel. Today
tinsel is made from PVC plastic or milar, non toxic
to the touch, though not exactly eco friendly, and I
don't recommend eating it. It's a dark irony that Victorian

(22:06):
reformers touted lead tinsel and even asbestos snow as safety measures.
Asbestos is flameproof, so cotton snow was swapped for fluffy
asbestos fibers that could be sprinkled on trees or holiday scenes.

(22:26):
Victorians unwittingly traded a fire hazard for a cancer hazard.
Asbestos we now know can cause deadly lung disease if inhaled.
For decades, though, boxes of artificial snow made of asbestos
were sold as fireproof Christmas decoration. If you shudder at

(22:50):
that thought, you're not alone. One author remarked that just
looking at old packages of asbestos snow quote makes me itch.
It wasn't until the latter twentieth century that asbestos was
removed from holiday products. And let's not forget the ornaments

(23:14):
and toys themselves. Many were essentially time bombs. The late
eighteen hundreds brought a flood of cheap, mass produced decorations
and children's toys, thanks in part to industrialization. These new
products boasted vibrant colors and novel materials, many of which

(23:37):
turned out to be deadly. Brightly painted Victorian ornaments often
got their hues from toxic metals, lead and arsenic, chief
among them. A child might unwrap a beautiful new toy
soldier set on Christmas morning, not knowing the shiny paint

(23:59):
was lead based and highly poisonous if they put that
toy in their mouth, as children inevitably do. In fact,
entire legions of Victorian boys were given lead toy soldiers
to play with. Some even melted them down to recast

(24:21):
their own figures, unknowingly breathing in lead fumes. It's no
surprise that Victorian children sometimes fell mysteriously ill from lead poisoning,
and it was only years later that doctors connected some

(24:42):
of those cases to toys and nursery decorations. One historian
quipped that quote those shiny new Christmas toys turned out
to be killers, and it's true. Many a victori Orian
playroom was a toxic minefield. Perhaps the most notorious offender

(25:07):
in the Victorian toy box and on the Christmas tree
was shields green, an arsenic based pigment. This intense emerald
green was the fashionable color of the nineteenth century, used
in everything from wallpapers and fake flowers to candies and toys.

(25:32):
Arsenic is, of course, a potent poison, and Victorians gradually
learned that the arsenic that beautified their homes could also
destroy their health. Arsenic green pigments, Shields Green and its
even deadlier cousin Paris Green, laced countless Christmas items, Green

(25:58):
dyed ribbons on wreaths, artificial missiletoe leaves, which in its
natural state is already poisonous, so in a way it
was a very accurate replica wrapping papers, and even the
wax candles on the tree. One eighteen seventy six public

(26:19):
health report found arsenic in green Christmas tapers or candles.
When burned, the candles released arsenic fumes into the parlor air.
The author of the report scolded this practice as highly reprehensible,
noting that even a small amount of arsenous oxide in

(26:43):
a candle could cause toxic symptoms in sensitive individuals who
inhaled it. Think about it, a Christmas tree brilliantly illuminated
with arsenic candles. It sounds like a more bid joke,
but it was a real hazard. In fact, there were

(27:06):
documented cases of people, especially children, getting sick with strange
symptoms during the holidays, which doctors later traced to colored
Christmas candles. A nineteen twelve medical review noted that quote
many children have been victims from colored Christmas candles. Yes,

(27:31):
adults were seized with curious and inexplicable symptoms. Attention was
then drawn to the candles on the Christmas tree, many
of which were green. Analysis proved they contained shields green.
The red candles, moreover, were colored with vermilion, a mercury compound.

(27:54):
So if the arsenic in the green candles didn't get you,
the mur in the red ones just might. Victorians loved
a festive glow, but little did they know they were
poisoning the very air of their homes with each lit candle.

