For years, a strange rumor has circulated online about a black-and-white photo featuring a man holding a hammer next to someone bent over an anvil, their head trapped in a metal pot. The image, supposedly dating back to 1895, was claimed to depict an authentic historical treatment for headaches. Some posts on social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit even labeled the procedure as “Vibration Therapy.”
The theory behind the photo suggested that it showed a form of medical treatment that was used in the late 19th century to cure headaches. However, upon further investigation, this claim was quickly debunked. The actual “vibration therapy” of that time involved gently brushing or using an electric vibrator on a patient’s scalp—not anything resembling the image of someone about to have a pot shattered off their head with a hammer.
Further research has provided a more accurate explanation for the strange photo. The image actually comes from a series of magic lantern slides from the late 19th century. Magic lanterns were early projectors that used light to display images for entertainment, often telling stories or illustrating humorous scenes. The photo in question is a staged scene from a comedic Scottish tale titled “The Unlucky Present,” which was published in various anthologies, newspapers, and magazines during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the story, a poor widow gives her cast-iron cooking pot to a minister who admires it. As the minister walks home with the heavy pot, he struggles with its weight and eventually rests it on his head like a helmet. However, the pot becomes stuck, and the minister, fearing suffocation, seeks help from a local blacksmith. The blacksmith tells the minister to lie on an anvil, and then uses a hammer to break the pot off, saving him.
The image we see is part of a series of seven slides that illustrate this humorous tale. These slides were likely created in the 1870s or early 1880s, a time when British photographer Alfred Pumphrey began using live models in his magic lantern slides. Pumphrey, who passed away in 1894, is thought to have produced the slides before his death.
The full set of slides, including the one showing the blacksmith with a hammer, can be found on the Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource, a site dedicated to preserving the history of magic lanterns. These early projectors were used for various purposes, from storytelling to entertainment, and were a popular medium from the 18th century through the early 20th century.
In conclusion, the image of a man with a hammer and someone kneeling with a pot on their head is not a depiction of any medical treatment. Instead, it is a staged scene from a humorous Scottish story, part of a series of magic lantern slides created for entertainment. The initial claim about it being a treatment for headaches is simply a misunderstanding, and the truth behind the image is rooted in 19th-century storytelling rather than any medical practice.
