30 Eerie Victorian Traditions We Can't Believe Existed

 The Victorian era was a time of contradictory ideals: they covered themselves fully but considered the female figure attractive, they were obsessed with cleanliness but practically lived in a sewer, and they placed marriage and family above all things. Gave importance but sold their wives at auction. It's possible that the Victorians couldn't see the forest for the trees, but perhaps they were a generation full of weirdos.

Victorian ladies and even skin-care gentlemen kept their faces pillowy-soft with face masks, but not with today's clay and seaweed treatments. Victorians used raw beef or veal to relieve acne, rosacea and dry skin.

The Victorians loved their parlor games, even more so when they could legitimately kill you. One such game was called "Snap Dragon" and involved putting raisins in a bowl, soaking them in rum and setting them on fire to extract as many raisins as possible and crushing them while they were still burning. Included. Why? You know. Victorian.

How do you digest your food properly? Do you chew it until it reaches a suitable texture to swallow easily? Do you ensure that you get adequate quantity of raw fodder? How about eating in the dark? The Victorians believed that digestion could be best done while sitting in the dark, so they built their dining rooms in basements, the perfect place for blind dinners.

The Victorians were just as obsessed with their bodies as we are, if not more dangerously so. Many women used arsenic, a carcinogenic poison, to fight wrinkles, and men swallowed arsenic pills pre-Pfizer Viagra. It is not clear whether arsenic can actually be used to turn the compass to true north, but it does not seem worth trying.

In Victorian times, photography was still a novelty, so Victorians took any excuse to immortalise themselves, especially if they proved too mortal. It was not uncommon to take photos with a recently departed loved one, especially with children, and as strange as photos are, there is something poignant about spending a last selfie moment with someone lost too soon.