Ep. 79 | The Shining

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In May 1922, a dentist leaned his patient back in an exam chair.

The dentist had been treating this 24-year-old woman for the last seven months, and in that time, she'd lost almost all of her teeth.

But the dentist hadn't been able to figure out why.

That day, when the woman opened her mouth, she winced and pointed at her lower jaw, as if to say, that's what hurts the most.

So, the dentist used his fingers to gently feel around her jawbone, and as he did, he heard a cracking sound.

The woman cried out in agony, and the dentist wasn't sure what had even just happened.

So he reached inside of her mouth with his fingers and felt her jaw from the inside.

And to his horror, he found a piece of the woman's lower jaw had literally broken off.

He picked up the bone and just pulled it out of her mouth.

And then the dentist just sat there, frozen in shock, staring at this chunk of his patient's face in his hands.

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From Balin Studios and Wondery, I'm Mr.

Ballin, and this is Mr.

Ballin's Medical Mysteries, where every week we will explore a new, baffling mystery originating from the one place we all can't escape, our own bodies.

So, if you like today's story, please steal the Follow Button's favorite pair of socks, secretly sew them shut about halfway up, and then return them.

This episode is called The Shining.

On a Monday morning in August of 1917, 19-year-old Molly Maggia and her older sister, Albina, walked to their new jobs in the small city of Orange, New Jersey.

Molly and Albina didn't really look like sisters.

Molly was tall and had smooth brown hair, while Albina was an entire foot shorter and kept her own brown curls covered with a hat.

But that morning, they had something in common.

They were both so excited for work that they were practically bouncing along the sidewalk.

A few weeks earlier, Molly and her sister had seen an advertisement for jobs at a local studio, where employees helped create one of the most fashionable items of the era.

watches that glowed in the dark.

This particular advertisement was looking for women who could hand paint the tiny glow-in-the-dark numbers and hands on the watch faces.

And this was really exciting for Molly and Albina because there weren't many job opportunities out there for women.

At the time, women typically got stuck working in dangerous factories for extremely low wages.

But this job was different.

It seemed interesting and artistic, and it paid really well.

Plus, it sounded glamorous because they wouldn't have to work in a dirty factory.

Instead, they'd work in a clean, well-maintained well-maintained studio.

Molly knew that lots of women wanted these positions, but she and her sister applied anyway, and amazingly, they both got hired.

Molly was ecstatic.

Not only had she landed this amazing job, but she got to go to work every day with her big sister.

She'd been looking forward to their first day at work ever since.

Molly turned a corner and saw the studio building.

The sisters walked up and knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, a middle-aged woman wearing a plaid dress answered.

She introduced herself as the studio's forewoman and led them inside.

And when Molly walked into this building, she was amazed by what she saw.

Dozens of these women were sitting in rows, paintbrushes in hand, dipping them into this glowing powder and then applying them to the watch face over and over and over again.

They were working so quickly, it was like their hands were this glowing blur.

The more Molly watched, the more excited she was to be one of these women.

However, just then, the forewoman told Molly and her sister that they wouldn't actually be painting that day.

Before they ever touched a brush, they had to learn what a well-painted watch looked like.

The forewoman led Molly and her sister past the sparkling painters and into a totally different room.

There, Molly saw a handful of young women inspecting watch faces that had already been painted.

Now, Molly was not very excited about doing quality control, but she knew this was a necessary step towards becoming a full-time watch painter.

The forewoman introduced Molly and her sister to the inspector who'd be training them.

Her name was Catherine Schaub.

The forewoman explained that Catherine was just 15 years old and had only been working at the studio for about six months.

However, in that time, she'd worked her way up from being an apprentice to a painter and now an instructor.

The forewoman told Molly and her sister that they too could be like Catherine if they worked hard enough.

Then she left and headed back out to the main studio.

After she was gone, Catherine began showing Molly and Albina the ropes.

Molly watched as Catherine spread a few circular paper watch faces out on the table.

Catherine explained that each watch face was pre-printed, so the paper was black and the numbers were white.

Painters would then go over the white numbers with the glow-in-the-dark paint.

But it was really important that none of the paint went outside the lines.

Otherwise, the whole thing would have to be thrown out.

And so for the next several days, Molly and her sister inspected watch faces, and Catherine would then check their work.

Once they'd both gotten the hang of spotting imperfections, Catherine told them it was time to learn how to paint.

