# Did Indians really make beds over hot coals in the winter?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 21, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179 "2012-01-21T00:14:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/21 "2012-01-23T09:29:39Z")
i’ve cooked a chicken in a small pit before. digged a small hole and filled it with some burning charcoals, the chicken wrapped in foil and covered the hole in dirt. probably because of the size, rocks weren’t needed.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/22 "2012-01-23T13:01:35Z")
> [@I\_Know\_Nothing](#):
>
> Bear Grills in Man vs Wild made a “smoke blanket”(i think I remember him calling it that) where he was nearly on top of two fires on either side of him, but not directly on top.
IIRC the smoke blanket was to keep mosquitos away, not for warmth. Though that might be a different one, as the smoke blanket I remember was the fire under his raised platform.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/23 "2012-01-23T13:11:38Z")
It’s not like civilized Europeans didn’t use coals to warm themselves at night: [Warming pans, bed wagons, bed warmers with coals or wood](http://www.oldandinteresting.com/bed-warmers.aspx)
They also heated rocks (or sand) and used those to bring heat to bed, if they didn’t want burning coals.
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/24 "2012-01-23T13:39:57Z")
One of my survival books talks about a similar method: heat some stones in your campfire (\*not \*river stones!), then bury them in the dirt underneath where you’re going to sleep. Make sure you do it about an hour or so before you go to bed, to give the ground a chance to dry out, otherwise you’ll be steamed.
The theory is that (still) air is actually a good insulator- it’s the ground that’ll suck the heat out of you. If you can heat up the ground, you’ll stay warmer.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/25 "2012-01-23T13:52:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> They mention the famous scene in _Jeremiah Johnson_.
_Didn’t put enough dirt down… saw it right off."_
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/26 "2012-01-23T14:01:53Z")
Gosh, didn’t pre-Electricity parts of the USA put warmed irons or bricks in the bed with them?
Seems I remember them as being called footwarmers.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/27 "2012-01-23T14:05:45Z")
Yes, I remember [both](http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=antique+bedwarmers&gbv=2&oq=antique+bedwarmers&aq=f&aqi=g-s3&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1108l6536l0l6989l18l15l0l0l0l0l358l2870l0.1.7.3l11l0&oi=image_result_group&sa=X) the ceramic ones you’d fill and the handled ones you’d sweep the bed with from Grandmom’s antique shop.
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/28 "2012-01-23T14:07:48Z")
Ok, good. I am not yet crazy.
I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/29 "2012-01-23T15:37:17Z")
> [@Quercus](#):
>
> It’s not like civilized Europeans didn’t use coals to warm themselves at night: [Warming pans, bed wagons, bed warmers with coals or wood](http://www.oldandinteresting.com/bed-warmers.aspx)
This is exactly what I would want to bring up. The point is that in this case as well as in the situation the OP is asking about, the coals or rocks or embers aren’t _burning_, they’re just _hot_, which is why you don’t need oxygen.
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### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/30 "2012-01-23T15:50:36Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> Do you know what these are called? I’d love to get some for my own use.
I don’t think that they are commercially available.
The project is run by [One Earth Designs](http://www.oneearthdesigns.org/heatsource.html) - I saw it in [New Scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328466.100-buildings-and-clothes-could-melt-to-save-energy.html).
Si
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/31 "2012-01-23T16:01:28Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#):
>
> Ok, good. I am not yet crazy.
Cite?
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### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/32 "2012-01-23T21:06:03Z")
I’d like to make the point that incomplete combustion of coals/charcoal/wood etc can produce Carbon Monoxide, which can be dangerous in an enclosed space.
Fire heated stones would be much safer - don’t use river stones, they crack and split violently. In fact, the last hangi I attended (maybe 15 years ago now), they heated old railway brake shoes on a gas burner. Worked a treat, although you lost some of the charcoal flavour that infuses the hangi.
Also (like any fire in the wilderness), you need to dig up the bed and douse the coals in the morning. You would be surprised how long a coal can stay live for if it burns slowly. I’ve burned my foot on coals buried under sand after many hours.
Si
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### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indians-really-make-beds-over-hot-coals-in-the-winter/610179/33 "2012-01-24T02:04:27Z")
see? i am re-reading the first book of the Game of Thrones and right just now, Tyrion mentioned hot bricks warming his bed during his trip to the Wall. coincidence? i think not.
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