(28:23):
One particularly eerie story from eighteen sixty nine claims that
Princess Frederica of Hanover was arranging a Christmas tree for
poor children in Vienna when a burning green wax candle
fell on her arm. According to newspapers, the arsenic die

(28:46):
in the candle poisoned her through the wound, causing a
painful death months later. This story was circulated as a
cautionary tale, though in reality the princess survived and the
account was likely exaggerated or confused with another incident. Still,

(29:12):
the fact that it was believed shows how aware people
were becoming of those deadly green dyes. Even the greenery
itself could harbor peril. Homes were often decorated with holly,
mistletoe and other winter plants. Children attracted by bright red

(29:36):
holly berries sometimes snacked on them, with dire results. Holly
berries are poisonous if eaten in quantity. In one eighteen
fifty eight case, an eleven year old boy nearly died
after gobbling a large number of holly berries on a dare.

(30:00):
He suffered violent vomiting and seizures so extreme his family
thought he had died on Christmas Day. Only a last
ditch effort of pouring wine down his throat revived him,
though not a recommended cure. That boy was lucky. Others

(30:24):
were not so fortunate. When sampling toxic mistletoe berries or
ewe sprigs used in decor, the Victorians slowly learned to
keep natural decor out of reach of curious tots, a
lesson still relevant to day, as any veterinarian will warn

(30:48):
regarding pets and poinsettas. For example, we've hung our Christmas
tree with fire and poison. Now let's turn to the
holiday feast. Food and drink are central to Christmas merriment,
but in the nineteenth century, they too could be fatal

(31:12):
in surprising ways. One obvious risk was food spoilage. The
concept of refrigeration was rudimentary, germ theory was still new,
and food poisoning often meant actual poison to Victorian doctors.

(31:32):
A tragic example occurred in eighteen seventy one. The Harrison
family of London enjoyed a Christmas turkey dinner, only to
fall violently ill with vomiting afterward. Mister Harrison died a
few days later. An inquest was held to find if

(31:53):
someone had deliberately poisoned the food. The analysis found no
arsenic or other mineral poisons in the turkey or condiments.
This baffled the medical examiner. He noted a similarly perplexing
case of a fatal illness after a Christmas goose, where

(32:16):
no toxin was identified. In the end, the coroner concluded
that quote the turkey was poisonous in its nature, and
declared the death natural causes. In hindsight, the poor man
almost certainly died of bacterial food poisoning. Perhaps the turkey

(32:38):
had spoiled, but Victorian science hadn't quite caught up to microbes.
To them, a turkey could just spontaneously be toxic. It's
a small comfort that out of such cases grew a
better understanding of food safety, even if mister Harrison doctor

(33:01):
basically threw up his hands and blamed the bird. More insidious, though,
was the threat of food adulteration. In Victorian times, ingredient
labels and purity standards were practically non existent. Dishonest suppliers

(33:22):
would stretch expensive ingredients with cheap fillers, and sometimes those
fillers were dangerous. Sugar was costly, so candy makers often
mixed in chalk or clay as daft filler, not tasty,

(33:42):
but not deadly either. However, in one infamous incident in
eighteen fifty eight, this practice turned lethal. In what became
known as the Bradford Sweets poisoning, a confectioner's assistant accidentally
used arsenic trioxide instead of the usual harmless filler when

(34:08):
making peppermint Humbug candies. The mistake was tragically caught only
after the candies were sold. Over two hundred people were sickened,
and twenty, mostly children, died from eating just a couple
of the arsenic laced sweets. Each candy contained enough arsenic

(34:33):
to kill two adults, as it was later discovered. While
this particular poisoning wasn't tied directly to Christmas, it serves
to illustrate the ever present risk of Victorian treats. One
shutters to imagine a child finding a treat in their

(34:55):
Christmas stocking. Public outrage over the Bradford death did spur
new laws, Britain's eighteen sixty Food Adulteration Act and the
Pharmacy Act of eighteen sixty eight in an attempt to
prevent such horrors. By late century, at least blatant poisonings

