Crazy careers

Food testers had it worse than you think, and more odd jobs from the past

Image: Clem Onojeghuo

From medieval Europe to early industrial America, people have taken on some truly bizarre professions. Many of these jobs existed out of necessity, cultural tradition, or lack of technology. Others were born of superstition or unusual demands of society’s elite. From leech collectors to sin-eaters, here are 10 real jobs from history that may sound absurd today but were once legitimate ways to earn a living.

Image: David Trinks

Doctors in medieval Europe and well into the 19th century used leeches for bloodletting. To obtain the large numbers required, collectors waded into marshes and let the creatures attach themselves to their legs.

The demand was so high that wetlands across Europe were nearly stripped of leeches. Despite the grisly nature of the work, it was a stable source of income for poor laborers.

Image: Josh Olalde

In medieval England, ale tasters checked the quality and fairness of beer sold in taverns. They ensured proper strength, taste, and pricing for consumers.

While the role sounds more fun than work, it involved serious regulation. Some tasters also inspected bread, showing how essential beer was to medieval diets.

Image: Daniil Komov

While this job doesn’t sound so strange—we have modern equivalents of this after all—the comparison doesn’t fully capture how essential their work was to 19th-century cities plagued by poor sanitation and overcrowded streets.

In Paris and London, rat catchers became semi-celebrities of street life. Their work helped reduce disease risks, though they themselves faced high exposure to bites and plague.

Image: Boudewijn Huysmans

In Tudor England, "gong farmers" cleaned cesspits and privies. The word "gong" had nothing to do with the Asian percussion instrument; rather, it derived from an Old English term referring to a privy and its contents.

They worked at night to avoid public disgust, carrying waste in buckets outside city walls. The job was dangerous due to toxic fumes, but surprisingly lucrative. Workers often earned more than many skilled tradespeople, though at the cost of extreme social shunning.

Image: Jessica Kantak Bailey

In Tudor and Stuart England, princes weren’t punished directly. Instead, their "whipping boy" was flogged whenever they misbehaved—a form of indirect punishment meant to instill guilt in the young prince.

The practice only worked with boys close to the prince, ensuring emotional impact. One of the most cruel practices of the era, whipping boys often gained favor and lifelong connections at court.

Image: Griffin Quinn

A colorful euphemism for "grave robber," this profession flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries, as demand for cadavers by medical schools reached an all-time high while legal supply remained scarce.

Despite being illegal and widely despised, it was a lucrative career. The trade also created related jobs, as concerned families hired cemetery watchmen and private grave guards. In some infamous cases, "resurrectionists" even escalated to murder to meet demand.

Image: Stephen Radford

In gunpowder factories, specialized workers tested batches by igniting small amounts to check burn quality. How each batch responded to ignition determined the safety and effectiveness of the product.

The work was inherently perilous—accidents were frequent, and uncontrolled explosions could have devastating consequences for both workers and factories. Yet, gunpowder was so essential to empires that testing remained a permanent job.

Image: Gold's Gym Nepal

Did you know treadmills were originally designed for prisoners? Keep that in mind on your next visit to the gym. In 19th-century Britain, prisoners powered massive treadmills that ground grain or pumped water.

The devices also served as punishment through hard, monotonous labor. The so-called "everlasting staircase" could last for hours, leaving inmates utterly exhausted. Perhaps this also explains how prisoners could later easily outrun guards—talk about a double-edged sword.

Image: Amy-Leigh Barnard

Food tasters were employed at royal and imperial courts to sample dishes before rulers ate, ensuring safety from any poisoning attempts. The role existed in ancient Rome, medieval Europe, and even into modern times.

While certainly not the worst job a commoner could hold among royalty (whipping boys and grooms-of-the-stool arguably had it worse), and though some tasters lived comfortably at court, their job was literally a matter of life and death.

Image: engin akyurt

In 17th- and 18th-century Britain, some families hired "sin-eaters" to consume bread and beer placed on a corpse. The ritual symbolized absorbing the deceased’s sins.

Despite their spiritual services, sin-eaters were social outcasts. Typically paid in food or a few coins, they carried a heavy stigma, as they were believed to take on the spiritual burden of the dead they served.

