# Things you can't believe ever existed **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095 "2013-01-04T19:34:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/1 "2013-01-04T19:34:54Z")
**Kissing booths** - Hold up. I pay you a nickel and I get to kiss you on the lips? Sorry, I don’t care how hot you are. I’m not risking mono or HSV. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/2 "2013-01-04T19:56:30Z")
Pet Rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/3 "2013-01-04T19:59:22Z")
So many things, but the first one that popped into my mind is [bathing machines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathing_machine). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/4 "2013-01-04T20:07:49Z")
The 1950’s [Atomic Energy Lab](http://gajitz.com/1950s-radioactive-science-kit-most-dangerous-toy-ever/) for kids. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/5 "2013-01-04T20:10:56Z")
Rotary aircraft engines. No, not [those type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine), [these type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine). I thought it was an hilarious misunderstanding on the part of the person that told me, but no. They were real enough. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/6 "2013-01-04T20:11:03Z")
Shoe store [flouroscopes](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/599/were-those-old-shoe-store-fluoroscopes-a-health-hazard). Ye gods! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/7 "2013-01-04T20:20:45Z")
Radithor radioactive “medicine” > **[Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity](https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/index.html)** > > The ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity chronicles the scientific and commercial history of radioactivity and radiation. It has been deemed the official repository for historical radiological instruments by the Health Physics Society, and is... ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/8 "2013-01-04T20:53:23Z")
Candy cigarettes for children. A smoking lot–for students–at my high school. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/9 "2013-01-04T21:01:19Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Rotary aircraft engines. > > No, not [those type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine), [these type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine). > > I thought it was an hilarious misunderstanding on the part of the person that told me, but no. They were real enough. Those engines are incredibly cool. They were the origin of the oil that had to be wiped off the windscreens of early planes leading to those long scarves associated with aviators. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/10 "2013-01-04T21:04:00Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Candy cigarettes for children. > > A smoking lot–for students–at my high school. I’m only 32 and I fondly remember Candy Cigarettes. Also, at my high school we didn’t have a smoking lot, but there was a park across the street that was _covered_ with cigarette butts. It was pretty much the accepted place to go to smoke. In my city, up until about 1999 or so, it was legal to smoke at any age. So, even though you had to be 18 to buy cigarettes, a 14 year old could walk down the street smoking one and no one could do anything about it. UWM (Milwaukee), when I went there for a semester still had an indoor smoking area above the union. It was nice in between classes to grab something to eat and lounge around on the couches with a cigarette, some food and some books without having to go outside. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/11 "2013-01-04T21:06:53Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Rotary aircraft engines. > > No, not [those type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine), [these type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine). > > I thought it was an hilarious misunderstanding on the part of the person that told me, but no. They were real enough. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Those engines are incredibly cool. They were the origin of the oil that had to be wiped off the windscreens of early planes leading to those long scarves associated with aviators. I read somewhere, here maybe (broomstick?) that before starting those you have to remove the bottom spark plug and let out any oil that seeped past the rings and into the piston. If you try and start it with a cylinder full of oil, you’ll destroy that part of the engine. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/12 "2013-01-04T21:20:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I read somewhere, here maybe (broomstick?) that before starting those you have to remove the bottom spark plug and let out any oil that seeped past the rings and into the piston. If you try and start it with a cylinder full of oil, you’ll destroy that part of the engine. I read that somewhere as well in an aviation magazine. The engine is basically a two-stroke, and the crank case would build up a thick layer of oil as the engine ran. This would end up draining into the lower cylinders when the engine wasn’t running. I can’t imagine what it was like to hand crank an enormously heavy engine like that. The entire aircraft must have been shaken violently as the engine started up. I wouldn’t want to be inches away from that spinning monstrosity. Still way cool though. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/13 "2013-01-04T21:21:28Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > UWM (Milwaukee), when I went there for a semester still had an indoor smoking area above the union. It was nice in between classes to grab something to eat and lounge around on the couches with a cigarette, some food and some books without having to go outside. Sheesh, where I went, we smoked in the classrooms. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/14 "2013-01-04T21:42:17Z")
Crystal Pepsi and the Spin Doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/15 "2013-01-04T21:54:17Z")
Tapeworms sold as weight- loss medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/16 "2013-01-04T21:54:56Z")
Bayer’s heroin cough medication tops my list. As a close second, tableware with built-in handguns. Both of those things just seem like really bad ideas. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/17 "2013-01-04T21:56:39Z")
The original [**Jarts**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_darts). Lawn Darts with pointed metal tips that you would throw near the feet of your opponent. Or if you got bored with that, you could all stand in the middle of the yard, launch them randomly upward, and play “Flee In Terror”. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/18 "2013-01-04T22:06:13Z")
I’m surprised that powerful nobles would vie to be [the king’s bathroom attendant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom_of_the_Stool). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/19 "2013-01-05T01:05:01Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Sheesh, where I went, we smoked in the classrooms. When I was in college, they had foil/paper ashtrays in all the classroom. I used to play lawn darts. Kids were smart enough to know they were dangerous and stayed away from them. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095/20 "2013-01-05T01:33:21Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > Bayer’s heroin cough medication tops my list. As a close second, tableware with built-in handguns. Both of those things just seem like really bad ideas. There’s currently a thread about some Drama Uncles around this place somewhere. Yeah, I can see where having HANDGUNS AS PART OF YOUR PLACE SETTING might be a bad idea, especially during the holidays, when things are likely to get a bit tense, anyway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-cant-believe-ever-existed/646095.md?page=2)