This was what Molly had been waiting for.

She was so excited.

She watched as Catherine demonstrated how to mix water and glue together to create the liquid base for the paint.

She explained that they would dip their brushes into the liquid, then into the glow-in-the-dark powder, and then use that to paint.

Next, Catherine showed Molly and her sister the paintbrushes they'd be using, and Molly couldn't believe how tiny they were.

Each one was made out of wood and camel hair.

The handle was incredibly thin, and the brush itself was made of just 30 hairs.

However, Catherine warned them that even though the brush appeared to look very sharp, the bristles often would spread the more it was used, causing the paint to kind of go outside of the lines.

And so Catherine told them to always make sure they kept the tip of their brush very sharp before making a stroke.

Molly nodded, grabbed a paintbrush, and started practicing.

A few weeks later, Molly sat down amongst the rows of women in the main studio, painting one watch face after another.

While her sister Albina was still struggling to get the hang of painting, Molly had quickly proven that she was a natural artist and had been promoted to full-time painter very quickly.

She would get paid for every watch face that she completed without error, so she made sure to work really fast.

Molly was so good at her job that she could actually paint and socialize at the same time without slowing down at all.

So, as she painted that day, she also also gossiped and cracked jokes with the young woman who sat across from her, whose name was Ella Eckert.

Molly had actually been kind of intimidated by her when they first met, but now they were like best friends.

And so as Molly slid a finished watch face to the side and grabbed a new one, Ella leaned across the table and said she wanted to show her something.

Molly watched as Ella dipped her paintbrush into the glow-in-the-dark powder, but then instead of painting a watch, she began painting her own fingernails.

Ella painted each nail on her right hand, and then held up her hand and wiggled her fingers to show Molly.

Even in the brightly lit studio, Ella's fingernails glowed beautifully.

It was like the most amazing, expensive-looking nail polish Molly had ever seen.

So Molly started painting her nails too.

And the next thing she knew, other women in the studio were doing the same thing.

Four years later, in 1921, Molly showed up for another day of painting watches at the studio.

And she felt especially lucky to be there because over the past four years, this company she worked for had changed hands and downsized.

And so a lot of women were laid off, and some had to quit to find other work, including her sister Albina.

Because Molly was one of the very best painters there, she'd managed to keep her job.

That day, after walking into the main studio, Molly waved at a few co-workers and smiled, and then sat down and got to work.

The repetitive movement of dipping the brush in the powder and then painting the watch over and over and over again was sort of like meditation.

Molly kind of zoned out as she did it.

But on this day, she suddenly felt the sharp pain inside of her mouth.

Molly winced.

She'd had a tooth pulled a few weeks ago after getting a really bad toothache, and the spot where it used to be had not healed well.

She kept accidentally pressing on it with her tongue and making it hurt even worse.

Molly shook off this new pain and went back to work.

She painted a big stack of watch faces and then stood up to bring them to the studio's four woman.

But as she was walking over, her tongue flicked back to the sore spot on her gums and she winced again.

Molly knew she was making the pain worse, but she couldn't stop herself from messing with the sore.

It should have healed by now.

Which made her think that maybe the dentist didn't know what he was doing.

She told herself that if this sore did not get any better, she would have to go see a different dentist.

A month later, in October of 1921, the sore in Molly's mouth was still there, so she did go and find a new dentist.

She walked into his office, and she met this tall, middle-aged man with big glasses.

He introduced himself as Dr.

Joseph Neff, then led her back to an exam room and asked what had brought her in that day.

Molly explained that about two months ago, she'd gotten a toothache and had one tooth removed, but her gums never healed, and ever since, the pain in her mouth had only gotten worse.

It had spread all the way across her gums and into her lower jaw.

Molly told Dr.

Neff that she suspected her first dentist had actually done something wrong to cause all of this pain, and so she was really hoping that he, this new dentist, would be able to fix that.

Dr.

Neff nodded, then leaned Molly back and asked her to open up her mouth.

He used a metal tool to prod at her teeth, and after only a few moments, he told Molly that her gums looked very swollen and several of her teeth were loose.

Molly was immediately terrified and said she didn't want to lose any more teeth, but Dr.

Neff assured her that would not happen.

He said her pain had nothing to do with the first dentist that she saw.

Instead, she had a common condition called periodontitis, which is a gum disease caused by bacteria.

