“Incubators for premature babies were, oddly enough, a phenomenon at the turn of the 20th century that was available at state and county fairs and amusement parks rather than hospitals,” explains Laur...Show More
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Recommendations
jspinelle recommended:Dec 9th, 2019
I was a premature baby and spent about 6 weeks in an incubator. It’s crazy to think about being part of a sideshow!
mm recommended:Dec 10th, 2019
This episode was jaw-dropping. Premies were a sideshow at a Coney Island fair for *forty* years. Canada also involved in mistreating kids as a tourist attraction. 😱😱😱 Bless Martin Couney.
rmmiller364 recommended:Jan 26th, 2020
Wow, I had no idea that there was a history in the US of putting premature babies in the side shows of amusement parks. Completely mind blowing. The second part of this episode is about the Dionne quintuplets. I knew about them because of a made-for-tv movie that I watched as a child, but I didn’t r...Show More
brendalouisek recommended:Dec 15th, 2019
As a Canadian, I'd heard the quite sad story of the Dion "quints" before, but definitely not the Infantorium. Pretty wild to think of preemie children being a sideshow attraction for gawkers, but it sounds like many young lives were saved.
mmDec 15th, 2019
@brendalouisek I’m even more horrified of how medical system and the doctors were ok to let these babies die because they will pass on bad genes 😭
brendalouisekDec 15th, 2019
@mm @brendalouisek 🤢
yveehops recommended:Dec 7th, 2019
Did you know that premie babies used to be side show attractions (basically the only way they survived) and that Canadian quintuplets were exploited by the Ontario government as a side show? Mind blowing episode.
mmDec 8th, 2019
@yveehops I love this episode too! I was pretty much shocked and sad the whole way through. Capitalism drives innovation eh? It makes me wonder whether we have anything like this right now and that people 100 years later would produce a podcast asking wth were these people thinking?!? @epekilis You...Show More
epekilisDec 8th, 2019
@mm Thanks I will get to this. I eventually listen to EVERY 99pi episode. I should make a list of my Top 10 all time podcasts. The bedrock ones that I can’t do without. Yeah, I knew about the Dionne quints. They taught us about that in school (as an example of a bad thing). My Mom actually reme...Show More
mmDec 8th, 2019
@epekilis I was *floored* when I heard about the Dionne quints and how the government treated them with souvenir shop and everything. When they talked about the one way looking glass they were put in, it reminded me of The Truman Show, but real life. Or rather, I guess the contemporary equivalent is...Show More