Wild nature

Are fire tornadoes a real thing? Yes! And so are these other weather phenomena!

Image: NOAA

You know the rain and the snow. You even know tornadoes, hurricanes, and the green lights in the North. But the weather can be crazier, much crazier than that! Would you believe us if we told you fire can become a tornado or that dust can make cities disappear? When combining the four elements, anything can happen, and we’ve gathered some of the craziest weather phenomena for you here!

Image: Mark Fletcher-Brown

Imagine a tornado picking up flames instead of debris. That’s a fire whirl, a spinning column of fire that can reach hundreds of feet high during wildfires. It forms when intense heat pulls air upward and the wind twists it into a vortex. Two of the worst and most destructive things together, we don’t need to explain the kind of consequences this unusual phenomenon leaves behind!

Image: Irham Setyaki

If you’ve ever seen photos of a giant wall of dust swallowing a city, that’s a haboob. You can double-check, but indeed it says "swallow a city"! These massive dust storms often appear in desert regions like Southern America or northern Africa. They happen when cool air from a thunderstorm rushes down and pushes up dirt and sand, creating a thick rolling curtain of dust. The best way to handle one? Head inside and let it pass, but never try running away from it. There’s no outrunning a haboob.

Image: Declan Sun

You feel the tiny drops of water falling from the sky, but you look at the floor and it’s completely dry. What’s going on? That’s virga, a ghostly phenomenon where the raindrops evaporate before they land. It looks like silky streaks hanging from the clouds, a bit like the sky is trying to rain but changes its mind halfway down. This disappearing act happens when the air below the cloud is too dry. Don’t worry, it’s innocent, just a little bit annoying.

Image: Susan Wilkinson

Tornadoes aren’t just a land thing (or a fire thing for that matter!), they can show up over water too. Waterspouts look like watery funnels rising from the sea, and while they can be dramatic, most are harmless and short-lived. Warm, humid air rising from the surface spins into a twisting column, pulling a bit of water mist with it. Sailors used to think they were sea monsters, but today we know better. Still, it’s not something you’d want to see from your fishing boat.

Image: Marc Szeglat

An erupting volcano is already scary enough, but when lightning starts flashing inside the ash cloud, it’s a spectacle. The bursts of electricity come from bits of rock and ash rubbing together and building up charge. Since volcanoes are hard to study up close, scientists are still learning exactly how this works.

Image: 泽浩 梁

If you’ve ever looked up on a cold night and seen glowing columns stretching toward the sky, you’ve spotted light pillars. They’re not UFOs; they’re ice crystals catching and reflecting light from the ground or the sun. Each tiny crystal acts like a little mirror, turning reflections into tall shimmering towers of color. They’re most common in freezing weather. Have you ever seen this?

Image: Meg

Every so often, the wind gets artistic and rolls snow into little white doughnuts. These rare creations, called snow rollers, need just the right mix of conditions: Sticky snow, a smooth surface, and a steady breeze. The wind pushes bits of snow along the ground until they curl up into round, hollow shapes.

Image: Wolfgang Hasselmann

Deep in the woods on a cold, damp night, you might find what looks like fine white hair growing on dead branches. That’s hair ice, and it forms thanks to a fungus that lives in rotting wood. The fungus releases chemicals that shape ice into thin, silky strands. They are so delicate, they melt at the first touch of sunlight. It’s one of nature’s quietest and most beautiful tricks.

Image: Stijn te Strake

At sunrise or sunset, look opposite the sun and you might spot a dark blue band climbing or sinking along the horizon. That’s Earth’s own shadow. Above it, a pinkish glow called the Belt of Venus often appears, reflecting the last bit of sunlight. Together, they make one of the simplest yet most breathtaking sky shows.

Image: Jakob Owens

If you’ve ever seen a rainbow-like halo around your shadow while standing above the clouds, you’ve witnessed a glory. It happens when sunlight bounces around inside tiny water droplets, splitting into soft rings of color. When that halo surrounds your shadow on mist or fog, it’s called a Brocken spectre, and it can make you look enormous. Early mountaineers used to think they were seeing spirits. Turns out, it was just their own reflection in nature’s mirror.