← Back to the front page

When Opium Was a Cure-All Remedy, and Other Unusual Historic Medical Cures

Khalid Elhassan April 10, 2025 16 min

Remedy - Flagellants thought that flogging themselves would ward off the plague — Flagellants thought that flogging themselves would ward off the plague. Pits Perilous

15. Living in the Sewers to Escape the Plague

Some people fled to the sewers to escape the Black Death. YouTube

People began to visit, and sometimes even live in, stinky sewers. It was thought that the sewers’ horrible stench would discourage the otherwise clean but disease-ridden air from coming near them. Not only did it not work, it also made those visiting and living in the sewers susceptible to other illnesses caused by their vile surroundings. Another popular plague remedy was treacle – a syrupy byproduct of sugar refinement. In of itself, treacle, while devoid of any healing properties, was relatively harmless. However, seeing as how we are talking about a medieval plague remedy, it is unsurprising that there was a crazy medieval twist.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.