As soon as they got the bacteria out of her mouth, her gums would heal and she would feel much better.

So Dr.

Neff gave Molly a special antibacterial mouthwash and then she was on her way feeling very optimistic.

A few weeks later, in November, Molly sat in the the main studio, painting, and tried to focus on her work.

A few of her co-workers were gossiping and laughing beside her, but Molly was in so much pain that nothing felt funny to her anymore.

She didn't even want to open her mouth to laugh, because then everyone would see that she was missing multiple teeth.

Her smile, which she used to think was one of her best features, was now full of holes.

Dr.

Neff had promised her that she would not lose any more teeth, but that had not been true.

Even though Molly had been using the antibacterial mouthwash exactly as instructed, her condition only got worse.

Her gums continued swelling and her teeth got looser and looser until eventually they just started falling out.

And every time Molly lost a tooth, a painful ulcer formed where the tooth used to be.

So her gums were extremely swollen, all of her teeth were either loose or missing, and her mouth was full of these horrible, painful sores.

Molly had been back to Dr.

Neff's office multiple times, but all he'd been able to do was prescribe painkillers.

He couldn't actually figure out what was happening to her teeth, let alone figure out how to stop it.

And as if the situation wasn't bad enough, over the last few days, Molly had noticed that her breath smelled horrible.

No matter how many times she brushed her teeth or used mouthwash, the smell just would not go away.

Molly didn't know what to do.

She used to feel totally at home in the watch painting studio, but now she felt totally alone.

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The next day, Dr.

Neff was at his dental office when he heard the front door open.

He looked over and saw Molly, and she looked like she'd been crying.

She told him that she was in so much pain that she'd had to quit her job.

She really just needed to know what was going on with her.

Dr.

Neff quickly ushered her back to an exam room, leaned her back in a chair, and took a look at her few remaining teeth.

And almost immediately, he noticed the awful smell coming out of Molly's mouth.

As a dental professional, Dr.

Neff actually recognized this scent.

It was not typical bad breath.

It was the smell of Molly's teeth rotting inside of her mouth.

By this point, Dr.

Neff knew his original diagnosis of a bacterial infection just had to be wrong.

He thought over all of Molly's symptoms.

Swollen gums, painful ulcers that wouldn't heal, and now rotting teeth.

And at first, he just couldn't make sense of them all.

But then, Dr.

Neff had an idea.

To him, Molly's symptoms seemed very similar to a condition dentists sometimes called Fossejaw, which caused swelling, sores, toothaches, and the gradual death of the teeth and jawbones.

Fossey was short for phosphorus, and the condition was caused by phosphorus poisoning.

It was most common amongst people who worked in factories that manufactured products using phosphorus, like matches.

So, Dr.

Neff asked Molly what she did for work.

She explained to him that she used to be a watch painter before she'd had to quit.

Dr.

Neff asked her if the paint that they were using contained phosphorus, and Molly said she had no idea.

Dr.

Neff explained his theory to Molly and then told her he would go over to the watch studio himself to follow up.

So, after their appointment was over, he went to the studio and actually spoke to the forewoman, and she would tell the dentist there was definitely no phosphorus in the paint.

Dr.

Neff sighed.

He was back at square one.

About six months later, in May of 1922, Dr.

Neff led Molly to an exam room for yet another dental appointment.

He still had not been able to determine what was wrong with her, but every time she came into his office, she looked worse than before.

That day, Molly limped towards the exam chair and slowly lowered herself into the seat.

She said another doctor had diagnosed her with rheumatism in her hips and feet, which basically meant that her bones and joints ached all the time.

Dr.

Neff looked at Molly.

She was only 24 years old, but it was like her whole body was disintegrating.

He didn't know what to say, but he still held on to hope that he might be able to diagnose and treat her.

So he leaned Molly back in the chair and asked her to open up her mouth.

But when she did, she immediately winced and pointed at her jaw.

Dr.

Neff used his fingers to feel around her cheek and jawbone on the outside, but despite how gentle he was being, he literally heard her jawbone crack.

When he reached into her mouth, he literally picked up a chunk of her lower jaw and pulled it right out.

Dr.

Neff was so shocked, he was just frozen for a moment, holding Molly's broken bone in his hand.

She looked at him, clearly afraid, confused, and in horrible pain.

But all Dr.