(35:17):
by candy were rarer, but lesser adulterants like led chromate
to color candies or copper sulfate to make pickles look green,
still posed chronic health risks. Even beloved Christmas desserts could

(35:39):
harbor danger. Let's take a look at plum pudding, traditionally
doused in brandy and set a light in a blue
flame before serving. It is a spectacular sight and generally

(36:03):
the alcohol burns off quickly, but now and then a
putting explosion or mismanaged flame caused burns and fires. Victorians
also had a charming custom of hiding small trinkets or
coins inside the Christmas pudding for guests to find, which

(36:27):
led to the occasional choking hazard or cracked tooth at
the dinner table. Minor dangers, perhaps compared to arsenic candies,
but still enough to send someone to the infirmary on
Boxing Day. By the nineteenth century, technology began to offer

(36:50):
hope for a safer Christmas. Electricity was emerging from the
laboratories of Edison and Tesla, promising light without flame. In
December eighteen eighty two, just two years after Edison patented
the first practical light bulb. An inventor named Edward H.

(37:12):
Johnson had a brilliant idea, why not string those new
electric lights around a Christmas tree. Johnson, who was a
colleague of Edison, hand wired eighty red, white, and blue
miniature bulbs and wrapped them around a rotating evergreen tree

(37:34):
in his New York parlor. The effect was stunning. One
reporter described a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque
and uncanny aspect, brilliantly lighted with many colored globes about
as large as an English walnut, continuously twinkling. Onlookers were

(37:57):
amazed not only by the beauty but by the apparent safety.
Quote electric trees will prove to be far less dangerous
than wax candle parlor trees. Johnson noted confidently he was
right eventually, but at first electric lights were rare and

(38:21):
came with their own hazards. In eighteen eighty four, the
New York Times called the idea of electric Christmas lights
extravagant because at the time less than ten percent of
American homes had electricity at all. Early electric light strings
were battery powered or wired to primitive generators. They were

(38:46):
expensive and finicky. An electrically lit tree in nineteen o
three could cost ten dollars or more to illuminate hundreds
of dollars in today's money. Often people would rent electric
light sets for a party rather than buy them. Those
who did wire up lights faced new risks electrical shock

(39:12):
and fire from faulty wiring. Early wiring insulation was cloth
or rubber that could degrade or overheat. Many homes had
old style fuse boxes, or even just one outlet per room,
leading to dangerous daisy chains of extension cords around the holidays.

(39:38):
Overloaded circuits could spark fires behind walls. Bulbs themselves ran hot.
Those early carbon filament bulbs got so warm that if
one nestled against a dry pine needle, it could ignite it,
just as a candle would. Newspapers of the nineteen hundredsccasionally

(40:00):
reported electrical mishaps, a child shocked by grasping a defective bulb,
or a tree fire blamed on crossed wires. Still, compared
to open flames, the scale of disaster was usually smaller,
and improvements came about rapidly. By nineteen fourteen, competition had

(40:26):
driven the cost of a string of lights down to
one dollar in seventy five cents, or about fifty dollars
in today's money. More households were getting wired for electricity
each year. An oft repeated legend tells of Albert Steca,
a fifteen year old boy in New York whose family

(40:49):
owned a lighting business. In December of nineteen seventeen, a
tragic tenement fire caused by Christmas candles killed several people
in the city. Saddened by the news, young Satica suggested
his family start making affordable electric Christmas light strings to

(41:11):
prevent such fires. Within a few years, the Satica family
helped form Noma Electric Company, which became one of the
biggest makers of Christmas lights. Mid century, the push for
safety and mass adoption of electric lights got a boost

(41:32):
from such entrepreneurs and from groups like Underwriters Laboratories, which
began testing and certifying holiday light strings by nineteen oh
five to ensure they met basic safety standards. By nineteen
twenty one, UL had published its first safety requirements specifically

(41:56):
for Christmas lighting, establishing guidelines that significantly reduced the risk
of electrical fires. As the technology improved, the nature of
the risk shifted. Instead of a whole tree going up
in flames, you might get a localized problem, a short

