Futility Closet

In 1911 English sisters Claire and Dora Williamson began consulting a Seattle "fasting specialist" named Linda Burfield Hazzard. As they underwent her brutal treatments, the sisters found themselves caught in a web of manipulation and deceit. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Williamsons' ordeal and the scheme it brought to light. We'll also catch a criminal by the ear and puzzle over a prohibited pig. Intro: During World War II, the United States circulated specially printed currency in Hawaii. Reversing an artwork in a mirror alters its aesthetic effect. Sources for our feature on Linda Burfield Hazzard: Gregg Olsen, Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest, 1997. Linda Burfield Hazzard, Fasting for the Cure of Disease, 1908. Linda Burfield Hazzard, Scientific Fasting: The Ancient and Modern Key to Health, 1927. Steven Chermak and Frankie Y. Bailey, Crimes of the Centuries: Notorious Crimes, Criminals, and C