Neff could do was give her more pain medication and tell her, come back if anything changes.

And a week later, Molly did come back.

She told Dr.

Neff the pain in her jaw was absolutely unbearable, even with the pain medication.

And so once again, Dr.

Neff reached into her mouth to examine her, except this time, what was left of her lower jaw just disintegrated into his hands.

Dr.

Neff was horrified.

Whatever was wrong with Molly, he didn't know if it was something he could even fix, and so he arranged to have her sent straight to the hospital.

A month later, in June, Dr.

Neff was back in his office doing what he did a lot these days, thinking about Molly.

He knew hospital doctors had done their best to fix and stitch up her face, but Molly was now left so disfigured because of her jaw disintegrating that she rarely left her apartment anymore, because people would just stare and point at her.

On top of that, Dr.

Neff knew that Molly was still in constant debilitating pain, no matter what pain med she was on.

Dr.

Neff knew he couldn't give Molly her jaw back, but he kept thinking that if he could just come up with a diagnosis, he might at least be able to lessen her pain.

So he thought about her symptoms, her job, her lifestyle as a young unmarried woman who lived alone.

And suddenly he had an idea.

What if Molly had syphilis?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that can cause painful ulcers and body aches.

But Dr.

Neff thought maybe it could cause other symptoms like bone decay.

He wanted to test Molly for syphilis, but in the 1920s, there was a huge stigma around syphilis in the United States.

People who contracted the infection, especially unmarried women, were seen as dirty and immoral.

The stigma was so severe that Dr.

Neff didn't even want to bring up the possibility to Molly that she might have syphilis in fear of offending her.

So, he decided he would do the test secretly.

The next time Molly visited his office, he told her he wanted to take a blood sample to test, but he didn't say why.

And Molly, who was just so desperate to figure out what was going on with her, said that was fine.

And so after she left and Dr.

Neff had the blood sample, he tested it for syphilis.

And sure enough, her blood came back positive for the infection.

Finally, he had an answer for all of Molly's symptoms.

However, it wasn't as simple as calling her back to the office and giving her medication, because at the time, there were no effective treatments for syphilis.

Dr.

Neff couldn't do anything to help her, and he figured if Molly knew she had syphilis, which was so stigmatized, she'd be overcome with shame.

So, Dr.

Neff decided not to tell her or her family at all.

Three months later, on September 12th, 1922, Molly's older sister, Albina, came to visit Molly, who was now confined to a room at a boarding house.

Albina tried to put on a brave face, but as soon as she walked inside, she was overcome with emotion.

Because her little sister barely even looked like a person anymore.

She basically looked like a living skeleton.

Molly had lost all of her teeth and her lower jaw, she could barely eat, and her body was basically wasting away.

Her bones looked like they were trying to rip their way out of her skin.

Albina looked into her little sister's eyes, and she could see that Molly was suffering.

It was like she was trapped inside of this body that was just failing her, and nobody knew why, so nobody could help her.

Albina sat down next to Molly and held her hand.

She stared down at her sister's skinny fingers while she told Molly what was going on with their parents and their other sisters, and how much everybody loved her and missed her.

And then, Albina heard a gurgling sound.

She looked up and saw blood pouring from what was left of Molly's mouth.

Albina jumped up and ran to find a doctor, but by the time she and the doctor got back, there was blood all over Molly, her eyes were glassy, and she wasn't breathing.

She was dead.

Albina just stood there, frozen in shock.

Later, Molly's parents and other sisters joined Albina at the boarding house, where Dr.

Neff would finally inform them that Molly had died of syphilis.

Albina and the rest of her family couldn't believe it.

Five years later, on October 15th, 1927, Albina, her sister's husbands, and her father went to the cemetery where Molly was buried.

And Albina's stomach twisted with nerves because they were not going there just to visit her little sister's grave.

As they neared the cemetery, Albina saw a well-dressed group of men gathered by the entrance.

She knew they were all doctors and lawyers who were there to witness the same thing that she and her family were.

Albina, her relatives, and this big group of men walked through the cemetery gates, past dozens of gravestones, until they reached the spot where Molly was buried.

And then, the men began to dig Molly up.

Albina was terrified of what her sister's body might look like, but she knew exhuming Molly was necessary.

Because in the years since Molly's death, Dozens of women who worked at that watch painting studio had gotten sick with the exact same symptoms that Molly had.