(42:18):
circuit charring a cord, or a single bulb popping. One
famous incident shows that even by the nineteen forties caution
was still needed. Being Crosby the singer who crooned White
Christmas lost his own home to a Christmas tree fire

(42:39):
in nineteen forty three, caused not by candles but by
faulty electric light wiring. Clearly, one couldn't be complacent even
with the new lights, but overall, as decades passed, the
number of house fires during the holidays dropped dramatically. By

(43:04):
the mid twentieth century, most families in America and Europe
had traded in candles for strings of electric fairy lights,
and in recent times the shift to cool burning LEDs
has further reduced the fire hazard to near zero. You

(43:26):
can actually wrap an LED light in tissue paper and
it won't ignite, though please do not test this theory.
The Victorian fear of candle flames gradually faded into an
almost quaint memory. Yet, if you've ever seen those dramatic

(43:46):
fire safety PSAs showing how fast a dry Christmas tree
can engulf a room in flames, you'll realize the caution
remains relevant. Fire departments still urge watering your tree and
unplugging lights when you're away, And indeed, nobody wants to

(44:09):
be the family that makes the news as yet another
holiday statistic. As one writer Riley put it, in a way,
the ghosts of Christmas past have taught us well as

(44:31):
spine tingling. As these true stories are, they come with
a silver or perhaps lead tinsel lining. Each disaster pushed
society to make Christmas safer. The hidden dangers of Victorian
Christmas traditions spurred changes in laws, technology, and public awareness

(44:56):
that benefit us to this day. It's remarks to think
that our modern holiday safety net was woven from the
threads of past tragedies. The innumerable candle related fires led
directly to the adoption of electric lights. Insurers and fire

(45:17):
brigades essentially forced the issue. By the early nineteen hundreds,
if you insisted on candles, your home insurance might not
cover you. Companies like Edisons and SODCAS seized the opportunity
to market safer electric alternatives, and organizations like the National

(45:38):
Fire Protection Association, formed in eighteen ninety six, started holiday
fire safety campaigns over a century ago. The tradition of
community fire safety announcements around Christmas, like not leaving lights
on unattended or keeping your trees watered, dates back to

(46:00):
those early warnings. Today, thanks to these lessons, Christmas tree
fires have become far less common, and many families opt
for fire resistant artificial trees or at least flame retardant decorations.
As a result of standards that were developed over time,

(46:24):
The Victorian arsenic mania in wallpaper, toys, and clothing eventually
subsided due to public outcry and scientific revelations. By the
eighteen seventies and eighteen eighties, articles like Pretty Poison Wreaths
and expose as on arsenic dyed dresses caused a scandal.

(46:48):
The death of workers like Matilda Shorer, a nineteen year
old who died from making arsenic green artificial flowers, became
a rallying point for reform. Manufacturers like William Morris, famous
for wallpapers, were pressured to remove arsenic from their products.

(47:09):
Laws lagged behind somewhat. Britain didn't outright ban arsenic in
non food products even into the twentieth century, but consumer
preference shifted by the eighteen nineties. Shiel's green had largely
fallen out of use due to its reputation. In nineteen

(47:32):
oh three, Britain passed a law limiting arsenic in foods
and drinks. Over the following decades, many countries gradually eliminated
lead and mercury from consumer goods, though astonishingly lead foyle
tinsel hung around until nineteen seventy two. In the United States,

(47:55):
as we noted, today, we have strict toy safety regulations,
no lead paint, no toxic dyes, precisely because we learn
from an era when children suffered from such poisons. If
you by your child a painted toy now you can

(48:15):
thank Victorian era scandals for the fact that it won't
be covered in arsenic or lead. In many ways, more
important than laws is the cultural knowledge passed down. Victorians
learned the hard way about holly berries, so later generations

(48:35):
taught their kids don't eat those. They'll make you sick.
We now know not to use open flames on a
dried out tree, unless you're really chasing that Victorian esthetic,
in which case be extremely careful. We no longer put
real lit candles on Christmas trees, except in controlled brief situations.

