They were told it was safe. Their bones lit up the truth.

🕯️ The Setup: America, 1920s

The world was obsessed with radium - a new “miracle element” that glowed in the dark.
It was used in beauty products, energy tonics, even chocolate.
✨ And of course: on watch dials, so soldiers could read them in the dark.

Enter the young women hired at factories in New Jersey and Illinois to paint these luminous numbers.

They were told:

“It’s harmless. It’s healthy. It makes your cheeks rosy.”

Spoiler alert: It didn’t.

💋 The “Lip-Dip-Paint” Method

To get fine points on their brushes, girls were instructed to:

Lip it.
Dip it.
Paint it.

Over and over.
Hundreds of times a day.

They ingested radioactive paint with every stroke.
Their pay? Pennies.
Their bosses? Laughing in lead-lined offices.

☠️ Then the Glow Turned to Rot

Years later, the effects started showing:

• Teeth falling out

• Jaws disintegrating - literally called “Radium Jaw”

• Ulcers, tumours, anaemia, bone fractures

• Their bones? Started to glow.

One woman went to the dentist for a toothache.
Her jawbone? Detached in his hand.

🕳️ The Company’s Response? A Masterclass in Gaslighting

• They blamed syphilis to shame the women into silence.

• Refused to pay medical bills.

• Denied any link to radium - despite clear internal memos acknowledging the danger.

Meanwhile, male scientists were handling radium with tongs.
The women were licking it.

⚖️ The Fight for Justice

A group of women - sick, dying, glowing from the inside out - sued.

• Court proceedings were delayed, dragged, manipulated

• They testified from hospital beds

• Some died before verdicts were reached

But eventually… they won.
Sort of.

They secured:

• Compensation

• Medical care

• The groundwork for worker safety laws in America

But the victory?
Came far too late for most.

☢️ Here’s the Part That’ll Haunt You:

The paint is still radioactive.
Some of their graves emit more radiation than nuclear waste.
Their bones still glow in the dark.

They lit the way - and paid the ultimate price.

🔮 Witch Tip:

Never. Stop. Questioning. Authority.
When they say “It’s safe”?
Ask for who.

Burn a Protection Candle in their name.
Speak their story.
Hex the silence.
Because the worst horror?
Is being forgotten.

🖤 Moral of the Story?

They glowed for the job.
And the job tried to bury them glowing.

But their light?
Became the fire that exposed the rot.

💬 Ever heard of the Radium Girls before?