Several had become severely disfigured or died.

And even though the owner of the studio insisted the women's health problems had nothing to do with their work, the women didn't believe it.

It seemed impossible to deny that something in that studio was making them all sick.

So, five of these women had banded together, lawyered up, and were attempting to sue the studio.

But to make their case, they needed to prove a direct connection between the women's work and their illnesses.

They hoped Molly's remains could give them that proof.

Albina watched as the men used ropes and chains to lift Molly's coffin out of the ground.

Once it was out, they slowly pried open the lid.

And as soon as Albina saw her little sister's body, she gasped.

Molly's skeleton was glowing.

Molly's remains were brought to a medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

and it was quickly determined that she did not die of syphilis.

She'd never actually had syphilis at all.

It turned out, Dr.

Neff had performed the syphilis test incorrectly and gotten a false positive result.

However, the doctors and lawyers overseeing the autopsy had a hunch about what did kill Molly.

It was the glow-in-the-dark paint that she and the other women at the studio used.

They knew this paint contained a specific chemical element, which was what made it glow.

The general public believed this element was safe.

In fact, it was often prescribed as a medication, added to beauty products, and even put in toothpaste.

Molly and the other women at the studio knew this element was in the paint, and they also knew they sometimes ingested a small amount of it during their workday.

Because, as Molly was told during her onboarding, one of the big issues with the paintbrushes is the bristles would begin to flatten out over time.

And so it was important as a painter to make sure the points on those brushes were sharp.

And so the women had developed this technique called lip pointing, where they would take the paintbrush and they would put it in their mouth and tighten their lips lips around it to tighten the bristles and then dip it in the paint and paint the watch.

But each time they did that, there was always a little bit of the paint still on the brush that would go into their mouth and be ingested.

Now, some women thought that maybe ingesting this element might be good for them, while others were a bit more hesitant and actually asked if the paint was safe.

And their supervisors would always tell them that yes, it was.

However, scientists and the owner of the studio knew that was not true.

In reality, the element was extremely dangerous, and it was becoming increasingly obvious as more women from the watch painting studio became desperately ill.

So, at this point, the doctors and lawyers wanted to prove that Molly's body contained a lethal amount of the element found in the paint.

To do this, they performed a test that involved burning Molly's bones to ash, dissolving that ash in acid, and then checking for the element.

And just as they'd thought, Molly's bones were full of radium.

Radium is an incredibly toxic, radioactive element.

When it enters a person's body, it gradually destroys their bones and other tissues.

In Molly's case, it caused her gums to swell, her teeth to fall out, and her jaw to fall off.

Molly ultimately died because the radium poisoning ate through her jugular vein, which is one of the largest and most important veins in the body.

This caused her to suddenly bleed to death.

After it was proven proven that radium was killing the watch painters, the five women who filed the lawsuit all received settlement payments from their employer, the U.S.

Radium Corporation.

These included a lump sum plus an annual payment.

However, these women did not really get to enjoy this settlement because eventually, they all died of radium poisoning.

Meanwhile, other similar studios continued operating in the United States.

At least 50 women died as a direct result of radium exposure in these studios, including Catherine, the 15-year-old girl who had initially trained Molly and her sister, and Ella, Molly's friend who sat near her at the workbench, who showed her how she painted her nails with the radium.

Eventually, another court case was filed, which led to better protections for people who worked with radioactive elements.

However, by that point, it was already far too late for Molly and the other women who were unknowingly poisoned by their jobs, and who, to this day, still glow inside of their graves.

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Bollin's Medical Mysteries on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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From Balin Studios and Wondry, this is Mr.

Balin's Medical Mysteries, hosted by me, Mr.

Ballin.

A quick note about our stories.

They are all inspired by true events, but we do sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and also some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

And a reminder, the content in this episode is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

This episode was written by Karis Allen Pash Cooper.

Our editor is Heather Dundas.

Sound design is by Andre Plus.

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan, and our coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffin.

Our senior producer is Alex Benedon.

Our associate producers and researchers are Sarah Vitak and Taja Palaconda.

Fact-checking was done by Sheila Patterson.

For Ballin Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt.

Script editing by Scott Allen and Evan Allen.

Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins.

Production support by Avery Siegel.

Executive Executive producers are myself, Mr.

Bollin, and also Nick Witters.

For Wondry, our head of sound is Marcelino Villipando.

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