(49:01):
Some European households still do it for tradition's sake, but
always cautiously, often keeping a bucket of water nearby. We
also have inherited a healthy skepticism about too good to
be true food and drink. Those nineteenth century food poisonings

(49:22):
led to modern food safety laws and the basic habit
of checking expiration dates and sources. Even the concept of
holiday safety campaigns from fire departments distributing Christmas tree safety
tips to consumer groups testing the latest high tech toys
for hazards can trace a lineage back to the late

(49:45):
Victorian push for safer holidays. The Victorians loved Christmas, but
they also began the conversation about keeping Christmas safe. As
we can cl lute our journey through the ghostly dangers
of Christmas past, it's worth reflecting on how far we've come.

(50:08):
In a modern living room, a family gathers around an
artificial tree bedecked with cool to touch led lights, UL
certified cords, shatterproof ornaments, and flame retardant tinsel. Children tear
open their gifts toys made of tested plastics with non

(50:29):
toxic paints regulated by strict standards. The holiday treats are
store bought from inspected facilities or baked at home with
known ingredients. It's a scene that would seem almost science
fiction to a time traveling Victorian. Sure there are still risks,

(50:52):
don't let that tree get too thirsty, keep those glass
ornaments away from toddlers, and perhaps go easy on the
egg nog, But nothing like the hidden minefield of the
nineteenth century home. Yet we owe those Victorian families a debt.
Their suffering and loss illuminated, often literally by the light

(51:16):
of a blazing Christmas tree. The path to safer celebrations,
as one commentator from nineteen seventeen optimistically wrote, thanks to
new precautions, quote, the vast majority of families have gone
for generations without a single mishap related to Christmas decorations.

(51:38):
That might have been a bit premature in nineteen seventeen,
but by and large it came true in the years after.
Each generation learned and improved. We learned to respect the
power of fire, to treat mysterious chemicals with caution, and
to prioritize safety in the very ways we mark the season.

(52:03):
So this Christmas, as you enjoy the twinkling lights and
the cozy glow of your safely wired decorations, Spare a
thought for the eerie stories of yesteryear. The next time
you hang an ornament, remember it might once have been
made of lead or arsenic laced glass, and be glad

(52:29):
that it's not. When you flip on the tree lights,
consider how not so long ago that would have meant
striking a match to dozens of open flames. The past
was a different, often scarier place. Now, my spookies, as

(52:51):
you get ready to move on with your holiday and
the ghosts of Victorian Christmas have spoken, heed their warning,
and hear their messay, it's ultimately one of gratitude. We
enjoy a merrier Christmas present because of those very warnings
from Christmas past. Stay safe, keep the fire in the

(53:16):
hearth and off the tree, and have a happy holiday
one hopefully free of any unintended frights. And I'll be
back next week with another terrifying story of the darker,
deadlier side of Christmas. Terrifying and True is narrated by

(53:39):
Enrique Kuto. It's executive produced by Robfields and bobble Toopia
dot Com and produced by Dan Wilder, with original theme
music by Ray Mattis. If you have a story you
think we should cover on Terrifying and True. Send us
an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com, and
if you want to support us for as little as
one dollar a month, go to Weekly Spooky Slash join.

(54:01):
Your support for as little as one dollar a month
keeps the show going. And speaking of I want to
say an extra special thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters,
folks who pay a little bit more to hear their
name at the end of the show, and they are
Johnny Nicks, Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Mike Escuey, Jenny Green,
Amber Hansburg, Karen we Met, Jack Ker and Craig Cohen.

(54:22):
Thank you all so much and thank you for listening.
We'll see you all right here next time on Terrifying
and True.

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Terrifying & True | Dangers of a Victorian Christmas: Fires, Poisons, and Deadly Traditions

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